PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Caiyuo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157293

Is this well-recommended for a 3570k? 15% off 10/6 only, hadn't really seen anything under $90 for a Z77 so I thought I'd jump.

actually, which of the 3 would be best? hadn't noticed the ASUS boards the somethingawful tech forums recommend aren't much more expensive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131824

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131832

[Adajer]

Just built my PC tonight, went to microcenter and got a 3570k and ASRock z77 extreme 4 for $189 + ($134-$50 CPU and mobo purchase deal) $84 + $26 tax = $301.10.
Microcenter is always best if you have on near.

[Jojimbo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157293

Is this well-recommended for a 3570k? 15% off 10/6 only, hadn't really seen anything under $90 for a Z77 so I thought I'd jump.

actually, which of the 3 would be best? hadn't noticed the ASUS boards the somethingawful tech forums recommend aren't much more expensive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131824

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131832

Go with the extreme4, budget Asus boards are kinda meh; the LX has no heatsinks and few VRMs (4+2 or something from the looks) and the mATX isn't that much better plus both lack a second PCI-E 3.0 slot

[Caiyuo]

Thanks, guys. This is the final setup; any suggestions? Anything blank is already covered.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jvyh

[Jojimbo]

I would get this Samsung RAM instead, it's $10 cheaper and should be able to overclock to at least 2133MHz. Personally I would pay out for a 2GB 7850 as well, some games can use close to/over 1GB vRAM even at 1080p + it has a better cooler on it. The 620W version of your PSU is only $5-6 more expensive and should allow for CF 7850 though, rest looks good.

[Caiyuo]

Thanks! First chunk of it's on the way, but still neurotically trying to pick between cases. Been going back and forth between the Corsair 300r, Xigmatek Midgard II and the Fractal Design Arc Midi. Shit is driving me absolutely crazy.

[Jojimbo]

They all look pretty good cases; personally I prefer the looks of the 300r, like the looks of the Midi except for the front panels brushed effects (make it look cheap imo) and the Midgard has too many bits and pieces making up the panels

[Don Katsu]

Right now the 7870 can be purchased for less than $200 after MIR

If you really want a faster card without going too far over your budget

[Caiyuo]

Reposting here in case no one checks the tech deals thread

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...004&CatId=1969

3570k on sale @TigerDirect for $180~ before tax. Coupon's good until 10/17 but chances are their online stock won't last

[Obiron]

Reposting here in case no one checks the tech deals thread

New Egg is also doing an extra $10 off the Samsung 830 256GB SSD (now $159.99). With these two sales going on, I think I'm going to finally give in and replace my four year old PC. I would appreciate any feedback on my picks so far:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kpMf

Video card: Obviously missing. I'm not looking to go overboard, as I mostly do console gaming. But I would like something decent for occasional games. Also, running dual 1920x1080 monitors. Something in the $200-$250 range, and something that's low energy/low heat/quiet would be great! Not looking for the latest powerhouse.

Cooler: Is this a good one? I will only do minor overclocking, if any. Just looking for something better than stock, that will fit in a mid-size case.

Case: I've always had Antec cases, but this Xigmatek was mentioned earlier. It only has two reviews, does anyone here have experience with it? Or any better suggestions? Obviously good cable management is a plus, and I like that this case has USB 3.0 and a hard drive dock.

Other missing items:
I already have monitors, and I will be re-using my storage drives and optical drives from my last PC.

As for usage, I mostly use it for general tasks, and to VPN for remote network admin tasks. I only do occasional gaming, and video encoding (in fact, my next project is to shrink all my DVD rips to free up some space).

Thanks in advance for any input!

[Caiyuo]

holy shit I didn't see that Amazon had that case for $73, thanks for mentioning it, I finally bought one!

Purchasing the odds and ends for my build, are particular case fans important? Should I be looking for something specific? The Midgard 2 (non-windowed) has 8 spaces for them and I don't know what I should be looking at for the amount or placement. Also, I see sometimes that fan spaces will fit 120mm or 140mm, what are the benefits to each?

Fan slots and a link to pictures: http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?...155&type=photo

AIR COOLING
Front Fan: 12cm fan x 2 available
(One black 12cm fan preinstalled.)
Rear Fan: Preinstalled 12cm black fan x 1
Left Side Fan: 12/14cm fan x 2 available.
(None for window version.)
Bottom Fan: 12cm fan x 1 available.
Top Fan: 12/14cm fan x 2 available.

Also on the samsung low-voltage memory, do I need anything to go along with it for over-clocking? I wasn't sure if it's fine without the giant heat spreaders everything else uses. I'm not familiar at all with overclocking RAM so I don't even know how it's done.

Lastly, do all SATA cables work for 1/2/3 or do I need to purchase newer cables to take advantage of SATA 3?

[Jojimbo]

For samsung RAM you don't need heatsinks, they aren't really needed and are often just for show.

As for SATA cables you should be fine as long as it's a high quality cable, cheap ones might be at the edge of SATA 3GB/s tolerances and fail at 6GB/s. If uncertain just buy a SATA3 cable but your MB should include 2 cables at a minimum.

Bigger fans typically move more air for a given level of noise although sometimes suffer drops in static pressure (only important where airflow is restricted, mostly rads/heatsinks). There are fans better than others, be very wary of manufacturer specs as they are almost always wrong and often vary between manufacturers (ie a 28dB fan from one manu could be quieter than a 22dB from another). Gentle Typhoons (AP-15 is popular) make great rad/heatsink fans and I believe Cougar make good case fans but there are plenty of others (I see noctua/noiseblocker/yate loon/akasa/enermax/gelid a lot as well). Basically a good case fan = high air flow and low(ish) noise, rad fan = high s.p. and low(ish) noise

@Obiron
A HD 7850 or HD 7870 would be within your price range. $160 1GB HD7850 (I think has 10% off on top) is amazingly good value, all the cheap HD7870s seem out of stock at the moment =/

[hey]

As for SATA cables you should be fine as long as it's a high quality cable, cheap ones might be at the edge of SATA 3GB/s tolerances and fail at 6GB/s. If uncertain just buy a SATA3 cable but your MB should include 2 cables at a minimum.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...c_investigates

tl;dr: the cheapest 10 year old sata cables will work exactly as well as the most expensive sata 3 cables today, even when bent to hell and back, or when double the "max" length.

[Obiron]

A HD 7850 or HD 7870 would be within your price range. $160 1GB HD7850 (I think has 10% off on top) is amazingly good value, all the cheap HD7870s seem out of stock at the moment =/

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, the TigerDirect deal is already dead (the coupon code said valid until 10/17, but they've removed it from their site). I might pull the trigger on the SSD, but keep my eyes open for deals on other components. If I have to wait until black friday to complete my build, so be it.

Edit: I just did an online chat with TigerDirect and they said to call in to still get the deal. Might be moving forward after all.

[Caiyuo]

For samsung RAM you don't need heatsinks, they aren't really needed and are often just for show.

As for SATA cables you should be fine as long as it's a high quality cable, cheap ones might be at the edge of SATA 3GB/s tolerances and fail at 6GB/s. If uncertain just buy a SATA3 cable but your MB should include 2 cables at a minimum.

Bigger fans typically move more air for a given level of noise although sometimes suffer drops in static pressure (only important where airflow is restricted, mostly rads/heatsinks). There are fans better than others, be very wary of manufacturer specs as they are almost always wrong and often vary between manufacturers (ie a 28dB fan from one manu could be quieter than a 22dB from another). Gentle Typhoons (AP-15 is popular) make great rad/heatsink fans and I believe Cougar make good case fans but there are plenty of others (I see noctua/noiseblocker/yate loon/akasa/enermax/gelid a lot as well). Basically a good case fan = high air flow and low(ish) noise, rad fan = high s.p. and low(ish) noise

Thanks, man

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...c_investigates

tl;dr: the cheapest 10 year old sata cables will work exactly as well as the most expensive sata 3 cables today, even when bent to hell and back, or when double the "max" length.

fuck yeah this is wonderful

[Jojimbo]

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...c_investigates

tl;dr: the cheapest 10 year old sata cables will work exactly as well as the most expensive sata 3 cables today, even when bent to hell and back, or when double the "max" length.

Ah, some other pdf I read talked about it differently

[Obiron]

How does the 560 compare to the 7870? This 2GB 560 is currently $199.99 after rebate.

[Jojimbo]

Poorly, a GTX 560 Ti is about the same/worse than a HD 7850 at stock clocks, and HD 7800s can get amazing OCs leaving the 560 in the dust (which is a gen old btw).

You can get a GTX 660 for $230 although personally I prefer HD 7800s at this price point (even this HD 7870 which is $225, not most amazing cooler afaik but still better than a 660 imo). btw you can still get a 1GB 7850 for pretty cheap, this one is $165; depends what you mean by occasional gaming though as to whether this or a 7870 would be better.

[Obiron]

Poorly, a GTX 560 Ti is about the same/worse than a HD 7850 at stock clocks, and HD 7800s can get amazing OCs leaving the 560 in the dust (which is a gen old btw).

You can get a GTX 660 for $230 although personally I prefer HD 7800s at this price point (even this HD 7870 which is $225, not most amazing cooler afaik but still better than a 660 imo). btw you can still get a 1GB 7850 for pretty cheap, this one is $165; depends what you mean by occasional gaming though as to whether this or a 7870 would be better.

Thanks, I haven't really kept on AMD/Nvidia comparisons recently. My current card is a 4850.

Occasional means I played FFXI for about 4 years, and I may give FFXIV another shot. Outside of that, it's fairly rare. I may get Skyrim on PC, but I don't have anything else on my horizon that isn't console. I would probably be ok with a 7850, but I don't want to limit myself too much if a good game catches my eye a year down the road.

[TheBlazed]

CPU - i5 3750k
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1081130
RAM - Samsung (2x4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147096
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103099
SSD: Samsung 830 Series 128 GB
Case: NZXT Phantom Black/Steel Plastic
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146068


Total cost = $695.94
Preowned/Taken from pc being upgraded:
GPU: GTX 590
HDD: 1.5 TB 5400 (Slow i know, i prolly will buy a 7200 one soon)
PSU: GS Corsair 700W


Any suggestions? Feel free to let me know.

Notes:

Primarily for gaming, Going to start learning about HD Recording and Editing.
I am planning to OC to around 4.4~GHZ, someone mentioning perhaps a better cooler to go higher perhaps a Phanteks.

Just trying to search for best Quality for Price but not too expensive.