Few Questions

Doyler99

Hey I have a few Questions before I order my Gaming PC. I will be playing skyrim/bf3/Borderlands2/Cod and using it for Java programming.

- My local PC shop told me this: I'd need at least a 750 W PSU to run my system.... seem's alot? overkill no? Here is the important stuff I ordered - i5 3570k, 7950 3Gb, 128 Gb SSD, 1Tb HDD, 8Gb ram, Cooler master 690 II Advanced - mid tower - ATX,

- They also heavily recommended ASUS for the MoBo, I was currently looking at the ASRock Z77 pro 3....

- If I overclock on the CPU I should really use water cooling instead of an aftermarket fan? True? I was looking at this fan anyway: Thermalight HR-02 Macho

- I was also asking them weather to get the GTX 660ti 2GB or the 7950 3Gb, he said the 7950 due to it being 3Gb....COD can take up 1.8Gb. Thing is the 660 ti has all of nVidias bonus's like Adaptive vSync etc.

- Will I need to order any extra cables (Think they called Sata cables) or anything like that? Because I will need cables for HDD, Optical D. and an SSD. Or are all these included in the build?

- Is 80 quid (Without installation of an OS but fully checked) good for the computer to be built for if I bring the parts? 110 quid for full make up and full check including OS and antivirus etc.

Cheers

Eboggles

You've got to be kidding me, everything that "Pc Guy" said is incorrect.

You could run the 7950 off a 500 watt, vRAM doesn't indicate a cards strength, and ASRock are an excellent motherboard manufacturer.

We'd also build your PC for free if you asked

Edit: you don't at all need watercooling for CPU overclocking. You could even push 4ghz with the stock cooler! It would be pretty loud though.

Monotype

Your PC guy might have been trying to pawn off a crappy PSU in which case 750W would actually be necessary.
Eboggles is correct - 500W is loads when you have a good quality PSU which delivers clean, stable poor and that's with overclocking. 400W should do the job, actually.

Asus used to be the top brand. Their high end boards are still excellent but their low and mid end (cheaper Z77) boards aren't any match to the competition.

You could use the fan that you get in the box and still overclock a bit. The macho is an enormous heatsink and the PC doesn't have a clue what he's talking about here. Again, going on old information or doesn't know about the topic. You could even go with smaller heatsinks and have a lot of overclocking room.

7950 and the 660ti comes down to price really. Don't go thinking that more RAM = better card or anything, but the 7950 seems a better buy now due to the pricing. The extra RAM will help with high resolutions but at 'HD' 1920x1080, 2GB vs 3GB on the same card won't really make any difference.

You should get an extra SATA cable. Many motherboards just have 2 and you'll need 3.

Doyler99

Thanks for the help!
This is my current build I was looking at, total is €1262 (inc. shipping)
Anyway I could reduce this? whilst still retaining good performance for gaming, I was looking more at a 1100 budget if it's possible
Also can all that support dual monitors if I decide to get one at a later stage?

Intel Core i5- 3570K
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 3 6GB/s
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX
8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9
BitFenix Midtower
BenQ G2255
LG GH24NS
Cooler Master Gx Series 750W
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC 950M 3GB
SATA Cable
Thermalright HR-02 Macho
Network Card

Eboggles

Drop the PSU down to a Super Flower Amazon 450 watt and get a HD7870.

Monotype

I think that that's actually the Seagate 7200.14 that you have there, which HWV doesn't clearly mark. Better than the 7200.12, but I'd also consider the new WD blue which is only a few euro more and it's got two years warranty.

I'd also look at lower profile RAM to minimise the chances that it collides with heatsinks.
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/44314/8GB-Kit+G-Skill+RipJaws+PC3-12800U+CL9.article
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/48850/8GB-Kit+Corsair+Vengeance+Low+Profile+schwarz+PC3-12800U+CL9.article
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/52088/8GB-Kit+Corsair+XMS3+PC3-12800U+CL9.article
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/44321/8GB-Kit+G.Skill+RipJaws-X+PC3-12800U+CL9.article

All those should fit under most heatsinks although I haven't personally used the macho to be sure. It's a difficult one to install so I hope you don't mind some extra time at it.

+1 to Eboggles' suggestion on the PSU. GX series from coolermaster isn't great.

Maybe a PCI-E wireless card instead?
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/PCI-Express/30773/TP-Link+TL-WN781N%2C+150Mbps%2C+PCIe+x1.article
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/PCI-Express/48078/ASUS+PCE-N10.article
Just a consideration in case you were to update the motherboard and find there's no PCI slots. I suppose €15 would be that much cost for a new one either way.

Doyler99

Hmmm any recommendations for a good CPU fan for my setup?

Thanks, yea I think I will go for one of them PCI-E wireless cards

Might go for the RAM you said too: [URL="http://www2.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/48850
/8GB-Kit+Corsair+Vengeance+Low+Profile+schwarz+PC3-12800U+CL9.article"]Corsair Vengeance memory - 8Gb - Low profile[/URL]

In that final price I had an OS included for 90 quid just forgot to list it btw

Changed the PSU to this: Super-Flow Amazon 80plus 650W

Might just work overtime for the next week to keep the budget to 1300 or around that, dont want to really downgrade anything else

Monotype

The Macho is a good fan - one of the best - but it's challenging to install. The thermalright true spirit is apparently much easier to put on and you'll still have lots of overclocking room if you want an alternative.

What do you need a 650W PSU for? The motherboard isn't suitable for multiple graphics cards and it's unlikely power requirements will increase by that much. There's little else that could increase power by that much, even by throwing in several hard drives and a lot of overclocking. I'd go for 550W to be fair but if you want something that's a little better, then I'd look at more efficient ones or a modular one.

If you're a student, you can get windows for cheaper from software4students.ie