Building My first PC, input helpfull

Dorney88

Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth z77
Processor: INTEL Core i5 Ivy Bridge 3570k
RAM: Patriot Pc Viper 3 Series 4 x 8 GB
PSU: Corsair HX1050 80PLUS Gold
HDD: Western Digital WD2002 FAEX Caviar Black 3.5" Hard Drive 2TB
ODD: Plextor PX-B120U external 4x Blue-ray/DVD player
SSD: Samsung 830 Series internal SSD 128 GB
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D PC Tower Case
Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II - 2GB
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Will be use for gaming as well as photoshop.
What ye guys think and any tips/help welcome.

marco_polo

Looks pretty good however 32GB is way too much RAM, 8GB would be more than enough for gaming and photoshop. Even if you did get 32GB you would need at least a Professional edition of Window 7 to recognise it all, as Home Premium is limited to 16GB max.

Also a 1kW PSU is overkill for a single GTX 670, even if you were going SLI a quality 750W unit would be more than enough to cover 2*GTX 670's and a healthy CPU overclock.

Edit: I'd spend some of the above savings on the 256GB version of the Samsung, just cause they are so damn cheap right now and the more space for games on the ssd the better.

deravarra

I'd go with most of marco polo's recommendations, but would not go with the 8 GB RAM option - I'd rather have too much than too little. 16GB of decent RAM should do you. A modular power supply under 1kW (~850W) should be more than enough. 660 Ti should suffice for graphics and still save on spend. Definitely go with the Samsung 830 256GB - well worth it, and very cheap at the moment.
What's with the external ODD? Is there a reason you are going external?
Just wondering about your choice of case ... when you could go for the Corsair 600T - it has excellent cable management options. Makes for a cleaner interior

Dorney88

Thanks for the input. Was going on a spec I was given by a mate.

deravarra

Dorney88 wrote: »

Thanks for the input. Was going on a spec I was given by a mate.

NP. Do you have a budget for your PC building? It would help greatly when it comes to providing a suggested build list...

oh ... and I had a thought - while the i5 would be ok for photoshop, and for gaming - the i7 3770k would be even better. To accomodate that, I would drop the 256GB SSD back down to 128 ...

marco_polo

deravarra wrote: »

NP. Do you have a budget for your PC building? It would help greatly when it comes to providing a suggested build list...

oh ... and I had a thought - while the i5 would be ok for photoshop, and for gaming - the i7 3770k would be even better. To accomodate that, I would drop the 256GB SSD back down to 128 ...

Neither of those activities really beneit from Hyperthreaing though which is really the only major feature that the i7 3770k has to offer above the i5, I don't think that it justifies the almost 50% price premium.

I think a good aftermarket cooler, and a very health overclock is definately the way to go.

@OP Final thoughts, not sure how tight or not the budget is but you could also definately save money on the motherboard as well, there are plenty of servicable options for overclocking in the 100-130 ish price bracket. You could do worse than having a look at two of these recent builds fror example that the lads have put together on other threads and mix and match with your own.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80986748
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056771745

Without a budget or future upgrade plans it is hard to give the absolute best advice, do you plan on a multimonitor gaming setup, add a second card in the future etc. Like I said there is absolutely nothing wrong with you initial posted build, especially if budget isn't a big constraint. But the more information that you give the the closer you will get to optimal value for money.

Dorney88

Have a budget of 2000... Just on one monitor and don't think at the moment I would be putting in a second card.

marco_polo

Dorney88 wrote: »

Have a budget of 2000... Just on one monitor and don't think at the moment I would be putting in a second card.

There is probably no need to spend any more than 1300-1500 at the very most in that case, the law of diminishing returns kicks in very quickly once you start to go above that sort of spend.

For a single monitor gaming system something like this is about as high as I would go, and in all honesty even this build could have a couple of hundred quid chopped off easily if need be without loosing much . I definately don't think there is a whole lot more to be gained by spending much more on the CPU, GPU or motherboard in particular.

If you are feeling adventerous you could even throw in a lovely 24" Dell Ultrasharp IPS monitor and still have a massive chunk of change left over from that 2 grand.


Item|Price
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl|€107.10
Corsair Professional Series HX650|€112.34
MSI Z77A-G45|€106.33
Intel Core i5-3570K|€208.05
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 7950 |€309.00
8GB-Kit G-Skill RipJaws |€33.59
Scythe Mugen 3|€36.71
Samsung SSD 830 256GB SATA III|€158.54
WD Caviar Green 2TB|€92.39
Asus BC-12B1ST Blu-Ray|€59.90
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit|€81.89
Total|€1.305.84

Dorney88

Thanks marco_polo I like d look of that build thanks...

Andy!!

I use pcs for the same reasons as you OP, plus a bit of 3D, and yeah; I would listen to Marco Polo, great advice there. Would go for the 16gb RAM, 256GB SSD, maaaayybe the 670 if you do have a big budget but the 660ti. Will do fine. I guess the 670 is worth it for the differences which are substantial enough. Stick to the i5 3750K unless you use software that uses multi-threading and you're golden. You'll still have plenty budget left for a beastly 1440p screen.