Building a new computer, help/info needed!

Britton30 said:

PCIe 3 in only supported with a Z77 chip and Ivy CPU.

A very minor niggle: some Z68 boards support PCI-E 3 with an Ivy Bridge CPU. Example:

ASUS - - ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3

This is only of historical interest; I can't imagine buying a Z68 over a Z77 board.

You post was very clear and concise.

ICit2lol said:

Seems like all has been covered and everything is on budget really as you can spend a great deal of money on the build.

Like has already been said depends on what you intend to do with it once up and running. But if you want my two cents worth don't scrimp - get the best you can even if it means you end up with a machine that is a bit overkill.

I did with my Sandy Bridge build and regretted it something rotten. My current Ivy B is just fine,and can still be built on without altering a lot of the already installed stuff like the board and CPU. For instance I find the HAF XM case with an i5 3750K on an Asus P8Z77-V board just about what suited me the rest (RAM, GPU etc) can be "played" with to a point :)

Except your next upgrade is going to need a new CPU + mobo because the 1155 socket is fading out.

TwoCables said:

...I recommend the P8Z77-V and the P8Z77-V Pro...

The ASUS P8Z77-V line are all good boards but all except the Deluxe and Premium boards still have some legacy PCI slots which you wouldn't be able to use unless you have some older cards knocking about. I personally would recommend the Deluxe if you can afford to shell out the shekels for it. You will be able to use it for some time to come.

I was all set to pull the trigger on the Premium but all the reliable vendors ran out around the same time and it's up in the air whether or not it's going to be restocked (NewEgg is saying it's discontinued but Fry's, who has never stocked it before, is now taking preorders for it). If it doesn't become available before much longer, I'll probably be getting the Deluxe.

essenbe said:

I think most of your questions have been answered above. But, to reiterate. The 2600K is sandy Bridge and only supports PCIe 2.0. The other 2 are Ivy Bridge and support PCIe 3.0. Right now, it makes little difference, but within the next year or two very well may make a difference.(PCIe 3.0 is backward compatable and will run on PCIe 2.0, so not a real big issue) The Ivy Bridge chips do create more heat, but only while running stress tests. During most every day use there is very little difference, depending on how high you overclock. But, even in that case it is usually not significant. As has been said, you can run AMD or Nvidia on an Intel board. It really does not matter. The Z77 chipset is what you want and most of the Z77 boards I am aware of will run 8GB chips at higher frequencies than Intel states. I'm running 2400MHz right now. I would choose my PSU wisely. Many people try to save money there. That is the wrong decision. The PSU is the heart of your rig and a cheap one can take many of your components out. The better quality ones are made to not do that, at least most of the time. I always recommend Corsair, Seasonic or Antec. They are some of the better ones. If you can afford it, get a modular PSU, it will make your build much easier. Notice I mentioned PSU before graphics. That is because your graphics card choice will be a major determining factor in your choice of PSU. Most cards will list the minimum required PSU in their specs. That is for the whole computer. Another consideration is you stated you may upgrade in the future. With that in mind I would buy a larger one than the required one. It will allow you to upgrade your graphics without having to upgrade your CPU. Personally, I like to buy a PSU that is 50% higher than I need. It will make it run cooler and not strain it and should last longer. Plus, I can upgrade graphics cards at any time without having to worry. As far as cards, I will leave that to your choice. You can really get into a war with people talking about which is best, AMD or Nvidia. I'm a fanboy of neither. They both make good cards. I own a 6950 and a GTX670 right now and either one will play any game out. I would certainly opt for 2GB of graphics memory or better. I am not familiar with the new 7000 series of AMD cards. For nvidia, I think the 660TI and the 670 are the 2 best Nvidia cards price/performance right now. Rumor has it that both are coming out with a new line soon. The Passmark site rates the cards price/performance, you may wish to look. There really is no gaming difference between the 3570K and 3770K, both will play any game out with ease. But, with graphics editing the 3770K is what you would want to choose. Although you can't buy from there, I would recommend looking at components you are interested in at Newegg. Take the time and read the user feedback. It can help you decide on components and save you a lot of grief. Buy the parts wherever you want but Newegg is a great place to do research. In the bottom left of every post here, click on 'My System Specs', those are the components of the people making the post. It can give you an idea of which components work together. My advice is pick your CPU first, then the motherboard. Match all the components that you want and that will give you a better idea of what size PSU you want/need. Then keep the above PSU suggestions and considerations in mind. Just my opinions.

I was gonna buy a 650W power supply from Corsair which I believed would suit my needs just fine, but then I started looking at the XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 which requires a 650W power supply, so I'm probably gonna end up with a 750W power supply from Corsair instead. The Corsair HX 750W PSU to be more precise, modular, 80 Plus Gold and all those kind of goodies.

I've also seen that many of the recent high-end graphics cards only require 500W, so I would assume that 750W would cover my future needs as well.

Appreciate your help essenbe, your post answered a lot for me, especially the whole GPU and PSU deal.


- Drops

TwoCables said:

Drops said:

Minor flaw actually? But yeah, I'm probably gonna end up with choosing the i7-3770K, despite that it might running hotter than what I'm expecting, not that I'm really expecting anything, but never the less, I'm sure I'll be one happy camper.

I don't mean to be advertising Overclock.net too much, but this is a thread that helps make it easier to understand:

[Official] Delidded Ivy Bridge Club

Not at all, I'm looking for information, so any links and what not are much appreciated regardless of what site it is.

TwoCables said:

Some have lower voltages, like 1.35V. Speaking of which, this memory is being regarded as pretty much the holy grail of memory right now:

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model MV-3V4G3D/US

It may not have heatspreaders, but damn: I haven't heard any negative things about it yet; only extremely positive ones. People are saying that it overclocks like a dream and provides superior performance over everything else.

Ah, I see. But a question regarding memory modules. I'm aware that lower CL values are better, like CL9(9-10-9) would be better than CL11(11-13-13), but what if you for an example have memory modules that run at 1866MHz with CL9(9-10-9) timings, while the memory modules that have CL11(11-13-13) timings run at 2400MHz, which would be better? To I prioritize CL timings over speed?

TwoCables said:

Drops said:

Anything is possible in today's world, though I'm most likely going to order from a site that's located here in Norway.

Oh, ok. I'd like to use the store's site to post PSU recommendations.

Yeah I figured you were getting at that, but I think I'm gonna go with the Corsair HX 750W PSU, which should be pretty decent quality if I'm not mistaken.

TwoCables said:

Drops said:

P.S.(off topic)
As you guys might've noticed, I'm also a complete dingbat when it comes to forums and quoting others posts, so, mind sharing with me how I quote somebody else, BUT also containing information of who's post I'm quoting? 'Cause right now I had to do the @username before quoting so that people are able to keep track of who and what.

Use the two buttons on the bottom-right corner of each post. Treat the Multi button like checkboxes: each Multi button that you activate dictates which posts end up getting quoted. This enables you to reply to each Multi-quoted post in your post. It's like you're selecting each post.

Tip: The order in which you click each Multi button dictates the order in which they will appear in your post.

Tip #2: If you click the "Quote" button on the last post that you want to add, then you will be brought to the reply page with all of your Multi-quotes included with that Quoted post at the bottom. I hope this makes sense because I'm finding it hard to explain. lol :)

Hehe yeah it made sense, at least I think it did, I'm at least a little better suited at quoting other posts now, thanks!

Again thanks for the help, sincerely appreciate it!


- Drops