I'm building my very first PC soon and I would like some peoples suggestions on what parts I should get. I have been doing research for many months now, and updating parts as I find better ones around the same price or just a little more. There are a few things that I am not sure about so I am hoping you guys can help me with those as well.
Thanks in advance!
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770k Quad-Core Processor (OC to 4.5-4.8, want to be somewhat cool)
$319.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 92.0CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
$119.99
Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Formula EATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Storage: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM HDD
$94.49
GPU: Asus Radeon HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3GB Video Card
$499.99
PSU: Corsair Professional 1050W 80PLUS Silver Power Supply
$209.99
Case: NZXT Switch 810 Matte Black ATX Full Tower Case
$179.99
Addons:
Projector: Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 1080p 2000 Lumens 3LCD
$1299.99 (Won't be buying this for a while, there may be a better one out by the time I do end up buying a projector for my Computer).
Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone w/ Pop Filter
$99.99 - Mic Only
$132.46 - Mic and Pop Filter
Questions:
So here is the part where I tell you guys what I am not sure/confused about.
Lets start with the GPU. The two video cards I have been looking at are the MSI GTX 680 Lightning or the ASUS Radeon HD 7970 Matrix. Both cards are apparently very overclockable, and they seem to be the best performing single GPU cards on the market currently. I am fine with both nVidia and AMD, however I would like to try out nVidia since I have been using a laptop with an AMD MGPU in it. The main reason I want to go with nVidia is because they have PhysX and some games are really well optimised (I would presume some games are very well optimised for AMD aswell but I haven't read anything really). I have looked at some people's threads on various other websites about what GPU they would take and the majority seemed to chose AMD (7970 Matrix vs 680 Lightning). I would like to hear your opinion on the matter. I will probably try overclocking either of the cards I get, and that can change the ballgame entirely. I will also probably pick up a second card sometime in the future when I start to feel one card is getting a little slow.
The last thing I am really not sure about is the SSD. I was told to go with this SSD a few months ago because the performance is amazing, however over that time new and faster SSDs have come out. I watched Logan's video yesterday on the ADATA XPG SX900 256GB SSD and was thinking of going with that since apparently it is so fast, although it is a bit more expensive. (Just a note: I may purchase another HDD just to back everything up - 2-3TB depending on what I think I would need (Total storage = 2.24TB which means I would probably go with a 3TB or 2x 1.5 in RAID 10. Another note: The 2 1TB drives will not be in a RAID configuration, one of the drives will be for games, the other for videos/streams since those will be the two main functions of this computer as the title says.
Thanks again for your help in advance! I will update the thread when I get more information or things change.
Note: I have made a topic on the Build a PC forum before, however things have changed since then.
I don't know if I'd spend that much on a case, but I definately wouldn't spend that much on a PSU, you don't need anywhere near that much power, even if you were to throw another HD7970 in there you still wouldn't need more than 750W. Other than that seems fairly reasonable.
Since you will be streaming, you may want to consider this streaming card, it apparrently helps out. Here is a review by Destiny:
7 or 850 watt PSU, that one is pretty nice for the money comparing to corsairs 850 and 750's though so if you're thinking for the future go for it.
fractal has a case pretty similar to that for i think 120, it's black with a side window. really clean looking. if not, you could just get an nzxt phantom which is also really nice.
noctua has an air cooling system that's nearly as good as corsair (at least i've heard alot people saying so) and it's i think 90$ish. but if you're set on water cooling because you like doing the maintenance and the extra quietness or whatever that works too, just trying to find ways you could manage the 2,100 better.
if you're super set on overclocking a 2700k or 2600k could be better for that.
those are just my ideas though it's nice either way.
I could go with an AX850 instead of the HX1050, which would save me $30-$40, but I am really looking to the future with this computer and that I why I did decide to go with the HX1050. But I will still think about it.
I am really liking the look of the Switch 810, and all of the different things it brings to the table. I was thinking of going with the Fractal Define XL (I do like the larger cases) and then realised it didn't have an easy mounting location for a H100/i.
I was seriously considering the NH-D14, however I wasn't a huge fan of the looks of it and the fact that it was so massive. It would probably give lower temperatures and it is quite cheaper. But I personally really like the look of the H100/i and the monitoring of everything. Now that I think about it I may also go with the new NZXT Kraken x60 because of the super indepth monitoring and the added surface area with 140 fans supported. I think I would perfer to stick with watercooling (may also take on the challenge of a loop in the future).
I am not super set on overclocking, I would like to overclock to try it out. But I wouldn't want to invest in last generation hardware and would probably stick with the 3770k because it is still very good at overclocking, I don't mind that it is a little more expensive than the last generation hardware too.
Thanks for the suggestions! I will consider some things.
I was thinking of going with the HX1050 because I was thinking for the future so when stuff does start to get more powerful I would not have to worry about upgrading my PSU, although I am not sure how fast that time will come and if it would be time to upgrade somethings anyway such as the PSU.
I really like the Switch 810, I love the functionality it brings to the table and I am personally a fan of the larger cases. I don't mind spending a bit more on the case anyway.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will probably pick one up eventually depending on how much my system lags and how much I do end up streaming. I will use the computer for record/rendering and streaming, one or the other or both.
Since you intend on doing some streaming and you are obviously very focused on your specs, make sure your upload speed can do the streaming in decent/watchable quality. If your upload sucks, then it wont matter how powerful your computer is. I would say minimum upload should be 1.5mb/s - 2mb/s
AMD card's can do PhysX, you just have to change some files. The perf. drop is very minimal, especially on powerful cards. I prefer the 7970, faster IMO, and has 3GBs of ram. Plus you can oc it like hell.
Other than that, everything looks good. You can get a good oc out of Ivy Bridge, it's just that Sandy Bridge runs relatively cooler, so you can push them more.
nzxt kraken is the ONLY closed loop system I would consider, otherwise, go with the thermalright silver arrow SB-E, cools better than the nh-d14, and looks really nice too
Seems like a pretty good system even though I am obviously not the person who should be telling you what you should change/add/remove.
One thing I am not sure about is, are you going to be playing games accross both of those monitors or use one to play and one to manage your stream and things. Because I am not sure how well a single 7970 would do when you are playing a game across both monitors and streaming and recording at the same time. It might get a little slow.