Building a new gaming rig

[Roark]

Haven't really been following this thread so sorry if it was brought up before.

Have you considered upgrading the GPU? For a gaming rig it is one of the most crucial parts (if not the most). Getting a more powerful card will keep you happier longer.
Also, if you are content with the 5770 you can safely downgrade your PSU, you only need around 450-500W for it.

 

[Project Dusk]

Haven't really been following this thread so sorry if it was brought up before.

Have you considered upgrading the GPU? For a gaming rig it is one of the most crucial parts (if not the most). Getting a more powerful card will keep you happier longer.
Also, if you are content with the 5770 you can safely downgrade your PSU, you only need around 450-500W for it.

I already have the 5770 in hand, got it on sale. It's unopened but I'm sure newegg's restocking fee would be unsettling. I will upgrade it one day, probably after I have a job. Right now I'm using some leisure money I had tucked away to build my rig but I should be working before october. I got the 750W because in the future I will try and upgrade to 2 6 series cards
in crossfire and I wanted to have room for that, but if I could run 2 high end 6 cards in crossfire on a 650W then I'll definitely switch to one of those.

 

[Project Dusk]

I dunno what it is, call me picky, but there's something about the Dragon Rider that I don't like. It may be the fact that I like to show off my parts and also be able to see them, that makes me prefer an actual window as opposed to a mesh side that lets dust in but keeps eyes out.

I'm looking at these cases now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133191

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225


I'm really liking the Thermaltake Chaser MK-1. Loving the set up and the fact it has a place to hang your headset, considering I was planning to buy a Logitech G930 and a Sennheiser headset holder to store it when not in use.


Anyone have any experience with the Chaser or any Thermaltake cases? It's amazing what you can find when you expand your budget just a tad.

OK, I've decided on the Thermaltake Chaser MK-1. It has everything I want and then some, superb air flow, mounts for an SSD, see through window, air filters, bottom mounted PSU exhaust slot, Large CPU cutout, Excellent Cable management ports, red LED fans (can even be changed on the fly to blue or green) with built in fan controls and an internal usb 3.0 header makes it awesome. I'll be adding a 200mm red LED Coolermaster Megaflow fan onto the side for extra VGA cooling. I also love the fact it has a built on headset rest so I can rest my Logitech G930 on it. I'm so happy that I'm this much closer to getting my gaming rig built, I can't wait.


I also went ahead and lowered my PSU from 750W to 650W to save money, Also I'll be upgrading from a 5770 to a 6870 in the future, but for now I'm sure the 5770 will be able to hand games like L4D, L4D2, BF3 and Crysis 2 until I get the newer card(s) .


I'm also gonna go ahead and do what I can to afford at least a 60GB SSD for my rig, I found for $90 a Corsair Nova: Newegg.com - Corsair Nova Series 2 CSSD-V60GB2 2.5" 60GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Seems to have good reviews on it. I've read nothing but bad reviews on OCZ SSDs so I'm avoiding those.


I'll be adding a 500GB HDD to boost it's storage at first then I'll add in a 1TB HDD later on.


You guys have been an amazing help and I thank you, I have just one last question methinks.


I want an awesome and sick looking heatsink fan, something that will bring the look of the inside together while still showing how much of a beast this rig and will become as time goes by.

My choices are down between these 2:


Cooler Master V6 GT: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER V6 GT RR-V6GT-22PK-R1 120mm DynaLoop CPU Cooler w/ Universal bracket & Dual Fan

Thermaltake CLP0554: Newegg.com - Thermaltake CLP0554 80mm Sleeve CPU Cooler


Out of those 2, which has the best bang for the buck?

 

[Slaymate]

The Thermaltake is cool looking but a total performance failure, buy the Cooler Master V6.

 

[Project Dusk]

Thanks SM, really appreciate it. I think it looks epic and sinister, but something about it just didn't sit well with me, looks like it throws the air onto other parts in your rig.

Much appreciated.


How's my case choice and SSD choices look?


Man that case and SSD bring my total up to $796 and that's not including taxes, s/h or my other parts I already spent money on, but at least those are already paid for. Sheesh this got expensive fast but nobody ever said pimpin was easy.

I know I could and probably should cut the SSD and the mobo I'm picking is almost $200, but I'm only going with it cuz it's perfect in every way, size, shape and form. Worse comes to worst, I'll cut out the SSD and stick with regular HDDs.


I could always buy the parts in installments, I keep having payments of like $350 come to me, and I might another 300+ before the month is over, guess we'll wait and see.

 

[Slaymate]

Thermaltake makes a nice case. The only thing I don't like with it is that you can only mount the power supply on the bottom. While it's popular putting the power supply on the bottom, I prefer to mount the power supply on the top (heat rises). But to be honest a case is really a personal choice and you should buy what you like, not what I like.

I haven't used any Corsair SSD's yet, but their a good company so it should run about the same as its competitors. If I was buying a SSD I would go with a OCZ as I've tried quite a few of them and I haven't had any problems, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Project Dusk]

Thermaltake makes a nice case. The only thing I don't like with it is that you can only mount the power supply on the bottom. While it's popular putting the power supply on the bottom, I prefer to mount the power supply on the top (heat rises). But to be honest a case is really a personal choice and you should buy what you like, not what I like.

I haven't used any Corsair SSD's yet, but their a good company so it should run about the same as its competitors. If I was buying a SSD I would go with a OCZ as I've tried quite a few of them and I haven't had any problems, but that's just my opinion.

That's the thing about cases, I spent so much time and effort looking for a decent case but the ones I found that matched my criteria didn't really "work" for me. The minute I saw that one I started watching video reviews and checked out vortez.net's review on it, turns out it's a pretty solid case, easily affordable and sexy as all get out. My only problem is I can't find any of those colorshifting 200mm fans they use in it for sale by themselves anywhere, really a shame cuz I'd love to put 2 more of them in it, 1 more on top and 1 on the side.


On newegg most of the OCZ drives have low ratings, people say they die after less than a year or so, I really don't want to deal with that. Corsair has always been good to me and has always had really solid performance so I was glad to see them be so affordable. Well, affordable as soon as I sell some more stuff.


Can't wait for this PC to be built, definitely gonna buy myself a R.A.T. 7 mouse for BF3.

So final specs seem to be:

Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth 990FX AM3+
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 980 BE
Cooler: Cooler Master V6-GT using Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Paste
RAM: G. Skill Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 5770 (Until I upgrade to the 6870)
Main Drive: Corsair Nova 60GB SSD
Secondary Drive: 500GB Seagate HDD
Third Drive: 1TB HDD
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc DVD Burner
O/S: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit Edition
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series 650W


I'm also considering throwing in a 5 in 1 card reader since they are so cheap and I tend to take lots of pictures, it would make it easier to upload them.

 

[Project Dusk]

Same case, just in red. Wish I could find out more info but google shows nothing but the fact they showed it off some time in the early summer. Probably won't be getting a big release any time soon.

 

[Project Dusk]

What's the most reliable, affordable 60GB SSD? How's this one look compared to that Corsair Nova? Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)


I want one that has a lot of good reviews and that's reliable yet affordable.



It seems a LOT of these SSDs have poor reliability ratings. People saying they died after 10 month, sometimes less. Some say they get the BSOD after a few months and I really don't want that. I want mine to be reliable.



I might go with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167049 A bit more expensive, has more room and very good ratings. I might downsize and get one their 40GB if that'd still work for me, or should I stick with 60 or more?

 

[Trotter]

I have an Agility 2 (came from Slaymate) that I love. The Vertex is a step up.

Slay can tell you a lot more, but i know my drive is at least a year old and no problems. Whatever drive you get you want to go through the SSD Tweak guide.

If you want something with a little more oomph then check out the Vertex 3. I looked at the "reviews" on NewEgg but could tell some have no clue. It looks like the only ones who have left a review were the few who got a bad drive. I am sure NewEgg has sold way more than the few reviews I saw on the drives I looked at.