First time pc build (gaming rig)

[Varys]

Hey guys I've been in need of a new desktop pc so I decided to take a stab at putting one together myself. My tech experience isn't very high but it seems like putting together a pc isn't toodifficult nowadays with all the info available on the net.

The main thing this rig will be used for is gaming, playing games like SWTOR, League of Legends, Diablo 3 in the highest settings I can get.

Alright so for the parts I've been looking at:

CPU- Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB -240$

Case-Coolermaster Haf X EATX Tower Case Black -200$
I know the case is huge but I like the look of it and the way I see it is it'll have tons of room for future components

GPU- EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Classified-325$

MOBO- Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 Z68-175$ (165$ after MIR)

PSU-

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850M 850W ATX Modular Power Supply-140$ Would a 750w power supply be good enough if I would want another 560ti and possible overclocking or should i stick with an 850w?

RAM- Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 Vengeance 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Dual Channel-50$

SSD-OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 Sandforce-190$ (170$ after MIR)

HDD-Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN HDD Hard Drive OEM -160$

Is everything compatable?
Are there any places in my build where I could dish out a bit more money for alot more performance, or places where I could save a few bucks on un-needed premiums?


Hopefully I've given enough information, any and all opinions will be greatly appreciated

 

[Night Fox]

I'd change the Corsair Vengeance to G.Skill...some have had issues with the tall heat spreaders...

I'd increase the SSD to an OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS edition...much faster for smaller files.

A 750w should be fine, just make sure it has enough 6-pin and 8-pin connectors for two of those 560ti's.

 

[Shaynk]

Add a heatsink so you can overclock that 2500k. Which will cause the issue with the ram, look for some lower profile ram, corsair or gskill both make it. Personally prefer crucial over ocz but its a meh point.

 

[Talyor]

CyberPower PC. - Custom Built Gaming PC and Gaming Laptops well if you dont wanna build it your self i put all your parts togather and it came to 1583 dollars after shipping. The stuff u listed was 1483 and u forgot an operating system, But if you wanna build it yourself you can go right ahead.

 

[Varys]

Thanks for the tips guys. I changed the Ram to some corsair vengeance low profile to hopefully make room for a cpu heatsink.
The two heatsinks I found are

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 HIGH-PERFORMANCE DUAL-FAN CPU Cooler[/FONT] - regular 65$, 40$ after rebate and Coolermaster RR-920-N520-GP Hyper N520 Copper 5-HEATPIPE CPU Heatsink - 40$ what do you guys think about the two? are either of them too big? dunno about the coolermaster but the A70 comes with thermal paste should I just use what it comes with or buy different thermal paste? As for the SSD's the Vertex 3 Max Iops edition I found for 300$ which is a bit too much for me, but I found a weekly deal on [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce[/FONT] -190 bucks after deal and MIR, is it better than the OCZ Agility originally in my build? @Taylor-I'll probably still put the pc together myself, that is a decent price for having it done but I wanna gain some experience with doing it myself. I'll be buying the computer parts at a local NCIX, and I have yet to see how much I can save with some possible combo's/ pricematching so the price difference between Cyberpower putting it together for me and me doing it myself might be a little higher than it seems as of now. Thanks for looking into it for me though.

 

[Sean W.]

cutout the HAF X and get a cheaper CASE and use the money saved and put it towards a component that has processing power.
for example get a corsair 400R and use the $100 saved and get a GTX 580! also, dont get a Z68 board... you arent going to be using the features the board offers and you are literally throwing money away. get a p67 board, and use the money saved and get a better CPU cooler to push your processor harder, like the corsair H100.

what is your max budget? i will put together a Bang-For-your-buck build!!!1!!

 

[Varys]

The motherboard I chose showed up as a bundle deal from NCIX with the i7 2500k for 380$. It would save me 40$ (30$ for the combo 10 for the MIR) and I would get Lost planet Extreme condition (haven't played a Lost Planet game since the first one so that part isn't that big a deal for me )
Are there any p67 boards you would recommend?

I'd like to keep my budget around 1500-1600$ max before taxes, and as for the HAFX I know it's on the expensive side but I'm pretty dead set on it. (I'll take another look around for cheaper cases maybe I'll find one that I think look good lol)For now I would be getting only one 560ti and probably a second a couple weeks down the road when I get paid. Do you think it's better to go for a single higher powered card or the SLI.

Since I've never put together a pc do you think the water cooling setup would be difficult? I was hoping to overclock the cpu to around 4.5ghz do you think it would be possible with a good air cooler?

Thanks again for your help guys keep the good info coming

 

[Sean W.]

i like MSI boards, a lot of people on here like Asus boards...

i like the MSI p67 GD55 board.... perfect features to dollar ratio, covers all the bases for the average computer builder and its going to yield a great overclock.

the case i suggested ( Corsair 400R ) was designed to house corsairs H100, which is their highest end closed loop water cooling solution... simply screw the radiator to the top of your case, mount the water block to your CPU socket and from there on the only maintenance you are going to have to do is keep the dust out of the radiator, the same is true for air coolers tho.

id strive to get at least a 570, and save for a litle longer and SLI that. i think youd be much happier with the results. also you will be able to lean on that one higher end GPU, because it is more powerful, for longer...