Proposed Rig ~1300 (Budget is 1500)

[BrainFRZ]

I'm thinking of building a rig, but I do have a few questions. When I looked at the processor on Newegg, it suggested the motherboard and case. However, when I look at the PCI slots on the mobo and the spaces in the case, it doesn't look like they line up. Am I looking at it wrong? This has always been a fear of mine... Also, I wanted to get the video card, but I'm not sure if it'll fit with the case. Is there a way of finding this out? Finally, I was hoping to find a wireless card, but all the ones I've found on Newegg have bad reviews. I don't need a really fast one. I only seem to get 2-3Mb/s at most anyway.

Another question I had was about the cooling system. Doesn't it need a heat sink to go over the processor? Or does the thermal armor make it so I don't need one? I always thought a heatsink was critical. Another thing about the cooling: do I need another fan, or would it be alright to use the fan built into the case? If not, would I take the fan out of the case and replace it with another one? I don't see another spot where a fan can go. Also, it looks like two fans come with the motherboard, which confuses me even further. I don't see any spots on the mobo for a fan to even fit, let alone ports for power.

If anyone has suggestions for other components within my $1500 budget instead of the ones I've chosen, that'd be awesome! This is the first time I'll build a rig, so I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. (I've put together computers before, but the components were already chosen, and I just had to assemble them.) Thanks in advance for the help!

COMPONENTS

Processor: Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770

Motherboard: Newegg.com - ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770 (I'll be getting two of these for 16GB)

Hard Drive: Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Case: Newegg.com - Rosewill R5 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Case, comes with 2 x front fans, Fan Controller, USB2.0 & USB3.0 front ports, Removable top and lower front filter panels

Power Supply: Newegg.com - Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W Continuous @ 50°C, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply

Cooling: Built-in

Graphics: Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Optical Drive: Newegg.com - ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - Blu-Ray Drives


PRICE
Processor: $300
Motherboard: $239
RAM: $76
HDD: $80
Case: $80
Power Supply: $100
Graphics: $379
Optical Drive: $59
Total: $1313

 

[PP Mguire]

Need to know what you want the computer to be used for first to better assist you.

As it stands, I would change out a few things regardless.

CPU:
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - ASRock Z77 Extreme3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM:
Newegg.com - Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model PV38G160C9K

PSU:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

And the rest looks fine.

With the above savings I would add on this to your setup.
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I wouldn't make a setup with that kind of budget without having an SSD as it's just a waste.
I changed the CPU to the 3570k because it is essentially the same as the i7 except without HT (which 90% of the time isn't needed). I changed the motherboard because if you aren't OCing there isn't a reason in the world to spend a ton of money on some uber board. Plus, I prefer ASRock. I changed the RAM because currently I have a Patriot set in my machine on review and these are super solid, plus that kit was cheap. I do not trust Mushkin anymore.
I swapped the PSU because you want quality above all else. 650w is more than plenty to fuel the most powerful single GPU setup so anything after that is a waste of cash.

To answer your other questions, yes board will fit in case, yes GPU will fit in case, yes fans are fine and they should plug straight into the motherboard. It looks like they even included adapters for if you need them. CPU comes with a stock heatsink and TIM right on it already pre-applied.

 

[BrainFRZ]

Oh, I meant to put that first. I want to be able to play modded RPG games on Mid-High settings. I don't plan on ever over-clocking (that's just not a risk I want to take), so thanks for the tip on the cheaper board. I also want to be able to watch and store movies on it. I have all my games in Steam, so they'd have to be downloaded and stored to the drive. I didn't think this would be possible on an SSD, so that's why I picked out the 1TB HDD. Would it be better to just get the SSD and then an EHD to store movies etc in? But wouldn't the games run more slowly coming from an EHD? Or get both and do a master/slave setup?

Also, why don't you trust Mushkin? I really don't know much about the different manufacturers, as I've always just ordered pre-built computers from Dell or HP.

 

[PP Mguire]

Just get the SSD and use it as your primary with the OS and most programs and such on it then use the other HDD to store larger things on. After Windows install and browser/ect you'll have about 90-100GB left of free space to use.

I don't trust them because they are 3rd party. Last thing I had that was branded Mushkin died on me within 2 weeks. It took them almost 2 months to replace that RAM.

 

[BrainFRZ]

Alright. Right now, I'm using 118GB, but I haven't really installed everything I would like to as far as the games go, and I haven't downloaded ANY movies or TV shows, so I'd definitely need a second drive. Would games run terribly slower from an external drive? Or would they both have to be internal for it to run well? Thanks for the help

 

[PP Mguire]

Just run the extra HDD internally.

 

[BrainFRZ]

Alright, thanks again for all your help

 

[PP Mguire]

It didn't post why......Dafuq?

Reason being, 1TB+ USB drives are pricey if you get a smaller one, and they are usually stuck in a USB2 enclosure which caps your drive between 35-45MB/s. Most newer 7200RPM drives can sustain almost double that so you're losing a ton in speed. To get a 3.5" external would just mean extra clutter on your desk when you can easily conceal that inside your case instead.

 

[BrainFRZ]

Ah, then yeah I'll definitely get them both internal. Would both of them fit in the case I picked, or would I have to pick a different one? The computers I've dealt with in the past have always had slots or some other way of securing the drive to the case. Would it be the same way with two drives? (I've never actually set up a master/slave combo. I just know you have to adjust the jumpers on the drive.)

Also, do you have any thoughts on a good WiFi card? I almost forgot about that.

 

[PP Mguire]

Case has room for 6 internal drives, and 4 5.25" drives (optical).

Also, master/slave jumpers have gone the way of the do-do. SATA drives have their own port per drive with no extra hassle.

Newegg.com - TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Wireless N Dual Band Adapter IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI Express x1 Up to 450Mbps Wireless Data Rates Support 64/128 bit WEP, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK, 802.1x

Mimo should help with your signal issue.