Need Help For First Time Builder

[ThorsonW]

Is the 660 Ti better? It's definitely a bit cheaper, but aside from that, is it statistically better?

 

[PP Mguire]

It used to be more expensive until Nvidia dropped the price. They more or less trade blows and each one has a clear advantage in one or two games a piece. (Skyrim AMD, BF3 Nvidia)
AMD cards introduce frame latency which can cause a choppy game appearance despite high FPS. If you Google 7950 frame latency tech report has a full article about it, and an updated article comparing the performance of older 12 drives and newer 13 beta drivers.
Also, Nvidia drivers are superior in stability.

 

[Bartek24]

I reccomend Windows 7 Pro instead of Home Premium. Might help as Pro offers some more features which you might find useful.

 

[PP Mguire]

That bumps the price up 40 bucks. HP offers all features needed besides possibly RDT, but he can always use Team Viewer IF he needed that.

 

[ThorsonW]

So my current checklist of items to buy is:

OS: Newegg.ca - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems


GPU: Newegg.ca - EVGA 02G-P4-3660-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card


Motherboard: Newegg.ca - ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


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


PSU: Newegg.ca - CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply (Decided to get the 850w in the case that I might want to run duel cards in the near future)


RAM: Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL


Case: Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


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


Grand Total: CND $1,290.46 (after shipping and taxes)

Is everything there okay? Or should I go back and select a few parts in place of the ones that have been selected?

 

[PP Mguire]

I hope you don't hate the HAF cases as much as I hate them.

 

[Skorpian]

I'd suggest spending a bit more and going for the Extreme4 instead. IIRC, it has better VRM's which means better overclocking with more stability.

 

[PP Mguire]

I'd suggest spending a bit more and going for the Extreme4 instead. IIRC, it has better VRM's which means better overclocking with more stability.

VRMs are sufficient for OCs on decent cooling. He would need a high end water loop or DICE to cap the VRMs on that board.

Also, the difference is only +1 between the two. Not much to run home on.

 

[ThorsonW]

Order for all the parts have been placed. Thanks for the help, guys!