Building First PC

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DaVinci

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OK so in a month or two I'm going to build a computer for myself and my girlfriend. The main uses are for gaming, web surfing, and school work the main game being Final Fantasy XIV later this year. I'm not a computer guru but I am a Computer Information Systems major in college at the moment so I do know the basics. I want the computer to be easily upgradable in the future. Budget is 1-2k (including monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers) I don't care about headphones or surround sound. This is my first build, up to this point I've only fiddled with small stuff such as removing HDD's, Memory, Ext. Multiple HDD's are not necessary at the moment although i would like to have the space to add more later. To start I'm fine with a single GPU although I would like it to be crossfire enabled and possibility add another in the future. I have messed around on Newegg and found a semi build but please comment on what you think of it and make any recommendations. I'm not sure what goes well together and/or what could be done different to make it better. The only thing i really want is: i7 processor, 6gb ram (prefer 12 but fine with 6). Also I could care less about 3D gaming. Furthermore I have never over clocked although I do intend to. Also any information that would be helpful in the actual assembly process would be appreciated.

Current Build:

Case $89.99:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Link Here

Mother Board $209.99:

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R 1366 mobo with USB3/SATA3
Link Here

Processor $298.99:

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Link Here


Hard Drive $:104.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD10000LSRTL 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Link Here

Video Card $389.99:

XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Link Here

RAM: $174.99:

Patriot Extreme Performance Gaming Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model PGS36G1333ELK
Link Here


Disk Drive $19.99:


Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM
Link Here

OS $99.99:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Link Here

Power Supply $89.99:

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
Link Here

Heatsink $89.99:

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
Link Here

+ a good monitor/keyboard/speakers
 
as far as the case goes id go with a HAF X that came out yesterday, or the HAF 932, both i believe are better than the Antec 1200, especailly the HAF X, its a sleek case. id deffinatly go with that one.

HAF X
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

HAF 932
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

processor is pretty beastly, so thats good

outstanding motherboard

Beastly graphics card

that Ram will work just fine

i would go with a minnimum of 750 Watt powersupply, 800Watt would probably be more comfortable.

as far as a cpu cooler goes, if you want to be the big dog on the porch and want to stay with air cooling, id go with the Noctua NH-D14, it is arguably the best air cooler on the market
Newegg.com - Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

but if spending almost $100 on a CPU cooler isnt what you find exciting id go with any one of these

Newegg.com - Noctua NH-U12DX 1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler

Newegg.com - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler

Newegg.com - Thermalright TRUE Black 120Rev.C CPU Cooler
plus a fan or 2 Newegg.com - Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan CPU Cooler
 
What about This Case . Updated the PSU. Also any other flaws or compatibility issues you see? Dont think im going to need a full tower and this one is half the price, by the same company.
 
If your going with the Noctua NH-D14 you'll want to stick with a Full Tower case, the bigger the better.

While Patriot Memory is Good, I've owned some and it performed flawlessly. The memory you've linked to is slow DDR3 1333 and the latencies are terrible for DDR3 1333 plus the tall heatspreaders may cause clearance issues with the NH-D14.

I recommend this memory, it's faster at DDR3 1600 speeds and the latencies are much better 8-8-8-24 plus it's cheaper and the heatspreaders are standard size :thumbsup:
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
 
Ok ill swich out to that memory, although is my mobo compatible with it? It dosent list 1600 but wanna check anyway, if not does anyone know a good usb 3.0, SATA3 i7 board?
 
That mobo will work with DDR3 1600, you may have to manually set the speeds but we can help you do that if necessary.

Edit: And even if it didn't work at 1600MHz it would still run at 1333MHz with faster timings than the Patriot Memory. But I'm sure it will run at 1600MHz, one way or another :thumbsup:
 
Awesome thanks guys. Is there aything else y'all can see that I could improve on for cheeper? Or any suggestions at all. Also how much harder is liquid cooling than fans? I would rather liquid but kinda scared to do on first build
 
Possibly ordering Parts tonight Need confirmation.

Everything is same as in original post except:

memory:

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
Link Here


Case:

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Link Here

Also thermal compound? and recomended monitor? also would it be better to go with a phantom processor sence this is for gaming
 
The Noctua NH-D14 comes with thermal paste, it's a good quality product and it's free :thumbsup:

But when it runs out I would go with the Tuniq TX-2 Muffin Man linked to. It's just as good at 1/2 the price :thumbsup:
 
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