Building A Gaming Computer with These Specs

[TheEbolaVirus]

This will be my first true gaming PC that I would have built and all around this build comes up to around $1600, any advice or changes I should make?


Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 Intel Z68 Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K

CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Liquid Cooler

RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB (4 x 4GB)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 SuperClocked (1536MB GDDR5)

Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX PCIe Sound Card

Hard Drives: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (7200rpm, 64MB cache)and OCZ Agility 3 Series Solid State Drive 120GB

Optical Drive: Lite-On Internal Blu-Ray Burner

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D

Power Supply: OCZ ZX Series Modular Power Supply 850W

 

[TheEbolaVirus]

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ok cool thanks for the advice

 

[distortedreality]

Yeah i'd ditch the sound card and the i7.

I'd probably keep the PSU, because on the off chance that you do another upgrade in a couple of years, that PSU will be able to be used.

You don't technically need it right now, but worth keeping imo.

Otherwise looks good.

 

[ResonanceSD]

I've got a 2600K and two 580's, if you are going with EVGA, get a vanilla card and overclock it yourself, and avoid the useless premiums on their super editions.

Also yeah, you probably don't need an i7, or a soundcard


EDIT: I'm using an 850W PSU to power an overclocked 2600k and SLI 580's, so you'll be fine.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I want to add that unless you're planning on using your computer as your main movie watching machine, I would ditch the Blu-Ray burner in favor of a DVD burner for the following reasons:

1. DVD burners are waaaaay cheaper.

2. Rewritable Blu-Rays are way more expensive than rewritable DVDs, and have less uses. Odds are, most of the things you would put on a disk could easily fit on a DVD unless you plan on using it as your primary backup, which I wouldn't recommend anyway, as external hard drives are much more reliable for backup than optical disks.

3.Optical drives are super easy to add in later, so if you do find yourself needing a Blu-Ray burner, it's really not a big deal.

 

[veloper]

Instead
get a 2500K for the millionth time;

Stick with 4 or 8 GB RAM. No game needs 16 GB.

Sound is mixed on the CPU ever since windows Vista, so take a basic soundcard with only a decent quality DAC, like a SB audigy SE. Costs next to nothing. Don't rely on crappy onboard sound either, just a really basic SB.

A 500W PSU is enough, unless you want two 580s.

Ignore all the overclocking suggestions. If you knew to do it properly, you woulnd't be asking any of us here.

 

[LordFish]

You seem to have a lot of money to throw at this, so awesome. But if you wanted to save money you could ditch the BD drive, sound card, maybe a cheaper case and drop to 8gb of RAM. I'd guess you wanted the BD burner for a reason, but bluray disks are expensive and are you ever going to want to burn 50gbs to optical media? you're call.

Also *important bit* I've heard those sealed water-cooling units can be troublesome, and in benchmark tests don't displace as much heat as high end air cooling.. Maybe have a look at the Noctua NH-D14 first, only if you plan on OCing the chip of course.

Also others raise excellent points, only thing I might mention is its best to get a Clean supply from your PSU, generally if you have $100 to spend on a PSU you could get 850W or 500W with a good make on it... I tend to recommend the latter

 

[Mr Jack]

Motherboard: Fine.

CPU and Cooler: Do you plan to overclock? If not, get an i5 2500 and forget the H100. If you do, get an i5 2500K and consider dropping the H100 for something a bit cheaper. It's good, but probably more than you need, even if you plan to overclock. Pick up a Hyper 212 or something instead.

RAM: 16GB is more than you will need for gaming. 4GB is enough, 8GB is plenty. Don't bother chasing high frequencies, 1600MHz performs basically the same as 2400MHz.

GPU: Get a 670 or a 7970 instead of the 580. You can afford it if you go for a better value CPU cooler. My personal favourite is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161412. Over at Tom's Hardware, they got it running at 1200MHz, enough to blast past a 680 for less money.

Sound Card: I enjoy the extra options with a decent sound card, the Xonar cards are good.

Hard Drive and SSD: Both solid choices.

Optical Drive: Assuming you need a Blu-ray drive, no changes to suggest.

Case: 650D is a pretty cool case.

PSU: You could save some money and get a 500-650 W PSU, but it may be worhtwhile keeping that one if you ever plan to get another graphics card.

EDIT

Ignore all the overclocking suggestions. If you knew to do it properly, you woulnd't be asking any of us here.

I dislike that notion "if you have to ask then it isn't for you" and things like that. SB is dead easy to OC from what I have seen as you only change the multiplier and the Vcore and his motherboard even has an "auto-OC" function built in which should hit a decent overclock with no effort on his part.

SB is supposed to be pretty easy to overclock. You can get a significant increase in frequency without even increasing the Vcore.

OP, give this a read and see if you would be up for a bit of overclocking: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/265056-11-2600k-2500k-overclocking-guide

 

[MercurySteam]

A 650W PSU would suffice unless you want to go SLI later. If you are gonna get an SSD then I'd suggest the Vertex 3 over the Agility 3. Even better, a Crucial M4 or Intel 520 Series SSD. Otherwise, lookin' good.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Make me one too, pretty please,

 

[Mr Pantomime]

For 1600$ (that's 1200? - I live in Germany and therefore it's easier to calculate in ?s for me) you get a high-end machine.

Quick question, how much would the setup you mention cost compared to the OP's setup? OP said $1600 for what he was buying, and you said $1600 too, for a cheaper alternative. Is the OP's estimation wrong?

Paying more is bullshit. Why? Because, you'll pay for hardware that is just for showing-off. The strongest i7 CPUs of the first generation were unbelievably expensive, just like some GPUs. If you buy them, you'll look stupid once people get the same performance for (roughly) half the price some months later. You paid much more money for a little performance gain. When somebody asks me about a configuration I don't think with my epenis, but my wallet and brain.

Very true, I have a group of friend who recently bought new desktops at about $2500, $3000 a pop. Shelling out and extra $1000 or more isn't really worth it, especially when noones in any great rush to make a new better CPUs.

 

[veloper]

Ignore all the overclocking suggestions. If you knew to do it properly, you woulnd't be asking any of us here.

I dislike that notion "if you have to ask then it isn't for you" and things like that. SB is dead easy to OC from what I have seen as you only change the multiplier and the Vcore and his motherboard even has an "auto-OC" function built in which should hit a decent overclock with no effort on his part.

Or he'll just fry some of fancy new hardware, because he has not the knowledge, but enough bravery to try anything that sounds technical.
And for what? His rig will be fast enough.

Atleast suggest instead he'd practise on old hardware first, maybe his current rig.