First PC Build Help

[Tiberius]

I've decided to build a computer - I can definitely do it. I just need some to help choosing the right parts to buy. Here are my answers/constraints:

1. Are you building this computer yourself or having one built for you (Like HP, Alienware, or even a small shop)?
Building it myself.

2. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
Under $1000. Willing to spend a little more on the video card if it will pay off (GeForce GTX 670)

3. Where do you live (Please list town, state, and country)?
San Diego, CA (I'll be on wifi internet)

4. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Just playing PlanetSide and using Microsoft home & office for work.

5. What parts will you need for the computer? List what parts specifically, saying you need everything will not do.
GPU, CPU, Motherboard, HDD or SSD, Memory, Case, Optical Drive, Monitor, Power Supply, Keyboard

6. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so say what parts (make and model).
Negative

7. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
I'd be happy with around a 15.6" Monitor, with nice resolution. Nothing too big.

8. Do you have already have a OS or do you need one? What OS is that?
I need Windows 7

9. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
Not sure what any of that is, definitely at least 3 USB ports, lots of GBs

10. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Not sure what that is, my last Nvidia card was though.

11. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
I'm hoping to get it up within the next three months. If there's some awesome release in over that I can wait. I know the Windows 8 is coming out in October so there might be some nice new hardware on the horizon which will surely create some deals on older stuff.

[Goku]

In terms of new hardware that will be out around the October time frame give or take a month will be a new AMD CPU and possibly GPU. Piledriver is the new AMD CPU, but I don't see that being recommended over Ivy Bridge currently, unless its priced and performs good for certain build budgets. The next gen AMD GPU may possibly make it out around this time frame, this all rumors however.

To give you idea of what to expect check this out:
Intel Core i5-3470 - $199.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115234)
MSI R7870 Twin Frozr - $259.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127662)
Acer G215HVAbd Black 21.5" Full HD WideScreen LCD Monitor - $119.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009306)
Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - $34.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543)
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H - $74.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128555)
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W - $54.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB - $84.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185)
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - $20 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - $99.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986)
Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Mid Tower - $49.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352010)

Total = $999.90 (From Newegg, but when the time for the final build comes we can do it off Amazon to save on tax)

You are still about $140 for a 670, since you are waiting awhile longer though the price should come down even more. Over all even this build is solid for PS2. Oh and 15.6 inch screens are only for laptops :P. Desktop you are looking at between 20 to 23 inches for your budget range.

[Tiberius]

Nice, thanks man.

[Goku]

Happy to be of help. If you have any questions between now and the time you are ordering feel free to ask.

[Tiberius]

Cool, I just ordered the case since it had a $10 promo code that expired today. Should I just plug the item name into Amazon for the other items when I'm ready to order them?

[Vancha]

http://pcpartpicker.com

Use this and it'll find the best deal from the more popular vendors.

[Goku]

Cool, I just ordered the case since it had a $10 promo code that expired today. Should I just plug the item name into Amazon for the other items when I'm ready to order them?

This Saturday Amazon is going to start collecting sales tax in Cali. When you are ready to order we will piece you together a new build. The one I did was to just show you what you can get with that budget. That was a good price on the case though.

[Tiberius]

Will I need a better power supply if I expand my budget to $1200 and go for an i5-3570k and a more expensive card like the MSI AMD Radeon 7950 or Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670?

[Goku]

Yes, but that is only $10-$25 more depending on what you want.

[Tiberius]

I increased my budget $150 and made a build based on what I thought looked good. Will this work in the case that I have? I'm hoping the OS, GPU, CPU, and Motherboard will drop in price over the next few months. Any thoughts on this or things I can improve?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/htwo

[Vancha]

Case is fine. Motherboard is overkill. You'd probably be fine with the ASRock Z75 Pro3

[Tiberius]

Okay, is this a better build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hwGG

Should I get 1333 or 1600 DRAM? I read that get you should get 1333mhz with low cas if you're not OC'ing or get 1600mhz with higher cas if you are OC'ing. But I'm not sure if I'm going to overclock, is it hard to do?

[Vancha]

The ram you've got is fine. Even overclocked, I'm not sure how much difference a 1600mhz pair would really make. I doubt it'd be noticeable.

Otherwise, yeah that looks good. All I'd say is that I know some price cuts were inbound for the 7950, but I don't know if they've kicked in yet. It might be worth waiting a while, if they haven't.

[Rbstr]

The CPU you've got supports 1600..there's no real reason not to, except saving the (small amount of) bucks.

The biggest difference you could probably make is if you do to 1.35V memory...that wouldn't hit performance, but it would put out less heat.
This is CAS9, 1600mhz and 1.35V for $4 more http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226184

[Vancha]

Do you know anywhere I can see the heat difference between 1.35v and 1.5v?

[Rbstr]

About %80 of the heat according to this http://www.dataram.com/blog/?p=102 and just doing the math (heat generation of ICs is quadratic in voltage).

[Vancha]

That doesn't show me the difference is significant.

[Rbstr]

So, %20 less is insignificant?
You're not getting 20% more performance out of some small frequency or latency changes.

But whatever, it's the biggest difference you're going to make, even if it isn't particularly large.

[Vancha]

So, %20 less is insignificant?
You're not getting 20% more performance out of some small frequency or latency changes.

But whatever, it's the biggest difference you're going to make, even if it isn't particularly large.
Depends on what it's 20% less than. If it still ends up being insignificant to the ambient/CPU temperature, then that $4 still isn't really buying you anything, even if it is only $4.

[Tiberius]

Lean and mean, I like it Rbstr. Here's what I have,

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/iRi2

Everything look good? I'm ready to hurry up and wait.

[Rbstr]

I think it looks good, but that monitor you've got is tiny...and 4:3...are you sure about that?

[Vancha]

I think the GPU is probably a waste of money for a resolution of that size.

[Tiberius]

I didn't want to get something too big. What do you guys recommend?

Also, it says there's a USB 3.0 compatibility issue between my motherboard and my ATX 3000 Mid Tower. Is that a big issue?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/iRoI

[Vancha]

No. Basically all it's saying is that the motherboard is capable of powering USB 3.0 on a case's I/O, but your case's I/O doesn't have USB 3.0. Worst case scenario is that you can only use two of the case's four USB 2.0 ports, though there'd probably be an adapter that allows you to power the other two USB 2.0 ports from your motherboard's USB 3.0 connector (albeit at USB 2.0 speeds). You'll still have whatever USB 3.0 ports are on your motherboard's I/O.

As for the monitor, there's probably no need to go below 1900x1080, which you can find at anywhere between 21.5" to 27", though I don't suggest going above 24".

[Tiberius]

Here's where I'm at,

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mnlV

I just ordered the Intel 3750K for $170 ($183 w/tax) from MicroCenter. The Z75 Pro3 motherboard I got last month when it went down to $65 for two days.

I put in a 21.5 inch monitor that was only $100 in September, so I'm hoping it gets that cheap again around black Friday.

Upgraded to a GTX 670 because everyone is recommending them for PS2. There's a $20 mail in rebate for it on newegg right now. Should I pull the trigger now or do you think it will get cheaper around Thanksgiving?

[Heinneke]

Thanks :D

[Vancha]

If you plan on getting an SSD, consider Western Digital Reds over Blacks.

Also consider getting a better monitor if you have the budget. Nothing gets used as much as the monitor, after all.

[Tiberius]

I checked out some monitors yesterday and anything above 19" is just too big for my workstation.

Based on the comments about my GPU and the monitor size. Which GPU should I downgrade to if I'm only using a 19" monitor? I looked at the GeForce 500 series, but there are alot of cards. Here's the build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/obWl

I could use some help choosing, any suggestions for GPU/19" monitors?

[Vancha]

Asus GTX 660 (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/his-video-card-h787q2g2m) (non-ti)
Powercolor PCS+ HD 7870 Vortex II edition (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/powercolor-video-card-ax78702gbd52dhppv)
IceQ HD 7870 (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/his-video-card-h787q2g2m) (the one with the fan on the end, not in the middle)

[Tiberius]

There's two Asus GTX 660s on PCpartpicker. Which one is better?

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx660dc2o2gd5

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx660dc22gd5

[Vancha]

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't link that correctly did I? You'll notice the only difference in the names is one has "DC2O" while the other is just "DC2". All that means is that one comes pre-overclocked (DC20) while the other comes at standard speeds.

If you're willing to overclock then there's really no reason to get the DC2O. If you aren't willing to overclock, then in this case the premium's small enough that you might as well pony up for it.

[MrSmegz]

With a 19" Display at 1440x900, at GTX 650TI or 7850 would be more than enough for those resolutions if you wanted to save some cash. If you plan on upgrading your monitor to 1080p later on, then that 660 will do you nicely.

[Vancha]

Looking at the 1280x800 benchmarks (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/2.html), obviously there's some games that simply don't need that much GPU power, but considering those benchmarks are at a slightly lower resolution than 1440x900 and use 2xAA (if any AA at all), I think I'd rather get the 7870/660 than the 7850/650, considering the Battlefield 3, Crysis and Dragon Age II benchmarks. There are games that even the 7870/660 aren't "more than enough" for.

Edit: Keep in mind he's buying it now. He'd probably like it to run future games for a while as well.

[Tiberius]

Just put the oder in for the last part. Thank you all very much. Hopefully I can figure out how to assemble it now haha.

[Vancha]

Make sure you take off the plastic on the CPU before installing the CPU cooler, make sure you understand and install the motherboard standoffs correctly and make sure you avoid static electricity by grounding yourself.

Aside from those three things, you should be fine.

[MrSmegz]

Make sure you take off the plastic on the CPU before installing the CPU cooler, make sure you understand and install the motherboard standoffs correctly and make sure you avoid static electricity by grounding yourself.

Aside from those three things, you should be fine.

Thermal Grease on CPU, never forget the thermal grease.

[Tiberius]

Do I need to get some arctic 5 thermal compound?

[Rbstr]

You shouldn't need it. The CPU fan should have some kind of thermal interface stuff on it. (Or does Intel give you some grease these days?)