PCFormat Forum Archive

so im busy building a gaming pc and have a few questions i'd like some advice on. . . .

Parts so far
intel i5 2500k
Asus z68 p8z68-v pro/gen3
nvidia geforce gtx 670
OCZ vertex 4 128gb ssd

Questions

1. Oppinion on how these parts will gel together?
2. What chassis case to get, somewhere around R600?
3. Suggestions on power supply units nd how much power i'll need?
4. Ram suggestions?
5. Best places to source these parts?
6. Any other tips or things i'v missed?

Additional info

I already have an optical drive, 1 x 256gb hdd nd 1 x 1tb external hdd
I keep all media(eg. music,series,movies,etc) on the external so the ssd is just for my games and opperating system(windows)

Ok here we go.

Do you already have the parts or are you still looking for them. Else I would recommend:
1 - CPU, you don't go for sandby bridge anymore unless your planning on overclocking agressively. So i5 3470/3470k/3570/3570k is what your looking at. Also consumes less power and allows PCI-E v3 devices.
2 - Your looking for a Z77 board. MSI Z77-GD43 if your going cheap, Gigabyte Z77-D3H or if you want more features start looking at MSI Z77-GD60 and Gigabyte Z77-UD3H.
3 - Nothing wrong with the geforce gtx670. It's a great card. I would recommend either gigabyte or msi due to the coolers they use.
4 - 128gb SSD is not enough for all your games. I'd also recommend Intel over anything else so look for a 330 120gb/180gb ssd.

The parts will gel together nicely. If you can push a bigger budget on the case I would say cooler master Storm Scout or Storm enforcer for airflow.
600W PSU should do the trick. Corsair GS600 or CM 600W GX.
Ram your looking at 8gb (2x4gb) corsair vengeance 1600mhz cl 9 ram.

Rebeltech would be my suggestion (rebeltech.co.za).

StarBound wrote:128gb SSD is not enough for all your games. I'd also recommend Intel over anything else so look for a 330 120gb/180gb ssd.

What she said.

I'd say 240GB would be about right

See my sig
Those 480gb ssds are my gaming drives. 240gb becomes restrictive faster than you think.

In the real world 480GB SSD's arent really affordable - 240 is a nice compromise

Thanks guys your help is much apreciated:)
I haven't bought parts yet,wanted some feedback before I did,but now I feel prepared to get started!!!
Best places to get the parts?
Thanks again all:)

Go Z77 and ivy bridge rather.

i5 3470 or the 3570k if you are planing on overclocking

There are many Z77 boards to choose from but the MSI Z77 GD43 is not a bad option and is going cheap.

GTX 670 will be more than enough

I would recommend 8gb of ram. Just shop around for a kit that suites your pocket

PSU: A corsair CX 600 or a GS 600 if you have more to spend

Chassis: CM690 II(not the advanced version) is around that price.

240gb SSD might do. like SB said, Intel 330 series

As for where to get the parts. this place should do: http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=index

i priced all the parts and im abit over budget. Was wondering how much of a difference is there between the Gigabyte Z77-UD3H and the MSI Z77-GD43 and the gtx670 and the gtx660ti if i wanted to spare some cash?

Performance wise. Almost nothing. Its the features and price which differ, have a look at the two links for the specifications of the two boards

Gigabyte specs

MSI specs

and graphics card wise? i just dont wanna regret not spending the extra cash sometime down the line. . .

apreciate all the help

660ti is a decent card, its not actually massively slower than the 670 either. So the 660ti would be fine

You will regret skimping on the gfx at some point but then again I'm not sure. The 660ti is roughtly 20% slower than the 670gtx. That said you should be getting 60+ fps with a 660ti. If you really want to squeeze it you can go for the MSI geforce 660 Twin Frozer 3 OC. It costs around R3k and should do 60fps on high detail.

thanks alot guys will keep you posted

Final question I promise:P . . .is it worth getting a 60gb ssd just for windows to run off?

I'd recommend a 120gb minimum. I tend to have 50gb open on my 160gb at some times.
It depends entirely on you. Apparently you can now install steam games to different drives so you can slap your steam on the SSD aswell.

Pros:
Boot times is 5-10 seconds.
Virus scans is 2min for a deepscan.
Opening office ect is fast aswell.
No defrag anymore.

SSD is great for speed, stupidly expensive for general storage, (my steam folder is >1TB)...

drop the more intensive/active games on the SSD with symlinks in the steam folder... steam doesn't know/care that the content isn't on the relatively inexpensive SATA and when you're done you can drop the link and move the content back with zero hassle.

lammylams wrote:Final question I promise:P . . .is it worth getting a 60gb ssd just for windows to run off?

Certainly, I even have Battlefield 3 and all my other programs (not games) installed on there with all my docs and music, but 120gb is the sweet spot. 60gb is a tight squeeze.

ok so sorted my pc out thanks to you guys:)
nd it seems iv attracted some attention. now my boet wants to build 1 to!
can you guys suggest what would be the best buy for around 6k in terms of gaming?
many thanks for all the help once again

What does it need? Everything? Does he atleast have a mouse and keyboard? Any old components that can be reused?

http://forums.pcformat.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=41126 <- was my planned Steambox...

AMD FM1 A8-3870k (integrated GPU)
MSI A75MA-G55 motherboard
2TB HDD from WD or SG
8GB ram that can run at 1866mhz
DVD Drive
Thermaltake light power 650W
CM Storm Scout
Windows 7 64-bit

That should hit around 6k-7k. Should be the best you can get for your money.

hes got hdd's,dvd drive,windows,mouse,keyboard and monitor already,so he's just talking internal components

Then have a look at that anyway. Else I'd say i3 but you really want an i5 minimum. Then as a dedicated gfx card I'd say geforce 660 or radeon 7850 or something along the lines of a R3k mainstream card.

Hey guys.

I am building my first ever gaming rig.
This is what I have:
-Aerocool Sixth Element Gaming Case (Red Devil)
-3x 12cm Aerocool Shark fans
-3x 14cm Aerocool Shark fans
-700w Huntkey Gaming PSU
-MSI Intel Z77A G43 Mobo
-LG DVD ROM
-8Gb 1333 DDR3 RAM (only one card)

I am also looking to add:
-Intel Core i7-3770k 3.5GHz LGA1155 Quad Core Ivy Bridge CPU
-OCZ VTX4-25SAT3-128G 128GB Vertex 4 Series SATA III 2.5" Solid State Drive
-PowerColor AX7870 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E Radeon HD7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Desktop Graphics Card
-Microsoft DSP Windows 7 Professional - 64bit

This is the point where you tell me what you think will be better for me in terms of cost and performance and where can I get it for a good price.

I am building a gaming PC as you can see, but will also be running Corral Draw 15 on it.

I dont want to break the bank, so cheaper alternatives would be nice. Maybe going for the I5 instead of the I7 or something.

Can I post some pix for you to show what I have done so far?