Gonna Build My Own

[TeaSea]

Gaming PC.....

Wife has finally insisted that I do something all my Flight Sim stuff on the office PC, so I told her I'm going to build me one....then I'll go back and upgrade this one.

Here's what I'm looking at (full disclosure, I can probably afford a little more than most hobbyists could--but being a cheap bastard I intend to keep it down).


ASUS Sabertooth Z77 Intel Series 7 Mother Board
Intel Core i7-3770K Quad Core Processor
Western Digital Blue 1TB (7200 RPM, 64MB Cache) HDD
Cooler Master HAF 922M Mid Tower Case (or the HAF 912 Case....haven't decided yet)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Liquid Cooling (because you know I'm going to overclock that beyotch)
12X Blue Ray Burner (Still looking)
And.....a XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB) Video Card....(maybe, that's a pretty pricey piece of hardware)

I also think I want an SSD to run the OS (put the programs on the HDD)...looking for input from anyone who's doing that.

If anyone has any comments I'm open...still thinking hard on that video card...it's the single most expensive piece of kit. I got most of this list from a common suggestion site.

Haven't decided on OS either.....should I go Win8 or keep with my current policy of skipping a generation OS?

[wombat666]

Just a few suggestions FWIW, and without knowing your budget.

ASUS SABERTOOTH-Z77 MB, Intel Z77, 4x DDR3, 2x PCI-E 3.0, 4x SATA III, 4x USB 3.0, HDMI, DP, GbLAN, 8 CH, TUF Thermal Armor, RAID, ATX
LG Blu-Ray Writer, 14X BD-WRITE , 16X DVDRW , OEM
Gigabyte GeForce GTX680 Overclocked (Base:1071Mhz,Boost:1137Mhz), 4096MB (6008Mhz) GDDR5, PCI-E 3.0, Dual DVI, HDMI, Displayport
OCZ 512GB SSD, Vertex 4, SATA III, Read up to 560MB/s, Write up to 510MB/s
Western Digital 1TB WD VelociRaptor, SATA III, 10000RPM, 64MB
Corsair 1200W AX-1200i Digital Platinum Modular ATX Power Supply, 80 PLUS Platinum, 140mm Fan, 1x ATX, 1x EPS, 6x PCI-E, 16x SATA, Modular Cabling
CoolerMaster HAF X Full Midnight Black ATX Case, No PSU, 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 1x e-SATA, Audio In/Out, 9 Expansion Slots

For starters, give Win8 a miss, I'm sticking with Win7 as I have no interest in touch screens.
Maybe use Win8 on the 'Office PC'.
I have a pair of XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB) Video Cards in 'storage', and to be honest, I'd NEVER buy anything from XFX again.
You might as well get a good SSD and while a 240G drive is adequate the 512G OCZ gives you the extra headroom that you will need later.
The WD 1TB Velociraptor is so much better than a standard 7200RPM drive that I (just me, myself) never consider anything less, and the price is pretty good.
A 1200W PSU might seem an overkill, but this particular Corsair model is worth having, aside from the sheer grunt, it has a great power rating and believe me, once you've used a modular PSU the old fully anchored boxes are just too messy.
And the HAF X is a nice build and is big enough to handle full size boards and graphic cards.
You might as well go for broke if Mrs.TeaSea is insisting you get another box!
Spoil yourself, don't be a cheap bastard.

[kilo delta]

With regards to the GPU choice...I'd recommend holding out for the new Nvidia 7 series card that are due to be launched. Also, treat yourself to a nice 27" or bigger high res monitor (2560x1440/2560x1600) and a good surround sound kit. Enjoy!

[wombat666]

KD, really!
One never become the first user of anything, especially Graphics cards!

This beast runs at an eye-watering pace for only A$1299.00.
And on only a single core at that.
Attachment 87122

[Dain Arns]

KD, really!
One never become the first user of anything, especially Graphics cards!

This beast runs at an eye-watering pace for only A$1299.00.
And on only a single core at that.
Attachment 87122

How odd, it looks like kilo delta's avatar pic...
HEY!


Means when the 7 series get released, I buy the 6 series as they finally become more affordable. :mixedsmi:

[kilo delta]

You gotta be on the bleeding edge of pc technology, Wombat!!!lol

I'd be happy out with the 770 and the new 2.0 gpu boost http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3438-4.html

[kilo delta]

How odd, it looks like kilo delta's avatar pic...
HEY!

bet mine runs hotter,though!

[Naismith]

Here is an excellent vid I came across about how to efficiently set up W7 (especially 64) with many great tweaks explained in eazy-to-follow fashion

It's quite long (1hr 20) so after initial setup and install the real tweaks start at about the 34min mark.

He also references this excellent guide
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/s...-for-ssds-hdds
and takes you through it.

Also spends some time optimising SSD's.

[TeaSea]

For starters, give Win8 a miss, I'm sticking with Win7 as I have no interest in touch screens.
You're not the first one to say that...I think I'm going to be sticking with the "skip the OS" policy. I managed to miss ME and Vista. I heard it was ugly.


I have a pair of XFX Radeon HD 7970 (3GB) Video Cards in 'storage', and to be honest, I'd NEVER buy anything from XFX again.
Interesting.....I'll check around.

You might as well get a good SSD and while a 240G drive is adequate the 512G OCZ gives you the extra headroom that you will need later.
Good input.

The WD 1TB Velociraptor is so much better than a standard 7200RPM drive that I (just me, myself) never consider anything less, and the price is pretty good.
It's really hard to beat the price. Makes it good value for the money.

A 1200W PSU might seem an overkill, but this particular Corsair model is worth having, aside from the sheer grunt, it has a great power rating and believe me, once you've used a modular PSU the old fully anchored boxes are just too messy.
Again, I've had someone else tell me the same.

And the HAF X is a nice build and is big enough to handle full size boards and graphic cards.
Check.

You might as well go for broke if Mrs.TeaSea is insisting you get another box!
Spoil yourself, don't be a cheap bastard.
Double check!

Thanks for the link Naismeth. I have seen a couple of good tutorials but not this one.

Also, for what it's worth I think I'll skip the $1299.00 Video Card.

[wombat666]

You gotta be on the bleeding edge of pc technology, Wombat!!!lol

I'd be happy out with the 770 and the new 2.0 gpu boost http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3438-4.html

Must be my enthusiasm for fast cars and bikes coming through KD!
"How fast do you want to go????................How much money do you want to spend?"
Wretched excess is my middle name, but I believe in planning ahead!!


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[TeaSea]

So I ran into a bit of an issue regards this build....

1) Mrs TeaSea said I had to ensure the daily desktop was up to par.

2) The washing machine died....necessitating a replacement. This of course means I have to buy a new dryer as well because....well....they have to match!

Little bit of a financial setback, but no biggie....I start next month. I have purchased the case, and upgraded the current desktop with a Samsung SSD (250 GB), doing a fresh install of Win 7. Good idea, but a pain in the butt.

I now have two installations....one on the old HDD, and one on the SSD.

Anyone else done that?