Hey guys, I made a thread about a month ago on getting a new computer but decided to hold off until the new processors came out. I'm still a noob when it comes to computers but I feel like I've improved a bit on the basics. I plan on using this computer to play games such as WoW, Tera, GW2, D3 as well as any future mmo's down the road, hoping to play these game on max settings with 60+FPS as well as being able to stream via Twitch.tv without any fps issues.
I do not plan on building my own and plan on purchasing it from ethier AVAdirect OR ElifePC (wont know until thursday on ElifePC since thats when there adding Z77 boards and the new processors to there list). I know building your own saves alot of money and purchasing a prebuilt one cost more ect... but I'm just not interested in getting into that at the moment.
The current price for this spec is $2251.00 including shipping (not counting tax yet) on AVAdirect so thats what my range is around, tell me what you guys think about the following spec and I'm open to suggestions, thanks.
CUSTOM WIRING Standard Wiring with Precision Cable Routing and Tie-Down
GAMING PC Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
SERVICE Standard Shipping (UPS, DHL, or Fedex)
Some Noob Questions
1. I would like to get a Sabertooth motherboard as from what I've heard thats one of the best Z77 boards out there atm, although every Z77 is good from what I hear. I plan to ask them if they plan on adding one to the customization list but if the current board thats listed is good enough then I wont bother, let me know!
2. Does the same apply to the new IB processors as in the 3770k isn't a performance upgrade and I should just go with the 3750k, just like how people suggest 2500k over 2700k Sandybridge for gaming? All I'm really going to do on this computer aside from gaming is possibly streaming via Twitch.tv, so I dont know if doing that on top of gaming would make 3770k the better choice? let me know!
3. I've never purchased a SSD and I plan to use it only on the games I play. I heard that putting your OS on it is very useful but I really don't care about boot times if thats all its going to provide... I don't know how many games I plan on putting into it at once (most likely TERA, D3, WoW), however I still might do it if there is enough room and since I've never used one is there something I need to set up to get the best performance out of the SSD when purchased or should everything be ready to go when it arrives? let me know!
4. Is 850W good enough for my spec? Not quite familiar with whats needed for certain specs so let me know please as well as if the brand I chose from is a good choice.
5. I'm not that familiar with the CPU cooler brands nor the HDD ones listed so my choice on those wasn't very knowledgeable, don't know if that'll be enough for what I want, open to suggestions based on the customization list from the link I posted below if you have a preferred brand that you think is better.
Last thing I wanted to mention is my purchase is ethier going to be from AVAdirect or ElifePC, still havent decided. From what I gathered AVAdirect is one of the best out there and back when I made my first thread I was going to go with cyberpowerpc which I'm glad I didn't and did some more research. Anyways, ElifePC is a fairly new company that is sponsoring the NAO tournaments runned in World of Warcraft, which seems pretty cool considering there giving away a prebuilt computer during the next tournament which can be seen on there facebook. It seems there trying to put themselves out there and I was wondering if anyone has purchased from them or know someone who has since they don't have any reviews up except for one on Amazon which I don't know whether to believe or not, same goes for AVAdirect if you have any person experience from them as well let me know!
If I do plan on purchasing from ElifePC I won't know until Thursday when they list all there new options (adding Z77 motherboards and new processors on there customization list) so I guess I'll update this thread if needed, just let me know what you guys think.
***That's about it for now, I tried picking the best brand parts based on reviews and other threads throughout these forums, but like I said I'm open to any opinions/suggestions so feel free to let me know if I should change something and I'll see what I can do!***
1. The Sabertooth board looks cool, but the "thermal armor" is completely non-functional. ASUS even provides an extra 40mm fan to blow air through it since it contains the motherboard's own heat. My recommendation is to avoid this one.
2. The main difference between the i7 (3770k) and i5 (3570k) is hyper-threading. It gets you 10-20% more speed for well-threaded applications (think non-realtime video encoders, database systems, 3d rendering). You mentioned twitch.tv, but I'm not sure how much it would benefit from the extra threads. That said, you seem to have an unlimited budget for this thing so I'd get the i7 anyway
3. SSD performance is especailly sensitive to the SATA mode set in the BIOS. They're fastest in "AHCI" mode. Your builder should do this for you, though, and it's the default on most modern motherboards. So there probably isn't anything for you to set up. SSDs give you that cached-in-memory responsiveness at all times, but don't help games all that much since disk access represents a relatively small amount of the time they spend. But they make your computer feel fast, especially compared to one that doesn't have an SSD.
4. 850 watts is overkill. This system will probably draw less than 400 watts fully loaded. Both the Ivy Bridge CPU and GTX 6xx series are extremely power efficient. If you're only getting one video card, I recommend dropping to a lower wattage 80Plus Silver/Gold/Platinum power supply to save electricity and reduce heat output.
5. Thermaltake is a well known brand; I'm confident it will work well for you. Most aftermarket coolers do a great job of taming Intel's chips these days, to be honest. Regarding the HDD, Seagate has been in the industry for decades, and they're either #1 or #2 in global sales right now, so I'm suprised you haven't heard of them.
All the parts you have on your list are top quality, so I'm sure whatever boutique you go to will give you a solid product. I'd still build it myself for half the price, though
1. The Sabertooth board looks cool, but the "thermal armor" is completely non-functional. ASUS even provides an extra 40mm fan to blow air through it since it contains the motherboard's own heat. My recommendation is to avoid this one.
2. The main difference between the i7 (3770k) and i5 (3570k) is hyper-threading. It gets you 10-20% more speed for well-threaded applications (think non-realtime video encoders, database systems, 3d rendering). You mentioned twitch.tv, but I'm not sure how much it would benefit from the extra threads. That said, you seem to have an unlimited budget for this thing so I'd get the i7 anyway
3. SSD performance is especailly sensitive to the SATA mode set in the BIOS. They're fastest in "AHCI" mode. Your builder should do this for you, though, and it's the default on most modern motherboards. So there probably isn't anything for you to set up. SSDs give you that cached-in-memory responsiveness at all times, but don't help games all that much since disk access represents a relatively small amount of the time they spend. But they make your computer feel fast, especially compared to one that doesn't have an SSD.
4. 850 watts is overkill. This system will probably draw less than 400 watts fully loaded. Both the Ivy Bridge CPU and GTX 6xx series are extremely power efficient. If you're only getting one video card, I recommend dropping to a lower wattage 80Plus Silver/Gold/Platinum power supply to save electricity and reduce heat output.
5. Thermaltake is a well known brand; I'm confident it will work well for you. Most aftermarket coolers do a great job of taming Intel's chips these days, to be honest. Regarding the HDD, Seagate has been in the industry for decades, and they're either #1 or #2 in global sales right now, so I'm suprised you haven't heard of them.
All the parts you have on your list are top quality, so I'm sure whatever boutique you go to will give you a solid product. I'd still build it myself for half the price, though
Thanks, however I was able to switch to the Sabertooth before I read your post and it came out 100 dollars cheaper then my current which allowed me to double my RAM and still come out with a less total, should i still completely avoid Sabertooth? From what I've read on other sites all Z77 motherboards are good and Sabertooth is in line with the rest. I figured I'd save 100 and get a cheaper yet still good motherboard, let me know what you think.
Thanks, however I was able to switch to the Sabertooth before I read your post and it came out 100 dollars cheaper then my current which allowed me to double my RAM and still come out with a less total, should i still completely avoid Sabertooth? From what I've read on other sites all Z77 motherboards are good and Sabertooth is in line with the rest. I figured I'd save 100 and get a cheaper yet still good motherboard, let me know what you think.
Interesting that using the Sabertooth would save money; it's a very expensive board. Are you sure nothing else changed? The board isn't bad, just ill-concieved, so if the price is right it's still an acceptable choice
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I do not plan on building my own and plan on purchasing it from ethier AVAdirect OR ElifePC (wont know until thursday on ElifePC since thats when there adding Z77 boards and the new processors to there list). I know building your own saves alot of money and purchasing a prebuilt one cost more ect... but I'm just not interested in getting into that at the moment.
The current price for this spec is $2251.00 including shipping (not counting tax yet) on AVAdirect so thats what my range is around, tell me what you guys think about the following spec and I'm open to suggestions, thanks.
CPU: INTEL Core™ i5-3570K Quad-Core 3.4 - 3.8GHz TB, HD Graphics 4000, LGA1155, 6MB L3 Cache, 22nm, 77W, EM64T EIST VT-x XD, Retail
Cooler: THERMALTAKE Frio OCK CPU Cooling Fan, Socket 2011/1155/1156/1366/775/FM1/AM3/AM2, 240W TDP, Aluminum/Copper
MotherBoard: ASUS P8Z77 WS, LGA1155, Intel® Z77, DDR3-2800 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2+2*, SATA 6Gb/s RAID 5 /4, 3Gb/s /4, DVI, USB 3.0 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, ATX, Retail
RAM: CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) Vengeance™ PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
GPU: EVGA GeForce® GTX 680 Superclocked 1058MHz, 2GB GDDR5 6208MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, 2x DVI + HDMI + DP, OEM
HDD: SEAGATE 500GB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
SSD: CRUCIAL 128GB M4 SSD, MLC Marvell 88SS9174, 500/175 MB/s, 2.5-Inch, SATA 6 Gb/s, Retail
DVD Burner Drives: SONY AD-7280S Black 24x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, OEM
Tower Case: NZXT Phantom Black Full Tower Case, EATX, 7 slots, No PSU, Steel/Plastic
GPU: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M 850W Power Supply w/ Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Bronze, ATX12V 2.3 EPS12V 2.92, 6x 8/6-pin PCIe, SLI® Certified, Retail
OS: MICROSOFT Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM
Keyboard: RAZER Lycosa™ Gaming Keyboard w/ 7 Function Keys, Black, USB, Retail
Misc
RAID No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
CUSTOM WIRING Standard Wiring with Precision Cable Routing and Tie-Down
GAMING PC Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
SERVICE Standard Shipping (UPS, DHL, or Fedex)
Some Noob Questions
1. I would like to get a Sabertooth motherboard as from what I've heard thats one of the best Z77 boards out there atm, although every Z77 is good from what I hear. I plan to ask them if they plan on adding one to the customization list but if the current board thats listed is good enough then I wont bother, let me know!
2. Does the same apply to the new IB processors as in the 3770k isn't a performance upgrade and I should just go with the 3750k, just like how people suggest 2500k over 2700k Sandybridge for gaming? All I'm really going to do on this computer aside from gaming is possibly streaming via Twitch.tv, so I dont know if doing that on top of gaming would make 3770k the better choice? let me know!
3. I've never purchased a SSD and I plan to use it only on the games I play. I heard that putting your OS on it is very useful but I really don't care about boot times if thats all its going to provide... I don't know how many games I plan on putting into it at once (most likely TERA, D3, WoW), however I still might do it if there is enough room and since I've never used one is there something I need to set up to get the best performance out of the SSD when purchased or should everything be ready to go when it arrives? let me know!
4. Is 850W good enough for my spec? Not quite familiar with whats needed for certain specs so let me know please as well as if the brand I chose from is a good choice.
5. I'm not that familiar with the CPU cooler brands nor the HDD ones listed so my choice on those wasn't very knowledgeable, don't know if that'll be enough for what I want, open to suggestions based on the customization list from the link I posted below if you have a preferred brand that you think is better.
***http://www.avadirect.com/gaming-pc-c...asp?PRID=24259 (This is the direct link from where I chose my customization so you can see what options I had to choose from)***
Last thing I wanted to mention is my purchase is ethier going to be from AVAdirect or ElifePC, still havent decided. From what I gathered AVAdirect is one of the best out there and back when I made my first thread I was going to go with cyberpowerpc which I'm glad I didn't and did some more research. Anyways, ElifePC is a fairly new company that is sponsoring the NAO tournaments runned in World of Warcraft, which seems pretty cool considering there giving away a prebuilt computer during the next tournament which can be seen on there facebook. It seems there trying to put themselves out there and I was wondering if anyone has purchased from them or know someone who has since they don't have any reviews up except for one on Amazon which I don't know whether to believe or not, same goes for AVAdirect if you have any person experience from them as well let me know!
If I do plan on purchasing from ElifePC I won't know until Thursday when they list all there new options (adding Z77 motherboards and new processors on there customization list) so I guess I'll update this thread if needed, just let me know what you guys think.
***That's about it for now, I tried picking the best brand parts based on reviews and other threads throughout these forums, but like I said I'm open to any opinions/suggestions so feel free to let me know if I should change something and I'll see what I can do!***
2. The main difference between the i7 (3770k) and i5 (3570k) is hyper-threading. It gets you 10-20% more speed for well-threaded applications (think non-realtime video encoders, database systems, 3d rendering). You mentioned twitch.tv, but I'm not sure how much it would benefit from the extra threads. That said, you seem to have an unlimited budget for this thing so I'd get the i7 anyway
3. SSD performance is especailly sensitive to the SATA mode set in the BIOS. They're fastest in "AHCI" mode. Your builder should do this for you, though, and it's the default on most modern motherboards. So there probably isn't anything for you to set up. SSDs give you that cached-in-memory responsiveness at all times, but don't help games all that much since disk access represents a relatively small amount of the time they spend. But they make your computer feel fast, especially compared to one that doesn't have an SSD.
4. 850 watts is overkill. This system will probably draw less than 400 watts fully loaded. Both the Ivy Bridge CPU and GTX 6xx series are extremely power efficient. If you're only getting one video card, I recommend dropping to a lower wattage 80Plus Silver/Gold/Platinum power supply to save electricity and reduce heat output.
5. Thermaltake is a well known brand; I'm confident it will work well for you. Most aftermarket coolers do a great job of taming Intel's chips these days, to be honest. Regarding the HDD, Seagate has been in the industry for decades, and they're either #1 or #2 in global sales right now, so I'm suprised you haven't heard of them.
All the parts you have on your list are top quality, so I'm sure whatever boutique you go to will give you a solid product. I'd still build it myself for half the price, though
Thanks, however I was able to switch to the Sabertooth before I read your post and it came out 100 dollars cheaper then my current which allowed me to double my RAM and still come out with a less total, should i still completely avoid Sabertooth? From what I've read on other sites all Z77 motherboards are good and Sabertooth is in line with the rest. I figured I'd save 100 and get a cheaper yet still good motherboard, let me know what you think.