New build

[Velvetmeds]

Hello guys. My "new" build has undergone a few changes since i first started looking into it, here's my near-final plan for a gaming pc:

i5 3570k
Gigabyte z77-d3h
Gigabyte 7870 OC (wf3)
XFX core edition pro 650w
Zalman Z11 case
Corsair vengeance 8gb (low profile)
Samsung spinpoint F3 1TB
Some Asus dvd drive, not really important, barely ever use the drive
Cooler Master hyper 212 Evo

1070€ with a OEM licence of W7 (970€ without)

I was gonna go for a 7950 and maybe even add an Intel 60gb SSD but when i remembered that my current W7 licence is not transferable, i had to cut down to fit the budget while including a w7 purchase). real shame, but oh well, can't have everything..might add the SSD in the future. And the 7870 OC seems solid enough, close to stock 7950 levels, specially for my resolution.

Now to answer the questions of the sticky:

1 - PC will be used mainly for gaming. Everything else is light weight stuff
2 - price range: 950€-1050€ (not including assembly + shipping costs, which are roughly 23€ all together)
3 - Country - Portugal.
4 - No particular brand preferance.. Although i do like Corsair and Gigabyte.
5 - Not gonna use my current parts cause my pc will go to my brother
7 - I plan on OC'ing the CPU to, possibly, 4ghz.
8 - 1680x1050 for some time, maybe an year, and then i'll get a new monitor; after that, i'll be using 1900x1080.
9 - Plan on buying it this month (august)


One thing i have some doubts on, is the PSU. The 550w version is 18€ cheaper..could possibly go for it instead of the 650w. Do you think the 550w can handle a ~20% OC on the cpu (3.4ghz to 4.ghz) plus a moderate OC on the 7870?

Thanks for any input

edit: my main "goal" would be to be able to play Metro last light at very high settings (not necessarily maxed, don't mind switching off a few bells and whistles) at at least +30fps. The game isn't out yet so nobody knows..but you can speculate on whether you think this will be enough or not

 

[lehtv]

212+ should do 4.2-4.3GHz. A 4GHz overclock isn't really worth paying the near 100 eur premium compared to non-overclockable components, that 100 eur could be put to a faster GPU instead.

You don't need a 650W PSU because your board doesn't even support SLI. The 18 eur cheaper XFX 550W is definitely powerful enough for overclocking your system with plenty of watts left. The 3570K will still consume under 100W with a 4.2GHz OC and that's only during stress testing; it will consume less during gaming. The 7870 will easily overclock at stock voltages, although the PSU will easily handle overvolting as well.

How much less expensive is the Samsung F3 compared to Seagate ST1000DM003 in Portugal? The latter is a single 1TB platter drive, it's faster.

I haven't really heard anything good about Zalman cases, I'd recommend taking a look at Antec Three Hundred Two and Corsair 300R.

 

[Velvetmeds]

Oh, good catch on the HDD! It's actually exactly the same price, so i'm going to go for that one instead.

As far as the OC goes, i guess i'll settle with 4.2 then. Don't really want to push it too hard because i want this system to last quite a few years. Or do you think i'd be better off not OC'ing, ditching the 212 evo and getting a Gigabyte 7950 OC instead (and in that case would the 550w still be sufficient?)? Cooler is 32€, the 7950 is 40€ more expensive than the 7870.

As far as the case goes, sorry but i'm really settled on this one. I need a fan-heavy case without paying too much, and this seems to best option at such a low price (55&#8364. It has 4 fans, one front, one rear, and one on each side. Both cases you recommended only have 2 fans and are also more expensive (10 to 20&#8364. My room gets really hot in summer. I'd be willing to switch if you told me that the two side fans on the case only affect the HDD cooling, which i read somewhere but am not quite sure... If that were the case, i'd be okay with getting a different case, HDD cooling is not my worry.

edit: keep in mind that i'm more comfortable with upgrading GPUs rather than other components, so keeping the 7870 and ocing the CPU is a more attractive idea to me than 7950 with no CPU OC

 

[lehtv]

keep in mind that i'm more comfortable with upgrading GPUs rather than other components, so keeping the 7870 and ocing the CPU is a more attractive idea to me than 7950 with no CPU OC

Surely it's a lesser deal to just add an aftermarket cooler than to replace a whole graphics card? I think it's a good idea to ditch the cooler in favor of the 7950. The stock cooler is OK for stock clocks, you can leave aftermarket cooling and overclocking for later when the extra performance will be needed more.

The PSU will handle the 7950 just as well, see here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5476/amd-radeon-7950-review/17

392W at the wall during Metro 2033, that's with a 7950 at 1050MHz (+30% OC) and an i7-3960X hexacore at 4.3GHz (+20% OC). Measured at the wall, so with efficiency accounted for you're looking at a 340W or 62% load on the PSU. And considering your less power hungry CPU you can chop off another 30W or so, so make that a 56% load.

How hot does your room get? Also if you're buying online I'd like to look at the website

 

[Velvetmeds]

The reason why i'm not keen on ditching the cooler is that if i don't put in one now, i'll probably never do it. I added a CM cooler (cheaper and weaker than the 212 evo) on my current system, and i only got it right at the second attempt. First time it wasn't properly seated and my CPU temps soared. I'm just not very good at messing around inside the case, one of the reasons why the pc will be assembled by the shop's staff before shipping. Replacing the GPU is the only thing i know how to do just fine, as i have done it more than once, and it's also quite easier.

So basically the question is; 7950 and NEVER (doesn't this CPU get quite hot? reviews say so. so stock heatsink + hot room... = no oc) oc the 3570k, or 7870 and oc the 3570k to 4.2ghz?

On the really hot days, i suppose it can get as hot as 40ºC.

I'm going to pm you the shop's link. It's in portuguese but it's easy to look for prices

edit: apparently i can post it here http://www.alientech.pt/index.php

 

[lehtv]

The reason why i'm not keen on ditching the cooler is that if i don't put in one now, i'll probably never do it.

OK. I'll check the shop and see if there's anywhere I could save cash to afford a better cooler, because...

On the really hot days, i suppose it can get as hot as 40ºC.

... you're not going to be happy with 212 Evo temps @ 4.2 with 40C ambient and overclocking to only 4GHz isn't really worth paying for. Also, given the hot summers, you would want at least some aftermarket cooling even with a locked CPU, which plays in favor of overclockability

It's in portuguese but it's easy to look for prices

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fig&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8

Here's what I'd suggest:

CPU i5 3570k 222,50
Mobo Asrock Z77 Pro3 98,95
Cooler Scythe Mugen 3 39,25 (about 40% heavier than 212 Evo with two more heatpipes)
GPU Gigabyte 7950 344,35
RAM Corsair Vengeance 8GB 48,85
HDD ST1000DM003 85,45
DVD Asus DVD-RW 19,95
PSU XFX 550W 66,65
Case Fractal Design Core 3000 64,90 (2x140mm + 1x120mm)
OS Win 7 OEM 101,80

= 1092,65 eur.

If that's not doable, get Asus 7870 DCII for 305,10. I'd want the 7950, it'd delay the next upgrade. I'm not saying one is future proof and the other isn't, just that I think that a 40 eur difference between 7870 and 7950 makes the latter a better bang for buck card.

Also I originally wanted to suggest Thermalright HR-02 Macho but it won't fit the Core 3000 (165mm vs 160mm). You can try to do research on some other cases in the price range with similar cooling and see if they have the clearance . Because this cooler is badass, it rivals a Noctua D14.

FWIW:

I'm just not very good at messing around inside the case, one of the reasons why the pc will be assembled by the shop's staff before shipping. Replacing the GPU is the only thing i know how to do just fine, as i have done it more than once, and it's also quite easier.

Don't worry about stuff like that, failing or having trouble at the first attempt is one of the worst reasons to give up trying. Any healthy human being can assemble a PC.

 

[Velvetmeds]

Mighty thanks, that does look like a fine build. I guess all that remains for me is to decide between the 7870 and the 7950. I'll most likely go for the latter; if i'm gonna spend so much, might as well spend 40 more..

2 questions though:

1 - That Asrock mobo was actually my first choice, but the Gigabyte i posted on OP seems to be one hell of an overclocker (from reviews), matching high end mobos in that regard (but missing other features, ofc). Not sure if the Asrock as is good in that regard, and 10€ is a small difference

2 - The Macho was also my first choice but i scrapped it because, correct me if i'm wrong, it's a fanless/passive cooler? and, like you said, also a big too big... Is the Mugen 3 a lot better than the Evo?

 

[lehtv]

1. There aren't big differences in overclockability between boards until you really start ramping up the volts, which for Ivy Bridge processors has diminshing returns to begin with. Tweaktown was able to OC a 3770K to 4.6GHz at 1.3V on the Z77 Pro3

2. HR-02 was originally released fanless, it was later replaced by HR-02 Macho which includes a TY-140 PWM fan

 

[Velvetmeds]

Ah, right you are! Product page even says so, (Including one Thermalright TY-140 Utra-low noise 900~1300RPM PWM-Fan (MAX21 dBA), stupid me. The review i read must have been of the not-so-macho version

I think i'm going to look for a case where it can fit then, because i remember being very pleased with the results of the Thermalright cooler on reviews.

Thanks again!

 

[mfenn]

On the really hot days, i suppose it can get as hot as 40ºC.

As far as the case goes, sorry but i'm really settled on this one. I need a fan-heavy case without paying too much, and this seems to best option at such a low price (55€). It has 4 fans, one front, one rear, and one on each side. Both cases you recommended only have 2 fans and are also more expensive (10 to 20€). My room gets really hot in summer. I'd be willing to switch if you told me that the two side fans on the case only affect the HDD cooling, which i read somewhere but am not quite sure... If that were the case, i'd be okay with getting a different case, HDD cooling is not my worry.

I would like to point out that cooling doesn't really work that way. The purpose of the cooling fans in a PC are more to get hot air out than to blow cold air. Relative to the surface temperatures of the heat producing components (mostly CPU and GPU), a 15 degree difference in ambient temps is nothing. So, you don't really need to go overkill on cooling unless you live in a literal oven.

 

[Velvetmeds]

Well, yesterday i placed my order

It's what lehtv suggested, except:

- Went for the 7870 instead of the 7950. I had to, because the additional costs, with a 7950, made me go overbudget. I don't really mind, like i said i have no probs with upgrading the gpu in a few years; plus, i'm gonna still be stuck gaming in 1680x1050 for at least a year.
- Managed to go for the HR-02 Macho
- And the case... Zalman Z9 plus. Funny how sometimes you skip "numbers" and go for the higher ones, thinking they're better. Well, to me this one is definitely better than the Z11 plus (although that one does look.."cooler", but looks are just looks) i had first thought about, and i didn't even know. My 2 main requirements were great cooling and enough space for the Macho; this case delivers both without exceeding the 70€ mark, so i think i made a good choice!

Thanks for the help. i'll take a picture of the case and inside when it gets here. And then i guess i'll see you on the overclocking subforums


edit: Just a curious note. Do you know what paid for this build? Diablo 3's RMAH... lol.

 

[lehtv]

Nice :thumbsup:. Looking forward to seeing your setup!