Maximum PC

Hey guys, I am building my own PC gamin rig for the first time. I build one with my friend 4-5 years ago, and by with, I mean he did while I watched and sort of helped. He also picked out most of the items. This time I'm doing it all myself, so here is what I have so far, and would love any opinions or ideas to make it better/cheaper.

Budget trying to stay between 1500-2000, would of course like it to be closer to 1500, but don't mind going up if it will help performance by a bunch. I am also getting most/all of my parts from memory express, since I live right next to it, and makes everything easier.

CPU: Core™ i7-3770 Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache
OR
Core™ i5-3570K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 6MB Cache
Not sure of performance difference between them, the cost is pretty major though

CASE: Cooler Master HAF X Tower Case
OR
Obsidian Series 650D Mid Tower Case
Leaning toward Corsair at the moment

RAM: Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Dual Channel Kit (2 x 8GB)
Initially I thought I would just go for the full 32MB, but after reading some posts everyone was saying over 8 is overkill for any type of gaming rig. Thoughts?

MOTHERBOARD: Sabertooth Z77 w/ Dual DDR3, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, CrossFireX / SLI

I was at a loss here for the MOBO. I doubt I will get into Crossfire/SLI any time soon, but the option is good to have there. I do need the Z77 chipset i believe for the ivy bridge processors, but I just sort of randomly picked this one, so any thoughts here would be helpful.

GPU: GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI

Again, no real idea which way I wanted to go for the GPU. I want something relatively powerful, but I am not willing to pay the 1000 bucks for the GTX 690 or whatever just came out. I have no qualms either with getting a Radeon card either, I just have a GTX in my last rig so thought I would stick with it. I would like to make sure it has an HDMI out though.

POWER: Gaming Series GS600 Power Supply

Not really sure how much power I needed, but 600 sounded right, and this one wasn't too expensive!

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA III w/ 64MB Cache
1TB seemed right. My real question here is is it worth it to get a SSD for running the OS / commonly played games on? Or just stick with the 1TB drive?


OPTICAL DRIVE: BH12 Super Multi Blue 12x Internal SATA Blu-ray Disc Writer, Black w/ Lightscribe
Blue-ray, can't go wrong!

CPU COOLER: Zalman CNPS12X Triple Fan CPU Cooler w/ Blue LED
OR
Intel High Performance Liquid Cooler

Both look pretty slick, so not a big decision.

That about covers it so far. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm building a new $2000 rig myself and I'm really interested in that motherboard too! It has a 5 year warranty and it looks pretty awesome! I have also read that 8 gigs of ram is enough for gaming unless you will be doing some type of editing or playing Second Life.

I would also go with a 750w PSU, you can get some good ones for just a few bucks more then the one you linked and it will give you some room if you do decide to get another GPU.

Thanks for the tips guys! Anyone else have any suggestions, about the SSD, CPU, GPU or motherboard?

i5-3570K Processor

8GB of RAM

Your motherboard is overkill, unless you need the add-on hardware.

Except for extreme situations, all you need to overclock is 8+4 CPU phase. If you want 12 phase, look for one that does what you want again.

I personally have the Cooler Master HAF 922, a great mid-tower with holes for water cooling tubes for cooling outside of the case. It has lots of airflow [if overclocking purchase a 3rd 200mm fan to exhaust air out of top of case]. It has plenty of room for cables if you purchase a modular power supply. Non-modular PSUs can be cabled properly, but takes more work to stuff all those extra [unused] cables behind the motherboard mounting plate.

As long as you only overclock the CPU moderately [4.5GHz or less with proper CPU cooling], and only use one video card, a high quality 600 watt PSU will work, just make sure you have all the cables you will need.

Awesome, thanks guys. What about getting a SSD for my OS? Is the increase in speed/performance really that much more for a gaming rig? And would a 60GB be enough? Is it pretty easy to setup for a first timer?

No need for an SSD for gaming. An SSD will load a game faster and if a game requires going to a seperate zone that requires loading, the SSD will load faster, however, it WILL NOT increase frames per second.

An SSD will also load the OS faster. SSDs should mainly be used for creating and moving movies, and other processes that take a great deal of time.

If you want an SSD I suggest Intel, they last longer. And, as to SSD size, make sure you have room to install the OS and games, and have room left for overhead, not to mention programs/games you might want to install in the future.

60GB for an OS and games is small. If you can afford it, purchase a 120GB.

If you purchase a regular hard drive get a 1TB [black or blue] from Western Digital. When installing Windows you will have the option to make a partition [this will become C: drive] - make the partition 120GB, then install the OS and games on C: drive. NOTE: a smaller partition will be faster read/write, and faster to defragment.