Maximum PC

Hey hey guys, just wondering if this is a good build or if I should change anything. I've gone with most of these parts after reading about them on this site/forum but, I just wanted to get a final critique before I committed to the purchase. Thanks in advance!!


GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 $469.99
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99
Power Supply: XFX PRO850W $154.99
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz IvyBridge $329.99
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB $109.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) $94.99
Optical Drive: LG Black 12X Blu-ray Combo Drive $49.99
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF $199.99

Total Price $1,554.99

You don't need a 850 Watt power supply for your setup you can go with a 750 Watt one instead for your build. I recommend this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021. Your motherboard looks pretty good, but you might want one with more SATA ports so that if you want to add more hard drives or SSDs you'll be able to do so with out having to purchase an add-in SATA PCI-Express card. Here's one I found http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820 it's an ASUS Z77 board for $180.

Four things here:

• Drop the Core i7-3770K for a Core i5-3570K
• Drop the RAM to 8GB
• Get a GTX 670 instead. Performs at worst 10% less, costs $100 less.
• Just get a regular DVD burner if you need optical media. Unless you're burning/watching Blu-Ray movies, Blu-Ray is kind of useless.

Well thanks to the input from you guys here is my new build. One of the other reasons for this PC is to be able to use my 60" LG TV as a monitor, so I want to make sure my machine will be able to accomplish such a task. Also, this system is going to be liquid cooled, in case anyone was wondering why I didn't have any fans listed. One last thing, should I consider doing a SLI setup if I intend to use my TV as the monitor?

Case:COOLER MASTER HAF X
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
GPU: GeForce GTX 680 2GB
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
MoBo: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
Optical Drive: LG Black 12X Blu-ray Combo Drive

Another question I have for this build is that I want to use my 60 LED TV for my monitor. So would the single graphics card be enough or would you reccommend running a SLI/Crossfire setup?

Sorry, I forgot to post my updated build >_<

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF X
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600
MoBo: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Z77 Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge
Optical Drive: LG Black 12X Blu-ray Combo

See, that's why I'm glad this site is around! I'll post my updated (and God willing, final) build a little later. Any input as far as SLI/Crossifre goes for using my TV as a monitor?

IT'S THE FINAL COUNT DO...erm, sorry, final build. I'm going to be ordering the parts next month so any last words of advice would be much appreciated!

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF X
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3TB
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
RAM: SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) A.K.A. Magic RAM
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge
Optical Drive: LG Black 12X Blu-ray Combo

No SSD? I'm enjoying 15 second boot times with one

Though my laptop with the same model boots up so fast I just laugh.

I'm still up in the air as far as SSDs go. I just can't justify the cost versus the ammount of storage they offer. Once they become a little bit cheaper one might find its way into my PC, but, until then I'm going to go without. Heh, though chances are that I'll want one as soon as the rig is put together >_<

You might be looking at SSDs in the wrong way. SSDs aren't meant to be "mass" storage devices, they're meant for performance. Slap your OS, your key programs, maybe a game or two on the SSD and watch as everything loads faster and becomes much snappier. Like I said, my system boots up in about 15 seconds (the laptop gets up and going in less than 10), and any program I launch effectively launches right away.

Everything else can live on the HDD. Media especially, because there's such low bandwidth requirements for media that they have practically zero benefit going on an SSD anyway.