Review my possible build!

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Dirty Dan
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Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:10 pm

Would appreciate villuns thoughts about this build - potential incompatibility, where I could spend a little more for better results, whether I could spend less in some areas potentially, personal feedback, etc.

I will be re-using some parts:
-Cooler Master Storm Sniper Tower
-Corsair 650w power supply (I think should be enough?)
-DVD drive (who cares what brand)
-WD 1TB Black
-WD 1TB Green
-Asus Xonar STX Audio
-Windows 7

Here's what I'm thinking -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8j6eg9saqr20s8z/PCbuild.png

My old setup with just a video card and case update has done me well for 4 years - finally time to make a leap! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee.

*updated to include HDs and sound card*
Last edited by Dirty Dan on Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Boss Llama
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Boss Llama » Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:23 pm

Looks pretty nice. I suspect it will work wonderfully as you have spec'd it, but for the sake of suggestions/tweaks, these are what I would consider:

-You'll want to add a larger non-SSD to the mix. Your Steam directory alone could easily fill the one there, so it might be a good option to have something like a 1TB Caviar Black to handle your OS and other non-gaming files (or rescue whatever you've been using and include it in the new build).

-A GTX 780 is a beautiful card, and one of the most power-hungry out there. That 650 is probably a fine PSU because it's a Corsair - some of the best gaming PSUs out there, and which put all their amperage on a single rail - but you may want to double check your peak draw against the 12V rail output of the PSU to make sure you have sufficient overhead. I'd probably use a minimum of a 750 with that card myself, but I tend to go pretty high on PSUs because of some early experiences where I blew out a number by not understanding how they worked.

-8GB of RAM is pretty much the minimum these days. If there's a good deal on 12-16GB, I'd go for it. It isn't necessary for anything presently, but given a 4 year life cycle, it can't hurt to be ready if the price is right.

-I'm not read up on the latest i series processors, but if there's one that's the same specs and doesn't do the onboard video, you might save a couple bucks. It isn't at all bad to have the video, in case your GPU cooks, but if you don't feel the need for it, it's just extra money spent. I know some of the previous versions came in both onboard and no-onboard flavors.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:39 pm

Great feedback Alizee, just the kind of thing I was looking for, will look into all that.

Totally forgot to mention I do have 2 1 tb drives (1 is for backup) that I'm going to bring over as well so am sorted there.
I also have a ASUS Xonar STX sound card, but that's not critical to the thing working.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Clay Pigeon » Mon Dec 30, 2013 5:47 pm

This got me looking. If the 680 and the 770 are based on the same chip, why does the 770 use nearly 20% more power?

http://www.hwcompare.com/14636/geforce- ... e-gtx-770/
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Boss Llama » Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:22 pm

Glad to hear the suggestions were useful, and that you have some hard drives available already to bring over. Thought you might, but wasn't sure :-D
Dirty Dan wrote:I also have a ASUS Xonar STX sound card, but that's not critical to the thing working.
Definitely not critical! Unless you're doing audio editing or other professional audio work, the onboard audio of any respectable motherboard these days is more than sufficient for gaming. Add-on sound cards can add significant errors with drivers and compatibility, without adding any significant benefit for day to day use. I've haven't used an expansion sound card in my last 4 builds, I think it is, and have never noticed a difference.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by MasterChef » Tue Dec 31, 2013 7:31 am

I was looking at the same mobo and cpu myself should I decide to upgrade. Most of my stuff is over 3 years old now and I'm looking to upgrade even though I really don't need it.

Like AF said, I'd look into a different PSU to be safe. Also, will you be adding a CPU cooler? Everything I hear about stock coolers is dreadful, even if you don't plan on any overclocking.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Tue Dec 31, 2013 12:50 pm

MasterChef wrote: Like AF said, I'd look into a different PSU to be safe. Also, will you be adding a CPU cooler?
I looked into the stats regarding the PSU - there was 50 something available on the 12v rail, card requires 42. The rest seems to be fine. I looked at the lifespan, 100,000 hours, and I'm fine there as well. I'm still somewhat nervous though. Isn't there some calculation you're supposed to do with the wattage load where you dont go past...I want to say 80%? I do want to be safe since I'm spending some coin on that GPU, especially...
Alizee Fan wrote: Definitely not critical! Unless you're doing audio editing or other professional audio work, the onboard audio of any respectable motherboard these days is more than sufficient for gaming.
I actually already have the card and it does make a gigantic difference for music, I was more referring to the non essential part in terms of the machine actually functioning. But for the sake of advice I suppose it's better to include all components!
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Tilgasse » Tue Dec 31, 2013 1:33 pm

I bought that motherboard and returned it the next day. I didnt like the layout of it very much. I grabbed an ASRock Extreme6 It was only 15$ Different when I got mine. Also any reason your not getting the 4770k? Its only like 10$ more.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Tue Dec 31, 2013 2:55 pm

Tilgasse wrote:I bought that motherboard and returned it the next day. I didnt like the layout of it very much. I grabbed an ASRock Extreme6 It was only 15$ Different when I got mine. Also any reason your not getting the 4770k? Its only like 10$ more.
What didn't you like about the mobo? What did you prefer about the ASRock? My current MSI board has been a trooper so sort of going on brand reputation.

Re: CPU - I'm seeing it as quite a bit more?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116901
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Tue Dec 31, 2013 3:53 pm

Sorry for the double post but any thoughts around the ram speed I chose? I'm fine with starting out with 8 GB capacity but I really dont have a good feel for the impact of ram speed on gaming and other applications, at what level you start get diminishing returns, etc.

Thanks again for all the notes everyone.
Clay Pigeon wrote:This got me looking. If the 680 and the 770 are based on the same chip, why does the 770 use nearly 20% more power?

http://www.hwcompare.com/14636/geforce- ... e-gtx-770/
I looked into that...I have no idea either.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Boss Llama » Tue Dec 31, 2013 6:42 pm

Dirty Dan wrote: I looked into the stats regarding the PSU - there was 50 something available on the 12v rail, card requires 42. The rest seems to be fine. I looked at the lifespan, 100,000 hours, and I'm fine there as well. I'm still somewhat nervous though. Isn't there some calculation you're supposed to do with the wattage load where you dont go past...I want to say 80%? I do want to be safe since I'm spending some coin on that GPU, especially...
I'd definitely go for an upgrade based on that. The 12V rail is pretty much what feeds everything in your system. If your GPU peaks at 42 out of an available 50, that leaves only 8 for all other functions, and if your GPU is peaking chances are some other parts might be as well. I'd look for an upgrade to something with 60A or more - I believe the HX750 offers 62A for example - to stay safe. Stick with Corsair - they're the best of the best right now, and offer PSUs that really have what gamers need.
Dirty Dan wrote:Sorry for the double post but any thoughts around the ram speed I chose? I'm fine with starting out with 8 GB capacity but I really dont have a good feel for the impact of ram speed on gaming and other applications, at what level you start get diminishing returns, etc.
Your RAM speed is great, and is pushing the high-end limit for what most computers can really make use of. From the testing I've seen on Tom's Hardware, they can't get RAM speed to account for more than a 1-2% performance boost, even going from something like 1333 to 2200. Your 2133 selection should be solid for years to come. The point of diminishing returns is reached at different points depending on what the rest of a system is like (the fact the logical increments guide is based on), but I think it's safe to say that your choice is above and beyond what anything requires these days. Both 1600 and 1866 would be completely suitable as well, and I have my doubts there would be a noticeable difference. The upgrade is worth it if the price difference is small, but if you're paying through the nose for 2133, you'll be fine saving some cash on that particular statistic.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Tilgasse » Tue Dec 31, 2013 9:39 pm

Cant Remember but some of the headers were awkward to use. The Extreme6 has better use of the SATA ports If I remember.
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by chaffe[seagreens] » Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:22 am

dan, I almost built the same exact computer about 3 months ago, 99% of the parts you are using are what I used. Im totally happy with everything. I have different speed ram is about all
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Re: Review my possible build!

Post by Dirty Dan » Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:58 pm

Blah, yeah I'm just going to get a 750 watt-er. Was not anticipating that expense but I dont want to risk any issues :(

Edit - thoughts on this fella? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139055
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