Buildin' a computer!

[Crashpunk]

Some of you might be aware that I've been wanting to build myself a gaming computer. The reasons being that my current computer is a complete pile of shit and it will be very good experience for my Job. I also want to be able to render videos quickly.

For the past couple of weeks I've searched and searched and I think I've come up with a nice list of parts for a average gaming PC but I'm worried about compatibility and if I'm wasting money in any areas.

So I want some advice. If anyone here has experience with building computers I would love to hear from you.

The list so far.

- CiT Vantage Type-R Gaming Case (it has my initials in the name )
- Nivdea EVGA GF GTX 660ti GDDR5 Graphics Card
- Corsair 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory
- Intel Core i5 3570k Quad Core
- Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z77-DS3H Motherboard OR
- ASUS P8Z77-V LX, LGA 1155/Socket H2, Intel (90-MIBHT0-G0EAY0VZ) Motherboard
- Corsair CX750 Builder Series CX 750W ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze PSU
- Western Digital 1TB internal Hard Drive
- Windows 7 64-Bit

The price is around £710 I think, that's also with some tools and of course Windows 7.

Again, my main worry is compatibility.

Motherboard is a choice between two because the ASUS one is on offer (Just under £50 but i don't know if either one is good for my specs. I know the 1155 socket is compatible with the i5 processor, I'm just wondering if there are any other features I'm missing.

I've gone for an i5 instead of a i7 because it's cheaper and it's apparently just as good for gaming, if not better.

I've heard so many good things about the Nvidea GTX 660 ti card so my mind is made up on that one. I will probably upgrade in the future.

Left out a SSD because i'm unsure the speeds are worth the price. (you can get a 1TB HDD for the same price as a 128GB SSD.)

Apparently around 500W-600W is enough to power my machine so I'm unsure if 750W is overkilling it.

And as for overclocking. I don't have any plans to. Unless someone really convinces me otherwise.

E: The motherboard is now either Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z77-DS3H or Gigabyte H77-DS3H, Intel H77, ATX. I've heard Gigabyte is the best.

And everything is compatible according to PCPartPicker. Just want to make sure though.

[Phylum]

Ideally if you go for an SSD, you'd get a SSD and a HDD. I'm running windows off of a 256gb OCZ Vertex 4, and everything else from some 2tb drive I can't even remember the brand of.

It might be worth waiting for the GTX 760 to launch, if it hasn't already. It's a better card, but even if you don't buy one, it will bump the cost of the 660ti down. The 770 is out, so you might want to keep your eyes peeled for a bargain 670 too. I have one and it's fantastic.

The processor looks good.

[Manco]

I’m no expert on PC building (Mac user), but when I was looking into it a couple years ago the advice I kept running into was to stick with good quality PSUs, and the more wattage it could handle the better. Corsair is a good brand and 750W is a good number, so stick with that.

My MacBook has an SSD in it, and while they are super fast, what you would probably want from a gaming PC is lots of storage space for downloading games onto. SSDs are fast, but their low storage space makes them ideal for laptops or secondary computers, not big hub PCs like a gaming desktop.

Also if you can fit/afford more RAM, go for it. My iMac sits on 12GB RAM and it can handle just about any number of open apps at once with no lag. For a gaming PC multitasking probably isn’t a necessity, but games are only going to get more demanding so the more you can get now the less you’ll have to buy later. 8GB is probably a bare minimum for bigger games these days.

[Phylum]

I can't think of any games that specifically ask for 8GB of ram, other than the uber quality recommendations for Crysis 3. 8GB is plenty for now.

[Crashpunk]

Thanks for your quick responses. I knew 8GB was just the minimum. I think I may get 16GB just because. You think 64GB is enough for a SSD? it's the cheapest one I can find and Windows 7 is only 20GB, leaving the rest for games.

Motherboards are stressing me out still. I can't decide which one I want.

[DarkHoodness]

As Phylum says you can get an SDD to run your operating system off of, and use a HDD for everything else. Or simply partition your hard drive to keep your system separate from the rest of your data to make OS re-installation easier - Make sure you give Windows 7 50 or 60 GBs of space though, and you can turn off your page file/hibernation usage to save space if you don't think you'll need them. They'll take up more space depending on how much RAM you have.

Speaking of RAM, 8GB is normally fine for pretty much everything these days IMO unless you do heavy video editing or run RAM demanding apps like Photoshop - You can always save money now if your motherboard has some slots free to add more RAM later, but then it's not like it's very expensive.

Seconded on what Manco said on PSUs.

Also my friend recently upgraded his computer and has that very same case - It's quite decent and has plenty of fans on it already, but make sure you have adequate cooling anyway. It's something I regret not doing when I bought my latest rig 2 years ago...

Lastly you may also want to invest in a second 1 TB HD in a caddy, then regularly backup your hard drive contents using Allway Sync or another program (Windows backup sucks, don't use it), depending on how much you value your data.

[Manco]

I can't think of any games that specifically ask for 8GB of ram, other than the uber quality recommendations for Crysis 3. 8GB is plenty for now.

Just speculation, but I think there’s going to be a jump probably around next year – Xbone and Ps4 will both have 8GB RAM, so game developers will probably jump on that.

Plus as DH said, it helps for video rendering and memory-intensive apps. I’m guessing since CP runs a Youtube channel he’ll be looking for that.

And RAM is cheap, so why not?

[DarkHoodness]

Also if you haven't decided on a mouse yet, this one rocks.

[Crashpunk]

+£100 for 16GB is cheap?

Also if you haven't decided on a mouse yet, this one rocks.

I'm not looking for peripherals at the minute. I already have a basic, cheap logitech mouse and that's completely fine for gaming. For me it is anyway.

[Nate]

I think I may get 16GB just because. You think 64GB is enough for a SSD.

I have 110GB of files in my Win7 install - 54GB of that is Steam, and I don't have that many games. Game download sizes are getting pretty huge these days.

I'd recommend getting an Intel SSD as they have a reputation for being more reliable than other brands and also having excellent support when the drives inevitably do break down.

[Phylum]

When you do look for mice I can only recommend a WMO or Steelseries Kana. Basic Logitech mice are fine until you go pro and ramp the sens down. That CM mouse is cheap, but it shows in some of the features. The liftoff distance is stupidly high.

[Crashpunk]

Do you think this motherboard would be fine?

Also this is my RAM

Yahoo Answers is so helpful...

[Manco]

+£100 for 16GB is cheap?

Try Crucial – I got 8GB for like, 45 bucks.

[Varrok]

Do you think this motherboard would be fine?

Also this is my RAM

Yahoo Answers is so helpful...

He's probably from Microsoft/Sony.

[Vyrien]

I would recommend you invest in a gaming case that isn't CiT. In my experience they are flimsy, noisy and do not have very good airflow. Maybe a Corsair, Cooler Master or even the Casecom 6788 All Black (cheap but absolutely fantastic for the price).

Also you definitely want at least a 1TB HDD or external HDD if you're gaming. I would never trust an SSD with anything other than the OS, both of mine (Kingston and OCZ) have broken down within a couple of years, perhaps just bad luck but I wouldn't risk it again.

Just out of interest, where are you getting your parts from?

[OddjobAbe]

Don't forget a spare fuse for your plug.

[Crashpunk]

I would recommend you invest in a gaming case that isn't CiT. In my experience they are flimsy, noisy and do not have very good airflow. Maybe a Corsair, Cooler Master or even the Casecom 6788 All Black (cheap but absolutely fantastic for the price).

Also you definitely want at least a 1TB HDD or external HDD if you're gaming. I would never trust an SSD with anything other than the OS, both of mine (Kingston and OCZ) have broken down within a couple of years, perhaps just bad luck but I wouldn't risk it again.

Just out of interest, where are you getting your parts from?

Mostly from amazon. But I've found it's cheaper to get a few from eBay and Scan.com.

[Vyrien]

Yeah, Scan is good. Ebuyer.com also has the occasional good deal on, might be worth giving it a look.

[DarkHoodness]

You may also want to check Aria.co.uk - I've been a customer since '03 and have had a consistently good experience with them. They also do decent deals.

[Phylum]

both of mine (Kingston and OCZ) have broken down within a couple of years

Isn't that the idea with SSDs? They should last until they're just out of warranty, then die slowly and painfully.

[Vyrien]

Absolutely. At the time, however, I had a terminal case of 'won't happen to me' syndrome.

[Phylum]

2nd SSD in and I'm certainly still in that mindset.

[Crashpunk]

Update time!

I've bought my 750W PSU because it was low in stock. 1 part down, many more to go.

I've also switched from the 660ti to the 660 because it's a lot cheaper (nearly £100 difference) and it's apparently not worth paying all that money for it. I plan to upgrade my graphics anyway at a later date when I need to. Probably in a few years when games before a lot more demanding.

I would recommend you invest in a gaming case that isn't CiT. In my experience they are flimsy, noisy and do not have very good airflow. Maybe a Corsair, Cooler Master or even the Casecom 6788 All Black (cheap but absolutely fantastic for the price).

I took your post very seriously and I spent ages searching for a new one. I have seen a Cool Masters case that looks very nice. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coolermaster...tower+atx+case but it's pretty expensive, nearly £70. Is it worth it? I only really considered the CiT because it looks really nice and it's cheap. And according to reviews, is worth the money.

I've changed my RAM to this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Still unsure about the Motherboard, but I think it's fine.

and unfortantly, the listing for the i5 finished on Ebay, so I need to spend £20 extra for it. (unless something else pops up)

Thanks for your help people! I should have it finished before the end of July.

List updated

- Coolermaster Storm Enforcer Mid Tower ATX Case
- Nvidia EVGA GTX 660 GDDR5 Graphics Card
- Crucial Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800
- Intel Core i5 3570k Quad Core
- Gigabyte XKT-1155 Z68AP-D3 Motherboard (Rev 1.0)
- Corsair CX750 Builder Series CX 750W ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze PSU
- Western Digital 1TB internal Hard Drive
- Windows 7 64-Bit

[Phylum]

Seriously, find a shop that specialises in computer hardware. I don't really know about over there, but in Aus the real computer geek shops (like MSY) are considerably cheaper than Amazon etc.

[DarkHoodness]

The CiT Vantage Type-R Gaming Case is a good case - As I said my friend has one and he's happy with it. Fans are really quiet and it keeps his components cool in his hot room.

[Vyrien]

Crashpunk, if you feel the CiT is the one for you then go for it. It does look good value for the price point but if it were me I'd want to go a little more expensive. I used to have a CiT Saturn and it was horrible, cheaply made and hot.

I cannot speak directly for the Vantage Type-R as I've had no first-hand experience with it but after the Saturn I swore to never buy another CiT case again.

Also if you are wondering about different Graphics Cards this site is incredibly useful.

[Crashpunk]

Seriously, find a shop that specialises in computer hardware. I don't really know about over there, but in Aus the real computer geek shops (like MSY) are considerably cheaper than Amazon etc.

There's a computer shop down the street. It's more overpriced than Amazon.

E: Actually I take that back. Amazon isn't overpriced at all.

[JayDee]

I can't help much but recommend CCL Online. They're based here in England and do reasonably cheap gaming computers with the option to customise; as well as buy the parts seperately. They can assemble it all for you for a fee, though like me I'll be guessing you'll want to assemble it yourself.

[DarkHoodness]

Haven't ordered your graphics card yet? Aria currently have this deal on the Radeon HD 7870 and four free games, and other similar deals with other card/game combos, it may be worth taking a quick look.

(I get their e-mail newsletter... Yay, bacn.)

(E: Also my intention is to save you money, not promote Aria.)

[Vyrien]

That's a nice deal. The HD 7870 is a slightly better card than the GTX 660 too.