New Build as of right now:

Ok, i think this is the build as of now. Please critique and tell me if things work or dont work or are good or bad.

RAM: Patriot G Series 8GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220466

CPU: Intel i5 3570K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

GPU: EVGA GTX 560 Ti http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

Case NZXT Phantom White http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087

MOBO: Asus P8Z77 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819

PSU: Corsair 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

OS: windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Disc Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

HDD: Western Digital caviar Black 2TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792

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Original Build:

CPU: Intel core i5-2500K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Motherboard: MSI p67A-GD53 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130572

also, this motherboard was also suggested to me and they said it was better. not sure if it is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

RAM: Patriot G series 'Sector 5' Edition 8GB (2x4gb) 240-PIN http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220466

GPU: I know I want the 560 Ti, but I cant decide between this Gigabyte one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363 or this EVGA one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604 (the EVGA one has a higher customer rating.)

This Asus one was suggested as being better than the above two, can anyone confirm or deny?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424

Also for GPU I am deeply considering just getting the GTX 670. just so I can get something cutting edge from the start. but not sure if its really worth it over the 560ti.

Disc Drive: ASUS 24x DVD burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

OS: Windows 7 Home premium 64-bit OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

HDD: Western Digital Caviar black 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

i am also deeply considering just going 2 TB on the HDD. can anyone tell me if its worth it? I plan on using my PC alot for gaming. So theres going to be alot of installs.

PSU: Corsair 750TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 White http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087

basically, I need to know if all the parts are compatible with each other and if it will run if it will fit in the case I listed . I also need to know if its good or not.

I am particularly worried about if i am buying a good Power supply or which of the 560 Ti's that I listed that I should go for.

Also, here is a round up of possible changes that one person suggested and he said would save me 60 dollars. Are they better and is it worth it? (Im basically just gonna copy and paste his message to me below):

"Mainboard - Change to the ASUS P8Z77-V LK. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837P67 is far too old now, the Z77 is cheaper ($125), is the latest chipset and has some functionality the P67 doesn't.

GPU - Get the ASUS 1GB GTX-560Ti DirectCU II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424 for $220 after rebate faster than both the cards you listed.

HDD - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200RPM HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840 for $100. Differences in speed between this and the Caviar Black will be negligible but difference in price ($40), isn't.

PSU - Silverstone Strider Plus ST60F-P 600Whttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256064 for $100 after rebate, more than enough power. Would even do SLI GTX-560Ti's (Which the P8Z77-V LK can do albeit in x8x8 mode). "

Thank you for the feedback.

(PS: Please, if you make suggestion, please list them out so I know what to change in teh current build I layed out. I dont wanna get confused here. thanks.)

Also note I am trying to keep this thing withing 1,200 or so for the rig. But i dont wanna sacrafice quality, so Ill go up a bit if needed. but I dont wanna spend 1,500 on it. I really wanna stick to around 1,200 or so for the rig.

Fixed now, good job.

They are clickable... and I'm looking over it.

So far I'd say the Asus IS better because Asus has a good history with overclocking on their boards. If you aren't interesting in that though the MSI one is fine.

On the video card, I'd go with Gigabyte. Better track record than EVGA - plus it's OC'd more than the EVGA. You won't notice the memory OC on the EVGA one ever though. Also, the Gigabyte model has 2 fans - better cooling.

You'll probably get a lot of feedback suggesting using a 1TB for storage, and a SSD for your system install and games. All it'll do is reduce load/boot up time. You won't see a real boost in performance as far as game play other than that, save the occasional texture pop-in that shouldn't be an issue with decent RAM.

Processor: Going to suggest getting the Ivy bridge equivalent. You're looking at less power needed (meaning cooler running temperature) and if you're into overclocking it'll give you more room to overclock. It's also $10 cheaper, and you get a free shirt! Oh shit! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116505

K, everything's compatible. I'm looking for a different set of memory modules, I'm not a fan of that 9-9-9-24 timing on it, but it's looking like that's pretty good for that speed. If anything I might suggest looking at a kit of 3 sticks of 4GB so you can do triple channel and get 12GB of system memory.

@alternate: Well, for some reason everytime I post a message it looks like that. I dont know if the site dosent work anymore with IE or what. so I have to edit it every time.

Depending on your planned gaming, an SSD (seeing great deals on 120gig ones where I'm at - Sweden, heh) might be a good pickup. I load into Tribes Ascend CTF matches before any other player has picked a team, MMOs that aren't broken (like SWTOR) load in an instant, and in load-heavy games like APB terrain and models draw instantly.

Speaking strictly from my own experiences, I'd recommend ASUS mother boards.

@Toxeia said:

So far I'd say the Asus IS better because Asus has a good history with overclocking on their boards.

What he said.

@Toxeia: Is it worth just getting the GTX 670 for GPU?

@Raven_Sword: Picking up a 600 series over a 500 series I'm not too sure on. Let me check prices and specs and I'll get back to you.

I looked at the Asus GPU you mentioned near the bottom. It's shadow and core clocks are slower than both the Gigabyte and EVGA, so if you go with a 5xx I'd still go with Gigabyte.

I'll preface this with the fact that I still have a Gigabyte 460GTX. I'm able to run Skyrim and Witcher 2 at full settings without issue. So that said, a 560 should be plenty of graphics power for you. If you want to future proof a bit though, the 670 is definitely a better card - I'd leave the decision up to whether or not you want to spend the extra money.

Finally, don't bother with SLI. It's a power drain with no benefit on most games unless they're optimized for SLI, and even then a single card of the next series up will out-perform two of the last. Stay with 1 card, it's easier to keep the machine cool and you can keep the extra change.

Well, how much SSD memory should I get?

Just so you know, the EvGA card is bad ass, especially if you want to overclock. I'm no pro, but I have heard you can make it as good, or better then higher priced cards if you know how to overclock it well and whatever.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

This board is the better Mobo. Mainly because it has more slots for PCIE which is nice if you want to upgrade more in the future (mo' slots mo' betta).

That's just my opinion though.

Edit: Oh, I saw you mention SSD. If you want to get one, I recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236

The price has gone down a lot. It's totally worth it if you want to make that leap now. Again, that's my opinion though. You don't have to or anything, SSDs are still fairly small and expensive, but they are awesome if you want to use one. This one is kinda cheap (in price) but a good drive. You could also wait on getting an SSD still.

Like Toxeia said earlier while the hard drive is a bottleneck, it's not one that is technically noticeable- well until you use an SSD haha

Ok ok, one final post.

On the SDD, you're talking about 15-20GB (I'd go with 30GB just to be safe) for the system install, plus any games you might want on top of that. Let's look at... I don't know, WoW and Diablo 3 for a decent sized game? 14.6GB and 15.3GB respectively. A 128GB SSD would probably be fine unless you're someone who doesn't like to uninstall games or plays a bunch of games at once. If either of those are you then look at a 256GB. There's also 512GB ones available, but we're talking big money at that point.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to weigh in on Western Digital VS Seagate for the hard drive. This is purely anecdotal, but Seagate drives have a terrible habit of failing. Every time I get a call from someone who needs me to work on their computer and it turns out a drive is bad, it's a Seagate hard drive I pull out of the case.

@Raven_Sword said:

Well, how much SSD memory should I get?

It all depends. I currently have a 128 gig SSD on my gaming desktop. While I don't have every game ever installed on it, I manage to keep 20-30 gigs free on it all the time since I have some WD Blacks for storage. I use 2x 128 gig SSDs in my laptop, and I have a hard time balancing free space between three OS installations.

I only recommend Samsung, Crucial M4's, and Intel SSDs. Everything else, I consider a ticking Sandforce driven time bomb. Unfortunately, the latest Intel SSDs use sandforce controllers so caveat emptor.

Right now, Buy.com has the 256 gig Crucial M4 for $210. The lowest I've ever seen them is $190 which is very rare, and $200 three times in the past few months.

Once you go SSD, you'll never want to go back.

The 670 is immensely more powerful than a 560 Ti, if you have the money I would jump on it. I'm also curious as to why your going with a SB/P67 combo for your configuration when IB/Z77 is out in the wild.

@Toxeia said:

Ok ok, one final post.

On the SDD, you're talking about 15-20GB (I'd go with 30GB just to be safe) for the system install, plus any games you might want on top of that. Let's look at... I don't know, WoW and Diablo 3 for a decent sized game? 14.6GB and 15.3GB respectively. A 128GB SSD would probably be fine unless you're someone who doesn't like to uninstall games or plays a bunch of games at once. If either of those are you then look at a 256GB. There's also 512GB ones available, but we're talking big money at that point.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to weigh in on Western Digital VS Seagate for the hard drive. This is purely anecdotal, but Seagate drives have a terrible habit of failing. Every time I get a call from someone who needs me to work on their computer and it turns out a drive is bad, it's a Seagate hard drive I pull out of the case.

Diablo 3 doesn't need to be on a an SSD because it loads instantly on a standard HDD I found. But yea it only takes a few 15gig PC games on my 128gig SSD for it to fill.

Also steam mover is great as you don't need to uninstall games, just move them to a data drive when you aren't playing them regularly, plus some games don't really benefit much from an SSD anyway.

Ok, I think I'm not going to worry about SSD right now. I really just want this computer. I mainly just want to know how to build this thing well. With quality parts and stuff that I'm not going to need to replaced outside of gpu and CPU.

Pro tip: Choose a graphics card that has been overclocked at the factory, because manufacturers use best samples of those cards for overclocking.

Asus for mobo, EVGA for gpus. EVGA has responsive tech support if you run into issues, been impressed with them.

Why is the 3550 ivy bridge priced higher than the 2500k? Also, is the 560 ti going to be enough for new games?

You can't go wrong with Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, or EVGA. I have an Asus mobo, 2 MSI GTX 460s, and used to have a EVGA 9800GTX++. All of which run/ran perfectly. One thing to note is EVGA has probably the best customer service of the bunch especially when it comes to rebates or RMAs. Other than that they're all pretty excellent.

As for SSDs,I cannot personally recommend them at the moment. The storage capacity for a good price is just not there. Sure windows boots up 2 seconds faster and games load maybe a second faster, but for the price its just not worth. I cannot speak on whether you think its worth it or not but for me personally its not.

@Raven_Sword:

Depends on the resolution, what kind of monitor have you got? I have a GTX 460 and I still run everything except BF3 perfectly smooth.

I don't think a SSD is worth the money at all.  It might be worth it for someone who needs a lot of performance for their job but games and your OS won't really benefit.  "ZOMG I can load shit 10 seconds faster"... is only for bragging and dbags.

@Raven_Sword: Well, I don't know as much about that one, although the specs seems fine. I forgot about the cores. Mine is 448 cores and its beast but its an expensive card.

I personally really like EVGA's stuff. They tend to be quality just in my experience and I can run any game with no problems. Generally on high. That card should be almost the same, maybe medium if not high.

The resolution is also a big factor as it will take more graphical prowess to run at 1080p for instance. I think it should still be fine though. Your monitor would also be a factor in that.

Edit: Oh, wanted to add. Dont worry to much about the graphics card. I mean ya, get one you want, but I just mean don't sweat it to much. You can always replace it later if you find a better one or want to upgrade at some point. Like any part except maybe the mother board, you can always easily replace it later if you find something you like better. So, just some advice I guess.

But that Asus mobo is probaly the one to get?

@Raven_Sword said:

Why is the 3550 ivy bridge priced higher than the 2500k? Also, is the 560 ti going to be enough for new games?

Newer process and higher IPC. Considering the 3570K is all of like 15-20 bucks more than the 2500K it's not really much of a gripe.

@Korwin: oops, I meant why was the ivy bridge 3550 priced LOWER than the 2500K. Did not make sense because the ivy bridge was more advanced.

If you got the money, I'd go with a 670 over the 560TI - future proofing and all that.

I have pretty much the specs you posted (though my 2500K is overclocked to 4.2 Ghz) and planning on upgrading to a 670/680.

Good

@Raven_Sword:

I'm a salesman at a computer store in the UK and get asked these kind of questions daily. I thought I would through in my two cents.

If I were to build a mid - high end gaming PC right now I would go for;

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX if your not overclocking, Asus P8Z77-V Pro if you are.

Processor: Intel Core i5 3550 if your not overclocking, i5 3570K if you are.

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

Graphics Card: MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II. A reliable card with a great cooler

Power Supplie: Corsair TX 650W V2. A good, solid PSU. Very reliable

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 or H80 are great water cooling kits. Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro is a really good air cooler. Stock Cooler is fine if your not overclocking

Optical Drive: Samsung S222BB

Case is all down to personal preference.

I hope that helps.

@Raven_Sword: The 3550 is the replacement for the stock 2500, the 3570K is the replacement for the 2500K (the 3550 and 2500 are not unlocked and cannot be overclocked, at least not very far).

@Raven_Sword: Just so you know about rebates. The second you cut the bar code from the box, Newegg would want nothing to do with it. If you gonna need it replaced then you are gonna need to deal with the company directly which can be a pain in the ass.

Either then that then It's a pretty well solid build. Also, I would suggest to you to buy an aftermarket Heatsink for you CPU.

@Korwin: New Build as of right now:

Ok, i think this is the build as of now. Please critique and tell me if things work or dont work or are good or bad.

RAM: Patriot G Series 8GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220466

CPU: Intel i5 3570K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

GPU: EVGA GTX 560 Ti http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

Case NZXT Phantom White http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087

MOBO: Asus P8Z77 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819

PSU: Corsair 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

OS: windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Disc Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

HDD: Western Digital caviar Black 2TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792

look good?

Anymore feedback would be great.

What games, resolution, and details do you really want to play? The graphics card is good, it will run anything out right now on pretty good settings. However, it will not be able to max out the newest games and get 60fps. If you don't care about maxing out games then that card is probably fine.

Looks good to me, I'm running something quite similar in my lounge room gaming PC (has 2 560's and quicker ram).

On a side note when you put everything together you might want to flash the UEFI up to the latest release, that board has had something like 3 revisions for the firmware over the past 2 months. It's real easy you just dump the new firmware onto a usb key then run the update utility from the GUI when you first start up the PC.

@Korwin: Is the PSU good though? wanna make sure I get a decent one

@Raven_Sword said:

@Korwin: Is the PSU good though? wanna make sure I get a decent one

Yep nothing wrong with a TX, it's not quite as nice as an HX or AX but it will serve you just fine in this case. That system isn't going to come close to breaking 750watts of sustained draw.

But a future gpu upgrade shouldn't go above 750W as well right?

Nope, video cards are restricted to a 300watt envelope when running on PCI-E so won't ever really break that barriers, especially when the rest of your system will pull all of 100-150 watts at the most.

@Raven_Sword: Have you actually built this thing yet?

I gotta say go with the 670 man.

dont wanna link the items since i would have to find an american site to do so properly so ill just write it down and i cant find my gfx card anywhere anymore

its nice but not over powered

motherboard:

Asus RAMPAGE III EXTREME X58 CrossFire & SLI

cpu:

Intel Core i7 960 3.20 GHz 8MB Box 130W S1366

ram

Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL8 kit DOMINATOR

ssd primary:

OCZ Vertex 2 Series SSD 120GB 285/275 MB r/w

harddisk secondary:

Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 32MB 7200RPM SATA

psu

cant remember but a 1200w something something

grafikkort

XFX Radeon HD 5900 black edition 4gb.

its fairly rare as of what i have heard mine is nr 352 of the ones that where produced. if you dont know it its similar to the Radeon HD 6990 basically the only difference is that it uses 100w more and and a slightly higher engine clock Mhz as standard but not alot. it was either that or crossfire 2 HD6970

tower

NZXT Phantom Crafted Series in black

monitor

samsung led monitor 24" full 1080p with a fantastic contrasts and response time

Most demanding PC games you'll encounter will be ARMA 2, Witcher 2 (ubersampling on) and Battlefield 3. I don't think there's anything else on the market that comes close to these games in terms of graphical demands. Witcher 2 could be pulled off the list though as ubersampling is utterly insane. It's not really requiered and the difference between it being on and off is not as large a difference as it should be considering the jump in performance it requires.

As for the build it's great but if the primary use is for gaming then you need to spend more on your GPU. Go for a cheaper motherboard, unless you're looking for 5GHz+ overclocks on your CPU it's not going to be needed. Even an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 will happily get you to 4.5GHz without much issue depending on how good your CPU is and is quite a bit cheaper than the ASUS, with the money saved there go for a 2GB HD7850 or if you can afford the extra the GTX-670.

If I did go with the 670, is it worth the extra, like, 200 bucks opposed to the 560 ti? Also, what 670 card on newegg should I go with?

Is it worth it? The answer is going to be different for each person.

The GTX-560Ti is a great card but it's not going to run Battlefield 3 on Ultra settings at 1080p in a large server at a solid 60fps. Will I care that I saved some money when I get frustrated at my PC cause it can't run the game at the settings I want to run it at and get decent frames?

So I can't tell you if it's worth the extra money, that's something you'll need to decide.

Ok, km gonna go with the 670, but do I need to change anything else with the build to accommodate it?

No should be fine, build looks good.

Is their a recommended maker for the 670? I was probaly gonna go with the EVGA.

@Raven_Sword: Looks like Zotac is going to be releasing a dual cooler 670. And from my experience nobody that I know has had problem with Zotac cards.

I don't know if this is the best place or not but i figured i'd post here instead of making a new one.

Looking to build a new pc off ibuypower and need an opinion whether this stuff is compatible and if it looks like a good rig. I've tried doing some research on my own but a lot of this stuff goes over my head. Any input would be appreciated.

@Raven_Sword said:

Is their a recommended maker for the 670? I was probaly gonna go with the EVGA.

From all the research I was doing for my PC, it looked like the winners were Asus DC2 card or EVGA FTW.

The problem is you can't find the Asus one browsing US sites. EVGA FTW is in stock in Amazon and Newegg. That's the one I ended up with.