First Build: Insight would be greatly appreciated

[mxmike89]

Hi Guys,

This will be my very first build and would like to get some insight/advice from the members, as I'm sure you have a lot more expertise in this field than I do (I have next to none). But, I have been doing some reseach on different components and I think I have come up with a workable combination. My budget is around the $1000 mark, but I do have a little flexibility in price. Would the list of components listed below be compatible with each other, and will this handle most games? Thanks in advance for the help :)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
Motherboard: ASROCK Z68 Pro 3 GEN 3 DDR3
CPU: Intel Core i5 -3570K
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
Graphics card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB DDR5
Sound card: ???
Hard Drive(s): Seagate ST2000 DM001 Barracuda 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
Optical Drive(s):ASUS 24x DVD-RW

Operating System: Windows 7 Premium

-Mike

[ARchamps]

Nice build! If your budget allows, add an SSD drive! Unless you have a serious stereo setup, don't think you really need a soundcard. Onboard is pretty decent.

Good luck!

[zburns]

Hi mxmike and welcome to the forums,

The choice of a Z68 motherboard is a little out of date from a feature viewpoint. Most new builders now opt for a small 60 GB SSD to use as a cache for the Hard Drive. Some go further by getting a larger SSD in order to put the OS on it. Rob Williams has just redone (or he may still be 'in process' on this topic) his MySuperPC book and online instructions to include this feature.

To do this you need a Z77 chipset on the motherboard. Having the cache on an SSD will give you a much more rapid 'data change' when you do any 'click' on the keyboard. I assume you will want to do this but if you want to stick with your present list, just post back which way you want to go.

One other question. Do you really have a good reason (lots of storage right now) to use a 2TB hard drive. I am not saying do not do it, but that is twice the storage space and, I assume, almost twice the search time of a 1TB drive.

[Rob]

The book has not yet been updated with the steps for installing an SSD drive. I wouldn't let that discourage you from getting an SSD drive. The steps are fairly similar to a hard drive. Just as a reminder, the book always matches the online steps which being on this web-page. That way you know exactly what is in the book. The purpose of the book is to provide people an option to get a bound hardcopy of the assembly instructions for reference. The book is spiral bound so pages lay out flat for easy viewing while you work.

http://www.mysuperpc.com/build/pc_parts_list.shtml