Mark757
01-08-2013, 11:32 PM
Hi guys,
After toying with the idea for a number of years I’m taking the plunge into building my own machine. I’m not an utter noob when it comes to this but realistically it’s been a looong time since I’ve played around with the ‘inside-bits’. So I’d like to make a short list of what I’m considering purchasing and I’d appreciate any constructive feedback on what I’ve chosen well, what won’t work, or if you see any plainly obvious compatibility issues that I missed 'cos I'm not yet pro at this stuff.
A relevant point to note is that the most resource hungry game I’ll likely play is Eve Online (I'm not overly into first person shooters and similar), although I am doing a lot of video editing these days and in all honesty that's probably more the requirement than gaming, so I figure I’ll need some decent hardware. I've been researching non-stop for the past couple of weeks and while I think I've got my head wrapped around most things I'm somewhat fried from focusing on it so hard for so long. So please excuse me if I've made a total 'beginner' mistake and point out where I'm messing up.
So here’s the list I’ve put together so far and aside from problem points I'd also appreciate hearing any thoughts on if I can get a decent upgrade in performance anywhere for a small-ish increase in cost. I've also included links to my local supplier in case anyone is interested in the specs or individual pricing (it's in AUD - NewEgg, Amazon and similar aren't available to me in Australia without reasonably big postage costs):
MoBO
Intel DH77KC Media Series ATX Motherboard, LGA1155, H77, DP, HDMI, DVI,Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&bid=2&sid=92070)
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K/3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/LGA1155 Ivy Bridge (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=&&bid=2&sid=92390)
Optional 2011 MoBo and CPU (…is it worth it?)
Intel DX79TO, ATX, LGA2011, X79, 8x DDR3, 2x PCIe x16 Gen 2, CrossFire, SLI, HD AUDIO, USB3.0, SATA2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=178&bid=2&sid=86569)
Intel CORE i7 3820/3.60GHz/10MB CACHE/LGA2011/4CORES/ (NO FAN) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=13&bid=2&sid=85556)
Memory
Kingston 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL11 DIMM (Kit of 2) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&&bid=2&sid=101941)
I'm not sure what the CL11 means, and this also seems a bit cheap for 16GB of RAM so perhaps I'm looking at buying something here that I shouldn't - thoughts?
Video Card / GPU
Gigabyte GF GTX 650Ti OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 2GB 128-bit DDR5, 1032/5400MHz, 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=247&bid=2&sid=101082)
Optional Video Card / GPU (…is it worth it?)
Leadtek GTX 660 TI PCI-E 3.0 2GB 192-bit DDR5, Base: 915 Boost: 980/6008 MHz, 2x DVI, HDMI, DP, Fan (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=153&&bid=2&sid=104450)
Case (has to be at least partially portable, and this one has a handle because I’m precious)
CoolerMaster Storm Scout 2 Gaming Grey Case (NoPSU) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=209&bid=2&sid=103999)
Harddrive (I’d love an SSD at least for the OS, but I figure I can upgrade this easily down the track and keep costs lower up front)
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=129&bid=2&sid=87001)
Optical Drive
LGE BH12LS38 Black BlueRay SATA LightScribe Writer Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=20&bid=2&sid=80397)
PSU (this website (http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx) said I needed at least a 650W unit after I plugged in everything above)
CoolerMaster 720W Silent Pro MII Modular (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=140&bid=2&sid=84589)
OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=45&bid=2&sid=50676)
Wireless Card (going for internal rather than a USB dongle)
ASUS PCE-N15 WLAN PCI-Express N300 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=273&sid=79434)
Fans for additional cooling (1 comes with the case plus these two I'll buy - is that enough, I have no idea?)
Fractal Design Silent Series Case Fan 120mm* X2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=227&&bid=2&sid=80310)
Thermal Compound
CoolerMaster IC Essential E2 Thermal Compound (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=188&bid=2&sid=78810)
Total Cost = AUD$1305
Any input on how to improve the above without destroying my budget ($1500 max) or pin-pointing any problem areas would be fantastic!
Thanks,
Mark
EDIT: I almost forgot... do I need to get a separate CPU fan for cooling or do they normally come with them? I'm going to start researching this now although if anyone has any information on this please feel free to let me know. In case it matters, I don't plan on overclocking as I don't know enough about it at this stage. Cheers.
After toying with the idea for a number of years I’m taking the plunge into building my own machine. I’m not an utter noob when it comes to this but realistically it’s been a looong time since I’ve played around with the ‘inside-bits’. So I’d like to make a short list of what I’m considering purchasing and I’d appreciate any constructive feedback on what I’ve chosen well, what won’t work, or if you see any plainly obvious compatibility issues that I missed 'cos I'm not yet pro at this stuff.
A relevant point to note is that the most resource hungry game I’ll likely play is Eve Online (I'm not overly into first person shooters and similar), although I am doing a lot of video editing these days and in all honesty that's probably more the requirement than gaming, so I figure I’ll need some decent hardware. I've been researching non-stop for the past couple of weeks and while I think I've got my head wrapped around most things I'm somewhat fried from focusing on it so hard for so long. So please excuse me if I've made a total 'beginner' mistake and point out where I'm messing up.
So here’s the list I’ve put together so far and aside from problem points I'd also appreciate hearing any thoughts on if I can get a decent upgrade in performance anywhere for a small-ish increase in cost. I've also included links to my local supplier in case anyone is interested in the specs or individual pricing (it's in AUD - NewEgg, Amazon and similar aren't available to me in Australia without reasonably big postage costs):
MoBO
Intel DH77KC Media Series ATX Motherboard, LGA1155, H77, DP, HDMI, DVI,Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&bid=2&sid=92070)
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770K/3.50GHz/8MB CACHE/LGA1155 Ivy Bridge (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=&&bid=2&sid=92390)
Optional 2011 MoBo and CPU (…is it worth it?)
Intel DX79TO, ATX, LGA2011, X79, 8x DDR3, 2x PCIe x16 Gen 2, CrossFire, SLI, HD AUDIO, USB3.0, SATA2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=178&bid=2&sid=86569)
Intel CORE i7 3820/3.60GHz/10MB CACHE/LGA2011/4CORES/ (NO FAN) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=13&bid=2&sid=85556)
Memory
Kingston 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL11 DIMM (Kit of 2) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=177&&bid=2&sid=101941)
I'm not sure what the CL11 means, and this also seems a bit cheap for 16GB of RAM so perhaps I'm looking at buying something here that I shouldn't - thoughts?
Video Card / GPU
Gigabyte GF GTX 650Ti OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 2GB 128-bit DDR5, 1032/5400MHz, 2 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=247&bid=2&sid=101082)
Optional Video Card / GPU (…is it worth it?)
Leadtek GTX 660 TI PCI-E 3.0 2GB 192-bit DDR5, Base: 915 Boost: 980/6008 MHz, 2x DVI, HDMI, DP, Fan (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=153&&bid=2&sid=104450)
Case (has to be at least partially portable, and this one has a handle because I’m precious)
CoolerMaster Storm Scout 2 Gaming Grey Case (NoPSU) (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=209&bid=2&sid=103999)
Harddrive (I’d love an SSD at least for the OS, but I figure I can upgrade this easily down the track and keep costs lower up front)
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=129&bid=2&sid=87001)
Optical Drive
LGE BH12LS38 Black BlueRay SATA LightScribe Writer Retail (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=20&bid=2&sid=80397)
PSU (this website (http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx) said I needed at least a 650W unit after I plugged in everything above)
CoolerMaster 720W Silent Pro MII Modular (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=140&bid=2&sid=84589)
OS
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=45&bid=2&sid=50676)
Wireless Card (going for internal rather than a USB dongle)
ASUS PCE-N15 WLAN PCI-Express N300 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&bid=2&id2=273&sid=79434)
Fans for additional cooling (1 comes with the case plus these two I'll buy - is that enough, I have no idea?)
Fractal Design Silent Series Case Fan 120mm* X2 (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=227&&bid=2&sid=80310)
Thermal Compound
CoolerMaster IC Essential E2 Thermal Compound (http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=188&bid=2&sid=78810)
Total Cost = AUD$1305
Any input on how to improve the above without destroying my budget ($1500 max) or pin-pointing any problem areas would be fantastic!
Thanks,
Mark
EDIT: I almost forgot... do I need to get a separate CPU fan for cooling or do they normally come with them? I'm going to start researching this now although if anyone has any information on this please feel free to let me know. In case it matters, I don't plan on overclocking as I don't know enough about it at this stage. Cheers.