Thinking of a new desktop

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Marcus
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Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

I'm thinking of building a PC mostly for gaming no video editing or computational work . Budget is around 1500$. Here are the parts I'm thinking of purchasing in July.

I also need a monitor, haven't decided on one yet, but I'm thinking just a TN panel with 1080p (19-20 inches). Budget for the monitor no more than 200$.

In the future I would probably get a second monitor (for FSX only) and do plan to overclock the CPU, no plans on doing SLI. Finally, could I get a 550W power supply instead of a 650W one if I don't plan on doing SLI?

Thanks for the feedback

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-05 23:07 EDT-0400)
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Stephen »

What is in your current pc and will you reuse parts if you can

As for the ssd try and cut corner somewhere else and get around 240gb
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Marcus
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

I can't reuse any parts from a current desktop setup, I have been using a laptop for the past 10 years for school.

I'm probably gonna cut the ram from 16 to 8 GB saving 60$ and the PSU from 650W to 550W saving an additional 30$
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by madmattd »

Nothing really to say with that build list, looks real solid.

As for RAM, I'm not sure what you are spending on the 2x8GB Vengeance, but I got 4x4GB myself to get lower timings, as 16GB was plenty. Total was about $100 iirc, though I hit a bunch of sales. A couple weeks ago I did get Crucial Ballistix 1600MHz CL9 2x4GB at Microcenter with parts for a computer for my mom for $50 though (combo deals ftw).

You have a Microcenter nearby? That CPU goes for $200 and you get $40 off a motherboard of the same socket type (1150 in this case). They were also running combo deals for Crucial Ballistix RAM and Samsung 840 SSDs with a mobo or CPU. Appears those extra deals only goes through today though (the $40 mobo/CPU combo they always run). You can always get some at MC, some off Newegg like I did for my desktop :D
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Marcus
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

Unfortunately I live in Canada and there are no microcenters :cry: Everything is just more expensive here. I usually try to do price matching with some online retailers. I will do a lot of shopping around the next few weeks before ordering and I`m sure bundle deals will get better with for the Haswell boards & chips. Thanks for the feedback Matt!
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Stephen »

http://shopbot.ca

never knew you were canadian lolwere abouts are you.

not sure if your a member from hardware canuks forum but you can get some pretty good deals on certin things there.


for the case your probably going to get dinged with around 50 dollar shipping, try to either buy one local or find case on sale or special with free shipping
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Marcus
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

yeah I looked at the shipping it's about 50$, I live in Ottawa, there are not a lot of places to buy computer parts where I live, there's like Canada Computers and that is about it. I'll ask around to see if there are any other stores in the region. Thanks Stephen
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

I finally ordered and got everything today:

Specs:
Motherboard: Asus Z87-Pro
CPU: Intel i5 4670K
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 OC
RAM: 2x4GB 1600MHZ Corsair Vengeance
SSD: Samsung 840 120GB
HDD: Western Digital Black 1TB
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i
PSU: Seasonic G-Series 550W Semi-Modular 80Plus Gold
Case: Fractal Design Define R4

And yes I did flip that bottom fan, it's now fixed.

Note to anyone that wants to use the Fractal Design Define R4, it's a great case, but it's a really tight fit if you decide to put 2x120mm watercooling unit at the top of the case, if there were 140mm I don't think it's enough clearance with the motherboard, especially with my motherboard heatsink.
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Murbuto »

That H100 is sweet.

I never saw a reason for owning a liquid CPU cooler, though. Even while cranking I never see my phenom 1100t go over 35C on air cooling. Are Intel chips really that much more hot?

Now a GPU cooler on the other hand, that I can see. Too bad very few plug and play GPU coolers exist.
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Mullet »

Good job Marcus, looks great dude, enjoy.
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Stephen »

Murbuto wrote:That H100 is sweet.

I never saw a reason for owning a liquid CPU cooler, though. Even while cranking I never see my phenom 1100t go over 35C on air cooling. Are Intel chips really that much more hot?

Now a GPU cooler on the other hand, that I can see. Too bad very few plug and play GPU coolers exist.

they average about the same, and you probably dont pay to close attention to your cpu cause it will go over 35 easily on air, unless you have cool ambient and good cooler with air flow.

avg cpu will sit around 50-60 at full load with air cooling, while idle is between 30-40

cpu liquid cooling is little less relevant with todays cpu heatsinks but still provide better oc cooling and cpu lifespan.
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Mullet »

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Marcus
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Marcus »

Thanks Mullet! That wallpaper looks great!

The only thing I don't like with the Corsair H100i is the stock fans that they come with, they are noisy when you set them at Balanced mode. Even in quiet mode they are a bit noisy. Probably will replace the stock fans with Noctua fans, whenever they decide to make black fans instead of beige ones.
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by Stephen »

They have grays on the way,
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Re: Thinking of a new desktop

Post by madmattd »

Marcus, I was able to mostly silence my H100i fans by downspeeding them to like 900 RPM or something like that (I'll check tonight). CPU never tops 55C or so on me even with that locked speed. 1100RPM and up was stupidly noisy (which is what the balanced option set them to iirc). I mean, like wtf noisy, like something was growling in my computer...Had a Newegg fan coupon come in the other day. People have suggestions?

Build looks nice dude. Enjoy!
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