Building my first PC and need pro advice...

W

winterwolf1223

Posts: 55   +0
Hey guys,
I decided its time to get a new computer, but instead of buying a new one I want to try to build one myself. It will be for moderate-high level gaming. Here are some of the things I'm looking at:

APEVIA X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

EVGA 01G-P3-1430-LR GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C8

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM

I'm getting all these things from Newegg.com =P (about 700$)

I want to know if all these will work together in that ATX Case. Is the power supply enough and do I need any short of liquid cooling? Also, any recommendations for a heatsink? And any extra things that I missed? Thank you for you time!!!!
 
Ditch the case and PSU. That Apevia case has bad cooling. The PSU will more then likely be a very bad quality unit, and skimping on PSU's is a very bad idea. Buy a quality power supply such as Corsair. Corsair power supplies are a little expensive, but thats the price you have to pay for a decent PSU these days. A case i can recommend to you is the NZXT M59. It is a very nice case with plenty of features and decent cooling. And it is very inexpensive for a case with features like that.

Id also recommend changing your video card to something along the lines of an Nvidia GeForce GTX460 or an ATI Radeon HD 6870. A Corsair HX650W Power Supply will be more than enough for a PC with those specs.

As for recommendations for a CPU Cooler, you wont need water cooling unless you plan to do heavy overclocking. One of the best CPU air coolers out there right now is the Noctua NH-D14. But it is a very big cooler, so make sure it fits in whatever case you decide to go with.
 
nissanman said:
Ditch the case and PSU. That Apevia case has bad cooling. The PSU will more then likely be a very bad quality unit, and skimping on PSU's is a very bad idea. Buy a quality power supply such as Corsair. Corsair power supplies are a little expensive, but thats the price you have to pay for a decent PSU these days. A case i can recommend to you is the NZXT M59. It is a very nice case with plenty of features and decent cooling. And it is very inexpensive for a case with features like that.

Id also recommend changing your video card to something along the lines of an Nvidia GeForce GTX460 or an ATI Radeon HD 6870. A Corsair HX650W Power Supply will be more than enough for a PC with those specs.

As for recommendations for a CPU Cooler, you wont need water cooling unless you plan to do heavy overclocking. One of the best CPU air coolers out there right now is the Noctua NH-D14. But it is a very big cooler, so make sure it fits in whatever case you decide to go with.
Click to expand...

Ty for ur advice! Do i need such high watt psu? Isnt it a lil waste of electricity? Also is everything else a good pick?
 
i second the case, psu and gpu suggestion from nissanman.
i think a corsair 650tx might be enough. the hx is better but the tx is plenty good.

the GTX460's are really nice cards and if you look around you could get a good deal on a GTX465

you will also need a set of 3 memory modules. the set you picked is for a dual channel setup but you put together a triple channel setup. the corsair xms is nice. look for some with 1600 as you have and cas 8.

for cooling you could also get the corsair h70 or h50

the antec 300 is a nice mid tower case and fairly cheap
 
Everything else is ok, but i agree with Codisha on the memory. You should pick up a tri channel kit of atleast 6gb. The Asus Sabertooth motherboard is a Tri Channel motherboard, so with tri channel memory, you will get slightly better performance.

Also, if you plan to stay with the video card on your list now, then the Corsair VX450W will work well for you, but if you go with GTX 460's, id definately get the Corsair HX650W. The TX650 that Codisha mentioned is good, but the HX is better as it is a modular PSU. Meaning cables that you do not need can be unplugged, cutting down on cable mess and increasing airflow.
 
Codisha said:
i second the case, psu and gpu suggestion from nissanman.
i think a corsair 650tx might be enough. the hx is bet
ter but the tx is plenty good.

the GTX460's are really nice cards and if you look around you could get a good deal on a GTX465

you will also need a set of 3 memory modules. the set you picked is for a dual channel setup but you put together a triple channel setup. the corsair xms is nice. look for some with 1600 as you have and cas 8.

for cooling you could also get the corsair h70 or h50

the antec 300 is a nice mid tower case and fairly cheap
Click to expand...

Oooo awesome codisha always looking after me lol. Great pointers from the both of you guys thx!!
 
Avoid the GTX465 unless you are getting an amazing price on it. From what I remember it's a bit of a lemon, nothing awful about it by any means, just not worth buying over the newer(confusing eh!) GTX460. Using same core as 470/480(GF100), it's hot and hungry for power. Whilst the later released GTX460(GF104) is a refined version of Fermi core(few bits cut, a little added) with higher clock speeds, lower power consumption and cooler with much the same performance. Still I'd grab a GTX460 rather than the 465.
 
Ritwik7 said:
You're spending close to $500 on CPU + Motherboard but cutting down on the GPU that will be the most important factor as far as gaming goes.

Pick these instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161361&cm_re=HD_6950-_-14-161-361-_-Product
Click to expand...

Well....I would perfer tri-channel because it gives more potiential to future upgrades. Also, this is a spare graphics card I already have =P

Either way this project has come to a halt due to insufficient funds D= I forgot to pay rent this month (or did I???? LOL) Hopefully I will get it going once I get my next pay. Maybe then stuff will be even cheaper or new things will develope.
 
Well guys I successfully built my first PC!!! Thanks everyone for all the advice and pointers:

Antec 300 4 blue LED fans
Asus Saber tooth tri channel motherboard
Intel Core i7 960 3.2Ghz
6GB Corsair 1600 ddr3
Corsair 650tx PSU
EVGA Geforce 430 GT
Stock heatsink fan (might get better soon)

Much faster than my old computer and much cheaper than buying it from stores!! ^.^
Btw my CPU temp constantly runs over 60C when running games. Shall I get that Corsair H50 for better cooling?
 
Awesome, congrats on building your first PC.

As for the H50. Id get it if i were you. Stock cooling is pretty bad. The H50 will drop your temps by a very significant amount. The need to get a new cooler like the H50 will increase should you wish to overclock the CPU aswell.
 
As above, but should you plan to overclock for more CPU performance I would just go straight for a Corsair H70 water cooler setup, along with a couple of very good fans for the case and cooler.

Use decent thermal material as well. Something like Arctic Silver 5, MX3, MX4 or the like.
 
Leeky said:
As above, but should you plan to overclock for more CPU performance I would just go straight for a Corsair H70 water cooler setup, along with a couple of very good fans for the case and cooler.

Use decent thermal material as well. Something like Arctic Silver 5, MX3, MX4 or the like.
Click to expand...

Yup, go for the H70 instead of H50 like I did (due to worries about space), I get slightly better temps with the H50 and quieter but don't think it's raised my overclocking ceiling much over an air cooler. Plus the thermal material on the "heatsink" part of the units is said to be Shin-Etsu which is already a premium thermal paste, so no need to replace it with another.
 
@Arris,

I had you in mind when recommending the H70 over the one you have now. If I recall you wished you'd gone the H70 route yourself now don't you?
 
Thanks guys!!!

Codisha said:
congrats on the build and i am glad that everything went smooth
Click to expand...

Quick question: on the Antec 300 case do you use the side optional fan as exhuast or air intake?

Right now my configuration is: 2x 120mm fans in front with filter for intake, 1x 200mm top for exhaust, 1x 120mm on top rear for exhaust. And for the side optional fan I have a 120mm for intake. Im not sure if it should make it intake or exhaust and Im also worried that making it an intake without filter will drag in tooo much dust =\ but putting it as intake blows directly at my graphics card and CPU
 
The side fan should be as an intake. The fan setup you've got now is good. If you are worried about dust you could buy a cheap 120mm dust filter for the fan.
 
winterwolf1223 said:
Im also worried that making it an intake without filter will drag in tooo much dust =\ but putting it as intake blows directly at my graphics card and CPU
Click to expand...

Don't worry to much about dust unless you never plan on cleaning your PC :) , I personally have an side intake with no filter for my CPU/GPU which works great. I just clean my PC out including fans every few weeks which doesn't take more then 10-15 mins tops.

Regarding your temps from your earlier post, remember to take ambient temperatures of your room into account. For example I live in the southwest and my PC room temperature can climb easily in the the mid 80's F (~30C) which will obviously raise everything else too. So a high temperature for one person might not be unreasonable for another, so remember to always factor that in.
 
Relic said:
Don't worry to much about dust unless you never plan on cleaning your PC :) , I personally have an side intake with no filter for my CPU/GPU which works great. I just clean my PC out including fans every few weeks which doesn't take more then 10-15 mins tops.

Regarding your temps from your earlier post, remember to take ambient temperatures of your room into account. For example I live in the southwest and my PC room temperature can climb easily in the the mid 80's F (~30C) which will obviously raise everything else too. So a high temperature for one person might not be unreasonable for another, so remember to always factor that in.
Click to expand...

right....that now worries me about what will happen in the summer LOL!! Right now it is going from winter to spring. My room temperature is around 70 F. Well I might as well get the h70 later when i have more money =) thx!
 
Leeky said:
@Arris,

I had you in mind when recommending the H70 over the one you have now. If I recall you wished you'd gone the H70 route yourself now don't you?
Click to expand...

Might have given me slightly lower temps for a little more overclocking, but I've spent enough on my beast now so not switching. Although I will have to remount when I get my mobo replaced by Asus.... hmmm...
 
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