Opinions on my PC Build

[Reversed]

Hello everyone,

I'm about to build a computer for the first time, and I'm looking for some info and help about what parts to buy.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mostly gaming, occasionally video encoding and the usual web browsing.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
1500-1800 Euros.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
The Netherlands
4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Nope
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Perhaps my old 60 GB Vertex 2 and my mouse, that's it.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I want to overclock, but nothing extreme.
8. What resolution will you be using?
1920x1200
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
In a week or two.

I'll buy most of the parts at www.alternate.nl.
I've already done some research and this is what I have at the moment:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 320€

CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 3 PC Games Hardware Edition 39€

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V 180€

PSU: Corsair TX650M 105€

GPU: GigaByte GV-N670OC-2GD 390€

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R 110€

RAM: Corsair 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit 45€

HDD : Samsung ST2000DL004 100€

Monitor: Dell LED Monitor U2412M 24" 245€

DVD-Drive: LG DVR DL 24X 19€

I'm not sure about the keyboard yet.

So that brings the grand total to 1553€. Am I paying to much for a component or are there better alternatives? Does anyone have any experience with the Gigabyte GTX670? Is the motherboard okay?

Any critics or improvements? They would be very welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Reversed.

 

[azeem40]

For occasional video editing, an i7 isn't needed. Drop down to an i5-3570k. Everything else looks good.

 

[Ken g6]

Also, is there anything you need from the ASUS board that an ASRock Z77 Pro4 doesn't provide?

Also, if you want a new SSD...

 

[lehtv]

CPU i5-3570K 228 eur or i7-3770K 319 eur
Cooler Good
Mobo Asrock Z77 Extreme4 130 eur, good affordable SLI board
PSU XFX 750W XXX 108 eur, more powerful, slightly more efficient, just as modular, same price
GPU Good
Case Good
RAM Good
HDD That's only 5400RPM and triple 667GB platters IIRC, it's not very fast. With only a 64GB SSD, you would be installing most games on the HDD, so you want a 7200RPM dual 1TB platter. Seagate ST2000DM001 113 eur.
Monitor Good
DVD Good
Keyboard Corsair K60 100 eur

= 1527 eur (1618 eur with 3770K)

On the one hand the 3770K is hard to justify, but your budget can take it and it will speed up video encoding somewhat (3570K is already fast though...) and a few games do like hyperthreading, BF3 multiplayer being the most obvious one. Either choice is OK

 

[Termie]

Excellent setup. I agree with lehtv that your storage setup is not quite ideal, though. I have the Samsung F4 2TB and it is a great drive, but it's more of a media/storage drive than a true applications drive. The issue is that faster, smaller drives happen to be more expensive, and that's not a great tradeoff. I'd consider just purchasing a new SSD - the SATA3 connection alone is worth it, and you can get 120GB drives for good prices at this point, about as much as a 1TB hard drive. 120GB is enough for all major applications. If you need to cut back somewhere else to afford a new SSD, do so on the processor.

Also, I agree with the recommendation about the Asrock z77 Extreme 4 - I used one for a while and it is a great board for a great price.

 

[Reversed]

Thanks for all the quick replies, I really appreciate it.

I agree that the AsRock is probably a better choice. I'm not sure about the i5/i7 choice though. Most of the games I'll be playing will be CPU intensive, such as Skyrim and the Total War series, so I thought the i7 might come in handy here as well.

About the storage issue; I had in mind to buy the HDD for massive storage now, and perhaps a larger SSD later when the prices have dropped even further. You guys might be right though, with the budget I have now it would be a shame not to include a SSD from the start.

The keyboard looks good as well, thanks lehtv!

 

[lehtv]

I agree that the AsRock is probably a better choice. I'm not sure about the i5/i7 choice though. Most of the games I'll be playing will be CPU intensive, such as Skyrim and the Total War series, so I thought the i7 might come in handy here as well.

Games need to be coded to take advantage of a specific number of threads. Most games these days are quad threaded, very few support more threads than that, and less hardware intensive games are still often only dual threaded. Skyrim was originally very CPU limited precisely because it was only dual threaded - a Pentium would perform nearly the same as an i7, only clockspeed separating the two. But an update fixed most of the CPU limitation, I guess it's quad threaded now.

So you're not going to make a CPU intensive game perform better just by having more CPU threads if the game isn't coded that way. Overall, clockspeed is still by far more important, most gamers will see zero difference between i5-3570K and i7-3770K.

 

[Reversed]

Games need to be coded to take advantage of a specific number of threads. Most games these days are quad threaded, very few support more threads than that, and less hardware intensive games are still often only dual threaded. Skyrim was originally very CPU limited precisely because it was only dual threaded - a Pentium would perform nearly the same as an i7, only clockspeed separating the two. But an update fixed most of the CPU limitation, I guess it's quad threaded now.

So you're not going to make a CPU intensive game perform better just by having more CPU threads if the game isn't coded that way. Overall, clockspeed is still by far more important, most gamers will see zero difference between i5-3570K and i7-3770K.

I see, thanks for the information. The 3570k it is then!