7 Years! Time for a New Build [critic please]

[+vlsi0n Subscriber¹]

Hello Neowin!

I have not upgraded my computer for 7 years... needless to say the games I (can) play are on the lowest settings and still cry in pain (League of Legends runs at 06-12 fps).

I am seeking a critic of the build I currently have in mind - please feel free to point out mistakes, bottlenecks, inconsistencies, etc.

I intend to use this the computer for gaming (a reasonable frame rate/settings on current games) and general use (web, video, documents, photo editing). I am not "loyal" to any specific brand, BUT I would prefer to stay with Intel for the CPU. By the way, Diablo 3 comes out in 11 days!

Link to current build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7Lqm

[DarkTruth77]

I also have an old PC right now. but from what I have learn by been looking setups for my self, I think you have a nice setup.

[PixilEyes]

I'd snag a 128gb SSD also for that build. It's night and day with one.

[Open Minded]

Looks nice! Great PSU, solid CPU... MB has good reviews... Seems like you're good to go.

[Ci7]

have you considered

Intel i7-3770S + SSD (as main drive)

Cooler , quiter and faster! plus better longevity

and you are golden for the rest :)

[neoadorable]

graphics card is defo a little on the weak side, get a 6870 or 6950 if you want to reduce costs rather than go for one of the 28nm cards. The 6850 won't give you the wow performance i'm sure you'd like after seven years of staying with the same PC!

[DrKrepz]

you don't need anywhere near 16gb of ram for gaming... you'll seriously struggle to use 8gb under that kind of usage. aside from that, everything else is great. maybe a better graphics hard such as a 7850 or a 560ti would be better considering you plan on doing a lot of gaming.

[+vlsi0n Subscriber¹]

Thanks for all the input!

I'd snag a 128gb SSD also for that build. It's night and day with one.

I planned to add in a SSD drive later on once I have the other parts - I just see it mainly as a luxury over the other parts. And I have heard of SSD having a lot of issues with longevity in performance (slowing down, becoming faulty, etc). But I have my eye on the Crucial M4!

have you considered Intel i7-3770S + SSD (as main drive) Cooler , quiter and faster! plus better longevity and you are golden for the rest :)

I had considered the new Intel line, but as far as I know it hasn't improved a whole lot for gaming (I don't need the integrated gpu), and Ivy Bridge doesn't overclock as well/as easily as Sandy Bridge does - which I plan to do. But maybe I haven't done enough research on it. Does the 3rd gen really offer the gamer an incentive? I keep reading conflicting views on that, but I know that Sandy Bridge is solid so that is what naturally drew me to it (that and its ~2,000 positive reviews :p)

graphics card is defo a little on the weak side, get a 6870 or 6950 if you want to reduce costs rather than go for one of the 28nm cards. The 6850 won't give you the wow performance i'm sure you'd like after seven years of staying with the same PC!

I did the least investigating on which graphics card to get, I came to the 6850 because it is the highest rated card in the $100-200 price range (on newegg), but I am definitely reconsidering towards the 6870 now -- thanks!

you don't need anywhere near 16gb of ram for gaming... you'll seriously struggle to use 8gb under that kind of usage. aside from that, everything else is great. maybe a better graphics hard such as a 7850 or a 560ti would be better considering you plan on doing a lot of gaming.

I had chosen the 16gb route because I had seen some games starting to recommend that amount - but I had initially thought it was overkill unless I was going to be doing production work (which I'm not). So I think I'll scale it back to 8gb, besides that will work perfectly as a dual-channel since I can't go quad (was planning a 4x4 configuration).Thanks!

[neoadorable]

getting 16GB makes sense, RAM is quite cheap now, so just get as much as you can afford, and i doubt anyone building a new PC with these specs can't afford 16GB. glad you're thinking of the 6870, it's a great card, been using it for a year and a half and it's going good and runs everything in high detail very well.

[watchthisspace]

What's your budget?

Intel i5 2500 or i5 3570 for CPU

8gb of whatever ram, 16gb is overkill

Gigabyte z77-UD3 motherboard

nVidia 670 or ATi 7950

750watt psu

Something along those lines and you'll be away happily :)

[+devHead Subscriber²]

I would swap the WD 1 TB drive for a 2 TB Seagate one (the new ones with 1 TB platters), and an SSD for your OS and Program Files. 16 GB of RAM is kind of overkill; 8 will do you just fine, unless you're way into video creation or other super memory intensive apps. Otherwise, you're good to go with that setup. I wouldn't get the i7; it's more expensive and the i5 will do super for you.

[Mullins]

Not bad.

[abysal]

Great CPU choice for overclocking; that heat sink will also do fairly well. You should be able to do a conservative 4.2 - 4.3 GHz OC with decent temps. I'd also recommend an AMD 6870 or GTX 560 Ti if you prefer nVidia. An SSD is dramatic for speeding up boot, but a fast SATA III mechanical drive does well enough.

Overall you have a good choice of parts :)

[htcz]

Id cut back on the RAM (Nothing recommends 16GB; Diablo 3 as you mentions only recommends 2GB. Microsoft Flight recommends 6GB) and get a better graphics card and if budget permits it, get a bigger HDD or go with a SSD.

[Tom]

Awesome CPU, I chose that one too. ;)

Personally I'd change mobo to a gigabyte/asus board since I've had problems with ASRock boards in the past but that's me. Also maybe downgrade the HDD to 750gb and invest into a 60gb SSD for your OS? And as others have said, the graphics card seems to be a little on the weak side, perhaps a slight upgrade.

Other than that (Y)

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

since you havent bought/built a new pc in 7 years, i'd suggest you increase your budget a bit and get some even more modern parts. im assuming that you probably wont build another PC for many years...

i'd buy an IB CPU and wait a bit for the imminent release of the GTX 670 or 660.

also, arguably, ASRock is a budget brand. I've only ever owned one and it died. imo, i'd get something better.

[Astra.Xtreme]

I planned to add in a SSD drive later on once I have the other parts - I just see it mainly as a luxury over the other parts. And I have heard of SSD having a lot of issues with longevity in performance (slowing down, becoming faulty, etc). But I have my eye on the Crucial M4!

That's not true actually. The only downside of a SSD is that it's expensive compared to a mechanical HDD. Reliability is extremely improved since the first generations.

A 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 or M4 can be had for around $120, so for a price to performance boost ratio, it should be a no brainer for every new build.

Save yourself the hassle of having to reinstall Windows and just get the SSD now. You won't regret it. :yes:

[paxa]

you don't need that much ram. 6 to 8 gigs will work just fine, get an ssd for the O.S.

the rest is just ok for what you want,

[DrKrepz]

since you havent bought/built a new pc in 7 years, i'd suggest you increase your budget a bit and get some even more modern parts. im assuming that you probably wont build another PC for many years...

i'd buy an IB CPU and wait a bit for the imminent release of the GTX 670 or 660.

also, arguably, ASRock is a budget brand. I've only ever owned one and it died. imo, i'd get something better.

^ This guy speaks the truth. Goo with an ASUS motherboard, or something from another reputable brand. Also you really will want more graphics power seeing as this is a gaming PC. You'd even be better off with an i3 2100 if it means you can put the difference into a better graphics card.

[+vlsi0n Subscriber¹]

Here's an update! Thanks for changing my stance on SSD's... that boot time is unreal.

CPU: i5-3570K

Motherboard: ASUS z77-v PRO (originally bought the ud5h gigabyte board, and read so many bad things about it I switched it out)

Memory: G.Skill Sniper 1600 (Low volts, 1.25V), 8Gb (not 16 like I had planned, also thanks to neowin)

Hard drive: Crucial M4 128GB

Sound Card: ASUS Xonar DG

Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W, Gold Rated 80+ Certification

Case: Antec One

I am currently using the integreated graphics on the intel 3rd gen cpu... I am still on the hunt for a video card that won't break my wallet and will still offer modern games some justice... I prefer Nvidia if anyone has some ideas ($200-300 range)!

I am in love with my new build... thanks everyone who gave/gives some ideas. :D

[notuptome2004]

Maxpayne 3 recommends or so 16gb of ram forthe best play tho 8 will do and i think you should get 8gb more ram because it is so damn cheap right now why not

[+vlsi0n Subscriber¹]

Yeah, I currently only use 2 slots, the plan is to grab another dual channel set to reach the 16gb mark... shouldn't be all that long before I make the jump for the other 8gb.