Building a PC for Gaming - Need Reviews/Comments

[Melson]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Melson/saved/1EDI


I'm planing on building a new computer for gaming.


What do you guys think about this build?

I'm not exactly what's good or bad but the comments on this guy's build are all positive.

I'm gonna have to do more research.

If you guys could give me more advice, that would be awesome

My budget is $1500

The guy that i copied this build from didn't add any optical drive.
What do you guys recommend?

[Calum]

First thoughts are that you don't need the 750W PSU, your build won't draw more than 500W or so.
I would recommend a good air cooler such as a Phanteks or NH-D14 over the closed loop cooler.
The 830 is a good SSD but have a look at the 840 Pro too.
I'd possibly look at changing the memory, Vengeance isn't the most reliable RAM out there.
As for the optical drive, they're all fairly similar nowadays, I would just pick one from a decent brand like LiteOn, Asus, Samsung or Sony.

[Geek-9pm]

My budget is $1500

Have you compared your list with the current alienware.
http://www.alienware.com/
No, I am not saying you shroud buy from them. I mean how does your list compare with what they offer.

Starting at $1399  they have:

• Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
• Up to 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ i7 process
• Liquid cooling unit & optional ALX chassis with active venting
• Up to 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 690 

Hard to beat for the price. Just saying 

[Calum]

Really??

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Personally, I would ditch the SSD and use that money for better CPU/GFX.

I never found the speed of an SSD to be worth the price.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

According to benchmarks,

The 670 outperforms the 690
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

The CPU on the Alienware, however, is slightly better. (3570k vs 3820)
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Unless you're doing a lot of rendering that requires raw CPU power, the i5 should be fine.

[Calum]

Personally, I would ditch the SSD and use that money for better CPU/GFX.

I never found the speed of an SSD to be worth the price.

Again...really??
An SSD is almost always the single biggest upgrade you can make.  There is no way I could ever recommend a system build on anything other than the strictest budget without an SSD.

According to benchmarks,

The 670 outperforms the 690
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

The CPU on the Alienware, however, is slightly better. (3570k vs 3820)
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Unless you're doing a lot of rendering that requires raw CPU power, the i5 should be fine.

The 690 is two 680s, clocked at 670 speeds.  The 670 most certainly does not outperform the 690 in any way, shape or form.
Which specific Alienware configuration is it you're comparing to the OP's build here?  Geek-9pm has linked the Alienware home page and listed "up to".  The GTX 690 costs 2/3 of the OP's budget from a normal retailer, almost certainly more from a boutique builder like Alienware.  I highly doubt it is available on a $1500 system from them.  If you could link or guide me to a product page with the correct configuration to compare it, that would be helpful, so we can see exactly what we're dealing with.  The cheapest way I can see to get a 690 in an Alienware makes the system cost $2200, nearly 50% over budget, and that doesn't even include an SSD which is pitiful for a system costing that much.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Personally

[Calum]

I got that part.  I was just amazed that you could not be amazed at the difference an SSD makes.  What SSDs have you tried, in what kind of systems?  I'm curious as I've never seen an SSD make anything short of a dramatic difference.

[camerongray]

Nice build!  As Calum said you could safely drop the PSU to say 650w which would still give a good amount of headroom!  The H100i is overkill for that CPU, even when overclocking, I have an H60 which is great but you can still get the same if not better performance using a good air cooler.

Personally I can highly vouch for having an SSD.  While it's true that they won't really improve performance in games.etc they really do make the machine feel a lot faster and more responsive, I have SSDs in all my main systems and when it comes to building even budget office machines, I still recommend SSDs and unlike going for a faster CPU for example, the speed boost is a lot more noticeable!

[Melson]

I updated my part list

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/10zFk

[Melson]

sry double post

[Calum]

I would recommend changing the motherboard back to the Gigabyte, and picking a different brand of graphics card as MSI are more prone to issues. The GTX680 is good though, but maybe take a look and see if you could get the new 780.