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Author Topic: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome  (Read 3743 times)

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ajb522

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    First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
    « on: November 18, 2014, 07:49:17 PM »
    Ok, I am building a PC for the first time. I have been researching everything and have a general idea what I need/want. However, compatibility and specifics are a little confusing for me. I looked at benchmarks and reviews a bit to help y decisions.

    1. I want to go Intel no matter what
    2. My budget is a $2,000 dollar tower (no peripherals, OS, or monitor)
    3. The system is going to be used for gaming, recording, and rendering as well as everyday tasks
    4. I want a NIVIDIA GPU

    I would like my current build to be looked over for compatibility, adequate PSU, room for later improvements (SLI, etc.). Should I get a mobo with more PCIe 3.0 x16? If anyone has changes or advice I would appreciate it as well.

    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6ncnjX

    ajb522

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      Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
      « Reply #1 on: November 18, 2014, 07:52:03 PM »
      I forgot something, sorry. Would anyone recommend a liquid cooling system of should I stick with fans?

      Calum

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      Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
      « Reply #2 on: November 19, 2014, 05:23:58 AM »
      I forgot something, sorry. Would anyone recommend a liquid cooling system of should I stick with fans?

      I can't go through your build right now but will try to later, however I just wanted to answer this.  I would always recommend a good air cooler over any closed loop liquid coolers, except in very specific circumstances.  You'll find an equivalently priced air cooler will more than likely be quieter, cool better, and doesn't have the risk of leaking or the pump dying.  I speak from a lot of experience with these coolers, I've never been a fan of them and still recommend avoiding them where possible.  I'm not saying all of them are bad or that every one will leak or die within weeks, but with an air cooler you do completely avoid those potential issues while still getting a better performing cooler.

      patio

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      Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
      « Reply #3 on: November 19, 2014, 06:33:55 AM »
      "Never been a fan of coolers".....Heee    ;D
      " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

      Calum

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      Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
      « Reply #4 on: November 19, 2014, 08:21:41 AM »
      "Never been a fan of coolers".....Heee    ;D

      I'm here all week  8)

      patio

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      Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
      « Reply #5 on: November 19, 2014, 08:44:33 AM »
      Puhh Doom....Tisshhhh !
      " Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

      ajb522

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        Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
        « Reply #6 on: November 19, 2014, 09:05:59 AM »
        I can't go through your build right now but will try to later, however I just wanted to answer this.  I would always recommend a good air cooler over any closed loop liquid coolers, except in very specific circumstances.  You'll find an equivalently priced air cooler will more than likely be quieter, cool better, and doesn't have the risk of leaking or the pump dying.  I speak from a lot of experience with these coolers, I've never been a fan of them and still recommend avoiding them where possible.  I'm not saying all of them are bad or that every one will leak or die within weeks, but with an air cooler you do completely avoid those potential issues while still getting a better performing cooler.

        Thank you for your suggestion! I will stay away from them for quite a while then :) I was never sure because I did worry a lot about their value, leaking, and how well they performed.

        Calum

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        Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
        « Reply #7 on: November 19, 2014, 11:09:22 AM »
        Your build looks pretty good to me.
        My points/things to consider:
        Do you need more than 1TB of space?  A 2 or 3TB HDD, or even larger, wouldn't be too expensive and would give you a considerable amount of additional slower storage.
        I've never been a fan of MSI for video cards - I would consider Asus, EVGA, or maybe Zotac, all are similar in terms of pricing.
        Your PSU is overkill unless you plan on adding a lot of stuff down the line, these days even a quality 550W would power your system with headroom.  Nothing wrong with a better than necessary PSU but you could save a little cash.
        If you're planning on overclocking at all, I would consider a better than stock cooler, I'd also consider this if you wanted a quieter system (although the Intel stock cooler won't be terrible in that respect anyway).  If you're not planning to overclock you might also be able to save a little by going with the 4790 (non K edition).  For coolers, have a look at the Be Quiet Dark Rock, Thermalright Archon, Thermalright Macho for starters.
        If you're recording music, I would consider a dedicated sound card.  I don't pretend to be a pro in this area and perhaps you already have equipment you're going to be using for this, but I thought I'd mention it.  Something like an Asus Xonar DSX would suit general usage, I'm pleased with mine, but might not be much good for professional audio usage, I don't know.

        If you wanted to take a different tack, you could also consider an Intel X99 based system with a hex core CPU - your budget allows for this and this should be better for rendering and other heavily multithreaded tasks even if it won't perform much better in gaming.

        ajb522

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          Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
          « Reply #8 on: November 19, 2014, 06:46:38 PM »
          Your build looks pretty good to me.
          My points/things to consider:
          Do you need more than 1TB of space?  A 2 or 3TB HDD, or even larger, wouldn't be too expensive and would give you a considerable amount of additional slower storage.
          I've never been a fan of MSI for video cards - I would consider Asus, EVGA, or maybe Zotac, all are similar in terms of pricing.
          Your PSU is overkill unless you plan on adding a lot of stuff down the line, these days even a quality 550W would power your system with headroom.  Nothing wrong with a better than necessary PSU but you could save a little cash.
          If you're planning on overclocking at all, I would consider a better than stock cooler, I'd also consider this if you wanted a quieter system (although the Intel stock cooler won't be terrible in that respect anyway).  If you're not planning to overclock you might also be able to save a little by going with the 4790 (non K edition).  For coolers, have a look at the Be Quiet Dark Rock, Thermalright Archon, Thermalright Macho for starters.
          If you're recording music, I would consider a dedicated sound card.  I don't pretend to be a pro in this area and perhaps you already have equipment you're going to be using for this, but I thought I'd mention it.  Something like an Asus Xonar DSX would suit general usage, I'm pleased with mine, but might not be much good for professional audio usage, I don't know.

          If you wanted to take a different tack, you could also consider an Intel X99 based system with a hex core CPU - your budget allows for this and this should be better for rendering and other heavily multithreaded tasks even if it won't perform much better in gaming.

          I love all the details, thank you soo much! I do a little music stuff so I will look into the sound cards. I will look into all your suggestions, Thank you ^-^

          Calum

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          Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
          « Reply #9 on: November 20, 2014, 12:45:44 PM »
          Not a problem, glad to be of help.  Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions, it's important to get it right first time and you certainly seem to be on the right track.  Building your first PC is a pretty awesome feeling :)

          ajb522

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            Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
            « Reply #10 on: November 20, 2014, 02:09:40 PM »
            Not a problem, glad to be of help.  Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions, it's important to get it right first time and you certainly seem to be on the right track.  Building your first PC is a pretty awesome feeling :)
            Thank you, it really does have an amazing feeling with it. I guess they only thing I really don't understand now is what is considered good for cooling, heatsinks, thermal paste, or even what any of those are :/ If you could explain those and recommend some high quality ones I would love you always haha

            Calum

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            Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
            « Reply #11 on: November 20, 2014, 02:21:09 PM »
            Thermal paste - there isn't much difference between even the most expensive and the cheapest stuff in terms of performance, but some are easier to work with and some are conductive - conductive = bad if you get any where it shouldn't be, not that that should happen but just in case.  I like Arctic Cooling MX-2, you can normally buy it in a big tube (30g if I remember right although other sizes are available) which is much better value than the smaller standard sized tubes.  MX-2 is also non conductive and I find it easy to work with as it spreads easily without being too runny.  MX-3 and MX-4 are newer but quite similar.

            As for coolers, the three I've suggested above are pretty good, although if you're looking for a more general understanding I would direct you to have a look on sites such as www.hardocp.com for their roundups and reviews, reading reviews is the best way to understand what's good and what's not short of trying them all out yourself.  Most manufacturers will offer a range of coolers, some designed to be cheap and not necessarily perform fantastically, some designed for small form factor systems, some for quiet cooling, some for all out performance - and some of these characteristics can be altered by changing the supplied fan(s).  It's all a compromise between size, price, aesthetics, and performance, but thankfully there's a lot of choice out there to help you find what you need.  It can be overwhelming which is why I'd suggest sticking to a few quality manufacturers just because you can't really go wrong with either Thermalright or Be Quiet, whereas for example Coolermaster make some coolers I'd highly recommend and some I wouldn't.

            Hopefully that clears things up somewhat, but don't hesitate to ask for clarification or further recommendations.

            ajb522

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              Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
              « Reply #12 on: November 20, 2014, 02:27:35 PM »
              Thank you so much for all the details and suggestions. I appreciate it soooo much :) I do believe that answers all my conerns for now. So I think I need to switch the icon to solved or something xP

              Calum

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              Re: First Custom - Advice/suggestions welcome
              « Reply #13 on: November 20, 2014, 02:31:47 PM »
              No problem at all, glad that all made sense :) any questions, just ask!  And I hope you'll post pictures once you get this build together, then you can join the SBCC - http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/board,44.0.html