Hey guys, I've been spending a lot of time looking over components and trying to get the best parts for the money for my new system, and I've received a great deal of help and advise from the community. I was just looking for some final thoughts on my build before I push the purchase button lol. Before I get to my build I should note that I don't know anything about overclocking, and probably won't attempt to even learn until further down the road when my computer isn't performing as well as I'd like it to but don't want to spend any more money. So here is my build (At the bottom I've listed my final concerns over choices): NZXT Hades ATX Mid Tower Case = $74.99 (after MIR) G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ PC3-10666 4GB = $65.99 Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA2 = $37.99 ASUS Sabertooth I55 LGA1156 P55 = $166.44 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT = $93.79 ASUS VH236H 23 Widescreen LCD Monitor = $192.44 Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN = $104.99 ASUS Radeon HD 6870 913MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ x 2 = $485.98 ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM = $22.95 Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor = $199.99 OCZ Alchemy Series Elixer USB2.0 Gaming Keyboard = $22.99 Gigabyte GM-M6800 5 Button Dual Lens Optical Mouse = $11.22 Logitech X-140 2.0 5W RMS Black Analog Speakers = $24.45 Scythe Shuriken 3 Heatpipe Low Profile CPU Heatsink = $29.99 __________________________________________________ ______ Total: $1629.20 I'm still trying to decide between some components, but as of now this is what I intend to order. Case: NZXT Hades vs. Cooler Master HAF 912 (Plus a 200MM top fan and a 120MM side fan) Hard Drive: Contemplating getting two Seagates for RAID 0 or a Western Digital 1TB (FAEX series) Motherboard: Sabertooth i55 vs. P7P55D Deluxe vs. P7P55D-E Pro vs. MSI P55A-GD65 vs. Gigabyte P55A-UD4P I chose the Sabertooth because of the 10-channel audio, the durable components and cyramic coating. They all seem fairly equal to me. The rest came with auto-OC features which I would feel tempted to use despite being told not to lol (mostly because I don't have a clue about OC myself and this gets someone else to do it for me for free - I see it as a free performance boost but it seems unsafe). I don't foresee any need for USB 3.0 atm, but I could be wrong. Heatsink: I picked up the extra heatsink just in case I decided to make an attempt at overclocking later. I've heard horror stories about removing stock heatsinks and having left over thermal compound causing issues. I figured if my computer came with a decent heatsink to start with I wouldn't have to worry about that. If I decided to go with the Cooler Master HAF 912 case I would replace the Scythe Shuriken 3 with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. So with that said: Any suggestions or general criticism? Thank you all for helping me with this build!
Pretty sick build. Powerful power supply, great VGA, nice motherboard. And i'm with you on the USB 3.0 - there is no need atm. Some advice: if you want to avoid clutter in your case, go for a modular PSU. Trust me, it's worth the buy. This one here is similar to the one you picked out, only modular and even cheaper. Good brand too. Another suggestion is that you get the VGA measurements and make sure it'll snug in the case you decide to buy. VGA's are huge nowadays. Let us know how it performs
Haha thanks! I'm really looking forward to trying this thing out! Yeah I only found out today what modular was actually lol. I'm definitely going to be swapping out my current PSU for a modular one. Actually the one you linked was one of the two I had been considering. The XFX 750W Black Edition was the other.. though a few people have recommended that Antec to me. Made sure the case is big enough for the cards.. it has 12 inches of clearance for that, which would make a 5970 a bit snug but I think I should be okay. Though any recommendations for a better case are always welcome... just drop and keep it under like $80-$90 ha. I'll for sure come back to update you all! Thanks again.
Update: Trying to figure out which case would be best for me now. I've built up quite a list since I've been looking around last night. The HAF 912 seems to be a nice, cheap choice. I've also been looking at the HAF922. I'll just list my now gigantic list of choices below as I've gotten myself more confused than ever over which case to choose: 1. NZXT Hades 2. Coolermaster Haf 912 3. Coolermaster Haf 922 4. NZXT Tempest Evo 5. Azza Fantom 900 6. Azza Solano 1000 7. Lancool PC-K62 8. Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition 9. Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced I believe the Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced is too short to fit the 69xx series however. I'm not so sure about the rest. I also had the Antec Nine Hundred Two on my original list but that was also too short and had no ventilation on the bottom for the PSU. I'm undecided on if I'll ever want/need a 69xx card.. or if maybe I should even wait and get that over Xfire 6870s. I've had a few people suggest I just hold tight for a while. I'm guessing for the most part the cases are pretty equal and a lot of it comes down to personal preference.. but if I could knock a few off the list that would help a lot. So close to having this built... yet so far away lol.
Yeah, i remember my dilemma over choosing cases too... but what i boiled it down to was design, quality, price, and ease of use. I like all the brands you selected out of the 9 cases, especially the NZXT's, so lets move on to design. Obviously, you want something that looks sexy and appealing but also something with a lot of space for expansion and enough space to work around in. I would hate to have to squeeze my hands through cables and whatever metal attachments some cases have just to replace a RAM card or whatever it is you want to do... Also, i would recommend opting for a screwless case so that you won't have to unscrew the side panel every time you want to change something. And another thing is ventilation. The Hades, Thermaltake V9, and both Azzo's seem to accommodate this need pretty nicely. They each come with at least 3 fans and have 200mm's in there which is super cool. I think the NZXT Hades takes the cake though... i think it looks best out of all the other ones, has great ventilation (4 fans!) and is the second cheapest! (first cheapest is the HAF 912). I dont know if it's screwless though... Thats my input. Let us know what you decided on and post up some pics when that monster is built!
