New Computer Questions

[Sajin]

So in the next couple weeks Im going to coming into quite a bit of money, and my goal is to put most of it away after I build a new desktop for myself. Apart from most of the questions I have about what kind of account I should put money away in to gain the most intrest, this will be one of my first times building a computer from scratch and I'm looking for some advice on what to buy/ the best way to go about building it.

So far this is what im interested in hardware wise.

First off the case. I really wasn't thinking much about this, I just went for the one that caught my fancy.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225
My main concern with it, is purely it's size, granted it is a desktop and this is what im expecting, i'm still a college student and I don't want to be burdened too much by its pure size. Though I do really like all of the fans it comes with and the water cooling port thingys(idk the name lol) (which is what I originally intended to do with the machine but we'll see)

Second thing I'm looking at is this processor/motherboard bundle
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1162369
Now my friend says all the time that I should really get an I-7 and with me being an animation major, it couldn't hurt to have that much power. My only concern is the price tag one it. With it hitting over 500$ for the bundle is it really worth the extra power? Or could I get something slightly less powerful for a significantly lower cost (I was looking at this as well http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1161241 though the reviews say it has horrible cooling)

Power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194094 good reviews and a not bad price so I picked it right away. Im not really 100% sure how to tell how part A works with part B so if I missed something please enlighten me

Graphic Card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130825
This was the one I was looking around for the most and this was the one I found that looked the best for the price it was.

Hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697 (might get more then 1 if I can run it)

Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104302 (I shouldn't need more then 16gb should I?)

CD Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247 (figured I'd get the blu-ray)

Monitor - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009437 (1 or 2)


Total(Getting 2 of the HDDs, 2 Monitors, and the more expensive processor/motherboard combo the total comes to $1551.89 before tax/shipping which is $500 more then my original goal to spend, but still do-able)

Again this is my first time building a computer from scratch so if I left out anything or something of the sort let me know

ALSO: I really would like to have this liquid cooled but I'm a complete noob at such things, so any hints on where to get started with that would be nice as well.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Varine]

Don't got time right now; can you just post the list from the shopping cart menu? It's easier to go over.

And what are you doing with it?

 

[Sajin]

As for what im doing with it, General gaming, Guild wars 2, League of legends, I'll probably try out some shooters with it too. Then also video rendering, 3d animation, and computer modeling

 

[Varine]

Close enough.

At a glance, most of it's fine, but the i7 is probably serious overkill, as is the graphics card, unless you're doing some intensive graphical development or something. You will not likely need that much memory either, but that's not what's killing you. And I don't see how two hard drives would be necessary either, unless you're striping or something.

 

[Slapshot136]

my thoughts:
1. too much money on the case
2. get a SSD + a 2/3tb drive as oppose to 2 1tb drives
3. get cas9 ram for ~ same price
4. cpu/motherboard are overkill - I would suggest a LGA1155 build (do you have a micro-center nearby? they have good prices on those)
5. playing shooters does not work well on 2 screens, as the aimer goes right where the screen splits - either 1 or 3 screens is better for those.. I would suggest a single 27" 2560 x 1440 screen if possible
6. liquid cooling isn't really worth it yet.. but a decent after-market air cooler would be

P.S. the PSU connections are very standard, you shouldn't have any issues, just don't start daisy-chaining connectors, as that can overwhelm a PSU

 

[Varine]

aimer

It's called a reticle.

 

[Sajin]

Updates:
Picked the second CPU/motherboard combo becuase I honestly didn't need that much power and the new option doesn't rate too much lower according to http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

cas9 ram (took me a google search to understand was cas9 ment xD)

also dropped it to 1 HDD because even though I want 2tb, I really don't need it and with the case im getting it's easy to add more if i ever decide too. (in picture the quantity of HDDs wasn't updated yet and the actual price dropped to $1221.90)

I also don't really think I want a solid state, even though I know the benefit of having one, the price isn't worth it in my opinion

 

[Ghan]

I don't like either CPU you have up there. Sandy Bridge E is way overkill and too expensive, while AMD is too slow and uses too much power. I'd get these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

If you haven't already made any purchases, that is. Ivy Bridge chips are more power efficient, and this one in particular will run circles around anything AMD has to offer unless you're doing very heavily threaded workloads, especially if overclocked.

 

[Sajin]

I won't be making the final purchase for the hardware until late next week (I don't even get the check until tuesday)
also thanks for the suggestion, I don't know anything when it comes to processors x.x
The price if I get everything mentioned before changing only the motherboard and processer to those ends up being $1334.90.

Any other suggestions from anyone?

Also a few more questions, I've noticed that my case that I want is fairly big, what is the probability of the wires not reaching/ stuff like and are there extenders of the sort.

Should I bother getting an after market fan if I plan on overclocking my processor (since my case has quite a bit of air flow already)

 

[Ghan]

The cables for a standard ATX power supply are generally long enough for any case. I doubt you would have any issues there. Depending on the kind of cables for the case fans, they might have trouble reaching the motherboard, but that's usually a rare issue.

You should definitely get an aftermarket heatsink/fan if you want to overclock that CPU (and let's face it, if it's the i5 3570K, you do. ) Something like this should do nicely:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003

Other suggestion: Get yourself an SSD for your boot drive. They are much cheaper now than even 6 months ago and the speedup is really noticeable when loading stuff. Some good options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148529

I would say the Samsung is probably worth the extra cost because it does benchmark as one of the fastest SSDs out there in the consumer market right now, but all of these are good options, so take a look at reviews to help you decide.

 

[Sajin]

Made a couple changes tonight, One being the case. Original one was pricy (as slapshot said) and it was also bulky. being someone who will have to move this a decent amount I didn't want the bulk so I chose http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196 as a replacement. The size didn't sound too overwhelming and the handle is a nice feature. Also got a few extra 120mm fans just incase http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103091

Also changed to a modular power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Being mobile also lead me to drop the monitor down to 1 for the sake of ease http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824118005

With the money saved on changing, the case, CPU and motherboard, and dropping the monitor, I took your advice and picked out a SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148529

Also grabbed this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 for the CPU

Then finished it all off with Windows 7 home 64-bit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986


which it turn landed me at about $1395.50

any comments for what I should change/add/take out would still be nice ^_^

 

[Lyerae]

You can use this website to attempt to find your selected parts at a lower price.

 

[sqrage]

Why the blu-ray drive? Total waste of money imo. I haven't had an optical drive at all for over a year and haven't needed it at all. Everything is downloadable nowadays.

 

[Ghan]

Where can you legally download HD/BluRay versions of movies? If you know of a good place I'd like to hear.

 

[Accname]

Where can you legally download HD/BluRay versions of movies? If you know of a good place I'd like to hear.

Who wants to know? Huh? Are you a cop? You need to tell me if you are a cop, now are you?

Still interested?
My backyard, meet me at 8:00 <.<

 

[sqrage]

Where can you legally download HD/BluRay versions of movies? If you know of a good place I'd like to hear.

Netflix? Though that might be 720. IDK I'm not into HD, I guess if you are then that's a reason for a blu-ray drive.

 

[Ghan]

Sadly, Netflix streaming lacks tons of really popular movies and you have to pay extra to get the DVD service (Not sure if that is Blu-ray or not).

 

[Sajin]

I actually did skimp on the blu-ray player in favor of a normal drive. I also found a 750w power supply for 20$ cheeper. Other then that it's all the same stuff, and my parts should be here either tomorrow or thursday. I'll post pictures when I'm done

 

[Ghan]

Looking for cheaper PSUs is generally not a good strategy. Brand quality is the most important factor here.

 

[Sajin]