Gaming desktop help?

Are you planning on doing any overclocking, or are you just wanting a quieter system? I only ask because a retail CPU will come with a stock heatsink, which would be enough for most users.

From what I understand, the GTX650 should be ok for most modern games as long as you are running them on a single monitor at 1900x1200 or 1920x1080. Running on multiple monitors would use much more juice.

Not sure what the difference between the model lines is, but you can get a 2TB Seagate HDD for less than the 1TB option you have listed (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834).

 

First build, eh?

As a former editor of this magazine, I feel compelled to recommend this: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/step--step_guide_how_build_gaming_pc_amds_bulldozer_cpu

I haven't proofed it to see if anything is wacky with it, so if there are errors in it, I apologize.

Definitely take your time. If you have any questions, post here or another forum that can get you help.

It's not as difficult as you might think.

For your first time, I would grab the case, install the motherboard, the PSU, RAM and CPU (no optical drives, no hard drives, nothing else). Then power it up and get into the BIOS (system setup... usually by pressing F1 or F2). Look around in that. Don't save anything. And don't worry about getting confused. Just familiarize yourself with the BIOS for now.

So long as you don't save any settings, you won't be in any trouble here.

Power down, put your hard drive and DVD drive in. Put your OS DVD into the DVD drive and power back up and get ready to install your system.

It shouldn't be difficult from that point forward. You've already seen that the system boots properly. All you've done is verify that it boots properly--which is important on your first build. I wanted you to see how that works because you might be hesitant on how RAM is inserted or your CPU is installed. If you don't have those set properly, this is where you would determine that.

 

+1, Just take your time and google when in doubt.

As for the build itself it looks ok but I'm not a fan of the graphic card, because I'm more of an ATI fanboy

 

The 650 Ti Boost was in a lot of benchmark in both single and sli. I recall Tom's hardware doing an extensive article about it, Tech powerup, tech spot, and OCC probably have something on it too.

Take a peek around, lots of info.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/nvidia_geforce_gtx_650_ti_boost/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_650_Ti_Boost_SLI/
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-650-ti-boost-gk106-benchmark,3463.html
http://www.techspot.com/review/661-nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-boost-sli/
etc. etc.

I've been out of the loop for some time now, I'm still rocking a HD6870 windforce.

 

Re - Stock fans, I can't really comment on the current state of affairs. However, if you aren't thinking about a lot of overclocking, then the stock fan will probably be fine. I used the intel stock fan on a build a few years back (Pentium 4) and it was perfectly fine! Though I do currently have a larger heatsink on my Q6600, but that's because you can OC the hell out of it!

Re - HHD, I don't even know if it's that much of a downgrade, the limited specs on the new egg website make it seem like they'll perform fairly similarly, though one is cheaper with twice the capacity

I was going to comment on the PSU being a bit on the large side, that in itself won't hurt anything (other than your wallet), I'm not sure the draw of those GTX 650's, so you may need that much power to run two of them, though probably not. If you're thinking of expanding your computer with another graphics card, maybe some more HDDs down the road (I always have ) then it might be worth while to give yourself some breathing space. You could also go through and tally up the power requirements of each component to give you an idea of overall system draw.

Can't comment on the SLI ability of the GTX650, however, I always took the mantra of trying to do what I could with a single card instead of a pair if at all possible.

Also, shop around. I'm not familiar with US suppliers, but over here I've seen the prices of individual components vary quite a bit.

 

On a PSU, not only is a bit of headroom nice but conventional wisdom has suggested that a PSU loses 10% of its efficiency / rating per year.

I'm not sure I believe that but I can see where it can lose up to that much.

Just keep it simple. The how-to stuff should help.

We did 12 step tutorials back in the day and I was trying to find those. Might've been in boot magazine though.

 

I used the Toms hardware guide to build mine. Total noob & it fired up just fine

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html

 

Those peripherals will likely last you through a couple of builds so get something you like and are comfortable with. The monitor may last many builds depending on how well it ages.

 

Basically only one source I use/need--

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

 

That's cool. Let us know how it goes. I've put together 2 of my own Gaming PCs and haven't had too many problems. As long as you read up on it beforehand, you should be good to go. It's just a matter of plugging stuff into the right places

I usually base my builds on some of the mid to high end Gaming PCs but I make my build a little less powerful because I don't need the absolute best. I also look at the most graphically demanding games of The Times and base my build so the specs are above the recommdended specs for the game.

Edit: Make sure your case is big enough for the GPU if you're getting some super power bigass GPU.
Edit: I never had a problem with the stock fan on my first two builds. For clarification, I've had three Gaming PCs. The first one was built by a co-worker. I now use an aftermarket heatsink & fan because I have the warmest room in the house and I am a little paranoid and it wasn't too expensive. I've never overclocked.

 

I'm a big razer fan as far as mouse and keyboard are concerned.

No clue for the brackets.

 

Looks like your on the right path with some great advice. If you need some info or a quick question answered the guys over here are real knowledgeable http://www.overclockers.com/forums/

 

Isn't building a computer fun?

I would recommend getting a couple of extra case fans.

I have almost the same case minus the see thru side, and I have a fan on top, side, and rear in addition to the front fan. Keeps things nice and cool under high GPU loads.