Building my first gaming PC

spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
Here's my list so far:

CPU - Intel i7 4790k

Motherboard - ASRock Z97 OC Formula

RAM - Corsair Dominator Platnium 2 x 8GB (they just look so sexy NOT TO BUY!!!!)

GPU - GTX 980

SSD - Either going to go with Intel's 530 or 730 series, 240GB

Okay, so that's where I am so far. I'm having a little trouble trying to decide on a HDD. Seagate seems to have a lot of negative reviews. Western Digital and Hitachi seem to be better. Probably going to go with Western Digital..

I was looking at WD's Black series 2 TB. If I'm going to have an internal SSD that has 240 GB, would you guys recommend 1 TB or 2 TB for HDD?

Any recommendations for other HDD's are welcome as well :)
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Seagate and Western Digital are considered the 2 best companies right now. I have a Seagate and it's great. Hitachi isn't quite as popular but it's still probably a decent choice.

I'd get 2TB of storage. The price difference is only an additional 30 dollars or so depending on the drive but later down the line you'll be happy you got 2TB instead of 1TB. You'll go through it fast, especially with how big games are getting anymore.
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
2TB it is then!

Now, I'm a little confused on picking the right PSU. I used Cooler Master's calculation site and got a recommendation of 392W. I watched a video that says I should get 15% to 20% more wattage for. So I'm gonna go ahead and assume a 450W or 500W PSU would be fine? I was planning to water cool at first but I may save that for later down the road.

Should I get a slightly larger PSU to cover for future water cooling? Perhaps 600W? Not sure how much more wattage the water cooling would create... Can't be much right?! :confused: It's only a small pump and radiator... plus all the fans I guess too..
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
That is without overclock on the CPU and GPU, not mentioning fans, h100i, ssd etc. With a 500w i would think you would struggle i would go for atleast 600+ maybe 650w to be safe.

And both seagate and WD are pretty much the best brands, ive never had a problem with mine. Both are good.
 
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Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Corsair CX600 or Corsair CX600M (modular, less cable clutter) is what you want. With a 980 I'd want at least 550 watts. Those CX600 units are solid (I have one) and are kind of the staple recommendation around here.
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
600W is the choice then!

Thanks for all the help and input thus far! I'll keep you guys updated on le purchases ;)

Is Corsair's Plus Gold similar to Cooler Master's certain PSU where the fan doesn't turn on until it hits a usage of 200W?
Is it worth the extra cash for Corsair's Plus Gold as opposed to just a CX model?

Cause' I don't quite understand the explanation on Corsair's website of what Plus Gold is/does.
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
The extra cash is just the 80+ gold vs 80+ bronze, meaning its more efficient. However, the CX600M is still good if you don't want to spend the extra cash
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
+bronze +silver +gold or even +platinum is how efficient the powersupply is. so bronze is the lowest efficency and platinum the highest. Meaning if you put a certain power in to the psu the platinum will be more efficient at turning that power into usable power for each of the components. such as 600w in a platinum would put out around 540-570w (90-95%) and a bronze around 480-510w(80-85%). So the platinum only looses roughly 30-60w and the bronze 90-120w. It will save you money in the long run as theres less power wastage.

the 80+ is merely guaranteed 80% power efficiency. And the fan only come on when its under high load again to save power.

I think an RM650 would fit your build well and it is gold efficiency.
 
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spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
spinnnerrr said:
Here's my list so far:

CPU - Intel i7 4790k

Motherboard - ASRock Z97 OC Formula

RAM - Corsair Dominator Platnium 2 x 8GB (they just look so sexy NOT TO BUY!!!!)

GPU - GTX 980

SSD - Either going to go with Intel's 530 or 730 series, 240GB

Okay, so that's where I am so far. I'm having a little trouble trying to decide on a HDD. Seagate seems to have a lot of negative reviews. Western Digital and Hitachi seem to be better. Probably going to go with Western Digital..

I was looking at WD's Black series 2 TB. If I'm going to have an internal SSD that has 240 GB, would you guys recommend 1 TB or 2 TB for HDD?

Any recommendations for other HDD's are welcome as well :)
Click to expand...

Motherboard: I'd look at ASUS, Gigabyte or even MSI instead of ASRock - probably Gigabyte.

SSD: Samsung ones are blazing quick and good value. 840 EVO is fantastic value for money and the 850 Pro is also quick. Check out our Drive Speed leaderboard - the 840 EVO owns it: http://www.computerforum.com/224966-drive-speed-thread.html

HDD: Western Digital. 2TB is a nice size.
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
At the end of the day HDDs are mechanical objects, of course they go wrong. I've even had SSDs fail on me, but buying from a brand with a good reputation, such as Western Digital, is good practice.
 
spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
spirit said:
Motherboard: I'd look at ASUS, Gigabyte or even MSI instead of ASRock - probably Gigabyte.

SSD: Samsung ones are blazing quick and good value. 840 EVO is fantastic value for money and the 850 Pro is also quick. Check out our Drive Speed leaderboard - the 840 EVO owns it: http://www.computerforum.com/224966-drive-speed-thread.html

HDD: Western Digital. 2TB is a nice size.
Click to expand...

I had a feeling someone, sooner or later, would ward me off from ASRock :rolleyes:

I'm looking at this Gigabyte, but it says it only supports CrossFire... doesn't mention SLI. I don't know too much about the two, but aren't they pretty much the same thing? Can I still run two 980's down the road if it only supports CrossFire? Or do I need an AMD GPU? ...because 980's are strictly nVidia, right?

Or perhaps I'll get this mobo
 
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spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Weird. I've not seen an Intel board that only supports one technology for a while. The Z97 chipset should support SLI and CrossFire.

Are you planning to run 980s in the future?
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
To be honest, there is nothing wrong with asrock. They do build good quality boards. Most people tend to go gigabyte or asus but asrock is still of good quality especially that quad SLI z97 you brought back a few posts ago. which was of very high quality.

The asrock has better quality cap's, waterproof, and overall better quality and better performing than both gigabyte boards.

Theres no reason why you should not go for that z97 oc formula. It has acheived the highest oc on the same board aswell so theres nothing wrong with it interms of reliablity and overclockability, someone managed 7.2ghz with a 4790k...

Not to mention the second board doesnt come with fan mounting holes.
 
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ninjabubbles3

Active Member
I was planning on buying an ASrock board for my build, but then I went to Frys, and tested it out.

It felt very thin, and like it would break any second.

As a gigabyte ultra durable owner, I feel it is much sturdier than most other companies

Of course, I was a cheaper Z97 ASrock board, and of course, yours may be very different
 
tylerjrb

tylerjrb

Member
I do agree both gigabyte and asus do make very sturdy and good quality boards. And yeah many cheaper asrock boards are quite thin and not the best. But the oc formula z97 is of premium quality and one of the best, if not the best z97 they make. Has some really good reviews about.

I'm not saying don't get an asus or gigabyte both are great brands, I own one myself. I'm just saying don't be put off by asrock as there high end boards are very good too.
 
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spinnnerrr

spinnnerrr

Member
spirit said:
Weird. I've not seen an Intel board that only supports one technology for a while. The Z97 chipset should support SLI and CrossFire.

Are you planning to run 980s in the future?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm gonna get a 980 right off the bat and then another down the road.

tylerjrb said:
To be honest, there is nothing wrong with asrock. They do build good quality boards. Most people tend to go gigabyte or asus but asrock is still of good quality especially that quad SLI z97 you brought back a few posts ago. which was of very high quality.

The asrock has better quality cap's, waterproof, and overall better quality and better performing than both gigabyte boards.

Theres no reason why you should not go for that z97 oc formula. It has acheived the highest oc on the same board aswell so theres nothing wrong with it interms of reliablity and overclockability, someone managed 7.2ghz with a 4790k...

Not to mention the second board doesnt come with fan mounting holes.
Click to expand...

Good eye, I didn't notice the Gigabyte didn't have mounting holes.

I actually just read the reviews on the ASRock OC last night and it did get many good ratings and comments. I'm just gonna go with ASRock since it was my first choice and the yellow grew on me. A white and yellow build will look nicey nice :p
 
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