First time builder need all the advice i can get

D

dobbs

New Member
Im looking for performance at reasonable cost. Budgets roughly 600-800 Canadian dollars i have chosen these peices and wondering if they are compatible with each other or is it a stupid build. i will be using it mostly for htpc and minor gaming. specs are:
Intel Core i3-3225 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
ASUS GTX650-E-1GD5 GeForce GTX 650 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm
All comments are appreciated
 
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Looks good. Not really a lot I would change but I'd probably try and get a slightly more powerful graphics card: GTX 660 or Radeon 7790 or 7850 or something like that. :)
 
ya im definitely considering a better video card would you say that gigabyte mb better than the asus one i have picked
 
Uh is a z87 board compatible with the 3220? i think you folks are missing something 1150 and 1155 i was under the assumption of no direct compatibility.
 
First off...What games do you consider minor gaming?

FuryRosewood said:
Uh is a z87 board compatible with the 3220? i think you folks are missing something 1150 and 1155 i was under the assumption of no direct compatibility.
Click to expand...

Correct, either need to switch out the processor or board.


You're going to be running a dedicated graphics card, so the 3225 isn't worth the premium over the 3220, the only difference is the integrated graphics on the chip and a price differential of ~$15. A couple of good combo deals on a 3220 and motherboard at newegg currently:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1335817

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1336177

CX600 is somewhat of an underwhelming power supply, especially for the price. It's not a bad unit, but for the same price I'd suggest either of these, cleaner output :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 (Based on the Seasonic S12II platform)
 
dobbs said:
thanks for all the replies. i was able to get the 650 ti with the extra 15 bucks and went with the gigabyte mb pcunicorn suggested. im from canada so those power supplies are more expensive do you thunk this is a better power supply

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256071
or did i just downgrade lol
Click to expand...

Whoops, looks like I was on the wrong version of newegg when I posted that! Judging on your options in canada, stick with the corsair unit, it's not a bad power supply by any means.

Also, do you have a hard drive you're going to be using along with the SSD? 120GB will fill up quite fast with HTPC/gaming usage.

As far as motherboards go, I'd take a look at features you want/need. Easy place to save some money, as at a certain point there's not much of a point to spending more on a board unless you're going to be heavily overclocking/running multiple GPU's as most major manufacturers have similar warranty lengths/etc. Excellent deal going on with this board right now, 8gb of memory for free:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645
 
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