First time building a pc need some advice

[xShadow]

xShadow and everyone else if you need to just be sure again use this. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine


Honestly I should just make a big thread for Tools / Sites & etc. for building or updating /upgrading a PC.....

I did look at that, but I forgot I was going to overclock the CPU some, and also maybe the gpu if I can get away with (doubtful in SLI but whatever). I'm also just surprised at how close that max draw number is to my current rating (there's also capacitor aging, but I've heard Corsair uses good ones) .
 Considering the HX850 is only 10 dollars more than the 750 at micro center, I'm really considering returning mine for that one. Supposing I decide to be adventurous a few years down the line and getter an sli setup rated at higher power than this, idk if this would support it.

[kitamesume]

i doubt the capacitor aging would be much of an issue on the new high efficiency models, they tend to overspec their parts to increase efficiency, at worst you just loose a bit of efficiency but not max power output.

you can swap it, won't hurt you much. the question is does microcenter accept that kind of scenario?

[xShadow]

The return policy is 30 days and it has to be like new. I haven't done anything with this, so as long as those conditions are fulfilled, it should be fine. I'm most worried about where you put the screws in, but that's nothing a little black paint wouldn't solve.  Also have to make sure the box has no rips, and I'm a bit rough with things..  Have to check when I get home.

Generally my experience with them has been effortless when I was returning fans back and forth like crazy.

[Gh0st93]

xShadow I don't really think you have anything to lose by trading it in for the HX850, And if you put more things on it then having the extra power would be pretty useful so I'd say go ahead and do it.

[SykoDragon]

So... new deals at microcenter kinda fucked my decision...

MSI GD-65 is $140 with the CPU
MSI MPower is $175 with the CPU I think I'm still going to go with this one though

Other than that I've pretty much ordered everything besides the stuff at microcenter, HDD, and Fans.

[kitamesume]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

[xShadow]

So... new deals at microcenter kinda fucked my decision...

MSI GD-65 is $140 with the CPU
MSI MPower is $175 with the CPU I think I'm still going to go with this one though

Other than that I've pretty much ordered everything besides the stuff at microcenter, HDD, and Fans.

What's the original price? See if they'll match Newegg's discount for the MPower, if it's higher. They price matched my Kraken so it couldn't hurt.

[Gh0st93]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

[xShadow]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

They're not taking it off of the MB specifically, they're just taking it off in general because you're buying an i7 and an MB. It's how I got my MPower for $160 (200 sale - 40). Though, if I had to guess why they'd take it off of the MB specifically, the MPower doesn't seem to sell that well... especially considering people in forums go around telling people that it's only for balls to the wall overclocking.

[kitamesume]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

MicroCenter, go figure.

the fact that they had the i7-4770K on sale for as much as -$80 in less than 3months from release date is weird enough.

[SykoDragon]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

MicroCenter, go figure.

the fact that they had the i7-4770K on sale for as much as -$80 in less than 3months from release date is weird enough.

This is very true. Microcenter is the ONLY place that is selling for the 4770k for that cheap and to sell a MB with it for even cheaper is ridiculous. Honestly with whatever MB I choose I think I'll be happy. I'm having a hard time choosing now, but its a good choice either way no matter how you look at it. $140 or $175 for either board is a fucking steal and I'm lucky to be troubled by this dilemma tbh.

[Gh0st93]

Honestly that is a great way to look at it, Personally I would go look at them and person and decide which do you wanna stare at for the next few years.

[SykoDragon]

Honestly that is a great way to look at it, Personally I would go look at them and person and decide which do you wanna stare at for the next few years.

This is probably what I'll do tuesday/wednesday and I'll have almost all my parts by then too! I'm nervous to build my own PC but i think it'll be really fun as long as I dont screw anything up haha

[xShadow]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

MicroCenter, go figure.

the fact that they had the i7-4770K on sale for as much as -$80 in less than 3months from release date is weird enough.

This is very true. Microcenter is the ONLY place that is selling for the 4770k for that cheap and to sell a MB with it for even cheaper is ridiculous. Honestly with whatever MB I choose I think I'll be happy. I'm having a hard time choosing now, but its a good choice either way no matter how you look at it. $140 or $175 for either board is a fucking steal and I'm lucky to be troubled by this dilemma tbh.

Read up, like I said you could be even luckier if you ask them for a price match. Just mention price matching and they ask from where.

Give them this and wham, if they accept it you could possibly get the MPower for $150 (assuming your 175$ is 225$ that I see on their web site minus 50$ for the combo price; mine was 40). Price matching is powerful, I got the Kraken X40 CPU cooler for like 40$ cheaper than their in-store price. Used that 40$ to purchase Noctua fans for it. I would hurry, you don't know how long this sale will last, not to sound like a salesperson. The Kraken X40 right now for instance is 100$.

[SykoDragon]

MPower @ $175 is a steal though, considering it just took off $70 from MSRP.

But doesn't that make you wonder why they would take $70 dollars off a brand new motherboard?

MicroCenter, go figure.

the fact that they had the i7-4770K on sale for as much as -$80 in less than 3months from release date is weird enough.

This is very true. Microcenter is the ONLY place that is selling for the 4770k for that cheap and to sell a MB with it for even cheaper is ridiculous. Honestly with whatever MB I choose I think I'll be happy. I'm having a hard time choosing now, but its a good choice either way no matter how you look at it. $140 or $175 for either board is a fucking steal and I'm lucky to be troubled by this dilemma tbh.

Read up, like I said you could be even luckier if you ask them for a price match. Just mention price matching and they ask from where.

Give them this and wham, if they accept it you could possibly get the MPower for $150 (assuming your 175$ is 225$ that I see on their web site minus 50$ for the combo price; mine was 40). Price matching is powerful, I got the Kraken X40 CPU cooler for like 40$ cheaper than their in-store price. Used that 40$ to purchase Noctua fans for it. I would hurry, you don't know how long this sale will last, not to sound like a salesperson. The Kraken X40 right now for instance is 100$.

I'm going as fast as I can haha. If I could go to MC I would, but I won't be able to go to M/C until next week and I doubt they made this sale just for the weekend. Its most likely until 9/30 or atleast until next week is over. At least this is what I'm hoping for. If they do that price match that'll be pretty ridiculous. I'll basically get the MPower for $10 dollars more than the GD-65 at $50. Microcenter is kinda tricky though because the sale price didn't show and wasn't on their motherboard/processor bundle page either. It only showed up once I added both to my cart.

[xShadow]

It's not Microcenter that I'm telling you to hurry about, it's the Newegg sale. 25$ is over a 10% savings on that MB, which is fairly significant. The key is being able to find something to price match to maximize savings. If you don't care about 25$ that's fine.

[SykoDragon]

It's not Microcenter that I'm telling you to hurry about, it's the Newegg sale. 25$ is over a 10% savings on that MB, which is fairly significant. The key is being able to find something to price match to maximize savings. If you don't care about 25$ that's fine.

Oh gotcha... yeah that makes sense.

[Gh0st93]

I don't Think they'll be big on trying to discount an item that is on sale and is being used in a combo deal.

[xShadow]

I don't Think they'll be big on trying to discount an item that is on sale and is being used in a combo deal.

There are a lot of factors to consider, but to put it into perspective mine was already on sale there for 199$. It could not hurt to ask earlier rather than later. Consider also that this product probably does not sell well anyway. Consider also this combo deal is not specific to the MPower. It's just any MB+the proc. They can either get rid of inventory for a bit cheaper and give a first time customer a pleasant experience, or they can refuse to match and possibly lose out on some money down the road. Well, either way there's no certainty but it can't hurt to ask.

[Speaker Rob]

Alright well this is my first time building a pc and hopefully my only one for a long time. It's going to mainly be used for gaming, at least for now.

Alright so far this is what I've come up with

Case: CM Storm Stryker - I like how it looks and I might need to transport it around fairly often
CPU: i7-4770k haswell
Mb: asus Maximus vi formula
GPU: evga gtx 770 4gb
Ram: g. Skill 16 gb - around 130 although I'm thinking if my gpu has 4 gb of ram I might be alright with just 8 gb of ram or would I be wrong in thinking this? Any other ram recommendations would be appreciated
SSD: Samsung 840 pro 250 gb is 250 gb too much? It seems like its not supposed to be used for that much besides booting up
HD: Probably a 1tb toshiba 7200 hard drive I think they're like 60-70
Fan: Corsair hydro h80i or maybe the h60 to save some money
PSU: This is where I'm having the most trouble. Also I don't know what voltage to get or what a "good price" is for a PSU.

I'm pretty much decided on the case, CPU, gpu, and Mobo unless there are much better options for less cost.

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Current mock build - link ->

(click to show/hide)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1FHji

Case: Corsair C70 Veng ($100)
CPU: i7-4770k haswell ($280)
Mb: MSI Z87 MPower(MSRP $235 on sale for $200) or MSI Z87 GD-65($185) Still dont know which one I want, it'll probably be a gametime decision
GPU: MSI GTX 770 4gb ($445 or 450)
Ram: g. Skill trident series 16 gb  ($165)
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB ($177) - I think I can get this cheaper at MC if I buy the Processor too
HD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ($85)
Fan: Corsair hydro h100i ($100)
PSU: Seasonic X-Series 850w ($167)

Sorry, I'm too lazy to read the other 78 replies here to know what has already been mentioned. So if I repeat some things, that's why.

Let me just say I think you are overshooting on the equipment. You could save a lot of money here and still have a system that feels just as powerful. Some key things to change:

• 16GB of memory is overkill - start with 8GB first, if you find that you need more later on, the stuff is cheap so just pick you up a couple more sticks. Anything over DDR3-14900 is a waste of money. For one, it is just overclocked 1866Mhz with terrible latency at 3-5 times the price.
• Good lord that video card! Drop to the 600x series and save 50-60% on the cost for a minimal drop in performance. FYI, NVIDIA has less driver hassles than ATI, but ATI is cheaper.
• Power supplies should be the one thing you don't skimp on cost with. 750-850W single rail is the way to go. I recommend PC Power and Cooling for the 5yr warrenty on their products.
• The Samsung 840 pro SSD is quality stuff. I could go into all the specifics of the firmware controllers, but it's sufficient to say that is the best SSD on the market atm. I'm using the 120GB variety, and I found that to be enough for just my OS and drivers. It's up to you on the size, either will work great.
• As far as your motherboard goes. This is something of a research matter. Usually how I select a MB is first I list the features I want, then find a board that matches those. Then I look at reviews. I'm attempting to find out how many of these are dead on arrival (DOA), and the issues other people have had with them. After weighing my options, I look for the best priced one and cross my fingers. This should take up most of your time during the purchasing phase. Just makes sure whatever you are getting has the right socket chipset, and supports your memory type without having to be overclocked in the bios. I also recommend opting for a UEFI enabled motherboard.
• Look into the 1.5TB WD Caviar green drives. They run cooler, longer, and on less power with only a tiny drop in performance. They are also around $50-70.
• Finally, the CPU....dun dun dun. Intel i7's are nice, but way too expensive for my taste. Look into going doen to the i5 series. I cannot remember off the top of my head atm, but one the i5's can be overclocked to the same specs of an i7 for about 30% of the cost. Also, don't overlook AMD as an option too. I've had no problem with the FX6300 series and it was half the price of an i5.

Anyways, I hoped that helps some. If you are curious about what I'm currently running, take a look at this post here:

• AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor, 3500 Mhz, 3 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2.00 GB
• 8 GB Crucial DDR3 PC3-14900(1866) • 9-9-9-27
• 2x 150 GB WD Raptor 10,000rpm
• 1x 1.5 TB WD Caviar Green
• 1x 120 GB Samsung SSD 840 pro
• Blu-ray/DVD/CD (R-RW) drives

$563