Custom build gamer pc recommendation

[MDRockstar]

Hello! I want your advice for a gamer pc custom build.
This pc is made from cyberpowerpc.com
Here are the specifications :
Price: 1389 $

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155.
Cooling Fan: Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan.
Memory: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair).
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card.
Power Supply Upgrade: 1,000 Watts - Raidmax RX-1000AE 80 Plus Gold
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

And other stuff like Diablo 3 free, speakers, mouse and keyboard.
Is this a good pc for gamer or i should modify something?

[Bill_Bright]

A couple comments.

While 80 Plus Gold certification is indicative of a high quality build, Raidmax does not have a "golden", if you will, reputation. Also, 1000W is WAY OVERKILL. It is hard to go wrong with Corsair or Antec PSUs.

I don't see an OS listed. With 8Gb of RAM, you need a 64-bit OS. And note that any OEM license you have that came with, or was purchased for another computer is NOT, under any circumstances, legally transferable to this computer.

Also, if that CPU is packaged with a supplied OEM cooler, the use of an aftermarket cooler voids the CPU warranty. This is often of little concern for gamers, but it is something everyone should be aware of. Note this information is located in the printed warranty information that comes with our CPUs, or is available online here and here. Note the Intel warranty states the CPU must be used with the accompanying "thermal solution" as they are sold, warranted, and intended to be used as "a" unit.

AMD is quite clear:

"This Limited Warranty shall be null and void if the AMD microprocessor which is the subject of this Limited Warranty is used with any heatsink/fan other than the one provided herewith."

[treehouse786]

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

Also, if that CPU is packaged with a supplied OEM cooler, the use of an aftermarket cooler voids the CPU warranty.

not a concern if the pc comes supplied with the aftermarket cooler already installed. OP must check that before he purchases.

also an SSD might be a good idea as a boot drive seeing as you want a high end gaming system, it would be a shame to have such a powerful system bogged down by a mechanical HDD.

[Bill_Bright]

Originally Posted by treehouse786

not a concern if the pc comes supplied with the aftermarket cooler already installed.

Well, it still may be a concern. CPUs from both AMD and Intel that come boxed with a supplied OEM cooler are warrantied for 3 years. CPUs boxed without coolers are typically warrantied for just 1.

If the PC builder swaps an OEM cooler for a 3rd party cooler he voids the 3 - year warranty. I think that might concern many a PC buyer. IF, note that's a big "IF", the builder assumes the warranty, you can bet it will not be for 3 years, but just 1. Or maybe just 90 or 30 days.

Note too that NO cooler maker (except Intel and AMD) warranty the CPU should the fan fail and somehow, regardless how remote, result in CPU damage.

Again, not a concern for many enthusiasts, but still something we all need to be aware of. Especially if the game machine will also be used for important things like work or school papers, on-line banking, email, or etc.

OP must check that before he purchases.

Absolutely! Best advice yet!

also an SSD might be a good idea as a boot drive seeing as you want a high end gaming system, it would be a shame to have such a powerful system bogged down by a mechanical HDD.

A lot of folks are putting a nice little 60Gb SSD as their boot drive for Windows, drivers, and the PF only. Then a nice HD for all their programs. Also growing in popularity are hybrid drives - offering 4G SSD buffers (that's big as buffers go) and good HDs in one.

[xxJackxx]

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

...While 80 Plus Gold certification is indicative of a high quality build, Raidmax does not have a "golden", if you will, reputation. Also, 1000W is WAY OVERKILL. It is hard to go wrong with Corsair or Antec PSUs...

Agreed. Go for quality over wattage. A good 650 would likely do fine for that system, 850 at the most. If you go Antec get the high end models. I have never lost a high end one but have seen 3 low end ones die.

[Bill_Bright]

but have seen 3 low end ones die.

Recently? They had some quality issues a few years ago with some of their entry level models, but my understanding is they have changed suppliers for those models. They use different suppliers for their higher end lines (as to most major brands, I suspect).

That said, until Man can create perfection 100% of the time, there will always be premature failures - even in the cream of the crop.

Coincidently, if I remember right, Raidmax got its start making OEM supplies the major brands and for budget computers.

But to achieve 80 Plus certification (especially Gold), the PSU must pass very stiff efficiency tests across several loads. And you cannot use cheap components and lessor quality raw materials and achieve high efficiency. So it is likely Raidmax is using high quality parts in their 80 Plus supplies and that is significant. But there are other factors that go into reliability too - most notably, assembly techniques - including soldering.

[3x0gR13N]

Some things worth considering:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155.

For a gamer an i5-3570K is a smarter buy, you won't notice that much of a difference between i5 and i7 (non- vs hyperthreaded). Instead, use the money difference (+ some more) to get an SSD- you'll definitely notice the difference compared to a HDD.

Cooling Fan: Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan.

Do you plan to OC the CPU? If yes, then watercooling is an option. However, have in mind that due to issues with TIM and IHS on Ivy Bridge, the watercooling unit may not perform to its full capacity.

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card.

If you can opt for a specific vendor/model, go with ASUS DCII TOP model- superbly silent cooling with performance of an 680 card.

Power Supply Upgrade: 1,000 Watts - Raidmax RX-1000AE 80 Plus Gold

As others mentioned- for the current config, overkill. If you plan on SLI setups, then maybe, but IMO even then it's overkill. In addition to the models suggested by others, consider Seasonic SS-620GM or SS-850AM
(I'm fairly certain that the mentioned makers share the same OEM supplier of internal PSU components)

[Spruce]

Add an SSD to your setup

[SirDrexl]

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

A lot of folks are putting a nice little 60Gb SSD as their boot drive for Windows, drivers, and the PF only. Then a nice HD for all their programs. Also growing in popularity are hybrid drives - offering 4G SSD buffers (that's big as buffers go) and good HDs in one.

I do that, but I put programs on it as well. Unless you have something huge, many common applications will fit. Only the games go onto a spinning hard drive.

BTW, I also recommend a mechanical keyboard.

[Bill_Bright]

Well, if you are using a 60Gb SSD as your boot drive, I would not put too many programs on it too. Windows itself, plus your hardware drivers can easily use 1/2 of that and Windows likes to have a large chunk (many say 30Gb) of free space to play in (to temporarily store opened files and data). So that's 60 right there.

I like all my applications off the boot drive. That way, if my Windows installation (or boot drive) becomes corrupt or damage, all my applications and data files are still good. Re-installing Windows (if it came to that drastic a measure) is really easy - it can just be really time consuming. Downloading, installing, and recovering all your installed programs, and all your data files can be much more difficult and time consuming.

So to me, putting the OS on one drive, and all my applications and data on another, I split the risks.

Of course all this depends on a good backup plan too.

[mirimir]

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

I like all my applications off the boot drive. That way, if my Windows installation (or boot drive) becomes corrupt or damage, all my applications and data files are still good.

What about registry entries for everything? Let's say that you had to reinstall Windows. Could you just import your application-specific registry entries from a backup? That seems risky, unless you could avoid importing other registry differences between the old and new Windows installs.

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

So to me, putting the OS on one drive, and all my applications and data on another, I split the risks.

It's also faster, because Windows and applications aren't fighting for disk access. If I really care, I use separate spindles (ideally, separate RAID arrays) for the OS (RAID1), swapfile (RAID0), applications (RAID1) and data (RAID10).

[Bill_Bright]

What about registry entries for everything? Let's say that you had to reinstall Windows. Could you just import your application-specific registry entries from a backup? That seems risky, unless you could avoid importing other registry differences between the old and new Windows installs.

Actually it is less risky. Note if you for some reason are forced to reinstall Windows all your Registry entries will be overwritten anyway. So whether your applications were originally installed on the boot drive, or a secondary drive, the Registry would NOT know where to find them.

Additionally, if you have to reinstall Windows on the boot drives, there's a good chance those applications will be overwritten too by the new installation. So again, with everything on one drive, the risk is greater that you will lose everything.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" could not be more applicable here.

It's also faster, because Windows and applications aren't fighting for disk access.

This is very true. If an application calls for a dll file in the System32 folder, the computer can fetch that dll from the boot drive at the same time it is fetching an application file from the secondary drive. Of course, this speed advantage is only realized with separate drives - not partitions on the same drive.

An extra SSD is an ideal location for the Page File, and for your temporary Internet file location. To expand on the above, with 3 drives (c for boot, d for data/applications and an SSD as your e drive, the system can simultaneously fetch a system file from the boot drive, an application file from the data drive, and stuff data in the PF on the SSD. With a single drive, these steps would have to be done sequentially.

Could you just import your application-specific registry entries from a backup?

Sure. But re-establishing the links in the Registry is really easier than it sounds - though it may take awhile if you have lots of applications installed. For example, lets say you have Microsoft Office installed on D drive, and you lose your boot drive and are forced to reinstall Windows on a new drive. All your applications are still intact on D drive, but none are registered in the Registry, therefore, Windows does not know they exist.

All you have to do is run a new install with the Office installation disk, point the installation to the original location and the installation will detect the existing installation and simply update the new Registry without having to go through a complete install. Takes a few seconds rather and many minutes.

If you have a backup program and most importantly, use it, then restoring to multiple drive is no more difficult than restoring to one.

As far as RAIDs, except for data integrity with a mirrored array, RAIDs add a MUCH greater level of complexity (and potential for failure) for marginal (if that) benefits in performance. In the old days, when drives were much slower and RAM was very expensive, a stripped array offered significant advantages. But today, with RAM and high performance disk space being so cheap, for the vast majority of users out there, I would not recommend a RAID. The exception might be perhaps for a file server in a corporate environment. And never a stripped array where data integrity is essential.

If uptime is essential, I would consider a mirrored server before a RAID.

[treehouse786]

@Bill_Bright
brilliant post, cheers for the valuable info

[Bill_Bright]

Thanks.