Getting into PC gaming and wanting to make a custom build.

[Slug]

Is ASUS a good, efficient, and reliable mobo manufacturer?

I've been very happy with mine; the Crosshair III is still going strong after three years of trouble-free use.

 

[sfbloodbrother]

I have been using a 650 W PSU by Corsair for a while now. Its a bit over the top to be honest, you can get by with a 500, but I may want to add to this some day.

 

[IOWA]

Regarding ASUS mobo's I love em. In fact, this is the one I used in my last build last year.

Amazon.com: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard: Computers & Accessories

 

[Metroid Prime]

Cool. I have been looking into ASUS and wanted some feedback on them.

Would you recommend this ASUS Mobo? ASUS P8Z77-V LK

 

[mplevy]

I have used Asus in my last 4 builds, 2 each for my dad and I. If you can budget it, maybe consider 8 GB memory. I have 8 GB in my system and have the paging file turned off with no issues.

You might also consider an SSD for your boot drive, a 120 GB one is relatively cheap and it's an amazing difference for boot times. Consider a Samsung 840 Pro, though the regular 840 is a decent choice also, they both regularly top charts.

 

[sfbloodbrother]

I have used Asus in my last 4 builds, 2 each for my dad and I. If you can budget it, maybe consider 8 GB memory. I have 8 GB in my system and have the paging file turned off with no issues.

You might also consider an SSD for your boot drive, a 120 GB one is relatively cheap and it's an amazing difference for boot times. Consider a Samsung 840 Pro, though the regular 840 is a decent choice also, they both regularly top charts.

I recommend Asus. They are great at making hardware. I have like 5 Asus products for my build ranging from motherboards to CD drives.

 

[AMOCO]

BTW,This is what is in my pc.
AMD Phenom II x4 960T 3.0GHz. With 3.4GHz Turbverclocked to 4.0.
ASUS Crosshair III Formula / Republic of Gamers Motherboard.
2x Micro Center 64gb. SSD's(aka Adata 599S's).
1x Seagate 500gb. Hard drive.
1x Seagate 1tb. Hard drive.
2x Gigabyte AMD HD 6870's Graphics Cards(915 MHz/4200 MHz)[But will OC to the SuperClocked specs. 950 MHz/4400 MHz).
8gb. OCZ Gold Series(DDR3-1600MHz) Memory.
1000W Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular Power Supply Unit.
Koolance Asus Crosshair III Formula motherboard water block(MB-ASC3F).
Black Ice GT Stealth 120mm Radiator.
XSPC Rasa 750 RS360 WaterCooling Kit(With Kill Coil).
Xilence Red LED Fan Controller.
6x XIGMATEK XSF-F1252 fans.
2x Yate Loon fans.
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card.
Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD Limited Edition Case.
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW(TS-H653F AideTA).

 

[Mehta23]

If you have no plans for SLI, you could save a lil bit and get a P8Z77 VLX.

Asus is pretty much the brand for mobos. (and maybe gigabyte but idk)

 

[unnamedny]

Here is a great PC for the price
Newegg.com - Open Box: CyberpowerPC Intel Core i7 8GB DDR3 2TB HDD Capacity Desktop PC Windows 8 64-Bit Gamer Xtreme H300
If you add up components you save a good bit of money. It says open box, but last time I bought one it was nicely packed and looked brand new. If you do the math it's about a $1000 of just components already put together for you.

 

[jimbro]

Just built a new one too but I don't do gaming
Mainly used for photography stuff

Casecom CS-13 full tower case
AMD FX8350 CPU. 8 core running @ 4GHz
Corsair Hydro H60 water cooling
24GB 1600MHz RAM
2 x HD6850 1GB GPU
Asus Xonar DGX5.1 audio card
Philips 27" LED HD monitor
Twin Aerocool Shark 140mm fans
Corsair 750w modular PSU
Sandisk 128GB SSD as primary OS drive and applications
Seagate 2TB 7200rpm HDD
2 x Samsung 1.5TB HDD(1 drive for backup)
Liteon 4x BD drive
X-Vision fan controller/temp monitor

Runs blisteringly fast, even using Photoshop

 

[unnamedny]

great system. I would not cheap out if I was building a system for professional uses.

 

[Metroid Prime]

Alright I think I have my build picked out if anyone wants to look and tell me if it's compatible or not. TIA!

Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF series RC-912-KKN4 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i33240 - Newegg.com

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Newegg.com

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-3658-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST SuperClocked 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com

Optical Drive: ASUS Model DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD Burner Black - Newegg.com

 

[Mehta23]

Looks pretty good!

Personally I've heard a few bad things about the WD blue drives and I'd for a seagate barracuda.

Nice on the EVGA 650Ti boost!

That's about all I have to say.


Edit: no link for the motherboard?

 

[Metroid Prime]

Oh, my bad. I'll edit my post.

I actually heard things about Seagate and their firmware. Well, I guess I can't go wrong with either one.

 

[Mehta23]

Oh, my bad. I'll edit my post.

I actually heard things about Seagate and their firmware. Well, I guess I can't go wrong with either one.

I think the Blue is a kind of eco drive, right? The WD Black is very good, but it's a lot louder than my Seagate Barracuda.

There was a huge hoo-haa about the old WD vs Seagate, but I've had no trouble with either, and you can't really go wrong with either

 

[Metroid Prime]

That's true. Same with Intel or AMD either one is good and can meet your needs.

 

[IOWA]

I think the Blue is a kind of eco drive, right? The WD Black is very good, but it's a lot louder than my Seagate Barracuda.

There was a huge hoo-haa about the old WD vs Seagate, but I've had no trouble with either, and you can't really go wrong with either

I use WD Black HDD for my storage, it's fast and so far 1 year strong. I love it.

 

[Mehta23]

I use WD Black HDD for my storage, it's fast and so far 1 year strong. I love it.

Same. If it didn't have 5 year warranty there'd (imo) be no point in getting one.

 

[unnamedny]

Alright I think I have my build picked out if anyone wants to look and tell me if it's compatible or not. TIA!

Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF series RC-912-KKN4 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i33240 - Newegg.com

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Newegg.com

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P4-3658-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST SuperClocked 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card

PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com

Optical Drive: ASUS Model DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD Burner Black - Newegg.com

I would take a look at Intel Core i3-3240 Ivy Bridg. It's a different socket but it's just a few bucks more for better performance.

I would strongly recommend you going with 2x4gb of ram as well. The rest looks fine. I bet you you can tweak the price a bit more

I would grab this one if I were you. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229394R
GPU:$200
CPU:$150
Ram:$75
case:$80
HDD:$60
Mobo:$60
Almost $700 just in parts and it professionally put together. I bought Open box PC 2.5 years ago. I had to ditch PSU but that's the only complaint I have. BTW it has 30 day return policy and it will go OOS really fast.

 

[Mehta23]

I was told to go for Ivy Bridge too. I think it runs a lil warmer (overclocking could cause minor minor problems) and I know it's better if you were to use a multi-screen setup.

You should be able to get away with 4GB of RAM, but if you'd struggle, definitely get 8GB.

 

[davoid]

If I were you I would spend a little more on the CPU and get a quad core. For gaming you want to make your machine as future proof as you can within monetary limits and I think an i5 would serve you much better than a dual core i3. You don't want your CPU to bottleneck your system.

Have a look at this one:

Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P - Newegg.com

 

[unnamedny]

If I were you I would spend a little more on the CPU and get a quad core. For gaming you want to make your machine as future proof as you can within monetary limits and I think an i5 would serve you much better than a dual core i3. You don't want your CPU to bottleneck your system.

Have a look at this one:

Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P - Newegg.com

AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX - Newegg.com Is faster and cheaper CPU. It gets 6606 marks vs 6201 marks $150 vs $180

AMD is a great value. You do not need top notch CPU for gaming, mid range CPU would do it. I'd be more concern about 4gb of ram. I really think there is no need to overspend on some PC parts which are not going to make much difference in gaming.

 

[Metroid Prime]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Future proofing I think cannot be done as nothing can ever be future proof. I am deciding between two cards, but the one I was looking at (a 7870) seems to have issues so I might lean back to the 650 Ti Boost. Most games don't use more than 4 GB of RAM so I should be fine.

 

[sfbloodbrother]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Future proofing I think cannot be done as nothing can ever be future proof. I am deciding between two cards, but the one I was looking at (a 7870) seems to have issues so I might lean back to the 650 Ti Boost. Most games don't use more than 4 GB of RAM so I should be fine.

I currently have the 650 Ti. Its capable of playing the new games pretty well, but not much more. Get an AMD card, because that is better for gaming. If you wanted to do 3D rendering than Nvidia would be the better choice.

 

[Mehta23]

+1 on AMD cards getting more for the money