Yeah, I'd definitely suggest a 24 over a 27. 27's are just too big, and they really don't look that good unless you run at 2560x1440. And if you run at that resolution, your games are going to struggle a lot more.

2x24, or even 1x24 is a better option imo. Will make your hardware last longer as well.

Apart from that, all your parts look great. This will be an excellent gaming machine, I have to say. Oh, and the monitor I have is this one. Since you are quite a bit under budget at the moment, you could actually consider picking up a 120hz screen, which will definitely be viable with your graphics card.

Don't have one myself, but I hear very good things about them.

You'll need to search for it on your site though, as I only know the Aus ones.

 

About 120 hz, if you play FPS games they are the best. I heard a lot good about benq (ie XL2411T), asus was mentioned as monitor with the same price and fewer options. I also heard a lot about older samsung(2233rz) - but you can now find it only used on ebay.

 

SSD's are the shit for super fast boot times, but you're going to spend out the ass if you want a decent amount of storage space, so most people use a small, under 100gb one for the boot drive, then they pick up a cheap sata drive for storage. Drop the 250gb one to something under 100$, and transfer the other 80 bucks you'd save into a second 1tb Sata 3 drive.

For the video card, I have a similar one but the Zotac model, which comes with a lifetime replacement warranty, much like EVGAs. I'll never, ever buy a video card without one, they've tended to be too random on me. Plus I bought a midrange video card in 2006, shitted out in 2009, they replace it with another midrange card for me that was 4x stronger, it shitted out in 2010, then they upgraded me to a gtx 450, which was like 10 times stronger then the original one I'd only paid 140$ for, lmao. The lifetime warrantys always help you in the long run. I went Zotac over EVGA because I like the color scheme (black/yellow) and they tend to bundle top tier games.

The new card though is crazy strong for that hardware, I'd back it back down to the 660 series, or just go down a notch. Cards from the 500 series are still more then strong enough to play most stuff at good rez and graphics. I have a 660 that runs Skyrim everything on high with modded texture packs, and you can get that one for a fraction of that 400$. Unless you're going to be running multiple monitors at crazy rezs, that card's a beast.

Monitors, above 24" is great for watching movies from the bed or leaned way back in the chair. I had a 32" one awhile back that I sold though, it gave me migraines trying to use it as a gaming monitor while sat at the keyboard, just way too much screen realestate. I've found my perfect size is 24" about 2 feet from my face when sat in the chair. If I output to the living room though, the 60" works awesome, but I have to sit about 8 feet away from it.

"Sceptre DCL20A" Fuck that monitor in the ass. I have one sitting in the kitchen on the floor, I refuse to hook it back up, but I dont want to trash it, so its a spare.

edit: Didnt see you changed the build, lol.

 

Here's my current build.

Downgraded to the 760, downgraded the SSD and threw in a 1TB drive like Middy suggested. (I'm more used to this type of setup anyway and it gives me room to play since I do rock a lot of Steam stuff and single-player games, I've been out of on-line multiplayer for a while, be gentle!) Also picked out a new case. I've always only bought budget type cases and I'd like to spend a little more on it, just to see what I can get.

I looked at the BenQ that Kuru suggested, but I don't need all that flair (2 HDMI ports? 3D? For me that's novelty stuff.) I found an ASUS 24' at 120hz that has a lot of good going for it. Thoughts? I'm loving and super appreciative of ALL the feedback, btw!

 

Wait a sec, didn't you say you had a 2tb HD from your old comp lying around? I thoughts thats why you didn't get one. You'll def want at least a 2tb storage HD imo.

As for cases... I hate anything with plastic in it. I want mine to be solid. If you want to see a nice case thats pretty compact but has room for anything you need, take a look at the one I linked earlier in the thread.

As for the monitor... depends what you want, I love the minimalist design of Samsung, but I know very little about brands or any others ones. You're best off checking hardforum.com or asking someone elses opinion on that one.

Honestly though man, don't downgrade the SSD, 120gb is not enough, you'll want at least 180gb, if not the 250 you had before.

 

I would choose this PSU -- Seasonic 620W. Johnny Guru did a review of its little brother, the S12 520W -- and it got excellent scores.

If I were you, I would not downgrade to a 760 or anything. Get the best you can afford now. Less hassle and troubles that way. Plus, the staying power of top end graphic cards carry over for a long time...

I had a GTX260 -- while it was nowhere near top end -- it was considered to be a "midrange" -- it lasted a good 6 year. I was playing damn near every game maxed out at 1920x1200. I swapped it out when it began to struggle with BC2 -- and later, BF3.

My point is, spend more money now means you wont have to spend more money down the line to upgrade the graphic card again. The upgrade intervals are just much longer if you buy top end to top end.



As to monitors, I wouldn't place much stock into the manufacturer performance specs -- you'll find out that no two manufacturer uses the same grading/scoring when measuring monitor performance. Hell, I game with an Apple Cinema 24" (1920x1200) and that monitor is not meant for gaming.

As to the monitor specs... I would definitely choose the one with multiple input. What if you want to plug in your xbox to your monitor?

Personally... I would go for the Dell U3011 -- but not everyone wants one (or can afford one), so I would go for the next best... catleaps, crossovers or aurias. Best part? They're all IPS and below $450.

 

This. If you get the 770 now you have more time before you need to upgrade again. Also, the 770 has about 50% more performance with SSAA than the 760, so it's definetly worth getting imo.

And here are some monitor reviews. The only thing you should look out for, is that the backlight is LED.

 

I agree with CheddarTrek. It usually seems that around $200 dollars will get you a good card that will not have any trouble with playing current games. And it will last for several years.

High end cards will last longer, I'd get one with a lifetime warranty though, but aren't really needed right now if you are playing games at 1080p on one monitor. My feeling is that you are also paying more for gpu power.

I'd think that you would be better just getting the $250 card and just replacing it when you thought it was outdated. You would probably spend less money overall for the gpu power you get. Computer equipment loses value quickly.

 

You're correct, of course. He doesn't have to get a high end card and be happy with a mid-range one -- but I'm just reporting from my experience.

1x GTX260 -- Sold it after 6 years when BF3 started to lag.
2x ATI 6950 -- this lasted 8 months before I got fed up with the CF issues. Once I went single card, games ran much better than before. Still, I wasn't happy. Sold it.
1x GTX450 -- similar performance to GTX260...but it was a dog compared to the 6950. It was a placeholder until I found a better card. It was in my main PC for about 2 months. I still have it as a back up card.
1x ATI 7950 -- bought late 2012. Doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Time will tell, I suppose.

FWIW, I think the GTX680/780 are the new 8800 -- cards far ahead of the curve. I have friends with GTX580 that are still maxing out games to this date. Given that the average lifespan of a CPU/GPU is approximately two years before it's eclipsed by better hardware, this is really good.

It's a matter of personal preference. I'm IT, so I demand absolute maximum performance and longevity out of my hardware. This computer I'm typing this message on -- I built back in 2008. Only thing I've done is to update the graphic cards to keep up with games... not bad for buying top end that still manages to keep up with current hardware.



OP: regarding cases... If you have Fry's or Microcenter near you, I recommend you stop there to check out their case selection. Sure, you can read all about cases online or even see size comparisons, but you don't really start to appreciate how large some of these cases can get until you actually see one in person. I was at Fry's the other day and I was surprised at just how big the corsair 800D case was... the bloody thing is taller than my computer table!

My current case is a Corsair 600T, and its pretty big for a mid-size case.
There's the NZXT Tempest, or Antec 900, or even 1200. Just shop around, and if possible, try to visit the stores I said to get a good look at what you want to get.

 

There's something else no one considered yet: The new consoles that are coming out. The new consoles won't limit developers anymore like the old ones, which means that it's possible that we will now see a faster developement of new and better graphics.

I see it like this: If the 770 fits in the budget after everything else is calculated in then get it, and if not then get the 760.

 

I'm running an MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition, 1GB at 1920x1080 on an Asus PA238Q and I'm pretty darn pleased with it. I try to stay between 250 and 300 dollars when buying monitors, so the Asus was right there in the middle.

I can run Tomb Raider with almost everything on the highest setting and it looks beautiful, though it slows sometimes, mostly because the rest of my rig is getting long in the tooth. This is the second MSI card I've had, and they seem to pump out a lot of performance for a good price.

I should really turn some of the eye candy off, but I just couldn't do it. Except the stupid hair: Love the idea, hate the implementation. Every time she and the environment aren't completely still, her hair looks like an angry muppet is trying to eat her head. Alice: Madness Returns managed to do a better job, hair-wise.

It's been so long since I could afford to build a whole new box from scratch, I'm afraid the most up-to-date information I could give you is this: Don't overfill the boiler, and make sure there's enough clearance for the pistons and flywheel to move freely. :facepalm

 

Inno, forgot I gave that 2TB to my brother for his last build.

Deplore, I've got a 60inch LCD I run my Xbox and PS3 through. Waaaaaaay too much screen to run a PC through unless I want to stream something on it, so I really don't have a need for a multi-input monitor. And sadly, I can't check those places out. I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. The closest thing to a city that might have either of those shops is two hours away. Maybe I can build a trap to harness the methane my cows produce and use it as an alternate energy source or set up a turbine to run my case fans.

Sacro, I took a look at some of those monitors in that excellent reference you posted. My first reaction to the Asus PB278Q was, "What kind of wizardry is THIS!?", when I saw that the support arm allows the screen to do a full 90 degree rotation. I'll keep looking into more screens, I'm looking at finishing this build over the next month-month and a half so the screen can wait. (I can debug and do build checks with that old DLC20A. *shudders*)

Here's what I'm thinking will be the final build. I can swing the 770 in my budget and be okay (And by that I mean have enough play money to make the meet-up potentially being planned for October/November). I'm excited about it (and that CPU comes with a copy of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, funny enough I just finished paying off my pre-order of that on Xbox. So assuming the supplies don't run out, and I get one, PM me if you want the key.) I'm going to start ordering parts on Monday, at least the case, processor and mobo, that'll give me something to do this weekend.

And Warlocke, I'm imagining you building some steampunk/Goldberg-ian logic machine now, between the fly-wheels and boilers and what-not. Thanks for that.

 

Okay, any particular preferences to cases? Maybe I can dig up something for you. My white 600T is pretty sweet, though it's a bit on the large side.

EDIT:

That thermaltake case you chose looks pretty damn awesome. I think you're okay on that side.

 

Seriously, check out mine.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19706

I mean, if they call my case compact, I don't even want to imagine how big the other ones are.

I recommend it wholeheartedly though.

 

I wouldn't get a 4TB drive with 5900rpm as my main drive. Here I would go for SSD, 7200rpm 3.5HD(1-2 platters) or 10-15k 2.5HD these days.

For storage I wouldn't use a 4TB 4 platter drive but a 3TB 3 platter drive for price/performance/watt/heat/reliability reasons.

Personally I would never buy a Seagate again after the Seagate ST31500341 disaster. Had mostly good experience with WD in my NAS systems. Best price/performance/watt/heat here is imho the WD RED 3TB. But then choosing the right HDs is always colored by personal experiences.

 

Innomine, I like that case. It's got a good minimalist vibe going on. How is it for cord management? I mean, does it look like a fucking sarlaac in there or is it pretty easy to streamline?

Samkar, thanks for the input. I'll look into the specific differences between the 3TB and 4TB setups. I've had issues with WD before myself. Had read errors all up IN that bitch about halfway though a year-long stint in Afghanistan. Granted, when my lungs started spewing black crap because of all the particulates in the air (human fecal matter, treated wood, anything the locals could burn to stay warm, they would) I shouldn't have been surprised that ANY drive would get so much junk in it that it'd start to fail.

EDIT: Build, Version: The (Probable) Last Swapped out for a different Corsair 2x4GB on the RAM because it ran a little bit hotter at 1.6v than the IvyBridge likes to pull for RAM (1.575v). At least, that's what the PC Part Picker tool was telling me. Probably wouldn't fry my CPU, but why risk it?

 

Looks fine, but I still disagree with such a stupid strong gpu. Yes it means he can go even longer without needing to upgrade. But a 200$ card right now is going to last him 4-5 years of playing games at high end settings. After 5 years, you're going to want a new one anyway from software and physical hardware changes (power consumption, die changes, etc) so just save 200$ and get a upper middle tier one now.

 

Incidentally, my video card was about $69 after a rebate. I'm still pretty sure that, when stuff slows down, it's my old PC that's the culprit (Core 2 Duo, 3.17 GHz).

Of course, if I won the lottery tomorrow, sure I'd buy a stupid powerful video card.

Two or Three of them (though I'd need a new PC to stick them in, since they wouldn't fit in this old rig).

I guess it comes down to what you can afford and whether or not you'll be happy spending less. Sitting in front of your computer always thinking you could be having a better experience... If you're the type to obsess, for those people it may be worth it to spend more and not have buyer's remorse.

Sick fucks like me are full of buyer's remorse no matter what, so I'd probably just be better off saving the money.