Please Rate this Build

Edeus

For the computer savvy, can you please rate my build for gaming.  I haven't bought all the pieces yet, but this is what I'm thinking of:

MOBO: Asus LGA 1155 - Z68 - PCIe 3.0 ...........

CPU: Intel i5 3570k

RAM: 2 x 4GB Corsair DDR3

Graphics: Geforce GTX670 2048MB GDDR5 256bit

Power: Corsair TX750 V2 750W ATX 12 V......

Sound: not sure on sound card yet.

SSD: Samsung 128gb SATA 6gb/s

+ Random 500gb External HD I happen to have.

Mouse/keyboard/screen/DVD drive/tower I will worry about later.

I would use the computer for almost exclusively games.  The external would have all the songs/pictures/documents etc.  The SSD would have the games and Windows. 

What do you think?  Would TERA and GW2 and D3 be able to run on max settings with no issues?  Would it be a good gaming PC for the next 3-4 years?

EDIT: the parts listed by name, I have already priced for myself, and found to be suitable for my price range.

Quizzical

A lot depends on prices.  A part that is a good deal one day might not be a good deal a week later, as prices can change.

If you really mean max everything settings, then it's hard to predict how well things will perform, as that depends greatly on how high a game will let you turn settings.

Edeus

Well everything I listed, I have already priced and found suitable for me personally. 

Does it sound ok tho?  ie the powersupply is good enough for the gpx and cpu?  the ram is enough?  etc. etc.

Kabaal

Don't buy a z68 board for an Ivy Bridge CPU unless it's a revision you know has been updated for them already or you have an old socket 1155 CPU kicking around that will let you update the Bios, otherwise you might not be able to boot. Be better off with z77 if you're not sure.

simonwest80

As Kabaal said pick up a new motherboard and you will be well away, i would also suggest looking at a bigger ssd, the prices seemed to have halved over the last 6 months and with the amount you are already plowing into the system, a small extra amount for double the ssd space would i feel be a no brainer.  I was looking at a 128gb SSD myself and im pretty certain in the next month or 2 i will get a 256gb one as the price seems right.

Quizzical

As others have said, I'd go with a Z77 motherboard.  Z68 should work with a BIOS update, but not necessarily with all features enabled.

But again, a lot of the tweaks depend on prices.  If Corsair sells the cheapest memory with the specs you want, then have at it.  If you can get something identical from G.Skill for $20 cheaper than Corsair, then there's little sense in buying the Corsair memory.

TheDarkrayne

I'd get an internal storage drive in there as well.. something like a western digital caviar black. Resorting to installing games on an external when your SSD is full is going to hammer game performance. SSD's are much better for the operating system than they are for games though.. it's very unlikely that any game will need to read at speeds higher than 100MB per second. Games can only go as fast as they allow (as in they only need to load as quickly as you can get to parts that need to load), operating systems will load as fast as they can... if you get me. So SSD's shouldn't be a primary factor for a gaming system (maybe slightly reduce the boot up time and length of loading screens). Point being, installing on a WD caviar black won't really hurt game performance in terms of FPS.

Also make sure the memory is at least 1600Mhz and that it's set properly to run at it's stock speed in the bios (something a lot of people overlook and do things like run 2000Mhz memory at 1333Mhz without even knowing it). Most people think that more capacity means a faster computer, which only applies when the current capacity isn't enough.. at todays rates the difference between 6GB or 12 GB is hardly noticable, especially for gaming (video rendering is a different issue). It's the actual speed of the memory that matters not the capacity, but have at least 6GB (triple channel) or 8GB (dual channel).

But yeh, that system should be able to handle the games you listed without any problems. But like others have suggested, i'd get the other motherboard.

EDIT: Fixed my silly freq. mistake and clarified some things.

Quizzical

Originally posted by Vannor

Also make sure the memory is at least 1666Mhz and that it's set properly to run at that speed in the bios (something a lot of people overlook and do things like run 2000Mhz memory at 1333Mhz without even knowing it). Most people think that more capacity means a faster computer, which only applies when the current capacity isn't enough.. at todays rates having 6GB or 12 GB will make hardly any difference whatsoever, especially for gaming (video rendering is a different issue). It's the actual speed of the memory that matters not the capacity, but have at least 6GB.

Umm... yikes.  I've never seen a memory module with a stock speed of 1666 MHz.  With two memory channels, your amount of system memory should be a power of two:  4 GB, 8 GB, or 16 GB, but not 6 GB or 12 GB.  Mismatching the memory channels will cripple your memory bandwidth just like running memory at a lower clock speed--though for modern processors, that isn't that big of a deal.  But it's still a very foolish thing to do if you're paying extra for high clocked memory.

Whether the slow speeds of an external hard drive will be a problem depends on what you put on it.  You don't want to run games off of it, but if all that's there is some pictures, music, videos, and backups, the speed doesn't matter.

TheDarkrayne

Originally posted by Quizzical

Originally posted by Vannor

Also make sure the memory is at least 1666Mhz and that it's set properly to run at that speed in the bios (something a lot of people overlook and do things like run 2000Mhz memory at 1333Mhz without even knowing it). Most people think that more capacity means a faster computer, which only applies when the current capacity isn't enough.. at todays rates having 6GB or 12 GB will make hardly any difference whatsoever, especially for gaming (video rendering is a different issue). It's the actual speed of the memory that matters not the capacity, but have at least 6GB.

Umm... yikes.  I've never seen a memory module with a stock speed of 1666 MHz.  With two memory channels, your amount of system memory should be a power of two:  4 GB, 8 GB, or 16 GB, but not 6 GB or 12 GB.  Mismatching the memory channels will cripple your memory bandwidth just like running memory at a lower clock speed--though for modern processors, that isn't that big of a deal.  But it's still a very foolish thing to do if you're paying extra for high clocked memory.

Whether the slow speeds of an external hard drive will be a problem depends on what you put on it.  You don't want to run games off of it, but if all that's there is some pictures, music, videos, and backups, the speed doesn't matter.

I only mentioned 6 and 12 because I'm used to triple channel with my current system, I was just speaking generally; not specific to the OPs build. I obviously meant 1600Mhz there lol my mistake.

The harddrive stuff I mentioned because 128GB isn't really alot. Maybe 2-4 recent games will fit on it... especially MMOs. But yeh, the external will be fine for music and stuff. I do that myself actually with my external. So either a bigger SSD or an extra internal HDD would be a good idea if you plan on having lots of games installed at the same time.

Edeus

Thanks for the advice!  Unfortunetly the Z68 is one of the items I already bought.  Will just have to settle for a Sandy Bridge cpu then...  (Allows for even more money to be spent on a graphics card is all).

StrangeEyes

Seems nice rig but i advice z77 instead of z68.

For bit more i think you can get 180gb SSD but thats prolly different in what country you live.

PSU im not sure 750 seems bit low not sure, ill leave that to experts.

Quizzical

Originally posted by Edeus

Thanks for the advice!  Unfortunetly the Z68 is one of the items I already bought.  Will just have to settle for a Sandy Bridge cpu then...  (Allows for even more money to be spent on a graphics card is all).

There's probably a BIOS update available for it to allow it to take Ivy Bridge processors.  Check with the motherboard manufacturer to verify this.  It might disable some features of Ivy Bridge--but they'll be features that Sandy Bridge didn't have at all.