Time on your hands? Review my build?

[emoguitarist06]

So I was just wondering if anyone is bored with time on there hands and is willing to look over my first desktop build.

Obviously #1 priority is compatibility with Ubuntu 12.10 and to practically be future proof for future Ubuntu versions. I know there's probably no way to guarantee this. And to make sure these parts are compatible with one another. I have very limited knowledge of desktop building, I just watched the newegg 3 part tutorial hahaha

Motherboard: Intel BOXDZ77GA70K LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
Memory: G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10D-16GTX
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N65TOC-2GI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
SSD (for boot): Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT120A3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
HDD (for storage): Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Power Supply: Thermaltake TPG-650M Toughpower Grand GOLD 650W ATX 12V V2.3 / EPS 12V 2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD ...
Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black Internal 12x BD Combo SATA Model iHES212-08 LightScribe Support

Open for suggestions on modifying the build.
I will most likely get a ThermalTake Case, maybe a nice Level10 GT but I'm not sure if I'm ready for a Full-Tower, I may go with a mid-tower, I know cable management is more of an issue though on mid-towers, however the power supply I choose is modular so that helps.

[andrew.46]

Looks like a nice machine . Would you be interested in throwing in a 2TB HDD rather than a 1TB? Great idea with usb3 motherboard support, my most recent build has front and back usb3 support and I could not live without it! Wish I had bought a modular power supply too.....

[emoguitarist06]

Looks like a nice machine . Would you be interested in throwing in a 2TB HDD rather than a 1TB? Great idea with usb3 motherboard support, my most recent build has front and back usb3 support and I could not live without it! Wish I had bought a modular power supply too.....

Thanks! Yeah I like it too... I'm just nervous with it being my first time building a system I don't want to mess anything up and I want to make sure I get the full efficiency out of everything. Like using sata 6gb/s where needed and pci express 3.0 x16 where needed. I don't want to cap any data or power transferoon accident.

Yeah I may just do that. Or maybe setup a raid or a NAS raid. Idk yet.

[ahallubuntu]

Can you explain what your goal is with this build? Gaming machine? Media center? The needs for both types of machines differ. If you are not going to do gaming with it, the i7 might be overkill. I didn't look at your graphics card, but same thing: if you aren't going to game, don't get a monster graphics card. In fact, the integrated graphics on the Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs are quite good these days for all but gaming, and you might not even need a video card if the motherboard has it built in.

A more power efficient CPU and video card also reduce the need for such a big power supply.

I have an Intel 330 SSD and can recommend it.

As for Ubuntu compatibility of your build: I can't speak to that. I would do some google research about compatibility with the Intel Z77 chipset and the other components on the motherboard (ethernet card, video card chipset, etc.). Most likely you can get them working one way or another, but it would be nice to see what you are in for.

For me personally, compatibility with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is more important than compatibility with 12.10, because 12.10 will only be supported for 18 months while 12.04 is supported until 2017. I don't like the idea of upgrading my OS every year and a half. I already have a media center with 10.10 on it that's out of date - I used that because 10.04 didn't support my hardware well at the time.

[andrew.46]

I'm just nervous with it being my first time building a system I don't want to mess anything up [...]

My first build did not boot with an odd error message that I wrestled with for almost 8 hours . The solution: I walked from the system, had a good sleep, and then pulled the build completely apart and started from scratch! Building a computer is a huge amount of fun punctuated with many wtf moments...

[King Dude]

It's a nice rig (even though I don't care for Intel), but it ultimately depends on why you're building your computer.

Ask yourself these questions:

Why are you building your computer? Is it for various multimedia, as a workstation, or as a gaming rig?

Do you really need that amount of power?

The most rookie mistake I see is someone who wants to build a rig that has way too much power than what it actually needs.

Generally speaking, depending on the programs you run, a quad core running at about 2.4Ghz would fit nicely for a workstation computer. For playing movies, however, you would probably need a quad core running at about 3.0Ghz to take advantage of your Blue-ray drive, if you have one. A gaming computer these days might need at least a quad core, if not an eight core, running at about 3.4Ghz or faster.

Hope that helps save you some money while letting you have your needs at the same time.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1098752
15$ saved
now maybe you can get a better quality PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151095 (it has combos with some cases)
you will see 0 difference from switching to ddr3 1600

No after market HSF?

you will see no difference from using a i5 instead of a i7, nothing to warrant the $100 more in cost, same for 16gb ram you will see no diff from using 8

take a look at my desktop,i think the cable management turned out nice, especially for a $40 case (current price, i paid ~$42.50)

[drmrgd]

Looks like a nice build. I think you shouldn't have much by way of compatibility issues with what you propose. The only thing that jumped out at me was the comment you had on the case:

I will most likely get a ThermalTake Case, maybe a nice Level10 GT but I'm not sure if I'm ready for a Full-Tower, I may go with a mid-tower, I know cable management is more of an issue though on mid-towers, however the power supply I choose is modular so that helps.

Those GTX 650 cards are quite big and can start throwing some heat once you get them going (although the onboard fan usually does a nice job of keeping it cool). So, definitely don't go too small on the case, or you're going to have trouble. I'm sure you'll be fine with a mid-tower, though. I just put one in a Corsair mid-tower and it fits with room to spare (although this seems to be really big for a mid-tower....).

I'm just nervous with it being my first time building a system I don't want to mess anything up and I want to make sure I get the full efficiency out of everything.

To this, my advice is just to take your time - especially with seating the CPU. I just built a socket 2011, which is a bit worse I suppose, but 1155 pins is nothing to shake a stick at. Be very careful seating your CPU and follow the directions to the letter. Bent pins = sad day! After that, it's all a piece of cake.

[emoguitarist06]

Can you explain what your goal is with this build? Gaming machine? Media center?... In fact, the integrated graphics on the Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs are quite good these days for all but gaming, and you might not even need a video card if the motherboard has it built in.

I will do a little gaming, as I will be dual booting with Windows 8 however that is not my primary concern when I built this. I will be doing a lot 1080p Steaming (like netflix) and Uploading (like live HD webcam broadcast) and at the same time of broadcasting I would be doing HD encoding, decoding, compression, saving and all that VIDEO jargon.
So that's where the majority of power will go.
I also want to do some OS virtualization through virtual box, from Windows to different Linux distros.
I will also be doing some android debugging and coding.

For me personally, compatibility with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is more important than compatibility with 12.10, because 12.10 will only be supported for 18 months while 12.04 is supported until 2017. I don't like the idea of upgrading my OS every year and a half. I already have a media center with 10.10 on it that's out of date - I used that because 10.04 didn't support my hardware well at the time.

Very good point! For a desktop sticking to LTS is probably best.

For playing movies, however, you would probably need a quad core running at about 3.0Ghz to take advantage of your Blue-ray drive, if you have one. A gaming computer these days might need at least a quad core, if not an eight core, running at about 3.4Ghz or faster.

With my above statements would you agree that going with the current i7 i choose or a similar Ivy Bridge is a good idea?

[emoguitarist06]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1098752
15$ saved

Thanks! I updated my cart.

now maybe you can get a better quality PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151095 (it has combos with some cases)

How is this a better PSU?

you will see 0 difference from switching to ddr3 1600

Really? Okay Than I can change that and save money, I will have to take your word on this because I haven't owned a desktop in years!!! Definitely none of this caliber

Looks like a nice build. I think you shouldn't have much by way of compatibility issues with what you propose. The only thing that jumped out at me was the comment you had on the case

So you're saying that I may be able to get away with a mid-tower, just double check on the size of my GPU and the size of the case right? But overall are you recommending that I get a full-tower?