Building a PC

[Firecrest]

Do I need a sound card? The motherboard I'm looking at has on board audio. What's the benefit of getting a sound card on top of that? The PC I'm using now was built for me and the Headset/Mic inputs on the front don't fucking work and it's really fucking lame because I'm constantly having to go to the back of the machine to swap my speakers with my headset. Is that because I don't have a soundcard, or is it just cause the builder was an asshat? It seems like it should be possible to turn off the speakers and have the audio route through the headset without having to go into the back and unplug and re-plug.

Here's the current specs. Any mistakes?

Code:

CAS: Cooler Master Elite 431 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 3.40 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
MEMORY: 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/1866MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair XMS)
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX] ASUS P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2x PCIe x16 (1 Gen3, 1 Gen2), 2x PCIe x1 & 3 PCI (Extreme OC Certified)
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft® Windows 8 Pro (64-bit Edition)
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Certified Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card (EVGA Superclocked)

Lastly, I don't want to fuck with building it myself. So I'm going through a builder. The price they gave me was $1027. Is that reasonable?

[Firecrest]

Also, why is the 1GB version of my video card $13 more than the 2GB version? Aren't more gigs always better?

[xnskzzxnvs]

you don't need a soundcard. your builder was a moron (and/or you are a moron). your motherboard should have a bunch of connectors at the front for connecting the front usbs and audio jacks. automatically routing your sound when you plug in from the front is something that your drivers/windows does. as for the videocard, there are more specs than just amount of memory shrug.

[CAN]

i think 2gb graphics is overkill unless you game at 2500x1600 w/e

[Sanderz]

It would be nice of you to list all the brands. The prices are from newegg unless specified.

CAS: $55 Its a cheap case so expect a flimsy aluminum frame and poorly fitting bays.
CD: $30 Who needs a burner nowadays? Other than archiving (which an external hdd would be better), just use flash memory.
CPU: $300
Cooling Fan: $58 (amazon) lol shitty water cooling. Get a good heatsink instead.
HDD: $60 (seagate green) - $110 (WD black) You didn't specify brand but I'm hoping you don't cheap out on this only to have your hdd fail in under 2 years.
MEMORY: $70? I don't believe that corsair has a xms variety of that memory at that size/frequency. I can't find it anywhere, so it may be OC. Anyways, 2 x 8 GB would be better so you can upgrade later.
MOTHERBOARD: $140 ASUS is good
OS: $140 Stick with windows 7 for now.
PSU: $50-120 Hopefully its from a reputable brand. A Corsair psu is $65 while a Cooler Master one is $100.
VIDEO: $160-180 Brands don't matter too much here.

That adds up to about $1100. Your builder probably gets windows keys cheap and probably buys some of those parts in bulk. It doesn't sound like hes gouging you on labor costs.

[abecx]

The main reason to get a separate sound card is because of the the interference caused from having so many electrical components so close together. Also, it will offload the sound processing from your CPU. Honestly the vast majority of people do not need one and typically wouldn't notice a difference anyway.

Some motherboards now just separate the onboard sound on the mother board ( ie its attached to nothing else power wise and goes straight to the power supply ).

I would opt for the video card with more memory as well.

[Firecrest]

Awesome. Thanks much for the help. Making some changes. Hopefully I'll not have to do this again for another 5 years. lol

[ragelol]

Yeah you only need a sound card if you're an audiophile.

Other than that, it's not ideal for the price point but its far from bad and he is charging you jack shit for labor. The real question is what are you trying to do with the computer? An I7 is overkill unless you are doing complicated computations or rendering video

[Hitshade]

Its so easy to build this shit yourself man.

My 2 cents though;

Unless you're planning on overclocking I wouldn't even bother with a non-stock cooler.

If you really need an optical drive you might as well go for something that supports BR. CD's have already gone the way of the dodo and dvds wont be far behind.

Motherboard without USB 3.0 support? Might want to upgrade. Scratch that, that mobo does have usb 3.0 support.

Windows 8 is relatively gay, having just installed it myself. See what they'll charge you for Win 7, MS has an offer where you can buy the digital download of Win8 for a whopping $15 if you recently bought a Win 7 pc. You might be able to save a few bucks. Windows 8 has some interesting additions but its metro ui is complete gayness. I installed a program specifically to get the classic start menu back.

Id also say scratch the 12in1 flash reader shit. Unless you actually have digital devices that dont support USB this is a complete waste of money.

[Firecrest]

Yeah you only need a sound card if you're an audiophile.

Other than that, it's not ideal for the price point but its far from bad and he is charging you jack shit for labor. The real question is what are you trying to do with the computer? An I7 is overkill unless you are doing complicated computations or rendering video

Gaming mostly. I want dual monitor which my current set up can't handle. And high def videos. Would a i5-3570 suffice?

I've also decided that you guys are right about Windows and will stick with 7 for now instead of 8. Also, good Call Hitshade on the reader. They snuck that in there and I didn't even notice.

I've gotten a lot of conflicting advice on the cooling from some of my RL friends. I'm not planning on overclocking. Does that mean I shouldn't worry about any advanced cooling?

Also, I know 650 is like the latest and greatest thing, but is is worth the $60 upgrade difference over a 640?