planning ahead

Nox361

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Oct 16, 2013
15
I am planning/daydreaming a bit about my first build. I am getting myself into the position to accomplish this (financially) and would like to make sure that my $$'s are well spent. So far, with info gleaned from several threads around here, I have put together a shopping list.

What I would like to know is if anyone sees any major (or minor for that fact) conflicts or poor pairings. I will be using this mostly for average level media stuff (movies, music etc) and for a gaming experience that is a bit better than the usual off-the-shelf PC.

*changed or added:

*Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz Proccesor
*Motherboard - either ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX or ASUS P8H77-V LE ATX
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 100358L Video Card
CM Storm Enforcer - Gaming Mid Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0
Rosewill CAPSTONE-550 550W, Power Supply
Western Digital WD Black 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
*ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD Burner

Thoughts?
 

Ink

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Jan 8, 2011
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First and foremost, what's your maximum budget?
 

Nox361

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Oct 16, 2013
15
Earth said:
First and foremost, what's your maximum budget?

which makes me realize that i hadn't even added this stuff up yet!

that being said, perhaps $800 - $1100.

(time to go get the calculator) :)
 

Jack

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Nox361 said:
Earth said:
First and foremost, what's your maximum budget?

which makes me realize that i hadn't even added this stuff up yet!

that being said, perhaps $800 - $1100.

(time to go get the calculator) :)
You have a pretty good setup (not really meant for gamming), however with your budget I think you can go for a better setup. Here is what I've bought 5 days ago for $820....

Processor
Manufacturer AMD ®
Name FX-6300 X6 Six Core
Frequent 3.5GHz
Cache 12MB

Video Card
Type Dedicated
Manufacturer nVidia
Name GeForce Boost GTX650ti
Memory 2048MB
Other HDMI, DVI, DX11.0
Bandwidth 192 bits

Motherboard
Manufacturer Asrock
Model 970 PRO3 R2.0
Features AM3 + USB 3.0, SATA3,

Memory
Model Kingston
Type DDR3
Capacity 8192Mb
Frequent 1600MHz

HDD
Type 3.5
Interface SATA3
Capacity 1000GB
Speed 7200RPM

Case
Type Raidmax Orion Black, Middle Tower, without source

Source
Model Cougar ST500
Power W 500

Link: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oktal.ro%2Fcalculator%2Foktal-gaming%2Bstriker%2Bx6%2Bfx-6300%2Bx6%2B8gb%2B1000gb%2B7200rpm%2Bnvidia%2Bgtx650ti%2Bboost%2Boc%2Bpci-e30%2B2048mb%2Bddr5%2B192bit-o69288.html
 

BoraMurdar

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Aug 30, 2012
6,598
for 1000 bucks you can get for example
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i5-3570K-Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B007SZ0E1K
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics-11199-03-20G/dp/B007JCNOY6

1 TB of HDD and 256GB of SSD

8 GB RAM

and some good motherboard,case and power source for the rest of the money
 

ZeroDay

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Yeah I'd definitely go for an SSD. Crucial are pretty cheap for SSD's
 

cruelsister

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Important question- do you have any intention to overclock the CPU?
 
I

illumination

ZeroDay said:
Yeah I'd definitely go for an SSD. Crucial are pretty cheap for SSD's

I personally would be iffy with this.. Not that SSD's do not have it going on "Performance" wise, as they do, but as for longevity/length of life, not so much... The HHD Jack chose "7200 RPM" would be more along the lines of what i would chose.. Speed and longevity..
 

ZeroDay

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Personally I would choose a smaller SSD for the OS and programs only and a larger Hard Drive for storage. SSD's are much faster. Sata connected SSD's are already being replaced by PCI connected SSD's. I think if you're building a new computer now, you need to use an SSD.
 

cruelsister

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Just a few things-
1). For a non-overclocking setup there is no reason to go with the Z77 chipset. The H77 is cheaper and otherwise identical minus overclocking.

2). A very nice CPU to be considered is the Xeon E3-1240V2. Contrary to belief, it is supported by almost all non-server motherboards and does not need (the useless for home use) ECC RAM. Cheaper than the i7-3770, it gives a great return on investment:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1240+V2+@+3.40GHz

3). The stock heatsink/fan combo from Intel is nothing less than garbage. Thermally it is very bad and the fan is cheap and noisy. If you want a cooler and quieter system you must budget more for replacements.

4). Totally agree with ZeroDay- a boot SSD with a data conventional HD is the way to go. Performance is breathtaking.

5). From personal experience, stay away from ASRock. I'll spare you my 3 month horror story, but will say that I wished I had googled "Bent CPU pins" prior to purchasing.
 

Nox361

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Oct 16, 2013
15
cruelsister said:
Important question- do you have any intention to overclock the CPU?

I don't think so. From what I can tell, that would be more than I really need considering my planned usage. someday, maybe but not now.
 

cruelsister

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Excellent on the non-overclocking setup.

I REALLY suggest that you look either the Xeon E3-1240V2 or the E3-1230V2. Note these models do not have integrated graphics- the Xeon that do would be the E3-1235V2 and the E3-1245V2. As I see that you are in the States, the best prices on Xeons can be found at SuperBiiz (I've used them in the past and they are reputable).

For the 1240v2,

E3-1240V2

or

1230V2

Also you can just about always find a $10 off coupon with a fast google. One that expires on 11/12 uses code: VETERANSDAY

Secondly to repeat-as you are not overclocking don't bother with a "Z" board. The OC functionality is really the only advantage over the "H" series boards. You should be able to get a nice one for under $100 and can use the saving to get the better CPU (Personally I have this one: MSI ZH77A-G43 Got it after having to trash the Asrock Extreme 6 board).

Finally, let me know if you are like me and want the coolest, quietest system possible. Otherwise I won't bore you with Heatsink and Fan combos (not to mention the Hard drive on a coolpack mod).
 

Nox361

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Thread author
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Oct 16, 2013
15
cruelsister said:
Finally, let me know if you are like me and want the coolest, quietest system possible. Otherwise I won't bore you with Heatsink and Fan combos (not to mention the Hard drive on a coolpack mod).

Cool and quiet is always good...
I really think i need to stick with the i5-3350P (the Xeon is very nice...just too pricey) Is the included heatsink and fan not sufficient?
 

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