PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Totien]

Ways to save money.

-Drop to one stick of ram(unless you see doing video editing)
-you don't have a single copy of Window you can move to the new pc?
-Do you need a dvd drive?
-why an 850 W psu?

Someone else can comment on the cpu and gpu I like the 7950 and amd in general for last years cards. Lastly do you have a storage drive I only see the ssd.

-The PSU and Windows disc I have, I won't need to purchase those but I wanted to put it in the build so everyone wouldn't be like 'wtf no psu & OS n00b'
-The drive I listed will play DVDs and Blu-Ray
-I'll be mainly using this for gaming and as a media server, so I'd like to keep the 16GB. 6~ months down the road I'll probabl strip the cooling system and add water cooling.
-I have 2TB I'll use for storage, the SSD will house the OS and programs.

[Totien]

Double post

[Jojimbo]

There's some cheaper 16GB 1600MHz RAM that's in stock http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1KpZV

[Totien]

There's some cheaper 16GB 1600MHz RAM that's in stock http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1KpZV

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ Not even on the charts lol. I would never compromise with cheap RAM, but I wouldn't spend more than the average $150 for 16GB either.

[Kalmado]

http://www.memorybenchmark.net/ Not even on the charts lol. I would never compromise with cheap RAM, but I wouldn't spend more than the average $150 for 16GB either.

I don't follow you as you say you won't sacrifice quality, but you chose 1333MHz ram that's expensive? There is a plethora of 4x4 sticks of quality 1600 or 1866 ram and some 2x8 for less money. http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory...17,23,28,30,32

Regarding the rest of the build, it depends on how patient you are willing to be on buying certain parts. If you have a Microcenter nearby you can also do a 4670k+mobo for about $25 more (depending on state tax) than your AMD build. Or get the 4570 for $160+tax. Or the 3570k+Asus combo for $280+tax. I have nothing against AMD nor am I for Intel, but for my build I'd rather spend a little more on the Intel and feel confident I'm buying strong parts as it's been debated to death and proven either the 3570k, 4570, or 4670k is excellent for gaming.

[Mojo]

I think by quality he means reliability not performance.

[Totien]

I don't follow you as you say you won't sacrifice quality, but you chose 1333MHz ram that's expensive? There is a plethora of 4x4 sticks of quality 1600 or 1866 ram and some 2x8 for less money. http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory...17,23,28,30,32

Regarding the rest of the build, it depends on how patient you are willing to be on buying certain parts. If you have a Microcenter nearby you can also do a 4670k+mobo for about $25 more (depending on state tax) than your AMD build. Or get the 4570 for $160+tax. Or the 3570k+Asus combo for $280+tax. I have nothing against AMD nor am I for Intel, but for my build I'd rather spend a little more on the Intel and feel confident I'm buying strong parts as it's been debated to death and proven either the 3570k, 4570, or 4670k is excellent for gaming.

I don't recall why I chose that memory, but I took another look at benchmark results for AMD chipsets and changed the RAM to Ripjaw Z DDR3-2400 Memory. Not familiar with Microcenter, but looks like they have an online shop. I had strongly considered an Intel build, but I'm having trouble settling on a processor. The enthusiast in me really wants an i7, but the realist in me knows I don't need it, but that it still must be a haswell. It's going to be a gaming rig/media server.

[Kalmado]

I don't recall why I chose that memory, but I took another look at benchmark results for AMD chipsets and changed the RAM to Ripjaw Z DDR3-2400 Memory. Not familiar with Microcenter, but looks like they have an online shop. I had strongly considered an Intel build, but I'm having trouble settling on a processor. The enthusiast in me really wants an i7, but the realist in me knows I don't need it, but that it still must be a haswell. It's going to be a gaming rig/media server.

I hear ya on the struggles of choosing. About Microcenter and the cpu prices, that's for in store pick up only. I'm making the trip to the only Michigan location Sunday. I've settled on the 3570k. Below is my build. I've been buying things steadily waiting for sales, using any gift card, promo code, credit card point, etc I can to get a lower price. Some stuff is leftovers from what I had. The 7950 is not final. I'm waiting for the price drops after R-series is released. Nvidia's price drop is supposed to come in November.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $19.99)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste (Purchased For $1.70)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($106.79)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $49.99)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $54.98)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT M59 - 001BK ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $15.40)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $2.99)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $2.99)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $2.99)
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (Purchased For $29.99)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $16.98)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: Dell IN2030M 60Hz 20.0" Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Mouse: Cobra 9897005984104 Wired Optical Mouse (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: Kingwin Performance LCD Fan Controller (Purchased For $2.64)
Total: $687.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-04 18:58 EDT-0400)

[Melena]

I'm planning on getting a new computer in January. Most likely i'm going to have to go through a prebuilt one again. My last box came from ibuypower.com and was happy with it outside of the case fans shitting out. Normally I build my own but my current apartment, I don't have a static free zone to do work (no table, all carpet, etc etc). Looking to spend in the 2500ish range. My question is, is there a new line of CPU/GPU/SSD's coming out that may cause a price drop on the horizon? Also is it worth it to raid 2 SSD's for the OS drive? The plan is to go SSD for OS and whatever current games i'm playing, all other crap like winamp, trillian, and occasional games will go on a 2TB secondary drive. Would it be better for the 2x 256mb SSD's in Raid format or just go 1 512mb SSD?

[Totien]

I haven't seen the numbers on SSDs, so what I'm about to say is based on my experience with Raiding HDDs and SSDs in general.

Get the 512. My assumption is that the performance increase from RAIDing the drives won't be terribly noticeable.

If I had the kind of budget you do, I would definitely have a water cooling system planned out. I'll only be able to do that after I finish the build I have in mind and pay it off a bit..

[Kalmado]

Finished my build yesterday evening. Still getting stuff loaded and downloading my Steam library. So far I'm very pleased with the speed of everything this machine does. I haven't tried to game yet, but with only using the Intel HD 4000 I don't expect much. Hope the sales start soon! I still can't decide if I want to spend a few extra dollars and get a 760 or get a 7950. If the latter drops below $150 and comes with the 3 games I don't think I can hold off buying that.

Only complaint I have is my fans seem loud. I'm running 3x120mm Cooler Master LED, Cooler Master 212 Plus, and two stock NZXT fans. I'm using the Kingwin fan controller and have the 212 and 2x120mm hooked up to it. Even if I change the speeds from low to medium to high I don't hear a difference. System stays around 24c so I'm happy.

[Mojo]

Raid SSD may or may not make a difference, depending on the SSD you get. Some SSDs are capable of maxing out SATA III bandwidth with just one of them. You won't see any performance benefits by using more. If you want the fastest type of storage, look into PCIe SSDs. You can actually RAID those too. The M.2 form factor is being integrated into some motherboards too. I think the upper echelon Asus motherboards can support PCIe M.2 SSDs. They should be able to get better throughput because they're not bottlenecked by Sata III (direct to PCIe, I think? Not 100% sure.) There are other performance characteristics of SSDs other than maximum throughput that are important to consider. It's no easy question. If you're spending $2500 you ought to buy a $25 ESD mat and build your own PC. Save yourself a lot of money that way.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-ssd,3594.html

You can also look into full on PCIe slotted cards (ROG RAIDR, etc.)

[Totien]

Only complaint I have is my fans seem loud. I'm running 3x120mm Cooler Master LED, Cooler Master 212 Plus, and two stock NZXT fans. I'm using the Kingwin fan controller and have the 212 and 2x120mm hooked up to it. Even if I change the speeds from low to medium to high I don't hear a difference. System stays around 24c so I'm happy.

These fans have the best noise/airflow ratio of anything I've used in a 120mm slot. The 200mm Cooler Master Megaflow is best for a bigger fan.

[Melena]

Raid SSD may or may not make a difference, depending on the SSD you get. Some SSDs are capable of maxing out SATA III bandwidth with just one of them. You won't see any performance benefits by using more. If you want the fastest type of storage, look into PCIe SSDs. You can actually RAID those too. The M.2 form factor is being integrated into some motherboards too. I think the upper echelon Asus motherboards can support PCIe M.2 SSDs. They should be able to get better throughput because they're not bottlenecked by Sata III (direct to PCIe, I think? Not 100% sure.) There are other performance characteristics of SSDs other than maximum throughput that are important to consider. It's no easy question. If you're spending $2500 you ought to buy a $25 ESD mat and build your own PC. Save yourself a lot of money that way.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-ssd,3594.html

You can also look into full on PCIe slotted cards (ROG RAIDR, etc.)

That's a possibility as well. I may need to look a bit more into parts. Right now comparing IBUYPower with Newegg as much as possible, part wise newegg before tax is about 600 bucks cheaper but doesn't include an OS. So i'm looking at about a 300 dollar difference in price roughly. I may play around a bit more with newegg pricing once this damn event at work is done and see what I can assemble. If the price is close though laziness may win out.

[Totien]

Was able to find the case I want refurb'd and the CPU cooler on clearance, so I switched out the 7950 for a GTX 760. Final decisions based on BG input, colleague input, and benchmark reviews:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($90.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($255.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VN700M1W2N ATX Full Tower Case ($79.99 @ Thermaltake)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($7.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($7.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($7.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master Megaflow 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($7.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Other: NZXT Sentry-2 5.25" Touch Screen Fan Controller ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Thermaltake V1 AX CPU cooler ($14.99 @ Thermaltake)
Total: $966.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-10 09:19 EDT-0400)

I still have a few weeks before the credit card I'm going to finance all this on comes in, so input is still welcome.

[Jojimbo]

Expensive RAM, this Corsair set is cheaper and I doubt you'll see the difference (+ it matches the MB colour), and I'm not sure that cooler is going to be any good for an FX CPU if you plan on OCing. Could also save another $40 by getting an 8320, unless you are getting a much better cooler and/or want to hope for a higher binned CPU as 8320s can still hit 4.8GHz if lucky.

I would go with EVGA ACX GTX 760 as well, better cooler. Keep in mind nVidia will be dropping their prices soon-ish.

[Totien]

Hmmm. Yea, I'll probably go with that GPU, thanks for the link. Eventually cooling won't be an issue because I plan to add water cooling once the build is paid off, but it would be nice to have the superclocked version. I'm aware of the impending price drop, but I've been planning this build since like February and I'm super anxious to get started. If I have the money once the price drops, I'll probably get another and SLI them.

Not a fan of the RAM you linked compared to the ones I've selected tho. That Corsair doesn't run as fast, and it's only a dollar cheaper. I appreciate the input tho.

[Kalmado]

I have that ram linked by Jojimbo and so far I love it. I haven't OC'd it yet. I got it for $50 and I agree Totien I wouldn't pay the full price for it. Seems lately ram prices have went up. I hope for you it goes down before your purchase. Last month you could get 1866 gskill ares/sniper for $55 consistently. Just my opinion, but if I'm dropping $200 on the cpu I'm getting intel.

[Melena]

So water cooling for CPU, how much of a pain in the ass is it to get that all set up? I've never done it before as I've never really trusted it but thinking of doing it for my next computer.

[Jojimbo]

Depends on the complexity, assuming you mean a custom loop? It's not too bad though, although some cases may be a pita. What would be looking to cool and in what case?