PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Jojimbo]

If not OCing then you don't need a k series and you could probably use a cheaper MB (don't know much about current gen intel MBs though).

The onboard graphics won't matter if you have a GPU though.

[Orph]

I don't see any point in not getting a K series, its only $20 bucks more

[Jojimbo]

I would recommend OCing (it's not hard anymore, just need k series and 3rd party cooler like Hyper 212 or Noctua NH-D14 depending on budget) but if you don't then isn't the k series worthless?

[Zerocool]

It's kind of nice to have the option if you decide you want to in the future. I mean I used to be that same way where I was like I'm never going to OC my system. But after a while you realize that you could easily get a big performance boost by simply going into your bios and just changing a multiplier or bus speed.

[Auspice]

Hard drive questions!

Since I've decided to wait or hold off on getting another HDD since prices are retardedly high(even my local stores have raised their prices due to the flooding), I'm only going to be using my OCZ Vertex 3 120gb SSD for my new rig. I'm planning on partitioning it to 30gb for Windows 7 and leaving the remainder for programs/games. I have a 1.5 TB drive from my old machine that is going to serve for media and whatever extra bullshit I toss on there so no worries about the nonessentials. Herein lie my questions:

Is it still advantageous to partition the boot drive to make backing up/fixing OS problems easier over leaving the OS and programs altogether on the same partition?

Is 30gb too much space for Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit? Microsoft says 20gb is required so could I get away with that and still be okay?

Does FFXI still need to be installed on the OS drive for maximum benefit(I remember reading this somewhere a while ago so I did it on my last machine) or will being on the programs partition of the SSD be just as good?

Anything else I should consider before I get the new machine set up next week? This is my first time using SSDs

[SephYuyX]

Base 7 install is around 17GB.

Ive never recommended partitioning a drive, it's fairly pointless, especially for home users.
But yes, using the SSD as your main OS/install drive, and the HDD for data is a good way to do it.

Chances are you will never use up 120GB in installation files anyway, unless you have a crap ton of space intensive games and programs.
After 3.5 years on this PC, im still only using 70 out of 140GB on my OS HDD.

[Auspice]

Fair enough, in the 4 years I had my last PC I never needed to reinstall Windows or do anything to the programs partition or the Windows partition.

[Jojimbo]

30 is the lowest I'll go for pure OS partition, I'm sitting at 21 GB used with OS + bare minimum (java/browsers and shit that feels the need to have at least some stuff on the C drive) and that's with program data and the entire user folders on my HDD, which are sitting at 3~ GB and 1.2~ GB (ignoring 3+GB of game cache/replays in program data and retarded 13GB Adobe folder in AppData) respectively.

[Arkanna]

I always partition, for the simple fact that if your OS fucks up and you need to reinstall, you're gonna want to have all the stuff you don't want to lose somewhere besides your C: drive. Once you have a hard drive installed it won't be such a big deal, but partitioning never hurts. You can use C: as your Windows install, D: (the other part of the SSD) for programs, and later, E: (hard drive) for other shit. Also, once you have your HD installed, you should move your swap file to that drive.

30gb is really skimpy for a Windows 7 partition. I'd go 50..

[Auspice]

My SSD is only 120gb though, giving Windows a 50gb partition and 8gb for the swap file(is it still recommended to make your swap file equal to your ram size?) isn't going to leave me with much more than 50gb for game installs. Although, I guess I can always uninstall shit that I'm not playing xD

[Zerocool]

Not much point to partition if you already have a data drive really. I mean if you ever have to reinstall the OS, most likely you'll have to reinstall all of the programs again as well. So just keep the install files backed up on your data drive and put the OS and all of your most used apps and games on the SSD. Set the swap file to the data drive as well.

[Caiyuo]

For whatever damn reason Best Buy has a WD green storage drive on sale for about $80 if dealing with space worries becomes too much of a pain: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...ef=10&slloc=01

[Auspice]

I didn't realize I could or should set the page file to my data drive. I always presumed it was supposed to be on your OS drive. That being said, I should ONLY use a page file on the data drive and disable it for the SSD?

Sorry for derailing the PC build thread with tech questions. :/

For whatever damn reason Best Buy has a WD green storage drive on sale for about $80 if dealing with space worries becomes too much of a pain: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...ef=10&slloc=01

That's pretty tempting but isn't the green series inferior to their standard products?

[Arkanna]

I didn't realize I could or should set the page file to my data drive. I always presumed it was supposed to be on your OS drive. That being said, I should ONLY use a page file on the data drive and disable it for the SSD?

That's correct. That's best practice with SSD's because, theoretically, they're more fragile than HD's and can only take a certain amount of reads/writes before failing. Not to scare you away from SSD's or anything.... because in reality, that number of reads/writes far exceeds what one normal guy would do in the SSD's lifetime. I do it more because SSD space is precious unless you're sinking a ton of money into it. My boot drive is now 120GB (two Corsair Force GT 60GB's in RAID 0), but I made 60GB work until I picked up a second one for some RAID goodness.

[Caiyuo]

That's pretty tempting but isn't the green series inferior to their standard products?

yeah the "green" isn't a performance line or anything, nor is that new enough for 6GB/s, but it is 3GB/s and 7200rpm so it could work as a storage drive; others might have input as to whether or not it would be worthwhile to jump on this or just wait, my only hesitation being I have no idea how long the price jump will last.

[Isiolia]

That's pretty tempting but isn't the green series inferior to their standard products?

Inferior is a strong word - WD Greens are more differently purposed. They're designed around low power use, and make concessions that suit them more as data drives rather than system drives (they spin down a lot, for example). Not the thing you really want as a boot drive, performance-wise, but as something to hold an MP3/anime/porn/etc collection they're perfectly fine.

IMO, that price is basically what they cost prior to any HDD supply price spiking/etc, so if you'll be needing a storage drive I'd jump on that. "Worst" case, supply issues resolve quickly and you bought a media drive for the "right" price.

[SephYuyX]

Thoughts? I'll be looking to get two monitors as well, but will worry about that later.
Kind of a not top of the line, but still decent PC, but not too expensive. I could easily throw another $500 at it and make it slightly better.
Also, recommendations about how to lower the price, but still maintaining around this power.

GPU definitley the week link, but sort of diminishing returns after that. Mobo isnt too bad, step down from a couple of better ones. Not too worried about i7. Ram is also pretty low power, but a damn good price. 430W should be enough. SSD im not totally sure on, it looks like a good one.

[Arkanna]

The PSU is a bit smallish, I'd bump that up to at least 600W, more if possible.

Oh, and check this out: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1648641

Radeon 6870 on there for $10 more than your 6850.

*edit*

Honestly, if you're insistant on keeping the machine around that price point, I'd dump the SSD entirely and spend a bit more on the graphics card and power supply, and then you could also pick up an aftermarket heatsink and overclock that nice 2500k CPU. Just some thoughts.

[Caiyuo]

if you want some different options to save some money for SSD and HDD:

(HDD)(In-store only) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+...ef=10&slloc=01

(SSD) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...CjCqRmCjCdByAF

Current Price: $124.99 - $20 MIR - $10 Coupon = $94.99
Coupon: EOB47560
Expires on 11/8

[Zerocool]

You can also save some money by looking at some combo deals like for ex. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.761011 And as said before, if you're wanting to stay around that same price, definitely drop that SSD for now and upgrade the GPU.