2nd opinions on build requested

[Dirty Dan]

This is for a buddy of mine, and it's not complete, but just wondering if anyone notices any incompatibilities or has any good/bad experiences with any of this. I've convinced him to abandon his xbox for the world of PC gaming, hopefully he'll end up liking TF2, and thus, at the ville.

Thanks all.


motherboard =
GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

cpu =
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750

hard drive =
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ram =
G.SKILL PIS Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2200 (PC3 17600) Desktop Memory Model F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS

graphics card =
EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

power supply =
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-650HX 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power ...

case =
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

cpu cooler =
COOLER MASTER Intel Core i5 compatible GeminII S RR-CCH-PBU1-GP 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

[Clay Pigeon]

I don't see anything too wrong with that.

Maybe a 5850 if he has the extra dough?

Also, I'm not too sure about that HSF. What is wrong with a hyper 212+?

edit: wow the 212+ is 60 bucks now on newgouge. Wasn't expecting that.

[Dirty Dan]

edit: wow the 212+ is 60 bucks now on newgouge. Wasn't expecting that.

Yeah I was shocked, I didn't check other sites to see if they upped it elsewhere too. I think I paid $30 for mine, literally half as much.

I chose that particular cooler because the case he wants has a massive side fan so I figured it would be more beneficial for airflow to have it oriented towards the side rather than end to end.

[Boss Llama]

Looks pretty good to me. If anything, the motherboard seems to be slightly out-classed by the rest of the build, but it would probably run alright. Would just be the first thing to require replacement if you wanted to move up in the world, so to speak.

[MrBlah]

I would still suggest purchasing RAM from Corsair, OCZ, Kingston, or Crucial. It is just an overall better product in my mind.

Also, if you are going to get a 1TB drive, I would lean toward the Samsung Spinpoint F3. It has read and write times about 30% faster than those of the WD Caviar Black. However, if you want to stick with WD, you won't see the same performance numbers until you get some of their 2TB drives, or their Raptor(which is obviously faster).

Looks pretty good to me. If anything, the motherboard seems to be slightly out-classed by the rest of the build, but it would probably run alright. Would just be the first thing to require replacement if you wanted to move up in the world, so to speak.

But the video card came out over 1.5 years ago. There are many ways to move up without getting a new motherboard.

[MasterChef]

I would still suggest purchasing RAM from Corsair, OCZ, Kingston, or Crucial. It is just an overall better product in my mind.

I picked up some g skil memory for my current machine and it seems to be working well. I was a bit leery of it at first, but it was rated good on newegg and it was cheaper than the brands above.

[MrBlah]

Ive seen prices on RAM all over the place, sometimes its Gskill thats cheapest, other times the same, other times Corsair or Crucial etc. I haven't noticed any single brand always cheaper.

[Dirty Dan]

I always see people suggesting gskill is bad but I've never seen any solid reasons why, same with patriot. It's cheaper for the same performance & is well reviewed.

[MrBlah]

I am not saying it's bad. I am just saying the others are a better quality.

[frostdillicus]

The Black drives have a distinct advantage over most other drives on the market, a 5 year warranty. Sure, they might not be the best performers ever, but they are guaranteed to be under warranty for the life of the computer.

[Boss Llama]

But the video card came out over 1.5 years ago. There are many ways to move up without getting a new motherboard.

I reference simply the lack of eSATA, the lack of 6 GB SATA, the dual-channel instead of triple-channel RAM, and the limited PCIe channels. Certainly it *can* be upgraded, but there won't be any SSD or SLI going on, RAM will take more expensive sticks to get the same amount, or will have a lower max using the same size sticks, things like that. As I said, I'm sure it will work, but it's limiting.

[MrBlah]

He's not building a top of the line has to be the fastest machine here. 6Gb Sata is pointless unless you need to transfer data at 750MB/s. The consumer SSDs only transfer at a MAX of 235MB/s which is sufficient for 3Gb Sata. There is no need for tri channel RAM, he is only getting 2x2GB so there leaves 2 open slots. So e-sata isn't a problem, you can spend $25 on an expansion port. Plus, it has USB 3.0 which operates at 4Mb/s, or 500MB/s which is still faster than an consumer SSD that is exists today. As well, SLI today is only done by the serious enthusiast who can afford to do it. Plus, you get a better value by not using SLI, as it is cheaper to achieve identical performance when not using top of the line products.

And also, 5 year warranty or not on that drive, the hard drive bottlenecks every computer. An 30% performance increase is legitimately noticeable and worth it any way you look at it. 40% less warranty for 30% better performance = worth it IMO. Game loads in 20 seconds instead of 30, program installs in 4 minutes instead of 6. You notice every bit of that.

[Boss Llama]

6Gb Sata is pointless unless you need to transfer data at 750MB/s.

hard drive =
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

This isn't a 1001FALS he's putting in, it's a 1002FAEX.

[The Spanish Inquisition]

He's not building a top of the line has to be the fastest machine here. 6Gb Sata is pointless unless you need to transfer data at 750MB/s. The consumer SSDs only transfer at a MAX of 235MB/s which is sufficient for 3Gb Sata. There is no need for tri channel RAM, he is only getting 2x2GB so there leaves 2 open slots. So e-sata isn't a problem, you can spend $25 on an expansion port. Plus, it has USB 3.0 which operates at 4Mb/s, or 500MB/s which is still faster than an consumer SSD that is exists today. As well, SLI today is only done by the serious enthusiast who can afford to do it. Plus, you get a better value by not using SLI, as it is cheaper to achieve identical performance when not using top of the line products.

And also, 5 year warranty or not on that drive, the hard drive bottlenecks every computer. An 30% performance increase is legitimately noticeable and worth it any way you look at it. 40% less warranty for 30% better performance = worth it IMO. Game loads in 20 seconds instead of 30, program installs in 4 minutes instead of 6. You notice every bit of that.

Since I now own and love one dearly, SSD is the ONLY way to go. There is a lot of variety in quality for SSD so do homework. A slow SSD can be as slow as a regular HDD. I can usually load tf2 or l4d2 in a few seconds. Map changes bottleneck on the network. Things like photoshop or IDEs open in a snap. This is on an old 2006 core2 duo 2.4ghz with 4Gb and 160GB intel SSD system. The SSD gave it new life. I also have raid platters and an e-sata 1Tb drive for storing large data sets.

If you wait, they will be merging SSD and regular harddisk technology for this same scenario and drives will probably be available before christmas. The SSD acts as a virtual cache to the larger storage on the harddrive. Files detected to be used often get stored on the SSD, archive files get put on the harddisk. All in one device.

[Dirty Dan]

I am not saying it's bad. I am just saying the others are a better quality.

Either way, I never hear anything other than banalities such as "better quality" in regards to RAM brands. I don't hear any specifics about what is better between two products with similar specs.