Is this a good computer build?

Karadjgne

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Very well balanced built. Absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever component wise that I can see. My only criticism would be not in the choice of psu, but style. Your case has this nice big window on the side and you opted for a standard psu instead of modular/semi modular psu. You have a nice build, and its going to look great, but standard wiring psu's tend to be a pain to get looking good, airflow good, with all the extra wires and connectors floating about. Other than that, the XFX550W is an excellent psu.
 

Karadjgne

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The Asus GTX770 is currently $309, OP's MSI GTX760 is $259. The only way I'd see gaining money on the budget is to lose the 840EVO, swap the MSI for the Asus, and save @$30

I happen to like the gains I got from my SSD, and my wife uses Corel a lot, so the sacrifice of a 770, and settlement to a 660ti was worth it to me.
 
keep the one you have, it's a really good deal right now. There aren't many psu deals going on right now so looking at a different means a big price leap. all those spare cables can easily be stored in either the HDD bays or below the window line on the side panel. Just takes a little practice and can be fun to learn how to do it right.
 


whatever you feel like, modular or semi modular are easier to work it, no doubt about it, but I have a non modular in a case with poor cable management and it does fine.
 

Karadjgne

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Actually, ISR was primarily intended for SSD-HDD communication, where the SSD acts as a giant memory, for frequently accessed data. When time permits that data is then transferred back to the HDD, so any programs on the HDD can use the SSD as a cache. The combination of an SSD and a HDD is a Hybrid Drive which Seagate makes and is attempting to eliminate lag times for read/write to HDD from cache without having to use the SATA pathways.

So even though the SSD is the boot.. primary.. main drive, not all op's programs will be stored there and once accessed will be able to take any and all advantage of the SSD that it has to offer. That said, on a B85 board that does not support ISR, the OP will have an SSD for boot drive, and a HDD for storage, and no communication between, so only programs on the SSD will have SSD read/write times vrs HDD read/write times.

Smart Storage was something else entirely, and was designed for 60GB and below SSDs that were not the primary drive, but could be used as a cache for windows and other programs to temporarily store the entire data of the program, while used, and then written back to the HDD after close. This was back when 6-12GB SSD's were common, and Intel got caught with their pants down not expecting the meteoric rise in GB capability, which is why they capped ISS at 60GB