Rate my New PC, way pass due.

EspiOne · Jul 9, 2014

I finally had my second 295GTX go and I had to RMA back to XFX, as the saying goes, "the straw that broke the camel's back"

Order parts and build.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell Quad-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150
Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VI GENE LGA 1150 Intel Z87
Ram: 32GB, HyperX (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU: 2 x MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 (in SLI)
Hard Drives: 2 X Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (1 for Windows 7 and 1 for Windows 8)
Hard Drive: WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (For STEAM Games, over 400GB, so I needed room to grow)
Hard Drive: Seagate, (POS) 160GB, page drive. (if you don't know what a page drive is, you should consider it, especially if you have an SSD as your main drive.)
CASE: Thermaltake Armor A30i - Red Red SECC / AL MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case
PSU: APEVIA ATX-AQ700W-BK 700W ATX12V / EPS12V

Total Cost, (holy moly, guamole): $1531.
Free stuff: 4 VOUCHERS FOR WATCH DOGS, (and I have already, REALLY nvidia?, REALLY Kingston?)
Games: Look over my game list @

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198120423045/games/

Be critical, please, considering that I am replacing a very old PC.

Q9650
XFX 750i
XFX 295GTX
XFX 8800GT (PhysX)
8GB 800mhz TEAM Ram
OCZ 120GB SSD (main)
500GB WD Blue (steam)

only parts that change recently on old pc were hard drives.

this was a move from my previous PC, a XFX 780i with 3 260GTXs in Tri-SLI and then 2 295GTXs, in Quad-SLI.

yeah, when I had 1 260GTX fail, I move to 2 x 295GTX, then when I had the 780i fail, I moved to the 750i. Building PCs can get expensive.

USAFRet · Jul 9, 2014

PSU: APEVIA ATX-AQ700W-BK 700W ATX12V / EPS12V
Your PC (or possibly you) will die a fiery death.

"160GB, page drive."
Given 32GB RAM, it is unlikely that this will provide any benefit.

JackNaylorPE · Jul 9, 2014

1 post per topic please

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2212591/rate-pass-due.html

1. I wuda done Z97 / 4790k
2. Whatz all the RAM for ?
3. You don't need a "page drive" a page partition will do just fine....tho a RAM drive (with 32 GB have plenty of room) make more sense.
4. Check where the black EX sits on the HD rankings (20th)
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-17-PCMark-7-Gaming,2915.html
5. You have only moved up a single tier in the GFX department. Tyically ugrades less than 3 tiers are not recommended as ya can't really notice a performance difference.
6. Is get a quality PSU, Apevia ain't it ... At least a Corair RM series (HX better).... Seasonic M12 (X series better), XFX Core Edition.
7. Be aware that all Asus Z87 boards are subject to the BIOS clock freeze bug

Au_equus · Jul 9, 2014

without the PSU: 6/10
with the PSU: 2/10

The PSU is the heart of the system as it provides the power necessary to run your PC with 1k+ worth of hardware. That being said, the one you have is a cheap POS and it will cut out on you, maybe not now or tomorrow, but it will. I don't see any associated warranty with Apevia's PSUs and they outright lie about its labeled wattage:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Apevia-Turbolink-ATX-TL450W-BK-Power-Supply-Review/1212/7
Although its a different model, the Aqua (the one you listed) and the Turbolink PSU models are made by the same OEM (Deer). The model is listed as a 450W psu, but when they put anything more than a 240W load, the PSU fails.

Antec, XFX, Seasonic, Enermax, Super Flower, Silverstone PSU are more expensive, but they come with a warranty and a piece of mind.

EspiOne · Jul 9, 2014

USAFRet :

Thanks four your comment, I will be looking at a new PSU, my old PC ran an Antec 850 Gamer, RMA replacement for a TPQ-850. I decided on including a page drive, since I hibernate my system very often, but I may be wrong, please elaborate for me, I would really appreciate it. (and I am not be sarcastic)

USAFRet · Jul 9, 2014

pagefile and hibernate are two different things.

I have 16GB RAM. Pagefile set to 1GB min and max. Rarely does it come into play. And I have seen zero performance hit.
Hibernation sucks up space equivalent to the amout of RAM. I have it turned off completely. I see zero need fot it. The SSD + Win 8 boots quite fast enough. And if that hiberfil lives on an old, slow 160GB drive....would likely be slower.

Try it both ways. Doubt you'll see any benefit.

faalin · Jul 9, 2014

I would have dropped the ram from 32 to 16gb and used the extra money along with what you paid for 2 660's and bought a 780.

A different PSU is needed, the PSU is the heart of the system, if it starts to head south on you it can cause all sorts of issues. I would go with a Silverstone, XFX, or Corsair PSU.

EspiOne · Jul 9, 2014

JackNaylorPE,
1. Z97?, I got the motherboard at a discount, open box, $50 less and I had the i5 from a previous purchase, I purchased the parts one at time, over the last 5 months. I had originally build this system with an ASUS Z87-A inside a HAF 932 from one of my old systems, but changed my mind, because I wanted a smaller case and finally got to build it this last weekend.
2. 32GB of RAM? I was in the process of using this PC as a study server (dual boot, win7 and Server 2012) for VMs, but ended up build another PC instead with a Xeon and 32GB.
3. I think I am confused on the page drive and ram drive, please elaborate. I like to know what I am doing.
4. The WD Black edition was on sale for $70.
5. Your right, I have only moved up one tier, but MSI were on sale and rebate. I have some 760s (NIB) , but not sure if the case would provide good cooling. and whether the i5 would be good enough, I had originally ordered some 650Tis, but then "STEPPED UP" to the 760s.
6. I will be looking to change out the PSU for the Antec 850/900 that I got from two RMAed TPQ-850s. I figured 700watts would be enough. Thanks for the recommendation on that.
7. I was unaware of Z87 Board issues.

Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate it. Review my other post, I have settled on this system as being my main system, as I needed to get some advise on any changes I made need to do. Thanks again. This upgraded system has been almost a year in the making, honestly.

I have made plans to sell all my old parts to make up the money and keep the Asus Z87-A as backup board.

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Rate my New PC, way pass due.

EspiOne

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USAFRet

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JackNaylorPE

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Au_equus

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EspiOne

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USAFRet

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faalin

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EspiOne

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