Critique My First Build

[thompssc]

Approximate Purchase Date: This Week

Budget Range: Under $725 if possible (just hardware)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Large/complex Excel spreadsheets, mega-multi tasking, Photoshop/Bridge/Illustrator/Lightroom (maybe video editing in the somewhat near future?)

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard/Mouse, software

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.gcworkshop.com*

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel (want to create a Hackintosh, dual booting Windows 7 also)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

*Additional Comments: I have finals and a huge case coming up in the next few weeks, and don't think this is the best time to build my first computer myself. I would wait until it's over, but then I only have 1 week before fall semester starts up and that week will be just as busy moving into a new house and taking care of several medical things. So I am resorting to ordering it from gcworkshop.com. From the reviews, they seem very reliable and have a large selection of parts. I'll also be adding a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ myself, since they don't carry it.

I also plan on installing Snow Leopard, which somewhat limits the parts I can use. For instance, it can't use the integrated Intel HD graphics, thus the additional graphics card listed. I just picked a cheap one, because as far as I know I don't need one for the things I do.

I also want this to last me a couple years before any major overhauls. I may double the RAM in the coming months, and may add more HDD's at some point (lots of large photo files), but beyond that I don't really want to have to do anything for 3-4 years, and then at that point I'd rather not have to do a complete rebuild. Maybe then purchase a new CPU, GPU (if I end up getting into video editing or something), SSD, etc. But not a complete rebuild at that time.


Antec 100 case
Cooler Master 500w PSU
Gigabye GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Mobo
Intel i5 2500k 3.3 GHz CPU
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Crucial 2x4 GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 tb SATA2 6.0 Gb/s 7200rpm
LG DVD burner
EVGA Nvidia 8400GS 1GB PCI-E DDR3
Wireless Network Card PCI 300mbps 802.11N


Thanks!

Scott

 

[jerreddredd]

not sure why you would want to use http://www.gcworkshop.com their prices are HIGH. if you live in Atlanta the is 2 Microcenters there that will be a much better place to shop. the i5-2500k at microcenter is $179.99, thats $50 less than gcworkshop. the Gigabye GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 is only $99

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/c567eeee#/c567eeee/28



the things I see on your build that stand out are:

the WD blue is a slower HD, I would go for Black edition.
the Cooler master psu is not strong power suppply, though you aren't really tasking it much with your build. I would try to get a corsair, XFX, Seasonic, Antec or even a XIGMATEK.
for a GPU I would go with a more modern card - HD 5670 or 6570 for the better video playback and your other mentioned graphical tasks.

 

[thompssc]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that they will be assembling it for me at gcworkshop.com. I don't want to order a stock computer from Dell/HP/etc because a) my current laptop is a Dell and it's a piece of crap and they have terrible customer service, and b) I want the ability to choose what parts I'm getting. But I just don't have the time to sit down and mess with putting it all together . I think it's a lot cheaper on gcworkshop.com if you put together a build. The individual parts prices might be high, but right now what I've got put together (the above) is right at $700. But if anyone knows of any other places I can pick my parts and have someone else assemble, I'm totally open!

I'm curious as to what makes the Black HDD faster than the Blue? Not questioning you, just trying to learn. I don't want to go higher than 1TB though because I've heard Hackintosh won't work on anything greater than 1TB for some reason. I'll look into those PSU's and GPU's too.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[jerreddredd]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that they will be assembling it for me at gcworkshop.com. I don't want to order a stock computer from Dell/HP/etc because a) my current laptop is a Dell and it's a piece of crap and they have terrible customer service, and b) I want the ability to choose what parts I'm getting. But I just don't have the time to sit down and mess with putting it all together . I think it's a lot cheaper on gcworkshop.com if you put together a build. The individual parts prices might be high, but right now what I've got put together (the above) is right at $700. But if anyone knows of any other places I can pick my parts and have someone else assemble, I'm totally open!

I'm curious as to what makes the Black HDD faster than the Blue? Not questioning you, just trying to learn. I don't want to go higher than 1TB though because I've heard Hackintosh won't work on anything greater than 1TB for some reason. I'll look into those PSU's and GPU's too.

Thanks for your feedback!

in general its the cache on the HD, but some times it is performance (seek,Latency)
Black: Cache: 32MB or 64MB
Blue : Cache 8 MB, 16MB or 32mb

based on the use of GCworkshop. stay with the CM PSU, as the other options are too costly. the RAM should be DDR3-1600, but they want a premium price for it, so unless you find more in you budget stay with the 1333

# WD WD1002FAEX 1TB **** 3.5-in Internal SATA2 7200rpm 64MB BULK 89672 * /QTY:1
# ATI-SAPPHIRE 100323L ATI Radeon HD6570 . 1GB PCI-Express DDR3 HDMI DVI Lite Box 111426 * /QTY:1

OK,I was up on MicroCenters website. I built this for under $700. not sure how much they charge for assembly but it may be worth looking into. all quality parts. I used the same case, I didn't know if you were attached to it. MC has less expensive cases, so you can save some more $ there.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364087
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361423
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0293535
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361141
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0363815
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340562
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360527

I didn't include the Hyper 212+ cooler, if you not overclocking, the intel stock one will be fine. if you still need it, MC has it for $30

edit: there is also $35 worth of rebated in the MC build

 

[thompssc]

in general its the cache on the HD, but some times it is performance (seek,Latency)
Black: Cache: 32MB or 64MB
Blue : Cache 8 MB, 16MB or 32mb

based on the use of GCworkshop. stay with the CM PSU, as the other options are too costly. the RAM should be DDR3-1600, but they want a premium price for it, so unless you find more in you budget stay with the 1333

# WD WD1002FAEX 1TB **** 3.5-in Internal SATA2 7200rpm 64MB BULK 89672 * /QTY:1
# ATI-SAPPHIRE 100323L ATI Radeon HD6570 . 1GB PCI-Express DDR3 HDMI DVI Lite Box 111426 * /QTY:1

OK,I was up on MicroCenters website. I built this for under $700. not sure how much they charge for assembly but it may be worth looking into. all quality parts. I used the same case, I didn't know if you were attached to it. MC has less expensive cases, so you can save some more $ there.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364087
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361423
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0293535
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361141
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0363815
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340562
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360527

I didn't include the Hyper 212+ cooler, if you not overclocking, the intel stock one will be fine. if you still need it, MC has it for $30

edit: there is also $35 worth of rebated in the MC build

Wow, thanks a lot man! I appreciate your help with all this! I've been reading around a bit today and am actually thinking it might not be so bad to assemble it myself. It doesn't look as difficult as I perceived it to be. So if I go that route I could definitely venture outside of that website's offerings and look to microcenter or newegg, since those seem to be the favorite's around here. I'll check that build out and report back

 

[jerreddredd]

Wow, thanks a lot man! I appreciate your help with all this! I've been reading around a bit today and am actually thinking it might not be so bad to assemble it myself. It doesn't look as difficult as I perceived it to be. So if I go that route I could definitely venture outside of that website's offerings and look to microcenter or newegg, since those seem to be the favorite's around here. I'll check that build out and report back

If you go the build it yourself route, then get the MB, CPU, and HDD and maybe a case from MicroCenter. get the rest from newegg. the RAM,PSU and GPU will be cheaper on Newegg. depending on the Case (shipping) newegg could be cheaper also.

let me know and I will suggest which ones on newegg.

Building a computer is easy. there is even guide on how to do it:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building