Building new computer first time in 5+ years

[Guest]

Hello everyone, I'm looking to build a new computer. After consulting with a friend of mine and doing a lot of online research (forums, reviews, benchmarks, etc.), I have come up with following build:

MoBo: Asus P8H61-M LE/USB3
CPU: Intel Core i3 2100
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6670 1GB DDR3
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB
RAM: Mushkin SilverLine Stiletto 1333 MHz 2x2GB DDR or G.Skill Ripjaws 1333 MHz 4GB DDR3
PSU: Corsair CX430

The computer will be used mainly for college, surfing, media and some gaming here and there. I'm not looking to get maximum FPS with high details in new games, just so we're clear on that. I usually play games like Team Fortress 2, Killing Floor, Left 4 Dead 2... Also, I'm on a budget and please note that computer parts are more expensive in my country than the prices you can get on NewEgg and similar sites. Not to mention NewEgg doesn't ship to Europe (even if it did, there would be shipping fee and customs duty).

I would like to hear your opinions on this build. Main questions are... Which RAM should I get, Mushkin or G.Skill? Is XFX good or should I go for something like Sapphire or VTX3D? Is PSU good?

Thanks for help.

Cheers.

 

[zooted]

For your uses that build looks pretty spot on, both gskill and muskin make good products. If they have the same specs I would probably go with mushkin.

 

[abekl]

Looks like a good setup. Either ram will do fine so long as it's 1.5 Volt ram. XFX is considered a mainstream brand of graphics cards, and they warranty their cards for life, so that says something.

 

[Guest]

Mushkin is DDR3, of course, not DDR. Mistake on my part. Both are 1333 MHz. Does it matter if it's 2x2 GB or 1x4 GB? So far everyone said both products are excellent so I can't decide on my own.

 

[zooted]

Mushkin is DDR3, of course, not DDR. Mistake on my part. Both are 1333 MHz. Does it matter if it's 2x2 GB or 1x4 GB? So far everyone said both products are excellent so I can't decide on my own.

2x2gb is the way to go.

 

[Guest]

2x2gb is the way to go.

Good to know, as that was my primary choice. Can you elaborate, just so I know for future?

By the way, both are 1.5V.

 

[zooted]

Good to know, as that was my primary choice. Can you elaborate, just so I know for future?

By the way, both are 1.5V.

Upgrade ability, if you have 4 slots why take them all up when you can always just drop another two sticks in there later on. Just make sure you work 2 stick pairs to keep it running in dual channel mode.

 

[zooted]

After looking at that mobo, you only have 2 ram slots so you have no chouce but to go with 2 sticks.

 

[Guest]

After looking at that mobo, you only have 2 ram slots so you have no chouce but to go with 2 sticks.

I feel like there's a misunderstanding so I'll risk stating the obvious, G.Skill is 1 stick of 4 GB, not 4 sticks of 1 GB.

Sorry about the confusion.

 

[zooted]

I feel like there's a misunderstanding so I'll risk stating the obvious, G.Skill is 1 stick of 4 GB, not 4 sticks of 1 GB.

Sorry about the confusion.

Its ok sometimes I am a little slow. Once again you want a 2x2gb kit, so it will run in dual channel mode. 1 stick will force it in to single channel and you will get half the bandwidth.

 

[Guest]

I see, then we have a winner.

Also, I'll do some research on dual channel RAM because I never really looked into all the details concerning it.