1300 Budget Plus System

Pete66

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Jun 2, 2009
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Approximate Purchase Date: this month (May 20120)

Budget Range: $1300

System Usage from Most to Least Important: web/office applications/light gaming/home video editing

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Intel core i5; Samsung monitor (although I'm open to suggestions); I've always had good experience with WD drives

Overclocking: In the future

SLI or Crossfire: Probably not ... but would like to have the potential to add

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

Additional Comments: I'm not a gamer (last games were Myst series), but I tend to hold on to computers for a long time. I want a build that is likely to provide reasonable performance for at least 5 years.

To me, that means something that's relatively powerful now (not bleeding edge) with good upgrade possibilities. In the parts list below, the only parts that I actually selected were the Intel Core i5-3570K and the Samsung monitor. The rest are from Newegg's suggestions on the core i5-3750K page.

The total from Newegg is about $1600. If I drop the video card for now (assuming that the on-board graphics will run that monitor), the system fits better into my budget.

I noted that the Antec case only has 2x USB 2.0 on the front. Is it worth it to look for USB 3.0 on the front?

Intel Core i5-3570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545

CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231476

EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

SAMSUNG S24A450BW-1 Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LED Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001540
 

l0v3rboi

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For you're system, you would be fine with this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703035 ($80)

I would get the WD Blue's at the moment. The premium they put for the WD Black makes it not worth it I think knowing that prices will come down in the future (i.e. when infrastructures in Thailand gets fixed and when SSD comes down in price and becomes more readily available).

For your MoBo, I would go with the Gigabyte z77x-ud3h or the Asrock z77 Extreme 4. It allows you to xFire/SLI in the future, has similar expandability options, and is priced lower.

For RAM, 1600 would do the job. Anything past that and performance gains are barely noticeable.

I would not get the gtx 560 TI. Yes they are good GPU's but they are one generation old. A Radeon 7850 is a much better choice. I would hold off on buying a GPU at the moment though. The GTX 670 just came out and it is a significantly better card that the top-of-the-line Radeon 7970. If you can, wait for the mid-range gtx 6xx series and see what they have to offer.
 

Pete66

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Thanks for your thoughts.

In the Newegg comments, several people mention freezing problems with the Gigabyte z77x-ud5h with an Ivy Bridge cpu. There are too few comments on the ud3h at Newegg to draw any conclusions. Perhaps the Asrock is the answer.

I'm completely in the dark when it comes to SSDs. What do people typically load on a SSD other than the OS? Applications also? Is there really any need for a 128 GB SSD or would a 32 GB or 64 GB be just as good?
 

Azok

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I know people who always are using Word or Excel that have those on their SSD, I don't know if they have all Microsoft Works on there though. Most of the people I am around are gamers, so they put their main game(s) on their SSDs. But some games don't really need to be on SSDs over HDDs other than having a faster initial load time. The RAM you selected has those heat-spreaders on the top. This may interfere with your Hyper 212 Evo, since it does take a lot of space right next to your RAM slots. Best to go with low-profile RAM sticks. Also, the PSU is a bit overkill, BUT if you are SERIOUSLY considering SLI in the future... you may want it.
 

Pete66

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I made some changes based on the comments. Total Newegg price now $1170 (including some AS5 thermal compound)

Two questions:

Will everything work together?

I noticed reading the manual for the Asrock Extreme4 that the default Northbridge configuration for "Primary Graphics Adapter" is "PCI Express" rather than "Onboard" (which is an optional setting). So what happens when I boot up the first time with no graphics board installed? Does the board just sense that nothing is in the slots and switch to the on-board graphics?

Changed the case to Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $89.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

Changed mobo to ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $129.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

Changed PSU to PC Power and Cooling Silencer MK III 500W Modular 80PLUS Bronze - $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703035

Change RAM to Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $52.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104173

Changed SSD to Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2BAA 2.5" 64GB SATA III - $84.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148524

Changed HDD to Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" - $99.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767

Deleted video card (will use core i5 on-board graphics)


unchanged from original post ---

Intel Core i5-3570K - $244.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 - $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - $17.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

SAMSUNG S24A450BW-1 Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LED Monitor - $319.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001540