Ironside Build - Advice and critiques welcomed

golfingangler

Honorable
Feb 6, 2013
8
0
10,510
I like the idea of buying a prebuilt pc online, good tech support and warranty, have back up from the credit card company etc. How does this look? The motherboard is the cheapest they offer, along with no brand name (listed) ram and hard drive.
Thanks.

2/7/13
Case - Cooler Master Elite 311
Intel Processor - [Overclockable] Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz, 3.8GHz Turbo Boost (Quad Core)
CPU Cooling - Standard Heatsink
Intel Motherboard - ASRock H61M-VS [VGA] {2 DDR3 Slots Max 1333MHz}
Overclocking Processor - Overclock Processor up to 10%
Memory - 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz
Primary Hard Drive - 500GB 7200RPM
1st Optical Drive - DVD Writer
Graphics Card - Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 2GB (Min. 600 Watt Power Supply)
Power Supply - Standard 600 Watt
Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Advanced Packaging System - Custom foam to protect and secure internal components from shipping abuse
Wiring - Professional Wiring - Cables will be organized to achieve maximum airflow
Technical Support - Life-time U.S. based technical support and customer service by our own in-house technicians
Warranty - Standard 3 Years Parts and 3 Years Labor
$977.88 shipped
 
Solution
Personally, I wouldn't trust that system as far as I could throw it. Using no-name components is just asking for trouble. Using "no-name" components (or at least the cheapest), I came up with the following build, which should be identical to yours:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($41.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)...

JayEl

Honorable
Feb 4, 2013
9
0
10,520
the motherboard should be upgraded for future upgrades. That mb only has 2 ram slots, no usb 3.0, no SATA 6/Gbs slots, and only one PCI Express 2.0 slot. I would also get a branded power supply.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Personally, I wouldn't trust that system as far as I could throw it. Using no-name components is just asking for trouble. Using "no-name" components (or at least the cheapest), I came up with the following build, which should be identical to yours:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($41.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 311 (Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.24 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Diablotek 600W ATX12V Power Supply ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $722.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-07 12:27 EST-0500)

That's $255 that you're paying for advanced packaging, professional wiring, life-time tech support and a three year warranty.

Advanced Packaging - If you purchase the components and build it yourself, you won't need this.
Professional Wiring - They use zip ties to keep things tidy.
Life Time Technical Support - This system will not last you a lifetime. At best, this system would last you about seven years.
Three Year Warranty - Not bad, but you get that with most components anyway.

Now I understand that you seem like you prefer to purchase rather than build. That's fine. Not everyone wants to learn how, but if that's the case, pay the extra money for quality components.

Get a solid motherboard. ASRock is fine as a motherboard manufacturer, but get a motherboard that natively supports your processor. Not one that requires a BIOS update out of the gate.

Any company that offers "no-name" or doesn't specify a component manufacturer is almost certainly going with the lowest cost component. While you can probably get away with this with the hard drive, you never want to do this with a power supply (the most important component of any build). Get a quality power supply from Antec, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, Corsair, or FSP (fortran source).

TL;DR - Stay away from this system.

-Wolf sends
 
Solution

jacobsta811

Honorable
May 26, 2012
165
0
10,710
You don't want an H61 board with a nice overclockable processor like the i5-3570k. You need a z77 or z75 board. You also might want to think about an aftermarket cooler - combine those two things together and you can increase performance probably 25% from what you have listed now without spending much more.