Update on new desktop PC

[Jerilynn]

I just ordered a new PC. Found a guy who could get parts from newegg and build the machine. He offers 3 yr warranty/tech support and speaks perfect Arkansas English. It's not too late to change a component or two. Any thoughts?

Specs:

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI
Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Thermaltake Level 10 Series Level 10 GTS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower
Computer Case

ASUS Maximus V FORMULA LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s
USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 /
EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W
Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
BX80637I73770

Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW480A3K5 2.5" 480GB SATA
III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10Q-
32GBXL

LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM
4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-ray Burner, Bare Drive, 3D Play Back
(WH14NS40) ... - OEM

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1
Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

Win 7 professional -64 bit

[mike143]

Link to previous discussion so questions are not repeated: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=108580

Looking good to me, at least you can build it (add items to cart) on Newegg.com and see what you are paying for support. A professional will have that assembled and OS installed/imaged in about hour or two.

Rather comment about ways to save money on your build it appears you have something that should last 5 years and has upgrade capacity in the way of additional SLI video card(s).

[Tim_in_GA]

What about spinning hard drive(s)? 480GB is overkill for a SSD and probably won't meet your storage needs. I get by just fine with a 120GB SSD which has my OS and program files on it. I use a WD Black 1TB drive for system folders and frequently used files. Then I have a 2TB WD Green drive for storage of photos and general file backup.

[mike143]

What about spinning hard drive(s)? 480GB is overkill for a SSD and probably won't meet your storage needs. I get by just fine with a 120GB SSD which has my OS and program files on it. I use a WD Black 1TB drive for system folders and frequently used files. Then I have a 2TB WD Green drive for storage of photos and general file backup.

It might be overkill today but common place in 2-3 years. After reviewing his build he could save money today but may feel the need to upgrade some components in 2-3 years, since he would be paying someone else that would make saving on upgrades difficult. This is a solid 5 year computer. May have to get additional video cards depending on the games he is playing.

[pochax]

wow....that's quite a workhorse monster of a PC....please don't take over the world with it

[Tim_in_GA]

It might be overkill today but common place in 2-3 years. After reviewing his build he could save money today but may feel the need to upgrade some components in 2-3 years, since he would be paying someone else that would make saving on upgrades difficult. This is a solid 5 year computer. May have to get additional video cards depending on the games he is playing.

I guess it really depends on the intended use of this machine, which we do not know. For me, my PC is used mainly for photo processing (from a full-frame DSLR) and I'm just beginning to dabble with video. After a year my 3TB of internal disk space is already more than half full. Then I have two 1TB external drives and one 500GB external drive. My PC is also the media server for the house.

[richard]

I guess it really depends on the intended use of this machine, which we do not know. For me, my PC is used mainly for photo processing (from a full-frame DSLR) and I'm just beginning to dabble with video.

Have you calibrated your monitor?

[serocs]

This is very similar to a computer I just built for myself. A couple of tips:

The 580 is an excellent graphics card, but you actually get more for your money with a 570. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4051/nvidias-geforce-gtx-570-filling-in-the-gaps/16 for more details on that. The 570 was released after the 580, has similar performance, but is cheaper and uses less power.

The main limiting factor I see in your setup is your power supply. If you ever wanted to add another graphics card or anything else power hungry, you would need to upgrade the power supply too. Not an issue now, but something to keep in mind.

One final thing, I'm kind of curious why you chose an Intel SSD. They are a bit cheaper than Samsung 840 pro series, but their performance is worse. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6328/samsung-ssd-840-pro-256gb-review/4 shows a simulated real world environment where the intel 520 comes out significantly slower. Again, it isn't really a serious issue, but something to consider.

Overall it is a good set up. I personally don't like ASUS for it's tech support issues, but you obviously won't have to deal with that. I also wouldn't spring for a audio card. Most people these days (that care about that kind of thing) use optical connections to a receiver. That gives a lot more options in the long run.

PS: Sorry, I don't know how to hide links.

[mike143]

I only use and recommend Intel SSDs. Currently 120GB Intel 520s are our standard storage. I was one of the lucky ones to have a OCZ just not boot one day.

[neurosphere]

This is very similar to a computer I just built for myself. A couple of tips:

The 580 is an excellent graphics card, but you actually get more for your money with a 570.

It's a **680** card I believe, not a 580. I think the 680 is a HECK of a card (it should be, for the price!). I think it's basically a top-of-the-line card.

This system is at least a 5 year pc, depending on the usage. For some folks, this would be a 10 year pc.

[Jerilynn]

What about spinning hard drive(s)? 480GB is overkill for a SSD and probably won't meet your storage needs. I get by just fine with a 120GB SSD which has my OS and program files on it. I use a WD Black 1TB drive for system folders and frequently used files. Then I have a 2TB WD Green drive for storage of photos and general file backup.

480GB should be plenty (at least at first), if I need more space I can always add a spinning hard drive. [I also have a 2T external HD if need be] I don't have much stuff stored. I don't do music, videos, photos or any of that kinda stuff.

I will run Quickbooks, my dental software and some games off the SSD.

[harland]

I would switch out your RAM with a couple of sticks that have tighter timings (8-8-8-24 or 7-8-8-24) - might as well squeeze as much performance out of your build as you can. These should do fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231628

Also you might want to consider the Seasonic X-series power supplies instead of the Antec for more stable power output.

SilverStone cases are awesome. I can personally vouch for the Fortress FT02. The Raven series (RV-02, RV-02 'Evolution', and RV-03) are well-reviewed. They're also frequently out of stock at Newegg (and for good reason).

One other thing - buy a good cooler for your CPU. The stock one is OK. Corsair self-contained liquid units are well-reviewed. Thermalright also makes great air coolers (I have the HR-02 Macho), but you won't find them at Newegg.

EDIT: I think NVIDIA is releasing a new GTX 680 Ti based on their newer GPU. Might want to wait for that. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/l ... _possible_

[mojorisin]

no Windows 8? I love it.

[mike143]

You can always spend more money to get an addition 1-5% on a benchmark. You have to stop somewhere.

Memory Performance: 16GB DDR3-1333 to DDR3-2400 on Ivy Bridge IGP

Who's Who In Power Supplies, 2013: Brands Vs. Manufacturers

If he is not overclocking I would not recommend anything other than stock CPU cooler. Since he is not building it himself I doubt he will be overclocking.

I don't keep up with video cards since I don't game. There are plenty of forums and benchmark charts that can make those decisions easier.

I use to be an computer enthusiast and spend the extra 30% to get an extra <5% in performance. Now I am a boglehead computer enthusiast and go for the most bang for the buck.

[harland]

True, the benefits of tighter timings for memory are dubious in real world usage. Sometimes you just gotta have speed for speed's sake, but the increase in performance for the increase in cost is probably not justifiable.

Having said that, there are benefits to having a better power supply. More stable DC voltages across the load curve ensure that components are being fed the appropriate amount of power especially in intense gaming sessions. HardOCP has a battery of tests that they use to really strain a power supply and separate the good from the bad. A good example is this review - http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/03/ ... ly_review/

SilverStone also puts a lot of thought in their cases. There are two major reasons why I would use them. First they design their cases with enough intake fans to induce positive pressure inside the case. That means that enough air is getting in such that it's being forced out all the nooks and crannies of the case. For example, the FT02 has three 180 mm intake fans along the bottom of the case and one 120 mm exhaust fan. Since positive pressure is generated, less dust gathers inside the case, keeping components cleaner and cooler. Second, they design their cases to hold the motherboard at a 90 degree angle from the norm. All cables and connections are made at the top of the case. The video cards are now placed in a vertical position, letting the natural tendency of heat to rise (stack effect) to keep the card cool. A side benefit is that the fans don't need to spin as fast to maintain a given interior temperature level so the entire build is quieter. However, the FT02 costs about twice as much as your garden variety case. Also consider that a lot of boutique makers such as Falcon Northwest (Icon) or Maingear (Shift) base their cases off of SilverStone designs.

A larger CPU cooler can also result in a quieter build. Some folks just use the Thermalright HR-02 Macho heatsink on its own. It's enough to keep even an overclocked CPU cool. Sure it's huge, but that's the point. If you do use the supplied 120 mm fan, it's much larger than the stock cooler's fan, so it also doesn't have to spin as fast to keep the processor at a certain temperature. The good thing is that Thermalright prices their coolers reasonably. The HR-02 only costs about $60.

So, it does cost a little bit extra to get the good stuff. In my estimation, it's worth it because there's been more thought and engineering put into the product.

[serocs]

@neurosphere Of course I meant 680, not 580. Thanks for the catch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the 680 is a bad card by any stretch. It is certainly one of the best cards on the market. I was more implying along the lines of the recent memory conversation: you spend significantly more on a 680 vs 670 than you gain in performance.

@mike143 Kind of curious why you only use/recommend Intel SSDs. Any data or experience to back that up?

[serocs]

Just to revise my link above: the 670 only differs from the 680 by about 7% in performance. So you just have to do a cost/benefit analysis on that one. Link to correct comparison (670 instead of 570): http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/20

[mike143]

@mike143 Kind of curious why you only use/recommend Intel SSDs. Any data or experience to back that up?

Unfortunately I have not seen any definitive unbiased statistics. I had many of the OCZ drives in my laptops, when others where losing them right and left, I lost one. Prior to the Intel 520s I would never recommend a SSD in the business world, minus enterprise drives. OCZ released the Vertex 3 (SF-2281) in January of 2011 and Intel worked with the controller for another 10 months before releasing a drive with the same controller. During that time OCZ, like with previous drives, released firmware updates to correct things they missed. The first quality I would describe Intel having is reliability, not just for their SSD but all their components, motherboards, nics, etc. These days when brand name has no meaning to me Intel still means something, they are not the cheapest buy I am confident in their products, until they prove otherwise.

[wesleymouch]

Why would anyone have anything other than a Mac. If price is an iisue the used ones are cheap.

Tu Ne Cede Malis

[mike143]

Why would anyone have anything other than a Mac. If price is an iisue the used ones are cheap.

Tu Ne Cede Malis

Just wanted to add that I DONT want an apple product. So that will save some bandwidth.

You already said gaming. Why are you repeating yourself?

[ensign_lee]

I'll assume that you've already had the discusison about whether or not a top of the line flagship GPU is appropriate for your use (pretty much only in cases of very specific games) and skip to your choice of flagship GPU. You should replace the Nvidia 680 with the ATI / AMD 7970; it's cheaper, faster, has more potential increases in performance from drivers - pretty much better in every possible way.

For instance, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125413 is cheaper than the EVGA card you listed, and is faster, and to boot, since it has a custom cooler, will be quieter.

Also, that is a weird choice for a SSD at the $500 price point. If you're going to spend that much on a SSD, you may as well get the best of the best and get the 500GB Samsung 840 Pro for $500: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147194

Personally, I think the money would be better spent on the 256GB version of of the Samsung 840 Pro, with the rest of the money spent on at least 1 2TB HDD like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136891 . You could buy two with the money you saved and still have a little money left over. The idea is that you put your programs on the SSD and then put all your documents on the HDDs (movies, music, pictures, documents etc). And this way, you spend less money and have 4.25TB of storage instead of only .48TB like your original plan. But nevertheless, you should consider another SSD is my point.

Only other thing I will say (since you obviously want the best of everything (based on your other component selections) is that you should choose a top of the line Power Supply (PSU) to power them all. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151087 would be a good choice, though the sale it was on *just* expired. D'oh.

Again, I am skipping the discussion of whether or not that powerful of a machine is appropriate for your uses: If all you do is surf the internet and play with massive excel sheets and watch movies, lots of your components are massive overkill and you can probably source different parts for < half the cost of everything above without ever noticing the difference (and you wouldn't have to replace your computer anytime earlier either). But assuming that you do want the best of everything, those are the components I would change.

[serocs]

@ensign_lee
OP already said they have a external 2TB drive and want the SSD space for "quickbooks, dental software, and some games". I don't think OP is interested in getting an internal HDD right now.

[ensign_lee]

@ensign_lee
OP already said they have a external 2TB drive and want the SSD space for "quickbooks, dental software, and some games". I don't think OP is interested in getting an internal HDD right now.

True, in which case the 512GB Samsung 840 Pro is still cheaper, larger, faster, and better.

[ensign_lee]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

[kenschmidt]

My 16 year old son recently built his own gaming rig. Not nearly at the level of ypur configuration, but he loves it. I told him about this post and he was quite impressed with the components going into your PC. I believe the proper phrase is "it's a beast"!

A couple of things he said that I haven't necessarily seen referenced above:

I would think about what you mean when you say "some games". Are you talking about really demanding games such as Skyrim, Crysis, Battlefield 3, etc? Are you the type of person who really gets into running max settings, tesselation, shadowing, etc? Will you measure the Frames per Second (FPS) and tweak things constantly to improve your FPS? My son has a utility he runs that displays his FPS in the corner. When lots of stuff blows up, you can see it drop. Bragging rights ensue if you can best your friends' FPS on a particular game. If this is you, then you will probably really enjoy the graphics/CPU combo you have selected. If these things don't matter so much or you are happy playing older games, then you might be buying more than you need.

Another consideration with buying a higher end graphics card is that although you should be able to get more years of service out of it, often the DirectX version it supports is dependent on the card. So if you are the type of person who wants to take advantage of all the new features of the latest and greatest, you might have to upgrade your card sooner than you might have expected even though it is a high end card. In other words, the reason to buy a high end card is because you will use it now rather than for future growth. That was his thought at least.

I have learned most of the above from my son, so I am far from an expert. Overall sounds like an awesome system. I would be curious if you could give a ballpark price although completely understand if you don't want to post that.

[harland]

One other thing I forgot to mention, might as well spring for the CPU with an unlocked mulitplier so that you can overclock if you ever want to. I thought I didn't and wanted to save a few bucks (~$30), but ended up buying the unlocked CPU and juicing it anyway since it was pretty easy to do and gave a decent performance boost (max turbo 4.7 GHz OC'd vs. 3.8 GHz stock).

Intel Core i7-3770K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116501

[serocs]

As harland mentions, if you think will ever want to OC your computer, make sure you get an unlocked processor. To qualify what ensign_lee said, you will only really have a need for a custom cooler if you are planning on over clocking. The default fan is just fine if you don't plan on overclocking and it is certainly something you could add later on.

In response to kenschmidt, I recently built a VERY similar computer to OP and spent about $1300. Specs for comparison:
Graphics: EVGA 670 superclocked+ 4GB
Case: Corsair 550D
Motherboard: GA-Z77X-D3H
PSU: Seasonic 660XP
Processor: i7-3770K
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
RAM: 16 GB
Windows 8 Pro

[kenschmidt]

Thanks, serocs. Looks like a great configuration for the money!

[Jerilynn]

Why would anyone have anything other than a Mac. If price is an iisue the used ones are cheap.

Tu Ne Cede Malis

My dental imaging software (which is world class and the best of it's kind anywhere in the galaxy) is not available for a mac. For me, the choice was an easy one.

[Jerilynn]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

Good question and one I asked. The dude assembling the machine said that since I'm not overclocking or running multiple hard drives, I don't need any extra cooling. Dunno. He has a good reputation among some other docs that I respect, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

[Jerilynn]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

Thanks! I'm assuming that if necessary I can always add the smaller one you mentioned. Is that correct?

[neurosphere]

Good question and one I asked. The dude assembling the machine said that since I'm not overclocking or running multiple hard drives, I don't need any extra cooling. Dunno. He has a good reputation among some other docs that I respect, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

I think that's generally true, yes, that you don't need extra cooling, especially with a case with only SSD compared to 3 10,000 RPM in a RAID setup up.

Also especially since it's unlikely you'll be taxing that graphics card or even the processor. So while extra cooling will never hurt, it won't hurt you not to have it.

[ensign_lee]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

Thanks! I'm assuming that if necessary I can always add the smaller one you mentioned. Is that correct?

Technically, the answer to your question is yes, you could add it later. However, it requires roughly the same amount of skill required to build the computer yourself. It's not a quick and easy swap like swapping RAM in and out is. You'd have to get behind your motherboard to change the backplate as well as get in front of your motherboard to change the cooling system and then know where to mount the radiator fan. Plus, the consequences of doing it wrong are kind bad (frying your processor bad)

So I'm going to say no as my official answer, it's not something that's easy to add after the fact.

[ensign_lee]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

Good question and one I asked. The dude assembling the machine said that since I'm not overclocking or running multiple hard drives, I don't need any extra cooling. Dunno. He has a good reputation among some other docs that I respect, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

It's not so much the cooling ability (if you're not going to overclock), but the noise factor that I'm concerned about. Intel's stock fans are noisy.

Plus, I hate to see poorly optimized computers where money is spent on the best of the best products in one area of a computer and then ignored in another aspect of the computer. You could easily drop the sound card (built in sound on motherboards now is amazing. In fact that's one reason why your motherboard is so expensive) and use the money to get a K processor (i7-3700k in your instance) and a custom cooler and still have $100 leftover to do whatever you want with.

That sound card is the best of the best. Your CPU is the best of the best. Your GPU is the 2nd best of the best. Your RAM selection is the best of the best. The fact that you want a SSD instead of an HDD indicates you want the best of the best there. Why then cheap out on the intel cooler? It will only save you like $50, or $30 if you get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103099 . Same logic with the power supply.

If you want to switch gears entirely away from best of the best, Seroc's specs listed above are pretty good too and are relatively good for bang for the buck. It would perform identically to the computer you have configured above for the uses you've described, and might actually be a little faster assuming that he overclocked it at all. But again, that's another discussion entirely.

If you're going to shoot for the moon, do it right.

[Jerilynn]

Good question and one I asked. The dude assembling the machine said that since I'm not overclocking or running multiple hard drives, I don't need any extra cooling. Dunno. He has a good reputation among some other docs that I respect, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

I think that's generally true, yes, that you don't need extra cooling, especially with a case with only SSD compared to 3 10,000 RPM in a RAID setup up.

Also especially since it's unlikely you'll be taxing that graphics card or even the processor. So while extra cooling will never hurt, it won't hurt you not to have it.

If I dont get it, how will I know if I should have gotten it? What will the symptoms of a too hot machine be?

[Jerilynn]

Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about:

Where is the custom cooler in that setup? All that money for all those other components and the guy is just going to assemble it with the stock el-cheapo Intel cooler?

Again, going with your theme of having best of the best parts, I would suggest going with this for your cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608021

It is large, yes, but it cools the best of any cooler I know, and is quiet and will make your CPU last longer as a result. If you think that looks garish, then I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835181031 . I have its little brother, the H50, and it cools my CPU well, as well as being very quiet and stylish looking inside the case.

Good question and one I asked. The dude assembling the machine said that since I'm not overclocking or running multiple hard drives, I don't need any extra cooling. Dunno. He has a good reputation among some other docs that I respect, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

It's not so much the cooling ability (if you're not going to overclock), but the noise factor that I'm concerned about. Intel's stock fans are noisy.

Plus, I hate to see poorly optimized computers where money is spent on the best of the best products in one area of a computer and then ignored in another aspect of the computer. You could easily drop the sound card (built in sound on motherboards now is amazing. In fact that's one reason why your motherboard is so expensive) and use the money to get a K processor (i7-3700k in your instance) and a custom cooler and still have $100 leftover to do whatever you want with.

That sound card is the best of the best. Your CPU is the best of the best. Your GPU is the 2nd best of the best. Your RAM selection is the best of the best. The fact that you want a SSD instead of an HDD indicates you want the best of the best there. Why then cheap out on the intel cooler? It will only save you like $50, or $30 if you get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103099 . Same logic with the power supply.

If you want to switch gears entirely away from best of the best, Seroc's specs listed above are pretty good too and are relatively good for bang for the buck. It would perform identically to the computer you have configured above for the uses you've described, and might actually be a little faster assuming that he overclocked it at all. But again, that's another discussion entirely.

If you're going to shoot for the moon, do it right.

Makes perfect senses, thank you. I will talk to the dude building the machine. ....

Just spoke with him, he said...."Jeri, let me build it first then I can check to see if the cooling is adequate. Dunno what to do.

[ensign_lee]

Well, you're the customer. You can put your foot down if you want to.

I guess he doesn't want the hassle of trying to put on another cooling system? I admit it is frustrating, but that's what you're paying him for, no...?

You could go the route of saying "I really want liquid cooling" and then give him the link to that smaller Corsair H80 or H50.? Or you can leave it alone. I guess it's on him if you want to change it later since he's the one that will have to change it.

Or you could say "I'm concerned about the noise and want an aftermarket cooler for that, not necessarily the cooling functions". Or you could just say "I want it. Add it." That last one seems like the best option now that I've typed out the other ones.

[Jerilynn]

I guess he doesn't want the hassle of trying to put on another cooling system? I admit it is frustrating, but that's what you're paying him for, no...?

Dunno. Maybe it is a hassle and the profit margin for doing it isn't all that great. This dude comes highly recommended from people that I trust, so maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt. I know for sure that if I insist on one, he will install it.

You could go the route of saying "I really want liquid cooling" and then give him the link to that smaller Corsair H80 or H50.? Or you can leave it alone. I guess it's on him if you want to change it later since he's the one that will have to change it.

Or you could say "I'm concerned about the noise and want an aftermarket cooler for that, not necessarily the cooling functions". Or you could just say "I want it. Add it." That last one seems like the best option now that I've typed out the other ones.

Very good. Thanks for the tips, sir!

[ensign_lee]

You're welcome. Good luck with your new computer.

*Vroom vroom*

{out of curiosity, did you ask to change out the Intel SSD with a Samsung 840 Pro or the Nvidia 680 with that ATI 7970 I linked?}

[wander]

I only use and recommend Intel SSDs. Currently 120GB Intel 520s are our standard storage. I was one of the lucky ones to have a OCZ just not boot one day.

+1.
I was one of the first people who adopted SSDs. I got one OCZ SSD. It was working fine on my Dell laptop for one-two months and stopped booting. I thought something was wrong with the OS, so I re-installed the OS again. It booted for one or two days then showed booting error. I contacted the manufacture and described the problem to them; they agreed to send me a new one if I sent them mine. That went fine. The new SSD received from the manufacture worked for a few months and I thought it had passed the test. Not quite! After 5-6 months, it showed error again. So I gave up the beautiful name SSD (fast, quiet ...). I went back to the old hard drive that came with the laptop and had been happy with it, and now its spinning sound doesn't bother me anymore. I shouldn't try SSD in the first place. It was waste of money and time. Today, they may have improved it, but, I have no reason to try it again.

[ensign_lee]

Yeah OCZ really dropped the ball with their QC. I personally would not buy any of their SSDs, or any one based on a Sandforce controller.

But the ones based on Marvell Controllers (Crucial M4, Samsung 830) have proven to be remarkably reliable. I've been running on my crucial C300 now for 2 years. No hiccups whatsoever. and everyone is always like "woah" when I need to restart my computer for any reason. No more waiting for programs like quickbooks to load. It's just there.

[Sunny Sarkar]

I just ordered a new PC. Found a guy who could get parts from newegg and build the machine. He offers 3 yr warranty/tech support and speaks perfect Arkansas English. It's not too late to change a component or two. Any thoughts?

Specs:

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI
Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Thermaltake Level 10 Series Level 10 GTS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower
Computer Case

ASUS Maximus V FORMULA LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s
USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 /
EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W
Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
BX80637I73770

Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW480A3K5 2.5" 480GB SATA
III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10Q-
32GBXL

LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM
4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-ray Burner, Bare Drive, 3D Play Back
(WH14NS40) ... - OEM

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1
Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

Win 7 professional -64 bit

I like to build PCs for friends and family, and stay quite up to date with the latest hardware components out there. You have a very high end, and quite expensive setup here - aiming for a high end gaming PC. Your choice of the video card is perhaps most important in that regard, and the most personal decision, so I'm not going to comment on that. However, I think that if I were building such a PC, I would aim to get similar performance for less costs from some of the other parts:

Storage:
I would not pay for a 500GB solid state drive at this point of time. It is still the SSD + HDD combo that makes the best price:value ratio now. A 120GB SSD is all that is needed for Windows 7 & frequently accessed data (64GB is enough too, but not that much cheaper). The SSDs from Crucial are probably the most reliable, but Intel & Samsung are also just as good - whichever is cheaper. My favorite combo is Crucial M4 120GB SSD + any 1TB HDD with the longest warranty I can find (mine has a 3 year warranty).

Memory:
For most usages, 8GB hits the point of diminishing returns. I need 16GB for my work with memory hungry IDEs, but for anything else 8GB would have been just fine. Try starting with 2 x 8GB sticks, or even 1x. You can always add 2 more sticks later. The ripjaws are a good choice for overclockers.

PSU:
Warning: this will sound crazy. I'd consider the Antec EarthWatts 380D because it might just have enough power, and it's a very power efficient PSU - but only if it can generate enough power to support the components. I personally put the Earthwatts 650W PSU in my latest rig, but in hindsight should have gone with the 380D.

Case:
Corsair 600T or Corsair Obsidian 650D. Corsair makes by far the best designed cases which are easiest to build, organize, & tinker with. My other favorite are the cases from Fractal Design.

CPU:
The quad core i5-3570K is just as fast and overclocking friendly if you do not need the i7's hyperthreading - and significantly cheaper (2/3rd the cost). Tip: CPUs are cheaper at MicroCenter compared to NewEgg.

[Jerilynn]

You're welcome. Good luck with your new computer.

*Vroom vroom*

{out of curiosity, did you ask to change out the Intel SSD with a Samsung 840 Pro or the Nvidia 680 with that ATI 7970 I linked?}

Nope, it was too late, those parts were already ordered.

[Jerilynn]

Storage:
I would not pay for a 500GB solid state drive at this point of time. It is still the SSD + HDD combo that makes the best price:value ratio now. A 120GB SSD is all that is needed for Windows 7 & frequently accessed data (64GB is enough too, but not that much cheaper). The SSDs from Crucial are probably the most reliable, but Intel & Samsung are also just as good - whichever is cheaper. My favorite combo is Crucial M4 120GB SSD + any 1TB HDD with the longest warranty I can find (mine has a 3 year warranty).

Understood, thanks. Fortunately, money is not an issue. (I invested in Vanguard index funds several years ago)

Memory:
For most usages, 8GB hits the point of diminishing returns. I need 16GB for my work with memory hungry IDEs, but for anything else 8GB would have been just fine. Try starting with 2 x 8GB sticks, or even 1x. You can always add 2 more sticks later. The ripjaws are a good choice for overclockers.

I'm getting 32 MG ram, that's already been decided. Thanks for your thoughts, however.

CPU:
The quad core i5-3570K is just as fast and overclocking friendly if you do not need the i7's hyperthreading - and significantly cheaper (2/3rd the cost). Tip: CPUs are cheaper at MicroCenter compared to NewEgg.

understood thanks. I'm going to get the i7

[MathWizard]

I just spec'd out Intel 520's for a data intensive project at work.

The specs for the 520 are at
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ ... ation.html

Page 10 shows the write endurance of this drive as 5 years assuming you average
20GB of writes per day. That is a lot of writing for a consumer machine, but not
for the use we intended. We will be going with the 200GB Intel DC S3700 SSD which has 10x
the write endurance of the 240GB Intel 520 at 2x the price, or about what you
are paying for the 480GB drive.

The SSD is pricey at $485 from newegg.

My next personal machine will probably use the Seagate Momentus hybrid 750GB drive.
This combines a 750GB spinning SATA drive with an 8GB SLC SSD as a cache. Make sure you get the
hybrid version, since Seagate also sells a non-hybrid Monentus drive for not much less.
I see this drive priced at $130 from NewEgg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148837

Windows 7 will migrate frequently used programs to the SSD portion of the drive, especially the
OS so that you get fast boots. The 500GB version of this drive was disappointing since 4GB of
SSD was not enough. The 8GB SSD is supposed to fix that.

Caveat: I have not yet used this hybrid drive, so I cannot guarantee its performance, but it sure looks promising.

[Jerilynn]

The SSD is pricey at $485 from newegg.

It's only money.

[MathWizard]

The SSD is pricey at $485 from newegg.

It's only money.

It sounds like you will have a nice machine.
Enjoy!