Compact Student Home Build

[mchoi999]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Word, Photoshop, CS:S, TF2, L4D2, and other basic games.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
No more than 600. Less is better.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Montgomery County, MD
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, GPU, Case, MoBo, PSU.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
64GB Crucial M4 SSD, 2TB WD External HDD.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080 and hopefully 2560x1440 one day.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
None.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes. Windows Ultimate 64bit through school.

Basically building a compact home computer to use along with my tablet for school. I play games every now and then.

Parts I have ordered from newegg
109.99 - Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge
166.09 after $25 rebate - MSI R7870-2GD5T/OC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB
34.99 after $20 rebate - CORSAIR CX500M 500W
43.99 - Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
89.99 after $20 rebate - MSI Z77IA-E53 LGA 1155 Intel Z77

Parts I plan on getting from Microcenter
69.99 - Bitfenix Prodigy case
---------
515.04

Would you change this build in anyway?

 

[tiraides]

Can you cancel the order? There are a few parts that I would not have chosen for you.

For starters, what's the model number of the Kingston HyperX RAM? Some sets of RAM run at 1.5V and others run at 1.65V. You need 1.5V RAM for Intel, otherwise, you may damage the system.

Second, why did you go with the MSI Z77 board?

And what's currently on your SSD? How much space do you have left?

 

[mchoi999]

They still haven't processed my orders to ship yet. So it's still in the limbo stage.

I think...

Can you cancel the order? There are a few parts that I would not have chosen for you.

For starters, what's the model number of the Kingston HyperX RAM? Some sets of RAM run at 1.5V and others run at 1.65V. You need 1.5V RAM for Intel, otherwise, you may damage the system.

It's the 1.65V.

Second, why did you go with the MSI Z77 board?

It was on sale and it got good reviews online. But no particular reason.

And what's currently on your SSD? How much space do you have left?

When I last used it, I was comfortable with the space left. I definitely wasn't constricted when using it in my netbook. Not currently being used.

 

[tiraides]

Can you cancel the order? There are a few parts that I would not have chosen for you.

They still haven't processed my orders to ship yet. So it's still in the limbo stage.

I think...

Cancel it. You need to swap out a few parts.

Keep the processor, but replace the rest with the following:

$90 - ASRock B75M-ITX
$52 - Crucial 8GB DDR3 1333 CL9 1.5V DIMM
$192 - MSI R7870-2GD5T/OC HD 7870 2GB
$45 - Corsair CX430 430W PSU

The total of the above parts plus the i3-3220 (from either NewEgg or Amazon) comes to around $490 before taxes or rebates. (Micro Center has the BitFenix Prodigy for around $60 before taxes.) I chose parts that had sale prices and free ground shipping, which is why I used Amazon alongside NewEgg. As for the parts themselves:

Motherboard - Since you didn't need much, I went with a cheaper motherboard in the ASRock B75M-ITX. (Your math was off on those after-rebate totals. NewEgg listed the MSI Z77IA-E53 as $130 before a $20 rebate card.) The B75M-ITX has one SATA 6Gb/s port that you could use for your SSD (more on that in a moment). It doesn't come with built-in wireless Ethernet, but do you really need it?

RAM - I found a relatively cheap stick of RAM that runs at 1.5V. Since you're not overclocking, you don't need the more expensive DDR3 1600 (or faster) RAM. I also decided to go for one 8GB stick instead of a 2x4GB dual-channel kit so you could max out your RAM to 16GB in the future. Photoshop benefits from all of the RAM you can give it.

GPU - OK, it's the exact same card. Amazon just provided the discount without the need of the promo code. And since the [H] benefits whenever you buy parts from Amazon....

PSU - This is a cost-cutting measure as you don't need a 500 watt power supply for your system. While the modular CX500M allows you to minimize the amount of cables in your system, the Bitfenix Prodigy offers plenty of room for you to stash the excess cables.

(So there's no confusion, I don't factor in after-rebate amounts in my build lists. Mail-in rebates aren't the same as instant discounts or sales prices.)

And what's currently on your SSD? How much space do you have left?

When I last used it, I was comfortable with the space left. I definitely wasn't constricted when using it in my netbook. Not currently being used.

I believe that 64GB is too small for the needs of a multifunction computer system like yours. For many systems dedicated to either gaming or Photoshop, we normally recommend as a bare minimum an SSD over 120GB as the primary drive and an internal HDD of at least 1TB. The OS and all frequently used programs go on the SSD and everything else goes on the HDD.

Obviously, you can't buy a new, larger capacity SSD with your $600 budget. And you're probably fine right now with your external HDD for both storage and backup. But if you're just starting school, you'll use a lot of space over time to the point that you'll want to buy larger capacity drives. I recommend that you start saving up for a 250GB or larger SSD and a 1TB or 2TB internal hard drive.

 

[tiraides]

Out of curiosity, how small does it need to be? If you went towards a micro ATX build instead, you could free up enough money to add either a much better video card or a quad-core processor. For example:

(New items will have hyperlinks)

New video card
$40 - Fractal Design Core 1000 micro ATX mid-tower case
$7 - Cooler Master R4-S9S-19AK-GP 92mm case fan (for rear exhaust)
$45 - Corsair CX430 430W PSU
$110 - Intel Core i3-3220
$58 - MSI B75MA-E33
$52 - Crucial 8GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
$260 - MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC GTX 760
=====
$572 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Quad-core processor
$40 - Fractal Design Core 1000 micro ATX mid-tower case
$7 - Cooler Master R4-S9S-19AK-GP 92mm case fan (for rear exhaust)
$45 - Corsair CX430 430W PSU
$237 - Intel Core i5-3350P and ASRock B75 PRO3-M combo
$52 - Crucial 8GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
$192 - MSI R7870-2GD5T/OC HD 7870 2GB
=====
$573 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)