critique new build...

[pwrusr]

so far here's what I'm planning to go with:

Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V Pro I chose this board as it seems to be the best board with a PS/2 port and intel nic onboard.
Ram: 16GB (2x 8GB) Corsair 1600 cas10 (unless cas9 makes a substantial difference)
Power supply: Corsair 650-850watt AX or HX series. still deciding on this...
Video card: Going to just bum around with the onboard for a little while until I do a bit more research on video cards.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming with high quality settings @ 1920x1200, hypersurfin (50-70 tabbs open in firefox/chrome at a time), Photo Editing and Virtual Machines (Linux/UNIX, Windows8 beta, etc...).

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
For this half of the build (no video card at the moment) $500-650

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Baltimore, MD. USA

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.
Motherboard, Ram and power supply

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
i7-2600k, Antec p180, Monitor, 256GB samsung 830 SSD (sata6) and 2TB HDD

6) Will you be overclocking?
not right away, however I will be in the near future.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" Dell, 1920x1200

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the next week or so

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.
SATA 6Gb/s, Intel nic built in, PS/2 port, SLI support, Onboard video with DVI output to start with (I'll be choosing a video card next month or two), UEFI Bios.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, will be using windows 7 pro 64bit that I already have.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Please answer the sticky questions so I can help you determine if this build is right for you. Though I can see you're spending too much on RAM, that motherboard is probably more than what you need, you probably want a 560 Ti 448 core GPU (I don't know your budget, but its a good mid range video card in the $250 price range), PSU determines if you're going to SLi/Crossfire or not.

Also list the make/model of the SSD and HDD you're using.

What program will you be doing the photo editing?

 

[Hagrid]

+1 on the sticky questions.
Make sure you list if the VM stuff is just for fun(just a few) or work and you run more then that. The 2 x 8 ram would work better if you need more then 16.(or if you can afford it anywayz )

 

[Dangman]

If you're planning on SLI, then yeah you're gonna want at least a solid 750W PSU. As for Corsair, generally AX series PSUs aren't worth it over the HX series IMO since they don't provide that much of a quality or performance increase to justify their price.

Rest of the planned setup looks fine. Though note that you will need at least Windows 7 Professional if you plan on using more than 16GB of RAM as Windows 7 Home Premium is artificially limited to 16GB of RAM.

 

[pwrusr]

Please answer the sticky questions so I can help you determine if this build is right for you. Though I can see you're spending too much on RAM, that motherboard is probably more than what you need, you probably want a 560 Ti 448 core GPU (I don't know your budget, but its a good mid range video card in the $250 price range), PSU determines if you're going to SLi/Crossfire or not.

Also list the make/model of the SSD and HDD you're using.

What program will you be doing the photo editing?

How is spending $120 on ram too much? that's dirt cheap for that amount of ram compared to about five years ago when I built my last C2D rig. I guess you're right if you're compareing it to 8GB. But I really want this computer to last 3-5 years before any major core upgrade (not including video cards). I may be doing SLi in the future just not something I plan on initially. Thanks for the video card suggestion. I was also considering a GTX480 since it's going for ~$220 currently, however I'm not getting a video card during this phase of my build. That'll come next month.

I'll likely be using Adobe CS5 for photo editing if I can find a low cost license/copy. If not, paint.net and gimp have been good freebie programs that I've used in the past.

+1 on the sticky questions.
Make sure you list if the VM stuff is just for fun(just a few) or work and you run more then that. The 2 x 8 ram would work better if you need more then 16.(or if you can afford it anywayz )

I saw no reason not to spring for 16GB of ram at this point. I can add more if needed later on and I have more then enough now


Also, edited first post to reflect sticky questions. (sorry about not including that before)

 

[pwrusr]

If you're planning on SLI, then yeah you're gonna want at least a solid 750W PSU. As for Corsair, generally AX series PSUs aren't worth it over the HX series IMO since they don't provide that much of a quality or performance increase to justify their price.

Rest of the planned setup looks fine. Though note that you will need at least Windows 7 Professional if you plan on using more than 16GB of RAM as Windows 7 Home Premium is artificially limited to 16GB of RAM.

Cool thanks for the insight on PSU's. I was thinking about the same. We'll see if I can find a good deal on a AX 750-850. If not HX it is!

Sorry, forgot to add that the windows 7 copy I have is pro, so I'm good there

 

[E4g1e]

How is spending $120 on ram too much? that's dirt cheap for that amount of ram compared to about five years ago when I built my last C2D rig. I guess you're right if you're compareing it to 8GB.

Actually, 8GB DIMMs still cost 30 percent more per GB than otherwise identically-specced 4GB DIMMs. So, you would be paying an extra 30 percent by going with a 2 x 8GB kit versus a 4 x 4GB kit or two 2 x 4GB kits.

 

[Hagrid]

How is spending $120 on ram too much? that's dirt cheap for that amount of ram compared to about five years ago when I built my last C2D rig. I guess you're right if you're compareing it to 8GB. But I really want this computer to last 3-5 years before any major core upgrade (not including video cards). I may be doing SLi in the future just not something I plan on initially. Thanks for the video card suggestion. I was also considering a GTX480 since it's going for ~$220 currently, however I'm not getting a video card during this phase of my build. That'll come next month.

I'll likely be using Adobe CS5 for photo editing if I can find a low cost license/copy. If not, paint.net and gimp have been good freebie programs that I've used in the past.



I saw no reason not to spring for 16GB of ram at this point. I can add more if needed later on and I have more then enough now


Also, edited first post to reflect sticky questions. (sorry about not including that before)

I hear ya. I dont really use but 1 or 2 VM's but still sprang for 16gb, since its so cheap, but in 4x4 sticks....Next time ill get 8gb sticks.

 

[Topweasel]

Actually, 8GB DIMMs still cost 30 percent more per GB than otherwise identically-specced 4GB DIMMs. So, the OP would be paying an extra 30 percent by going with a 2 x 8GB kit versus a 4 x 4GB kit or two 2 x 4GB kits.

You do know he is the OP right? It's not that bad, specially if you can find a decent deal. But there is nothing more frustrating to know that to upgrade the memory you have to throw all of the memory out. I personally like the idea of spending a bit more to get the larger sticks leaving 2 extra ports to double up on ram when the price on those sizes bottoms out. But I also build systems that I run for 3-5 years with out major changes.

 

[E4g1e]

You do know he is the OP right? It's not that bad, specially if you can find a decent deal. But there is nothing more frustrating to know that to upgrade the memory you have to throw all of the memory out. I personally like the idea of spending a bit more to get the larger sticks leaving 2 extra ports to double up on ram when the price on those sizes bottoms out. But I also build systems that I run for 3-5 years with out major changes.

Sorry, I did not read the username. I will correct this.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

How is spending $120 on ram too much? that's dirt cheap for that amount of ram compared to about five years ago when I built my last C2D rig. I guess you're right if you're compareing it to 8GB. But I really want this computer to last 3-5 years before any major core upgrade (not including video cards). I may be doing SLi in the future just not something I plan on initially. Thanks for the video card suggestion. I was also considering a GTX480 since it's going for ~$220 currently, however I'm not getting a video card during this phase of my build. That'll come next month.

I'll likely be using Adobe CS5 for photo editing if I can find a low cost license/copy. If not, paint.net and gimp have been good freebie programs that I've used in the past.



I saw no reason not to spring for 16GB of ram at this point. I can add more if needed later on and I have more then enough now


Also, edited first post to reflect sticky questions. (sorry about not including that before)

Because you can get 2x4GB kits in the sub $50 price range, putting them under $100 for 16GB. You can also spend less money and go with an 2x8GB kit like this one here for $110 which is $10 less than what you selected, yet will allow 32GB maximum upgrades later on.

When I said you were paying too much, I meant comparatively with other DDR3 240 PIN kits, not DDR2 240 kits back then.

 

[pwrusr]

there is nothing more frustrating to know that to upgrade the memory you have to throw all of the memory out. I personally like the idea of spending a bit more to get the larger sticks leaving 2 extra ports to double up on ram when the price on those sizes bottoms out. But I also build systems that I run for 3-5 years with out major changes.

QFT!

Because you can get 2x4GB kits in the sub $50 price range, putting them under $100 for 16GB. You can also spend less money and go with an 2x8GB kit like this one here for $110 which is $10 less than what you selected, yet will allow 32GB maximum upgrades later on.

When I said you were paying too much, I meant comparatively with other DDR3 240 PIN kits, not DDR2 240 kits back then.

Ok I see what you mean now. Cool suggestion on the ram, however it's cas 11 ram vs the ram in my op that's cas 10. Will there be any performance hit going with a higher latency ram

 

[Topweasel]

QFT!


Ok I see what you mean now. Cool suggestion on the ram, however it's cas 11 ram vs the ram in my op that's cas 10. Will there be any performance hit going with a higher latency ram

Ram speed and latency has almost no affect on the performance of SB.

 

[pwrusr]

Ram speed and latency has almost no affect on the performance of SB.

Got it! after reading a bit on the subject it seems to be pretty much confirmed across the board. Seems that ddr3 1600 cas10 is the sweet spot right now for price performance.

That said, I'm likely going to go with the following:
CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16G
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO

Still going over PSU reviews...

 

[pwrusr]

Got it! after reading a bit on the subject it seems to be pretty much confirmed across the board. Seems that ddr3 1600 cas10 is the sweet spot right now for price performance.

That said, I'm likely going to go with the following:
CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16G
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO

Still going over PSU reviews...

Ok guys ordered those two and a Corsair HX750 from newegg. Couldn't pass up the $10 promo + $20 mail-in.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010