new build for a fast computer

insane

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
83
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Some gaming, web browsing, watching HD movies and HD youtube
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$700 - $1000 with tax and shipping
3) Where do you live?
Seattle
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Motherboard, Ram, Hard drive, SSD, PSU, Case, OS, Video Card, Disc Drive
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none
6) Will you be overclocking?
no unless I can do it without buying extra equipment
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I have a 23" monitor 1920 x 1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next few months
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Dual channel DDR3. mATX (building SFF computer). At least 6 usb ports
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
no


I absolutely want a fast computer that responds to my actions well. I plan on buying an ssd so that I can have fast access to my programs without much loading. I also want the computer to be near silent. This is the main reason why I’m upgrading my current pc. My current pc sounds like a hair dryer and I can’t take it anymore!
 
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz $99 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103704

BIOSTAR A785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX $66 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138182

A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $109 Shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409

Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2/64GB $140 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132

Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AADS 640GB 32MB Cache $65 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136527

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W $55 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99 Shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=windows_7-_-32-116-754-_-Product

GIGABYTE GV-R485MC-1GI Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 $137 shipped
completely silent passive cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125258

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R $22 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

Total is $792 shipped i left out the rebates u got about 60 bucks in rebates also if you choose to get them.

Leaves you $200 bucks to decide on a case and any other silent cooling options u need/want.

Case, whatever ya prefer

CPU NON stock cooling will depend on what case you buy as to what fits.
 
Are you near the Fry's in Renton? If so, there may be some good bundle deals coming out on Friday, if the current one's are no longer in stock.

Gaming at 1080P w/ silent/SFF system in mind is challenging. What games do you play and at what settings?

Did you want to go mATX or mITX? Did you have a certain case in mind already?

Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2/64GB $140 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132

Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AADS 640GB 32MB Cache $65 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136527

If you want speed and responsiveness, avoid both of these drives. The SNV425-S2 is a Toshiba rebrand of a JMicron controller which plain sucks, and the green drive parks itself every several seconds. For an SSD, you'll want either an Intel or Indilinx based drive, unless you increase your budget (then you can probably get a Micron or Sandforce drive). For the HDD, you'll want something with more pep, like the Samsung F3 500GB or 1TB, or the WD Caviar Black 1TB (or 640GB; or the 500GB and hope you get lucky with a single platter drive).
 
Yes, any SSD is better than any mechanical drive, but you still don't want to use a Toshiba/Jmicron controller-based drive. For responsiveness, the drive must have fast small random write speeds, low random access times, and high IOPS -- none of which are qualities of any drive with the Toshiba/Jmicron controller. It's not a crapshoot at the low end nor midrange, in fact, the choices are clear: Intel or Indilinx. At the high end, the choices are clear as well, Micron or Sandforce. ;)

Review of same controller in the smaller version of that Kingston drive:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2968/...30gb-ssdnow-v-series-battle-of-the-125-ssds/6

If you're patient, you can find an Indilinx based drive at the same $140 pricepoint, or a smaller Intel drive at a lower pricepoint. When Newegg was clearing Vertex/Agility stock, the 60GB drives were going for below $140. When Amazon was clearing out Kingston 40GB Intel-based drives, they were going for $75 each; two in RAID0 cost $150 and performs faster than a single X25-M 80GB. You just have to be patient and wait for the deals. Vertex2 and Agility2 were just released, so it'll be about a month or so before some really good deals come out on those drives, I'm guessing. With the prices of SSDs being so high but frequent specials, I'd strongly recommend against settling for a crappy SSD simply because of the price. In other words, for $140, I'd suggest avoiding that 60GB Kingston and going with the $125 Intel 40GB or $130 OCZ Vertex/Agility 30GB instead if you can't wait for a better deal. You get less space, but you're paying for speed, not space. Store everything else on a fast HDD.

For low heat & noise, stick with a single platter F3 500GB if you don't need the space; if you do need the space, the dual platter F3 1TB runs cooler than the Caviar Black 1TB in my experiences -- both 1TB drives sound equal, though.
 
Are you near the Fry's in Renton? If so, there may be some good bundle deals coming out on Friday, if the current one's are no longer in stock.
I’m on the north side of Seattle but I can drive to Renton.

Gaming at 1080P w/ silent/SFF system in mind is challenging. What games do you play and at what settings?
Lateley, I been playing League of Legends which isn’t that demanding on the Graphics card. I want to graphic intense games like MW2 on medium settings that stays steady above 40+ fps.

Did you want to go mATX or mITX? Did you have a certain case in mind already?
I want to go with mATX. I was thinking about going with $99.99

If you want speed and responsiveness, avoid both of these drives. The SNV425-S2 is a Toshiba rebrand of a JMicron controller which plain sucks, and the green drive parks itself every several seconds. For an SSD, you'll want either an Intel or Indilinx based drive, unless you increase your budget (then you can probably get a Micron or Sandforce drive). For the HDD, you'll want something with more pep, like the Samsung F3 500GB or 1TB, or the WD Caviar Black 1TB (or 640GB; or the 500GB and hope you get lucky with a single platter drive).

I was thinking about getting Intel SSD $211.99
 
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz $99 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103704

BIOSTAR A785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX $66 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138182

A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $109 Shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409

Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2/64GB $140 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132

Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AADS 640GB 32MB Cache $65 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136527

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W $55 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99 Shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=windows_7-_-32-116-754-_-Product

GIGABYTE GV-R485MC-1GI Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 $137 shipped
completely silent passive cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125258

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R $22 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

Total is $792 shipped i left out the rebates u got about 60 bucks in rebates also if you choose to get them.

Leaves you $200 bucks to decide on a case and any other silent cooling options u need/want.

Case, whatever ya prefer

CPU NON stock cooling will depend on what case you buy as to what fits.

I appreciate the build. I been playing around between your build and my wishlist build on newegg.
 
LIAN LI PC-V351B Black Aluminum MicroATX Desktop Computer Case $99.99
EVGA 111-CD-E630-TR LGA 1156 Intel H55 $89.99
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 $169.99
BYTECC Bracket-35225 2.5 Inch HDD/SSD Mounting Kit $6.00
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache $115.00
Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC $211.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $104.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB $49.99
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R $23.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $99.99

total $971.79


The build I was thinking about before I made this thread
 
5770 is definitely better idea than getting 4850. Also, dont forget to get yourself a power supply. Get a good brand too.
 
Ditch the Core i3/Core i5 setup. Unless you're not gaming at all, you're better off with an AMD setup. Go with the CPU and mobo that dajet24 recommended. Oh and the WD3200AAKS drive is pretty slow compared to this larger drive for $6 more:
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
Check and see if the Fry's near you has either of these mATX combos still in stock:
$105 - i3 530 + H55 Gigabyte S2H
$170 - X4 955 + 890GX MSI
 
555 BE and Asus 785 mobo - $169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.375962
*This processor has a 75% chance to unlock to a full quad. Take those odds. If you don't want the chance factor, get a full-cache Phenom II (You will notice the lack of cache on the Propus cores). Even if this doesn't unlock, Thuban will be out soon.....

SB Core Contact - $22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...006&cm_re=core_contact-_-35-207-006-_-Product

Kingston SSDNow 64gb - $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139133
*DON'T listen to the Jmicron haters. This has a new version controller with 64mb onboard cache and will perform fine. Yes, the OCZ Agility is a better deal if you can find it at the same price... but this is not a bad SSD.

Antec NEO ECO 620C - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

Gigabyte Radeon 4770 1gb - $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125298&cm_re=4770-_-14-125-298-_-Product

OR

HIS 4870 - $162
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161292&cm_re=4870-_-14-161-292-_-Product

HEC mATX case and Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.379442

LG DVDRW - $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136167

Gskill Ripjaws 4gb ddr3 1333 - $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231274

Win 7 - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4&cm_re=windows_7_home-_-32-116-754-_-Product

Total - $895
 
I had the new Toshiba/JMicron controlled 30GB... it sux -- I returned it to Newegg after a week of usage. Yes, again, it's better than any mechanical drive, but I just felt that it was slower than it should be (btw, I didn't find out it was toshiba/jmicron until after I returned it). I haven't uploaded the screenshots yet, but this page will give you an idea of where I'm coming from with that statement. http://ssd.alphaq.org This is just my opinion -- I wanted the same thing as you, snappy performance; but I've also been exposed to the Intel and Indilinx SSDs, so I could tell that the performance on that Kingston was a bit lacking. /shrug Speed is addictive.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top