Please rate this upcoming desktop build

[c0re]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Everything but gaming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500 US

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

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.
Case, motherboard, ram, cpu 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.
Selling current custom desktop, not reusing any.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22" LG, 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
October

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.
Needs to be 4th gen micro-atx board with usb 3.0 ports, 2 memory slots and hdmi

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit legit


Getting rid of my older monster tower pc from 2010-- too big/loud for my needs. Looking to build a compact quiet desktop that will sit on a desk and not take up too much space.

The case will have a micro-atx 4th gen board and cpu, modular ps, 1 hd, 1 dvd burner, no addon cards and some cooling fans, very simple setup. Below is what i specked out, let me know your thoughts/concerns.

The Build:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4570S 2.9GHz Quad-Core / $169.99+tax Microcenter
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 / $118.99+$5.99 SH SuperBiiz / Coupon code KICKOFF10, Expires Sep 16, 2013
Memory: G.Skill Value Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 /$129.99 Newegg
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower / $39.99+tax Microcenter
Power Supply SeaSonic 550W ATX12V / EPS12V / $79.99+tax Amazon
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer / $15.99+tax Microcenter

Estimated Total: $560.93 before tax.

 

[Dangman]

Could you please list out the prices for those parts? Some of those parts are not good choices at certain price ranges.

 

[silk186]

I've never heard of team memory. At least go with something like Kingston of gskills.

 

[royce321]

if you wanna simply save space you're better off with a aio desktop.....or one of those lcd kits that has a empty chasis for a itx board and components

 

[c0re]

Could you please list out the prices for those parts? Some of those parts are not good choices at certain price ranges.

updated

I've never heard of team memory. At least go with something like Kingston of gskills.

updated

if you wanna simply save space you're better off with a aio desktop.....or one of those lcd kits that has a empty chasis for a itx board and components

don't like all in one/prebuilt/barebone systems

 

[schmuckley]

$130 for 1333 RAM on haswell?
i give this a 4
The recent TEAM RAM that's high freq is MFR..I wouldn't use for daily.
Anything over 8GB RAM is overkill.
Why get a z87 board with non-OCing chip?
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147123 $24
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094 $30
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313122 2x $64
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817494002 $42
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138384 $80
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950 $70

Total:$286
PS: I see room for a nice SSD in that budget..jus saying..or maybe dedicated GPU (small one)

 

[c0re]

$130 for 1333 RAM on haswell?
i give this a 4
The recent TEAM RAM that's high freq is MFR..I wouldn't use for daily.
Anything over 8GB RAM is overkill.
Why get a z87 board with non-OCing chip?
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147123 $24
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094 $30
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313122 2x $64
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817494002 $42
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138384 $80
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950 $70

Total:$286
PS: I see room for a nice SSD in that budget..jus saying..or maybe dedicated GPU (small one)

thanks for the links schmuckley, don't like your choices other than the cpu.

 

[Dangman]

Yeah I wouldn't go with schmuckley's recommendations either: Too many cost-cutting measures that aren't worth it.

With that said, he did have a good point: You don't need 16GB of RAM unless you're planning on doing a ton of photoshop, video editing, or 3D rendering work. You should be fine with 8GB of RAM. With the money saved on the RAM, you can spend it on the CPU like the Core i3-4130. It's a lot easier to upgrade the RAM than it is to upgrade the CPU.

Also, you're planning just too early: Our recommendations do tend to change over time. So parts we recommend today may not be the best parts to get next month. So I highly recommend coming back when you're 1-2 weeks away from buying the parts and ask for advice then. You'll get more up-to-date advice then.

Though I will make one part recommendation: At $70 shipped, that CX500M is overpriced considering that the significantly higher quality Seasonic SSR-550M is only $10 more:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

The CX500M is really only worth it at the $50 to $60 price point.

 

[Quartz-1]

Do you really need such a powerful PSU? And is the one you list Haswell-compatible? I would suggest a lower power modular SFX PSU to give yourself more space inside the case. Silverstone do a 450W one, but even 450W is overkill - I doubt you'll need even half that.

You're also going to need a HDD and maybe an optical drive. I suggest an external USB optical drive for the latter.

 

[Dangman]

Do you really need such a powerful PSU?

HHonestly, not really. However, it's simply one of the better bang for the buck PSU options as there aren't any sub 550W modular PSUs that offer similar performance at a price that's both lower than the price of the Seasonic SSR-550M yet still reasonable. For example, the Silverstone SFX 450W PSU you've mentioned is $71 shipped for the lower-end non-modular model. At that point, might as well spend the extra $9 for the significantly higher quality and modular cables for the Seasonic. If you're talking about the higher-end Gold 450W model, while it's a good PSU, unless there's severe space constraints, I don't see the need to spend the extra $14 for that Silverstone.

And is the one you list Haswell-compatible?

Since that Seasonic isn't some low-grade PSU or group-regulated design, it is Haswell compatible. Not to mention that the "Haswell-compatible" bit is only for the C7 powrt state which is disabled by default in the UEFI.

You're also going to need a HDD and maybe an optical drive. I suggest an external USB optical drive for the latter.

He said he had a hard drive.

 

[schmuckley]

You guys do know LEPA is Enermax, right?
well it is..
Biostar boards are good quality;Even on the lower-end.Better than Giga or AsRock when it comes
to budget boards.
The RAM thing's a toughie;There's like..nothing really good out there for cheap.
Anything with Samsung IC would be Ideal.

 

[c0re]

You guys do know LEPA is Enermax, right?
well it is..
Biostar boards are good quality;Even on the lower-end.Better than Giga or AsRock when it comes
to budget boards.
The RAM thing's a toughie;There's like..nothing really good out there for cheap.
Anything with Samsung IC would be Ideal.

Never heard of LEPA power supply, prefer modular. I'm a huge fan of Gigabyte, used them for all my desktops and friends desktops--never an issue. Will check Newegg in October to see how prices are then. Thanks to everyone for there feedback.

 

[cyclone3d]

You guys do know LEPA is Enermax, right?
well it is..
Biostar boards are good quality;Even on the lower-end.Better than Giga or AsRock when it comes
to budget boards.
The RAM thing's a toughie;There's like..nothing really good out there for cheap.
Anything with Samsung IC would be Ideal.

Biostar are good boards. I will agree on that.

Back when they first came about around 2000-2001, we were ordering direct from them at the computer shop I worked at.

Not only could we sell them cheaper than other brands, but the failure rate on them was way lower than any other brand.

We sold way more Biostar boards than all other brands combined and had way fewer Biostar boards come back than any other brand of board.

I personally have not had a Biostar board in a very long time, but I also don't really see any complaints about them either.

 

[Dangman]

You guys do know LEPA is Enermax, right?
well it is..

And? Unfortunately, a lot of Enermax PSUs are crap. Or mediocre at best. Since there's no proper PSU review of that particular Enermax and considering Enermax's track record, I don't see a reason to go with that Enermax PSU when confirmed good quality PSUs are not that much more. In fact, you can tell that particular Enermax is one of the low quality ones due to the fact that it does not include APFC. The red voltage switch on the back of that PSU confirms that.

 

[schmuckley]

And? Unfortunately, a lot of Enermax PSUs are crap. Or mediocre at best. Since there's no proper PSU review of that particular Enermax and considering Enermax's track record, I don't see a reason to go with that Enermax PSU when confirmed good quality PSUs are not that much more. In fact, you can tell that particular Enermax is one of the low quality ones due to the fact that it does not include APFC. The red voltage switch on the back of that PSU confirms that.

Proof?
It's cheap and does what it's supposed to.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdjuh6a4JTM

I do understand that c0re prefers modular;So it's a moot point but..
He said no overclocking

 

[ragecase]

Seems decent given the budget. Shame you can't manage another $100 or so, would allow for a much improved discreet card to be added in.

 

[Dangman]

Proof?

Proof of what? That it's low quality? Your link and the fact that PSU lacks APFC says it all.

It's cheap and does what it's supposed to.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdjuh6a4JTM

I do understand that c0re prefers modular;So it's a moot point but..
He said no overclocking

That youtube link is utterly worthless since they're not properly testing the PSU at all. It's basically a fluff piece.

In any case, if you read the thread you linked, the guys there openly acknowledge that there are far far better options for the money. Even if c0re did not have a modular requirement, he still would have been able to get a far far better quality PSU for less:
$40 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU