Upgrade: Comments Welcome

[Loremonger]

Updated 05/03/2012.

Thank you everyone who has commented so far. Please feel to criticize, heckle, or otherwise tear apart my newest iteration below.

I like to go mid-range gaming grade. This is what I've come up with. Let me know what you think:

• ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
• COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
• 128GB SSD SAMSUNG 830 Series or Crucial M4, depending on available deals. I would prefer the Samsung, but if I can get the M4 for half the price, that would be fine, too.
• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Gaming and home office
$600 Budget
Springfield, Missouri, USA

I will be rusing these parts:

• Antec 900 Case.
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018
• Asus ENGTX560 DCII OC Geforce 560
• SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
• SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-222BB/BEBE - OEM

I plan to overclock, but nothing too crazy.
Monitor: 1680x1050 22"
I plan to build in June, but I'm setting up deal alerts to buy components throughout May.
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

 

[Dangman]

Ditch the mobo: AsRock's Z68 mobos aren't exactly known for quality. Go with an Asus, Gigabyte, or MSI Z77 motherboard.

CPU wise, by the time you buy, the Core i5 3570K should be out. So go with that CPU instead.

SSD wise, the Samsung 830 series are good SSDs. However, also check out the Crucial M4, Plextor M3, and Intel 520 series SSDs.

RAM wise, ZERO reason to go with RAM higher than DDR3 1600 with current Intel CPUs. They simply do not see a noticeable real world performance increase with RAM speeds higher than DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600. So go with DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 RAM instead. Make sure that whatever RAM you're getting is rated at 1.5V and below as RAM voltage higher than that can damage the CPU. So that's two reason not to get that G.Skill RAM.

Not surprised the PSU failed: That Coolermaster was a pretty shitty power supply.

 

[computersmakemeQQ]

go with just a 2x4 kit. 16 gbs (i say this all the time) is too much for just a regular build. I have 8 gbs in my computer now; runs like a dream.

Also, get a crucial M4. They have a better (in my opinion) price point than the samsung/intel/plextor ssds. even though the other ones have toggle nand, if you want that, you should look for deals on the sandisk extremes.

 

[Loremonger]

Revised bump.

 

[Dangman]

That RAM is a poor choice since it'll limit you to 8GB of RAM max. Not to mention that it's pretty overpriced for a 4GB set. It's more cost-effective to buy a 2x4GB set so that you can expand to 16GB of RAM later on. Something like this:
$38 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

I don't trust that AsRock mobo. I recommend grabbing an Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI.

 

[Loremonger]

That RAM is a poor choice since it'll limit you to 8GB of RAM max. Not to mention that it's pretty overpriced for a 4GB set. It's more cost-effective to buy a 2x4GB set so that you can expand to 16GB of RAM later on. Something like this:
$38 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

I will never use more than 8GB of RAM. By splitting it between 4 slots, I increase overall efficiency by using 960 pins instead of just 480 pins. Also, if and when a stick goes bad, I don't have to run on only 2GB while I get a replacement.

I don't trust that AsRock mobo. I recommend grabbing an Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI.

What's not to trust? All solid capacitors. Good reviews from users. It sounds like ASRock has been making good boards at a good value recently. I think some users had some bad luck a while back, but the newer stuff seems to be solid.

 

[E4g1e]

What's not to trust? All solid capacitors. Good reviews from users. It sounds like ASRock has been making good boards at a good value recently. I think some users had some bad luck a while back, but the newer stuff seems to be solid.

Actually, ASRock is not to be trusted at this time because of their inconsistent quality control and because of their relatively short warranties on many of their motherboards (many are covered for only one or two years instead of the three years from other companies).

 

[Dangman]

I will never use more than 8GB of RAM. By splitting it between 4 slots, I increase overall efficiency by using 960 pins instead of just 480 pins. Also, if and when a stick goes bad, I don't have to run on only 2GB while I get a replacement.

What? "overall efficiency by using 960 pins instead of just 480 pins" I've never heard anyone make this argument before. What exactly do you mean?

Again, that RAM is a poor choice from a price to performance perspective. Your RAM costs $30 and gets you 4GB of RAM. $8 more gets you twice as much RAM. $15 more than the RAM you chose will also get you similar speed RAM and twice as much RAM. So you're paying $60 for 8GB of RAM when you can easily get 8GB of RAM for $38 to $45.

Actually, ASRock is not to be trusted at this time because of their inconsistent quality control and because of their relatively short warranties on many of their motherboards (many are covered for only one or two years instead of the three years from other companies).

AsRock's Z77 mobos apparently have a 3 year warranty now. Though the concern about their quality is still valid.

 

[Loremonger]

What? "overall efficiency by using 960 pins instead of just 480 pins" I've never heard anyone make this argument before. What exactly do you mean?

I'm probably making an unfonded assumption here. Each stick of RAM connects to the board via a 240-pin slot. So if you have two sticks connected, you are transferring information to and from your RAM through 480 points of contact. If you have all four slots filled, you transfer information to and from RAM though 960 points of contact, which should be faster... right? Of course, RAM is the fastest thing in the system, so if there is any performance gain, it's probably unnoticable.

I might consider a Gigabyte board. That's what I've been running for four years and have been very happy with them. Or an MSI. Really, I'm shopping deals and Microcenter has some pretty attractive combos going right now.

Asus has an atrocious RMA department, so they're out.

Thanks for your input!

 

[E4g1e]

I'm probably making an unfonded assumption here. Each stick of RAM connects to the board via a 240-pin slot. So if you have two sticks connected, you are transferring information to and from your RAM through 480 points of contact. If you have all four slots filled, you transfer information to and from RAM though 960 points of contact, which should be faster... right? Of course, RAM is the fastest thing in the system, so if there is any performance gain, it's probably unnoticable.

I might consider a Gigabyte board. That's what I've been running for four years and have been very happy with them. Or an MSI. Really, I'm shopping deals and Microcenter has some pretty attractive combos going right now.

Asus has an atrocious RMA department, so they're out.

Thanks for your input!

You are incorrect (mostly): The improvement in memory performance with two sticks over one stick varies by the memory controller itself. Memory controllers in modern mainstream systems are designed to run two sticks of memory in a dual-channel configuration. In this controller, the two channels are paired together electrically in series within the memory controller itself. However, if you add two more DIMMs, then it becomes a matter of mixing serial and parallel connections within the memory controller (see next paragraph for the end result of parallel DIMM connections).

In addition, using two DIMMs per channel does not increase the total bandwidth of the RAM - but will instead place a greater load on the memory controller just to maintain the same bandwidth. Why? Because the two slots are actually run in parallel, not in series.

The last time that any platform performs fastest with all memory banks on a motherboard completely filled would be the RDRAM-equipped Pentium 4 platforms: All four DIMM slots in an RDRAM motherboard are connected by series using single or multiple serial connections.

 

[Dangman]

AFAIK, outside of AsRock, no other LGA 1155 mobos will support LGA 775 coolers using LGA 775 brackets. Do you honestly need that feature?

And E4g1e is correct about why your assumption is wrong.

 

[Loremonger]

AFAIK, outside of AsRock, no other LGA 1155 mobos will support LGA 775 coolers using LGA 775 brackets. Do you honestly need that feature?

And E4g1e is correct about why your assumption is wrong.

I talked to a friend who got an ASRock board for the same reason. I guess the backplate on the cooler doesn't fit so well, so I'm going to assume that I need a new cooler. So no, I don't need that feature. However, ASRock still has the best feature set at any given price point, and the Z77 Extreme4 board is getting good reviews so far (and I can get it from Microcenter for $89 right now).

I updated the build. See OP.

 

[Dangman]

I would go with the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H myself as, noted earlier, I still don't trust AsRock.