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Upgrade time! Build Check!

T

totalanni

n00b
Joined
Aug 5, 2010
Messages
57
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Basic home usage, browsing, watching HD movies
2) What's your budget? Not really to tight, would love <$500-600
3) Which country do you live in? USA NC
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Listed Below
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Gforce 250, 8gb 1333 ddr3, i5-2310
6) Will you be overclocking? Havent thought about it really...The cpu isnt unlocked, so i dont know how far that will get me...Maybe if its a good idea/later in the future...
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? 1080p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Soon
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? Intel's smart cache sounds nice...Whats hard's thoughts on that? SSD/gigabit lan/and a few pci-e full lanes are nice...
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yes, 64-bit

Ok guys, so im looking to upgrade my stock i5-2310. Its a store bought HP, with 8gb ram.
Im looking for the z68 so i can get intel smart cache. This is also my first go with SSD as well...:confused:

Here is my build list(ill be reusing my ram/cpu)

Case(need a new one bad, this seemed decent for price) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112238
Power Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502
New CPU fan(if i want to OC) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227739

Any tips/suggestions?
 
Last edited:
Ditch the SSD: It's not that good of a SSD from both a performance standpoint as well as quality standpoint. Then there's the issue of OCZ's relatively poor customer support. So I recommend this significantly higher quality and better performing SSD instead:
$115 - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SSD

PSU wise, I recommend this higher quality and actual 600W PSU instead for the same price:
$70 - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W PSU

Besides that, setup looks fine to me
 
Don't use Smart Cache with your SSD. Smart Cache is designed to use your SSD as a swap disk alongside an HDD.

Actually, I agree with Danny on his SSD recommendation. The Crucial m4 is fast enough to serve as your primary drive.
 
tiraides said:
Don't use Smart Cache with your SSD. Smart Cache is designed to use your SSD as a swap disk alongside an HDD.

Actually, I agree with Danny on his SSD recommendation. The Crucial m4 is fast enough to serve as your primary drive.
Click to expand...

Any perticular reason why i should stay away from smart cache?
The computer is my all around computer, and single 64gb hd for my main prob isnt going to cut it...
Also, minus the smart cache, whats so great about z68? If you suggest not to use it, do i even need the z68?
 
totalanni said:
Any perticular reason why i should stay away from smart cache?
The computer is my all around computer, and single 64gb hd for my main prob isnt going to cut it...
Also, minus the smart cache, whats so great about z68? If you suggest not to use it, do i even need the z68?
Click to expand...


Also recommend the crucial SSD and you're better off using the SSD for your OS and maybe a program or two that you use frequently. Then use your hard drive for storage and everything else. You will see a performance increase with SSD caching but there has been talk about it not being significant but that is up to you. You can see for yourself and decide.

The z68 has support for IGP (integrated graphics on processor) w\ virtu which is suppose to switch between your dedicated graphics card and the integrated one depending on what your doing. For an example it would switch to the IGP during web browsing and your dedicated during gaming or anything graphics demanding. However I've heard questions about virtu's effectiveness. Z68 also has quicksync technology for faster coding and the smart response for SSD caching as you mentioned. I'm not sure if I'm correctabout this next statement but being that the Z68 is the newer chipset and now the flagship, it may get the bulk of the motherboard updates over the p67.
 
If all you are doing is general PC use type stuff like Internet, watching videos, etc, and are on a budget - then just scrap the SSD all together. For the stuff you are using the computer for, you won't see enough of a benefit to make it worthwhile.
 
Well...
Thats my thing...
I have a bad case of ADD, so i switch between games pretty frequently.
I play WOW, LoL, and waiting for Diablo 3.
A few apps I use, Adobe Creative Suite and Vsphere client.

I just dont know about craming all of this on a 64gb drive...:confused:
With caching maybe....:rolleyes:
 
totalanni said:
Any perticular reason why i should stay away from smart cache?
The computer is my all around computer, and single 64gb hd for my main prob isnt going to cut it...
Also, minus the smart cache, whats so great about z68? If you suggest not to use it, do i even need the z68?
Click to expand...

The Smart Cache is intended for use with a few specially-designed, very-small-capacity (and very expensive) SSDs such as the Intel 310 series - and then, if you're going to be using a conventional mechanical HDD for the boot OS and programs. Regular SSDs are not designed for this use.
 
Seeing as how you guys are suggesting the 64gb crucial, i think ill go with it.
64gb is the most that can be used with intel smart cache...

I intend to give it a go and see how it works out...
If it doesnt, ill just use the ssd as a os/current game/vpshere disk...

Even if the drive isnt "designed" for this, and lets say it wears it out faster...it has a 3yr warranty, and beyond that, a 64gb ssd should be obsolete and need upgrading anyways...:confused:
 
That's the wrong logic to take.

Again, Smart Cache essentially turns your SSD into a swap disk. (It uses up to 64GB; any remaining space on the SSD becomes a separate partition you can use as a normal "drive.") We don't recommend buying the 64GB Crucial m4 just for the purpose of using it as a swap disk.

If you're going to be using a lot of programs on your primary drive, then 64GB may not be enough. You either need to go with a 128GB or larger SSD or forgo the SSD at this time. In my opinion, the only program(s) that justify a "need" for an SSD is the Adobe Creative Suite, but an SSD alone won't improve performance. (For CS4 or CS5, for example, you would need a better Nvidia GPU, like the GTX 560, so you could make use of Adobe's CUDA-based feautres.)

Help us out here: What are you going to use this computer for most often?
 
I rotate a few games out, and trying to prep a good system for diablo 3...
I intend to update the gpu soon..
I dont think 64gb would be enough, and 128 would push a main drive...
And its just not in the budget atm to get 2x 128gb ssd...
 
You wont really notice a difference using an SSD as a swap disk, you'd be better off spending the money else where and/or using the SSD as a primary drive to load software from. Doesn't necessarily have to be the primary Windows hard drive, just the drive you load programs you don't want to wait for.
 
totalanni said:
I rotate a few games out, and trying to prep a good system for diablo 3...
I intend to update the gpu soon..
I dont think 64gb would be enough, and 128 would push a main drive...
And its just not in the budget atm to get 2x 128gb ssd...
Click to expand...

64GB is enough if you're intelligent about how you use your space. In addition, we generally recommend a secondary hard drive for storage of large programs and files.
 
totalanni said:
Can you guys please explain yourself with the "intel smart response" disregard?
Basicly every benchmarks i have read, give the tech a 2 thumbs up, and state that almost all ssd's work nicely with it...:confused:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/4
Click to expand...

I'm not saying the technology is bad. It's really good. However, the question is why use it in the first place if the SSD is already large enough for the OS and several programs? As shown in the AT review you linked, with the SSD by itself, it was usually faster. In addition, the AT review noted:
A pure SSD setup is going to give you predictable performance across the board regardless of what you do, whereas Intel's SRT is more useful in improving performance in more limited, repetitive usage models. Admittedly most users probably fall into the latter category.
Click to expand...

AT's final words also line up with our general SSD + HDD combination:
You'll still get better overall performance by grabbing a large (80-160GB+) SSD, putting your OS + applications on it, and manually moving all of your large media files to a separate hard drive.
Click to expand...

The motherboard editor here at HardOCP has noted this about SRT:
Dan_D said:
In my opinion, this feature is better suited for mainstream use rather than the hardcore enthusiast. Again many enthusiasts, especially those who really care about storage performance will be using a dedicated SSD for their operating system installs. SSD caching could theoretically benefit large storage volumes but there are two caveats to that. One the data set must be used repeatedly for the cache to work. It's like Superfetch in that the algorithms need to determine what data gets used most frequently, and organize those data blocks on the cache drive for faster execution. With simple storage volumes which do not get read from or written to very often, the feature will be of almost no value.

Also, I tested this feature quite a bit myself before we branched this off into it's own article. It's a hard feature to benchmark based on how it works but one thing I noticed was a decrease in performance in sequential reads and writes. 4k, 4k QD32, and 8k writes are where all the improvements are shown. These improvements are huge once you've run the same data set more than once. This type of read / write / non-sequential access is typical of the usage pattern of an operating system volume, but is a-typical of storage volumes. So unless you watch the same exact videos, or run the same applications off your storage drive every day for example, you'd see no benefit from this technology.
Click to expand...

So the basic premise is this: I don't see a valid reason for using SRT when the SSD you're getting is more than enough to fit the OS and applications and will provide better performance across the board.

totalanni said:
And what are the views of this SSD?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206
Click to expand...
Not that great since it's based on the Sandforce controller which has that unfortunate random BSOD issue.
 
I see the point of just using the ssd device outright and it will be faster...
Thats why im asking about the 128gb corsair...
I could prob try main drive that...
 
As Danny pointed out, it's a Sandforce based SSD which isn't recommended. Stick with the 64GB M4, unless you can get the 128GB version.

edit
E4g1e also pointed out.
 
Just went ahead and bit on the m4 128gb, antec case/psu, gb mobo, and cpu fan...
Hope everything comes in ok...
Wish me luck on the build, and thanks for your time/help! :D
 
totalanni said:
Im not much of an antec person, even though i did just switch the case to the following...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
Click to expand...
That was a pretty bad buy. Cancel the order ASAP. That case isn't that good for the money since it's relatively cramped and has little to no cable management. I recommend this case instead:
$50 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case

Roomier and has better cablemanagement. No reason whatsoever to get the Antec 300 besides ignorance and brand loyalty.
totalanni said:
Could i get a recommendation on another single 12v rail PSU?
Click to expand...
Why the need for a single rail PSU?

In any case, that Antec PSU I recommended earlier has gone up in price. I recommend this Antec instead:
$73 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

Thought honestly, you'll be fine with this PSU as long as you don't plan on a GPU upgrade:
$58 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
 
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