Attention Mid-Range System Builders - Updated 08/01/2015

[Seattle51]

bumpity bumpity bump bump.......

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Upupupupp

 

[lehtv]

Now can we please get this stickied?

 

[mfenn]

Now can we please get this stickied?

LOL, where did that pic come from?

 

[lehtv]

I made it.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Now can we please get this stickied?

i like this picture

 

[pcsavvy]

Thanks, mfenn for all the research and work you do to post this. I like to read these and get a good idea of balancing my budget with recommended parts and places to go. I am on a tight budget and even though my budget is not at the $1000 level, I am able sometimes to pull things from the higher budget builds into my budget build to improve the overall running and feel of my system.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks, mfenn for all the research and work you do to post this. I like to read these and get a good idea of balancing my budget with recommended parts and places to go. I am on a tight budget and even though my budget is not at the $1000 level, I am able sometimes to pull things from the higher budget builds into my budget build to improve the overall running and feel of my system.

No worries. Just make a thread and we'll get something custom to your needs.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

if you need a cheap upgrade, just subtract the parts you already have and youre good to go

 

[steptaker]

Thanks for all the work...X2

 

[pcsavvy]

T_Yamamoto
if you need a cheap upgrade, just subtract the parts you already have and youre good to go

Unfortunately, some people are on real tight budgets and even if you have most of the parts needed for a build, sometimes the cost of getting a decent m/b & cpu that will fit your needs/budget can cause a lot of second guessing and can I streeeetch the budget to get them.:hmm:

Quadcore+ vs dual core, o/c capable m/b's & cpu's, extra features needed, single monitor vs multi-monitor, gaming vs non-gaming, etc.

Dare I say AMD vs Intel :whiste:

 

[T_Yamamoto]

lol.

AMD vs Intel

 

[sigmanova]

thanks mfenn for all the work you did doing this. I am looking to build a mid-range system in the next few months with my tax return but I'm waiting for hard drive prices to decline some more. (it's absolutely ludicrous that the Samsung F3 1TB is still $119.99...i remember when it was $60 when I bought it in November 2010.)

 

[mfenn]

thanks mfenn for all the work you did doing this. I am looking to build a mid-range system in the next few months with my tax return but I'm waiting for hard drive prices to decline some more. (it's absolutely ludicrous that the Samsung F3 1TB is still $119.99...i remember when it was $60 when I bought it in November 2010.)

Prices are still high, but they have improved a lot. The Seagate 1TB is $90 AP right now, "only" 50% more than Summer 2011 prices.

 

[Seattle51]

bump

 

[T_Yamamoto]

 

[Skott]

Love the logo, lehtv.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

 

[lehtv]

God no, make it stop...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

im lovin the pic.

im going to use it in the neff thread

 

[mfenn]

Let's try not to get this thread locked. :whiste:

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Very good updates here. However, there are some things I'd change:

For one, while the Crucial m4 is a good buy at $165, there are better deals. One of them is the SanDisk Extreme 120GB, which is $140 and is one of the fastest SSDs on the market because it uses toggle-mode NAND and SandForces' year-old SF-2281 controller. And according to reviews, reliability is excellent. Seems like the best choice right now for a 120/128GB high-performance SSD.

The money saved there I'd use for a much better motherboard, namely the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. It has support for CrossFire, allowing you in the future to run two of those HD 7850s. It also has a lot more features than the PRO3.

 

[mfenn]

Very good updates here. However, there are some things I'd change:

For one, while the Crucial m4 is a good buy at $165, there are better deals. One of them is the SanDisk Extreme 120GB, which is $140 and is one of the fastest SSDs on the market because it uses toggle-mode NAND and SandForces' year-old SF-2281 controller. And according to reviews, reliability is excellent. Seems like the best choice right now for a 120/128GB high-performance SSD.

The money saved there I'd use for a much better motherboard, namely the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. It has support for CrossFire, allowing you in the future to run two of those HD 7850s. It also has a lot more features than the PRO3.

SFF-2281 SSDs make me nervous due to the (lack of) firmware reliability. Even a company with the resources of Intel took over a year to make what they consider an acceptable firmware. It is however a very high performance controller if you're willing to accept a little extra risk.

As for the mobo, if I were going to spend some more money there, I would go with the P8Z68-V LE for the front panel USB 3.0 support. I don't think that Crossfire/SLI support is very relevant to most people.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

SFF-2281 SSDs make me nervous due to the (lack of) firmware reliability. Even a company with the resources of Intel took over a year to make what they consider an acceptable firmware. It is however a very high performance controller if you're willing to accept a little extra risk.

As for the mobo, if I were going to spend some more money there, I would go with the P8Z68-V LE for the front panel USB 3.0 support. I don't think that Crossfire/SLI support is very relevant to most people.

That was a good argument maybe six months ago. Now, not so much. Newer firmwares put reliability on par with all the others, and the initial firmware for the SanDisk Extreme seems to be just as reliable as Marvell's/Intel's/Samsung's if we're to go by user reviews.

From what I've seen ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are less reliable than ASRock's. Ignoring that, I think the opposite: this is a gaming machine; therefore, many people are gonna want CrossFire support in the future.

 

[mfenn]

That was a good argument maybe six months ago. Now, not so much. Newer firmwares put reliability on par with all the others, and the initial firmware for the SanDisk Extreme seems to be just as reliable as Marvell's/Intel's/Samsung's if we're to go by user reviews.

That's the thing, "once bitten, twice shy". Or in this case, "ten times bitten, ten times shy". We don't really know what bugs are fixed and what remain out there on any given device. Like I said, it's probably fine, but I'm trying to go with low-risk components here for broad appeal.

From what I've seen ASUS' Sandy Bridge motherboards are less reliable than ASRock's. Ignoring that, I think the opposite: this is a gaming machine; therefore, many people are gonna want CrossFire support in the future.

Why? "Upgrading to Crossfire/SLI" is rarely a good idea for people with typical upgrade cycles (2-3 years). Those sorts of people are the ones most likely to be buying a $1000 machine.