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Critique build, offer suggestions..

J

JediKnight

Member
Looking to build a new system for gaming purposes mostly. No strict budget (ie. only willing to pay more for visible performance increase), but about $1000 for all components sounds about right for a ballpark figure (+/- 20%).

I also have a lot of media (videos) to store that'd be a PITA to replace (don't have any backup strategy at the moment - I know I'm playing with fire!) so being able to set up my hard drives in a RAID configuration that provides some redundancy in case of drive failure is a definite plus.

Here's what I've come up with, browsing the boxing day sale of ncix.com (Canadian retailer):
CPU: Core i5 3470 (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=72279&promoid=1033) - $179.99
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=69231&promoid=1033) - $109.99 (+$30MIR)
Case: MSI Interceptor Series Ravager (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=70593&promoid=1033) $79.99 (+$35MIR)
PSU: Corsair CX Series CX750 750W (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=75728&promoid=1033) $69.99 (+$20MIR)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu Black Series 16GB 2X8GB (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=78420&promoid=1033) $59.99
Hard drive: 2x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=66009&promoid=1033) $119.99 (x2)
Video card: PNY GeForce GTX 670 980MHZ 2GB (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=72414&promoid=1033) $329.99 (+$40MIR)

Total, before taxes:
$1097.46 (+$125MIR)

I prefer Intel over AMD for CPUs, generally (although not a fanboy).
I do not plan on overclocking.
I have a 1080p (1920x1200) monitor.
Planning on building immediately (want to take advantage of Boxing day sales).

Undecided on which OS to use. May go with Windows 8 as it's available for cheap, but I've heard bad things about it (may be more whining than anything - I thought Vista was just fine). May use Vista as I have an extra license. Win 7 would be my preferred choice if I didn't need to spend the $$ for it.
 
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JediKnight said:
Critique build, offer suggestions..

new system for gaming purposes mostly.
No strict budget... but about $1000 for all components sounds about right for a ballpark figure (+/- 20%).

I also have a lot of media (videos) to store that'd be a PITA to replace (don't have any backup strategy at the moment

...set up my hard drives in a RAID configuration that provides some redundancy in case of drive failure is a definite plus.

Hard drive: 2x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=66009&promoid=1033) $119.99 (x2)
Video card: PNY GeForce GTX 670 980MHZ 2GB (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=72414&promoid=1033) $329.99 (+$40MIR)

I do not plan on overclocking.
I have a 1080p (1920x1200) monitor.

Undecided on which OS to use.
Click to expand...
SSD for OS & Apps
2X WD 3TB Red in RAID 1 for storage
2-3TB External drive for the last line of defence against catastrophic data loss.
Windows 7 = :thumbsup:

Drop back on the GPU if you need to shave off a few $$
 
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CPU: Good
Mobo: Good
Case: Antec 302 $60 AR is better
PSU: Way overkill for a rig that consumes 250W in heavy gaming. XFX 550W $40 AR is better quality too and with 5 yr warranty
RAM: 2x4GB is all you need for gaming. E.g. Crucial Ballistix $30 (clearance)
Disk: Dunno if this or WD Red is better...
GPU: I'd get a nonreference card, the 670 stock cooler is not that great. E.g. Gigabyte 7950 $290 or Asus GTX 660 Ti DCII OC $280 ($260 AR)
OS: Upgrade your Vista license?
 
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RAID is useful, but not a substitute for backing up data. You better start backing up for real because RAID 1 will blindly replicate everything, including potential malware, etc.
 
Any reason to recommend WD Red over the Seagate? Superficially, they look like they should have similar performance (I haven't done any research on this). And the Seagates are $20 cheaper.

Is it worth considering more advanced RAID configurations (0+1 or 5) or would that require a prohibitively expensive RAID card?
 
JediKnight said:
Any reason to recommend WD Red over the Seagate? Superficially, they look like they should have similar performance (I haven't done any research on this). And the Seagates are $20 cheaper.

Is it worth considering more advanced RAID configurations
Click to expand...
Google is your friend.
RAID 1 is good as long as you take my external HD recommendation also.
 
RAID IS NOT A BACKUP!

Sorry, but that point needs to be emphasized. You should absolutely positively, not be putting any money into RAID until you have a backup strategy in place. A simple one would be to take one of those drives, put it in an external USB 3.0 enclosure, and then set up a backup tool to automatically copy your data. Something as simple as SyncToy would work, but I used Areca Backup for a long time before I bought Acronis B&R.

As for the build itself, I agree with lehtv.
 
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