Looking for critique on my new build.

[WhtDrgn1968]

I have been building pc(s) for a while now. I am looking from some critique on this new build I am in the midst of building. So far this is what I am planning on purchasing.

1. Lian Li PC-A70F (Already Purchased)
2. ASUS P8P67 EVO LGA 1155; 6Gb/s SATA; USB 3.0
3. i5 2500K (Not planning on OC at this time but, maybe later)
4. Corsair Vengeance 8 Gb PC12800
5. EVGA GTX 460; 2Gb 256bit
6. W.D Caviar Black 500 Gb/s HDD for O.S.
7. Corsair Pro Series GOLD 750 Watt
8. Lite On 12x Blu-Ray Burner with Blu-Ray 3D feature
9. Corsair Hydro H70
10. 2 WD Caviar Black 1 TB HDD for games and so forth.
11. Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit w/SP1

 

[mfenn]

Here's a few comments:
- Mobo: Z68 has more features than P67 and a good Z68 mobo can be had for much less than $195. The GA-Z68X-UD3 can be had in a very nice combo with RAM right now (see below)
- CPU: Good
- RAM: Corsair RAM is usually overpriced for what it is. Check out this GA-Z68X-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB combo.
- GPU: You didn't list prices, but the 2GB version of the GTX 460 not really worth it. If this is a gaming rig, you'll want a much more powerful GPU anyway. Please advise
- HDD : The small drives aren't very good cost per gig, so you might as well drop the boot drive altogether (or go SSD). As for the storage drives, the Samsung F3 1TB is a better deal.
- PSU: Waaaaaay overkill. This XFX 550W is more than enough power for a gaming card, and you can use a 430CX for a GTX 460 and lower.
- ODD : Fine
- HSF: Those self-contained water cooling systems aren't really any better than a tower air cooler. Check out the Corsair CAFA50.
- OS: Unless you really really want to use Bitlocker, there is no point to getting Ultimate

 

[fffblackmage]

^+1

Those self-contained water cooling systems aren't as great as you'd think they are. They're very user-friendly, but they don't significantly outperform conventional tower heatsinks. Having another piece of moving hardware (the pump) also means you have something else that could potentially fail.

 

[WhtDrgn1968]

Currently the GTX 460 is going for $230, as for the power supply I am looking for modular rather than all the extra wires hanging around doing nothing and in the way I did drop it though to a 650 Watt PSU. The GA Z68X is a nice mobo but, I want it to be able to connect my blu-tooth phone and my android tablet up as well and because the ASUS has blu-tooth compatibility that is why I chose that mobo. As for Win 7 Ultimate your right I am not planning on using BitLocker so I just go with a lower end Win 7.

Here's a few comments:
- Mobo: Z68 has more features than P67 and a good Z68 mobo can be had for much less than $195. The GA-Z68X-UD3 can be had in a very nice combo with RAM right now (see below)
- CPU: Good
- RAM: Corsair RAM is usually overpriced for what it is. Check out this GA-Z68X-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB combo.
- GPU: You didn't list prices, but the 2GB version of the GTX 460 not really worth it. If this is a gaming rig, you'll want a much more powerful GPU anyway. Please advise
- HDD : The small drives aren't very good cost per gig, so you might as well drop the boot drive altogether (or go SSD). As for the storage drives, the Samsung F3 1TB is a better deal.
- PSU: Waaaaaay overkill. This XFX 550W is more than enough power for a gaming card, and you can use a 430CX for a GTX 460 and lower.
- ODD : Fine
- HSF: Those self-contained water cooling systems aren't really any better than a tower air cooler. Check out the Corsair CAFA50.
- OS: Unless you really really want to use Bitlocker, there is no point to getting Ultimate

 

[dbrons]

as for the power supply I am looking for modular rather than all the extra wires hanging around doing nothing and in the way I did drop it though to a 650 Watt PSU

Yeah, I ended up getting the HX-650 which was the least expensive, best quality, I could find modular. It has flat cables except for the 24, and 8 pin connections which are permanently attached, but necessary for every system.

But yeah, I guess the thing in this forum is to say "you could get this PS for $30 less" but I'll tell you, the modular PS is worth the extra money IMO.

And likewise the Corsair water cooler. Of course a pump adds something that could go wrong, that's true with water. But my system looks so much better without some huge heatsink hanging off the motherboard. I suspect you'll like the water cooler though I would suggest you look at the H-60. It's newer supposedly improved and cheaper than the H-70. You would probably want to replace the Corsair fans anyway as they are quite loud and you can mount two on the H-60 if you need to.

Dave

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I ended up getting the HX-650 which was the least expensive, best quality, I could find modular. It has flat cables except for the 24, and 8 pin connections which are permanently attached, but necessary for every system.

But yeah, I guess the thing in this forum is to say "you could get this PS for $30 less" but I'll tell you, the modular PS is worth the extra money IMO.

You obviously didn't look very hard.

And likewise the Corsair water cooler. Of course a pump adds something that could go wrong, that's true with water. But my system looks so much better without some huge heatsink hanging off the motherboard. I suspect you'll like the water cooler though I would suggest you look at the H-60. It's newer supposedly improved and cheaper than the H-70. You would probably want to replace the Corsair fans anyway as they are quite loud and you can mount two on the H-60 if you need to.

Thanks for proving my point. You admit that the H70 did absolutely nothing for you. Instead of having a "huge heatsink hanging off the motherboard" you have a huge radiator sitting 3 inches from the CPU. Big improvement.

 

[mfenn]

Currently the GTX 460 is going for $230, as for the power supply

That's a ridiculously silly price for a GTX 460. You can get a much faster 6950 2GB for not much more. The GPU is the place to spend in a gaming rig.

I am looking for modular rather than all the extra wires hanging around doing nothing and in the way I did drop it though to a 650 Watt PSU.

Dude, you have a full tower case with a built in space for bundling the extra wires.

The GA Z68X is a nice mobo but, I want it to be able to connect my blu-tooth phone and my android tablet up as well and because the ASUS has blu-tooth compatibility that is why I chose that mobo.

That's a really silly reason to choose such an expensive motherboard. All ASUS is doing is packing in a $13 USB Bluetooth adapter.

 

[WhtDrgn1968]

Here is my new build:

Lian Li A70F 202.97
Gigabyte GA Z68X LGA 1155 Bundled with G Skill 8 GB PC12800 188.98
Intel i5 2500K 219.99
Crucial RealSSD 64 GB this will be for my O.S. 134.99
EVGA GTX 560 Ti SuperClocked 249.99
Lite On 12x Blu-ray Burner with Blu-ray 3D feature 97.99
Corsair Pro Series HX650 PSU 119.99
Corsair Hydro H60 Cooler 66.98
2x Hitachi 7K3000 1.5 TB HDD for games and so forth 69.99 x 2 = 129.98
Win 7 Pro. 64 bit 139.99

Total Price: About 1800.00 This includes some S/H and 2 yr Extended Warranties on some of the parts.

 

[mfenn]

Looks a lot better, but there is still a good amount of room for tweaking:
- GPU: $250 is way too much to be spending for a GTX 560 Ti. Get this one for $200 AR and drag the overclocking sliders to the right yourself.
- PSU: Still way more power (and cost) than you need. Get the XFX 550W that I recommended above or at the very least this XFX 650W modular.
- HSF: Still dumb for the reasons stated above
- OS: I guess I should have just said to get Home Premium in the beginning. :awe: Unless you need to join the computer to a domain, there is no need to get Pro

 

[WhtDrgn1968]

Ok, I have to say that I did not see the XFX PSU, I've swapped that out. As for the GPU I've never heard of that company. Do you know anything about it. I see that it is the very same card just a different brand name. Next the HSF. The reason I went with this is because I have a simular HSF in my current pc. These things are monsters and considering that the mem slots sit right next to the cpu and with this hulking mass sitting on top of the cpu makes it a problematic if I need to install more memory or remove memory. Lastly the OS, I have always ran at least a PRO OS. Allows me to do a lot of tweaking to the OS and sometimes I remote into other computers around that friends ask me to fix something for them.

Looks a lot better, but there is still a good amount of room for tweaking:
- GPU: $250 is way too much to be spending for a GTX 560 Ti. Get this one for $200 AR and drag the overclocking sliders to the right yourself.
- PSU: Still way more power (and cost) than you need. Get the XFX 550W that I recommended above or at the very least this XFX 650W modular.
- HSF: Still dumb for the reasons stated above
- OS: I guess I should have just said to get Home Premium in the beginning. :awe: Unless you need to join the computer to a domain, there is no need to get Pro

 

[betasub]

^ The Palit card mfenn linked? Looks like a vanilla reference-style card, so you are not paying extra for frills or a factory-overclock. IIRC Palit own Gainward, and are not some no-name brand.

mfenn is correct to point out the minimal difference between Win7 Pro and HomePremium. Just as long as you are aware

 

[WhtDrgn1968]

I'm gonna stay with the EVGA. The card has a lifetime warranty on it. I'd rather have a life time than only 2 yrs. Thanks just the same for all your inputs though.

^ The Palit card mfenn linked? Looks like a vanilla reference-style card, so you are not paying extra for frills or a factory-overclock. IIRC Palit own Gainward, and are not some no-name brand.

mfenn is correct to point out the minimal difference between Win7 Pro and HomePremium. Just as long as you are aware

 

[mfenn]

Ok, I have to say that I did not see the XFX PSU, I've swapped that out. As for the GPU I've never heard of that company. Do you know anything about it. I see that it is the very same card just a different brand name.

EVGA's lifetime warranty isn't worth crap IMHO. They have a really bad habit of sending you broken cards as warranty replacements until you finally give up and buy a new one. Don't get me wrong, the card itself is no better or worse than the Palit, but it sure isn't worth paying $50 extra for.

Next the HSF. The reason I went with this is because I have a simular HSF in my current pc. These things are monsters and considering that the mem slots sit right next to the cpu and with this hulking mass sitting on top of the cpu makes it a problematic if I need to install more memory or remove memory.

And with the Corsair you have this huge hulking radiator permanently attaching your mobo and CPU to the case. Don't really see the difference.

Lastly the OS, I have always ran at least a PRO OS. Allows me to do a lot of tweaking to the OS and sometimes I remote into other computers around that friends ask me to fix something for them.

Windows 7 is not the same as Windows XP. Home Premium isn't gimped like XP Home was, you can still tweak the registry to your hearts content (not that you need to with 7). Also, Remote Desktop Connection is a standard part of all Windows 7 editions.