What do you think of this system build?

[stech1]

I've been thinking about building a new machine since the first of the year... I was about to do it back when the SB chipset was recalled. Then I got busy on some other stuff, so it has taken me until now to finally take the plunge.

I've been overwhelmed with all the new cpu's on the market. Last box I built was 5 years ago, based on a Athlon 64 3200+ 929. It has been a great box but it' time to pass it down to the kids. The new box will mostly be used for school/office type work, basic stuff like internet surfing, email, etc.. some photo light photo editing, perhaps a VM or two... probably the most taxing thing will be the flash games my wife plays (frontierville)... it will also be a linux box.. probably will go with Mint (based on Ubuntu) 64 bit version.

I found a base system recommended by titan131 here. I've always been an AMD fan, but Intel is hard to pass up these days. I upgraded the cpu to an i3 2100.. while its only dual core, I kept seeing it being recommended and in most cases it blows away most any AMD on the market, especially given the price. It will do anything thing I need it to do, and should do so very well for a good long time. Anyways, here's what I've ordered. Thought I'd post it and let you guys tell me what you think. Please don't beat up on me too bad. Any one have a similar setup?

Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX Computer Case w/ 1 x 120mm fan

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power ...

ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

SAPPHIRE 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM


Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor

Total Shipped is $608. I am going to probably pick up an Intel X25-V 40GB SSD for 100 dollars, making the complete system cost a little over 700 bucks. So, what do you think?

 

[Sunburn74]

I hate to say it but you may benefit from buying some pre fab from gateway or dell for cheaper. As long as you're not gaming you can get away with integrated graphics. Once you're in that ball park, cases, psus shrink dramatically and prices as well. I can't give you anything off the top of my head but take a look at microcenter and see what they have instock. I'm sure you'll find something to match what you have right now....

 

[anti.machine]

It is true you could benefit from a prefab, but I understand the desire to create your own custom computer! I would suggest you check some AMD processors, yes I know they don't compete with Intel as far as performance, but for your needs I believe AMD would meet your needs just fine.

Look into the newer AMD A8 processors!

 

[LagunaX]

I bought this on ebay - quite a similar system:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150661336474?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

You can ask this seller to build you one for cheaper than you can:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/250879683479?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649http://www.ebay.com/itm/250879683479?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649

Your build - I would actually do a seagate momentus xt 500gb hybrid drive - it boots and loads programs almost as fast as a ssd but gives you 500gb of storage for around $100. Read/write is around 100 which is comparable to your 1 TB drive.

 

[stech1]

LagunaX, that was an awesome buy. If you got it for the 400 dollars, he did lose money!

Sunburn, I am allergic to buying desktops from anyone. Seriously, I've had basically 2 boxes in the last 10+ years and both of them I've built myself. And, as anti.machine mentioned, I just like doing it. I wasn't always as boring a user and I am now.

 

[titan131]

That ram was a shell shocker when I chose it @ 34.99. You can save a few bucks by getting G.Skill value ram instead. Its the same stuff but without the pointless heat spreaders.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

 

[T_Yamamoto]

That ram was a shell shocker when I chose it @ 34.99. You can save a few bucks by getting G.Skill value ram instead. Its the same stuff but without the pointless heat spreaders.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

:thumbsup:

 

[lehtv]

Don't go with Intel X-25, it's a SATA II SSD. You can get Crucial M4 64GB for $95 off newegg.

Everything else in your rig looks pretty nice

 

[stech1]

That ram was a shell shocker when I chose it @ 34.99. You can save a few bucks by getting G.Skill value ram instead. Its the same stuff but without the pointless heat spreaders.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231424

Titan, I actually did get the shell shocker price as well. At the current price, I would definitely prefer the ram without the heat spreaders. I suppose in some applications there might be a point to it, but I don't like the way it looks. But, that's me. Thank you for posting the original build. I had been toying with configurations for quite a while, but your clicked. I changed some stuff a bit, but it was a big help!

Don't go with Intel X-25, it's a SATA II SSD. You can get Crucial M4 64GB for $95 off newegg.

Everything else in your rig looks pretty nice

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not that up SSD's, but from all I've read, it's a worthwhile investment. I will go with that M4, especially since its a newer generation and actually bigger for less money.

 

[titan131]

Thank you for posting the original build.

No problem

 

[mfenn]

Don't go with Intel X-25, it's a SATA II SSD. You can get Crucial M4 64GB for $95 off newegg.

Everything else in your rig looks pretty nice

Agree. The X25-V wasn't that good when it came out a couple years ago, and it's certainly not competitive today.

OP, I would also look into getting an Nvidia card for Linux unless you are very comfortable with fglrx.

 

[aphelion02]

With a linux box you might want to go with Nvidia, they generally have had better support.