Assess my (friend's) build V2

ultra_HR

ultra_HR

ultra_HR

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5 Oct 2012
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9
Hey there!

Here's a slightly revised build. What could be done better/worse on a £600 budget? I'd really appreciate it if you explained any changes you make to the build - I'm really willing to learn more about this, and experts the likes of which frequent this forum seems the best way to do that. Hope you guys don't mind me asking.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155
RAM: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage: 2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB
Case: Xigmatek Asgard II Black/Orange ATX Mid Tower
PSU: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V
Optical drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer

Thanks in advance for your help,
UHR
 
Not bad atall, just had to look up the 3350P, never heard of it before. Seems a good alternative. I would have got a H77 Board instead though and only had 1 HDD and use the money saved to get a 60/120GB SSD.

Is this built yet?
 
I agree with what Doom says, but I would keep the Z77 board, it is actually cheaper than the equivalent H77 Gigabyte motherboard. I would also change out the PSU either one of these.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-053-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-XF

Although they are lower wattage than the one you have chosen they are better quality. The TX550M is also semi-modular so it should help a bit with the cable tidying.
 
i5-3350P seems to be a 3570K without an IGP. If the price is next to no different, then a 3570K.

Not sure why spending so much on HDDs when you could improve the case, PSU (which you should imo) and maybe a 3rd party CPU cooler or SSD. I would get a 1TB drive for starters, and as I said, maybe a SATA3 SSD if it's in the budget, but not skimping on the case and PSU.

This is over budget, but just as an example.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card *£173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail *£167.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail *£81.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard *£79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) *£67.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower *Case - Gun Metal Black *£64.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) *£59.99
1 x Thermalright HR-02 Macho CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) *£29.18
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM *£13.99
Total : £756.60 (includes shipping : £13.75).




*



More in line with the budget, but still over.

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £173.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £167.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ / ST1000DM005) £67.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £25.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £654.92 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
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Thanks for all your feedback so far, really informative stuff.

Just wondered, how do you assess the quality of a PSU? What makes the ones you recommended higher quality?
 
ultra_HR said:
Thanks for all your feedback so far, really informative stuff.

Just wondered, how do you assess the quality of a PSU? What makes the ones you recommended higher quality?
Click to expand...

Previous experience, previous reviews from the likes of Hardware secrets and Jonnyguru.

A CX600 is'nt going to blow up, but the TX550M is semi-modular (able to leave of certain unused cables) and is built to a higher spec.

It also puts out more amps on the 12v rail than the CX600 does, despite being rated 50w lower.
 
Doomedspeed said:
Not bad atall, just had to look up the 3350P, never heard of it before. Seems a good alternative. I would have got a H77 Board instead though and only had 1 HDD and use the money saved to get a 60/120GB SSD.

Is this built yet?
Click to expand...

No, not built yet but I think he just ordered it all (with one of the PSUs recommended on here as a change). Maybe not, though.

And yeah, I originally suggested to him that he get one HDD and one SSD, but he's gonna be doing a lot of lossless recording of games and such, HDD's are generally perfectly fast enough for that if you do it right, and we figured that more storage would be more useful to him than speed.

I have a similar setup storage-wise (only with 4 disks rather than 2) and I get along fine despite the slower speeds. Handles lossless recording no problem.
 
olivier renault said:
i5-3350P seems to be a 3570K without an IGP. If the price is next to no different, then a 3570K.

Not sure why spending so much on HDDs when you could improve the case, PSU (which you should imo) and maybe a 3rd party CPU cooler or SSD. I would get a 1TB drive for starters, and as I said, maybe a SATA3 SSD if it's in the budget, but not skimping on the case and PSU.
Click to expand...

No idea what an IGP is, but I'll teach myself and look into it.

He's spending that much on HDD's because he is quite likely to need that much storage. His current PC's got about 1TB of stuff he wants to keep on it, and he's going to be using this new PC for recording games losslessly, which of course takes up a lot of space. HDD's are generally fast enough for that, so we figured more storage would be better for him than more speed. I did suggest an SSD to him at first, but that was the conclusion we came to.
 
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