Bought a new PC, please find fault :)

miniyazz

miniyazz

miniyazz

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Joined
25 Dec 2008
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Sheffield/Norwich
Just bought the parts to build a new PC - my first since I switched to a laptop a few years ago - and everything should be arriving tomorrow :D

So... now seems like the perfect time to critique my choices and give me Buyer's remorse, please do your worst :p

  • Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced C1 CPU cooler - £39.77
  • 3GB XFX Radeon HD 7970 DD Edition - £203.75
  • 16GB Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Low Profile PC3-12800 - £112
  • Edimax EW-7722PnD PCI-E 300Mbps 2.4/5GHz - £21.12
  • Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H - £105.44
  • Zalman ZM-K200M keyboard - £5.75
  • Intel Core i7 4770K - £219.99
  • Gigabyte ECO600 1600DPI Wireless Gaming Mouse - £20.99
  • Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - £3.95
  • Corsair RM650 80+ Gold PSU - £86.98
  • Corsair Obsidian 550D - £107.98
  • Samsung SH-223DB DVD Writer - £12.49
  • Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO - £138.28
  • 23" AOC I2369VM IPS Full HD Monitor - £125.08
Total: £1223.56

FYI, my priorities here were quality components, power and silence.

PS I have a 100" 1080p projector which will be used 75% of the time, hence the small monitor...

Now, please let rip ;)
 
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why do you even start a thread after purchasing the components already?

but to add to list of what's wrong

wifi adapter
keyboard
mouse
thermal compound
 
Yeah the motherboard I kinda agree with you, there was a time I would never have bought an mATX mobo. But TBH I struggled to see myself using any extra features of an ATX version, only possible exception being SATA ports but I've got a SATA PCI-e card lying around somewhere anyway if required in the future. It's even got Xfire if I wanted to at some point - and being smaller will be easier to manhandle into the case (OK hardly a concern :p). But I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on why to get an ATX one? I'd probably have got the Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H if going ATX but the £35 price difference didn't seem worth it..
The case? Not too big, not too small for HDDs /futureproofing and can easily upgrade to ATX in the future..

Corsair RM PSU? Not to mention the exceptional price of this one, seems like a well constructed high end PSU with excellent fan management (turns off fan completely at low loads) which seems like exactly what I want - here I am very confused, and interested to hear why this is a mistake?

Didn't pay much attention to the brand of 7970 tbh, just know it's £20 cheaper than most others but has the DD cooler which looks and is reviewed to be quieter than many? It'll have at least a year's warranty anyway with the retailer.. I'm just reading now about XFX and slight warranty issues.. :p
 
kefan77 said:
why do you even start a thread after purchasing the components already?

but to add to list of what's wrong

wifi adapter
keyboard
mouse
thermal compound
Click to expand...

For the lols, of course :D
Keyboard - went with the cheapest slightly ok one as I'd prefer to try more expensive ones out in person and I haven't yet decided how much I'll use it anyway (use xbox controller + chatpad keyboard with the PJ i.e. most of the time). Same applies to the mouse.

Thermal compound - thought Arctic Silver 5 was well regarded?

Wifi adapter - tell me more?
 
not got anything against matx motherboards, just not pairing it with an atx case(go with the prodigy m or phenom m or similar).
psu wise better to go with seasonic, be quite or antec, if you wanted corsair then one of the seasonic built ones.
if its mainly for gaming then no need for 16gb ram, also haswell likes fast ram so would have been better to get something faster.
 
Theres nothing wrong with it as such, but I fail to understand some of your choices...

The main point of an M-ATX motherboard is that it is smaller than an ATX motherboard and as such takes up less room and can fit in smaller cases meaning smaller PC's. For the same price or very slightly more you could have had a full ATX motherboard with the same feature set as well as more expansion slots etc, though as I said, not a massive issue.

Questionable choice on the PSU, nothing wrong with it as such (unless you get a dodgy one of which there have been several reported) but I would personally have gone for something a bit different.

You might not need 16GB of RAM, but then again I have 16GB and don't need it so there is not point in me being a hypocrite. :p

Not sure why you would skimp on the keyboard and mouse as they are the tools you use to interact with your new beast of a PC after all, cheap peripherals make for a cheaper overall experience. But that isn't important. The monitor is okay for the money, Arctic Silver 5 is fine, can't comment on the wireless adapter, case is personal preference, CPU cooler is fine etc.

The main flaw I can see is that you could have got this motherboard which is full ATX and comes with a free CPU cooler.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-437-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2574

:)

If I were you i'd cancel and start again, but that is just because I'm very picky with my components. If youre happy with it then at the end of the day thats all that matters. (though it doesnt necessarily mean that you couldnt be happier ;)) Perhaps next time ask first.
 
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It will work and looks good, though i would have done things differently (and ultimately better :)).

Enjoy your new rig, just remember to come to us next time for advice on part (before you buy it).
 
Thanks for the input guys!
Keyboard, as above spent pennies because I'm really not expecting to use it much and gives me time to consider better options if I find I do use it more than expected. Mouse - simple is good - basic 5 button requirements met. Wireless w/ good range (2.4GHz) and long battery life, should do me :) I've got a Razer DeathAdder somewhere that I lent to a friend if it turns out to be really rubbish (which would be disappointing).

Got plenty of HDDs otherwise yeah would've got a nice big one.

RAM speed - I could have bought higher speed stuff and perhaps I should have, but most of the gains seem to be had with IGP gaming with little difference in most (not quite all) other scenarios (except for 1333MHz stuff which is slower across most of the board). Maybe I'm trying to save an extra £20-30 for no real reason.
Yeah 16GB is overkill but I put 16GB in my laptop and don't want to downgrade ;)

That mobo - yuk, is that PCI slots? :p
I'm not sure I could have brought myself to buy that one despite the free CPU cooler (which does look fairly reasonable actually for quiet operation when at lowish rpm, but it's perhaps not as safe a bet as the one I went for) - if I were getting full ATX I'd definitely want 8+ SATA ports. Again though you raise a valid point with the silliness of mATX in a full ATX case. However I think we're going to be happy together :)
 
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