[phillpower2]

As mentioned by iammykyl two such cases should you keep the chosen PSU as opposed to the case - unfortunately one of them is sold out at Newegg;
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129087
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129100

Antec 1000W PSU http://www.newegg.co...ID=3938566&SID=

[Roentijen]

iammykyl, on 15 May 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

2 cards on this site with 4GB of memory. > http://www.gpureview...0-card-669.html

I think more consideration should be given to the monitor, > Vsync http://hardforum.com...ad.php?t=928593 > Adaptive Vsync http://www.hardocp.c...nology_review/3
I have found that side fans often disrupt the airflow in a case so prefere not to use them, this case, the Illusion, runs perfectly, as is. > http://www.newegg.co...5E11-129-066-TS


The Antec (CP) PSUs are a special design and do only fit in 4 Antec cases. ie,
> http://www.newegg.co...5E11-129-100-TS

Thanks for the info on the 4GB 670s! I'll definitely be keeping an eye on those.

I only really need a 23" or 24" 1920x1080 monitor, I'd even be satisfied with something a bit smaller than that since I'm used to a laptop screen. Though I'd rather not spend more than $200 on the screen, but if you see a monitor that's much better and it isn't too much more than $200 I'd probably take you up on that suggestion. For now though, since it's in my price range and has good reviews I'm going to stick with the Asus.

Thanks for the tip on the side fans. The 300 II case is the updated version of the Illusion, sans the fancy LED fans. I'll definitely be getting some front fans for it but I'll forgo the side fan...save for maybe the side fan that goes behind the motherboard; since the mobo will be covering it I doubt it would do much in the way of disrupting the main airflow of the case.

I thought there was something suspicious about the odd design of that PSU. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be sure to adjust my list with a more conventionally styled PSU.

I've narrowed the list of 670s down to these four. I really like the Gigabyte because of it's tri-fan cooling system and the high clock speeds compared to most of the others. However I thought I'd ask your opinions. A friend of mine insists that I consider nothing but EVGA cards, but I'm not so sure. Yeah, EVGA has the step-up program and great warranties but they don't seem to offer much apart from superclocked reference cards. I will again have to amend my decision when the 4GB models hit the market (if they do so before I buy), but for now, out of the four listed in that comparison link which 670 do you guys like the most? Is there one that's not listed with those that you'd suggest over them?

[iammykyl]

Unable to pick betwixt the GPUs at the moment as there are not enough good reviews yet.

[Roentijen]

iammykyl, on 17 May 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

Unable to pick betwixt the GPUs at the moment as there are not enough good reviews yet.

Going by specs and suggestions from friends my favorites from that list are the two 399.99 cards. I prefer the Gigabyte just because of the factory OCed clocks and the fancy cooling system. Though a friend of mine really REALLY likes EVGA cards so I'm not ruling the other options out either. I've not heard much of Galaxy, but out of all the cards there it has the highest clock speeds...though I'm not sure that's worth the extra dough.

Also I thought it worth noting here, I just ordered this HDD because I thought it was too good a deal to pass up. True it's only 5400rpm when I wanted a 7200rpm drive, but I've been told that considering I'll be using a "flash cache" the slower spin speed won't be much of a factor. Plus its twice the amount of space I was originally looking at for only $10 more.

...if it isn't immediately clear, I got the 2TB HDD for $100.

[happyrock]

there is a speed difference between 5400 and 7200 HD...
there are more features in a disk to care about...how large a cache it has...how many platters... access seek times...rpm is only one factor....
the 5400 drives are more suited to laptops and/or external storage
mainstream drives are 7200
enthusiast drives are 10,000 or 15,000...I/O difference between 5400 and the faster drives is huge

[Roentijen]

happyrock, on 19 May 2012 - 08:35 AM, said:

there is a speed difference between 5400 and 7200 HD...
there are more features in a disk to care about...how large a cache it has...how many platters... access seek times...rpm is only one factor....
the 5400 drives are more suited to laptops and/or external storage
mainstream drives are 7200
enthusiast drives are 10,000 or 15,000...I/O difference between 5400 and the faster drives is huge

Given what you said and that I'd really rather not have the HDD sitting in it's box collecting dust while I wait to get the other parts, I have cancelled the order for the 2TB drive mentioned above. So I'll be able to do some more research before deciding on a hard drive.

[Macboatmaster]

and in addition to that Samsung`s hard drive business has been taken over by Seagate and although time is needed, I have not found the Seagate support for Samsung drives to be as readily accessible as it is for their own

Personally, for that reason I would stay away from Samsung drives - advertised

. http://drive.seagate...t/samsung-en-us

[Roentijen]

Very quick parts list update (complete with proper mouse, case fans, and wireless adapter):

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($189.28 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($419.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VS248H-P 24.0" Monitor ($186.13 @ B&H)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($47.52 @ B&H)
Cooling: Cooler Master R4 120mm Case Fan 4-Pack ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Mionix NAOS 3200 ($61.97 @ Newegg)
Wireless Adapter: EDIMAX EW-7722UTn Mini-size Wireless Adapter ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1506.80

I'm not sure if the 650W PSU would be able to power this rig so please correct me if it can't. Also I don't know the etiquette for after market case fans but I assume that those Cooler Master fans would work fine in an Antec case like the one above. I'm still job hunting so I'm not quite ready to purchase the parts but this is very close to what the final list will look like; but as always it is subject to change.

This list is based of the PCPartPicker generator template.

[phillpower2]

Nice build and yes the PSU is good for this build but would need upgrading if you ever wanted to add a second video card.

[iammykyl]

Hi.

Quote

but I assume that those Cooler Master fans would work fine in an Antec case like the one above.

Should be no problem, one buyer reports using them in an Antec 3oo and very pleased.

[Roentijen]

Thank you for the assurance guys, I really appreciate it. I switched to a Corsair 750W PSU which I though was a good price but I think that's the only edit that I made from the above list. Also good news is I have a few good leads for jobs and I should be able to get the funds for this build soon.

[iammykyl]

Please give a link to the Corsair 750W PSU. Even good brands occasionally put out a Dud, so we still like to do a check.


Hope you have success wit the job hunting.

[Roentijen]

iammykyl, on 07 June 2012 - 03:34 AM, said:

Please give a link to the Corsair 750W PSU. Even good brands occasionally put out a Dud, so we still like to do a check.


Hope you have success wit the job hunting.

Sorry about that I should have linked you the PSU in the other post. Here is the PCPP page for the Corsair 750W PSU I currently have on my list.

[iammykyl]

OK for the PSU.

[Roentijen]

Hello again everybody. I've been looking over ratings and reviews of the Z77 motherboards and I've decided to swap out the Gigabyte board I had on my list for the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 as it has better ratings/reviews on both Newegg and PCPartPicker. I checked the QVL to make sure the Sniper Series plays nice with this board and I'm happy to report that it does. I've also swapped out the Antec 300 II case for the Cooler Master HAF 922 and I removed the extra fans from my list as the 922 comes with 3 fans installed two of which are whopping 200mm size fans. It's also one of the better rated cases on both Newegg and PCPP and has all the niceties of newer cases, such as USB 3.0. Finally I swapped the Asus VS248H-P for the Asus VW246H because it's cheaper and seems to have a better reputation. Apart from those changes the build remains the same, however I'm considering adding an HDMI cable seeing as one doesn't come packaged with the monitor currently listed...and as always, until I've actually ordered the parts this list is subject to change.

The current state of the build list is as follows:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($142.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($417.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VW246H 24.0" Monitor ($189.00 @ B&H)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($47.52 @ B&H)
Mouse: Mionix NAOS 3200 ($61.97 @ Newegg)
Network Adapter: EDIMAX Wireless Adapter ($16.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1508.82

(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-06-13 01:27 EDT-0400)


Any thoughts or comments on the swapped tech are welcome and encouraged.