[natethegr8]

Hey, noob here.
I am essentially doing my first pc build and, after extensive research, I have parts picked out. My target budget was under $600.
The parts are as follows:

MB - BIOSTAR TZ77B LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $99.99

CPU - :Intel Core i5-3550 Processor (Ivy Bridge)- Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.30GHz (3.70GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 77W, Fan, $209.99

 ::Corsair CWCH60‎ ‏Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - Socket LGA775, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA1366, Core i5, Core i7(5.5  lbs) $59.99

RAM - C13-5720  ::Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 9-9-9-24 CAS Latency, Intel XMP Ready, Unbuffered(0.3  lbs) $46.99

‎(No ‏Video Card for now, will be using integrated Ivy Bridge graphics)

HD (actually SSD) OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $69.99

Case - Corsair 300R $69.99

PSU - ULT-LSP450  ::Ultra LSP450 450-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, 135mm Fan, Lifetime Warranty w/ Registration(4.45  lbs) $39.99

Any suggestions regarding better configurations and or cheaper parts, etc. are greatly appreciated!!

Thanks to all

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Gday natethegr8,

You do not need the cooler. When a heat sink and fan is included in a boxed retail CPU from both Intel and AMD, and you change it for an after market one, you will void the warranty. The cooler is very good and is designed to keep the CPU within it's thermal specifications.

AS you are not installing a GPU at the moment, conider upgrading the CPU to the i5 3570K giving HD Graphics 4000 > http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

A 60GB single SSD will impact on the usefulnees of the system, you really need a second HDD for DATA storage.

I have some concerns with the PSU but will need to do some more research.

You have not listed an OS.

Edited by iammykyl, 07 May 2012 - 08:55 AM.

[iammykyl]

Gday natethegr8,

You do not need the cooler. When a heat sink and fan is included in a boxed retail CPU from both Intel and AMD, and you change it for an after market one, you will void the warranty. The cooler is very good and is designed to keep the CPU within it's thermal specifications.

AS you are not installing a GPU at the moment, conider upgrading the CPU to the i5 3570K giving HD Graphics 4000 > http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116504

A 60GB single SSD will impact on the usefulnees of the system, you really need a second HDD for DATA storage.

I have some concerns with the PSU but will need to do some more research.

You have not listed an OS.

Edited by iammykyl, 07 May 2012 - 08:55 AM.

[natethegr8]

Thanks so much for your prompt reply!!

Thanks for the advice on the cooler, I didn't know that it would void the warranty.

Regarding the CPU, thanks! I was misinformed by a forum that noted that the 3550 had the 4000, which is why I picked it (especially seeing as how the 3550 and the lower-end ones are pretty much the same price). However, the 3570 is 50 bucks more expensive, so I will have to think about it.

As for the HD, I know, I plan on getting a bigger non-ssd drive but I want to wait till the prices start going down again and I won't need it right away.

How about the MB? I chose it because it was the cheapest z77 board I found that had good reviews. Is Biostar a good company?
Also, the PSU, is Ultra a good company?

Thanks again in advance!

[iammykyl]

How about the MB? I chose it because it was the cheapest z77 board I found that had good reviews. Is Biostar a good company?

A. They are an OK company, nothing bad about them. All Mobo companies receive the same reference Motherboard (IE, Z68 Chipset) from Intel. Each adds features, some more, some less, like 1 PCI-E slot or2 or 4. The quality of parts veries as well, so the same reference board, enhanced, could cost hundreds of dollars more than the cheapest. My preference is Asrock, many go for Asus or MSI.

Also, the PSU, is Ultra a good company?

A. Not a good brand, a unit I would not buy. Also 450W would be OK for your system but leaves little upgrade path when adding more components. Most video cards starting at about $140 require a 500w PSU and to give you a little wiggle room I suggest any one of these good quality 550W units . > http://www.newegg.co...5E17-182-131-TS

Edit, formatting.

Edited by iammykyl, 08 May 2012 - 08:19 AM.

[natethegr8]

Those PSUs look great, especially price-wise , but will having a 600W psu kill my electric bill, or is it only the wattage you use?

Also, regarding what you mentioned earlier - getting the i5 with the 4000 gpu, do you know what the difference between the 4000 and 2500 will really be? I want to make an informed decision.

Regarding the case, I had no idea that "Mid" cases were so huge! Thank G-d I realized before I ordered it, my wife might have killed me As such, is there a downside to going for a mini-atx case, cooling-wise or otherwise?

Thanks so much for your informative answers!

[iammykyl]

but will having a 600W psu kill my electric bill, or is it only the wattage you use?

A. Hour right in you only pay for what you use.

, do you know what the difference between the 4000 and 2500 will really be? I want to make an informed decision

A. Not a lot of direct comparison tests out there yet but as far as I can see, the 4000 is + 50% better overall than the 2500, so well worth having, use Google translate for the link, > http://www.computerb...00-und-2500/18/

As such, is there a downside to going for a mini-atx case, cooling-wise or otherwise?

A. For a Home Theatre sat in the front room for streaming to the TV and playing videos, is OK but airflow is restricted so as soon as you put the rig under load, generating more heat, the noise increases dramatically. Adding a discrete video card would aggravate the problem so I would not recommend using a mini case.

[natethegr8]

I think I have decided to go with the Seasonic S12II 430w for the PSU, after doing a tooon of research about PSUs I decided that, as you said, it is really not worth skimping on one, so might as well go for the best.

Regarding my SSD, I wanted to get your opinion: Is it better to get a 120gb drive for about 100$ or get two 60gb drives on RAID 0 for about 130 (110 after rebates). Is the extra speed worth the slight loss of space, etc?

BTW, I found the i5 3570K for 228.99 on Amazon (On Newegg it's 244.99 with a 20 gift card, but I'd rather save the money upfront) sweeet, I think it's definitely worth the extra 30 bucks.

Also, one more thing. Should I get just 4gb of ram, my techie friend said I won't need more than that as I won't be gaming, but as I understand, OCZ recommends that you disable pagefile on the SSD for optimal performance and I need to have enough ram so that my system won't crash, right? Your opinion please.

Thanks again for all your help, you have been very informative! Is there any way that I can commend you on your help?

[Troy]

Hi Nate,

I would suggest a 120GB single SSD over 2x 60GB in RAID 0. Plus you'd have to check if the motherboard even supports onboard RAID where most of the cheapest options do not.

As for RAM, these days it is cheap. The minimum I usually use is 8GB even though it may never be used (as your techie friend mentions), it's just so cheap. If you get my point. And down the path if you come to upgrade the computer you'll likely find the 8GB is enough and so can focus on other areas to upgrade.

Troy

[iammykyl]

I agree with Troy, also note that RAID O for the Boot drive is not recommended, double the chance of drive failure, no Mirroring,
"RAID 0 (block-level striping without parity or mirroring) has no (or zero) redundancy. It provides improved performance and additional storage but no fault tolerance. Hence simple stripe sets are normally referred to as RAID 0. Any drive failure destroys the array, and the likelihood of failure increases with more drives in the array (at a minimum, catastrophic data loss is almost twice as likely compared to single drives without RAID) source, > http://en.wikipedia....Standard_levels

When using an SSD for the OS, Programs, ideally you should have a normal HDD for DATA storage.

I think I have decided to go with the Seasonic S12II 430w for the PSU,

> http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151074 I really recommend you go for the Rosewill, link in Post #4, no shipping, so will cost you the same and insures you will not have a problem when installing a GPU.


When all parts have been selected, please post a full list so we can give ti a final revew before purchasing.


Have a look at this site, > http://pcpartpicker.com/ Register, select your country at top right corner, select your parts, you can save and edit your build, keep track of your budget, post a link to us.