Emergency PC Build

[CeeKay]

I have to toss together a new PC fairly quickly, and it has to be one that is going to last a couple of years.  what I'm looking at for parts:

Corsair Vengeance 12 GB ( 3 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i7 SDRAM CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 $75.99
Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit for Intel and AMD Platforms CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B $94.99

Gigabyte Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboard GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 $123.99

Intel Core i5-2500K Processor 3.3GHz 6 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 $219.99

Antec Gaming Case for Desktops DF-85 (any alternate case must use metal screws to hold the cards in-  just had a very bad experience with the plastic clamps some cases use instead of screws) $154.99 [edit] may go with the Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower w/ SuperSpeed USB 3.0 w/ Window w/ Black Interior ATX Case since it looks like they ditched the clips for the PCIe cards.

Thermaltake TR2 1200W ATX 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply TRX-1200M $189.99 (SLI is being considered, and Kepler is supposedly coming out next year so it has to be futureproof)

Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA III Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD20EARX $84.99 (would go SSD but trying to keep this as close to a grand as possible).

plus the usual Windows 7 OEM ($91.98), DVD Drive ($25.99) and maybe a different CPU fan.  the graphics card is already taken care off.  I'm probably going to pull the trigger in the morning as this is helping replace a fried PC.

[TheAtomicKid]

Don't even THINK about that green series 2TB drive for a gaming system

Poking around, I'll try to update in a bit.

How much do you _really_ want to spend on the case? Hint: I'd put my system in a cardboard box if it meant I could use an SSD for the system drive.

Atomic

[TheAtomicKid]

125$ Here's the Rosewill Thor... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053 I specifically see metal screws for the cards in the screenshots. It's also cavernously huge for future hardware.

(rosewill is newegg's house brand, btw)

50$ A local friend has the destroyer... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147144 and is perfectly happy with it. I _think_ it uses screws, though the photo isn't clear. perhaps a review somewhere can enlighten...

75$ 8 gigs of ram should be plenty for the next couple of years... and these are ddr3/1600 cas8 to boot... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233147

plus s1155 is a dual channel setup.. you need two or four sticks of ram, your kit has three for an x58 based setup.

220$ cpu: skip... pricing is pretty much the same everywhere you go unless you find a sale. the 2500k is a perfectly solid choice.

125$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271 alternate mobo (pci-e 3.0 capable for future upgrades, one dollar surcharge over your board)

no comment on your psu: can't find a review I trust for it. (basically, jonnyguru.com is my go-to for psu reviews.. he really tears them apart and puts them through the ringer)

lookin at roughly 600 with windoze and optical, and the destroyer case. add in psu of your choice *insert traditional warning about crappy psu's vs modern graphics cards here*, 250 or so for a quality unit, leaving 150 for drive(s).

Which will get you a 300 gig velociraptor , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136929, single platter for speed, natch,  or you can stretch a bit and get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599, which is above your stated goal of a grand at this point, although it's within 10% or so, and it will eat that velociraptor for breaksfast, spit out the chunks, and pee on them.

edit: barring that, you could at least get a black series drive, which will be noticeably snappier than the green drive, due to the increased spindle speed. Right now you're looking at building a tricked out ricer with the cpu, ram, mobo, etc... and then you're gonna use some spare donuts for the tires... :/

Atomic

[CeeKay]

thanks Atomic.  I changed the RAM and switched to a WD Black, plus the PSU is now a Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200 Watts.   I'm going to stick with the HAF X- I liked the HAF 932 and it looks like they made all the right upgrades  for the case (including filters for the fans- silly CM leaving those out the first time!).  the mobo is going to have to stay the same as we were looking to build this weekend, and I've had horrible luck with NewEgg getting their stuff out the door for next day shipping on the same day I order it (plus if I'm reading it right it appears it only does 3.0 with Ivy Bridge, and the 2500K is Sandy Bridge- chances are pretty good the CPU will stay the same for the life of the PC):

2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE2/PCIE4: single at x16 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4), or dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4)) (PCI Express 3.0 with Intel Ivy Bridge CPU, PCI Express 2.0 with Intel Sandy Bridge CPU)

thanks again for the help!

[Doopri]

no fair ck!  you cant make a thread like this without relating the epic tale of the previous pcs fry-age!  from the hints given, it sounds like a good one...

[CeeKay]

no fair ck!  you cant make a thread like this without relating the epic tale of the previous pcs fry-age!  from the hints given, it sounds like a good one...

actually it wasn't my PC so I don't have a complete blow by blow account but from what I understand it involved a power surge and a really cheap power strip. I was asked to get the parts because I have Amazon Prime, which made quick shipping cheaper.

[CeeKay]

on a side note a SSD did get added to the mix: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2JKZI

I looked at the Patriot one and wasn't sold on the reviews, but the Crucial seemed to have decent ones and was 80 bucks cheaper.  seems to be working great so far, I might end up grabbing one and re-installing W7 on it myself.

[TheAtomicKid]

One of the cardinal rules of the internetz:

Ask for help, get help, then come back and tell us how it went...

In particular, I'm curious about your opinion of that SSD. They're quite popular through Newegg, in terms of ratings.

Atomic

[CeeKay]

Oops, sorry about that. I meant to mention it in the ssd post bu got sidetracked.

So far as I know everything is working great. The haf x doesn't seem to have good cable management compared to the haf 932 but it was pretty quiet during the install.  Everything went smooth up until something to do with RAID got set up in the bios and W7 was only showing the regular HD with less than a quarter of the space it should have had, plus it said it couldn't install on that HDD. After much googling someone finally had the audacity to crack open the manual and we realized one of the questions asked during the initial boot may have not been clear and voila! Both drives showed up correctly.  W7 installed just fine after that.

At that point I had to leave, but I haven't heard any screaming about stuff not working so it looks like the operation was a success. Again, thanks for the advice, and I looked up a post of yours from a couple years back that detailed how to build a new PC which was of great help too.

[TheAtomicKid]

Lol. How to assemble in about 18 relatively easy steps. I remember that. It's a pretty rough outline, but I'm glad it was accurate enough to help get you through the process.

Oh btw, there's an ssd optimizer floating around... *pokes a bit* here we go...

http://elpamsoft.com/Default.aspx

Handy little bugger. Win 7 is pretty smart about some stuff if you install to an SSD and it realizes it's doing it, but this will help.

Atomic

[CeeKay]

Looks like the hookup for the hot swap bays got missed (no biggie yet), the fan light isn't coming on for the font fan (again, no biggie) and something that the Gigabyte driver disc installs is causing the rig to BSOD on startup. Workaround (after 3 W7 installs and narrowing it down to at least one oarticular Gigabyte driver; thank god for insanely quick install times on said SSD) was to only install the LAN drivers and everything else was done through Windows update.  I figure I'll check things out next week to get the first two fixed. 

Oh, and the SSD firmware update. I'm going to have to make bootable disc with the latest firmware on it.

Windows experience was 7.5, with the CPU holding everything back. Memory came in at 7.6 and everything else was 7.9.

[TheAtomicKid]

Scary thought for the day. My Q6600 based rig on a P45 motherboard with DDR2/800 ram, and a GTX 260, scores 7.1/7.1/7.3/7.3/7.9 <-- SSD Raid-0 (basically, nothing scores higher than 7.9 at this point)

You think it installs fast now? Try making a USB installation for your windows, and install it from that.

Atomic

[CeeKay]

quick update on the SSD for Atmoic:  I ended up getting one for myself and it's working great so far (it even had the latest firmware already installed).  the system is up and running from a cold boot in 10-15 seconds, and I'm already spoiled because I had to reboot another PC without a SSD and the wait was agonizing.

the only drawback is I usually keep a bunch of games installed via Steam, so I probably will end up moving Steam off of it to the regular HD.....

or get another SSD just for Steam 

[TheAtomicKid]

That's the bad thing about SSD's... once you go flash, everything else, with few exceptions, feels broken

note: a _well_ tuned dual drive setup (not raid 0) comes close, for gaming, or any program specifically setup on the secondary drive... but it's only close, not the same.

Atomic

[gellar]

Yeah my work Macbook Pro has an SSD and it has forced SSD to be a requirement for any machine I buy in the future.