Looking for advice : My dad & bro's new build

Lebon14 · 28 Apr 2011

Hey guys. My dad and bro wants a new "beast" PC and well, they ask me to build 'em one. So, I went shopping on newegg.ca and essentially got that :
Pastebin.com - clicky clicky (this is v1)
Pastebin.com - This is version 2!

Just a couple of notes :
1. No overclocking.
2. Second hard drive for backup.
3. Hard drive space > speed. So no SSD. They want to install tons of (demanding) games.

What do you guys think? Any incompatibilities, better choices? Anything?

mickey megabyte · 28 Apr 2011

why not get an ssd and a hard drive?

install the os on the ssd, and big games and data files on hdd - works great for me!

Lebon14 · 28 Apr 2011

Hey Mickey (pun not intended)

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I don't think they'd want that knowing them.

ignatzatsonic · 28 Apr 2011

The price differential on the 2600 versus 2500 is close to $100. I've seen gamers comment that for gaming purposes it isn't really worth it and a better way to spend that $100 is on a better video card or an SSD.

Looks like overkill on the PSU.

I"d look at the $30 Coolermaster Hyper 212 for cooling. Very highly rated and cheaper than most.

These are just suggestions. If you really have to satisfy your dad and brother, give them what they want.

whs · 28 Apr 2011

You are the expert. Just tell them an SSD is a must - just for the OS. You can still go with 2 HDDs in addition. A modern build without an SSD is a missed opportunity.

Lebon14 · 28 Apr 2011

After discussing with my bro, we changed...

Core i7 2600 -> Core i7 2500
Zalman CPU cooler -> Coolermaster Hyper 212
Replaced 1 640GB HDD -> OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 120GB.

For the PSU, better having too much than to be too tight, and money isn't the problem here.

ignatzatsonic · 28 Apr 2011

The Sandy Bridge spec is for 1.5 volt RAM.

I think that Corsair is 1.65 volts.

You might get away with it, but why take a chance on something that critical??

Your call, but I'd find some Corsair or Crucial 1.5.

You can go to Crucial site and enter your motherboard in their configurator and it will spit back the exact Crucial model number you need.

I'm sure Corsair makes some good 1.5 volt stuff too.

Only other thing: I've yet to see a gamer say they needed more than 4 GB of RAM, but I can see getting 8 if this PC will be used for stuff other than gaming.

Other than that, looking fine.

Lebon14 · 28 Apr 2011

!!!
Thanks for the headup! Didn't notice that!
They are anal about the setup... I have barely got them to accept the fact that it'll be a core i5... So, I'll stay with 8GB of RAM. I'll just go for 1333MHZ instead of 1600.

EDIT :
UPDATED list
http://pastebin.com/LUHgJB51

Hopalong X · 28 Apr 2011

Looks good to me.

WD Caviar Black I bought two at different times.
The 640MB and the 750MB at the time I ordered were on sale cheaper than the 500MB which was regular price both times I ordered.
So if you catch them on sale why not.
Mike

ignatzatsonic · 28 Apr 2011

Looks fine.

The only other thing I might consider:

getting 2 sticks of 4 gig each, rather than 4 sticks of 2 gig each.

Why? If you use 4 sticks, the cooler is probably going to overhang the closest 2 ram slots to some degree. If you have ram in those inside slots, they might make it more difficult for you to mount the heatsink. If you have just 2 sticks, you can put them in the outside 2 slots where they won't interfere when you mount the heatsink.

Your ram doesn't have heat spreaders, which means the cooler won't actually prevent you from using the inside slots, but having ram in the inside slots might aggravate you more when you mount the heatsink. You should still be able to do it, but you may swear more.

Also if you fill all 4 slots now, you could not go to 16 gigs as easily.

It's a small point. Do what you are comfortable with.

I've got the same processor as your build. The Arctic Silver instructions at Arcticsilver.com for that processor say to apply a thin line of paste directly down the center--don't spread it around by hand. Let the pressure from the heatsink spread it