your opinions about a barebones system please

dc57 · 09 Apr 2011

Hi all,

My computer is a 6 year old Dell Dimension 9100 and I was thinking of building a new one and saw this system at Tiger Direct. I don't play too many games, but do a lot of photo and video work. I was wondering if you could give me your opinions about it:

MSI H61M-P23 B3 Intel Sandy Bridge Barebones Kit - MSI H61M-P23 B3 Mobo, Intel Core i3-2100 CPU, Corsair 4GB DDR3 RAM, Seagate 500GB HDD, 24x DVDRW, Diablotek ATX Mid-Tower Case, Eagle 550W PSU at TigerDirect.com

Thanks in advance

Don

Tepid · 09 Apr 2011

That should be ok, as long as the Sandybridge issues have been resolved on that board, and I think they all have been.
The only things I would change...

Go with the i5 or even i7 processor
And I would up the PSU to 650W minimum. The reason is, if you decide to add more HDD's, a Video Card, and many USB devices (such as External Drives), your gonna run into issues with power.

The RAM should be good for now, depending on how much rendering you really do.
If it is just novice stuff, 4G is plenty.

Mike Connor · 09 Apr 2011

Agreed.

But if you do any serious video or graphic work, then go for an i7 and 8 GB RAM.

Agreed on the power supply as well.

Regards....Mike Connor

dc57 · 10 Apr 2011

Thanks Tepid, thanks Mike.
I will definitely look at the i7 processors and more power. From what I have read the sandybridge issues have been resolved with this one. I didn't think about more power for the added graphics card, thanks for pointing that out.
Take care
Don

Tepid · 10 Apr 2011

I should have really said that 650W is bare minimum, you should go with 750W to 800W, this is only to be future safe.
Anything over that I would consider server level, ie: more than 5 internal HDD's and a High Level Vid Card, and numerous external devices.

dc57 · 10 Apr 2011

Ok, I'll remember that. I will be going with a higher level graphics car, so thank you again, Tepid