New build

linnemeyerhere said:

Overall looks to be a nice solid build. I have zero experience with the WD blue's, I've settled in on Seagate Baracuuda 2TB drives as my basic storage drives and 3 and 4 tb versions for high capacity storage. For speedy basic storage a WD black. We are right around the corner from really cheap ssd storage so if it was me I would suggest 2-3 tb and opt for something with 7000+ rpm and 64gb cache.....but that's just me.

Blues are great drives and have the same reliability as the WD blacks (have same specs on component lifetimes, even though the warranty period is different). The 1 TB blue are one platter and are pretty fast: 190 MB/s peak on the outer edge of the platter and 142 MB/s average. I have 3 of these running on my system now and several other on my families for quite some time with no issues and great performance.

Seagate pretty much suck in my book. Their data center enterprise class drive are all right, but hteir consumer drives have high failure rates in general.

Another good option are the HGST (Hitachi) drives. But they are more expensive than the WDC Blues and I don't think you buy much for that.

mjf said:

AddRAM said:

The motherboard and the PSU.

Thanks everyone for the response. I'm a bit restricted by the local supplier.

@AddRAM can you give more details.
I thought this PSU was built by Seasonic for Antec and is an 80+ bronze.
As to the motherboard. I know this is a "basic" motherboard but it appears to have all the features I seem to need and again it's the "poorer cousin" from Asus and I don't want to overclock.
The user (my son) may upgrade his GPU at some stage at his expense! A PC for his studies is more important than his gaming stuff. I want a PSU that could deal with a GPU upgrade but only one.

@ ignatzatsonic
I wanted a Cooler Master 212 EVO or 212x cooler but the local supplier isn't selling it anymore.

In terms of noise. I do want a reasonably quiet system. When the CPU is going flat out I'd expect increased CPU fan cooler noise.

I appreciate the comments. Bad choice comments are really appreciated.

Well the 212 wouldn't do then IMO. It can cool fairly well at high loads, but that is because the fans run at high rpm and are noisy. You might look at Noctua solutions, but they are a bit pricey. What kind of loads are you expecting?

mjf said:

ignatzatsonic said:

Does your vendor have a web site or menu of components?

Sorry I didn't get back but have read and appreciate the comments. This is the supplier I typically use
MSY-The name you can trust-More than 17 yrs In IT industry-Nationalwide branches serve you & offer the best IT price everyday

I think the PSU options I have are good quality and modular isn't that important with a decent case to hide unwanted cables. As to the case I'm still unsure.
Mother board is pretty much between (Australian $):
- AsRock H97M-Pro4 - $109
- Asus H97-Pro - $158

Admittedly the AsRock is micro but seems to get really good reviews. I've used a basic AsRock before and it's still going strong.

Fractal design cases are a good bang for the buck.

If you are not going modular, pay careful attention to the depth of the backside of the case where you will route the cables. PSU cables are relatively stiff, especially for non-modular PSU, so it isn't easy to route the cables without ample space.