looking to build new pc

[AussieGuy92]

one thing i am worried about is should i get a 600w or even 700w psu instead of the 500w psu??

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Try to get some RAM from the Qualified Vendor list as Essenbee says. That stuff is known to work. Other RAM will likely work too, but try to go from the list.

A-Ram brand is completely unknown to me. From the list you provide from your vendor, I would go with Corsair. This one is 1.5 volts:

Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3-10600 1333MHz DDR3 RAM - 9-9-9-24 - Performance Solution Product ID: 133606

Re Power supply: Look at my system specs. I have a more powerful Sandy Bridge than you are considering, but my other components are similar to yours (no video card). My system idles around 70 watts and uses under 150 watts at maximum load. Which means even 500 watts is much more than you need. I ran my system for 3 months on a 330 watt Seasonic power supply with no issues at all. I upgraded to a 560 Seasonic only because the 330 watt was aging and was not modular. Get a reliable brand PSU (Seasonic, Antec, Corsair) of 500 or less and you will have way more than you need. A 500 watt unit is plenty to power a major video card if you ever choose to buy one.

Edit: I downloaded your QVL and spent 15 minutes or so trying to match up Corsair, Kingston, and G Skill RAM from the list to something from your vendor's memory stock. I failed. You can try to match up other brands if you want. Personally, I'd go with the Corsair above as it appears to match and is available at your supplier.

That's the problem with QVLs----they normally list only a few of the RAM modules that actually would work well and the mobo manufacturer usually admits as much.

 

[AussieGuy92]

ok just considered a SSD drive will it work with my MB and if so what size would you get for the os?

 

[essenbe]

It really depends on how you set it up and what you want to put on it. I have 2, one for each desktop an 80GB and a 90GB. Set up properly you can run a good setup with a 60GB. I would just suggest either Intel or OCZ.

 

[AussieGuy92]

i want a SSD for the os and than have IDE or SATA drives for storage of files and back ups 60gb should be plenty of room for programs and updates?

 

[essenbe]

I have an 80GB on this computer used for the OS and only frequently used apps. I have used 21GB of it. Your apps may differ but maybe that could give you some idea,

 

[AussieGuy92]

ok thanks i have a 80gb hard drive in my current laptop with windows 7 64 bit so i guess that will do for my next build. i would like one but cost might come down to weather i get one or not.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I just installed an 80 gig SSD. It now has all of my applications with a total occupied space of 22 GB. I'd say most people would be fine with a 60 or 64 GB drive. I bought an Intel 320 model, but Crucial and OCZ also have good reputations. The word I get is that prices will decline only slightly in the next 6 months or so. Any price below $2 per GB in US dollars is a pretty good deal as of today. They are not miraculous, but do reduce boot times to maybe 30 seconds and improve overall responsiveness.

All of my data remains on traditional spinning drives.

 

[essenbe]

ignatzatsonic, congratulations on the new SSD, I'm sure you will enjoy it. Let us know how the new 320's perform.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Here are a couple of benchmarks. I'm not yet sure how it compares to competing drives.

The bootracer boot speed is misleading. I don't know what they are actually measuring, but the more conventional boot speed script found on this forum shows a boot speed of 31 seconds. By way of comparison, my Caviar Black spinning drive required 47 seconds on that same test.

 

[essenbe]

If I am not mistaken, the boot script from this site measures the time to shut down, post and load windows. The bootracer only starts when the loading windows screen appears. Good scores on yours. This is the scores on my 80GB G2.
for comparison.

 

[Zepher]

i am thinking around 300-400 dollars i could do it is going to take the time get the full amount basicly buy one part at a time then istalling them in to the case when i get them.

I didn't read the rest of the thread since I have to run, but this is a bad idea since parts can come down in price so it's not best to invest in parts one at a time.
Best to set the money aside and buy all at once.
Only time to buy a part early is if there is a really good deal on it.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Zepher is right. Buy it all at once.

Another reason to buy all at once:

If you buy one piece at a time, you might have new but defective parts sitting on the shelf and not know it because you cannot test them by assembling into a full working system.

Stockpile your money and then plunge when the money is there and your research is complete.