New Build

[Layback Bear]

I know of no problem. Just a suggestion of things one might want to look at. I also don't have a problem with Antec cases; I also use them. Just a suggestion of a couple of things to look at.

 

[JaidynM]

I know of no problem. Just a suggestion of things one might want to look at. I also don't have a problem with Antec cases; I also use them. Just a suggestion of a couple of things to look at.

Right, okay.

OCZ Vertex 3 60GB SSD [06OSSDS3-25M-60V3] - $139.00 : PC Case Gear

I have this one and it is fantastic, have had no problems with it.

I'll go for the 120GB then. Do you use it for your OS and programs only?

 

[smarteyeball]

I most likely won't be overclocking the GPU. The CPU sure, but I see no game that needs a performance boost from a 580

There are still quite a few games that respond nicely to a bit of a GPU overclock, but for the most part I run my 580 at stock.

I'll go for the 120GB then. Do you use it for your OS and programs only?

It's worth the extra for a 120GB - OS,apps and several of your favourite games/ones that benefit from faster loading times.

 

[JaidynM]

I most likely won't be overclocking the GPU. The CPU sure, but I see no game that needs a performance boost from a 580

There are still quite a few games that respond nicely to a bit of a GPU overclock, but for the most part I run my 580 at stock.

I'll go for the 120GB then. Do you use it for your OS and programs only?

It's worth the extra for a 120GB - OS,apps and several of your favourite games/ones that benefit from faster loading times.

Fair enough. I'm scared I won't be able to fit everything though. The size of all my games adds up to around 20-30GB.

 

[smarteyeball]

30GB is no worries on a 120GB.

I have all my apps and about 50Gb or so of games on each of my SSDs with room to spare. The only app that I don't use the SSD's for are virtual machines. Due to their size, they go on the RAID.

 

[kodi]

I use it for my OS and some programs that insist on installing on the "C" drive.
Just a word on your choice of case, I don't know what brand of fans it uses but 5 of those smaller fans can be very noisy please do some Googling and see what other people say.
I have an Antec 900 sitting in the shed because the fans were too noisy.

 

[A Guy]

Antec uses the Tri-Cool fans. Pretty good, with a 3 speed switch. But on low, all of them can be noisy. But livable until the Noctua fan itch sets in

A Guy

Edit:

Speaking of the fans, you will find there is no lack of them in the DF-85. In the front there are three 120mm fans. Each fan emits a red glow of light and their speeds can be individually controlled with the twist of a dial. On the top, you will find twin 140mm fans. If you choose to remove them, this space will easily accommodate a 140.2 radiator. Antec keeps the feel of the 1200 in the back of the DF-85 with two 120mm fans to exhaust warm air from the chassis. The rear fans also come with red LEDs to add a bit of color to the inside of the chassis. All 4 of these are Antec TwoCool Fans with four little switches in the rear of the case for speed control.

TwoCool 120mm spins at ~1500RPM on the high setting and ~900 on low. The 140mm TwoCool spins at ~1200RPM and 800.

 

[JaidynM]

30GB is no worries on a 120GB.

I have all my apps and about 50Gb or so of games on each of my SSDs with room to spare. The only app that I don't use the SSD's for are virtual machines. Due to their size, they go on the RAID.

I use it for my OS and some programs that insist on installing on the "C" drive.
Just a word on your choice of case, I don't know what brand of fans it uses but 5 of those smaller fans can be very noisy please do some Googling and see what other people say.
I have an Antec 900 sitting in the shed because the fans were too noisy.

Right. So I'll need no more than 120GB?

Antec uses the Tri-Cool fans. Pretty good, with a 3 speed switch. But on low, all of them can be noisy. But livable until the Noctua fan itch sets in

A Guy

Edit:

Speaking of the fans, you will find there is no lack of them in the DF-85. In the front there are three 120mm fans. Each fan emits a red glow of light and their speeds can be individually controlled with the twist of a dial. On the top, you will find twin 140mm fans. If you choose to remove them, this space will easily accommodate a 140.2 radiator. Antec keeps the feel of the 1200 in the back of the DF-85 with two 120mm fans to exhaust warm air from the chassis. The rear fans also come with red LEDs to add a bit of color to the inside of the chassis. All 4 of these are Antec TwoCool Fans with four little switches in the rear of the case for speed control.

TwoCool 120mm spins at ~1500RPM on the high setting and ~900 on low. The 140mm TwoCool spins at ~1200RPM and 800.

Yes, I was quite worried about that. Too much noise for my taste as I won't be doing anything that will require that many fans anyway.

I've chosen either a Thermaltake Chaser MK-I or a Coolermaster HAF 932 Advanced. They're more or less the same size and are both full tower. Similar number of drive bays and both have USB 3.0. Thermaltake one looks like it has more fans though the majority of them are 'optional' which confuses me.

I'm leaning toward the Thermaltake one as it looks better too. You can also change the LED colour as well as fan speed from the exterior of the case which looks handy. Reviews also say it's relatively quiet.

 

[kodi]

Both are great cases and will perform well.
The fans that come with the Thermaltake are a 200mm in front, 200mm top, 140mm rear, 200mm side, you can fit a 120mm to the bottom if you want to. All the other ones are just extra mounting places for alternate fans.
With those fans you will hardly know it is on, I purchased a fan controller for my Haf-x and found that it was a waste of money as I run my fans at full and the noise is acceptable.

 

[JaidynM]

Both are great cases and will perform well.
The fans that come with the Thermaltake are a 200mm in front, 200mm top, 140mm rear, 200mm side, you can fit a 120mm to the bottom if you want to. All the other ones are just extra mounting places for alternate fans.
With those fans you will hardly know it is on, I purchased a fan controller for my Haf-x and found that it was a waste of money as I run my fans at full and the noise is acceptable.

Thanks, Brian. I'll see what the others opinions are too but I'll be going with the Thermaltake at the moment.

 

[Dave76]

Everyone has their own preference/opinion, the OCZ has had mention of several issues, my concern is how OCZ handles them.
There a lot of people that don't have issues but, as mentioned, seems to be more with Asus motherboards.
Their published speed numbers are for best case scenario of highly compressible data, real life numbers aren't as high.
/end disclaimer
Depending on usage, 'Lifetime throttling' may slow down the write speed, but that is only if a very high amount of writes are done.

I use Intel, mainly for the purported stability and reliability, all pretty much not confirmed yet as it will take more time to be confirmed.

I would recommend the Crucial M4, good solid SSD, the new version of the C300.
A new firmware is reported to increase an already good overall performance by as much as 20%.
If the prices are similar, go with the M4.

Just a little information, there is an ongoing endurance test.
SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm

The M4 reported write speed is second only to the Samsung 470.


Read speed is more important, as is the access time.

 

[JaidynM]

Well, here are the SSDs that are available. I can't go above $269. The Crucial M4 is there but there are a few other decent looking drives too so I'm not entirely sure which to get.

 

[Dave76]

This is very subjective, kinda like which browser do you like, everyone has there own opinions and reasoning.

After doing some investigation over the last couple years, for various reasons, my personal preferences are Intel and Crucial SSDs.

I did look at that link earlier, from that list of 120 & 128GB drives I would get the Crucial M4.

The most important numbers for SSDs are access times and random reads, these will be used the most in day to day use of your system.
The most published numbers are sequential writes, which are used when you install OS and large programs, which normally isn't very often.

You can check various SSDs at AnandTech SSD Bench.


AsSSD benchmark uses incompressible files to test with, this is probably not the case in real life use but, give a tough test with the finial score weighted to access times and random reads.

You can look at many AsSSD results posted here: AS SSD Benchmark thread
Also look at the first post, there are a list of the various SSD scores, this hasen't been updated in a few months, so if you want to see the latest released drives just look through the last 20 or so pages.

 

[JaidynM]

The Crucial M4 it is then. Anyway, the last thing I need help with is the RAM. I'm still at odds whether to buy 8GB 2133 Mhz memory or 16GB 1600Mhz memory. Both are G.Skill Ripjaws.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

You'll love that m4 SSD ! I would opt for the 16gb of 1600mhz but that's only because you'll need to OC the ram to get it to 2133mhz. That being said the 2133mhz will be crazy fast but will create some heat that should also be controlled with direct cooling fans.

 

[JaidynM]

You'll love that m4 SSD ! I would opt for the 16gb of 1600mhz but that's only because you'll need to OC the ram to get it to 2133mhz. That being said the 2133mhz will be crazy fast but will create some heat that should also be controlled with direct cooling fans.

Right. I've never OCed my CPU before and have read I need it in time with my RAM? Am I missing something because I'm not entirely sure what that means?

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Well they are really two separate issues. But to get the ram speed that the 2133 stick can produce you normally will need to set them up as a overclock in the bios. This shouldn't be confused with a CPU overclock but it's kind of the same premise. Don't let that be an obstacle if you in fact are opting for the faster ram as many here can work you through it with ease.

 

[pparks1]

The Crucial M4 it is then. Anyway, the last thing I need help with is the RAM. I'm still at odds whether to buy 8GB 2133 Mhz memory or 16GB 1600Mhz memory. Both are G.Skill Ripjaws.

Without question, I would opt for the faster 8GB of memory. Unless you plan to run multiple concurrent virtual machines, 16GB will pretty much always go un-utilized.

 

[Dave76]

Have to agree, unless you are going to do heavy graphics rendering, lots of VM, the 8GB at a higher speed can always be underclocked and run at 1600MHz, which will run cool and have the option to increase the frequency if you want.

8GB RAM will be plenty for most of us.
When testing my 8GB, couple VMs, basic rendering, lots of browsers opened, I still had free RAM.

2x4GB RAM cards will still leave you with upgrade opportunities if you need it later.

 

[JaidynM]

The Crucial M4 it is then. Anyway, the last thing I need help with is the RAM. I'm still at odds whether to buy 8GB 2133 Mhz memory or 16GB 1600Mhz memory. Both are G.Skill Ripjaws.

Without question, I would opt for the faster 8GB of memory. Unless you plan to run multiple concurrent virtual machines, 16GB will pretty much always go un-utilized.

Have to agree, unless you are going to do heavy graphics rendering, lots of VM, the 8GB at a higher speed can always be underclocked and run at 1600MHz, which will run cool and have the option to increase the frequency if you want.

8GB RAM will be plenty for most of us.
When testing my 8GB, couple VMs, basic rendering, lots of browsers opened, I still had free RAM.

2x4GB RAM cards will still leave you with upgrade opportunities if you need it later.

Fair points. I'll go for the 8GB then. Sorry, Alan.

I guess I'm done then. Thanks to everyone that's helped throughout this thread!!!