PC build, sanity check!

shamdiver

Hey there,

Just about to get a new pc underway and not having built one for a while want to check that I've not done something stupid in the build.
Its for a Win7 build for general use including gaming and photo manipulation so want something that'll survive a while. Also thinking about making it the storage system for the house entertainment so will plug extra drives in later on.
Having to spread it between Ebuyer and Komplett due to the shortage of motherboards!
Bit stuck on the CPU cooler, I'll be overclocking a bit, but nothing mad.

Ta!

Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V17312234 in stock£92.99
Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor172755113 in stock£143.72
Corsair 750W HX Modular PSU16495020 in stock£107.16
Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case - No PSU1649613 in stock£88.29 Sapphire HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card180051183 in stock£125.39
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM146252130 in stock£37.99
OCZ 60GB 2.5" SATAII 32MB Cache Vertex Series Solid State Drive160731> 10 in stock£197.69
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English173791248 in stock£69.74
Sony AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW DL Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM170014> 200 in stock£16.16

MSI P55-GD65, P55, Socket-1156, DDR3
Article number: 491786 Stock status: 8 pieces on stock 129.49

Effluo

That all looks pretty good to me except for the psu!

Sure you could go with a 750watt, but you don't need it and a good 400-450 watt would do... Also the only difference with a modular psu is you'll have less cables hidden in your case

There's also the question of what resolution screen you'll be playing your games on. The 5770 is a bit of a weird one. It gives about the same performance as a 4870 which can be got for around £20 cheaper and the whole dx11 is not looking to swell either(poor framerates). There's some convo on this in the graphics forum which you might like to look at.

Hard to know

oh yeah and will you be overclocking?

Solitaire

Honestly, a CX400 would do... but if you're OCing and want some more future-proofing get a decent 520W+ PSU. CPU has a TDP of 95W and the HD5770 has a peak wattage of 60W and a torture-test limit of 80W (which are only reached under extraordinary circumstances) according to XBit. Not much to concern a 30A 12V rail...

And are you sure you need that HAF?! I usually only recommend it for ultra-high-heat builds

shamdiver

Evening!

I'd prefer to have a bit of spare power, was originally looking at 600W. Ideally I was going for the 5850, but the prices are nuts, let alone whether you can find one. Besides performance I'm also trying to drop down power consumption, also working on the theory that the cooler something runs the longer it'll last. Possibly crossfire the card eventually as well. I'll have a snoop around the graphics forum, haven't gone there before.

I probably don't need to overclock but will to make the most of the cpu. As for the SSD that's just been added as I'm getting tired of waiting for things to spark to life with normal HDD tech. That's a whole quagmire to step into!!

Solitaire

You don't need an SSD, you need to put Vista in the Recycle Bin!

Seriously though, the 40nm cards have halved power consmption per FPS and the HD57*0s seem pretty OCable as well - XBit had the HD5770's memory approaching 6GHz, which should help get around any pesky memory bandwidth bottlenecks

uberpixie

shamdiver wrote: »

Evening!

I'd prefer to have a bit of spare power, was originally looking at 600W. Ideally I was going for the 5850, but the prices are nuts, let alone whether you can find one. Besides performance I'm also trying to drop down power consumption, also working on the theory that the cooler something runs the longer it'll last. Possibly crossfire the card eventually as well. I'll have a snoop around the graphics forum, haven't gone there before.

I probably don't need to overclock but will to make the most of the cpu. As for the SSD that's just been added as I'm getting tired of waiting for things to spark to life with normal HDD tech. That's a whole quagmire to step into!!

600W+ would be perfect. Please be aware that a psu does not necessarily reach 80%+ efficiency unless it is at we will say 50% or 75% load. Get a PSU that is way above what you need and is barely used can reduce efficiency and in fact increase power consumption.....

You want stuff to run cooler? Get a good case with good airflow with good case fans that don't make a racket.

Crossfire will only be any good if you are on at least a 24" or a 30" monitor anything below this resolution is a waste of money.

I have also gone the windows 7 + 60gig Vertex SSD road, windows was only installed 2 days ago.

First impressions: things feel a lot smoother, I am still trying to gauge is this because this is a fresh install or genuinely the SSD.

One thing I will advise: visit the QCZ forums and look up their setup guides. I take it you have done some research into SSDs and know not to run windows derag on them and to move temp Internet files and page file to a regular magnetic harddrive to help keep the performance of the drive intact?

Solitaire wrote: »

You don't need an SSD, you need to put Vista in the Recycle Bin!

I just got one so they are great. Shuuup. :-)

shamdiver

Thankfully I had the foresight to run a mile from the v word...was quite shocked when I saw a whole new tv series based on it as well...turned out to be aliens...who'd a thought it

Case wise I was after something spacious that is easy to play around in, your right in that I've no intention of cooking things on it! Any other suggestions? Similar on the cpu cooler as well.

Okay, I'll cut back on the power, 500W is a suitable compromise I feel Is the cabling on the HX worth the substantially more pennies?

shamdiver

Uberpixie, thanks for the warning on SSD's...I've had a fun day of reading up on them to get the details...quiet times in work have their use!

Effluo

shamdiver wrote: »

Okay, I'll cut back on the power, 500W is a suitable compromise I feel Is the cabling on the HX worth the substantially more pennies?

When you get a modular psu, you are paying for less cables. While you also pay a lot of money for cable management in your psu.
In the end and even in my Antec 300 i would have the same amount of cables constricting airflow whether i had a modular psu or not.
This is because I can stuff all my unused cables in a compartment inside the case(obvious enough).

Solitaire

Just to note: the HX series isn't a modular version of the TX, they've got different innards and are generally tougher, more stable and more efficient. And a lot pricier to boot!

Dublin_Gunner

Looks like a pretty solid build - though I'd have to agree that 750W is probably overkill.

A good 600W unit would more than suffice, and give you room for overclocking and expansion (crossfire/sli or high end card, more HDD's etc).

This:

OCZ StealthXtreme 600W £54.99
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

(I just chose one from ebuyer, as thats where you're getting most of your kit from).

Would suit your rig fine. Stays above 80% efficiency in tests from reviews I've seen, even at 50% load.

Its quiet, and suffers very little ripple on load tests.

BTW, would you not also chose a mobo from e-buyer? Would at least save you the few extra quid in shipping.

Gigabyte P55 UD3R £104
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173525

Highly recommended from any reviews I've read, cheaper than the MSI, and a good overclocker.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/ga-p55-ud3r_6.html#sect0

Usually each mainboard has its own unique peculiarities. Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R also has a peculiarity – zero issues and problems.

And as you can see from that review, is one of the better performing of the P55 mobo's they have in the review.

shamdiver

Thanks for the advice all!
I settled on this, had to swap the mobo as the msi was out of stock, also bottled out of the SSD for now, I'd prefer to get a stable system that I know before fighting with other problems...oh, and also a coupla-hundred-bucks cheaper! Got a 650W HX supply, would agree with Solitaire that the extra pennies it costs would be due to the psu structure rather than the cabling...also the only one in stock too. Yes, getting everything from ebuyer was easiest!

I could have got a cheaper case but far prefer having room to manoeuvre without causing problems

1 xCorsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V £80.86

Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz Socket LGA1156 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor£124.971

Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case - No PSU£76.771

Sapphire HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Graphics Card£109.032

2x Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM£66.061

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English£60.641

Sony AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW DL Internal SATA Black Bare Drive - OEM£14.051

Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard£129.551

Corsair 650W HX Modular PSU£78.221

Scythe SCZP-2000 ZIPANG 2 Socket 478/775/754/939/940/AM2/AM3/1156/1366 with 140mm Fan Heatpipe Processor Cooler £39.561 x

Akasa AK-MX004 High Performance thermal compound and TIM Clean fluid bundle £5.08

Total £918

Dublin_Gunner

Good decisions on the mobo and PSU - you won't be sorry

BTW the UD4 is listed as £135.97? (I know, only a few quid difference, they couldn't have put the price up that quickly, could they?!)

And just for LOL's - they have a 'used' UD3R listed as more expensive than a new one??!!!! :eek::D

marco_polo

uberpixie wrote: »

600W+ would be perfect. Please be aware that a psu does not necessarily reach 80%+ efficiency unless it is at we will say 50% or 75% load. Get a PSU that is way above what you need and is barely used can reduce efficiency and in fact increase power consumption.....

We are seeing alot more PSUs that can hit 80+ at below even around the 20% mark and a little below now, see the Corsair TX650 review (although still at their best in the 50% region or thereabouts) so it is probably not as big a factor as it once was. Even so not spending a shedload more cash than you need should be be motivation enough for getting present and future power requirements correct.

shamdiver

BTW the UD4 is listed as £135.97? (I know, only a few quid difference, they couldn't have put the price up that quickly, could they?!)

Ah, you see now, that would be the none A version that doesn't carry the USB3.0 and possibly the 6GB sata and I'm guessing is a bit older than the A version.

nd just for LOL's - they have a 'used' UD3R listed as more expensive than a new one??!!!!

Interestingly enough I think all the ex-demo stuff they have listed is more expensive than new?!?!?!:eek: Must be a cunning plan...

Venom

Solitaire wrote: »

Just to note: the HX series isn't a modular version of the TX, they've got different innards and are generally tougher, more stable and more efficient. And a lot pricier to boot!

The HX's might cost €20-30 more than the TX's but its money well spent imho. Buying top of the line CPU, motherboard and GPU and skimping on such an important item like a good PSU, which tends to be one of the most future proof items in your PC, is just silly.

Leman_Russ

shamdiver wrote: »

Interestingly enough I think all the ex-demo stuff they have listed is more expensive than new?!?!?!:eek: Must be a cunning plan...

Yes, I noticed that too. I never understood the reason why though...

youcancallmeal

Venom wrote: »

The HX's might cost €20-30 more than the TX's but its money well spent imho. Buying top of the line CPU, motherboard and GPU and skimping on such an important item like a good PSU, which tends to be one of the most future proof items in your PC, is just silly.

I would agree. I have the HX 850w and I'm very happy with. Its crazy the amount of cables that come with it, if I have them all plugged in it would leave my case very cramped. It should also easily do for my next 2-3 builds depending on the way technology advancements go?

Venom

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I would agree. I got have the HX 850w and I'm very happy with. Its crazy the amount of cables that come with it, if I have them all plugged in it would leave my case very cramped. It should also easily do for my next 2-3 builds depending on the way technology advancements go?

Have the HX 850 as well and its a quality piece of kit all right. For my current sata only based system Im just using 2 of the sata leads which leaves a very clean looking setup with awesome air flow