The Mother Board

anaphylacticman

Hello old friends,

(Perhaps I should not presume too much, since after all I’ve managed less than 50 posts in ten years, but I still like coming here).

At any rate, after 10 years, much debate, and a fair amount of research, I’ve finally decided to make a new build. The goal is the best bang for my buck, i.e, a computer that will do what I want it to do, last several years with only minor upgrades as needed, and not break the bank. I will primarily use this for (a) gaming, but not online gaming; (b) as a media server for the rest of my house by storing movies and such that I can stream to other devices; (c) work. Since I’m not an elite gamer, I don’t need the best of the best, but I would like my choices to last a while. For example, whenever The Elder Scroll 6 comes out, I’d still like to have a good rig that can play it.

Things have changed quite a bit since my last build, so I would appreciate your feedback on my choices. There were many close calls between seemingly identical components, so if I chose poorly, please let me know. Here goes:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Power Supply: Corsair HX Series HX850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131820

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Video Card: ASUS GTX660-DC2O-2GD5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121660

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233299

SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F180GB3-BK 2.5” 180GB SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233220

HHD: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Optical Drive: LG Black 14x BD-R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136250

So that’s it, plus some Artic Silver 5, a copy of Windows 8 and a few other peripherals I might want to pick up.

A couple questions:

(1) I have a good monitor, but for a desktop using Windows 8, should I pick up a touch screen monitor?

(2) Will this heatsink and fan be sufficient for cooling? I had overheating issues with my last build.

(3) This comes in at just under $1600 on newegg. Are there any substitutions I can make that will greatly reduce the cost but not significantly reduce the performance? I’d like to shave off a $100 or so.

(4) Is there anything else I need?

Thanks everyone!
_________________
Case: Thermaltake Xaser III
P/S: Thermaltake Dual Fan 420w
Mobo: Giga-byte GA-SINXP1394 SIS655
M: 2 x Corsair XMS DDRAM512 PC32
P: Intel P4 2.66GHz 533M
V/c: ATI Radeon X1950Pro (256 MB)
OS: Microsoft XP Pro

Mr T · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:11 pm Post subject:

Looks fine to me... You don't need an SSD, it does improve performance, but you can get away with a cheaper drive... With windows 8 you don't need a touch screen - it helps, but I don't have one and I don't think it is really necessary...

Have you thought about AMD over Intel... Cheaper and the performance in the real world is there.. What you can save on the motherboard and CPU could go for more RAM...
_________________
I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

anaphylacticman · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:02 am Post subject:

Thanks Mr. T.

I’m honestly just less familiar with AMD products. I’ll do some more research.

I may drop the SSD or get a smaller one. I’d like the performance boost, and I’m so tired of noisy HHDs, so I’ll think about that.

Do you think I need more memory in general, or will 16GBs be enough?

Also, should I get the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 8 with this build? I’m not clear on the difference and they are the same price.

Thanks!
_________________
Case: Thermaltake Xaser III
P/S: Thermaltake Dual Fan 420w
Mobo: Giga-byte GA-SINXP1394 SIS655
M: 2 x Corsair XMS DDRAM512 PC32
P: Intel P4 2.66GHz 533M
V/c: ATI Radeon X1950Pro (256 MB)
OS: Microsoft XP Pro

Mr T · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:19 am Post subject:

Definitely get the 64bit version of windows 8... The 32bit version won't see RAM over 3.5Gb to 4Gb in size...

If you are using it as a server, get more RAM, the more the merrier on server side stuff....

However...

If you are media serving, ie films and music, get a NAS drive from a reputable company (ie Synology, QNAP, Thecus)... Their NAS drives come with support for all that sort of thing, so anyone in the house who is set up can use it... It then leaves your PC free for gaming... cool

_________________
I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

knotscott · Initiate Joined: 26 Dec 2011 Posts: 47

I've only fiddled with a half dozen or so different processors, but I just recently tried my first AMD...the FX4100. It was on sale for ~ $80 on Black Friday (currently $104), and I've been very pleased with it. Great bang for the buck. It overclocks very nicely to 4.5Ghz or so with a moderately decent CPU fan cooler (Thermaltake Contac21 in this case), and have gone as far as 4.8Ghz for brief periods.

Nice choice on the Corsair power supply. Good luck!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996
- 8MB L3 Cache
- 2 x 2MB L2 Cache
_________________
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3
CPU - AMD FX4100 OC @ 4.5Ghz
CPU Cooler - Thermaltake Contac 21
Graphics card - EVGA GeForce 210 1GB DDR3
RAM - 24 GB PC1600 DDR3 12800MHz 240 pin
PSU - Corsair CX500 V2
HD - Hitachi 400 GB Sata
ASUS VH242H 23.6" LCD monitor
Lite-On Blue Ray/Cd/DVD player
Windows 7 Ultimate 64, Office 2007

evasive · Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:41 am Post subject:

If purely for gaming there's a point in getting the FX-4100. If you are doing anything remotely CPU-intensive, the i5-3570K runs rings around the FX-4100.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/433/AMD_FX-Series_FX-4100_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-3570K.html
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.

System error, strike any user to continue...

anaphylacticman · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the tips. I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on this, but another question comes to mind that perhaps just shows my age.

On my old rig, I had a cool CPU temp display on the case and analog fan controls (read: knobs and buttons are cool). In poking around newegg and a few other sites, there seems to be a really poor selection of PC control panels with temp gauges and fan controls. Are these just now out of fashion? Or is there another reason no one is using these anymore? I’d like to monitor my temps, so I’m wondering what is the best way to do that while gaming.
_________________
Case: Thermaltake Xaser III
P/S: Thermaltake Dual Fan 420w
Mobo: Giga-byte GA-SINXP1394 SIS655
M: 2 x Corsair XMS DDRAM512 PC32
P: Intel P4 2.66GHz 533M
V/c: ATI Radeon X1950Pro (256 MB)
OS: Microsoft XP Pro

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