Input On Upgrades

[proffit4]

Decided to upgrade my PC, mainly for gaming.

pcpartpicker components

I have a 550w power supply and a 1Tb hard drive I will be keeping. I plan on using the OEM Win7 to upgrade from vista, is this doable or full of headaches?

Please let me know what you think about the components, both in value and choice.

I appreciate all feed back, thanks for the time.

 

[Dom_79]

Unless the 550W is a Corsair or SeaSonic I'd say buy a new one.

Unless you are doing video editing/rendering 16GB RAM is overkill. You'll be fine with 8GB

You can't use the OEM Win 7 disk to upgrade vista. The only way to upgrade vista to Win 7 is online through Micro$oft.

You're build looks pretty sweet. Because of the whole Win Vista - Win 7 thing I'd recommend you to backup all your important data from you old HDD and buy an SSD and install Win7 on that. Then you have all the important info you wanted to keep backed up (or just leave it on your old HDD).

 

[proffit4]

Thanks for the quick reply Dom. This community is so great because of people like you.

I like your idea on the SSD Hard drive. I kind of want one anyway haha! Are there any issues with combining the two different hard drives on the mobo I've selected? I have never installed a second drive before, let alone a different type. Any ideas on a good brand for those? I understand they can fail quicker than an older disk version. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

The power supply is a 550w by Antec, it is only two months old as my other recently failed. What would be a reasonable wattage to support my new rig? I plan to stick to your recommended brands.

Thank you for suggesting to lower the RAM size. I like to save a buck. Would it be wise to get one stick at 8gigs or split it up on two 4gig sticks? Just curious.

Thanks once again for all of your help.

Proffit

 

[Dom_79]

Thanks for the quick reply Dom. This community is so great because of people like you.

I like your idea on the SSD Hard drive. I kind of want one anyway haha! Are there any issues with combining the two different hard drives on the mobo I've selected? I have never installed a second drive before, let alone a different type. Any ideas on a good brand for those? I understand they can fail quicker than an older disk version. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

The power supply is a 550w by Antec, it is only two months old as my other recently failed. What would be a reasonable wattage to support my new rig? I plan to stick to your recommended brands.

Thank you for suggesting to lower the RAM size. I like to save a buck. Would it be wise to get one stick at 8gigs or split it up on two 4gig sticks? Just curious.

Thanks once again for all of your help.

Proffit

Start with a compliment, nice! 😉

O.K so first the SSD stuff:
1. When you first setup your new rig, have only the ssd plugged in. This is because you want your OS (Win 7) installed on it to improve speeds, but if the HDD is in there too, Windows will install part of itself onto it (completely negating your SSD speeds). After the install is over you just hook up your old HDD and it should be recognized, you take the files off that you want to keep (like music and movies, any documents, saved games) but you will need to re-install any programs apps and games (they set themselves to look in certain directories and blah, blah, blah, they just have to be re-installed )
2. If your HDD is not SATA (as in it's so old it's IDE) I recommend you get your info off it (now by means of usb to external back-up HDD or simply to thumb drive(s) ) and scrap it. Get yourself an HDD that is SATA 3.0. Also if you HDD is IDE then, no it is not compatible with your new board.
3. "They can fail quicker than HDD" : That is because of reliability of the brand. Properly used and maintained (which means just use it normally don't be weird with it ) a quality, reliable brand will last as long or longer than a good ol' HDD. Right now the two most reliable SSD brands are Intel (the most reliable and most expensive) and Samsung (very close second and very reasonable prices) I recommend the Samsung 840 EVO Pro ( I don't have the Pro series just 840 EVO). They have great reviews and apparently very good speeds.

Now on to the PSU:
1. Yeah Corsair and SeaSonic are the best manufacturers in my opinion.
2. I'd recommend at least 750W but if you can swing the budget 850W. If you go corsair check to see if there is a V2 of whatever line (CX, TX, RX, HX, GS etc...) you get and go with that one (it'll mean that they have identified and worked out most/any bugs or issues 😉 ) The reason I recommend such a Wattage is because I believe that not pushing your PSU much past 50% of total Watts when your system is at full load helps with the longevity of the PSU and helps keep the temps in your case down

The RAM:
If it was me I'd buy a matched set (2x4GB) to take advantage of dual channel. But I might not have the right info about that. Check in the "Memory" forum here at Tom's to see what the experts on that subject say. If you don't find a thread that explains it to your understanding, start your own (and link it to me in PM. I'm curious to know that myself)

Phew! That was a lot of typing, my fingers hurt. :lol:

 

[proffit4]

Dom,

Great job again, very detailed and thorough. Let those fingers take a break as they have answered all of my questions and concerns!

I spent a few hours reading up on the dual/triple/quad channel vs single RAM differences and they are quite similar in most cases. It seems to me that for multiple processes (games) the multi channel is ever so slightly better than the single channel. However, for pure single process (compress/decompress ie. winrar etc) single channel is ever so slightly better. In either case it is almost a non issue as the difference would almost never be noticed by a human but only by the most sesitive machines measuring and timing. It really comes down to what you are wanting to do. I am gaming so 8gigs is all I would ever need as you had described, and will take 2x4gigs sticks because it just might get me an extra 1/4 FPS at the end of the day so why not? Price is very very close as well. If anyone reads this and has a different opinion please do not hesitate to chime in, the more details the better.

Some interesting visuals

Thanks again for all of you help Dom.

Newest Build

Take one last look if you don't mind!

Proffit

 

[Dom_79]

I'm glad I could help

Your latest build looks great!

Two points (just opinion from experience, which means you very well may not have the same as I did)

I'd go with Corsair RAM. It's not that G.Skill isn't good (and I can understand wanting to go with the "sniper" theme 😉), it's that Corsair has been around longer and is more reliable. I noticed you'd be getting everything shipped, so if you get some bad RAM and need to RMA, that shipping comes outta your pocket (which can happen with any manufacturer, but it's less likely with more reliable brand)

I went with almost the exact same PSU (TX 750M is what I got). Something to consider is there was a bad batch of those (TX 750s and 650s) that have a crappy fan (some have coil whine, some have a rattle, some have both).
I went with this one anyways because a) It was on a GREAT sale before X-Mas and delivered the performance I needed. b) I live near the store I bought it from and if it would have had any issues I can take it back in 5 mins for a replacement. c) I'm friends with a few of the sales and service people (including the manager) who put aside 3 other units (1 from same batch number two from another) for me in case I had one of the fan issues.
That being said, if I were to be buying a PSU today and I was going to order online and have it shipped, I'd buy a SeaSonic. Those units are heavy! Which you will certainly notice if you need to pay shipping to RMA (BTW remember to check the prices with shipping on heavy or large item when considering the cost of said pieces)

Sorry to throw another chunk of info at you. I'm sure you were kinda hoping for a "yeah the new build looks great" but I just built my rig a few weeks ago and having just gone through the part selection process last month I still have to much info on the matter :lol:

 

[proffit4]

Dom,

As per usual you've gone above and beyond. I will take your advice on both the RAM and PS brands. Something I did not consider was things going sour do to part selection ( i was expecting ME to be the problem!). Saving money at any point is always high on the list for any normal consumer, be it in purchase or in a return.

Thank you very much for your time and input, it is highly valued. You have made the pre-purchase anxiety I was feeling all but vanish.

Once again, thanks. I look forward to complimenting "Dom" the random internet guy when my friends ask how I knew what I was doing!

Stay well!

Proffit

 

[Dom_79]

You're very welcome and best of luck with your build! Although if you put as much effort and attention to detail during your build as you did choosing the parts you will no doubt be fine

P.S. If you would be so kind as to select a Best Answer I'd appreciate it (It's how you can let the next person/people I help know that I was helpful to you 😉 )