Is this all compatible?

[Phoenix9103]

This is the build I am considering, I live in Australia. What do you guys think? My primary concern is whether the 550W will cut it (surely it should)? Also are there any incompatabilities here I should be aware of?

Also I was going to go for the G.skills ripjaws ram but this is $10 cheaper and other than that they seem to be identical (other than heat sinks, but is heat really an issue with ram now?)

http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/jX3

Thanks

 

[blasc]

all compatible. very balanced build. however some points:

- Although 550W is enough, that PSU is low quality. You should go for this: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=27175 (its the best price/performance ratio in that shop)
- Change the SSD for a Samsung 850 EVO.
- The RAM is more than fine. And the heatsinks nowadays is more for "looking good" than anything else to be honest...

 

[raisonjohn]

This is the build I am considering, I live in Australia. What do you guys think? My primary concern is whether the 550W will cut it (surely it should)? Also are there any incompatabilities here I should be aware of?

Also I was going to go for the G.skills ripjaws ram but this is $10 cheaper and other than that they seem to be identical (other than heat sinks, but is heat really an issue with ram now?)

http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/jX3

Thanks

The 550W is the recommended PSU wattage for your build with an R9 380 GPU.

However, I would strongly advise you to replace the Corsair VS Series with a more reliable, efficient, and safe power supply unit. The VS Series is one of the low-tiered/poor-quality (Tier-4) PSU's in the market according to the Latest PSU Tier List.

In the list, we want to choose among the Tier-1 or Tier-2 categories and avoid the PSU's at the Tier-3 and below.

 

[blasc]

500W is enough.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_r9_380_strix_review,5.html

realhardtechx accounts already with overclocks and other multiple extras the user might have (several HDD, several coolers/fans, water cooling, leds, several USBs, etc. etc.). therefore, for that build (4460 + R9 380 + 1 SSD + 1 HDD), 500W is more than enough.

Also, tier 3 should also be enough (specially given the prices of the shop). There is no overclock, no high power consumption, and i assume not many extras (like the ones mentioned before) are going to be used.

 

[Phoenix9103]

all compatible. very balanced build. however some points:

- Although 550W is enough, that PSU is low quality. You should go for this: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=27175 (its the best price/performance ratio in that shop)
- Change the SSD for a Samsung 850 EVO.
- The RAM is more than fine. And the heatsinks nowadays is more for "looking good" than anything else to be honest...

I should say that I will also have another hard drive from my current computer in case that effects the 500W thing enough but again that should be fine, right? Also I understand that Samsung SSD's are generally considered the best but is it worth the extra $30? And I saw that the OCZ ones actually have (according to the manufacturers) a higher read and write to the the Samsungs?

 

[raisonjohn]

all compatible. very balanced build. however some points:

- Although 550W is enough, that PSU is low quality. You should go for this: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=27175 (its the best price/performance ratio in that shop)
- Change the SSD for a Samsung 850 EVO.
- The RAM is more than fine. And the heatsinks nowadays is more for "looking good" than anything else to be honest...

I should say that I will also have another hard drive from my current computer in case that effects the 500W thing enough but again that should be fine, right? Also I understand that Samsung SSD's are generally considered the best but is it worth the extra $30? And I saw that the OCZ ones actually have (according to the manufacturers) a higher read and write to the the Samsungs?

Just so you know, that XFX Radeon R9 380 Double Dissipation 2GB you selected, it says "Minimum Power Supply Requirement: 750W" according to its official website. Note that usually, the manufacturer's "recommended specs" takes into account lower-tiered PSU having less than 80+ efficiency. Also note that, the PSU wattage specs already takes into account the other components that are powered by that PSU.

So, it's your call if you want to follow the manufacturer's recommendation or other sources of information regarding PSU wattage requirements.

On the matter of the OCZ vs Samsung, you might want to check the Latest SSD User Benchmark Charts for a direct comparison between the two. The best 256GB SSD of OCZ is their Vector 256GB (VTR1-25SAT3-256G), which currently ranks 33rd out of the 705 SSD's tested. For the Samsung, its their 850 Pro 256GB (MZ-7KE256BW) which currently ranks 24th/705. Here's a direct comparison of the prices of the two and their effective speed.

But for price-performance, instead of the more expensive 850 Pro, it's highly recommended you choose the more affordable but equally excellent effective speed in the Samsung 850 EVO.

 

[blasc]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/07/20/xfx_r9_380_double_dissipation_4gb_video_card_review/10#.Vfq77pfo5qM

i'm sory but I'm not convinced by the requirements XFX gives of 750W, specially when XFX is one of the main retailers for PSUs.... On that review i just posted (that is referenced in the manufacturer's page), the full system drew, max (while overclocked card!!), 338W. Let's call it 340W.

Even if the PSU you have is only 80+, that should have an efficiency of 80%. So to have 340W @80%, that is 425W of max energy drain from the grid.

I think that having a 550W is more than enough for that card, considering the rest of the build. The fact is that going for more than that (at that local store), the next decent PSU is going to make the price skyrocket.

The other option the OP has, is to order it from other store.


On the SSD, i agree with you.