Looking for reviews before purchase

[Kosko]

The power supply on my 2006 Core2Duo machine crapped out and I figured this would be a good time to upgrade to the current era of machines. I've got all the parts I'd like to upgrade picked out and figured I'd get the Tom's Hardware stamp of approval before hitting the purchase button.

I'm sure a little background on it's use is necessary. It'll be used mainly for audio recording, coding and occasional gaming. That's why I'm using that motherboard, it has a firewire port. I've already upgraded the ram and graphics card recently so I thought I'd leave that off for now. I've also got a 2TB hdd to use as a storage drive.

I picked the case and water cooler for noise and heat purposes. I'd like to keep it silent as possible and also somewhat cool in the summer. I figured I'd use the Samsung 830 as the SSD as it seems to be the top tier for now.

Just wanted some opinions before purchasing. Thanks!

 

[abekl]

where's the list of components?

 

[Kosko]

Oh sorry I had included them in the image.

The components are:

Case: Obsidian Series 550D Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified ...
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
Cooler: CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
SSD: SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[pauls3743]

You'll need fresh RAM. The Core2Duo was DDR2 whereas everything from LGA1366 onward, along with a few of the late LGA775 boards, are DDR3. I'm assuming you're running your core2duo on one of the older DDR2 boards and not a DDR3 board. A search of your motherboard make and model will help confirm this.

Graphics setup. If you're running SLi/Crossfire it would be nice to know what it is. I'm currently dealing with an SLi issue of my own where I'm having to upgrade from a 850W supply as it was causing voltage drops causing serious crashes because it wasn't powerful enough. If it's a single card, the 750W will be more than ample.

 

[Kosko]

The current motherboard is a Asus P5B Deluxe, it still works I believe, but I thought I might turn that into a media server and tuck it in the basement. Thank for the tip on the fresh ram, I'll certainly add that on.

 

[Kosko]

Howabout this for the new ram? 16 gigs sounds good to me.

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

 

[the great randini]

that cooler will be 30.2 dBA @ 1700 rpm that is a bit loud

you would get better cooling and less noise with
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014

 

[Kosko]

Thanks, I've actually got a Zalman, this style: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

I was considering dropping the H60 from the order, certainly if it would make it louder.

 

[bartholomew]

Get the Hyper 212 Evo for cooling.
Corsair Vengeance is a great choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233197