Rate My Build 1-5 YAY

jake_larkee

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Approximate Purchase Date: Next week

Budget Range: 700-780

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, web, other stuff

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: quality

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Thanks



Hey guys I just wanted to know if this build would work.

CASE-Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

HDD-Seagate SV35 Series ST3500411SV 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148728

MOBO-ASRock 760GM-GS3 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157215

GRAPHICS CARD-EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

CD/DVD DRIVE-ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A7T/BLK/B/GEN - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135224

PSU-APEX AL-D500EXP 500W ATX12V Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817154026

RAM-G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

CPU-AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX635WFGIBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103702

OS-Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986



Also, is the OEM version of windows gonna be an issue?

I'm open to any criticism, so tell me any thing that is wrong with this build.

Thanks
 
Solution
A couple of things Jake:

-I don't agree with DEY123's advice. You should save more money and go with an Athlon II x3 or Phenom II x3 720 BE. If you go AMD, it is only worth the money to go as cheap as you can get. Otherwise, go for an Intel i3 build.

-Buy the Antec 300 Illusion for $55 right away.

-You want the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD. It's the fastest and the best deal out there. If Newegg doesn't have it on sale, it's cheapest on Amazon.com.

-Save yourself some money and find some DDR3 on sale. It's not hard to find a Newegg deal for $25 (after rebate) 4GB (2x2GB) 1600MHz CL9 DDR3.

-Lastly, and perhaps most importantly: get a better PSU. The manufacturer matters because the cheap ones break and take other parts down with...

jake_larkee

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ok so you think i should just list the parts and the links, i will if its better. let me know
 

DEY123

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Looks like a good budget build.

Assuming you are using for gaming (based on the GPU) I had a few Ideas.

You should upgrade to a Phenom II chip instead of the athlon II. You'll get some L3 cache (as long as you don't get the 840). Additionally, it will be faster... I have included a link to cheap quad core Phenom 2 chip that i would get if I were doing a budget gaming build.


Phenom 2 X4 955 ($120)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808 for only $20 more the proc you chose you get 3.2 GHz and the L3 cache. Also since it is a Black edition if you later decide to overclock it will be much easier to do


For your MB I noticed it is now out of stock. I would spend a few more dollars and not get a micro board unless it is a great deal. This way it is easier to upgrade to more RAM later. You can just add more sticks instead of swapping out. Your case is big enough to support a normal size board.

Your OEM windows version is fine as long as you don't plan to install it on other motherboards (you basically get a single machine install). You also won't get any manuals but not sure why you would want them.
 

jake_larkee

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Haha wow it just ran out of stock because i had it in my cart. anyway i upgraded to the phenom II like you said and i picked out this mobo to replace the one newegg decided to take out of my cart.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176
 
A couple of things Jake:

-I don't agree with DEY123's advice. You should save more money and go with an Athlon II x3 or Phenom II x3 720 BE. If you go AMD, it is only worth the money to go as cheap as you can get. Otherwise, go for an Intel i3 build.

-Buy the Antec 300 Illusion for $55 right away.

-You want the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD. It's the fastest and the best deal out there. If Newegg doesn't have it on sale, it's cheapest on Amazon.com.

-Save yourself some money and find some DDR3 on sale. It's not hard to find a Newegg deal for $25 (after rebate) 4GB (2x2GB) 1600MHz CL9 DDR3.

-Lastly, and perhaps most importantly: get a better PSU. The manufacturer matters because the cheap ones break and take other parts down with them (see here: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&file=print&reid=204 ). If you don't have an absolutely stellar thorough review of a PSU, stick to Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, or XFX.

Oh, also PLEASE fill this out so I'll be able to help you out better: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Build Rating: 2 of 5

1 of 5 only applies if the parts do not work together (ex. socket miss-match)
3 of 5 is max with a bad PSU
-1 for not optimal parts selection

To your credit, you have the right idea that 30% or more your budget should be on the graphics.
 
Solution

srynznfyra

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I'd go intel if I were you. I was AMD for my first two builds (server and desktop). The server was ultra low budget (£120 for the whole thing before upgrades), and it worked (still works actually) very well with its single core Athlon LE-1600 (2.2GHz).

However, on the desktop it's another story, at least in my opinion. Starting out with an Athlon X2 6000+, I eventually upgraded to a Phenom II X4 940. I don't know what it is about AMD but I recently built a new rig with an Intel Core i5 2500K and it just seems to blow all my AMD rigs into oblivion.

As for that rig, I would swap the GTX 560 for something a little more low-key. Maybe an AMD HD 6850. This is talking from my knowledge though rather than experience (fastest GPU I've ever used was a 9800GT, lol). The CPU can go higher, if you really want to stick with AMD I'd go with a Phenom II X4 instead of Athlon, but really I think you're better off with a cheap H67 or maybe Z68 motherboard and a Core i5 2xxx CPU.

Edit; what's with that PSU? Get a Corsair VX450W, or 650W if you want loads of room for upgrades.
 

jake_larkee

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OK, here's what I did

-Changed ram to CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2B1600C9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145339

-changed PSU to Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB 500W ATX12V Power Supply (it has like 400 reviews and has 4 eggs)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182044

-changed HDD to Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136767

I don't want to change the CPU, after the changes I made thanks to your advice (thanks) I saved 2 dollars and got better stuff. so, once again thanks and give me your thoughts on this revision... ;)
 

jake_larkee

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ok I changed the RAM to yours but the HDD your telling me about is only 3Gb/s whereas mine is 6.

I changed the PSU again to CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

here's what i got on your HDD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=Samsung%20Spinpoint%20F3%201TB%20HDD

Am I missing something about this HDD, I mean it says 3Gb/s and mine is 6 so what's the deal.
 
Hard Drives:
You've got it all wrong. That's the interface. Yours is SATA III, mine is SATA II. No hard drives saturate that bandwidth (kinda like no graphics cards use the full 16x PCI-e lanes), so it really doesn't matter if you use SATA II. That only matters with solid state drives. What matters is mine will read data at 125MB/s while yours might read it at 100MB/s (Those values are examples. Other stats, such as seek time matter too). And neither speed approaches the SATA II practical limit of 300MB/s. You'd need a Solid State Drive (SSD) for it to matter. Besides, how many SATA III ports are on the motherboard you selected? Zero--so even an SSD on SATA III would slow down to the SATA II speed anyways. Here's a Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB Review: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/1

That PSU is not as good, but good enough.

You're making it VERY difficult to help you out by not filling this form out: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice
 

jake_larkee

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Ok now i see what you're saying about the HDD, i just wasn't sure.

And this is the PSU you want me to get?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709011

It seems very suspicious.

any way i got that HDD you were talking about. And thanks for your help.
 
Did you buy the motherboard already so you're locked into the AM3 build? If so, that's okay because AMD is as you can get and I assume you're on a tight budget. Do you have a Microcenter nearby? Because it's kinda a big deal (they have the absolute BEST prices on some items).

CPU: Phenom II x3 720BE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103652&cm_re=phenom_ii_x3-_-19-103-652-_-Product

Please read this page about CPU choice: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2971-2.html
The Phenom II x3 720BE CPU ranking:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2971-5.html
If you overclock this unlocked CPU, your system will do quite well. You will NOT get all the horsepower out of your graphics muscle with the LOCKED Athlon II x4 unless it happens to overclock very well.

EDIT: And even then, NO Phenom will get all the graphics muscle out of a GTX 560Ti in all scenarios. An i5-2500K would, but those are $180 at Micro Center and $30 higher elsewhere.
 

jake_larkee

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OK HERE is what I now have lol. And my budget is 800$

1. Case- Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

2. HDD- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

3. Mobo- ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176

4. GPU- EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130661

5. CD/DVD drive- ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A7T/BLK/B/GEN - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135224

6. PSU- XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013

7. RAM- PNY XLR8 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model MD4096KD3-1600-X8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178265

8. CPU- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

And Win 7 premium Comes out at $801.63


 
I see your budget up above. I'm pretty sure I can work in Sandy Bridge. That will keep the game from stuttering to low frame rates in intense parts. My friend's Phenom II x2 555BE stutters at times when my Sandy Bridge laptop does not (both playing Just Cause 2 next to each other).

I'll post what I can do with $700 to $780 in a sec...