Gaming / Storage PC on a Budget

[Mingo3k]

Hey Guys,
Looking at building a PC for a family member.

Budget of $1500~ approx
Doesn't need to be a Gaming Beast. Doesn't at this stage require mouse/kb/monitor.

At the moment I'm looking at $1588 after some tweaks.

Intel Core i7 3770 $339.00 - Family members decision, tried to talk them into i5.
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler $36.00
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 $155.00
G.Skill Ares F3-1600C9D-8GAO 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 $59.00
Corsair TX-650 v2 $115.00
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti Overclocked 1GB $249.00 - May be waiting a little longer, so may go 660ti series.
Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD $159.00
2x Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM $129.00 x 2
CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced USB3.0 $109.00
Pioneer BDR-207DBK Blu-Ray Disc Writer OEM $109.00

-OLD Pricing-
So far I have the following;
Intel Core i5 3570 $225.00
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 $155.00
G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-14900CL9Q-16GBZL 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 $129.00
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti Overclocked 1GB $249.00
Pioneer BDR-207DBK Blu-Ray Disc Writer OEM $109.00
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SSD (Boot) $145.00
2x Western Digital WD Green 2TB WD20EARX $115.00 each
Corsair AX750 Gold Power Supply $215.00
Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 $135.00

Looking at some input.
Sound alright?

[Dinwiddie]

If you're going to have two HDD's put the games on a blue 7200rpm HDD, and the rest on the green.

If it can wait the GTX660's are just around the bend, and as they will have lower power requirements you could still
run two on a good quality 650W psu should SLI ever come into it. If you don't intend going SLI a 650W is more than enough
(and still adequate for SLI 560ti's too).

Or - with similar looks. Coolermaster CM690 has an external HDD bay (so handy for backups), but only three fans included.

Coolermaster Hyper EVO 212 for quiet cpu coolness at a budget price.

[Lord_Apophis]

I would suggest avoiding the Western Digital Green drives because of the head parking issue.

And Antec cases... Well. They're just dust magnets!

You could also get a cheaper Power Supply by going with the HX 650 which is more than enough for that rig without sacrificing warranty or modular cables or even power efficiency. (Corsair underrated the efficiency on the HX units.)
That would save you $86.
If you want to go SLI later, well you could go with a TX 750 V2 instead.

For the SSD, you could go with an Intel 330 for $20 cheaper.

[Mingo3k]

If you're going to have two HDD's put the games on a blue 7200rpm HDD, and the rest on the green.

PC Case Gear don't seem to have 2TB blue's.. I guess i could drop it down to 3TB storage.

[Dinwiddie]

Late EDIT: (in case you missed it in my first post)
That RAM is incorrect. It is quad channel and is for the Z79 MOBO's.
Not sure what voltage is required for the i5 3570 Z77 MOBO's though. If 1.5V is enough go for the new low rise Aries.
Try and get the RAM in a two stick config.

[Mingo3k]

The RAM also states it'll work on the mobo.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=19564
(Quick edit)
Would the Dual channel or Quad channel Ares be better?
Dual - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=19766
Quad - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=19630

[Mingo3k]

I would suggest avoiding the Western Digital Green drives because of the head parking issue.

And Antec cases... Well. They're just dust magnets!

You could also get a cheaper Power Supply by going with the HX 650 which is more than enough for that rig without sacrificing warranty or modular cables or even power efficiency. (Corsair underrated the efficiency on the HX units.)
That would save you $86.
If you want to go SLI later, well you could go with a TX 750 V2 instead.

For the SSD, you could go with an Intel 330 for $20 cheaper.

What hard drives would you recommend looking at that aren't green?
I think i've made my mind up on the Coolermaster case, seems a little more... sophisticated than the Antec.
I'm steering to the TX-650 V2 ($115)

[SaNE]

I would suggest avoiding the Western Digital Green drives because of the head parking issue.

You can download WDIDLE3 and change the time at which they park.

For the SSD, you could go with an Intel 330 for $20 cheaper.

It would be better to go with the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830.

You can drop the memory down to 8GB, gaming doesn't need 16 and you save some money.
600~ PSU is fine for the setup, can save money there.
As above the 660 from nVIDIA is due out next month and will give you a better performance in the longer run and uses less power.
A case is all personal preference but I'd suggest looking through the list and finding one that has tool less drive bays, it's much easier and nicer to use.

Late EDIT: (in case you missed it in my first post)
That RAM is incorrect. It is quad channel and is for the Z79 MOBO's.

Quad channel just means there's 4 sticks, there's no reason it wouldn't work.

[Mingo3k]

I would suggest avoiding the Western Digital Green drives because of the head parking issue.

You can download WDIDLE3 and change the time at which they park.

Can you guys link me something on this issue? Might need to look into this, if I want to go 2TB

For the SSD, you could go with an Intel 330 for $20 cheaper.

It would be better to go with the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830.

Any reason for the choice of either of those?

You can drop the memory down to 8GB, gaming doesn't need 16 and you save some money.

Noted, changed to 8GB

[SaNE]

I would suggest avoiding the Western Digital Green drives because of the head parking issue.

You can download WDIDLE3 and change the time at which they park.

Can you guys link me something on this issue? Might need to look into this, if I want to go 2TB

Just google it, it's basically just increasing the time that the drive parks it's head.
By default it's 8 seconds, which if you are using it for more than just a backup drive will mean it's load cycle count will rise significantly and is going reduce the lifetime of the drive quicker than normal drives.

For the SSD, you could go with an Intel 330 for $20 cheaper.

It would be better to go with the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830.

Any reason for the choice of either of those?[/quote]
They are much more reliable than OCZ drives, Intel are also preferred but are a bit more expensive.

[Dinwiddie]

Late EDIT: (in case you missed it in my first post)
That RAM is incorrect. It is quad channel and is for the Z79 MOBO's.

Quad channel just means there's 4 sticks, there's no reason it wouldn't work.

Quad channel RAM may need four sticks, but is not just four sticks of dual channel RAM.
Quad channel runs four channels and dual runs two whether you have two of four sticks.
Quad channel RAM works with the 2011 MOBO's (Z79) and Sandybridge i7 and Xeon cpu's.
If a Z77 MOBO can use quad channel sticks they will still be running in dual channel mode, so why
risk an incompatibility ?

I would agree that 8GB is adequate, but was howled down over at the PC Power Play forums by people who seem to think having something like 50 open browsers while the play games and alt/TAB back and fourth is the now thing .
I don't get it personally, but different strokes....

For reasons unknown to me The Ares RAM four sticks run with a lower latency, but it's doubtful you would see a real world difference between C9 and C10 . Have a look at Corsair and Kingston kits as well and see if you can come up with a two stick kit with a C9 latency,

The Coolermaster has tool less HDD bays.

Umart and MSY both have Hitachi Deskstar 2TB drives, which got top marks in a review in one of the PC mags I was
flipping through a few weeks back.

.

[SaNE]

Quad channel RAM may need four sticks, but is not just four sticks of dual channel RAM.
Quad channel runs four channels and dual runs two whether you have two of four sticks.
Quad channel RAM works with the 2011 MOBO's (Z79) and Sandybridge i7 and Xeon cpu's.
If a Z77 MOBO can use quad channel sticks they will still be running in dual channel mode, so why
risk an incompatibility ?

The only classing of RAM is the DDR version, frequency and latency. Dual, Triple and Quad channel are just the number of sticks of the same performance RAM in the package, that's it.

If you buy 4 of the same RAM modules it can run dual, triple or quad depending on how many you stick in the system (as long as the system supports it).
They are named as dual/triple/quad since it's easier when buying your system to purchase a single package.

[steve_rogers42]

memory with multiple channels will work with channels lower than it can operate at, ala quad can work in tri or dual, but tri cannot run in quad. Both of you are kinda correct,


also pcpwer play forums..... eeeew.

Got the hitachi drives, WD needs to sort their firmware and a bit of the hardware out.

The samsung 830 128 drive should also get a mention, price is low and performance is on par with intel's 520's.

650w should be more than enough, also would think that a 7850 would be more at home, overclocked 560's are things of the past... especially if your footing the energy bill.

Also, fyi ram timings (etc cas/ras/tas/etc) make ALL the difference. i miss 6's and 7's this 9' n 10's bs has gone on wayyy to long.

[SaNE]

memory with multiple channels will work with channels lower than it can operate at, ala quad can work in tri or dual, but tri cannot run in quad. Both of you are kinda correct,

I'm kinda correct?

Memory itself doesn't have 'channels', full stop.
Dual/Tri/Quad 'channel memory' is just the purchasing of 2/3/4 sticks of identical memory.
Channels only come into play on the motherboard with the controller, multiple channels increases the transfer between memory and controller, *theoretically* by the amount of channels present.

Also, fyi ram timings (etc cas/ras/tas/etc) make ALL the difference. i miss 6's and 7's this 9' n 10's bs has gone on wayyy to long.

Drawbacks from having the higher memory density, I didn't like paying $300 for 3x2GB's of DDR3 Dominator 7 @ 1600.

[Tydus]

memory with multiple channels will work with channels lower than it can operate at, ala quad can work in tri or dual, but tri cannot run in quad. Both of you are kinda correct,

I'm kinda correct?

Memory itself doesn't have 'channels', full stop.
Dual/Tri/Quad 'channel memory' is just the purchasing of 2/3/4 sticks of identical memory.
Channels only come into play on the motherboard with the controller, multiple channels increases the transfer between memory and controller, *theoretically* by the amount of channels present.

^this. Nothing more then a marketing ploy.

Agree with basically everything in this thread, and strongly recommend you wait for the 660, you'll just kick yourself later if you don't.