Need Advice/ Opinions

Gonna buy a new PC this Xmas. Are this good enough or do I need to change some of them for better comparability? Need opinions/suggestions especially on power supply and Chassis.


Intel Core i5-2400 (3.1G) 6mb 32nm
Asus F1A75-M LE A75 VSL/ddr3
Inno3D GT430 2gb ddr3 128b hdmi
4gb XMS3 (CMX4GX3M1A1333C9) 4x1 (x2)
2.0TB Seagate SATA3 Green
Creative SB 5.1 VX PCI
CMaster M600w Silent Pro modular 80+
LG 24x GSA-H24LS sata lightscribe
AeroCool RS-9 Devil Red

I don't know you going for basic internet need or gaming?

Spend $1000 on a porn viewing machine? I dig.

Pay a bit more and get an i7 processor

It's for gaming. Gonna be ready for Diablo 3 and SC2: Heart of the Swarm. I'm having troubles on what power supply and chassis are good enough to keep this baby running smooth and cool.

I need more information
Are you planning on building your own computer, or are you just buying a pre-made.

A lot of people advise building your own, but computers aren't exactly erector sets, so really, unless your have the talent and need to save money when you build a top of the line system, just search for a discount computer.

Edit, after a further read. Your building a gaming system.
Diablo III is probably gonna be a resource hog, so don't skimp on the power supply (or the ram)

It's gonna be my 1st time building my own PC. I've been buying pre-made PC like HP since win94. This time I wanna try building my own.

I already set my ram on 8gb.

I might build one from scratch as well...I'm getting tired of trying to push the limits of my old ass HP...

Building your own is kinda Over-rated, but if your gonna do it, I suggest watching some tutorials, you can in fact screw up and damage stuff.

About Gaming Rigs
Your gonna want a Large Tower.
The key to performance on a gaming rig, is usually in the graphics card, in this case, it's primarily about how much you want to spend, 8GB ram is a good baseline, your gonna want a QuadCore processor.

Word of Advice, there is negligible difference between Optical Drives, so really determine your minimal needs, and go cheap there.

Cooling is simple matter, a Tower with plenty of airvents and a strong internal fan. Here's a trick I used on an older computer, get a small box fan and place it behind your tower, it will blow air into your tower, and that will greatly supplement cooling.

I disagree, i7 aren't made for gaming but for high quality image/video rendering. The difference between the two are hyper threading, which isn't really needed in gaming. So there will only be a waste of money.

As for the OP's hardware, aren't you going to get a new graphics card? If you've already included one, I can only assume it's something unknown. Please make links to the hardware so we can see the specifications.
It's also important what you intend to do with the computer, which games you want to play etc. If you're aiming to play on Ultra on BF3, for example, you're going to need some pretty heavy GPU's. I recommend GTX 580 SLI and Intel Core i5 2500K. Which leads to other hardware that can support those GPU's and CPU's, like a good PSU. If you're interested, I might be able to build one for you.
Just write in the thread of send off a PM.

i5 2500k is good and you don't need something that cost too much for a graphics card you can get the gtx 560 for half the price of a 580 and a 600w psu is good enough for anything.

6gb would be better and the whole i5/i7 thing.. i can't tell the difference.. i have both.

Also if your gpu only requires xxx watts.. then just go with that amount.. nothing wrong with the required amount of anything unless you plan of add more power draining part in the next year or so.. then just get the next highest watts or just replace the psu at the time of upgrading.

100000_Nigga_watts.jpg

The i5 2400 is an incredibly good processor and stands up to the majority of the i7s.
You're suggesting paying more for very little benefit, if any at all.

These are some great advice, I have taken note and this will totally save me in the long run. I knew it's always good to ask you guys.

@Virgo; Here are the specs of the vcard

1. Are you sure you need a MOBO with an integrated GPU? Buying one without the feature can come handy, as it will leave more room for expansion slots, the board will cost less and the integrated GPU won't take up IRQ/DMA addresses.

2. Get more RAM. It's cheap and will be a godsend for multi-tasking (i.e. a million+1 programs and browsers pages open), video/image editing, rendering (should you ever take up these) or virtualisation (which you might find handy in the future).

3. Never use "green" hard drives as your system disk. These are typically 5400 RPM drives meant for storing large files (films, music, etc), where seek time is a non-issue.

Buy a fast (7200 RPM), 0.5-1.0 TiByte drive as your system disk and add more green disks if you need room for films, etc.

(Another tip: always create at least two partitions on your system disk. A 40-60 GiByte partition at the start of the disk for your system and program, the rest for data. That way if you ever reformat your system disk - like reinstalling your OS - your data will be still safe. This setup also requires moving your data folders (My Document, Pictures, etc., etc.) to the data partition).

If you've got lots of cash you might consider an SSD. For a system disk even 40 GiBytes is enough, though given how much XP has fattned over the years, I'd get at least a 60 GiByte device.

4. Do you truly need that sound card? The MOBO already has an integrated one capable of surround sound. Unless you edit music and need the card's MIDI capabilities (though nowadays you're better off with softsynths) it's just a waste of space. If you're a stickler for sound quality, the Creative sound card won't improve things a lot.

You will need an amplifier anyway for a good sound setup (unless you use active speakers, but in that case you're going for rock bottom in terms of sound quality). That best way to go then is to get an amp that accepts a digital input. If this is something important for you, get a MOBO that has a dedicated S/PDIF jack.

5. For once, I can't complain about the choice of PSU. Johyguru gave this one a big thumbs up:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=134

...however do you actually need 600W? Since you only have a single HDD, opctical drive and GPU, IMHO even 400W should be enough, heck, let's call it 450W (which I keep saying is enough for *anything*, unless you use SLI or Crossfire). If you want to go with SLI (since that's an NVidia card), it *might* be warranted.

Made some changes on my buying cart.

1. Would this be a good MOBO?

Intel BLKDH67BLB3 V/S/L/ddr3/hdmi


2. I have my mind set for 8gb

3. 1.5TB WDigital Black 64mb 7200rpm

4. With the new Mobo I think I don't need it anymore.

5. CoolerMaster EX 500w. Would this be a good choice then?

How about the chassis? I live in a hot and somewhat dusty place. I always have problems with my pc accumulating so much dust in just a few weeks and my vcards always burn. The fan on my vcard that I'm using right now is already malfunctioning. It's not rotating anymore and I need to put a small fan at the side of my tower(Cover removed) just to keep the temperature in minimum or else I could literally light a cigarette on it.
I think you just save me a few mores bucks. Heck if we only live in the same country I won't mind spending the all my kickbacks on booze with you guys. ^-^

Just looking at that the board is alright, I do notice a ridiculously large amount of supported USB 2.0 slots, but regardless. You'll also have one slot for a gpu but since crossfire and sli can be beaten by one higher card these days it should be fine. A quick note too I assume you'll use an ethernet connection to your router, cause if you need to use wifi make sure you buy yourself a wireless network adapter (I had to do this but that's just because I have my routers in different rooms, just noting as a reminder.)

Also most ddr3 ram these days can work down from their speeds if they're higher, but since it's not that much of a difference price wise just focus on finding DDR3 1333 ram to make things easier for yourself.

As for cooling problems, try looking for cases with filters over their intake fans (the antec 300 illusion comes to mind and cooling in it has been fine for me over the past couple months). Also purchase yourself some canned air and give your comp's parts a good blowjob every now and then.

1. The Intel board has both an optical and a wired S/PDIF output, so it's a good choice for any amp that has a digital input. (Any modern amp not marketed for rich audiophiles with little common sense does nowadays).

2. The integrated GPU is a lot weaker than what the Asus one had, however since you're using a discrete GPU this is non-issue. Having a HDMI output could come handy if you ever want to connect your PC to TV.

3. ...the PSU you chose though leaves a lot to be desired. You can reads it review here:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Power-Plus-500-W-Power-Supply-Review/728/10



I doubt your configuration would put a load above 300W, however if you ever upgrade (another HDD or two, an SSD) you might run into the PSU's limitations.

The Corsair CX430 V2, costs the same, actually has the same performance (i.e. stable output at 400 Watts) but got flying colors for both efficiency and noise levels:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Corsair-CX430-V2-Power-Supply-Review/1284/10

If you want genuine 500W+ performance, you'll have to pay more. Possible candidate include:

ADATA BN-550W - $45
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ADATA-BN-550-Power-Supply-Review/1268/10
Don't let that +50W fool you, this model has acceptable noise and efficiency ratings, but there's no way it'll outperform the models below.

The Antec High Current Gamer 520W - $70
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-High-Current-Gamer-520-W-Power-Supply-Review/1399/11

Enermax NAXN 80+ 600W or Corsair CX600 V2 (identical internals) $70-$80
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Enermax-NAXN-80+-600-W-Power-Supply-Review/1309/10

The link you provided helps me a lot. I have been reading trough the reviews and now I'm having trouble choosing. Anyway, one of candidates you suggested will mostly be the 1st thing I will look for. Since I'm only gonna buy this all in one shop. I don't know if they have these on stocks.