Hi,

I'm looking to build a PC.

I have this as basis specs, and about the same price range, from this site: http://www.kbmod.com/2012/08/06/pc-build-guide-august-2012/
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($329.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 ATX LGA1155 ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($103.50 @ Adorama)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($77.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB ($384.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)

My 24" monitor just broke down, so I'll need that as well.

Thanks for all your expert input.

Looks good to me.

Here's my recommendations:

Power Supply:
Corsair isn't terrible, but SeaSonic is basically top of the class. And bonus points, it's cheaper with no stupid prepaid card rebates!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151106

Case:
Cases are definitely something of a personal taste, but there are things to keep in mind, namely how loud and cool they are. It looks like yours has more than enough ventilation, but it's probably going to be loud as hell.

I'd normally make my Corsair 550D recommendation since it's decently cool and VERY quiet, but people have different needs, and it's not as cheap. I recommend you at least thumb through the reviews on Anandtech first though, and find the best case at that price range that you like. Keep in mind, if you're like me, you might keep the case far longer than any of the hardware inside, so it's worth getting exactly what you want.

CPU:
Don't get the i7-3770k unless you are dead set on overclocking. Overclocking the Ivy Bridge CPUs are very, very difficult, and usually don't result in much extra performance. I'm only able to overclock mine about 200mhz over the bin limit of the CPU (the bin limit being what you could do with a non-K series). Save yourself the few bucks and use it on a better case or maybe 16GB of RAM if you're feeling fancy.

Thanks for the replies.

I don't know much about computers. This is the one I assembled in 2008:
HD4870
Core 2 Duo E8400
CMPSU-520HX
AntecNine Hundred
AD-7200A DVD,
Asus P5Q motherboard,
SpinPoint F1 500gb harddisk
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM

Is there some of this I can salvage? Can I add 4gb ram on top of this existing ram? Can I keep the case? Etc...

Thank you!

I wanna ask for advice on my monitor shutdown as well.

I was playing path of exile, when all of a sudden the screen turned dark. Since then the screen is nearly fully black, with some very faint, low intensity colors and shapes remaining, as if a thick layer of grey fog is spread on top of the screen. The desktop is discernible, but impossible to work with. When I start my computer, I can see the text at the borders of the DOS environment, but the center of the screen is entirely black.

The monitor is turned on and reacts to the computer starting up. Usually it can operate independently of the computer (going through menus for color contrast, source of input, etc, ...) but this too is all dark now.

So pretty sure this is a monitor problem and not a GPU problem then, right?

Thanks for all advice.

You can use from your old PC:

The case
The PSU
The hard drive
The DVD drive

Everything else is incompatible, including the RAM. Whether you'd want to actually reuse those parts is another question, as you could probably sell off the old PC to pay for those parts anyway.

The monitor sounds like its backlight died. If you shine a bright light on the front of the screen, you should be able to discern what's on the screen (it'll still be incredibly dark). Those lamps can sometimes be replaced, but it's not free and I wouldn't recommend you do it unless it's an expensive ($400+) monitor. I'd just buy a new one.

Thanks for the expertise!

Hey friends! I hope you don't mind, Tenshu, if I sneak into this thread, as I'm trying to pull the trigger on some PC parts purchases of my own... I'm looking at the i7 3770 as well, and I stumbled across these package deals w/ various mobos... http://www.pricewatch.com/gallery/motherboard_combos/i7-3770

Is there some reason to avoid these? Do any of these mobos look good? Based on what Tenshu is looking at (329 for the processor and 100 for the mobo), some of these are a bit less, and I'm not educated enough on this topic to know if that's a warning sign.

oh well I suppose that's partially because they include the 3770 not the 3770k. hmmm hmmm FGR style buh boh post-finisher

also, if a fan is included, as it says here http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2372992&CatId=1969 ...do I still need to get a CPU cooler oh thanks guys.

Many of those mobos are H61 chipsets (read: budget), and I haven't even heard of the stores they're referencing. I can't imagine any small dollar savings being worth the risk there.

And no, you do not need a cooler unless you want one. The one it comes with is all you need.

ok, thanks a lot CM. This help is seriously appreciated!

Hey guys. This is what I'm working with at the moment, your thoughts? A lot of it is straightforward stuff, but I was hoping you could lemme know if you happen to know something fishy about any of the parts (like your previous rec. to stay away from those budget mobos, CM) or something better for a similar or cheaper price.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 BX80637i73770 Processor - Quad Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 3.40GHz [$321.99 shipped]
• Mobo: MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard [$109.99]
• RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM [$89.99]
• SSD: SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal SSD [$118.99]
• HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Bare Drive [$109.99]
• Video Card: Undetermined
• PSU: SeaSonic M12II 650 SS-650AM 650W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Semi-modular Power Supply [$109.99]
• Case: Undetermined
• Optical Drive: Undetermined
• Monitor: Undetermined

Looks solid to me, actually. If you're in no hurry, throw all that **** into a wishlist on Newegg and sign up for their newsletters. They often send 10-20% off coupon codes for stuff in your wish lists (usually once a week).

Hmmm. I'm not in a dire hurry, but I've been meaning to do this for quite a while now, and the idea was that I'd get it set up in time for the week after labor day to start playin' some games w/ out-of-town friends. Do you recommend trying to grab it all on newegg, or hunting around for the best deal per-part on various sites?

I usually use Newegg and Amazon, that's all (make sure it's actually from Amazon and not some shady third party seller).

Gotcha. As far as cases go, I'm interested in the same things you seem to be (quiet and decent ventilation), but you're right, the Corsair 500D is a bit pricey... but yikes, Corsair's got some even cheaper than the Cooler Master posted above.

from Anandtech Re: the Corsair Carbide 300R. Is there something about this that means I shouldn't snap it up at $79.99? If it's decently quiet, and doesn't let my business overheat, I don't think I'd be too picky in this arena. A decent set of I/O ports is good... Occasionally I find myself having a mouse, an external HD, my phone, a wacom tablet, and a webcam or whatever (4-6 things plugged in) but I'm sure I can work around having slightly fewer.

Fool! You will rue this day when you took over my thread!

No seriously, I'll be looking into your choices myself. Please be sure to update on you 'undetermined' parts.

Is it worth it getting 16GB of RAM instead of 8?

I know I am... I just feel like the extra expense for 16 isn't too bad, and I wouldn't mind a bit more future proofing. Plus I plan on working on some fairly large Photoshop documents, or projects in Revit, etc. This is basically opinion/guesswork, though, for me.

(and thanks, Tenshu, I basically filled most of the 'wtf do I get here' gaps in my project w/ stuff from yours, or related items )

Don't get any SSD other than a Samsung right now

Why? They're not special. There's other SSDs that are competitive in performance, and unreliability hasn't been a problem for, what, a year?

I seriously doubt the claim about reliability, especially for **** like OCZ. Samsung is the only company with a quality control process that covers the entire drive (because they design and make ALL of the components). It's also the only thing Apple puts in their new Macbooks, which is actually quite telling since Apple doesn't want to ruin their brand due to ****ty SSDs.

Apple uses Toshiba and Samsung SSDs in their latest models, and I have no idea what they even used for earlier ones. And using ****ty parts has never stopped Apple before (see also: SD card readers). Also, several SSDs get great reviews on par with Samsung's from Anandtech.

So there's this Plextor 128 GB SSD that is $35 cheaper at the moment than the Samsung. Is that a danger zone brand? It's a substantial savings, but I don't want to make a foolish mistake and pick something unreliable.

...and an OCZ one that is 15 dollars cheaper than that, at $70. I'm gathering from your post Emon that that is a no-go.

saberopus: I wouldn't get Plextor, but you need to state the exact models of these SSDs. There are ancient old SSDs still floating around at large discounts that generally aren't worth it.

oh yah, meant to paste the link. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3400884&sku=P67-7022&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-drZPnFvqBuAfpqsYpsXYSw

But yeah I'm not gonna go for either of those two, I'm pretty sure.

You don't think an SD card reader would undergo different quality control and rigor of evaluation than an SSD, something people trust with their data? Really?

Corsair and Crucial are probably OK. Stay away from bull**** like Plextor and especially OCZ. OCZ thrives off the idiot enthusiast crowd that doesn't know anything. Buy from them if you want to lose data.

Losing data is my secondary objective so I'll set aside OCZ for the moment.

Got an opinion about SanDisk SSDs? I don't know where to look, really, for comparison reviews, as most of the amazon or wherever reviews just say 'this is good' or 'this isn't good'.

Monitor-wise, y'all think this here Dell IPS U2412M 24incher looks dece?

I think I'll take Anandtech's word over yours. Most of the crap comes from the same place, so it's not a terribly good argument.

How's this fella seem instead of the SeaSonic power supply you suggested, CM? It's 10 bucks cheaper, 20 if you factor in free shipping. The only difference I see in the main specs is that it only says ATX12V, not EPS12V also.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371051

Gosh I hope me piling this **** on isn't too much, but given these two hard drives, the difference in which seems to be 5900 RPM vs 7200 RPM, is it worth spending $10 more on the faster one?

Yes.

.

DID I STUTTER?

SeaSonic. Never, ever skimp on a power supply (cause if it explodes, you might lose everything).

Antec EarthWatts EA-750 is made by Delta Electronics. It's fine.

...what? Samsung makes the NAND flash, cache, and controller. I mean, you can look this up, it's a fact. They don't source it from anywhere else. Unless Samsung is licensing it out willy nilly (doubtful since they have their own brand), you're not making any sense.

Also, does Anantech's review include any note on reliability? Most hardware reviews don't. Reliability is very hard to gauge, but here's one breakdown from return rates: http://www.behardware.com/articles/831-7/components-returns-rates.html And if you think trends are useful, just search for "ocz ssd failure." I'm not talking completely out of my ass here, and I don't have some Samsung hardon. From all the data points I could find at the time of my purchase (a few months ago), which includes independent consumer groups' evaluations, general reviews and opinions, heresy, anything, concluded Samsung was probably a pretty good choice. My above point about design/QA is valid -- ask anyone who works in engineering. It's easier to verify functionality when you make the thing you're verifying (white box vs black box testing). That alone doesn't mean it MUST be better but it's good corroborating evidence.

I'm not going to discuss this any further but it's annoying that you always seem to love one brand and pick one source (which you also love) and use it to validate your opinion. It's more complex than that. I mean, where did you get your opinion that SeaSonic is "the best"? Are you an electrical engineer? Can you describe to me the difference in various PSUs? No, you can't, and Anantech can't, either, because they're a bunch of journalists that use measures like "how big are the capacitors" as a gauge for how good a PSU is. I mean... ****, you say "Corsair isn't terrible" but half of Corsair's PSUs are made by SeaSonic! You just have no idea what you're going on about and don't do dick for research and try to lump everything into nice easy categories. You should stop giving advice in this thread.

Emon:

A. Stop defending Samsung when I'm not even attacking them.
B. I know what you said about Samsung is true, I'm not an idiot, despite what you want to believe. I was talking about the rest.
C. Said return rate breakdown is from a year ago. Not sure whether you didn't notice, or didn't read my earlier post explaining reliability over the past year, but there you have it anyway. Intel is even moving to Sandforce-based SSDs, although with more vetting of the firmware for those BSOD's I'm sure you aware of.
D. I had nothing bad to say about the Samsung in the first place, which boggles my mind when you suggest I'm focused on one brand only all the time.
E. I say Corsair isn't terrible, because, gee, it's because half of them ARE made by SeaSonic. It's just a matter of deciding which ones.
F. I don't give two ****s which one has "bigger capacitors". I don't care about slight differences in line noise and efficiency. For any sufficiently high wattage PSU, all of those things are generally well within reasonable levels for motherboards to tolerate. That crap only matters when you're dealing with the low end of the market, wherein quality control goes in the toilet. The thing I do care about, is overall reliability, and they're known to make their PSUs with good parts. AND the SeaSonic has a 5 year warranty as opposed to the Antec's 3 year. That's why I trust them.
G. I do say to watch out for PSUs because, despite many models being made by SeaSonic (including some Antec models), not all of them are, and finding out who did can be a pain in the ass. Not to mention, they tend to have better pack-in (better cables, etc),
H. I don't use one resource, I just reference Anandtech often because they're descriptive, reliable, and haven't yet demonstrated too much bias (a la Tom's Hardware). I could easily throw out some other enthusiast reference crap like HardOCP, but why would I waste your time and mine?

So how about dropping the attack on my character and knowledge and moving on, eh?

I think it would be a mistake to get too involved with brand loyalty for PSUs. There are a lot of companies out there, and they seem to change hands and direction a lot. Base your decision on reviews that take decent empirical measurements. Efficiency at a given load level is a pretty good performance indicator. HardOCP seems to do a pretty decent job. They could be better, but what do you want? Any consumer PSU you buy is going to be very lackluster compared to industrial stuff, but the engineers who designed your components have taken this into account. The main thing is to get something that isn't horrific, and there's quite a bit of horrific stuff out there. You can't just buy a higher wattage to compensate for quality, because it doesn't work that way. Any technical specs on a disreputable PSU should be regarded as meaningless lies. There are a bunch of operations out there that throw the most audacious garbage into a box, tack on some LEDs, and sell a $3 power supply for $50. You don't want to put that into your computer.