Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 1581

On July 11 2013 05:32 skyR wrote:


Corsair 550D is just purely aesthetics, it's not that much different or better than a Fractal Design Define R4 which should be a good bit less.

Corsair HX650 is not necessary. A Superflower Golden Green Modular 450 or Seasonic G 450 are both semi-modular units like the Corsair HX650 and is more than adequate for the configuration.

You're also missing an aftermarket heatsink for overclocking. If you aren't overclocking then you are wasting money on a 4670K and Z87 motherboard. The Z87-A board is also not good amongst its competition but I guess it depends on pricing and selection available to you.

A Caviar Black is largely useless when you have an SSD already and Caviar Blacks are fucking loud so they're not suited for a silent chassis like the 550D. Caviar Blacks don't differ that much from a Caviar Blue in terms of noticeable performance, the major difference would be Black's five year warranty versus Blue's two year warranty.

You should also consider a GTX 760.

On July 12 2013 05:12 skyR wrote:


A quality 450w is more than sufficient for your typical ~$1000 gaming systems. During a gaming load, the GTX 760 typically consumes ~170w and an overclocked core i5 will be ~50-100w depending on how mild or insane your overclock is. The other components are insignificant to power draw. Nothing is quite as good as the Superflower or Seasonic. ~450w units don't tend to have a lot of cables so a non-modular one may not be so bad for cabling. You just need to typically hide a strand of molex and maybe two other cables (like floppy if included and/or strand of SATA).

The ASUS Z87-A competes with a MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, Gigabyte Z87X-D3H, and Asrock Z87 Extreme4. All of these boards should be slightly less or at the same price as the ASUS while being better in one or multiple areas. Just to name a few differences that come to mind:

• ASUS uses a Realtek NIC whereas MSI uses a Qualcomm Killer and the other two uses an Intel.
  
• Asrock has the best audio solution of these boards iirc and the MSI boasts a headphone amp.
  
• Asrock and Gigabyte feature a dual BIOS incase you ever need to flash the BIOS, you'll always have a functioning backup if anything goes wrong.
  
• Asrock has more on-board buttons, debug LED, and more I/O typically

Basically most of the board manufacturers have increased motherboard quality from the previous generations where-as ASUS didn't and just changed its colour and naming scheme to something unfamiliar and confusing.

On July 13 2013 02:49 Ropid wrote:
The NH-U14S should still fit on this mATX board and not be much pricier. I'm trying to find a picture of proof that it'll fit, but I'm failing.

EDIT: The board is listed as compatible on Noctua's site.