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Thanks for the quick reply.
I think reliability is key with the SSD since it'll contain my OS files. It's going to be blazing fast regardless, compared to a traditional HD. I love Samsung so I will look to them.
You're right about the graphics card ports of course... dual DVI out is fine. Not sure what I was thinking either heh.
Let's upgrade the power supply then. My only real preference is that it's still modular. Reduced noise/energy consumption is somewhat important to me (in all aspects -- I like the WD "Green" hard drives for example).
Secondary monitor will be desktop only, games on the primary. Sorry for the confusion.
Glad to hear about the fans nowadays. My previous case's fans sucked and my computer got hotter than I would have liked.
I guess I did jump the gun given I may not be purchasing for a while. But I do at least think I'll be ordering before September. Either August 11th or August 25th (paydays :D).
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WD Caviar Greens are good for data storage because they're cheap and also low power, but they're 5400 rpm drives and you said you wanted 7200 rpm. However, I think 5400 rpm is fine. In terms of sequential transfer speeds, modern high-capacity 5400 rpm drives are faster than older 7200 rpm drives anyway.
If you get a sufficiently large SSD that you're not running programs off of mechanical storage, then 5400 rpm is the way to go IMHO. Could you fit all your programs and OS on say 64GB or 80GB, or would it take like 120GB? I don't even think WD makes 2TB Caviar Blue (7200 rpm) drives yet, and the 2TB Caviar Blacks are pretty expensive, like $140. On the other hand, 2TB low-speed HDDs are generally around $80.
There unfortunately aren't that many good modular power supplies less than $90 or so. I guess OCZ ModXStream Pro is decent, but uninspiring in this day and age.
There's probably no use linking specific products and deals since they're bound to change by mid-August.
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As a warning, the AMD HD 6000 series doesn't support two DVI to VGA adapters.
Most AMD HD 6000 series cards have both DVI-D and DVI-I outs, instead of the usual two DVI-I outs, meaning one of those outs, the DVI-D, won't be able to use a DVI to VGA adapter since it lacks the proper analog connectors.
That's just something to look out for, but I'm pretty sure only AMD does this.
This can be solved with Displayport to VGA, but that's an extra cost.
My dual monitors only have VGA connectors, so it was something to look out for.
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Myrmidon: I could see not caring as much about rpm given that I'll have a SSD for programs and OS. However, despite having the 2TBs function as storage, it's not like I wouldn't be using that storage. I have programming code and webpage files and whatnot that are all stored and modified on my 'storage' drive. I download new files directly to the storage drive. If you still think 5400rpm is fine, then I am willing to go with it. Especially because upon thinking about, I do need at least a 120GB or so size SSD. Both the storage drives and the SSD are pretty important to my system so I am willing to pay for the good stuff more there than anywhere else.
Also probably willing to pay a max of $100 or so for a good power supply...that's also pretty important!
You're right about the timeframe issue... I will let this die and post again when I'm ready to buy. Just wanted to get a little bit of scope so I'll know whether I can purchase mid august or have to wait till late.
Any ideas on video card and mobo price range?
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The power supply generally isn't audible over the other components in today's configurations. If you're looking at reducing noise, you should look into getting a silent case such as the Fractal Design R3 and an aftermarket heatsink may also be a good idea in this case.
I guess your power supply options would be boil down to the following: Lepa G500MA, Seasonic X400 / 560, Seasonic M12II 520, Corsair TX550M, and Coolermaster Silent Pro M500, all of which are near the $100 mark.
If you're not overclocking, you're looking at a H61 or H67 motherboard which is around $70 to $100.
For graphics card, you could get by with a Radeon HD5770 which is around $120 at your resolution but if you're looking to upgrade to 1080p sometime in the distant future maybe than a card near the $180 to $240 price point such as the Radeon HD6870, GTX 560, GTX 560 Ti, or Radeon HD6950 1GB.
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Good modular PSU is the 'enermax liberty eco 500W'. They recently released a revised version 'enermax liberty eco II' which should be even better. Its 90-100 euro here though, so it might be a bit above your budget.
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Actually, skyR, for noise, I have to suggest getting a bit more GPU than a 5770. Number one way to make your GPU quieter is to have it doing less work. When you overpower games, your fan won't spin up as high.
My SLI 460s are quieter for games like WoW, SC2, and Killing Floor than a single 460.
Mind you, higher graphics demand games, they are louder, but for stuff like DA2 and Crysis 2, having the extra horsepower is worth the noise.
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On July 25 2011 05:46 JingleHell wrote:
Actually, skyR, for noise, I have to suggest getting a bit more GPU than a 5770. Number one way to make your GPU quieter is to have it doing less work. When you overpower games, your fan won't spin up as high.
My SLI 460s are quieter for games like WoW, SC2, and Killing Floor than a single 460.
Mind you, higher graphics demand games, they are louder, but for stuff like DA2 and Crysis 2, having the extra horsepower is worth the noise.
I understand this argument, but I don't quite agree. It's similar to the "buy a larger-wattage PSU so you run it under 50% and it will be quieter" argument. Actually, that's one of the only semi-valid reasons to get an overkill PSU, yet I don't see it being used much.
It's better to just get a graphics card (PSU) that is originally designed with lower noise in mind. Also with a graphics card, set the fan profile to be quieter and forget about overclocking the thing. A model with good acoustics may be anywhere from like $0-20 more expensive than the cheapest Radeon/GeForce whatever that's available, which is much less of a price bump than getting a significantly better GPU. Obviously the significantly better GPU is...better, but for noise it may not necessarily be anyway.
So I think the important thing to emphasize is the design of the card. Some are just a lot quieter than others, and pretty much no reference design blower-style card is going to be quiet.
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This is true, you can go about it that way too, but for a GPU, you have the added edge of being able to choose between high performance and silence if you buy more GPU. With slightly less GPU power and a silent non-reference cooler, you're going to pay almost as much as a step up in power would cost, in some cases, and one step up is usually significant enough to keep it almost as quiet, but with the potential for better performance.
It's definitely a personal decision type thing, though, and we all know you and skyR's style is a bit more "just enough" where I like to pay the premiums and tinker.
And anyway, the majority of acoustics is case.
If I stuck my build in an RV02, it would probably make half of the noise I've managed to get it down to in the Lanboy.
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How good is
ASUS ML239H 23IN ips LED LCD 1080P 50000000:1 250CD/M2 HDMI DVI VGA Monitor?
Its around 200$ after price match, much cheaper than Dell 2311 (however, when on special at 239, its 40$ cheaper).
ALSO, NCIX has their 4.99$ shipping this week. Dell ask for both taxes if I remember correctly, whereas NCIX only charge 1 tax.
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On July 25 2011 10:39 XenOmega wrote:
How good is
ASUS ML239H 23IN ips LED LCD 1080P 50000000:1 250CD/M2 HDMI DVI VGA Monitor?
Its around 200$ after price match, much cheaper than Dell 2311 (however, when on special at 239, its 40$ cheaper).
ALSO, NCIX has their 4.99$ shipping this week. Dell ask for both taxes if I remember correctly, whereas NCIX only charge 1 tax.
It's thinner, has worse physical adjustment options (including no portrait mode), similar color accuracy, similar response time, and about 15ms input lag compared to 10ms input lag.
See here:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_ml239h.htm
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Hiya,
Planning on building myself a new system when i get back home in September.
Want something fairly high end, but probably not looking for the i7-2600k , unless the price diff is really minimal.
Would like to play some sc2 on ultra + SW:Tor on high graphics (not out yet, so hard to judge reqs of course), probably an FPS or two
Any thoughts on this build?
CPU: i5-2500K 3.3ghz
Mobo: Asrock p67 pro 3
RAM: G.Skill DDR3 2133 Ripjaws-X 4G (2Gx2)
Graphics: 1G GTX 560TI - Asus or Gigabyte
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120gb 2.5inch or Intel 320 SSD
Storage Drive: WD Black SATA3 1TB (storage)
Case: Some kind of Lian-li case (not fussed)
Power Supply: Corsair 650TX
CPU Cooler: Thermal Take FRIO CPU Cooler (might not be needed, but i prefer a cool PC)
Optical: LG Blu-ray combo drive
Monitor: ASUS VE248H 24
Speakers: Logitech Speaker System Z523 with Subwoofer (dont have a large apartment, something simple)
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5930 Posts
On July 25 2011 10:39 XenOmega wrote:
How good is
ASUS ML239H 23IN ips LED LCD 1080P 50000000:1 250CD/M2 HDMI DVI VGA Monitor?
Its around 200$ after price match, much cheaper than Dell 2311 (however, when on special at 239, its 40$ cheaper).
ALSO, NCIX has their 4.99$ shipping this week. Dell ask for both taxes if I remember correctly, whereas NCIX only charge 1 tax.
Despite the quality control issues that might arise from IPS panels (which you probably won't honestly notice because you aren't doing colour accurate stuff), its a good entry IPS panel. Colour accuracy is kind of irrelevant, theoretically you can see the extremely good results from TN panels only problem is that poorer viewing angles tends to ruin all that calibration effort.
I'm fairly sure it doesn't have DVI - only VGA and HDMI. It might come with a DVI <-> HDMI adapter however so it doesn't really matter. The adapters are only like $10 anyway, you don't need an amazing one.
The dynamic contrast ratio in this model literally does not do a single thing. It normally does a little bit, which honestly isn't noticeable in most cases, but in this case its worth turning off because it disables some settings.
That being said, its a good monitor. Typical IPS viewing angles, lighter anti-glare than the Dell Ultrasharps, and good picture quality. LED too so it consumes less power if you care about that. The stand sucks compared to the spring-loaded Ultrasharps but what can you do about that when its so cheap?
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Hi guys. I am looking at motherboards for my computer. I have 2 options at the moment they are
Asus P8P67 LE (Rev. 3)
Or Gigabyte Z68A D3
The asus is slightly cheaper and it has more usb ports, an extra PS/2 port and an optical spdif out.
Is there any reason why I shouldnt go for the asus?
Also, what are anyones thoughts on the geforce 570 over the 560 ti, is it worth the extra money?
Many thanks
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5930 Posts
Pretty sure the Asus P8P67 LE has a gimped BIOS, which has limited voltage manipulation options if I remember right.
The Gigabyte Z68A is also a Z68 board, which has the option to use Quicksync (which you probably don't need) or SSD caching (which is kind of cool but you probably aren't going to use).
If there are any Asrock P67/Z68 boards around the same price, I would pick them. Not only do they tend to have the same features, they have a fairly good BIOS (should we even be calling it a BIOS still?) and they actually use EFI, which Gigabyte boards do not. EFI basically allows prettier BIOS interfaces and generally faster boot-into-OS speeds.
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@skyR
Champion, thanks for the tips. Been awhile since i've built a machine
Ram: Will aim for something with 1600mhz frequency
Power Supply: Should i aim for the something like the Corsair CX-430 V2 (sorry for leaving that out of the last post) ? Potentially i'd look at upgrading in the future, so maybe just going for the TX650 v2 could assist (if i was to upgrade to a SLI system or something in the future?)
TY for the HDD tips, thought as much.
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You should aim for the least expensive 2x2GB or 2x4GB kit available which are usually 1333MHz cas9.
No you should not be aiming for a CX430 V2 as this unit provides only one 6pin PCIe connector and the GTX 560 Ti requires two 6pin PCIe connectors. It also comes with very little molex connectors so not only you will be using a PCIe to molex adapter but you'll also most likely be using molex to fan header adapters as well. Hard to suggest without knowing availability and pricing at the retailer you're purchasing from, some units that you should look into would be the XFX Core Edition 450, Antec Neo Eco 450 / 500, and Antec High Current Gamer 520. I guess the Corsair CX500 V2 also.
If you want to keep the power supply for your next SLI configuration than yes I guess you could get a 650w unit now. That would be the only reason why though since upgrading to newer processors and graphics cards will require less power as they're on newer processes.
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hey dudans, my cousin is buying a new computer and here are the parts hes selected:
case: antec 900 (yes i know, but he likes LEDs) $117
cpu: i5-2500k $212
mobo: GB z68 UD3H $172
gpu: 560ti hawk $287
memory: G.skill-NT 8g 1333mhz $52
cooler: 212+ $33
hdd: WD blue 500g $37
odd: samsung $25
psu: antec neo eco 520w $67
he wants to play new games at high settings @ 1080p. could he get away with a cheaper mobo, like the asrock p67 pro3 (125ish) even with moderate overclocking? also, is it worth getting the hawk or just some cheaper reference 560ti? any holes you can spot?
also, he probably wont be using any of that intel smart cache shit, so would it be better to just get a p67 board like the UD3P that has more phases, or will that be useless?
oh btw, buying from MSY ( http://msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf ) and PCDIY ( http://www.pcdiy.com.au/ad/Pricelist.pdf )
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More phases would only help if you are trying to achieve a near or beyond 5GHz overclock. A mild overclock such as 4.4GHz is achievable on most boards.
The Asrock P67 Pro3 is a very good choice of a board as it's very feature rich and is arguably on par with many of the $150 to $170 boards.
Whether the Hawk is worth it is subjective? It's a pre-overclocked card with the Twin Frozr III heatsink. Personally, no. The difference between Twin Frozr III, Twin Frozr II, Windforce, and DirectCU II is not big enough to warrant the huge premium on the Hawk.
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EPT
