Hypothetical build (ETA Summer 2010)

[Haych]

As you can guess the folowing list may be subject to change, but hopefully it won't The rig will be more for gaming, but as my PC is right next to my bed, it's imperative that I keep things as quiet as possible in idle.

Oh. And on the off chance that you read this, my apologies to hybrid2d4x4. I'd previously decided a quad may not be necessary, but I guess I'm eating humble pie now. Mmmmmm... humble pie.

CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 BE 3.2Ghz (maybe overclock to 3.6Ghz)
MB: GA-MA790GPT UD3H (AM3)
GPU: Radeon HD 5850 or 5770
PSU: Corsair 520HX, 620HX or 650HX (I could use some input on what may be best)
RAM: 4GB Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1333
HS: Scythe Mugen 2
HDD: Samsung 1TB F3 x2 (1 backup, 1 partitioned for system/games and data)
Fans: Scythe Slipsteam or S-Flex 1200rpm x2 or 3
Scythe Kaze Jyu Slim 2000 rpm x1
Yate Loon 140mm x1 (maybe)
Monitor: Asus VH242H 23.6"
DVD Player/Writer: Freecom External Drive
Case: Antec Three Hundred

You'll notice I'm still undecided on one or two things, namely the GPU and PSU. The online PSU wattage calculators seem rather inconsistent in their estimations, so I figured I could get a more solid answer on here. To date I've only found a few reviews for the 650HX. Most were from E-tailers with one being from a tech review site, which was German (Google needs to fire their translator). I'd obviously prefer the 5850, and it seems to be a certainty now that it can be cooled with an, albeit modded, Accelero S1 + fan combo. But I'd also like to save money where possible.

One final question. What would be an adequate partition size for OS (Windows 7 HP 64 bit) and games on a 1TB drive?

If you need links regarding anything, please don't hesitate to ask.

All help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[b_rubenstein]

The PSU is pretty easy because the 520HX & 620HX are being dropped from production and only the 650HX will remain.

By the summer time you may also want to rethink the CPU and GPUs. Intel will have introduced a whole line of 32nm CPUs that will have good performance and use lower power and run cooler. 6 months is something of an eternity for GPUs.

[hybrid2d4x4]

Haha, no apologies needed, and your counterpoint back then was perfectly valid (I had just searched the original thread to double check what I've gotten myself into).

As much as I don't want to look antagonistic with this trend of disagreement, I have to say that you're getting way ahead of yourself if your "ETA" is summer 2010. The CPU/GPU playing field will surely change so much that speculating about what components are a good buy isn't really a good idea at this point. Even with something like the PSU, SPCR is bound to review a few more PSUs by that time and one might fit the bill for your build (if not, at least you'll have more info available on which to base your decision). Wait until you're 1-3 weeks from pulling the trigger on the build and then post and you'll get the most relevant and up-to-date feedback/ideas bounced back. Until then, keep an open mind and try not to commit yourself to anything...

[Haych]

Many thanks for the responses.

I guess I'm going to have to settle for windowshopping for a while then *sigh*

To be honest I've never really looked at Intels properly because I've always felt they were out of my price range, but maybe that could change. And if things don't change within six months and the shopping list I have at the moment is what I end up going with, at least I stand a chance of getting certain items cheaper, maybe.

Time to play the waiting game then. The next six months is going to be.......... excruciating!

Thanks again, guys.

[shleepy]

Honestly, if you seriously only plan on assembling this PC in 6-9 months, you shouldn't bother looking at current components. The prices for current components will drop significantly, and other mid-range components will become available. But it's hard to say how far some of the prices will drop, and exactly what new products will be available.

[Shamgar]

Keep researching and reading up in the meantime. Just don't let it consume you too much. By the time you're ready to buy, things will have changed a bit, but at least you will have been informed and seen how things have progressed.

This is what I do to keep track of things before that big day arrives. I save reviews, product sheets and pricelists of things I'm interested in for reference. With these, I can then draft up "dummy" purchases so I can gauge how my proposed build(s) and their costs have changed over the months. Armed with this information, you'll avoid making haphazard and last minute buying decisions. Also, it's generally not a good idea to buy products when they are first released, as they often ship with oversights and bugs; plus, you may a hefty premium for "beta testing" their new hardware. This is true of motherboards especially. Their prices usually fall quite a bit after a few weeks.

On your question of OS partition size for Windows 7 HP 64-bit plus games. Microsoft's suggested minimum for 32-bit is 16GB. 64-bit needs more space to address to so 30GB or more may be required for that alone. Allow extra room for larger applications, system restores (if you use that), browser caches and temp folders etc. if you are a heavy user. I don't play modern games but I'm guessing a lot of them take up a few GB's or more so you'll have to take that into account as well. In other words, you'll need quite a sizeable partition, something that most users here don't seem to mind. But I do.

I personally try and keep my system partitions as small as possible. I'm anti-bloatware and dislike that Windows and apps are using up so much space these days. Hey, but who cares, right? "Hard drives are cheap and 1TB is standard, so use it up. Plus, I want all that fancy aero glassy spinning dazzling cool stuff on my screen." So goes the argument...

Anyway, don't get too caught up in your build. Six months will go by before you know it.