Parts list critique for long time geek, first time builder

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cyreb7
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Parts list critique for long time geek, first time builder

Post by cyreb7 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 2:18 pm

It is time for me to FINALY wish my loud and unstable custom built computer (built by a local store, not by me) good riddance, and now I am taking the plunge and building a replacement computer myself. :D

I have done lots of research over the past couple weeks looking at review sites and forums, and I have a carefully crafted a parts list that should suit my gaming, Photoshop, video editing, and strange desire to have a fast computer needs. This will be my first build so any feedback will be appreciated.

My priorities are:
  1. Stability: I want this computer to be rock solid and never give a BSOD caused by incompatibility of hardware or low quality components.
  • Quietness: I know I can't have a dead silent computer at this level of performance without going to major trouble, so I will be happy to compromise with a “quiet” computer.
  • Performance: I like the cutting edge and am not afraid to get my feat wet with the latest and greatest, but I am completely willing to compromise with less than the best if need be.
I have budget of $1000, but would like to keep it to around $900 (that way with shipping and tax it will total closer to $1000).
  • Case: Antec P183 V3 $150; this is one of the best “quiet” cases I have found, is well known, not exorbitantly expensive, and I like the aesthetics better than most cases; I would love a Silverstone Fortress FT02 but it is not worth $250; I also looked at the Fractal Define R3 but decided it was a slightly cheaper version of the P183.
  • Motherboard: Asus P8P67 B3 $160 (when it's available, rumors are any time now); I decided to go with Asus over Gigabyte because I need Firewire; I decided on the P8P67 over the P8P67 Pro because I have never used SLI in my current system and do not think I will ever use it in my new one.
  • PSU: Antec CP-850 850W $120; I know this is way overkill for my rig, but it came down to the Antec or the SeaSonic X650 and I decided the Antec would be more future proof.
  • CPU: Intel i5-2500K Sandy Bridge $230; best bang for your buck with top of the line performance; I will experiment with a small overclock.
  • CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C12P $75; It is the best silentpcreview.com reviewed top down cooler, and with my hope to use the least number of case fans possible, the added benefit of top down cooling should help keep air moving.
  • Ram: Corsair 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 $75 (with rebate); I do lots of Photoshop with big raw photo files and I decided a upgrade from my current of 4GB was well in order; a slight premium for the Corsair but it is well worth it for the reliability.
  • GPU: I will use my exesting Nvidia GTX 470; it will most likely be the the loudest thing in the case, but hey, its what I have.
  • OS Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB $60; I work with lots of big photo files and so I would like a fast drive (I’m not ready for a SSD), as far as I can tell this is a single platter drive (and so should be relatively quiet); Western Digital seems to be the most reliable brand.
  • Data Hard Drive: I will be porting my current Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS from my old system to my new.
  • Optical Drive: I will also use my existing Pioneer DVR-115D drive
  • Case Fans: I have two Noctua NF-S12B ULN(s) and one Noctua NF-S12 from my existing computer; I plan to place one ULN in the bottom front, in front of the hard drives, and the other in the back; I plan to put the S12 as a intake fan in the “middle”.
  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Total of new parts: $870


*updated parts list below*
(green=I am getting this in less there is a very good argument not to) (orange=open for talk)
  • GPU: I will use my exesting Nvidia GTX 470. I will add an after market cooler at a later date.
  • Data Hard Drive: I will be porting my current Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS from my old system to my new
  • Optical Drive: I will also use my existing Pioneer DVR-115D drive
  • Case Fans: I have two Noctua NF-S12B ULN(s) and one Noctua NF-S12 from my existing computer
  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Total of new parts: $925
Last edited by cyreb7 on Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

frenchie
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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by frenchie » Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:48 am

Looks good for your needs. Suspend the hard drive if you can, it'll help a lot with vibrations.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:39 am

frenchie wrote:Looks good for your needs. Suspend the hard drive if you can, it'll help a lot with vibrations.
+1

When you can, consider getting a 120GB SSD. The single WD Black will be your choke point. If photoshop/video editing is a huge part of your day, you might consider multiple drives to split up into OS/Apps/pagefile and previews/cache/exports.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by fumino » Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:45 am

Noctua NH-C12P SE14 != Noctua NH-C14

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by Rekonn » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:38 pm

Looks like a good build, I have a couple of suggestions.

1) I agree that your PSU is overkill, especially with only one video card. You can save $40 by going with a Antec TruePower New TP-650, which got a great review by SPCR.

2)With everything else quiet, the noise from your GTX 470 will stick out like a sore thumb. With the savings from cheaper PSU, you can get a good aftermarket cooler like the Gelid Icy Vision for $55, also reviewed here.

3) Now that the vid card is quieter, you can save some money on the case. If you like how the FT02 looks, check out the Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B for only $80.

4) Check the forums on Anandtech and Hardocp, lotta people had issues with Asus P67 boards. I'd recommend looking at Asrock motherboards instead like the P67 Pro3. It was $125 on newegg before the whole chipset thing postponed my new build.

cyreb7
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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:28 am

Suspend the hard drive if you can, it'll help a lot with vibrations.
I will definitely excrement with suspending the hard drives.
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 != Noctua NH-C14
Whops, I got mixed up between the NH-C12P SE14 and Noctua NH-C14. It looks like the NH-C14 will be better for my needs.
1) You can save $40 by going with a Antec TruePower New TP-650, which got a great review by SPCR.
It seems like the number one recommendation for a stable computer is "get the best PSU you possibly can" and from what I can tell the TP-650 may be "good" but I am willing to spend the extra cash for the "best" (ie the Antec CP-850 or SeaSonic X650).
2) With everything else quiet, the noise from your GTX 470 will stick out like a sore thumb.
I was already thinking about a new GPU cooler as a latter upgrade. :D
4) Check the forums on Anandtech and Hardocp, lotta people had issues with Asus P67 boards.
I did hear there was some wierdness but I thought most of it was fixed by a bios update? I did a quick search on Anandtech and didn't see anything specific, do you know what people are complaining about?

Thanks for all the input everyone!

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by bonestonne » Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:21 am

500W would be "a lot" for this computer. Might I go so far as to say a Nexus 430W?

Seasonic 530W maybe? Nexus has a 530W too, but I haven't heard of anyone using it here, so I'm not sure if it's as good as the 430.

I'm also going to say that you might opt to save a little bit more by starting with 4gb of RAM and actually seeing if you need more. That said, both my laptop and desktop both have 8gb of RAM, and I couldn't imagine having any less, but that is for doing a lot of audio editing on the desktop, and photo editing on the laptop (stitching together panoramas, like, 27170x1935px panoramas).

That extra 4gb will always be fun, but if it's not needed yet, maybe save the money, because prices will only go down from here.

I would also be wary of USB3 drivers, not all of them are playing nice with computers.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:25 am

bonestonne wrote:500W would be "a lot" for this computer.
I understand that actual power levels are unlikely to go much above 200W, but my current computer has MAJOR stability issues and I am not willing to risk anything not working in this build. I used an online PSU calculator and worst case (with possible future upgrades in mind) comes out to be just under 600W, so I know it is overkill, but however unlikely it is to ever use so much power I am sticking with 600W as a target PSU.
bonestonne wrote:I'm also going to say that you might opt to save a little bit more by starting with 4gb of RAM and actually seeing if you need more. That said, both my laptop and desktop both have 8gb of RAM, and I couldn't imagine having any less, but that is for doing a lot of audio editing on the desktop, and photo editing on the laptop (stitching together panoramas, like, 27170x1935px panoramas).
I have used 4GB of ram for the last three years and I do feel that a upgrade would be a helpful. (I have done some panoramas in my day, 10x raw 10MP photos 8) )
bonestonne wrote:I would also be wary of USB3 drivers, not all of them are playing nice with computers.
I don't have anything USB3 at the moment anyway. Are you saying that USB3 drivers are causing some of the problems with the motherboard?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by bonestonne » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:10 pm

I don't know if it affects other software right now, but USB3.0 drivers are not playing nice with some audio gear, which means the drivers could still use a lot of work. Because of this, I suggest users be careful about what they choose. Adding a PCI-E card for USB3.0 in the future is no big deal.

If you get a good power supply around ~450-500W, you aren't going to have stability problems unless the power regulator circuits go bad on the motherboard, which could easily explain current stability problems. Even one bad capacitor (even if it's not blown or bulging yet) could do it.

Most motherboards today also sport 100% solid state capacitors, so you shouldn't have any problems with stability, however I also wouldn't blame the power supply for most stability problems people have. Generally it's bad RAM, or even a bad slot on the motherboard for RAM, but I work at a computer shop, and see plenty of computers every week that have very wide ranges of problems.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:21 pm

cyreb7 wrote:It is time for me to FINALY wish my loud and unstable custom built computer (built by a local store, not by me) good riddance, and now I am taking the plunge and building a replacement computer myself.
Good for you! I think you will regret not using an SSD as your boot drive. The reason being that is the biggest PIA part to have to change.

Microcenter has a rebadged Vertex Sandforce SSD for $99.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0351760

That should work for a boot drive.

But none of you choices are bad. I would just pull the trigger. You can always go back and swap in new parts if you need to.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:40 pm

ces wrote:Microcenter has a rebadged Vertex Sandforce SSD for $99.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0351760
:shock: One SSD for me. (it looks like AData, not Vertex)


So here are the updates to the plan:
Micro Center 64GB SSD for Windows and my commonly used programs

I'm switching back to the SeaSonic X650. (the SeaSonic 500W is the same price with shipping on Newegg as the 600w)

Going for a slightly cheaper HDD to offset the cost of the SSD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB

Noctua NH-C14

And a replacement GPU cooler at a later date.

Also, the i5 2500K is $50 chepear at Micro Center :D


My remaining question is what motherboard to get. I will do more research, but is there any P67 boards that seem better (stability wise) than the rest?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:45 am

cyreb7 wrote:My remaining question is what motherboard to get. I will do more research, but is there any P67 boards that seem better (stability wise) than the rest?
It's hard to go wrong with an Asus or Gigabyte.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by Plekto » Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:41 am

It looks pretty good, but you should get different drives.

Use the 500GB for data. Expect it to die, eventually, though. I'd get a 1GB laptop drive instead. Lower heat and speed should mean a slightly longer life span.

Get two WD 250GB RE4 drives - the smaller ones, actually. This is purely an OS drive setup - 250GB should be enough or apps and the like. Run a pair in Raid 1 mode. You mentioned rock solid stability, and RAID 1 is your ticket here. It's well worth the $70 the extra drive costs. The reason for the smaller ones is less heat and quicker to rebuild in case of a crash.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-3 ... B003SARYDK
Server farms love these drives. They do also make the 500GB model as well for $80, so that's also an option. BUt I think it's overkill for just OS and Apps.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:57 am

Plekto wrote:It looks pretty good, but you should get different drives.

Use the 500GB for data. Expect it to die, eventually, though. I'd get a 1GB laptop drive instead. Lower heat and speed should mean a slightly longer life span.

Get two WD 250GB RE4 drives - the smaller ones, actually. This is purely an OS drive setup - 250GB should be enough or apps and the like. Run a pair in Raid 1 mode. You mentioned rock solid stability, and RAID 1 is your ticket here. It's well worth the $70 the extra drive costs. The reason for the smaller ones is less heat and quicker to rebuild in case of a crash.
What makes you think that "Lower heat and speed" of a 1GB laptop drive pushing the limits of technology would be the dominating factor over reliability compared to a 500G WD Black drive (that can be cooled in the case as much as you choose to cool it)... especially in light to the Google research on drive longevity?

Rock solid stability and RAID 1 don't seem consistent to me. An added layer of complexity. That to me seems to be going in the wrong direction. Please explain your thinking. How do you do a rebuild of a crash if the crash is your boot drive?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by andymcca » Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:16 am

1) I cannot say enough nice things about the Seasonic X650. And you would have to have one beefy system to require more than 650W continuous.

2) Have you looked at the Antec Solo?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129018
It is $50 cheaper and has built in drive suspension.

3) As for the RAM, personally I would stick with a set in the hopes of getting everyone to play nice. Characteristics do vary from run to run, and given the price of RAM, its not really worth trying to save the few bucks if it turns out you need another module.

4) I have no idea how Windows 7 handles rebuilding a RAID array (or even how it handles booting off one), but personally I enjoy having my Linux installs on mdadm raid whenever possible. Does Windows 7 have decent software raid? Because you will not get decent raid within your budget with a hardware option. And going for cheapo raid is a bad idea.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:59 am

Perhaps I was not clear, I am still getting the RAM and case, I only listed things I was changing, not the complete build. (I will be updating my initial post with the updated build)

And what is all this talk about a rad boot set up? I decided to use the SSD for a boot drive and commonly used programs. Why would I use rad HDDs instead of an SSD?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by andymcca » Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:13 am

Sorry, I guess I didn't say: I didn't think you were changing your RAM or case, I just thought I would throw those two out in case you were still toying with ideas. I saw someone else mention starting with a single stick of RAM, but between losing the benefits of multiple channels and risking timing/voltage problems.. :)

As for RAID, I only brought it up because of the other posts. But if you want redundancy in case of hard drive crashes, RAID can be a nice option. Depends how important your data is to you, and whether M$ ever got around to supporting decent RAID options. Personally, I don't like to trust a single copy of anything. Too many drive failures over the years.
Also: if your tasks do not involve a lot of seeks, HDDs are not out of the performance picture.

And for the Solo: It's just a neat case for a nice price. Since there was no mention of it in the thread I figured I would bring it up in case you hadn't taken a serious look at it. It's much classier looking than the P183, and much cheaper than the FT02.

All just ideas. Not trying to change your mind or argue anything is superior to anything else.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:27 am

No problem, the more suggestions the better :D

I am kinda over my target budget as it is... so RAD is out for the moment, but I do regular backups so I am in good shape for now.

And I never did look at the Solo, but taking a quick look it seems kinda small for everything I plan to cram into it, and I am kinda atached to the P183...

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:38 pm

cyreb7 wrote:it seems kinda small for everything I plan to cram into it

Small? You may not like it (even if according to someone your proposed rig seems well suited right for that case), but the Antec Solo is not "small", or "not capable to fit", moreover it is well capable to comfortably and quietly host much more than your above mentioned parts:

Image

Obviously it is far from perferct, it has its own plain limits (as any enclosure), but which don't emerge with reference to your parts list.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by Plekto » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:27 pm

ces wrote: What makes you think that "Lower heat and speed" of a 1GB laptop drive pushing the limits of technology would be the dominating factor over reliability compared to a 500G WD Black drive (that can be cooled in the case as much as you choose to cool it)... especially in light to the Google research on drive longevity?

Rock solid stability and RAID 1 don't seem consistent to me. An added layer of complexity. That to me seems to be going in the wrong direction. Please explain your thinking. How do you do a rebuild of a crash if the crash is your boot drive?
Laptop drives use far less power and less heat as a result than a standard 3.5 inch drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136692
This is far superior to the same WD Black 3.5 inch drive just because of the heat and power usage. This drive you can put your hand on while it's running. The 3.5 inch is too hot to touch and needs active cooling or air blowing over it, which means more power and hot air inside your system. Also, the noise generated by a laptop drive is essentially 0db to the equation of a typical desktop PC - the CPU fan will make far more noise.

The big deal, though is RAID. I'm not talking a big raid array but a redundant/mirrored set of drives(RAID 1 is not normal RAID). You are wasting one drive to be a full-time live mirror of the other. When one dies, you literally unplug the dead one and reboot. It's very simple. The WD RE3 and RE4 series have special drivers and programming on them to handle PC type raid controllers and as such they are an order of magnitude less likely to fall out of sync or corrupt the array. Standard drives used as such usually have I/O errors from time to time and tend to drop from the array while these have the ability to suspend operations while the failing drive (usually) recovers and just marks the sector as bad.(ie - they have to be designed with RAID in mind or else they just go brain dead when a raid-specific error event happens)

The RE4 are great because they have a 5 year warranty as well as a 64mb cache.

Let's say one drive is good for a crash every 1/500 days. Two like this are 1/500 X 1/500, or 1/250000 that both drives will fail on the same day. Prudeance dictates that you buy a matched set to replace them of course. The RE4 are new, so you could also buy an exact replacement most likely in a couple of years, drop it in, and you're back in business in 2-3 hours.

Data recovery is typically $1200+ and recovery is based upon drive size, so larger is worse in case that it really does hit the fan. Even good recovery software like Easy Recovery Pro costs a good $200-$500 on average. A redundant drive is also cheaper than a tape backup or a moderate sized SSD. They used to be much more expensive, but drives are dirt cheap now.

At $69 and some fiddling with the on-board RAID controller for 30 minutes, I'm amazed that everyone doesn't do this. Data recovery is a PITA X20 and this allows you to sleep at night knowing that you're not waiting for that time bomb to go off(or having to waste money preemptively replacing drives every year or two "just in case".
Last edited by Plekto on Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:28 pm

cyreb7 wrote:No problem, the more suggestions the better :D

I am kinda over my target budget as it is... so RAD is out for the moment, but I do regular backups so I am in good shape for now.

And I never did look at the Solo, but taking a quick look it seems kinda small for everything I plan to cram into it, and I am kinda atached to the P183...
Why don't you restate where you are with your configuration at this point?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Tue Mar 08, 2011 8:40 pm

ces wrote:Why don't you restate where you are with your configuration at this point?
No problem, I updated the first post with my current ideas. Basically I am still thinking about the case and motherboard.
quest_for_silence wrote:Small? You may not like it (even if according to someone your proposed rig seems well suited right for that case), but the Antec Solo is not "small", or "not capable to fit", moreover it is well capable to comfortably and quietly host much more than your above mentioned parts:
Apparently I was wrong, I only did a extremely quick search this morning and now, thanks to everyones enthusiasm, I will definitely take a closer look at the Solo.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:50 am

After many hours of research, I have decided on my final specs!
  • Case: Antec P183 V3 $140. The Solo will fit my build, but the P183 provides better cooling and future upgradability.
  • Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) $160. After looking at Asus (too many bios problems), Gigabyte (need FireWire), and ASrock (originally intended for one year warranty? How long do you think they will last?), I finally decided on MSI.
  • PSU: SeaSonic X650 650W $140
  • CPU: Intel i5-2500K Sandy Bridge $180
  • CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 $90
  • Ram: Corsair 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 $75
  • OS Hard Drive: Micro Center 64GB SSD $100
  • For games, and other programs that will not fit on the 64GB SSD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB $40
Thank you all for your help! It is nice to know people are still willing to spend the time to help a total stranger.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:49 pm

cyreb7 wrote:Asus (too many bios problems).
What bios problems?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:54 pm

looks good - have fun with your build!

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:38 pm

ces wrote:
cyreb7 wrote:Asus (too many bios problems).
What bios problems?
Well... I soupose there is no "bios" and so no "bios" problmes... :?
Any way, people have been having MANY problems with the new P67 Asus boards (do a search), some have been fixed by updates but I don't want to be caught by a unfixed bug.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by ces » Wed Mar 09, 2011 4:55 pm

cyreb7 wrote:people have been having MANY problems with the new P67 Asus boards (do a search)
What problems did you find people having?

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by cyreb7 » Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:09 pm

ces wrote:What problems did you find people having?
Lots of people had trouble with SSDs and some had weird boot issues, there was other stuf as well but I don't remeber. You might want to skim through this thred.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by Plekto » Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:32 pm

SSDs can work, but the problem is the way that Windows uses caching. If you have a SSD, you need roughly 2x the memory and no swap file at all on the system. It will of course yowl like a starving cat about the lack of it.

If you want to save money, the cheapskate alternative (tm) ;) is to get the smallest basic laptop drive that you can and use it as a swap file and temp drive. Put all of the temp and cache and the swap file on it and let it hammer away.
This will also have the effect of doubling your effective speed as the SSD will only be saving and loading application data and the heavy background crap like the firewall and AV stuff(don't forget their log files and so on) will be on its own channel - so the typical disk thrash for 30 seconds to quit a game (as an example) will still happen, but the machine will release itself instantly.

My machine has been running for 27 hours since my last reboot(having an issue with a dying DVD drive again).
In that time, it's had almost 100,000 writes to virtual memory, cache, log, and temp files. That's roughly one per second, which doesn't seem like a lot, but it adds up to a nightmare for a SSD as that's between 3-10 million extra write cycles per month.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136391
It's $35 with the savings code. This is basically a disposable drive so forget about it and when it dies in a year or two, get another one then. The SSD should be fine, then, in terms of stability and freedom from crashing.

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Re: Parts list critique for long time geek, first time build

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:46 pm

:?: ? ? ? :?:

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