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make sure you include an SSD in your build

I was thinking about getting an SSD but I read that they have a very short life time (less than a year) and I'm not sure if it does worth, considering my budget.

 

This one is more expensive but you are getting quite a rig there and this case will fit your CPU cooler easily as well it also has all the above 7 things you want in a case-

http://www.pccomponentes.com/cooler_master_haf_912.html

 

If you want to remain on the thermaltake then google to see if your coolermaster 212+ will fit in it (i've no idea how big that heatsink is so I can't really tell you)

I've been looking at the CM HAF 912 and it looks awesome for cooling and cable management, but the problem is that it is 48cm height and doesn´t fit in the space I have because there is a shelf at 45cm height, so the cage should be shorter.

The Antec 300 seems better than the Thermaltake V4, with the possibility of putting 2 front fans, and I've seen some good reviews about it, for the price (50€).

 

I see that your store already has Z77 boards in stock. With 10 euros more (134 €), you'd be able to get the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 board which IMO would be a nice plus. There may not be any major performance gain if any but I personally always want to get the newest board possible when I build my rigs.

 

I've updated the built for you with some of my advice:

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - 134 €

Intel Core i5 2500K - 183 € (Probably wait for the IB i5-3550K while you're at it)

Corsair Vengeance LP White 8GB - 49 € (It has low voltages @1.35v and wasn't that much different in price with the others.)

CoolerMaster Hyper212+ - 31 €

Seagate Barracuda 1TB ST31000524AS - 89 €

MSI GTX560Ti 448 TFIII + BF3 Bundle - 257 €

Corsair TX650V2 PSU - 78 €

CoolerMaster HAF 922 - 94 € (Much better airflow then the V4)

 

Total 915 € (It's a bit over your budget but you can always change the board back to Extreme3)

:cheers:

- The ASRock Z68 extreme3 gen3 is fine for me, maybe the Z77 is more future proof, but I think that by the time I have compatibility issues because of the mobo, I will be getting almost a whole new rig.

- 1.35V vs 1.5V RAM... is there any benefit apart from less power consumption? I chose the ripjaws because I saw that 1.5V RAM has no trouble running in quad-channel, and I might be upgrading to 16GB RAM in a couple of years if I need it.

- Finally, the case... it's even taller than the HAF 912, so it doesn't fit in my desk, 45cm tall is all the available height I have, so I'm looking for a 42-43cm tall case at most.

 

It has almost the same price/performance than the 560Ti 448 + BF3, so I'm getting this last one.

 

 

Thanks for the replies.

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I was thinking about getting an SSD but I read that they have a very short life time (less than a year) and I'm not sure if it does worth, considering my budget.

 

 

I've been looking at the CM HAF 912 and it looks awesome for cooling and cable management, but the problem is that it is 48cm height and doesn´t fit in the space I have because there is a shelf at 45cm height, so the cage should be shorter.

The Antec 300 seems better than the Thermaltake V4, with the possibility of putting 2 front fans, and I've seen some good reviews about it, for the price (50€).

 

 

- The ASRock Z68 extreme3 gen3 is fine for me, maybe the Z77 is more future proof, but I think that by the time I have compatibility issues because of the mobo, I will be getting almost a whole new rig.

- 1.35V vs 1.5V RAM... is there any benefit apart from less power consumption? I chose the ripjaws because I saw that 1.5V RAM has no trouble running in quad-channel, and I might be upgrading to 16GB RAM in a couple of years if I need it.

- Finally, the case... it's even taller than the HAF 912, so it doesn't fit in my desk, 45cm tall is all the available height I have, so I'm looking for a 42-43cm tall case at most.

SSDs have an average lifespan of ~1 million hours. That's ~41666 Days or ~114 Years of full 24hour usage. Yes with your current budget you'll likely not get an SSD but it's a 'must' next upgrade in the future IMO.

 

Are you 100% sure you can't relocate your rig? Lower heights means lower clearance and that can result in major compatibility issues with the MB and CPU coolers. Also it would most likely result in you getting a case with bad airflow and thus could result in high temperatures. I recommend you reconsider in relocating your rig.

 

1.35V RAM means you'd have lower power consumption and theoretically allow better OC since you can bump the Voltage further (not always). You may not need it but since it's priced similarly with the others, why not save on power consumption? Also SB/IB does not support quad channel even if you put 4 sticks in it. If you're positive on getting 16GB of ram, better get 2x8GB RAM kits since it would put less strain on the controller and guaranteed to run on the specified specification. If you bought two 8GB(2x4GB) kits and plugging all four of them, it'll stress the controller and prevent the RAMs from running on it's rated speeds = waste of money.

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SSDs have an average lifespan of ~1 million hours. That's ~41666 Days or ~114 Years of full 24hour usage. Yes with your current budget you'll likely not get an SSD but it's a 'must' next upgrade in the future IMO.

 

Are you 100% sure you can't relocate your rig? Lower heights means lower clearance and that can result in major compatibility issues with the MB and CPU coolers. Also it would most likely result in you getting a case with bad airflow and thus could result in high temperatures. I recommend you reconsider in relocating your rig.

 

1.35V RAM means you'd have lower power consumption and theoretically allow better OC since you can bump the Voltage further (not always). You may not need it but since it's priced similarly with the others, why not save on power consumption? Also SB/IB does not support quad channel even if you put 4 sticks in it. If you're positive on getting 16GB of ram, better get 2x8GB RAM kits since it would put less strain on the controller and guaranteed to run on the specified specification. If you bought two 8GB(2x4GB) kits and plugging all four of them, it'll stress the controller and prevent the RAMs from running on it's rated speeds = waste of money.

I will do some research about SSDs then, if they have that lifespan I will reconsider getting one and sacrifice the 1TB HDD. I have an 160GB HDD right now in my old pc, which I'm not using, so I could use it along with a 120GB SSD till I get the money to buy a better HDD, but this would be a very poor solution, I'm not sure if that storage would be enough.

 

Realocating my rig is nearly impossible, I have limited room here. The Antec 300 case seems to have a good airflow. I'm thinking about adding 2 front 120mm intake fans (http://www.coolmod.com/product/3875/0/0/1/Ventilador-12-cm-Scythe-S-FLEX-201-dba-1200-rpm.htm)

So I would have 1 rear exhaust fan, 1 top exhaust fan (this one would have only 2cm room above it but I suppose it's better than nothing), and finally 2 front intake fans, along with the CM Hyper 212 evo for CPU cooling. I think it should be just fine.

In summer we have at most 35-40ºC ambient temperature, though. I hope the CM Hyper 212 evo does his job to keep the OCd i5 2500k safe at 4.2-4.5GHz. Otherwise i would have to spend more money or aim for less OC.

 

Nice tip about the ram, thanks.

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So long as you aren't using a mountain of storage right now, pairing up a SSD with a small HDD will work just fine.

 

SSD life span is usually 8-10 years if you are writing to the drive nonstop. Sine there are usually times that you are not writing to the drive like when you turn off your PC, the drive can usually last a life time.

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The Antec three-hundred was the next choice I was going to suggest you get. Don't forget to install the missing fans - the one(or ones) in the front for intake and the ones in the back/ back-top for out-take. If they install extra fans when you get home make sure that they are installed correctly. The ones in the front need to pull air in the case while the others need to rush it out. If you have all the fans pushing in air and none pushing out air the hot air will just keep spiraling in the case and your hardware will overheat for apparently no reason.

 

About the SSD: you can get one when you are most comfortable. The Crucial ones are very reliable I hear and they will last quite a while if you intend on getting one later.

 

If you can spare the coin I suggest you get the 850 TX PSU. That mobo supports an extra card and in 3-4 years time you can add and extra 560 Ti in SLI and still have a great rig for playing the latest games on highest details.The Corsair TX series has japanese long lasting capacitors so it will run at the same efficiency for probably about a decade or more so you can hold on to this PSU for a long time.

 

Other than that I think you are ready to procure your PC. If you buy it before Easter, then go for it. If you want to wait until after Easter even better because prices on most cards (inculding the 500 series) will drop and you will probably be able to save about 15-20 euros.

 

Edit: I just checked out the Antec 300 and it will fit your coolermaster Hyper 212+.

The Antec three-hundred was the next choice I was going to suggest you get. Don't forget to install the missing fans - the one(or ones) in the front for intake and the ones in the back/ back-top for out-take. If they install extra fans when you get home make sure that they are installed correctly. The ones in the front need to pull air in the case while the others need to rush it out. If you have all the fans pushing in air and none pushing out air the hot air will just keep spiraling in the case and your hardware will overheat for apparently no reason.

 

About the SSD: you can get one when you are most comfortable. The Crucial ones are very reliable I hear and they will last quite a while if you intend on getting one later.

 

If you can spare the coin I suggest you get the 850 TX PSU. That mobo supports an extra card and in 3-4 years time you can add and extra 560 Ti in SLI and still have a great rig for playing the latest games on highest details.The Corsair TX series has japanese long lasting capacitors so it will run at the same efficiency for probably about a decade or more so you can hold on to this PSU for a long time.

 

Other than that I think you are ready to procure your PC. If you buy it before Easter, then go for it. If you want to wait until after Easter even better because prices on most cards (inculding the 500 series) will drop and you will probably be able to save about 15-20 euros.

 

Edit: I just checked out the Antec 300 and it will fit your coolermaster Hyper 212+.

 

Edit Edit :

"35-40ºC ambient temperature" -- I hope you have air conditioning in your house ...

Edited by Rofltroll

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Well, I would be able to get a Sapphire HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 (209€), but I'm reading some reviews and it seems to have a lot of compatibility issues, so I don't know if it does woth getting it over the MSI Geforce GTX 560TI 448c 1.25GB GDDR5 + BF3 (256€)

 

The price is the same, because the 47€ difference is what BF3 costs.

 

According to some benchmarks, the 7850 is close to the gtx570, and so is the gtx560ti 448, so I guess the improvement is 2GB vs 1.25GB GDDR5, but all that issues that people has with the 7850 make me doubt because that 2GB seems to be more future-proof than 1.25GB, which might be too little for the latest games on ultra settings, I don't know.

 

And, another question... is it easy to OC the GPU? I read that either of these 2, when OC'd, outperforms the gtx570.

 

Thanks again.

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Well, I would be able to get a Sapphire HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 (209€), but I'm reading some reviews and it seems to have a lot of compatibility issues, so I don't know if it does woth getting it over the MSI Geforce GTX 560TI 448c 1.25GB GDDR5 + BF3 (256€)

 

The price is the same, because the 47€ difference is what BF3 costs.

 

According to some benchmarks, the 7850 is close to the gtx570, and so is the gtx560ti 448, so I guess the improvement is 2GB vs 1.25GB GDDR5, but all that issues that people has with the 7850 make me doubt because that 2GB seems to be more future-proof than 1.25GB, which might be too little for the latest games on ultra settings, I don't know.

 

And, another question... is it easy to OC the GPU? I read that either of these 2, when OC'd, outperforms the gtx570.

 

Thanks again.

 

The 7850 is somewhere in between a 560 ti and a 560 448. The 7870 outperforms the GTX 570 by about 10 percent depending on the reviewer.

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Yes the 7850 lies somewhere between the 560Ti and 560Ti 448.

The 7850 occasionally evens out with the 570 and usually loses by a few FPS (~5 FPS). Not an issue that Overclocking can't fix.

The real gain is really on the efficiency side. The 7850 provide an 'almost GTX570 like' performance whilst being ~$60 cheaper, runs cooler and consume way less power. IMHO better save the money and get the 7850. It'll cost the same as the 560Ti 448 when you order a separate BF3 but you're getting a card with far superior efficiency. And, you'd be able to save on other thing like the PSU for example. With the very low power draw, you could drop the PSU to 550/600W and save money or stick with the Corsair TX650 without the need of upgrading it should you wish to get a second 7850 and CF them.

 

Overclocking GPUs are fairly easy with apps like the MSI Afterburner. It's the same thing as overclocking your CPU (find highest clock speed at certain voltages and test for stability) but much less time consuming since you won't need to reboot and enter the settings in the BIOS. The 7850 OC should play well against a stock 570 but bare in mind it won't be able to compete with an overclocked 570 when both has the same percentage of performance gain. But even a stock 570 would run today's games at high - ultra settings so who cares really when you're able to get 50-60FPS constant with your overclocked card :biggrin:

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If you play at 1080p resolution 2 GB is a waste. If you want multiple monitors or higher res than 1080p then a 7850 wouldn't perform well anyway. I really believe that 2 GB in such cards is a gimmick.

 

edit: wrote 7870 instead of 7850

Edited by Rofltroll

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If you play at 1080p resolution 2 GB is a waste. If you want multiple monitors or higher res than 1080p then a 7850 wouldn't perform well anyway. I really believe that 2 GB in such cards is a gimmick.

 

edit: wrote 7870 instead of 7850

 

80% of the time, you are right. However, there are games that can benefit from having more memory for higher textures. Skyrim is a simple example. However (i like to contradict myself :biggrin: ) for 99 percent of gamers who are more focused on seeing and shooting the enemy rather than looking at a tree a mile away, 1 GB of Vram is fine.

 

So I while I would not say that 2GB is a total gimmick, I would say it is marginally overrated if that makes sense.

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