Feedback on my build

[robosodope]

Hi, I am making my computer and I just want a person who knows more than me on computers to just check my build and if everything is good. Here's the link to my build! http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3sjqg

[DaveLembke]

I'd go with a heavier power supply. 500 watts I feel may not be enough to drive that video card with the rest of the hardware. 650 watts is my suggestion, with a 600 watt absolute minimum. I see that there is a Corsair CX 750 watt for $60 which is what I'd go with to avoid running PSU close to its 100% limit in case you want to add more drives, fans, etc later.

*Also I have had issues with MSI products so I avoid that brand. The video card you have is MSI.

[camerongray]

That looks okay, the only things I would change would be the motherboard and CPU.  The CPU is Ivy Bridge so is an old generation, look at the Haswell i5s (4xxx) nowadays.  I'd also recommend a motherboard from a better brand such as Gigabyte or ASUS.

Also bear in mind that the non-k series i5s are not overclockable, if you aren't planning on overclocking then there is no real need to get an aftermarket CPU cooler, the stock one will be fine.  The 'P' series chips like the one you picked don't have integrated graphics, I'd be inclined to avoid them as the cost difference is minimal and having integrated graphics can be very useful for debugging issues down the line.

[robosodope]

What parts would you suggest then for my CPU and motherboard? What about this? http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3sEHF

[camerongray]

Made a couple of changes to what you had above: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3sIHA.

Replaced the CPU with an Intel Core i5 4670k - Xeons are for servers and high end workstations, not a system like this.  Also swapped the power supply for a better quality, lower wattage (750w is too high for this build) Seasonic unit.  The case also includes all the fans you'll need so you only need to buy those extra ones if you want the LEDs.

I would also strongly recommend getting an SSD for this system.  If you can't get one for whatever reason, you would really be best to swap the hard drive for a faster 7200rpm unit.

[robosodope]

What's an SSD for should I have one or the other?

[pcurtj1974]

SSD is an acronym for "Solid State Drive". Just google it and read about it. Personally, I am avoiding them because if you have a power outage and the drive is active, it could be a  critical error. I'm not risking that for a quicker boot time.

[camerongray]

What's an SSD for should I have one or the other?

The SSD works like a hard drive but uses flash memory instead of spinning disks.  When compared to a hard drive they are smaller capacity but they are hugely faster meaning that everything that uses the disk such as booting, programs/games loading or when opening/saving/moving large files will be much quicker.  Using one just makes the entire PC feel snappier and more responsive.  Due to their limited capacity you would generally use an SSD to hold your operating system along with programs you use regularly and then use a regular hard drive to hold large files such as big games, video, photos and music.

Nowadays your best bet would be the Samsung 840 Pro/Evo or Crucial M500.  Then just get the capacity you feel you need, this will only really be holding your OS along with commonly used programs so you should be fine with 120gb but if your budget can allow it, 250gb would be a good idea.

SSD is an acronym for "Solid State Drive". Just google it and read about it. Personally, I am avoiding them because if you have a power outage and the drive is active, it could be a  critical error. I'm not risking that for a quicker boot time.

All those scare stories about SSDs are nonsense nowadays.  They all stem from very early drives or some really low end drives you can buy nowadays.  Any good SSD will not randomly fail due to a power outage.  Same thing applies to people freaking out about them having limited read/write cycles, they don't realise that under normal use, the drive will be well out of date by the time that it ever fails.  You only have to look at the warranty periods on modern SSDs to see  how reliable they are.

Nowadays all my PCs are SSD only, large files are stored on a pair of RAID'd hard drives in my home server.  Never had an SSD fail or any other issues, and I just treat mine like you would with a hard drive - No need to fuss about trying to "take care" of an SSD like some people would have you believe you need to do.

[Geek-9pm]

What  have you been smoking?
An SSD can fail and how it is used matters.

[camerongray]

What  have you been smoking?
An SSD can fail and how it is used matters.

Nice and polite there I see... I did not state that SSDs never fail.  What I said was that the arguments that people make about how you need to do x, y and z to protect it is nonsense.  I've heard all sorts of arguments from "they fail if the power cuts" to "you should only put your OS on the SSD, programs and files damage it" and many more, these are complete nonsense.

If you use an SSD in a standard PC like you would with a regular hard drive without doing anything special to "protect the SSD", it will last for a very long time.

[DaveLembke]

I have had good luck with SSD's.

 I own ( 6 ) of them ( 3 x OCZ 40GB Agility2, 60GB Vertex3, 90GB Agility3 + 2 Corsair F40 40GB, F60 60GB, and 1 x Crucial M500 240GB ).

They work well for booting systems fast, as well as loading large games fast. However if you do video editing etc such as I do sometimes with large files, this is still best performed on a HDD instead of a SSD to avoid overworking the cells.

I'd highly advise installation of both a SSD and HDD in the same system. SSD as C: and say HDD as D: . Place your OS on the SSD, and any games that you want to load fast on the SSD as well. Music, Videos, Personal Data, etc, I would store on a HDD where you should have plenty of storage capacity.

All but 2 of my SSD's are in systems used as C: drive along with a HDD as D: . I installed a small SSD into my wifes Core 2 Duo E6600 system running Windows 7 32-bit on 3GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM, and it drastically improved boot time. Since the SSD is small, I placed the OS only on this SSD and programs and games are installed to the 160GB HDD which is also where personal data is stored to keep this small SSD free for room to grow with Microsoft Updates etc. I also moved her swap file to the HDD vs the SSD to free up 4500MB of space on the SSD to instead be allocated from the 160GB HDD instead.

There have been some good deals on 240GB size SSD's lately, so I would not go with small SSD's. The main reason for buying the small ones that I bought was that it was a cheap way to get the performance of a SSD without spending crazy money since some of them were bought 3 years ago when SSD's were most costly than they are today. Such as the 40GB SSD's I bought for like $30 after rebates etc. My latest drive the Crucial M500 240GB though is the better drive for longevity in a system to where there is room to work with it and not run out of space for most applications. I installed this 240GB into my Toshiba laptop to increase battery life as well as speed up boot and load times of games.