Home Built Computers

[ToxSocks]

I finished my new work computer yesterday. It's a pretty massive upgrade over what im using right now.

For the past 8 years i've been using a P4 w/ 4 gigs of ram and windows XP.

My new Machine:

AMD FX 8350 8 Core
Asus MA97 MoBO
16GB Ram (Kingston)
EVGA Nvidia GTX 660
600 Watt Corsair PSU
Corsair H100i Liquid Cooler
240GB Kingston SSD
2GB Hitachi HD
2x Asus 48x DvD drives.
Thermaltake S31 Snow Case
Windows 7

I was amazed that it took all of 10 minutes to install Windows 7 and the drivers for both the MoBO and the Gfx card. I remember back when installing an OS was an all day kinda thing.

[Fish]

I'm getting pretty close to doing another build myself. Been running a Mac Pro for quite a while, but it's finally showing its age a bit. My current video card couldn't run the new Wolfenstein, and that pissed me off something fierce. So I'm building another Winbox.

[hometeam]

Couple of good budget builds here

[SuperChief]

Now, in comparison with the build I mentioned above, take a look at this build.

Pricing is about the same; however, the Digital Storm build has a few drawbacks. Most notably, it's 8GB RAM as opposed to 16. Also, it's a 120GB SSD in lieu of the 250, and a 600W PS instead of the 750.

The big positive I see, in this instance, is that it comes with a 4-year warranty. That's a huge plus in my eyes. However it is, for all intents and purposes, a less powerful machine. What do you all think?

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by SuperChief

Now, in comparison with the build I mentioned above, take a look at this build.

Pricing is about the same; however, the Digital Storm build has a few drawbacks. Most notably, it's 8GB RAM as opposed to 16. Also, it's a 120GB SSD in lieu of the 250, and a 600W PS instead of the 750.

The big positive I see, in this instance, is that it comes with a 4-year warranty. That's a huge plus in my eyes. However it is, for all intents and purposes, a less powerful machine. What do you all think?

The PSU difference is pretty meaningless, 750 vs 600 doesn't matter unless you're running twin SLI graphic cards. Most people don't need 750watts, and even 600watts is overkill. If you look at the build i just did (a few posts back), i used a 600watt PSU, but the build only required less than 400W.

As far as the SSD is concerned, i would take a look at the failure rates (if you can find that info), rather than just the size. Read the reviews on them and see if you can find any data regarding the failure rate. Size isn't everything, especially if the only thing you're putting on it is the O/S and a few programs and then putting everything else into a HDD.

[ragedogg69]

Originally Posted by SuperChief

The big positive I see, in this instance, is that it comes with a 4-year warranty. That's a huge plus in my eyes.

2 year parts, 4 year labor, makes no mention of shipping.

[SuperChief]

Originally Posted by ragedogg69

2 year parts, 4 year labor, makes no mention of shipping.

That's still pretty good, no?

[ragedogg69]

Originally Posted by SuperChief

That's still pretty good, no?

most part manufactures give you a few years on warranty. If they pay the shipping, that changes some things.

[hometeam]

nice build - save yourself some money and do 16gb of ram. I dont see any reason to do 32 right now, and if a reason becomes available later, you can always add to it.

also - newer chipset mobo thats less money, same exact model but new iteration on Z97 chipset - Z97 will support a processor upgrade in the future, z87 will not. http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DDR3-Mothe...dp_ob_title_ce

[SuperChief]

Originally Posted by hometeam

nice build - save yourself some money and do 16gb of ram. I dont see any reason to do 32 right now, and if a reason becomes available later, you can always add to it.

also - newer chipset mobo thats less money, same exact model but new iteration on Z97 chipset - Z97 will support a processor upgrade in the future, z87 will not. http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DDR3-Mothe...dp_ob_title_ce

This is why I asked. Big time rep for you, sir.

[hometeam]

by the way the g45 is a super sweet spot for value/performance for what I would consider 'real' gaming mobo. I run the g43 on my AMD gaming build. The difference is the g45 has a big heatsink on the MOSFETS and this means it can overclock like a beast~

[jd1020]

I don't think I would spend the $30 extra on the TLC EVO SSD over the Crucial MX100.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-...keywords=mx100

The EVO is a great SSD but $30 more than that? Nah.

EDIT: Link wont work because it has "bundle of sticks" in it... lol