Two Builds for Final Review

[xilocient]

With my last exams of undergrad coming to a close, it's almost time to order parts for two computers. Just looking for some comments before i buy all the stuff from NCIX (with PM) around Thursday this week.

The first one will be my computer, which is mainly for gaming, surfing, photoshop, and basic office stuff. I'm planning on doing a modest overclock on it, but i'm not going to push it too far since it'll be my first time. I plan on going SLI, putting in an SSD, and maybe a RAID array in a year or so.

Specs:
Case: Lancool K-60 (already bought)
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E pro
CPU: i5-750
Cooler: CM 212+
HDD: 1 TB Caviar black
DVD: basic LG DVD burner (already bought)
PSU: Corsair HX850W
RAM: 4GB of G.Skills F3 series
Video: some flavour of 5870

The second computer is one for my dad, as a retirement gift. He's on an old P4 1.4Ghz that's 8+ years old and its time for it to be replaced. He doesn't do anything intensive on his computer, but I figure if i build him something solid, he can keep it for as long as he's kept his current machine.

Specs:
Case: Antec P180 mini
Motherboard: GB H55M-USB3
CPU: i5-661
Cooler: Stock
HDD: 1 TB Caviar Black/ Spinpoint
DVD: basic LG DVD burner (already bought)
Bluray: LG CH10LS20
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 500
RAM: 4GB of kingston valueRAM
Video: onboard
Tuner: Diamond TV Wonder 650 PCIe

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Case on 2nd build changed to a P180-mini from a P-183
Edit: dropped SSD and opted for a smaller, faster HDD for the 2nd build.

[martin_metal_88]

Forst the first built, it's perfect just change nothing. Good part and well balanced! for the second rig I am wondering why you take a P183 + a 500W antec. I would go for something looking like a lascala LC17B or some Homt theater looking case and use a more silent PSU. The rig is good for sure and you can run it like this without any issue it was just a wondering.

Carry on and make a workblog these 2 will rock!

[xilocient]

I wanted something clean for the case and wasn't really going to go into a media enclosure since I was thinking of it mainly being a computer for now, but i'll definitely look into different cases.

In terms of the power supply, did you have any particular quieter ones to recommend?

I'll definitely take lots of pictures when i put these two rigs together

[Zero82z]

The 500W Earthwatts should be basically inaudible at the loads that system will put on it. Noise is not a concern.

[crazyhorsejohnny]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

The 500W Earthwatts should be basically inaudible at the loads that system will put on it. Noise is not a concern.

And the P183 is a "quiet" case especially if you change the tri cools for maybe Noctua fans.

[0o0]

I was just thinking, todays ssd's are supposed to last 50k writes per block.. does your dad know about ssd's? I would never give my parents an ssd, just based on the fact that they'd wear it out in 2 years. If you expect it to last that long, he probably wants to know the basics of ssd's. With that kind of money at your disposal, get some noctua's for sure, you won't be able to see the brown stuff from outside the 183.

[xilocient]

todays ssd's are supposed to last 50k writes per block..

You bring up a good point. I was going to just put windows and a bunch of applications (office, firefox, etc.) on the SSD and put everything else on the HDD including temp folder and the My Documents folder. My dad's pretty tech savy, he might be out of touch a little, but the drives on his current machine are partitioned, so i think it should be ok.

Any other tips for maximizing SSD life?

[tangrisser]

For case, have you considered cases like the Antec?

NCIX.com - Buy Antec NSK3480 New Solution mATX Mid Tower Case 2X5.25 1X3.5 380W Black Front USB Sound & Firewire - NSK3480 In Canada.

This 380W is more than adequate since all Antec PSU are rated for continuous usage.

Just FYI, Watch out for Bluray drives because some of the drives will not support newer media even with firmware updates.

It seems like they are riddled with DRM that Bluray on PC seems to be majorly crippled.

It's kind of ridiculous for anyone to pay over 200 dollars for a drive and only to find out that '2010' will not play because of some DRM software issue and it's a 100 dollar update.

Not mine. I wouldn't watch 2010 unless they paid me...[secretly opens his vault full of terrible movies]

[EaGle1337]

Originally Posted by tangrisser

For case, have you considered cases like the Antec?

NCIX.com - Buy Antec NSK3480 New Solution mATX Mid Tower Case 2X5.25 1X3.5 380W Black Front USB Sound & Firewire - NSK3480 In Canada.

This 380W is more than adequate since all Antec PSU are rated for continuous usage.

380w is not enough to run a 5870. Many other manufacturers rate their power supplies for continuous usage too.
NCIX.com - Buy Silverstone Strider 850 Plus 850W Modular Power Supply ATX 24PIN 135mm Fan 67A 80+ Silver Black - ST85F-P In Canada.
another choice for a power supply as well, it's fully modular too.
edit:tangrisser i think i read your post wrong, please correct me if i did.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by EaGle1337

380w is not enough to run a 5870.

He's talking about the second rig, not the gaming PC.