PC builders, could I get a critique?

[instantbenz]

I?m in need of a machine that I can use for all of my design work along with handling all of my gaming.

I?m keeping my 1Tb HDD as a cold storage in this machine. I?m also going to continue using my current keyboard and mouse.

As I need to get a scanner, a Wacom tablet and design programs, my budget is around $2500 for the machine.

My links will be to Newegg as I trust them as a distributor.

Case: CM HAF X Blue $189.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239]
CPU: Intel Core i7 1155 $314.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070]
MB: Gigabyte Intel 1155 $289.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128480]
Mem: GSkill Ripjaw 4Gb $35.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277]
Power: Antec 750W 80+ Modular $89.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026]
VPU: 2x Zotac GeForce 1Gb SLI Rdy $499.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196]
SSD: 2x Crucial 64Gb SIII $239.98 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441]
Fans: 5x Scythe 120MM Slipstream $42.45 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060]
A note: the fans are for when one breaks I don't want to have to wait to replace.
Disk Drive: ASUS 24x DVD Burner OEM $20.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204]
Sink: Xigmatek 120mm Rifle$34.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003]

Suggestions are very welcome. Critique the hell out of it .

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

Looks like a pretty solid build to me.

One thing I suggest you change is go with 2 4GB sticks of RAM to equal 8GB instead of the 4GB you have in there now. RAM is fairly cheap, and it can't hurt to have a little extra.

Also, the 5 additional fans may be a little bit overkill. I really don't think you'll need a total of 9 fans (when you include the case fans), 5 (total) is likely plenty reasonable, unless you're planning on doing lots of overclocking to the GPU and/or RAM.

Other than that, I think it's a good machine that should handle most anything you throw at it. Best of luck!

 

[robert01]

If you are going to be overclocking the i7 you are probably going to want liquid cooling anyways. An h50 or h70 is a good choice to go with. I got mine to a little over 4Ghz with air cooling but had to turn it back down when the hot weather hit. And if you are dead sure you want air cooling for that processor get a new fan for it, the stock one is terrible.

I would do what the other gent suggested and go with different ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 for $30 dollars more you double your ram.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

I would follow up with Robert01 and say doubling the RAM is a good investment, especially since it's so cheap. Also, the additional 5 fans (if I read that right) seems like overkill unless you plan to overclock this machine, or your outside temperature is insanely hot/humid. I have the same tower (red version) and it comes stock with four fans (plus the CPU fan) and my rig currently runs around 35-42 degrees Celsius when playing a pretty graphic extensive game. I currently run a six-core processor and it doesn't have any trouble keeping cool with an ambient outside temperature around 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you plan to remove the larger fans and replace them with several smaller fans, then I see where you're coming from, since you can remove the roof fan in favor for x3 120MM fans.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Apart from what everyone else is saying about MOAR RAM... and trust me, the one thing a digital artist can never have enough of is RAM... only glaring omission that I noticed is you're going to have to grab some 3.5" -> 2.5" mounting brackets for your SSDs, or seeing as you have a fuckload of 5.25" bays, a 3*5.25" cage that will hold 3 or 4 2.5" drives and let you mount an intake fan at the front. At the end of the day, if you've got the room, the cage is the better option (IMO), preferably one designed to go with your case to avoid unwanted surprises, because they allow you to load your 3.5" bays with HDDs for mass storage (or if you're like me, they're essential because your case is all 5.25" bays so you can mix and match with cages and brackets) while still allowing you to have your fancy schmancy SSDs.

 

[Griffolion]

I?m in need of a machine that I can use for all of my design work along with handling all of my gaming.

I?m keeping my 1Tb HDD as a cold storage in this machine. I?m also going to continue using my current keyboard and mouse.

As I need to get a scanner, a Wacom tablet and design programs, my budget is around $2500 for the machine.

My links will be to Newegg as I trust them as a distributor.

Case: CM HAF X Blue $189.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239]
CPU: Intel Core i7 1155 $314.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070]
MB: Gigabyte Intel 1155 $289.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128480]
Mem: GSkill Ripjaw 4Gb $35.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277]
Power: Antec 750W 80+ Modular $89.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026]
VPU: 2x Zotac GeForce 1Gb SLI Rdy $499.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500196]
SSD: 2x Crucial 64Gb SIII $239.98 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441]
Fans: 5x Scythe 120MM Slipstream $42.45 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060]
Disk Drive: ASUS 24x DVD Burner OEM $20.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204]
Sink: Xigmatek 120mm Rifle$34.99 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003]

Suggestions are very welcome. Critique the hell out of it .

Case: Good
CPU: Good (especially for what you're doing, design etc)
Mobo: I'm more of an Asus person, but that's a solid board.
RAM: You're going to need more try something like this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186].
PSU: Good
GPU: I recommend these [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130623], EVGA are far better build quality and RMA service. I would recommend against SLI'ing in the first place since you have the budget to get a full fat GTX 580 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587] which will give you amazing performance without giving any SLI worries.
SSD: I recommend this SSD [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233181] for Windows and a couple of critical applications coupled with this HDD for storage of games, media, files etc [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=spinpoint%20f3].
Fans: Whatever floats your boat. Do you honestly need all of them though?
Optical: Fine, this isn't important anyway.
Cooler: Yours linked isn't 1155 compatible. Try this one here [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082].

I also recommend some Thermalight Chillfactor 3 or Arctic Silver 5 paste for the cooler too, will help with over clocking.

If you want any more advice, feel free to PM me.

 

[instantbenz]

snip

Hey thanks a bunch! I dropped this at tomshardware and they haven't been half as thorough as all of your guys' replies.

Thanks Escapist!

I'll take Griffolion's advice along with other's.

I think the HHD Griffolion suggested happens to be the same one I'm willing to recycle The SSD you've suggested didn't have too hot of a rating, but I'll take it into consideration.

Also, the additional 5 fans (if I read that right) seems like overkill unless you plan to overclock this machine, or your outside temperature is insanely hot/humid. I have the same tower (red version) and it comes stock with four fans (plus the CPU fan) and my rig currently runs around 35-42 degrees Celsius when playing a pretty graphic extensive game. I currently run a six-core processor and it doesn't have any trouble keeping cool with an ambient outside temperature around 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you plan to remove the larger fans and replace them with several smaller fans, then I see where you're coming from, since you can remove the roof fan in favor for x3 120MM fans.

A note: the fans are for when one breaks I don't want to have to wait to replace.

Apart from what everyone else is saying about MOAR RAM... and trust me, the one thing a digital artist can never have enough of is RAM... only glaring omission that I noticed is you're going to have to grab some 3.5" -> 2.5" mounting brackets for your SSDs

I had that covered, but thank you for the catch.

 

[Griffolion]

Hey thanks a bunch! I dropped this at tomshardware and they haven't been half as thorough as all of your guys' replies.

Thanks Escapist!

I'll take Griffolion's advice along with other's.

I think the HHD Griffolion suggested happens to be the same one I'm willing to recycle The SSD you've suggested didn't have too hot of a rating, but I'll take it into consideration.

No problem, i'm on Toms Hardware quite a lot. I get best answer quite a bit too...

Don't look at the ratings of any products on Newegg. Most of the raters are either 5 star "OMG THIS IS AMAZINGGGG!!!!!12423d!" people or 1 star "ZOMGGG I HATE *insert brand here* NEVER BUYING FROM THEM AGAIN!!lflkj499!" people. Look objectively at reviews on proper websites. But do feel free to shop around the SSD's, my one suggestion to you is stick to SandForce controller based ones (it will specify in the description) because they have the best sustained read/write speeds of all the controllers as well as great random 4KB aligned response time.

The other direct competitor to Corsair in the Sandforce SSD space is OCZ with their Vertex 2 and Vertex 3 brands, they tend to be $10 - $20 cheaper than Corsair. And if you have an F3 then go for it and recycle, they are still the best HDDs around before going up into Velociraptor territory.

Anyway, i'm glad I can help a fellow builder.

 

[Zantos]

Pretty good, I'm not as much a technowhizz as the rest of these guys but I'd say it's pretty damn good. I'd take their advice on the RAM too. Also, if you're planning on fitting as many fans as it will take I'd consider getting one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999171

I can't vouch for this model personally, but I know a lot of people who use similar versions for the 3.5" bays and if you're not really stretching the computer's capabilities it's nice to be able to turn the fans down a little.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

A note: the fans are for when one breaks I don't want to have to wait to replace.

Not a bad idea to keep a spare or two, actually. :3

 

[instantbenz]

Also, if you're planning on fitting as many fans as it will take I'd consider getting one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999171

I didn't even know about these things ... perfect. I agree with saving power and noise reduction. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll likely have plenty of space. It isn't as though I need 5 drives in the bays.