So I think I need to build a new PC fast on a tight budget.

[Zelig]

General thoughts:

PSU is alright for that system, but won't let you move up to significantly more power-hungry parts in the future.

Keep in mind you can't use all the space in an SSD (or an HDD either for than matter, HDDs need ~15% free to allow auto-defrag). 15% is a good rule of thumb to leave free on an SSD without getting performance problems - a 120GB drive will give you about 95GiB of actual space, Win8 will eat another 20GB, so you're realistically looking at 60-70GB of free space for your stuff.

You don't really need a third-party CPU cooler, biggest difference will be that it runs quieter, (And might let the CPU run better turbo speeds.)

I was mistaken about hybrid crossfire support earlier (as I mentioned in #fiftychat), there probably isn't much point in that cpu if you're running a 5770 card. The Athlon X4 760K is nearly the same processor (100 MHz slower) except without the GPU, and $50 cheaper. For roughly the same price as the 6600K I'd look at either the i3-3240/i3-4130 or FX-4130/FX-4300/FX-4350.

 

[leif erikson]

Been following this because I am thinking of building something as well.

I looked at the components you has linked and the only comment I would make is that the MSI motherboard has 6 of the 8 SATA connectors pointing to the rear of the motherboard instead of up. I recently built a machine with those types of connectors and my case has the same arrangement for the drive bays in the nzxt you linked. The problem I had was connecting the hard drives. The end of the hard drive that sticks into the case was over the connector on the MB, and it was just awful to get things hooked up. I ended up pulling the MB out again and putting SATA cables on all the MB SATA connectors and numbering them, then reistalling the MB. Running the SATA cables wasn't really fun either.

On my next build, am planning to get a case that has the drive bays 90 degrees opposed, so that the ends of the drives face me as I look at the case. Just like the arrangement in this case. Hoping that will be easier to deal with.

 

[tokala]

That CPU/RAM combination is a not a good choice.
Either you really want the best available integrated graphics, then you need a 6700/6800K instead and two modules of fast RAM.

Or you don't and use your old 5770, then a i3 or Athlon X4 or even a FX6300 would be the better choice. In any case you need two RAM modules for best performance, single channel will lose you about 10%.

That Zalman is a waste of money, there are better ones for $30 on the logicalincrements chart. For a i3 the stock heatsink will likely do fine.

 

[Cutlass]

Well, I've already ordered. I just didn't have time to get it all perfect. The reason for the Zalman is too many reviews that said the stock coolers were loud and not efficient enough. It doesn't add that much to the cost. I did get 8GB ram.

 

[leif erikson]

Good luck with your build. Always enjoy building them, until I have to install windows.

 

[Cutlass]

I'm really not happy with a lot of the new features of win8. But I do have to say that my old rig, when it boots, has never booted faster.

 

[illram]

So what mobo did you get? I didn't see one on the list.

edit: nevermind, you bought a combo, missed that

I would definitely get at least one other stick of RAM.

Personally I would have saved money on the processor and mobo and bought a bigger SSD and two sticks of RAM instead. Also would not have gotten the cooler. I doubt that is going to be much better than the stock one. Maybe return it if you can.

 

[Zelig]

It's funny, for the past decade or so, RAM speed has been basically irrelevant to system performance, but now it's finally becoming useful with APUs.

 

[Cutlass]

I did get 2 sticks of ram. I went with a different one. A bigger SDD was too expensive. Other things, I just had to get things ordered. Maybe not the best of all possible choices, but close enough for the time constraints. There is simply too many options out there to really evaluate all of them, and I'm pretty time pressed these days.

 

[leif erikson]

Hope it all goes well. Please let us know when you have assembled it and how Win 8 loaded up.

 

[GoodGame]

I think projecting 5 years is overly optimistic. Two years is more reasonable if you really care to get decent future performance.

 

[Cutlass]

5 Years of starting and running every day will suffice. I'm not looking to be able to run GTA 8 on the thing.

 

[Cutlass]

So one good thing about this case, the cable management is good. Can tuck things away in back pretty well. One downside of the case, an all black interior looks cool, but it is damned hard to see what you're doing in there.

 

[leif erikson]

Looks good.

The power supply being on the bottom helps. When I had trouble, the PS was on top, so the MB was under the drive bays.

This looks like a much better arrangement. Have you booted it up yet?

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah, I've loaded windows and the mobo drivers. Haven't done anything else with it yet. Everything seems fine so far.

 

[leif erikson]

Glad to hear you got it loaded up OK.

Do you like the bottom location for the PS? Hope it cools alright? Does the PS fan blow out the bottom? Never had a bottom PS before, but next build will have one.

 

[Cutlass]

The bottom PSU seems to improve the usability of the interior of the case. I don't know that it makes all that much difference, though. I didn't think of it in time, but the case has vents in the bottom. As I set it up, the PSU draws air from the inside of the case and expels it from the back. Had I been thinking in advance, I could have had it draw from those vents in the bottom and expel from the back. Dunno if it would be worthwhile to change it over now.

 

[Zelig]

Glad to hear you got it loaded up OK.

Do you like the bottom location for the PS? Hope it cools alright? Does the PS fan blow out the bottom? Never had a bottom PS before, but next build will have one.

I wouldn't go with a bottom PSU just for the sake of it, just go with whatever your preferred case has.

Best case:

Spoiler :

 

[leif erikson]

The bottom PSU seems to improve the usability of the interior of the case. I don't know that it makes all that much difference, though. I didn't think of it in time, but the case has vents in the bottom. As I set it up, the PSU draws air from the inside of the case and expels it from the back. Had I been thinking in advance, I could have had it draw from those vents in the bottom and expel from the back. Dunno if it would be worthwhile to change it over now.

My concern was the PS fan would pick up lint and other crap off of the carpet and suck it up into itself, causing all kinds of problems.

Sounds like you made it so that will not happen.

I wouldn't go with a bottom PSU just for the sake of it, just go with whatever your preferred case has.

Best case:

Looks wicked expensive.

I have two kids in college, money has to go to components.

 

[Cutlass]

When I had a case without a filter, and this one doesn't have filters, I improvise one by cutting open a vacuum cleaner bag and covering the intakes with one thickness of that. Doesn't keep all the dust out, but it cuts down on some of it.