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Building a Gaming PC

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Cassity14 said:
So some questions regarding SSD:

I've heard that there's an issue with them possibly being, "overwritten too often," and I've heard suggestions from two sources now that I should only run my operating system on it. Is that true?
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This was true only for the first generation of SSDs.. It's no longer an area of concern. Suffice it to say, commercial SSDs have a lifespan of roughly 5 years. Server SSDs (which use a different type of memory) have a lifespan generally higher than 10. This doesn't mean they will simply shut down, but it does mean you may begin to notice performance degradation after 5 years.

Modern operating systems compensate for many of the issues with SSD technology using the TRIM protocol. It's just not something you need to worry about.

Also, buying an SSD only for your operating system is an organizational nightmare. It's silly. Buy one that is at least 128GB, but preferably 240-256GB in size in a 2.5" form factor. The reason you want a larger SSD is because they way they are constructed, organizationally, a larger SSD usually will have more memory units to access, rather than just larger memory units; meaning larger SSDs (unlike HDDs) are generally faster than their smaller counterparts.

240-256GB is usually the sweet spot for price/performance, and that's more than enough space for your games and operating system.

The absolute best SSD on the market is the Samsung 840 EVO, which is one of the fastest and most stable SSDs you can buy.

You'll spend $90 for 120GB, and $140 for 240GB. Get the 240GB model.

To answer your other questions:
1) SSD uses a storage technology more akin to Flash RAM you'd find in a USB memory stick than the magnetically charged sectors of a spinning disk (hard drive). It was thought to be a fad, but it is now becoming the industry standard, even in servers. Not having an SSD is generally a bad thing.

2) Hybrid drives combine smaller SSDs with larger traditional HDDs, using the faster SSD space as cache storage. For many common operations, hybrid drives can perform comparable with SSDs if their components are well configured; however, once system demand is high enough, or on every cache-miss, the drives will actually perform slightly slower than even standard hard disks. I generally recommend hybrid drives over standard hard disks, but not over SSDs.

Understand though that you will not get any FPS or performance boost by way of using an SSD. It will improve load times, and that's it. Not in-game performance.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-20-147-248-_-04222014_2

Newegg has the 250gb version of the 840 EVO on their 'shell shocker' list for today. Starts at 10pm PST or 1 pm EST. Since I've asked plenty of simple questions and will ask plenty more, I will also bump this thread with deals I come across over then next couple weeks as I proceed to order everything. It's the least I can do for all the advice I'm getting.

Considering this guy was already listed at 154.00 with free shipping, I'm hoping they bump it down to 120-130 at least. These 'shell shockers' are usually 20%+ off current price.

In line with Gour (not surprising), everything online raves about this line of SSD. I'm getting one whether there was room in the original budget or not.
 
Yeah, I ordered the fx 8350 for 179.99 on Saturday right before the deal expired. I have no problem swallowing the 50 bucks for a step up in processing speed. I mentioned that 130 thing to my gf though. She's wanting to build a gaming rig in the summer when she can afford it. All the amd cards for super cheap right now is tempting, but the further I dig, the better the gtx 770 sounds. I'm hoping EVGA puts it on sale in the next two weeks, but if not, I'll probably still end up getting it.
 
Update to above: Samsung 840 EVO 250gb is 139.99 with free shipping today only at Newegg. I'll probably order it at some time today; seems like a nice buy.
 
I was actually looking at possibly upgrading. I have been rocking this i7-860, geforce 480, 12 gigs of 1333mhz ddr 3 since jan of 2010. I happen to have a little over 200 dollars in amazon credit so I was possibly looking at a geforce 770 and try to eek out some more time with this older i7 with a bit of an overclock. This is the longest I have gone without upgrading, I usually do it every 2-3 years, but not much has challenged this comp. I have to drop a few settings to medium in bf4 to play at a framerate I like. Bf4 multiplayer I believe you are more cpu bound, but nvidia has been trying to alleviate that bottleneck through their new wonder drivers and AMD obviously has Mantle.
 
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gourimoko said:
Fantasy purchase.. You are putting together very quality pieces. That brand was the one I used in my build a few posts back.
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Yeah I noticed that you had included it after posting about it. Oops. My ex roommate and good friend who works in CS has it in his gaming rig as well that he just expanded to a triple monitor set up. He and this thread have been my primary sources of info and feedback. Just doing tons of research and review reading to educate myself throughout.

I've now ordered the fx 8350, the 250gb samsung EVO, and that ram. I've saved $45 getting them on their respective sales. That's real money! Fingers crossed EVGA puts the 770 on sale soon.
 
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I will definitely be getting an aftermarket cpu cooler and I've hit a snag when reviewing certain pieces.

I don't want to get into liquid cooling right now, so the quality coolers are all very large. That's fine, but I've read the this involves the cooler sometimes getting in the way of the ripsaws x memory I just ordered. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm particularly interested in Cooler Master's 212 line.

EDIT: With more research, I don't think this would be an immediate problem. To my knowledge, I can still use tracks 2 and 4 for my initial 2 sticks of RAM even if the cooler is too large. Please correct me if I'm wrong there. Regardless, if I ever need to get to 16 gb, not having that first track would be an issue.
 
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I'm selling a custom built PC, Dual Monitors, Printer that I paid about $1350.00 for in March 14. Moving in the next couple of months and would not like to haul across US. I live in Lima but family is in NE Ohio so I routinely come back on weekends.

Check out my ad in the classified section, This build was for business applications, but I think it would be pretty awesome with an upgraded graphics card.

PM me if interested.
 
Cassity14 said:
I will definitely be getting an aftermarket cpu cooler and I've hit a snag when reviewing certain pieces.

I don't want to get into liquid cooling right now, so the quality coolers are all very large. That's fine, but I've read the this involves the cooler sometimes getting in the way of the ripsaws x memory I just ordered. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm particularly interested in Cooler Master's 212 line.

EDIT: With more research, I don't think this would be an immediate problem. To my knowledge, I can still use tracks 2 and 4 for my initial 2 sticks of RAM even if the cooler is too large. Please correct me if I'm wrong there. Regardless, if I ever need to get to 16 gb, not having that first track would be an issue.
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Wait until you build out first. You're only getting 2 DIMMs right? See how everything fits together first, then figure out cooling later.

Also, they have All-In-One water coolers these days. If you want to have a stable overclock, that's definitely a possibility.
 
Ram has really gone up in price, I remember a couple years ago they were practically giving it away. I hear ddr 4 will soon be be making its way to system memory.
 
yeah RAM is crazy.. i used to fantasize about building PCs in highschool and when i went to build mine i was like "no fuckin way $45 for 4GB??"
 
Ordered the GA990fxa-ud3 mobo and got the cooler master 212 EVO as a bundle. It's far and away the most highly touted cpu air cooler on the market and will allow me to do some mild over clocking when I'm ready to try that. AMD stock coolers are bashed all over the Internet. I figure I'll just get the 212 now so I can plan my case around being large enough to fit it.

Parts so far:

Amd fx-8350 cpu
Cooler Master 212 EVO cpu cooler.
GA990fxa-ud3 mobo
Ripjaws X series 2133 8gb (2x4) ram
Samsung 840 EVO 250gb ssd

I'm keeping a keen eye on the EVGA gtx 770 right now, hoping it goes on sale. The 4gb model is currently 389.99 on amazon and has been at that price for a week. I'm hoping they drop the 2gb model that's currently at 348.99. If not, I'll spend the extra $40

Also beginning to do a lot of research on PSUs and consequently watching those for deals as well. It would appear that all of sea sonic, xfx, and the corsair series above the cx line are the best I can get.

Once I have the gpu and psu ordered, the expensive shit and heavy lifting is over with. Then it's just little stuff like a case, optical drive, wireless adapter, etc. I'm at $550 in right now and for the quality of parts I've ordered, I'm happy with that.

Final build will probably range from 1200-1300, but I think it's going to be money well spent.
 
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