Building a gaming computer

The Astroman

The Astroman

Active Member
Hey all!
I'd like to build a gaming computer. I already have the case and a 350W PSU (I was thinking of buying another cheap 350W PSU and use them both since my case can take 2), all I need to buy is a motherboard, CPU and cooler, ram, GFX and hard drive.

I was thinking of
Intel Core i5-750
Asus P7P55D-E EVO

And so I need recommendations for the rest.
I'm trying to keep it under 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs), check out www.1000ordi.ch (in english) which is where I buy my parts, for prices. The CPU and mobo are about 500 CHF, and so I have about 700 CHF left for the rest.
I would really like something quiet, my CM Stacker case has silent fans, so I'm looking for a quiet PSU and quiet CPU cooler.
I already have sufficient (not very fast) hard drives for general storage, I'm looking for a blazing fast (small capacity) HDD/SSD to load OS and games fast. Perhaps an OCZ Vertex Turbo Series 30 GB or a Samsung PB22-J 64 GB, or even a Western Digital VelociRaptor?
I have no idea what GFX card to get, but the Asus mobo supports both ATI and nVidia.

Many thanks to you all!
 
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re-read my post,
I told you I have a 350watt PSU which I want to combine with a new 400 (or around) watt PSU, effectively making a 750 watt PSU...

I can use each to power separate components (one solely for the motherboard (I was thinking the new 400 W one) and the other for HDD, SSD, DVD, fans...
 
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If you want to use two powersupplies you will need to jump the motherboard connector on one of the powersupplies.
 
lemon07r said:
You really arent going to get anywhere with a 350watt PSU (as if 500watt wasnt bad enough).
Click to expand...

It's not about the watts... that's why people have 800watt psu's that are worse than 400watt ones because they have no clue. Its all about its amps and efficiency. I know a 500watt psu that could power all of that.
 
linkin93 said:
If you want to use two powersupplies you will need to jump the motherboard connector on one of the powersupplies.
Click to expand...

My case, the Cooler Master Stacker, has the ability to use two power supplies, and comes with a dual power inverter, so you can use two psu's at the same time:

The idea of installing two power supplies at the same time means that one serves as the primary PSU and the other one as the slave PSU. A parallel cable for the slave PSU will come along with the package, hence, different from redundant PSU concept.
CM_Stacker_dual_psu_cable450.jpg
Click to expand...

So I can use both at once.

kyleswitch said:
It's not about the watts... that's why people have 800watt psu's that are worse than 400watt ones because they have no clue. Its all about its amps and efficiency. I know a 500watt psu that could power all of that.
Click to expand...

So is there a low watt high efficiency PSU you could recommend, which I would use solely for motherboard?

I'm also looking for advice on HDD, GFX and RAM.

EDIT: How about the Enermax Modu82+ 425W? Here are it's ratings:

psuratings.png


It's modular which is great since I can keep only the motherboard connector, and it's apparently quite efficient. However I'm no expert and can't judge whether amps are sufficient. Would it be sufficient to power the motherboard (I will be OCing)...

As for RAM, what should I get, DDR-1333MHz or DDR3-1600MHz? What are good timings for these?
 
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So, now I'm thinking:
Intel Core i5-750
Asus P7P55D-E EVO
OCZ SSD Vertex Turbo 30GB and existing 180 GB SATA HDD
Enermax MODU-82+ 425W and existing Enermax something or another 350W
ASUS GTS-250 Dark Knight 1GB (might buy a second and SLI in a near future)
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler

as for RAM, I'm hesitating between:
Kingston HyperX T1, 2x2GB, DDR3-1600, [email protected]
Corsair DominatorGT, 2x2GB, DDR3-1600, [email protected]

do the better timings of the Corsair justify the ~70 USD price premium?

Oh, and I read somewhere that the i5 cannot hold more than 4gigs of RAM, is that true?
 
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The Astroman said:
as for RAM, I'm hesitating between:
Kingston HyperX T1, 2x2GB, DDR3-1600, [email protected]
Corsair DominatorGT, 2x2GB, DDR3-1600, [email protected]

do the better timings of the Corsair justify the ~70 USD price premium?

Oh, and I read somewhere that the i5 cannot hold more than 4gigs of RAM, is that true?
Click to expand...

Why you stuck on the EVO board?
ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $169.99
Xtreme Design w/ SLI+CrossfireX, 12+2 power phase/T.Probe

I would buy neither of those RAM kits as Kingston is elcheapo, and the Dominators are overpriced.

RAM capacity is governed by the motherboard, and every board is different.
 
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Which RAM kit would you recommend then? A bit ironic you find the Dominators overpriced, yet you have them in your rig.

As for the board, I'm not stuck on the EVO.
It has SATA 6Gb/s, Dual gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, more I/Os, ...
The price difference here is ~60 bucks.
 
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G.Skill? Are they any good? Never heard of them, I was thinking of defaulting to known brands such as Corsair, OCZ, Kingston,...

And i'm talking about the E-EVO which does have 6gb/s sata
 
The Astroman said:
G.Skill? Are they any good? Never heard of them, I was thinking of defaulting to known brands such as Corsair, OCZ, Kingston,...

And i'm talking about the E-EVO which does have 6gb/s sata
Click to expand...

G-Skill is very good!!

Kingston is kinda budget in my opinion..and overpriced.

Corsair is good..

OCZ was good, but they are in a slump right now with poor quality and high RMA's..(least here in Canada)
 
OK then I'll check out G-skill.

Any comments on other components?

EDIT: I can't seem to access the G.Skill website, am I the only one? Wow even the google cached version won't load it.
 
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Awesome website! Never heard about it before.

Say Stoic Sentinel, I see in your sig you own a pair of G.Skill Ripjaws, care to comment? And your GPU? Cause I'm not too sure about the Asus I chose, I haven't been following the industry in a while, don't really know what's good and bad.
 
I have GSkill in my E8500 build from last year no issues. i have the 2X2gb for 4 total DDR2 at 1066. i just purchased the OCZ gold 3X2gb DDR3 1600 for the rig I'm building now....
 
The Astroman said:
Awesome website! Never heard about it before.

Say Stoic Sentinel, I see in your sig you own a pair of G.Skill Ripjaws, care to comment? And your GPU? Cause I'm not too sure about the Asus I chose, I haven't been following the industry in a while, don't really know what's good and bad.
Click to expand...

G.Skill = Sweet, no problems whatsoever, your call ;) The ones Bodaggit23 linked to is great RAM.
 
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