Desktop critique

FXB

FXB

New Member
Please critique my desktop setup

OS: Windows 7 64 bits
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
RAM: Mushkin 8gb dual-channel DDR3
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX 650w
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4290 integrated with mobo
HDD 1: WD 2tb Caviar Green
HDD 2: WD 2tb Caviar Green
DVD Drive: Sony x24 DVD Writer
Card reader: Vantec 58 in 1
Case :Antec 300
NIC: D-Link DWA-552


Let me know where I can improve without spending a rediculous amount of cash.
 
FXB said:
Please critique my desktop setup

OS: Windows 7 64 bits
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
RAM: Mushkin 8gb dual-channel DDR3
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX 650w
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4290 integrated with mobo
HDD 1: WD 2tb Caviar Green
HDD 2: WD 2tb Caviar Green
DVD Drive: Sony x24 DVD Writer
Card reader: Vantec 58 in 1
Case :Antec 300
NIC: D-Link DWA-552


Let me know where I can improve without spending a rediculous amount of cash.
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Motherboard. Both are 8/2 power phase setups
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631

Power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

Harddrives, why do you need two 2tb drives. Plan on saving the libary of congress?
 
Yeah, if you dont need a massive amout of storage. Get one smaller faster drive W/D black or Samsung F3 or even a SSD and a big dump truck for storage.
 
is this your current rig or what you intend to buy ?
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This is my current rig.
Harddrives, why do you need two 2tb drives. Plan on saving the libary of congress?
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I wanted to setup RAID 1 maybe some other time. I don't currently use 2tb but it's nice to have.

I'm waiting on cheaper a SSD
 
1- PSU- Thermaltake's TR2 units are not exactly high quality.

2- Hard drives- Change one of them to a Samsung Spinpoint F3 or Western Digital Caviar Black. Seagate 7200.12 will also do in a pinch. The WD green drives were never designed as primary boot drives, and should not be used as such...they'd be ridiculously slow compared to the others.
 
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Better video card instead of onboard. How much you want to spend on one?

Edit
If this stuff is what you already have.

Dont run those in raid. Get a smaller faster main drive and use one for storage.

Get a good video card. But like said that Thermaltake only has about 530W (max) on the 12V rail. Maybe something like a 6850/6870/GTX 460 at the most.
 
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The WD green drives were never designed as primary boot drives, and should not be used as such...they'd be ridiculously slow compared to the others.
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I will get an SSD once they go down in price.


Better video card instead of onboard. How much you want to spend on one?
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I don't know I will run CS5 Master at some point but i'm in no rush to get one.
But like said that Thermaltake only has about 530W (max) on the 12V rail. Maybe something like a 6850/6870/GTX 460 at the most.
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This PSU is 650 watts not 530W.
 
FXB said:
I will get an SSD once they go down in price.



I don't know I will run CS5 Master at some point but i'm in no rush to get one.
This PSU is 650 watts not 530W.
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Its a 650W. but 120W are on the 3.3/5V rail.

If you dont want a video card or a faster harddrive, what exactly else would you want to upgrade :confused:
 
you dont need a big ssd, mainly just use it for fast bootup and shutdown, most people use ssd just for os and a normal high capacity hdd for files.
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I don't necessarily want a high capacity SSD it's just I find to expensive at this time.


Its a 650W. but 120W are on the 3.3/5V rail.

If you dont want a video card or a faster harddrive, what exactly else would you want to upgrade
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I'm not sure I just built this system of the holidays So I was looking for suggestions of hardware I might be missing.
 
most of it is pretty solid, if ssd is to expensive just now, you could as previously said by other users upgrade your gpu, or depending if its the kind of thing you into on pc have you considered a tv card ?
 
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I want one but I don't know what to get how to set it up and apparently the content will be scrambled so I won't be able to watch it on my PC. Then there's the networking aspect. My TV is about 200 feet away from my PC.
 
FXB said:
I want one but I don't know what to get how to set it up and apparently the content will be scrambled so I won't be able to watch it on my PC. Then there's the networking aspect. My TV is about 200 feet away from my PC.
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but dont you have a screen for your pc ?
 
FXB said:
I'm not sure I just built this system of the holidays So I was looking for suggestions of hardware I might be missing.
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Wait, you already have the hardware? I was thinking you were asking advice on a build...my bad.
 
FXB said:
yes seems like an odd question to ask.
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well no its when u said you tv was far away from your pc, you can either a permenantly installed tv card that goes in your machine just like gpu, or a plug in usb freeview dongle, i have a tevion one from aldi was not expensive i think about £40, you can either just plug it in when you want to use it, or i have mine in rear usb socket and just leave aerial connected to it so its always ready to go, you dont get any encrypted channels you get full freeview, and it has built in recorder, so if you record say top gear, it records straight to your hard drive !
 
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