Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > Please review my 1st build in 8 years. Desktop for Windows.

Please review my 1st build in 8 years. Desktop for Windows.

That's a gamers board, and you can get even a similar asus board with less pci-e x16 slots since you won't use them all. This board is cheaper, and has more standard expansion slots.
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···13131781
(I didn't check for all the revisions of this board)
You can even still go cheaper, and get a sub $100 board with less slots you might not use, but pay attention as some things change like losing many features. I feel this board might still be a little more than you need, but the cheaper options loose too many options you might have to replace with expansion cards later. Go under $100 you definitely lose 6GBps sata which is useful for ssd drives if you were to get one, and they likely won't have usb 3.0.

You will be able to connect both ide drives to that controller card, you can have up to two ide devices per channel, however I suggest you spend the money now to buy a new sata dvd burner, or even a blu-ray drive if you want one just to make the process easier. Their price isn't going to change anytime soon.

I'm not sure of your memory requirements for development, so while memory is cheap you might as well, but I would also say you might be more than ok with 8GB. The 16GB kits with 8GB sticks cost more than the kits with 4GB sticks. Make sure you buy the right speed of memory also, based on the board, 1333, and 1600 would be perfect, might as well default on the 1600 as they are both basically the same price with it being a little faster.

SSD is a luxury, and if you're going to buy a hdd for an os you are going to load with installed programs I'd suggest you go with something larger than that 60GB. I could be wrong, and you'll be fine, but your money would be better spend on a large sata drive, and not wasting money on an expensive ssd drive now.
--
I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

reply to sficca
If you are serious about an SSD I would get an Intel 320 80 or 120GB as a minimum. It sounds like you are doing work on there I wouldn't trust an OCZ with that with their failure rates. I have a cheap OCZ in my HTPC but I don't care much if it barfs. My work laptop I went with an Intel 320 120GB. Of course I still back up the documents onto my encrypted USB drive every week or two.

reply to BlitzenZeus
Thanks for your thoughts!! I will look at that P8Z68-V LE from Asus you pointed out. I am weighing each feature. I would also supplement with an add-on card to get the SATA-3. I totally agree I wont use all the pci-e slots, and I like have legacy slots available. I don't need the Micro form factor, so I'd rather the board take up space with features.

The SSD I use to cache my slow IDE PATA drive.

reply to pnjunction
I'm just thinking to use the SSD as a cache. The chipset is bundled with some caching software that is supposed to keep the most recent and frequently used files in the SSD. It uses 40Gb max. the extra 20Gb I'd use for Windows cache file(?). Anyway, as a cache, I'm not too concerned about it's reliability. I will be sure to get it's SATA-3 version. I backup my data with iDrive. Thank you very much for your thoughts.

reply to sficca
The motherboard I linked says it supports sata 3.

With the money you save on the motherboard get a larger, and more reliable SSD. You will want to use it for your os, getting a small ssd for a cache drive is a waste of money at this point, do it right the first time, or wait until you can.
--
I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

reply to sficca
     I have a few thoughts, that haven't yet been expressed by others in this thread.

     I'm not a fan of ASUS, though to be fair I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, and there are many folks who have had good experiences with using ASUS.  So my no means should my opinion ultimately dissuade you from getting ASUS.

     I recommend SuperMicro or TYAN, though unfortunately their cheapest offerings brand new tend to be around the $200 range, and if there's onboard video (with those brands of motherboard), it will be insufficient for your needs.  So a regular video card would be needed.

     As a third choice there's MSI.  My father uses a laptop that was an MSI barebone, and it has worked well for him so far.  He still uses it every day, and I think he got it in 2006 or so.

     As for RAM, just get the Kingston brand.  'Nuff said.

     You didn't mention whether you already purchased or otherwise have the IDE host adapter card.  If not, why not use an IDE to SATA adapter (to use IDE drives with a SATA port)?  That would free up a slot.

     DVD burner:  There's no reason to get a Plextor.  The warranty is just as short (1 year), and the one time I bought a Plextor DVD burner, it didn't last any longer than other brands, nor did it seem more or less reliable than other brands I've tried.

     Power Supply:  I'm guessing you haven't figured this one out yet.  Pick something with a single 12V rail (more 12V rails is worse), and choose one that's EPS12V for maximum compatibility.  Unfortunately, the advertised wattage is only part of the story.  It's imperative to look at the actual specifications of the power supply, so see if the advertised wattage is just the peak, or if it can put out that many watts consistently, 24/7.

     As for an SSD, I don't recommend it unless you are willing to run the PC without a page file.  The problem with limited write cycles (inherent to every SSD), and the page file would prematurely wear it out.

quote:

---

Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?

Yes. Most pagefile operations are small random reads or larger sequential writes, both of which are types of operations that SSDs handle well.

In looking at telemetry data from thousands of traces and focusing on pagefile reads and writes, we find that

Pagefile.sys reads outnumber pagefile.sys writes by about 40 to 1,
Pagefile.sys read sizes are typically quite small, with 67% less than or equal to 4 KB, and 88% less than 16 KB.
Pagefile.sys writes are relatively large, with 62% greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% being exactly 1 MB in size.

In fact, given typical pagefile reference patterns and the favorable performance characteristics SSDs have on those patterns, there are few files better than the pagefile to place on an SSD.

---

reply to pog
Indeed, a very interesting read, that blog re: SSD and Win7 you sited!! Gosh, with 16Gb RAM, perhaps I can run w/out a swap file.

From that read, I am looking now for a rating of SSD's by Mircrosoft Windows Experience Index metric.

Regarding some other issues: DVD burner. I can not find anything other than the Plextor that is 1)External and 2) eSATA with 3)the flexibility of USB too! It was only $80 at Amazon, BUT UNAVAILABLE now! I'm open for suggestions! Remember, I use my computer from 6' away, separated by one floor (hole).

I'm pretty sure you can just buy an eSATA enclosure and slap any SATA optical drive in there.

Oh wait you'd need a 5.25" enclosure...let me look around...

OK they do exist »www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi···eSize=20

reply to sficca

Yeah I used to turn it off on my old laptop, some programs would just barf and not run at all. Usually they were utility programs that I didn't really need though.

reply to sficca
I think that the IDE HDD will make your computer feel pretty slow. I'd get a new SATA 500GB drive and use an SSD to cache it (64GB Crucial M4 would be my choice).

If for no other reason, that PATA drive has to be pretty old and hard drives don't last forever. You're putting money into the latest-gen hardware, you at least want to be able to feel the quickness.

reply to sficca
I've made some changes based on all these contributions:
-SSD: I am going to up-it to 120Gb, and use it directly, not as a cache to my older PATA drive. It'll be my C:\ (system) drive and it will host my swap file (small as configurable). I will at least once monthly, run Windows w/out the swap drive, and recreate the swap drive (rebooting twice, moan) when I need it (as sometimes Windows just does) in order to allow the TRIM function to do its function on that SSD space. I'm also switching from OCZ to Samsung 830 series - it's looking better in reliability and performance (I've lost track of where I'm reading so much[sic]).
-Power supply: I am going to shop for a power supply (with a single rail). I've decided to keep the old machine running; so I won't be cannibalizing critical parts from it.
-Storage: I'll be accessing my data drive through a simple share on my old machine. When a 2Tb, 7200rmp, SATA-III drive is less than $120 - I'll improve on that. For now, I won't have to deal with the PATA to SATA accommodation, but I will have to keep my system, limited user profile, and applications happy for a while on the 128Gb SSD.
-DVD: I am looking for an external 5-1/4" case and SATA DVD burner, as suggested.
-Monitor: I just bought an ASUS VE276Q 27-Inch Wide (16:9) 2ms Response Time Display Port LCD Monitor. I did Not pick up the LED version of this, because several users report that it makes a humming noise. Power consumption is just 25w difference, and the auto power save mode is smarter (perhaps usable) now. It detects sudden increase in ambient lite as trigger to turn on, so when you turn the lite on in a room...
-Thanks again for your comments. I can think of no further specific outstanding questions, except I still wonder if I am using the right chipset/CPU combo. I am a Non-gamer, non-overclocker using my PC 24/7/365 for everything. So I want the best. Is Core I5 w/Z68 chipset simply the best?

reply to sficca

RAM: 16Gb. Kingston Technology HyperX 16 GB Kit (4x4 GB Modules) 16 Quad Channel Kit 1600 (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1600C9D3K4/1​6GX

My understanding is that AMD doesn't have a competitive option to the Intel desktop processors, as they once did.

reply to bbear2

reply to sficca
This sums it up nicely. »www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sand···t-ddr3/8