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My PC gaming decision

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I would also go with dual channel memory, the extra bandwidth is more important than the increase in memory. I also strongly suggest an SSD, it isn't just for booting faster it allows you to increase performance by a huge margin on anything that reads or writes to the hard drive. IE: applications and games. The only thing that doesn't really see any benefit from an SSD is browsing the Internet and watching Youtube videos. As for size, anything less than 120gb is too small for an SSD and honestly that's on the small size too. I just built a new machine and put a 256gb SSD in for my boot drive/games. Normal apps like office go on my storage drive, anything that relies on performance (games, video editing) goes on the boot drive.

As for brands:

Memory - Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston, Mushkin, pretty much any name brand with a decent reputation is fine.
PSU - Corsair. There are several other decent brands, but Corsair is way ahead in my opinion.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
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Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
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I would also go with dual channel memory, the extra bandwidth is more important than the increase in memory. I also strongly suggest an SSD, it isn't just for booting faster it allows you to increase performance by a huge margin on anything that reads or writes to the hard drive. IE: applications and games. The only thing that doesn't really see any benefit from an SSD is browsing the Internet and watching Youtube videos. As for size, anything less than 120gb is too small for an SSD and honestly that's on the small size too. I just built a new machine and put a 256gb SSD in for my boot drive/games. Normal apps like office go on my storage drive, anything that relies on performance (games, video editing) goes on the boot drive.

As for brands:

Memory - Corsair, G.Skill, Kingston, Mushkin, pretty much any name brand with a decent reputation is fine.
PSU - Corsair. There are several other decent brands, but Corsair is way ahead in my opinion.

When it comes to power supplies its all about the OEM. Corsair doesnt make their own PSUs. Seasonic majes most of Corsairs higher tier of PSUs.
 
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I am starting to think even 128GB is not enough for an OS drive.

It's plenty if you use it for OS and progs and no games. I have a mere 30 GB partition on my 128GB Plextor M5P and still have plenty space on it and I put lots of apps and progs on the secondary partition and even use it in conjunction with my 1TB storage HDD to capture game footage with DxTory. I don't let captures accumulate though of course. It's a one off then delete thing.

Honestly, if you're diligent about keeping unnecessary files deleted, 128GB is fine. I was getting under 5GB space left on my OS partition, but after running Disc Cleanup it deleted about 4GB worth of old Windows Update backups, so I have over 8GB free now. I have close to 70GB free on the secondary partition.

128GB is fine for an OS drive, just don't treat it like a storage drive and you'll be OK. You DO want at least 128GB though because that level of capacity is where you stat getting faster, denser Nand.
 
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thanks my
This is bad advise. There are plenty of reputable brands out there other than these manufacturers. While I will say newegg is a good place to get a list of prices it may not work for everyone due to it being a US only retailer (With an exception of CA).

On that note, the PSU he has spec'ed out seems to be quite a nice unit. Here is a review of the unit and it went beyond its stated wattage like a champ.

It seems the build he has spec'ed will do quite nicely but as others have said I would change the ram from one single 8GB stick to 2x4GB sticks for dual channel purposes.

thanks my bro ok ok ok
 
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I think the OP may have since departed, but here goes.

brandonwh64, the Enermax isn't a bad unit, but the only place I could find it is on Amazon for $129. At that price or anything close the OP would have to be certifiable to buy it.

OP, you never chimed in on the future CF question, but if it's a yes, here's your PSU. if not, the previous 550w recommendations stand.

Mx, Frag, good to see you gents out and about. Hope all is well.
 
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i will use Rosewill Hive 750W Modular then?
and gskill ram?
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
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Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
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i will use Rosewill Hive 750W Modular then?
and gskill ram?

No, anything but Rosewill PSUs. Seasonic PSUs get my recommendation most of the time. As for RAM get any 8gb kit with 2 4GB sticks at 1600 or 1866mhz. Kingston, G. Skill, Corsair, etc.
 
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Video Card(s) Gigabyte GTX 780 GHZ
Storage OCZ Vector 256GB & Western Digital Black 1TB
Display(s) Dell U2412M
Case NZXT Phantom 630
Power Supply Corsair AX760
Unless you're gonna Crossfire a second card, you don't need a 750w unit.

If you do, get the XFX I linked to. The longer warranty, Gold efficiency, and better build quality are worth the $20.
 

brandonwh64

Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
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No, anything but Rosewill PSUs. Seasonic PSUs get my recommendation most of the time. As for RAM get any 8gb kit with 2 4GB sticks at 1600 or 1866mhz. Kingston, G. Skill, Corsair, etc.

The new rosswill units are quite good these days! jonnyguru gave them great reviews and they are now made by super flower. If he does get one I would suggest the Capstone or Fortress models
 
Joined
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System Name Parts Arriving Now...
Processor Intel i7-4770k
Motherboard Asus Maximus VI Formula
Cooling Noctua u14s w/push-pull
Memory Corsair Vengeance Pro 16gb 1866
Video Card(s) 2x EVGA GTX 780ti Superclocked
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256gb, WD black 2TB
Display(s) QNIX QX2710 LED Evolution II 1440p
Case Corsair 750D
Audio Device(s) Creative Soundblaster X-FI xtrememusic
Power Supply Corsair AX1200i
Software Window 7 Ultimate
Benchmark Scores n/a, system being built this week
It's plenty if you use it for OS and progs and no games. I have a mere 30 GB partition on my 128GB Plextor M5P and still have plenty space on it and I put lots of apps and progs on the secondary partition and even use it in conjunction with my 1TB storage HDD to capture game footage with DxTory. I don't let captures accumulate though of course. It's a one off then delete thing.

Honestly, if you're diligent about keeping unnecessary files deleted, 128GB is fine. I was getting under 5GB space left on my OS partition, but after running Disc Cleanup it deleted about 4GB worth of old Windows Update backups, so I have over 8GB free now. I have close to 70GB free on the secondary partition.

128GB is fine for an OS drive, just don't treat it like a storage drive and you'll be OK. You DO want at least 128GB though because that level of capacity is where you stat getting faster, denser Nand.

The problem isn't deleting unnecessary files, it's that games are HUGE and getting bigger. 120gb goes really fast when you consider games average between 15-50GB each these days, I mean any MMORPG is going to be 30GB+, AAA games like Assassins Creed and Diablo III are easily 20GB. Even games like LoL and CS:GO take up a good amount of space. I averaged 5-6 games on my 120gb drive before I had to uninstall and re-download stuff just to play other games. I had to delete Diablo III and WoW just to try Aion (50GB) when it went free to play. Not to mention not all ISPs even allow unlimited data anymore, I have a 250gb cap, when I built my new PC last week I had to skip downloading some of my games because I'm at 90% usage for the month. I can't even watch Netflix until later this week because my data is too close and I don't want an overage charge.

256gb is honestly the smallest I would consider going with how big games are today, and they will only get bigger. The performance hit of installing on a storage drive sucks, and with more companies going the Steam route and installing to a base directory (Origin, UPlay) you can't even install on a per game basis...
 
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If the single channel RAM you are using are identical to each other, they will run in dual channel mode as long as you place them in the appropriate slots.
If the sticks of RAM are different then your system will still run in single channel mode.

Since the release of socket 775 Intel will actually run mixed DIMMs in "FLEX" mode. It's basically dual channel up to the size of the smaller DIMM, and single channel for the remaining amount. On a system with a 4GB and 8GB DIMM, then the first 8GB will be dual-channel, with the remaining 4GB running single channel.
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-011965.htm#flex

Performance is very near that of full dual channel mode, especially if your data set is able to reside in the dual channel portion of the memory.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-stakes-vision-pc-future-775-launch,830-28.html
 
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When it comes to power supplies its all about the OEM. Corsair doesnt make their own PSUs. Seasonic majes most of Corsairs higher tier of PSUs.
He's right, the CX line is done by Channel Well, as is the GS line, when people claim you get a better PSU with the GS, you really don't, just a CX with a LED fan
 
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Motherboard ASRock Z790 PG Riptide
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Memory Corsair Vengeance 6400 2x16GB @ CL34
Video Card(s) PNY RTX 4080
Storage SSDs - Nextorage 4TB, Samsung EVO 970 500GB, Plextor M5Pro 128GB, HDDs - WD Black 6TB, 2x 1TB
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Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V371
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Software Windows 11 Pro 23H2
The problem isn't deleting unnecessary files, it's that games are HUGE and getting bigger.

Which is why, and if you read the whole post you couldn't have helped but notice, I referred to "OS drive" as Widjaja said, as an OS, apps and progs drive. Ever since the advent of SSD drives, most now refer to "OS drive" as one that does not serve double duty as a storage drive for games, music, movies, and other entertainment media.

I mean, be realistic. :rolleyes:
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
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Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
I have a 128GB SSD for my OS and drivers and any frequently used programs, and then a 240GB for games I play the most these days, and then a 2TB platter drive with 2 1TB partitions for storage, and other games.
 
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