first build - any comments?

[LooseCanon]

I'm hoping to build my first system in the next week or so, and I'm looking for proofreaders. I'm skipping over a few components (HDD, optical drive) because they I don't think they'll pose any problems.

Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz
Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H LGA1156 mATX
Zotac Synergy GeForce GT 220 1GB DDR3

Antec BP550 Plus 550W PSU
Antec 300 Case

I'm putting the memory here at the end because (while it's the best deal for me at the store where I work) the reviews on Newegg are making me nervous about it.
OCZ Obsidian DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800)

Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

[cascade9]

I'd probably go for the AMD X4 924/945. The 925 is $15 more than the i3, but you can get a good motehrboard for the AMD for about $15 les than the i3board so it evens out...the 945 is another $10 on top of that but worth it IMO. 4 cores vs 2 cores + HT. You also get USB 3.0 with the AMD board, that intel is USB 2.0 only-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128431

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103656
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103809

Then again, those parts may (or may not) be avaible from your store.

The 925/945 has more power than the i3. Check these 2 sets of benchmarks (BTW, this is also an exercise in 'why benchamrking can have issues...one test has the 925/945 with a decent, but not huge marigin over the i3 for processing power tasks..the other has a X3 720 pulling away from the i3!)-

http://www.hardcoreware.net/amd-vs-i...-dollar-cpu/7/

http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f...parison-68976/

BTW, if you not gaming an onboard nvidia video motherboard might be a decent opiton if your looking to save a few $$$, or for moving the money into a different component.

[LooseCanon]

I took a look at those, but I think the i3 will come out to be significantly less expensive at my store (Core i3 + board ~ $172 USD, vs the X4 955 [lowest # X4 we carry] ~ $160 for just the cpu, w/o board). If I were using newegg for parts this time 'round, I'd think about that one longer, but from what I've read so far about different numbers of cores, I don't think I'll really need/use 4.

For example, I won't be doing hardcore gaming. I might play something every once in a while, but it will never be *the* FPS by which people judge a computer system. I think I'm going to stick with the graphics card, both because I want the games I do play (and video I watch) to look nice and because I don't know if I can find an board w/ nVidia at my store that meets my other needs and price range. Being a brick-and-mortar store, the selection is more limited than that of newegg's warehouse.

Do you have any thoughts on the memory? Have you used OCZ before?

Oh, and does the power supply look sufficient? The reviews were outstanding--do you think the wattage will be enough to run what I have listed? I used a PSU calculator (which came to about 314W) and this is significantly over that, so it should be sufficient, but then, I've never done this before...

[cascade9]

Sorry about this, I normally try to avoid doing the 'sentance by sentance' approach to peopls posts, but in this case its worth it. BTW, for anybody else viewing this, I have an idea where LooseCanon is buying his parts from, but since its not posted (IMO might as well, its not a problem or an advertisment in context) but that is totally up to LooseCanon. Not up to me to 'let the cat out of the bag' so to speak.

I took a look at those, but I think the i3 will come out to be significantly less expensive at my store (Core i3 + board ~ $172 USD, vs the X4 955 [lowest # X4 we carry] ~ $160 for just the cpu, w/o board).

True, it might well work out cheaper...hard for me to know, I had a look at the site, but I got a 'product not avaible' when I click on the 'processors' area.

If I were using newegg for parts this time 'round, I'd think about that one longer, but from what I've read so far about different numbers of cores, I don't think I'll really need/use 4.

It all depends on what your using the computer for. If you do much in the way of video conversion or some of the other very heavy processor usage programs (like graphics rendering) the X4s are much faster than i3s. X3s, which are cheaper than the X4s (if your store sells them) might well be faster as well...depending on whos benchmarks you want to believe.

An Phenom II X4/nVidia 750a might well work out cheaper than an i3/X55/GT 220. The X3/750a would. Might not be quite as fast as the GT 220 but there wouldnt be a massive difference between them.

For example, I won't be doing hardcore gaming. I might play something every once in a while, but it will never be *the* FPS by which people judge a computer system.

FPS has been a bad judge of CPU power for a long time now IMO. If you a heavy gamer, it makes a bit more sense, but even then..some games like AMD, some games intel. Its very easy to skew CPU performance by picking and choosing what games to benchmark.

Personally, I perfer 'real world' testing (like audio/video encoding, or nasty stuff like 3D studio max rendering) as a measure of CPU power these days. Thats got issues as well though....

I think I'm going to stick with the graphics card, both because I want the games I do play (and video I watch) to look nice and because I don't know if I can find an board w/ nVidia at my store that meets my other needs and price range. Being a brick-and-mortar store, the selection is more limited than that of newegg's warehouse.

For video, with any modern nVidia card (8xx, 9xx, 2xx) you should get pretty much the same video proformance. There will be some VDPAU features that change from series to series, but with any of the CPUs your looking at it wont make any difference (VDPAU = hardware video decoding, so if its not done in hardware the CPU has todo he decoding..and with those CPUs that can decoding any video without any issues). Video quality will be exactly the same.

As for gaming...depends on what you want to play. If you can play whatever games you want on your cyurrent system, they should run fine even on an onboard nvidia card, though this will depend a huge amount on your current system specs. If its for your current games with the possibility of playing gmaes that havent even come out yet, things get more complex.

Say you can run your current games on an onboard 8200, but your wondering about stuff that hasnt come out yet. You could spend $50-75 on a GT 220 (which is a pretty low end card now). Or you could just run the 8200 till the game comes out, in say 1 year- by the time that happens the prices will have fallen, quite a bit, on the video cards. You could pick up, say, a GTX 260 (or a newer card with similar perfomance to the GTX260) for the 50-75 you pocketed back then.

Do you have any thoughts on the memory? Have you used OCZ before?

I have used OCZ before. Only a few times. IIRC, that 'problem' with the timing mentioned on the newegg site is from some particular type on memory chips. The OCZ should work fine, but it can be a pain to have to remember to set the timing on your BIOS. You could always get the ADAT sticks, seem to be the same price, same speeds, no timing issues. I've used ADATA as well, and while its probably not as 'respected' a brand as OCZ they work fine. Shouldnt be any real difference in speeds between them.

Oh, and does the power supply look sufficient? The reviews were outstanding--do you think the wattage will be enough to run what I have listed? I used a PSU calculator (which came to about 314W) and this is significantly over that, so it should be sufficient, but then, I've never done this before...

550 watts is more than enough. I'm running a 520 (corsair, so its probably a better power supply than the antec, but doesnt make a huge amount of difference), and I built my machine to be upgraded to a X4 965 (when they were 140 watt CPUs, that has dropped with the newer series) and up to a nVidia GTX 295 video card (a huge, 2 x GPU monster with a massive power requirement). 550 watts (by a decent manufacturer, I wouldnt trust the 'generic' PSUs) will handly any CPU/single video card combonation you'll buy these days.

I know, I havent made things that much easier. Sorry to say, but there is always a fair amount of 'what the hell, I'll just get xxxx over yyyy' becuase there is virtually never a clear-cut answer.