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Opinions needed : cheap rig/last add-ons

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Mod-R

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Location
QC, CA
Well here I am again, about to pop up the hood one more time and give this little ride of mine the last implements to get it to run as it should. So I’ll want your opinions on that of course, but mostly that’s just the ego showing off, and first I would rather collect your thoughts about this cheap rig I’m setting up for a friend of mine. He gave me about nothing but limitations to work with : a very tight 400$ budget, and not nearly enough money to buy the OS on top of the box right now, though his girlfriend is supposed to get Win 8 and Office 2010 as soon as she can, as it will be an ideal requirement in her studies to have it at home. She’s got some old laptop with a Win 7 32 Bits and 1GB RAM/250GB HDD that she pretty much filled up with schoolworks and their media library (they do have an external drive), and as it is very useful to her it would benefit from a clean reinstall with only the OS and the essential programs running, and only her documents in storage. What they want is a PC that both of them can use, with the ability to do a little video editing, some gaming, support Win 8 and a little more extensive use without a fuss, last long enough without upgrades for her to finish school and settle down, and offer them a little more storage room. I have a couple spare sets of keyboard/mouse that I’m giving them, and I also offered them my actual screen as a Christmas present. So peripherals are pretty much dealt with, and still 400$ to go.

Sold them my actual RAM, my former MoBo, my former PSU, my actual GPU, my 500GB HDD, for 180$. Probably worth along the lines of 350$-400$. Found the other parts on the web. In all it’s gonna cost them 406$. My GPU may not have the best FPS running Battlefield 3 at full HD, barely making it to 25, but the screen I’m giving them is 1600x1050, so I hope he’ll be able to play pretty much any game for a couple of years with decent levels of details. And here we are :

Antec Six Hundred
Thermaltake TR2-430
Intel DH61BE + i3 3220 @ 3.3 GHz
Kingston Hyper X Blu 2x8GB
Gigabyte GTX-650 1GB
Western Digital 500GB
Asus BD/DVD-RW
Logitech KB/M (wired)
LG 22” 2ms 1600x1050 (present)

What do you think?

... And then that gave me the better part of 200$, which I invested in a new GPU (with some extra). Paid 100$ for some RAM. Bought a new optical drive as I need to burn Blu Rays, as well as a new screen. Bought a SSD. Set me back 600$ in all. Which gives me this setup :

Antec Eleven Hundred
Antec HCG-620M
Asus P8Z77-V LX
Intel i5 2500K @ 4.8GHz
Cooler Master Hyper N520
Corsair Vengeance 4x4GB 1866MHz
Gigabyte HD7850 2GB
Kingston Hyper X 3K 120 GB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
LG BD-RW
Samsung S27A350H 2ms 1920x1080

All parts are on their way, I still have some time to plan everything through. Now, anybody knows a good guide to help me create user directories on my HDD and programs directories on my SSD during the Windows install? I heard it was better to do it then, and not have to change the locations after the install, as it would make duplicates. Also, I wanna make sure all of Windows system/boot partition gets installed on the SSD (I found out recently that my actual install created the boot partition on my 5400RPM Sata 3Gbs HDD, even though I chose the Seagate), so I know I should not plug the HDD in for the install – but then I guess I cannot create custom location for user directories on it while installing. Surely there’s a better way. Last, I’d like to know how to manage applications location for optimal use. I already have the SSD optimization guide, BTW, I’m reading it at the moment. Also, already have my USB drive with all necessary drivers/updates and favorite applications. I already downloaded the drivers for the Radeon GPU. But I really need explanations about drives management. Thanks for any input!!
 
I feel just leaving the HDD off the rig and install windows for all updates etc when you have the system on cardboard. Like sound drivers, graphics drivers, all Mobo utilities etc. You bench? Then put your Prime etc on the SSD, they are small.

With a modern Windows and a modern SSD, there is nothing you need to do really, should be all auto. Some things might help maybe a specailized search in the storage sub forum or reading selected posts to increase your knowledge can help. Also magic Google.

Then once everything looks fine connect the HD and make folders as normal on the HD as you feel comfortable with. Hard to say what you use now for folder setup.

You can install 2-3 games on the SSD as you play them, uninstall when done and keep the save game file if you need to play again.
 
Thanks Conumdrum for replying - again! :)

There's sort of two schools of thought on that subject, ain't it? Those who say that SSD nowadays are up to run fine with no tweaks. And then, those who say that they're fine, but that in order to minimize writes (shouldn't we say, "flashes"?) and wear it's still a good thing to perform some of the tweaks. Reading them articles gives you the impression that any normal system process that "constantly" writes caches/pagefiles is the most terrible thing to happen to your SSD. Thanks for the input, it's what I wanted, to see how experienced people with SSD's were dealing with their setup... You didn't do any of those tweaks? Or is your SSD old enough that you had to follow all of these? I've read about nand tech, and then about the LSI Sandforce controller, Windows Trim Command, and integrated tweaks like Durawrite... One thing is obvious : manufacturers seem to weigh SSD improvement/marketing on the basis of those controllers/features, making it appear as if no tangible improvement could really be implemented in the devices themselves yet, that the real concern of all them manufacturers was still to get the interactions within OS environment right...

All of this have me wondering...
 
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I plugged mine in and went with it.

I have a Vetex 4 128 in my media PC (kinda new) And a Vertex 3 128 for a year or so now in my main PC no issues. I plugged it in and did what I have in my above post. Nothing more.
 
Thanks a lot Conumdrum! As I'm no professional with Windows and all the details, I'll probably do just that, too. I appreciate your replies. See ya around!

No harm done if I take this thread to the proper forum? I'd like to poke around some more, see what people have to say about this.

And if anybody has any opinion to voice about the rigs in the OP, then I'll be all ears!
 
Yeah I know that... :) I want to leave the thread open in case someone has something to say about the rigs.

What I meant is, no offense if I ask the question elsewhere? I appreciate your comments, I'm already pretty sure a lot of people will tell me the same thing, but I'm dead curious about this, and still have other questions. I just thought it could seem like I was dismissing your point, that's all! It's not the case.
 
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