Alright you wankers, I need some input

[lovemonkey]

.. on my new potential rig. The intended use will be normal everyday browsing/youtube, gaming and doing homework in Mathematica, AutoCAD etc. I guess the gaming part will determine most of the features and I intend to play a lot of BF3, Crysis and perhaps some racing games. I'd like to be able to set everything to the highest settings and still get a good fps since I'll be getting a 120Hz screen to go with the rig. Budget is around 1500-1700 dollars.

Here's what I've got so far:

Housing: Cooler Master Centurion 5 II Midi Tower(the casing doesn't really matter that much since I don't have any intentions on overclocking or doing any fancy stuff)

Power Supply: Silver Power SP-SS500 500W PSU ATX 12V V2.2, 80 Plus, Standard, 1x 6pin+1x 6+2pin PCIe, 6× SATA

Processor: Intel® Core i5-3550 Processor Socket-LGA1155, Quad Core, 3.3Ghz, 6MB, Boxed w/fan

Motherboard: MSI B75MA-P45, Socket-1155 m-ATX, B75, DDR3, 1xG3-PCIe-x16, VGA, DVI, UEFI

Ram: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB CL9 Kit w/4x 4GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240

Graphics: Gainward GeForce GTX 670 2GB PhysX CUDA PCI-Express 3.0, GDDR5, DVI-D+DVI-I, native-HDMI, DisplayPort, 915MHz

Harddrives: Crucial m4 SSD 2.5" 128GB SATA 6 Gb/s (SATA3.0), 500MB/175MB/s read/write

                Seagate Barracuda® 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 3.5"

(almost irrelevant)DVD: Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Writer, AD-5280S SATA, DVD±R: 24x, DVD+RW: 8x, DVD-RW: 6x, Bulk, BLACK  

All this with windows 7.


So what do you think? Anything that could be drastically improved? I appreciate any help and here's to make it BB related:

[Stark]

You really don't need to do the whole scavenger thing these data anymore get a pre build decent rig maybe upgrade the graphic card I dunno but the dhole I am getting the core from this place and the motherboard from here Is for game fa gs.

[dr.chimps]

I have no idea what any of that stuff means. Knock yourself out.     

[Dr Dutch]

Hahahaha  me too....but I like that bitch.

[el numero uno]

Nerd

[lovemonkey]

You really don't need to do the whole scavenger thing these data anymore get a pre build decent rig maybe upgrade the graphic card I dunno but the dhole I am getting the core from this place and the motherboard from here Is for game fa gs.

The specifications are from a pre-designed rig on an online store that I've just added to basically. I added twice the RAM, extra harddrive and chose a slightly better performing processor.

The graphics card is pretty hardcore as it is I think... if I get anything fancier than that then we're talking some really, really high-end stuff although I'd love to get, just won't fit within the budget.

[lovemonkey]

I have no idea what any of that stuff means. Knock yourself out.     

I most definitely will.

Hahahaha  me too....but I like that bitch.

Meh, her knees are kind of sharp.

Nerd

Guilty as charged.

[Stark]

The specifications are from a pre-designed rig on an online store that I've just added to basically. I added twice the RAM, extra harddrive and chose a slightly better performing processor.

The graphics card is pretty hardcore as it is I think... if I get anything fancier than that then we're talking some really, really high-end stuff although I'd love to get, just won't fit within the budget.

Thing is this today you cannot really make any mistake as long as you don't save too much money just get the pc

[DroppingPlates]

I would suggest that you check the system requirements of the games you like to play.
Regarding Mathematica, it depends on your use. In case you want to perform complex simulations or optimizations, choose for maximum processor power. I'm not sure if Mathematica supports multiple cores, but it prob will.
HTH

[Raymondo]

Your power supply is too weak for such a machine. Only 500watts? The fucker won't even turn on.

Go for 700 and upwards.

[Raymondo]

 Seagate Barracuda® 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 3.5"

This doesn't make any sense. Only SSDs can have a speed of 6Gb/s. the Seagate Barracuda is not an SSD, not to mention 7200RPM does not deliver 6Gb/s.

[lovemonkey]

Thing is this today you cannot really make any mistake as long as you don't save too much money just get the pc

That is true to a certain extent. Modern games are always kind of one step ahead of the current systems so I'm looking to get a system that'll last me for at least 2 years.

I would suggest that you check the system requirements of the games you want to play.
Regarding Mathematica, it depends on your use. In case you want to perform complex simulations or optimizations, choose for maximum processor power. I'm not sure if Mathematica supports multiple cores, but it prob will.
HTH

Usually, the system requirements don't really say much on how to get optimum performance.. only mediocre.

You're right about Mathematica and I'll have to look into that.

Your power supply is too weak for such a machine. Only 500watts? The fucker won't even turn on.

Go for 700 and upwards.

Do you think 650W would work?

[DroppingPlates]

Usually, the system requirements don't really say much on how to get optimum performance.. only mediocre.

That's correct about the system requirements, but they give you an indication if your system is in the safe zone.

[lovemonkey]

Seagate Barracuda® 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 3.5"

This doesn't make any sense. Only SSDs can have a speed of 6Gb/s. the Seagate Barracuda is not an SSD, not to mention 7200RPM does not deliver 6Gb/s.

Yeah I think that might be a typo on the website that I copied it from. I think the real number is 600 MBps.

Ram: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 16GB CL9 Kit w/4x 4GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240


Too much RAM, only designers using multiple heavy weight graphics apps at the same time need that much RAM.

What about 2 years from now? From what I understand 8GB is just fine for the games/applications of today but another 8GB is only like 50 bucks. Not worth it in your opinion?

[mass243]

Hot thighs  
And good hair also

[lovemonkey]

That's correct about the system requirements, but they give you an indication if your system is in the safe zone.

That is true, but after the "safe zone" mark I'm pretty much clueless as to what specs will give me the optimum performance. Sure I could get the fanciest stuff available today, but then I wouldn't have money for food tomorrow. So I'm looking for the best bang for the buck, basically.

[Raymondo]

The specifications are from a pre-designed rig on an online store that I've just added to basically. I added twice the RAM, extra harddrive and chose a slightly better performing processor.

The graphics card is pretty hardcore as it is I think... if I get anything fancier than that then we're talking some really, really high-end stuff although I'd love to get, just won't fit within the budget.

Are you in the UK? If so, I'd recommend you do some research on the shop you're using to build you the computer. I can't recommend this strongly enough. Look them up on trustpilot or reviewcentre. Pay attention to the negative reviews (companies use a lot of shills in review sites to write up positive reviews, so they don't always accurately reflect the nature of a company)

I ordered my custom PC from a shop two years ago. I dropped more than two grand on it. When it came in it was unstable and had a lot of other side-problems. It took more than two weeks to get everything fixed and although the shop guys were helpful and did everything free of charge (of course), it was very stressful for me.

[DroppingPlates]

That is true, but after the "safe zone" mark I'm pretty much clueless as to what specs will give me the optimum performance. Sure I could get the fanciest stuff available today, but then I wouldn't have money for food tomorrow. So I'm looking for the best bang for the buck, basically.

I'm not into gaming myself, but the best advice I can give to get that "best bang" is to build your own PC.
Start with selecting a powerful CPU, than a motherboard with the correct socket, than the RAM suitable for that mobo, and then the rest. Don't buy everything from one shop. For instance, in many cases one shop has cheap CPU's, but average priced hard disks.
It takes some prep time, but it saves you many bucks.

[lovemonkey]

Are you in the UK? If so, I'd recommend you do some research on the shop you're using to build you the computer. I can't recommend this strongly enough. Look them up on trustpilot or reviewcentre. Pay attention to the negative reviews (companies use a lot of shills in review sites to write up positive reviews, so they don't always accurately reflect the nature of a company)

I ordered my custom PC from a shop two years ago. I dropped more than two grand on it. When it came in it was unstable and had a lot of other side-problems. It took more than two weeks to get everything fixed and although the shop guys were helpful and did everything free of charge (of course), it was very stressful for me.

No I'm not in the UK. The store I'm ordering from has been around for a very long time and I've read nothing but good reviews about it so I'm feeling fairly confident in that regard. Thanks for pointing that out, though.

Sorry to hear that you got a fucked up computer.

[arce1988]

  Good God