Thread: Building a new computer

Originally Posted by bust331

Here's the new PSU
Corsair CX Series Modular CX750M 750W ATX Power Supply Black CP-9020061-NA - Best Buy

Here's a potential SSD
PNY CS1100 480GB Internal Serial ATA III Solid State Drive Black SSD7CS1111-480-RB - Best Buy

It looks like best buy only carries DDR3 so I'd have to go somewhere else

My last post of the night... I promise.

The Corsair CX750 is again not another true Corsair product. It is made by CWT, which is an OEM manufacturer for Corsair, Thermaltake, Antec, and others for their lower end power supplies. The CX series is the entry level series for Corsair, and they are NOT highly rated. I have a CX430M in one of my machines, and it powers on, but that is about it. I have an RM650 that I use for powering scrypt miners, and it has been running near capacity for over a year, 24x7. It blows away the CX series, and costs maybe $30-40 more. Even when pulling 500w from the wall, the fan never turns on. It is a pretty good PSU and comes with a 5 year warranty vs the 3 year on the CX series.

CORSAIR RM Series RM650 650W ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

If you are spending $2k on a computer, don't skimp on a budget PSU. Your expensive components will thank you for not over-volting them and destroying them.

I also would recommend going Intel over Samsung for SSDs, that free 5-year manufacturers warranty and Intel customer service is totally worth it. I did a RAID setup with a few 530s drives (don't do that, striped RAID wipes SSDs way faster than their lifespan is rated) and all it took to get it replaced was opening up a chat window with an intel rep, giving them the serial number of the dead drive and an email address, then they swapped my dead drive for a new one no questions asked, they even overnighted the new one to me for free. Best RMA experience of my life. That's not saying that the Samsung drive isn't stellar, it probably is, but with SSDs these days for the most part being pretty comparable in terms of performance, the warranty is the selling point, for me at least. If you can get the 850 evo with a 5-year than it might be comparable...but I've never had something replaced so fast or easily than my intel SSD. As a matter of fact, the only parts I've had die on me in maybe the last 6-8 years have been hard-drives and SSDs (peripherals excluded).

I also agree with Heavy that the Corsair Link software is crap-tastic. I mean, I use it on my main PC because I'm lazy and don't really do too much cooling/lighting control - but the NZXT Kraken software that came with the x40 that I use in my little PC is way better.

I kind of skipped ahead and didn't see which case you decided on, but I currently own both the NZXT Phantom 530 and the NZXT h440 for different rigs and both are excellent cases. If you do have any optical drives you plan on using, the Phantom is the way to go. Tons of options for fans and cooling, plenty of room for cable management, not too bad on noise but maybe a little loud. If you don't plan on using optical drives though, the h440 is really a sexy case. All the panels have noise dampening foam, the window is sharp, solid internal lighting already in the case, plenty of air-flow (triple front 120mm fans up front), and a bit more spacious in the back for cable management. Personally, I like my h440 more than the phantom, but that's just preference.

I was reminded to do some Power Supply research today, and I found out that the Antec Earthwatts 650w is better than the Corsair models they have, minus the AX series of course. For the price and wattage, the Antec is the best option you have from Best Buy if you're not planning to ever do SLI. If you're planning to do SLI at some point you'll have to suck up paying twice the price for the EVGA Supernova at 850w. Thank Best Buy for having poor selections in inventory.