2015 PC build, Looking for second opinions.

[Vagrant0]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JrwK8

 

Already at about maximum budget, so don't really want to add anything else unless it's critical. Looking more for a sanity check towards anything obvious which might be missing or wrong.

 

1tb 7200 RPM 2.5 drive is for OS

 

3tb 7200 RPM 3.5 drive is for Programs

 

Other drives are already owned and are for storage and backup.

 

Had considered a blu-ray drive/writer instead of a DVD drive/writer, but couldn't find one that was reasonably affordable given how little use I would actually get from it.

[ZeroKing]

Looks pretty solid. Overclocking with that CPU was quite fun, actually.

 

Just a question: you already own the hard drives, correct?

[Vagrant0]

Looks pretty solid. Overclocking with that CPU was quite fun, actually.

 

Just a question: you already own the hard drives, correct?

Won't be overclocking since, frankly, I don't see anything I do actually topping out the processor unless it has bad multi-core support and am building for a long-term workhorse and not a 1-2 year gaming experience.

 

I own the Western Digital drives, will be buying the Seagate ones. Switching brands because similar drives from WD are either significantly more expensive or are just bad reliability/performance.

[HeyYou]

A 5400 RPM internal drive? Really? Why? If you try and run games off that, you aren't going to like the performance.....

[ZeroKing]

@ Vagrant0

Seagate, from experience, hasn't had good long-term durability on my end. WD was better (probably just my bad luck).

 

@ HeyYou

He already owns that drive (for storage, as he already pointed out).

[BlackRampage]

1gb 7200 RPM 2.5 drive is for OS

 

3gb 7200 RPM 3.5 drive is for Programs

 

I'm assuming you meant TB instead of GB for the storage space?

 

No real recommendations other then getting a second 120mm fan for the cpu cooler. Then again, it might not be necessary if you're not planning on overclocking the cpu. CPU cooler itself is a good choice though. Great performance for such a cheap cooler.

[Vagrant0]

A 5400 RPM internal drive? Really? Why? If you try and run games off that, you aren't going to like the performance.....

 

The 5400 drive is the one I already own and am using mostly for various crap files, or sandboxed applications where speed really doesn't matter. The 2gb WD drive I have is Green series, which is also slower and is being used primarily as storage.

 

Aware that Seagate drives have a lower lifespan than WD in some cases, but ever since WD started pushing their Green and Blue series drives designed to be lower power drives, the performance and reliability has gone down. The Green series drive I have almost feels like it stops responding at times just because it has such a slow speedup time. Meanwhile the new Black series drives have reported sound and vibration problems. Caviar Black looks better, but is nearly double the price and doesn't come with 6gbs interface. I also had to go with a Seagate drive for the 2.5 system drive since the only WD equivalent drive is a Velociraptor that costs twice as much, has lower reliability, and wouldn't give much of a performance boost since I tend to only reboot my PC when updating and don't care about an extra 30 seconds of load time. I did however want it to be fast enough that I didn't have to bother with moving around cache and temp files.

 

Regarding the cooler, I'm actually unsure as to how it is supposed to be mounted or what sort of airflow I should account for since it's a pedestal and not a brick like coolers for older PCs. Is airflow supposed to enter in through the back, be pulled onto the heatsink, and then pushed out through the top grating, or is it the other way around? I have 2 120 coolermaster fans, among others lying around as extras, so getting the fans is not an issue.

[BlackRampage]

Regarding the cooler, I'm actually unsure as to how it is supposed to be mounted or what sort of airflow I should account for since it's a pedestal and not a brick like coolers for older PCs. Is airflow supposed to enter in through the back, be pulled onto the heatsink, and then pushed out through the top grating, or is it the other way around? I have 2 120 coolermaster fans, among others lying around as extras, so getting the fans is not an issue.

 

Airflow will be pushed out through the top grating as that's the direction the CPU fan(s) will be pushing the airflow towards. Looks like the case also has 2 fans at the top so that'll work nicely.

 

And make sure you install the CPU cooler before placing the mobo in the case. Installing the cooler is way too finicky to be doing it the other way around.

I hope it'll fit next to those 4 corsair dimms btw. The lowest cooling ribs might get in the way. I faced the same problem when I got one of those massive "Be Quiet!" cpu coolers. Had to remove about half an inch from both sides of the 3 lowest cooling ribs.

[Vagrant0]

Airflow will be pushed out through the top grating as that's the direction the CPU fan(s) will be pushing the airflow towards. Looks like the case also has 2 fans at the top so that'll work nicely.

 

And make sure you install the CPU cooler before placing the mobo in the case. Installing the cooler is way too finicky to be doing it the other way around.

I hope it'll fit next to those 4 corsair dimms btw. The lowest cooling ribs might get in the way. I faced the same problem when I got one of those massive "Be Quiet!" cpu coolers. Had to remove about half an inch from both sides of the 3 lowest cooling ribs.

 

 

Given the form factor of my heatsink and how the fan would be facing the rear of the PC, I thought I would be avoiding most of those space issues. Kinda like this:

 

 

Even if I had to have the fan facing the front, based on what I saw of other completed builds with that heatsink, the fan does not extend much further than where the mounting screws are. I was however under the impression that it was best to have the heatsink fan blowing on the heatsink instead of pulling air from it, so correct me if I'm wrong here.

[BlackRampage]

Given the form factor of my heatsink and how the fan would be facing the rear of the PC, I thought I would be avoiding most of those space issues. Kinda like this:

<snip>

 

Yes, that's about right, expect for the rear case fan. It pushes air out of the case, not in.

 

I was however under the impression that it was best to have the heatsink fan blowing on the heatsink instead of pulling air from it, so correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

Well, in this case a more accurate description imho would be that it actually pulls the air through the heatsink, kinda like how a car radiator gets cooled by the big fan right behind it, which pulls cold air right through the radiator.

Those stock CPU coolers do actually blow air onto the heatsink though. (That never really sat well with me btw. I mean, where's the hot air gonna go? to the sides towards the north bridge and Dimms?)

 

When you've got that Cooler Master CPU cooler equipped with 2 fans, one will be pulling in cold air and the other one will be pushing the now hot air out from the heatsink in between the two.