Looks like a really good build. I will put part links in the end of the post. Here's some tips to save a bit of money if you're open to it:

1. Power supply: 550 watts is a great amount for this system. You could save some money by passing on the 80+ gold rating (although it's great to have a super efficient power supply, you don't need 80+ gold) and get a power supply that has an 80+ bronze efficiency rating. A power supply being fully modular isn't a must either, for me at least. A good semi-modular pick would be the Rosewill Hive 550, I have it and it has has sleeved black cables for about $55. If you want to save more money on the PSU, though, the EVGA basic 550W unit has all black cables and goes for around $43. Otherwise, the 600B from EVGA is a great 600W unit for around $50. Changing your power supply with these options might save you around $30-$40.
   
2. RAM: there are 16GB kits out there that are cheaper than the ones you selected, some are even in red to match your color scheme. I know there is a kit from Corsair that goes for around $80, so that might save you $20-$30 there. Otherwise, if you can't afford 16GB at the beginning of the build, 8GB will suffice until you upgrade. Just make sure if you get 8GB, get a single stick so you can throw another one in later. 8GB instead of 16 GB may save you $30-$40.
   
3. CPU cooler: The i5 6500 comes with its own stock cooler, so you can save around $25 by not paying for a CPU cooler right away. Otherwise, the 212 Evo is a superb cooler and also comes in a red LED fan version for a few bucks more :D
   
4. GPU: The GTX 1060 is a great option for a video card, but the RX 480 from AMD might be able to save you a few bucks right now and down the road. When you look to purchase another monitor, options with FreeSync (AMD adaptive sync) are normally cheaper than monitors with G-Sync (Nvidia adaptive sync). Adaptive sync monitors will make your gameplay smoother. Also, if you get a motherboard that supports crossfire, you can throw another RX 480 in your rig in the future. I will recommend you a motherboard for this at the end, and it won't cost you much more than your current one. An RX 480 8GB starts at around $230. Also, RX 480's are said to be better in DX12, another "future proofer".
   
5. Motherboard (minor): H110 is a budget chipset, and a Micro ATX one will save you a bit of money. BUT, if you want another RX 480, you'll need a motherboard with 2 PCIe slots to house them. An ATX motherboard will fill your case better, not look as awkward as a mATX one, and will let you put another RX 480 card in your rig in the future. A good ATX motherboard that would work for this build would be the Asus B150-PLUS for $95. This may be a bit expensive, but you could spend your saved money on this part. I highly suggest you exercise this option.
   
6. Storage: if 250GB is enough for you, then you could save some money by not getting a Samsung SSD. An SSD comparable to this would be the Crucial MX300 275GB for around $80. Also, the SanDisk z400s is $75 and is 256GB. If you want more storage, though, I would recommend a 120GB SSD like the PNY CS1311 for $40 and a 1TB hard drive like the WD Blue for $50.
   
   TL;DR: cut back on PSU efficiency ratings, look for different 16GB or even 8GB RAM kits, ditch CPU cooler (or keep if you want), get an RX 480 for saving money on future monitors, you can also put another RX 480 in your build in the future with a different motherboard; an ATX motherboard would fill your case and add capability for a second RX 480, a non-Samsung SSD could save you some money, while for $100, you can get an SSD and a 1TB hard drive.
   
   Links:
   EVGA 550W "basic" http://amzn.to/2gbEbeQ
   Rosewill Hive-550 http://amzn.to/2gbBtGe
   EVGA 600B http://amzn.to/2gtvZcH
   Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO LED http://amzn.to/2fJ7mHM
   RX 480 http://amzn.to/2gbIUgI (choose which one you like)
   Asus B150-PLUS http://amzn.to/2eVnuqj
   Crucial MX 300 275GB http://amzn.to/2fidOoq
   SanDisk Z400S 256GB http://amzn.to/2fifFtk
   WD Blue 1TB http://amzn.to/2fJcPhK
   
   I hope my advice helped you and that this didn't overwhelm you. If you save enough money, you could throw in a red LED PWM fan, which adjusts its speed based on your computer's needs. I had a lot of fun making this, thanks for posting, and happy gaming :D
   
   
   

/u/paulatreides0, /u/jetjaguar124, u/WeAreAwful

This is not my best guide, but it is a guide. Refinements welcome.
I wish I knew where to post the refined version, because it seems wasted
on the ephemeral DT.

PC building notes, 2019 Q3

Introduction

This post is a a "guide" to PC building in late 2019. It is incomplete
in two senses. First, I make no special claims to authority or objectivity.
I'm just an enthusiast. I have only personally tested a fraction of the parts
listed below. Second, I am writing this before the Intel 10th-gen refresh
and before the release AMD's flagship 3950X. Those new parts may impact some
of the advice given below.

This guide is extremely opinionated. I will simplify and exaggerate to
keep things simple.

This post was written while drinking whisky and listening to
enka.

Internals

What's inside your PC

A PC has seven core components. They are,

1. CPU: the central processing unit. The thing that does calculations.
   
2. Motherboard: the bit that all the other bits slot into
   
3. GPU: the graphics processing unit. For frames in games.
   
4. RAM: Random Access Memory. Fast, volatile, short-term storage.
   
5. Storage: longer-term storage. Comes in several flavors, mainly solid state
   and hard disk.
   
6. PSU: the power supply unit. The bit that delivers power to the other bits.
   
7. Case: a steel box that you put the other bits in.
   
   A word first on compatibility. The skeleton of the build is the motherboard,
   and you have to make sure that every other bit is compatible with your board.
   There are two CPU manufacturers, AMD and Intel; each has their own CPU
   design and thus has their own motherboard type. RAM, storage, PSUs, and GPUs
   are all cross-compatible with either AMD or Intel motherboards.
   Motherboards come in different sizes. A case will be compatible with certain
   size ranges. From small to big, these are ITX, m-ATX, ATX, and
   E-ATX. You'll want to check that your motherboard can fit in your case.
   
   

   CPUs
   

   
   AMD's most current CPUs are the 3000-series Ryzen chips. There are a bunch
   of them, but the only two you have to care about are the
   
   

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 ($200)
  
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X ($330)
  
  The other options are the 3600X, the 3800X, and the 3900X. None of these
  are interesting compared to the two listed above, and can be safely ignored.
  
  Intel's current CPUs are the 9th-gen Core chips. I would only seriously
  consider two of these chips,
  
  
• Intel i7-9700K ($380)
  
• Intel i9-9900K ($450-$500)
  
  and I'd ignore the rest. If you want to spend less than $350 on a CPU,
  then go AMD. If you want to spend more than $350 on a CPU,
  go Intel.
  
  A word about prior-gen chips. The AMD 2000 series (2700X, 2600) and the
  Intel 8th gen series (8700K) are still viable at the right price. Look at
  benchmarks. More on that later.
  
  A word about lower-spec CPUs. AMD sells cheap CPUs that have integrated
  graphics. That means you don't need to buy a graphics card with these chips.
  As such, a build with the 3400G or 3200G can be extremely inexpensive. Consider
  them for office use or basic builds that don't require heavy graphics.
  I have personally tested them and they play 4K video flawlessly; they should
  be perfectly adequate for basic tasks.
  
  For scientific workloads, ask me to write another post. I can't cover
  everything here.
  
  
  

  Motherboard
  

  
  Motherboards only accept either AMD or Intel CPUs, but not both, so you must
  choose a board that is compatible with your CPU.
  Once you decide between AMD or Intel, you can proceed to figure out which
  motherboard you want. There are approximately six billion boards. For AMD,
  skip the hassle and just buy the
  
  

• MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX
  
  Note the "MAX." The Tomahawk was released during the 1000- and 2000-series
  of AMD processors. The MAX variant is compatible with 3000-series chips
  out of the box.
  
  For Intel, I know far less. Any Z390 board should be acceptable.
  
  For AMD, the new X570 boards are available as well. They are pricey and
  overkill for 90% of desktop users. Feel free to skip them. Look out for the
  B550 boards that are to be released in 2020Q1.
  
  
  

  GPU
  

  
  There are two main manufacturers of GPUs: AMD and Nvidia. Confusingly, they
  do not sell GPUs themselves, but market them through partners like MSI,
  EVGA, PowerColor, Sapphire, etc.
  
  The GPU stack is a little confusing.
  That chart lists all of the main GPUs on the market, and if you count, there
  are over 25 GPUs listed. Multiply 25 GPUs by 10 or so board partners,
  multiplied again by the fact that each partner sells multiple types of the same
  GPU, and you have a recipe for an absolute nightmare of a market.
  The prices are only approximate.
  
  Let me cut through the fog. You should buy one of
  
  

• AMD RX 570 ($130)
  
• Nvidia 1660 or AMD RX 590 ($220-$280)
  
• AMD RX 5700 XT ($400-$430)
  
• Nvidia 2080 Super ($700)
  
• Nvidia 2080 Ti ($1200)
  
  Pick your price point.
  
  
  

  RAM
  

  
  RAM is distinguished by its generation. We are currently on DDR4, with
  DDR5 to come in either 2020 or 2021. This part is easy. Just buy
  16GB of DDR4 3200-speed RAM and be done with it.
  This kit
  will set you back $75 to $85 depending on the day of the week and will perform
  adequately for 99.98% of users.
  
  

  Storage
  

  
  In 2019, there is no excuse for not buying fast solid-state storage.
  For 90% of users, you should buy either the 500GB or 1TB variant of the
  Intel 660p and call it a day.
  This reviewer
  is 100% paid off by Intel, but he's also right on this topic. Buy a 660p
  and rest easy.
  
  For enthusiasts, the 660p uses new, cheap, somewhat fragile QLC NAND technology
  and you might want to go with a Samsung 970 instead.
  
  That does it for your boot drive. If you need further long-term storage for
  music, movies, videos, games, etc, look into either Seagate or WD's 8TB to
  12TB options.
  
  I personally have a few WD Gold 12TB drives. They're pricey, but they're
  enterprise-grade and haven't done me wrong yet. My firm, which buys storage
  by the truckload, loves these things. They rarely fail.
  
  I personally am using a 660p for OS, a second SSD for
  some of my media, and HDDs for long-term storage.
  
  

  Power
  

  
  I have neither the time nor the expertise to get into a deep discussion of
  power supplies. The topic is apparently very complicated. You should buy
  something in the 550W to 750W from a manufacturer like Corsair, EVGA,
  or CoolerMaster. Make sure it has the number of VGA connectors that your GPU
  requires.
  
  

  Case
  

  
  The case is the place to really personalize your build. Try not to spend
  more than $100, though; at the end of the day, it's just a steel box.
  
  

  Peripherals
  

  
  In some ways, the bits outside the computer are more important than the bits
  inside. After all, these are the bits you interact with on a daily basis.
  
  

• Monitors
  
• Keyboard
  
• Mouse
  
• Headphones or speakers
  
• Chair
  
• Desk
  
  

  Monitors
  

  
  Monitors are distinguished by size and resolution.
  
  The resolutions available are 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. I recommend the following.
  
  

• 24" 1080p for entry-level gaming and for most office work
  
• 25" or 27" 1440p
  
• 32" or higher 4K
  
  You may also care about refresh rate; the most common refresh rates are 60Hz
  and 144Hz. These only matter for gaming.
  
  One particular sweet spot is the "1440p, 27", 144Hz refresh rate" class. Look
  up benchmarks and comparison videos.
  
  

  Keyboard
  

  
  Pick to taste. Some swear by mechanical keyboards. Others buy standalone
  keyboards that mimic the laptop keyboard that they're used to.
  
  

  Mouse
  

  I have used the Logitech G500 and Logitech G403, and both are fine. They're
  somewhat expensive and will run you about $70.
  
  

  Sound
  

  
  There are a million ways to fulfill your sound needs. For wired headsets,
  the bone-stock recommendation is the AudioTechnica ATH-M50x.
  For speakers, I can recommend the Klipsch 2+1.
  
  For more earphone and headphone suggestions, ask me for an extended discussion.
  
  

  Chair and desk
  

  
  Don't neglect these. You'll be sitting at that chair for several hours per
  day, and you'll use that desk forever. Measure how wide your monitors will be
  and buy a desk accordingly. Go to an office supply shop and sit in a few chairs;
  pick one that you like. Your desk and chair will last forever, so don't be
  afraid to spend a little money here.
  
  

  Advice
  

  
  Read Logical Increments in its entirety.
  
  Watch videos from real, serious hardware reviewers. I recommend
  Gamers Nexus, Paul's Hardware, and Hardware Unboxed. Anyone else is either
  subpar or bought out or provides worthless advice.
  
  Do research, think for yourself, and ask me questions. I'll either give you
  advice or point you to reliable resources if I think my advice would be lacking.

Not even sure what's up with your form:

> Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications to your requirements for the money? Pick or include any that apply.

>Best Requirements

Wtaf man. GET IT TOGETHER CHARLIE.

> Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.

>Look at last question

Last question says you prefer Windows..

I get the feeling this question is a troll but nevertheless, I'm going to give you a nice answer.

Programming doesn't usually require a hardware intensive machine, it doesn't need a GPU or a penisvery powerful CPU but since you asked for such a high budget laptop in which weight doesn't matter I'm going to offer you a high-budget laptop and a low-budget laptop. The high budget lappy will last you approx 6 years and the low budget will last you 4 years approx.

I shall, from this point onwards, assign nicknames to the laptops:

1500 USD ASUS ROG G751JY-VS71(WX) shall now be called "That popular fat guy in college"

The 800 USD Dell Inspiron 15 7599 shall be called "good guy greg" because it's great value.

Processor: Both of these guys have incredibly powerful processors but note that a high end notebook processor is equal to a mid-range gaming processor. The fatty can easily spit out 2.6 GHz with it's i7-4720HQ however the good guy can push out a very respectable 2.3 GHz with it's powerful i5 6300HQ.

I want to give you a tip, NEVER buy a laptop based on it's processor solely. Most people are fooled buy the fact that one processor is an i7 and the other is an i5, well here's a fact, the most powerful model of the i7 can push out only 3% more than the most powerful i5.

Both of these processors can run heavily processor intensive games like "Total war: Warhammer" and can compile code equally fast because the algorithm is usually bottle-necked.

Graphics Card: They both have very powerful graphics cards but the fatty wins this battle hands down. It comes with a Nvidia GTX 980M which has 1536 CUDA cores, versus the good guy which only has approx 640 CUDA cores, respectable but the 960M is no match. VRAM is not a limiting factor, in either of them, the only game that requires more than 4 GB of VRAM is The Witcher 3, which can still be run at high and only consumes about 3 GB. Even GTA V only requires 3.8 GB at it's highest settings. Both of these can run Overwatch at max with 50-60 FPS, though the 980M can probably push out 80 FPS.

The fatty is definitely much better in this regard if you plan on doing very hardcore gaming.

Storage: I know for a fact that coders lover SSD's, the good guy comes with a pre-installed 256 GB M.2 SSD, M.2 SSD's are some of the most powerful SSD's and 256 GB is more than enough. The ASUS (popular fatty) has an optional SSD slot, goes upto 512 GB in both of the laptops. You can get a 256 GB M.2 SSD for 200 USD or a 512 GB M.2 SSD for 320 USD.

When getting an SSD only opt for Samsung, they make the best SSD's with 0 flaws.

Other than that they both have 1000 GB HDD's (no, not 1024) but that should be plenty.

RAM: NEVER BUY A LAPTOP BASED ON RAM YOU FUCKING DIMWIT, IT'S UP-GRADABLE. JESUS CHRIST.

But yeah they both have DDR3 RAM. The ASUS has 16 GB while the Dell has 8 GB

Screen size: Coders ALWAYS prefer large screens so I got the ASUS with it's 17.3 inch 1080p display, you know the ladies love a big screen ;), though the dell has a comfortable 15.6 inch 1080p screen. But as a coder I think you will prefer a large display.

Extra: The dell has thunderbolt 3

Sorry if I hurt your feelings during the review. Pansy.

Youtube videos you should watch:

[SSD's vs HDD's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQEjGKYXjw8)


[CPU vs GPU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kypaBjJ-pg)

[i3 vs i5 vs i7**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLSPub4ydiM)

Good luck.

Note: we use affiliate links, it doesn't add anything to your price but it does mean that if you buy these parts through the links below, it helps us out!

**


So about as close as I can get to that sort of price, giving you more performance for your money (just by building yourself) is as follows:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
  
  Rather than a 6-core, 6-thread CPU in the your above build, we've gone instead for a 8-core, 16-thread CPU. This will give you far more performance for productivity and is one of the main keys with Adobe. The more CPU performance you can throw at it the better, so this is a bit of a no-brainer. AMD also provide a really good quality cooler in the box, so no need to get an extra one.
  
  
• RAM: G.SKILL Sniper X 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3200MHz
  
  
  So we're very specifically jumping up here again to a lot more RAM (32GB) and it's a lot faster too. Again, this is a must with Adobe as when it renders video it'll dump the files through the RAM, so the more you have the better. Plus having this much helps with caching in general as well as overall multitasking performance.
  
  
• Motherboard: MSI B450-A PRO
  
  Pretty much comes singing and dancing. However, when you purchase, make sure this has the recent BIOS update for the newer CPU you're buying. Newegg support are usually good for confirming this before your purchase just through their chat service, so if you ask them if this item of stock has the update to use the above linked CPU, they'll confirm that for you. (99% of new stock out there has had updated BIOS already now, so it's not really an issue, yet it's always worth double checking).
  
  
• GPU: GTX 1660
  
  This part we can leave the same really. Adobe isn't super GPU intensive, preferring CPU over anything else, so this is powerful enough for anything your camera can chuck out. If you ever feel like doing a LOT more color grading, 3D animation work down the line, then this is the part you'd need to look at upgrading to something a bit more powerful. Yet until then, this is perfectly fine.
  
  
• Main Storage: WesternDigital 2TB HDD
  
  A large traditional storage as believe you me, you'll end up using it once you've finished with projects. Only use this for storage of files after you're done with them as well as installing your software onto this. This drive gives you double what you had in the above build alone, so it's more to fill up ;)
  
  
• Performance Drive: Intel 660 1TB SSD
  
  This is your "work" drive. So when you're working on video, store it on this. When you're saving your projects, save it on this. When you're doing the initial render (before storing it) do it onto this. This has a 1800MB/s read and write speed, so while budget is a bit of an issue we're going with a larger drive so you can use it for a lot of purposes. You'll eventually find your bigger upgrade here is having multiple M.2 drives rather than just 1, so you can run them in RAID for even better performance and data security but as that'd normally be in a much bigger build than the budget, this is plenty for now and gives far more fast storage than the original build.
  
  
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3
  
  An improved power supply to provide more overheads and power protection against things like surges and sudden power loss. Also fully modular, so it's again really easy to build with.
  
  
• Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400
  
  I'm more than a little impartial with this case as my current gaming build is in this but it's such a nice sleek looking case for everything.
  
  
• OS: Windows 10 Home
  
  Last piece of the puzzle. This just comes on USB so once you've built the PC, you just plug this into one of the USB ports on the front of the case and your system will go through the installation for you. Nice and simple :)
  
  Total Price: $1262.92
  
  
  That's about as good as I can do at first glance. The thing about PC building yourself is that it's very customization friendly! So although I've given this build, you could probably post in other places and get slightly different answers. Main thing is the CPU, RAM and giving you enough storage.

I am using the MSI B450I and can confirm that it is working just fine with a non beta, stable bios. In fact, for the ITX boards the beta bios was working alright for me long before other boards were working well (looking at you Asus). The only downside is you need it flashed if you don't already have an older zen CPU.

I helped a friend build with the Gigabyte X570 and it's working just fine as well, it's a really great board. However, keep in mind you could really save some money and get the MSI board. Also, in terms of VRM's is the best you can buy. The fact that it just plain works (once you update the bios), is an added bonus considering how new everything is.

Concerning GPU, if you are willing to wait until next month, you will be able to buy open air coolers from other manufacturers. I don't have a 580, but my understanding is that it's fine. However, the 5700xt is much more powerful. I imagine that an open air Gaming X version from MSI will run basically silent. I'm sure other brands will produce silent amazing cards as well.

For memory, consider getting some Micron E-die, they overclock VERY well, and are only ~1mm taller than the LPX you have listed. Mine are running at 3600 cl 16 via MSI's "Memory Try It!" functionality. Basically, it's a single button overclock on your memory so you don't have to do it yourself. It's rock solid stable too.

Finally, concerning the NVME drive you have listed, it's 100% true that Samsung makes amazingly fast NVME drives and are arguably the best you can buy. However, are you really going to notice fractional seconds of load time over say a 1 or 2TB intel 660p? I'm currently running the 2TB 660p that I got for $200, and you can get a 1TB model for $95. That's double the space, for essentially the same performance. I understand the Samsung numbers are much higher, but those only really apply to specific applications like heavy database I/O. For day to day users and gaming, you won't be able to tell the difference. If you really want the 970 Evo because you want it, go for it, buy what you want. If you want more space for effectively the same performance, buy the 660p, I can confirm that it flies, and is amazing. I am so happy I bought it over the Samsung, because I have double the space for the same price and effectively the same speed.

​

Hope this was helpful, and enjoy your Dan Case, it's an amazing case.

I agree with u/idunowat23 on quite a bit, but I'd recommend this build with a 240 Hz monitor:

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Qnh7YH)

​

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jLF48d/amd-ryzen-5-2600-34ghz-6-core-processor-yd2600bbafbox) | $129.30 @ Amazon

**Motherboard** | [ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RD97YJ/asrock-b450m-hdv-r40-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-hdv-r40) | $64.99 @ Amazon

**Memory** | [Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/p4cMnQ/patriot-viper-4-8gb-2-x-4gb-ddr4-3000-memory-pv48g300c6k) | $39.99 @ Amazon

**Storage** | [HP EX900 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7stQzy/hp-ex900-500mb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-2yy44aaabc) | $52.99 @ Amazon

**Video Card** | [MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RGyV3C/msi-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-6-gb-ventus-xs-video-card-gtx-1660-ti-ventus-xs-6g-oc) | $269.99 @ Amazon

**Case** | [Zalman S2 ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Bcprxr/zalman-s2-atx-mid-tower-case-s2) | $44.99 @ Amazon

**Power Supply** | [SeaSonic FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Qb8j4D/seasonic-focus-gold-450w-80-gold-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-450fm) | $64.90 @ Amazon

**Monitor** | [Acer XF250Q Cbmiiprx 24.5" 1920x1080 240 Hz Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nyMwrH/acer-xf250q-cbmiiprx-245-1920x1080-240-hz-monitor-xf250q-cbmiiprx) | $249.99 @ Amazon

**Keyboard** | [Corsair K63 Wired Gaming Keyboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bJDzK8/corsair-k63-wired-gaming-keyboard-ch-9115020-na) | $49.99 @ Amazon

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| **Total** | **$967.13**

​

CPU - A Ryzen 5 3600 is ideal to sustain a higher framerate, I'm personally a big fan of it, but I'd argue its not the best value, especially if you're going to be using it for mostly Esports titles. My suggestion would be to get the 2600 and use the extra money for a 240 Hz monitor. You should be able to sustain 240 fps on low settings in all titles while only dropping slightly during complex frames.

​

Storage - IMO 500 GB is the sweet spot, but if you want a different amount:

250 GB - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B319VG2/?tag=pcpapi-20

1 TB - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GCL6BR4/?tag=pcpapi-20

​

Video Card - MSI's "Ventus XS OC" has a solid cooler that allows the card to sustain it's high clock speeds. Excellent value if you can get it for ~$270.

​

Case - While the description says 1 fan, mine came with 3, and a few of the reviews also mention this, plus it has front ventilation. Excellent airflow, excellent value.

​

Power Supply - Total system power draw is around 225 Watts, which means you're sitting at around 50% of the PSU's rated load (450 Watts)

Power used by system---------------225 W---------------225 W

80+ Certification-----------------------Bronze---------------Gold

Efficiency-----------------------------------85%------------------90%

Power drawn from wall--------------265 W---------------250 W

In this situation an 80+ Gold PSU will draw 15 less Watts from the wall than an 80+ Bronze PSU because of it's higher efficiency, and while this may not seem like that substantial, I think the extra up front cost is worth it taking into consideration the long term energy savings.

​

Monitor - 240 Hz is really nice, the only downside is that it's a TN Panel, which means your color accuracy is absolute dogs**t. TN panels are unfortunately the standard for 240 Hz monitors though. It doesn't really affect gaming, it's mainly going to be a factor if you ever decide to do content creation in the future. You're just gonna have to use your 2 LG monitors for that stuff.

​

Keyboard - My personal keyboard.

1 - Cherry MX Red Switches are linear with no tactile feedback which I prefer because I'm not a big fan of loud clicky switches.

2 - Tenkeyless - There's no number pad on the right so its smaller which allows for more desk space for your mouse.

3 - Audio Controls - Kind of a personal preference I guess, but it has Stop, Back, Pause, Forward, Brightness (of the lights on the keyboard itself, not your monitor), Mute, Decrease Volume, and Increase Volume on the top of the keyboard.

​

I left out the mouse because it's hard to pick 1 mouse that a bunch of people will like, I'd let the players choose individually if possible. But one feature I think you shouldn't overlook is On-Board Memory, which allows you to save all of the user's controls and sensitivity settings for games onto the mouse so that if you ever move to another computer, all your settings move with you.

Did I miss anything?

A lot of people seem to be making some broad assumptions, so I'm threadjacking the top post to give some backstory.

Up until last week my wife's desktop PC was a 6 year old Core 2 Duo that I build her back when we were dating. At the time it was top of the line because we wanted it to last a long time, even if she was just using it for WoW and The Sims. To it's credit, it met that need.

She loves games with lots of character custimization, so after watching me play Saints Row 3 she decided she wanted to play it too. I grabbed a copy for her in the last Humble Bundle and she's been having a blast, but her PC could only play it at lowest settings. Now she wants to play Saints Row 4 when it comes out next month, so it was time to upgrade her hardware.

I can't afford to build her a total new system, so I wanted to reuse as much as possible.

• CPU - Obviously needed replacement, and I knew I wanted a current generation Core i5.
  
• Motherboard - Can't put a Haswell on a Bearlake, so that had to go.
  
• RAM - Old ram was DDR2
  
• SSD - While she had an SSD already, it was a first generation OCZ 60GB that was completely filled up. New mobo would have SATA III, so it was time to upgrade to a current gen SSD.
  
• PSU - Old PSU is a modular 500w Enermax, well within the specs of anything I'd be putting on it, and whisper silent to boot.
  
• Video Card - I had a GTX 560 Ti sitting in the closet that I hadn't installed yet.
  
• Optical drive - Nothing wrong with her DVD burner
  
• Case - Cooler Master something, bought back in 2007, but ATX is ATX, no big reason to switch that up.
  
  I set a budget of $650 and started looking for parts. My typical process when building a PC is to read through Bit-Tech.net's reviews for the past three months and find the comparison charts for the best performance parts, and then start looking up the prices for everything in the middle of the chart while also reading reviews to make sure there's nothing about the board that is a total roadblock. This strategy has worked wonderfully for me for the past 10 years, every system I've built has been at a perfect balance of speed for price.
  
  I settled on a Core i5 4670, a Gigabyte Z87, 8GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1866, and a 120GB Samsung 840 SSD. This put me at about $560 before tax.
  
  My own PC has a Fenrir Titan, huge block of copper that makes it quiet as a mouse. The Fenrir made me a believer in the benefits of splurging on a large block cooler, the difference it made in my own system was astounding. My wife's old computer used the stock intel cooler, and it was loud as all hell.
  
  Once again I went to Bit-Tech and started digging through their performance charts, searching for stuff on Amazon. Bit-tech is a UK based site, so a lot of the stuff they review isn't available through Amazon US. On all of their charts the Noctua NH-D14 ranked very high on the chart, and Amazon carried it. I've had very good experiences with Noctua's fans in the past and they've become one of my more trusted cooling sources, so I was game. It didn't look that much larger than the Fenrir, and the customer reviews all mentioned how it didn't suffer from ram clearance issues like a lot of large block coolers do (including the Fenrir). $70 ( + $10 for the LGA 1150 mounting kit) was just within my budget, so I ordered it. When it arrived I measured the case and determined that it would be JUST short enough to fit.
  
  The mounting kit for the Noctua took three days longer to arrive than the rest of the parts, so I started assembling the new components using the stock cooler with the plan to replace it in a few days. I immediately ran into problems with the old Cooler Master case, it was just too cramped for what I needed to put into it, the drive bays weren't compatible with the SSD mounting kit, the old PSU's cables weren't long enough for me to connect the new SSD, the old SSD, and the old HDD, and the case's front panel cables were too thick to route under the board. Luckily, I had another case, a Rosewell all aluminum budget case from another system. It had more space, easier to use drive bays, and better cable management. I transferred all the parts into it and the build went WAY better, there was so much more room in the Rosewell. The system booted up on the first try and everything went smooth.
  
  Fast forward to Friday when the mounting kit arrives. I pull the board out, installed the cooler, and put it back into the Rosewill... and then took the pictures I posted. The rosewill is half an inch shallower than the Cooler Master, so now the block doesn't fit.
  
  Could I buy a different case? Yes, but I probably wont. For starters I'm already $100 over budget after I realized that my wife's Windows 7 copy is 32bit and I had to buy a 64bit install to be able to use all 8GB of ram. Secondly, I love this Rosewill case. I've had it for almost 8 years and this is the fourth system I've put into it. It's extremely lightweight, very sturdy, has great air flow, and is one of the most accessible cases I've ever used. Yes it's cheap (I think it was $35 when I bought it), but it has served me well and I'm not going to toss it just because it's too skinny. I have no issues with bumping out the cover a little to fit this CPU block.
  
  TLDR: Bought the cooler for a deeper but more cramped case, switched cases when I ran into space problems, now the cooler is too tall. Don't have budget or the desire to buy a different case.
  
  

Hey, AMD and Nvidia are releasing new parts soon / very soon. Nvidia just released parts yesterday and AMD will on the ninth. I'd recommend waiting. Still, I can give q few suggestions before then.

Firstly, I'd recommend an Inland Premium SSD. For competive FPS, you're only getting slightly slower read/write (not noticable in your scneario.) At the same time, this drive has double the capacity.
Here is a link :

https://www.amazon.com/Inland-Premium-M-2-2280-Internal/dp/B07RCM6DXK/ref=asc_df_B07RCM6DXK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=343224652930&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3989423249701682235&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010969&hvtargid=pla-759967822529&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=71764766791&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=343224652930&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3989423249701682235&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010969&hvtargid=pla-759967822529

Next, I'd get the Nvidia 2060 Super. It is the same price as the card in your system, but the 2060S will preform about 20% better. Alternatively, you could wait until the 9th to see AMD's launch, although I personally doubt they will launch any exciting GPUs. Next, for the CPU. I'd drop that 9400F and instead get a R5 3600 when it launches. This will allow you to drop the Hyper 212 as the 3600 comes with a surprisingly decent cooler. The R5 3600 has 2 more cores and 4 more threads. Additionally, the 3600 is overclockable and comes with a higher base/boost speed at stock (that part is more important in your usecase than the extra cores and threads.) Due to the change in CPU, you will need a different motherboard. You won't be able to save much money there as X570 motherboards will be expensive. It'll be around the same price. Next, for the PSU and Case. I'd actually recommend that case, like.. alot. Good choice with the PSU also, although both the case and PSU are overpriced in the current build. You should be able to save about $40 when it is closer to time for you to build. Lastly, the RAM good - but also overpriced by about $10. You can get something just as good for a bit cheaper. I can recommend closer to time.

I can also recommend some peripherals (these are the monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.) Firstly, the most important part is I'd recommend the Glorious Model O. It is such a fantastic mouse for it's price. Next, for the keyboard (this is an unusual one) I'd get a Glorious GMMK with Gateron Red switches and the Aura Keycap set. Alot of the mainstream boards use Cherry switches, which are not the "cream of the crop" there are many switches that are much better. Corsair, IMO makes bad keyboards as they are extremely ugly, bad software (ICU - not bad.. just meh), and most painfully - they use non-standardized keys meaning you will have a weird typing experience. Other mainstream board makers have lots of issues too, just don't get a Corsair. If you are very serious about your games, you may want a lighter switch, ( this one is 45g but you may want something even lighter but that will make your normal typing experience suffer) the switch I'd recommend is the Gateron Clear switch. You also could get a TKL board (a keyboard with the numpad) if you wanted to save on weight or price. Next, the mousepad and wristrest. To make sure everything is compatible, I'd just go for the Glorious versions. You can select a variety of different sizes, but I'll assume you would want the full size board wristrest and absolutely massive desk covering mousepad. Next, and equally important as the PC - the monitor. For competive gaming - get a 240HZ monitor with low input lag. No questions asked. I'll link all the peripherals down below. There are cheaper options for the monitor if need be. Also if you already have the peripherals, sorry about that.

https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/gmmk-full-customized?variant=20235289591866
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/glorious-3xl-extended-gaming-mouse-pad-24x48
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/glorious-gaming-keyboard-wrist-rest-padded?variant=13596770243
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/products/glorious-model-o-black
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071DTCPP3/?tag=thowisguy-20

You can PM after launch and I could help you out.

I’m not Canadian, but I’ll try to help.

This PC is a great build with an awesome CPU and a decent GPU but lacks both an SSD and 16 gigs of RAM, both necessary for future-proofing. (The SSD is necessary now, but you can hold off with 8 gigs of ram) Sadly, I can’t find builds that are less than 1k CAD with anything similar or better than this with more RAM or an SSD.

I recommend getting a separate SSD like this. (You can always do the cheaper 250 gb variant for less money). I recommend this SSD because it is one of the fastest and comes with amazing Windows 10 cloning software. this guide is how I installed mine (just ignore the laptop specific parts like removing the battery. You can then order a SATA wire like this one to install your SSD. (If you don’t know where in the case you should put your SSD, just use 3M or double sided tape and tape it someone aesthetically pleasing on the bottom of the case.

The sata cables should be obvious where to install (on the right side of the motherboard, usually stacked on top of each other, slightly above or below the GPU), otherwise, you can look up your motherboard to find the SATA slots. Then just install the cloning software and follow the guide. When you need more RAM, look at the PCs ram slot and order another 8 gig stick (if there is only 1 stick of 8 gigs), otherwise, just order 16 gigs of any DDR4 ram you want. I’m sorry you need to do work to get a fully future proof machine, but remember this isn’t 100% needed, just highly recommended. (Plus you can save 100 bucks from your paycheck a few weeks from now for the SSD, you don’t need it the second u get ur pc. Good luck, let me know if you need any help!

P.S You don’t even need a big SSD, just something to hold Windows 10 and programs like Steam and Chrome. Big stuff like games can go on the HDD

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

Yes, but there are a couple of factors here. First and foremost, start looking into Solid State Drives. Since you've already got a larger drive for your files, installing the OS on a smaller capacity SSD is a cost effective easy win which will really speed things up. The Samsung 840 series is currently one of the best on the market: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06

Now, putting an SSD into your computer will absolutely speed it up, but you're shooting yourself in the foot by sticking with XP, especially since you don't want to reinstall it. XP has a tendency to deteriorate with age. It just gets slower over time. I suspect that if you reinstalled from scratch, that "pokeyness" you described would be a lot better.

Installing Windows 7 or even 8 (8.1 is coming soon, and is pretty good) would boost your performance by even more, as well as allow you to reap the benefits of a more modern OS.

To address the situation you referenced above -- it would be possible to clone your current drive onto a new hard drive, SSD or spinning media.
Good luck!

So there's a few combinations you can use to go about this.

1. Get a relatively inexpensive, small-sized SSD (Something like the Samsung 840 120GB SSD for less than a 100$ on Amazon). Now you can have your OS & main applications on your SSD for amazing boot times & amazing program load times..generally a better PC experience. That being said, for your games, depending on how many GB's worth of them you have or will have, you could purchase a high capacity SSD like the Crucial Micron m500 or the Samsung 840 EVO (EVO releases next week or so, you can pre-order it now.) Both of these drives come in capacities upto 1 TB. So you can have a massive STEAM library on SSD (For your current games + thinking about future game purchases). Depending on your budget, you could go for a 500 GB SSD or a 750 one if you think 1 TB is overkill or too expensive. (Crucial costs 600$ & the EVO costs about 650$). So the m500 is cheaper than the EVO, but the EVO performs better. This will be your most expensive option, but also the best.
   
   
2. You can keep your OS + Apps on your regular HDD & just buy either the m500 or the EVO for your STEAM library.
   
   
3. You can keep your OS + Apps on your regualar HDD, get a large sized HDD for all your games. Now, get a small mSATA SSD & use that to cache your STEAM HDD. Better performance than getting just getting an HDD, but not as good as an actual SSD. (I don't know if your MoBo supports mSATAs or where you can install them, so you'll have to look this up) If you decide to get one, you can get the Crucial Micron m4 mSATAs. They're good. Get a 64 GB or a 128 GB one. Relatively inexpensive.
   
   STEAM Gauge is a great tool as mentioned by /u/sulliwan . Use that to determine what sized SSD you'd require. You could multiply that number by two to be future-proof. So you can keep adding to your library without having to worry about running out of space.
   
   
   As far as being 'worth-it' goes, I would personally recommend it. It helps a LOT. I have like about 1-2 seconds of load time in some games. Then again, it depends on what kind of games you're playing. I would always get an SSD for games & programs though.
   

If you don't plan on overclocking, you should not only try the stock cooler first, but also get an i5-6500 instead, which has in games almost the same performance.

You do not necessarily need thermal paste, but it can be useful to have it if something goes wrong.

A GTX 980 Ti is totally overpowered for 1080p even if you want good settings. A R9 390 is a better fit, and a lot better in terms of price/performance

You can get a HDD indeed later.

Even though I understand that you want a good mainboard, there is no need at all to get a 200€ mainboard. Evaluate carefully what you need, which connectors and which features, and I'm pretty certain you will realize that a 110€ Z170 will be fine as well – or 140 if SLI support is a must.

If already being ready to invest much in a PC, get faster ram to gain some fps.

pc-kombo recommendation

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-6500 | EUR 219,90 @ Caseking
Motherboard | MSI Z170A PC-Mate | EUR 116,47 @ Cyberport
Memory | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3000 (16 GB) | EUR 111,50 @ Amazon.de
SSD | SanDisk Ultra II 480 (512 GB) | EUR 139,00 @ Amazon.de
Video Card | Radeon R9 390 | EUR 319,90 @ Caseking
Case | Fractal Design R5 | EUR 109,11 @ Amazon.de
Power Supply | Antec Edge 550 (550 W) | EUR 107,89 @ Amazon.de
| Total | €1123.77
| Generated by pc-kombo 29.01.2016 |

Of course, just switch out the parts you are set on, like the case or the PSU. Though 750W would be too much for one R9 390.

Have you checked Amazon? They usually have these SSDs along the same price tag. I’ve seen them 85-100$ USD. There’s a Western Digital version of that SSD for about 88$ USD. There’s also a Crucial version of that SSD for about 88$ USD on Amazon. Not sure if it’s more expensive in AUS on Amazon. Hope I helped.

Edit: I’ll link you the items I’m talking about

This is the WD model
WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s 2.5"/7mm Solid State Drive - WDS500G2B0A https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073SBZ8YH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I9xPBb4VDW1BD

I personally own the WD one and it’s been pretty good so far.

Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD1(Z) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_N.xPBb0HSAM8T

My friend owns the Crucial model and has told me good things about it.

Here is the Samsung model you’re looking for
Samsung 860 Evo 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AbyPBbF2HH21P

The WD and Crucial models read and write faster than the Samsung model according to the info on Amazon. And they’re cheaper. WD also has a M.2 2280 version of the SSD which is easier to install IMO and it’s the same price.

Samsung SSD warranty has been shit for years.

If anyone's looking for SSD makers with good service, I'd recommend WD. I've done several WD HDD RMAs painlessly and successfully. They're located in the GTA area so you don't have to pay too much for shipping. The turn around time were around 3-5 business days each time.

WD sells NVMe m.2 SSDs as well as SATA in 2.5 form factor and m.2. They are priced better than the Samsungs as well. I don't know too much about long term quality, but so far the reviews for these units are quite good. I personally run a WD Blue m.2 SSD as my game drive/storage. And clarify that I'm not a shill, I use a Samsung EVO 960 512GB as my main boot drive. I'm very happy with my Samsung EVO as well as my WD. I just don't like Samsung's warranty service.

I have the same 13” mid 2012 MBP and am running 16gb of RAM w/ a 1TB SSD. I also have the same version of Ableton as you. The official specs from Apple list 8gb RAM as the max but it can for sure support 16gb. Based on the specs you provided I’d guess you have the i5 version which comes stock with 4gb of RAM and the 500gb HDD. Your model will support 16gb and you’ll see a significant boost in performance, with Ableton and the computer in general, if you add 16gb and an SSD. If you leave the standard 500gb HDD, I'd assume you'd only see a moderate boost in performance since that's really the big driver of slow performance. I can't speak to the performance of Omnisphere as I don't have a working copy but I do know it made a significant boost for pretty much everything in Ableton and otherwise.

​

My recommendation would be to add 16gb of RAM plus an SSD. They are both relatively straight forward processes as well (links below), just need the right tools and to take your time. Watch YouTube tutorials. Attaching links to the items I have in mine. I'd recommend getting the Crucial RAM and Samsung SSD (which is what I have and has a higher performance rating), but the Crucial SSD will be adequate as well.

​

Let me know if you have other questions on it.

​

INSTRUCTIONS

HDD Swap - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/10378

RAM Swap - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+RAM+Replacement/10374

​

PRODUCTS

Crucial SSD - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0784SLQM6/

Samsung SSD - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/

RAM - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LTBJFW/

Tool Kit - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IVKPTP6/

I have a mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro and have done a few upgrades to it recently that have really helped. The options you have available are: upgrading your RAM, swapping out your hard drive, and removing the DVD drive and replacing it with a hard drive caddy and a second hard drive. RAM will increase performance somewhat and allow you to run more things at once with more fluidity. Swapping out your hard drive will give you more storage space and/or faster read/write times, depending on if you put your money towards storage space or an SSD. The hard drive caddy option is a more intense modification, (though in truth it isn't a hard procedure at all), but it gives you the best of both worlds: you can buy an SSD as your boot drive, and still have tons of storage space on the other hard drive. It's a great mod if you don't frequently use your DVD drive, and for about $30, you can buy a USB enclosure to keep using said drive.

If I had to make one change, regardless of price, I would put an SSD in the computer. It will be by far the biggest performance boost.

But depending on your budget, here are the upgrades I would make:

Smallest: Upgrade to 8GB RAM, $60 or so. This G.Skill RAM is a good place to start. Protip: "Mac Memory" is just a sales tactic to mark up prices. As long as you find RAM to the specifications you're looking for, it will work. Just do a bit of research and make sure other MacBook Pro users have used the RAM successfully.

Larger: Upgrade RAM and purchase an SSD, perhaps something like the Samsung 840 250GB. $150-300

Larger still: Upgrade the RAM, purchase an SSD, and buy an optical drive bay caddy to hold your previous hard drive as a data drive. $250-350 if you also buy an enclosure to use the optical drive via USB.

Largest: Upgrade RAM, purchase an SSD, purchase a new HDD such as the 750GB 7200rpm WD drive listed in another comment, and buy a drive bay caddy to hold the new HDD data drive. $325-425.

Alright, the long and short of it is you need a decent processor, but a higher priority on RAM

Here's a $600 budget build we'll use as a baseline. It's a gaming build

https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/pvttt6/entry-level-amd-gaming-build

You do not need the video card, and we'll switch to a faster processor with onboard video

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Ryzen-3400G-8-Thread-Processor/dp/B07SXNDKNM/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ryzen+3400g&qid=1570838032&s=electronics&sr=1-1

You go from 88 to 144 on the processor, but you save 130 on the graphics card.

Current rolling total is 445 and you have a 'capable' machine but one that can be better optimized for your needs

You keep the 2 TB hard drive as your 'backup and media storage' disk, but a much better/bigger SSD can drop in. Remove the 240 brick and put in one of these
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-2280SS-Internal/dp/B0784SY515/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=660p&qid=1570838233&sr=8-6
Suddenly you're looking at a $524 total with 3 tb of storage, one of which is SSD.

At that price, you are already at a decent system for your use case with lots of storage and decent speed.
Re-adding a discrete GPU like the one removed would give you decent gaming performance

a nicer case would probably be a good idea. Aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, find one from a good brand name (Corsair, Cooler Master, NXZT, Phanteks, Fractal Designs.. there's lots of options) with at least an output fan (some just have an intake. Speaking from experience this sucks with ryzen). You have plenty of budget and a case can last between builds, find one you like.

You could theoretically buy a $20 DVD burner if that would be useful for you. Make sure the case has a spot for it.

I have a 2013 Dell Latitude 3540 with the same i5-4200u CPU which I still use fairly regularly as a secondary laptop to watch / listen to videos and browse the web. Also use it to play some old games with either the the Intel HD 4400 or the dedicated Radeon HD 8850m. It has 8GB of RAM (2 x 4GB), 2TB hard drive and 1080p screen.

There is no 12GB RAM stick. Your laptop has 4GB of onboard RAM (soldered into the motherboard). You can install a 4GB or 8GB stick of RAM. 8GB is still sufficient enough and allows the RAM to run in dual channel mode (full speed). Your laptop's RAM is currently operating in asynchronous dual channel mode because of the 4GB onboard RAM and 2GB RAM in the slot. Installing a 8GB stick will increase the total RAM to 12GB and will still operate in asynchronous dual channel mode. That is faster than only using the 4GB onboard RAM (single channel or half speed), but it is slower than dual channel mode. If you play games with the Intel HD 4400, then for best performance you want to install 4GB of RAM to allow the RAM to operate in dual channel mode. You are not going to see a massive increase in performance; it will be more like a 5% to 10% increase at most depending on the game. If you do not play games, then just add an 8GB RAM stick.

The Latitude 3540 takes about 90 seconds to get to the Windows 10 desktop (including entering my password) and it takes about another 180 seconds (3 minutes) for all of the background processes to load and the hard drive activity light to stop flashing. If it takes 10 minutes for your laptop to become usable, then there is definitely a problem. Perhaps it is just bloated because you never reinstalled Windows before which is not unheard of. But reinstalling Windows 10 (assuming you currently have it) should fix the issue. Well... at least make the laptop usable in 5 minutes...

Replacing the hard drive with a 2.5" SSD should allow you to boot into Windows 10 in about 20 seconds and all of the background processes will probably load up in 5 to 10 seconds. But you should be able to immediately use the laptop. I haven't upgraded the 2TB HDD to a 2TB SSD because that is roughly a $225 upgrade and I thinking about retiring this laptop sometime next year.

You cannot upgrade the CPU because it is soldered into the motherboard, and you cannot add a graphics card. As stated above, to get the best performance out of the Intel HD 4400 you should simply install a 4GB RAM stick. Example games I played using the Intel HD 4400 in the past at 1920x1080 resolution are as follows:

- Mass Effect Trilogy

- Fallout 3

- Fallout New Vegas

- Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines

- Skyrim (Not the Special Edition version) @ 1600x900 resolution.

​

=======================================================

​

I recommend the following upgrades. Perhaps wait for a Black Friday sale on the 2.5" 1TB SSD do not necessary have to be Crucial. It is very unlikely the old DDR3L RAM will go on sale.

- Crucial MX500 1TB SDD

- Crucial 4GB Single DDR3/DDR3L 1600 MT/S (PC3-12800)

or

- Crucial 8GB Single DDR3/DDR3L 1600 MT/S (PC3-12800)

I took a check, and would say not to buy in Sweden - in Ireland it is the same due to high costs and not having a very big market, you will not get good value for money. However I checked in Germany and it seemed... ok-ish. But I made a dummy address in Stockholm on my Amazon UK account and came up with this for €580

(NOTE: pay in GBP, not EUR or SWK as Amazon inflate the exchange rate by a good 5c or so if you do). Delivery is only €10, so you're doing pretty great there (and the weak pound has been awesome for buying stuff on Amazon lately)!

• CPU - Ryzen 1200 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0741DN383/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• GPU - GTX 1050 TI - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M8M5T4T/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• Motherboard - AB350 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WW9S5BY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• RAM - 8GB DDR4 2666mhz (Ryzen does not perform well on 2133 or 2400mhz so don't skimp here) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0123ZASHO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• Storage - 120GB Sandisk SSD (for OS, Chrome and programs - will make your computer run so, so much better and quicker) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01F9G414U/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• Storage - 1TB Seagate 7200 RPM, 64MB cache HDD (for all the games, etc) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01LY65EVG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• PSU - EVGA 430W 80+ (solid, reliable budget PSU - non modular but 5-6 zip ties will fix that up) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M9EX1AD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
  
  
• Total (incl. delivery): £524.21 = €580.47 = SEK5,030
  
  The one thing missing from this is a case as the delivery costs are very high due to it being a big, bulky item - maybe it would be best to look for a low cost, €20 equivalent type of one near you. You won't get anything beyond a black slab of a box without breaking the budget but what is inside it is much more important in this price range and you're getting a good bit for that.
  
  I took a quick look and this was the cheapest case I could find at €40 - https://www.netonnet.se/art/datorkomponenter/datorchassi/tower/mission-sg-ggx-1-1/239989.8976/ .... though these two at €57 look a lot nicer https://www.komplett.se/product/930914/datorutrustning/pc-komponenter/chassibarebone/midi-tower/cooler-master-masterbox-lite-31# and https://www.komplett.se/product/891800/datorutrustning/pc-komponenter/chassibarebone/minimicronano-tower/corsair-carbide-88r-midi-tower-sv
  
  Just do a lot of checking around - any case marked ATX or MATX form factor will work, though if you want one with a window on it go MATX to match the motherboard (otherwise the motherboard will look kind of weird and tiny through the window).
  
  I have done two 1050 TI builds as gifts with a G4560 CPU in them and was on mostly high settings at 50+ fps 1080p when testing them out, so with a 1200 quad core (that performs identical to an i5 7400 when overclocked) you should be doing a good deal better here.
  
  Also check Amazon UK Warehouse Deals for more 1050 TIs, I got both for £111 instead of £130 off of it - they are used but will describe any wear and tear and it only means damaged packaging, plus Amazon do a no questions asked 30 day money back policy on them and will of course pay for the cost of return shipping if you need to do that.
  
  
• Example of what performance to expect - https://www.youtube.
  com/watch?v=LZknFkWZNaU
  
  
• I had not noticed but you also get a free copy of Rocket League with the GPU selected for what it is worth, I think that game is worth €20 so a nice little benefit I guess! :)

If you'e willing to shell out the extra $10. I'd personally recommend the corsair tx650m PSU Modular reduces clutter therefore better airflow. also easier customization because you can take the cables you don't want out. My boyfriend had a rosewill and personally thinks it's a piece of shit.

I'd also recommend staying with the EVGA card. I'm also biased toward EVGA but they have amazing products that have never failed me once and great performance. Up to you though

I also really like g skill ripjaw

I also have this SSD And highly recommend it, Unless you care about the extra 8 gigs

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that if you're going to microcenter anyway they have a really sweet deal where you can get like $50 off a motherboard if you buy it in conjunction with the cpu

If I were in your position, I would go for ASUS ROG GL552VW-DH71 laptop and get this Samsung 850 EVO - 250GB - M.2 SATA III Internal SSD for it which would make it a perfect machine for you to use for programming as well as to run those games on great settings. This laptop has a very good build quality and likewise, performance. It has a brilliant quad core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, a decent gtc 960 dedicated graphics card and of course a 1 TB HDD that when combines with the SSD I recommend you get, will give an outstanding performance. When I was speaking about build quality I wanted to mentioned specifically this laptops very solid keyboard, great touch pad and of course, it has a great chassis and battery life.

>1) SATA vs NVME (I've read that the 9360 is capped at around 1.8Gb/s), would it be worth it to go for the NVME drive?

Quick little correction, it tops out at around 1.8 GB/s (with a big B). This is a big difference (1 byte (B) =8 bits (b))

As for if it's worth it, that's still about a 3x improvement over most SATA SSDs, but from personal experience, I can say that the switch from a SATA SSD to an NVMe one (even one running at full speed, usually ~3000MB/s (3GB/s) range for reads) is minor when it comes to overall system responsiveness, and even for game load times. When working with big files, the difference is much more noticeable however.


>2) I'm currently looking at the 970 Evo, but it has an "M key" slot, while in this teardown, the SSD installed seems to be a "B & M key" slot. Would something like the 970 Evo fit?

There is no such thing as an B & M key slot. B&M is found only on the drive side of things, just so SATA/PCIe 2x drives can fit in bot B and M slots. As for the slot in your device, I'm 99% sure it's an M key slot, so the 970 Evo should fit. (B key slots are generally only used for SATA only slots, and for things like Wi-Fi cards)


>3)From my (very) limited understanding it seems like the 860 Evo would be a good option, as it has the same connectors and has double storage for the money of the NVME drives. I'm also considering the marginally cheaper WD Blue 3D SSD as this is the one used by the poster of the teardown and it may help minimize any unforeseen issues I may have.

If you want to play it safe/save a buck, either of these would indeed be good options. As I said before, any real world difference (not counting working with large files) should be very minor, and to be entirely honest, I personally think it would be a waste of money to shell out the money for an NVMe drive, as you won't able to use it to it's full potential. (you'd loose about a third of the theoretical performance)

Before you attempt a RAM or SSD upgrade, check which iMac you have using the Apple menu at the top left corner of the screen -> "About this Mac". Check out the amount of RAM and which processor it uses.

-----

As for the RAM:

The iMac mid-2007 (2.0 GHz / 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme) supports up to 6 GB RAM (1 x 4 GB RAM module, 1 x 2 GB RAM module). It has two RAM slots, meaning two RAM modules in total will fit in. A higher total amount than 6 GB RAM won't work due to a limitation in the logic board.

The iMac mid-2007 needs RAM that matches the following specification:

PC2-5300 DDR2 667 MHz, 200-pin

Here are some examples of RAM modules that should work flawlessly in the iMac mid-2007:

• https://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-667MHz-PC2-5300-PC2-5400-SODIMM/dp/B004LCKVDE/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-MACMEMORY-Modules-PC2-5300-MacBook/dp/B00I3JO98O/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/OWC-PC2-5300-667MHz-SO-DIMM-Upgrade/dp/B0026SB2N8/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/PC2-5300-SODIMM-Motoeagle-PC2-5300S-Laptop/dp/B07P9FK362/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC2-5300-200-Pin-Notebook-CT25664AC667/dp/B000F7QRTG/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/MadFortune-PC2-5300-667MHz-Memory-SODIMM/dp/B01CTSLOIC/
  
  I suggest that you upgrade it to at least 4 GB RAM (2 x 2 GB RAM modules), but clearly 6 GB RAM would be better, as newer macOS versions like OS X 10.11 El Capitan are quite RAM-hungry.
  
  You may find information online which states that your iMac mid-2007 only supports up to 4 GB RAM (2 x 2 GB RAM modules), but this is outdated information! As 4 GB RAM modules were not commonly available back in 2007, Apple could only test with 2 x 2 GB RAM = 4 GB RAM. When 4 GB RAM modules became available, users found out that the actual maximum RAM capacity this machine supports is 6 GB RAM, this is also being confirmed by the Amazon reviews of the modules I suggested. Apple never went back to update their info, so the wrong 4 GB RAM figure still swirls around.
  
  This video shows you the RAM upgrade procedure (very easy to do):
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnY4FKdxIgY
  
  -----
  
  As for the SSD:
  
  Your iMac mid-2007 supports any SSD that matches the following requirements:
  
  
• 2.5" form factor
  
• SATA3-compatible
  
  Here are some examples of such SSDs:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-860-EVO-500GB-SSD/dp/B07937HDJM/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Solid-State-SDSSDH3-2TOO-G25/dp/B071KGRXRH/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0A/dp/B073SBZ8YH/
  
  Choose a capacity that meets your needs. Furthermore, the iMac 2011 will need an adapter, as it currently has a 3.5" HDD inside. SSDs are 2.5" in size, however, which is why such an adapter is needed:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Desktop-Converter-Mounting-BK-PCBS/dp/B00UN550AC/
  
  I recommend the OWC upgrade kit for the iMac mid-2007 SSD upgrade, contains all the tools you need:
  
  
• https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMACGEN/
  
  Please take note of the fact that the HDD -> SSD upgrade, contrary to the RAM upgrade, is very hard to do. it requires a partial disassembly of the device. If you don't think that you can pull it off yourself, then consider letting a Mac repair shop or similar do it for you. You can take a look at the procedure of the SSD upgrade here:
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7E6sjr-1dw
  
  If you want to keep any of the data that is currently stored on your HDD, I suggest you create a Time Machine backup to some external drive. Once the SSD is in, macOS can be restored via Internet Recovery:
  
  
• http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/10/how-reinstall-macos-mojave/
  
  Once macOS is reinstalled, you will be asked whether or not you want to restore from a Time Machine backup during the setup procedure.

First year graduate student here. Just ordered (yesterday) a Lenovo Thinkpad W540. It cost about $2,000. I ordered it custom from their website which is currently giving 10% off (until Nov. 3). The laptop is overall very well rounded. It has 16gb of RAM to run quickly and a solid state drive so programs and files are quickly accessible.

I recommend the following specs for architecture, as they're specs I chose and with good reason:

500GB Solid State Drive (I actually ordered the laptop with the base 500gb HDD and am pulling it out and replacing with a 500GB Samsung 840 EVO Solid State Drive...$240 off Amazon)-The solid state drives through Lenovo are very pricey and not as highly praised and rated as many solid state drives out there. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W19MO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

16GB RAM (2 Dimm) - More RAM is always better to run more things quickly at the same time. 2 Dimm is better than 4 dimm as it is more stable and less likely to cause software to freeze/crash/whatever.

3K IPS Screen- Super high resolution screen with superb display of colors. The screen is similar to those on MAC's to give you an idea of display quality.

K2100M Graphics Card- There are a couple different types of graphics cards, I recommend the K2100M as it is well rounded in regards to Adobe Suites (Photoshop, Illustrator), Autodesk (CAD, Revit) and 3d programs like Rhino, Vray, 3DS MAX. There are graphics cards that are better for rhino and Photoshop, however they are not nearly as good in Autodesk products.

i7-4800qm processor- I recommend upgrading to the highest i7 processor in your budget, every upgrade will add a fair amount of performance to the machine.

I wish I already had it so I could give you my feedback on it. It may not be the best machine out there, but overall it will be very well rounded in terms of software compatibility and in terms of operating speed it competes with laptops that are $3,000-$4,000.

Edit: The only thing that I wish I could change would be the screen size, I've always preferred the 17.3" screen but 15.6" still includes the number pad and plenty of viewing space. The plus side to 15.6" is it will easily fit into more backpacks than the 17.3" while weight a significant amount less.

Sorry it took so long to respond, PCpartpicker has been having problems for a couple hours now. :/ First, some notes:

• You can find the Microcenter bundles here. You should buy the CPU-MOBO combo there. RAM and HDD should have comparable prices, so you can get them there too. They have a good selection of cases, but you want to look for a decent mid-tower that'll fit your graphics card and looks aesthetically pleasing. I think the one in my part list is good (plus it's cheap) and they might not have it at your price, so probably order that online. If you can get anything else there for the same prices, you could do that, but they might not have the deals that you can find online, so order everything for the cheapest you can find.
  
  
• For $60 more, you can go with the i5-4690K, arguably the best value CPU for gaming right now. The i3 in this list is still fine for gaming, but it might be better to go for the i5 and drop the; upgrading to an SSD is easier than upgrading the CPU since you don't have an leftover part to worry about. I strongly recommend an SSD.
  
  
• SSD- Crucial MX100 is only $10 more here. Read speeds are better, write speeds are worse. Either is fine.
  
  

• PSU- You can find good deals here, and you don't need the modular 620W I recommended, but I always thought the MIR are a bit of a hassle. You can cut down the price by finding a good 500W PSU non/semi modular.
  

  
  

  PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | Intel Core i3-4370 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor | $139.99
  Motherboard | ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $90.00
  Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $63.99 @ Newegg
  Storage | Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $53.99 @ NCIX US
  Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.88 @ OutletPC
  Video Card | Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card | $278.99 @ SuperBiiz
  Case | NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $41.99 @ SuperBiiz
  Power Supply | SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $54.99 @ Amazon
  Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) | $89.98 @ OutletPC
  Monitor | Acer G246HLAbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor | $139.99 @ Micro Center
  Keyboard | Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator - OEM Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $17.99 @ Newegg
  | | Total
  | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1021.78
  | Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-16 13:47 EST-0500 |

Looks like you have a decent base, I think with your budget an upgrade is quite possible. First bump that i5 to an i7 4790k and move to 16gb of memory (not necessary but nice). Definitely need a gpu upgrade thankfully you should be able to find a pretty good card for cheap right not. I'd highly recommend a ssd as well and pricing is pretty good atm. Depending on how old it is you may consider going to a better psu but that can wait.

​

Breakdown:

i7 4790k ~$170

2*4gb ddr3 ~$40

GTX 980 ~$180 (Look at benchmarks may want to go up or down 1070 is ~$220 and the 970 is ~$100)

480gb ssd $75 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9G46Q8/?tag=pcpapi-20 (that will hold games too, again size up or down based on budget)

​

Yeah but If you would want to have really sweet loading times and have a storage device as big as the PS4 HDD then that's £166 down the drain just for faster loading times.

[[SSD] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-500GB-2-5-inch-Basic-Solid/dp/B00E3W19MO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417404964&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+500gb+ssd)] But really SSD prices are going down a lot might be worth it if you are a huge "likes the comfort of their couch but won't use a PC with a wired controller kinda guy/girl"

And if I sounded like a PCMR drone then sorry I do understand that people have friends on console and or like the exclusives but that doesn't mean I need to like it!

Is LoL really as intense as the gaming requirement gets? In that case, you really don't need a gaming laptop at all. League of Legends can run fine on an integrated graphics system. If you really want something with a dedicated GPU, then the ASUS N550JV is a well built option. It has an i7 4700MQ quad core processor, 8GB ram, 1TB HDD 5400RPM, an IPS 1920x1080 15.6" touchscreen and a GT 750M GPU. We recommend you replace the hard drive with a Samsung 840 EVO, which would still keep you comfortably within your budget.

For integrated systems that can easily handle LoL (there are many that could), Intel Iris graphics provide the best performance. These can be found on systems like the ASUS Zenbook UX301LA or the Macbook Pro 13" Retina version or the 15" Retina version.

Finally, if you can wait until around May, the Lenovo Y40/50 systems will be available, which may be better choices than the options you have today.

well, you could lower the cost a little bit by going with something other than a Samsung Evo 120gb ssd... I was able to pick up this PNY 120gb for $40 (its currently $45) and haven't had any problems, programs load almost instantly. For this application, there really isn't a need for a top of the line SSD IMO.

so that saves you $25-30 right there, then you could possibly find a cheaper HDD, even a WD Blue on amazon is $134 right now, so that saves another $16.

Next is that case. Yes, it's sexy and has 8 HDD bays, but do you really need that many? you can easily find a case for $50 or under that would get the job done perfectly fine, saving another $25 minimum...

now, all that would save around $65, bringing you back to your $600 mark.

now another option, if you decide to stay up at the sub $700 range, would be to purchase a Lenovo TS140 w/ Xeon, currently $525 on amazon. That cpu has a passmark of 9869, well above your goal. Add a $40 SSD and a $120 4tb HDD, and your at $685, with a much beafier cpu and a well put together machine. I have the i3 version of the TS140 and its spectacular.

Just some things to think about, also if you can find cheaper RAM (don't need 1866, 1600 will be just fine if you can find it cheaper)

I'm looking to expand the storage on my Dell XPS 9360 (i5 7200u, 8GB RAM) with an M.2 SSD. To be honest the M.2 slot is a pain to wrap my head around, and I wanted to check with you guys if I understood correctly. I have a few questions:

1. SATA vs NVME (I've read that the 9360 is capped at around 1.8Gb/s), would it be worth it to go for the NVME drive?
   
   ​
   
   
2. I'm currently looking at the 970 Evo, but it has an "M key" slot, while in this teardown, the SSD installed seems to be a "B & M key" slot. Would something like the 970 Evo fit?
   
   ​
   
   3)From my (very) limited understanding it seems like the 860 Evo would be a good option, as it has the same connectors and has double storage for the money of the NVME drives. I'm also considering the marginally cheaper WD Blue 3D SSD as this is the one used by the poster of the teardown and it may help minimize any unforeseen issues I may have.
   
   ​
   
   I really hope to get some of you guys's input on this as I really want to make sure I'm making the right buy. Thanks!

Laptop companies are getting smart about Display Size. It's more preference now than it is a huge price difference.

A couple models I'd suggest:

• MSI 17.3" 970M -- $1500
  
  
• MSI 15.6" 970M -- $1500
  
  
  These laptops will blow away any 870m graphics card you might be looking at. Don't worry about the differences between the i7-4700's and the i7-4800's... It's not enough to even look at twice. If you want a 4900 XTreme series, you're going to spend an extra $700+ on top of the $1500, so don't bother. Also, you won't find many 880M or 780M graphics cards laptops for less than $1600; they are also arguably worse than the 970m. (which is extremely surprising, usually the last generation's 80 card does better than the next generations 70 card.)
  
   
  
  You can always upgrade RAM down the road: Crucial 8GB x 1
  
  The 17" features a better deal, comes with a $200 Intel package at the same price, and both are $30 cheaper than Amazon is selling them for; they both feature a single stick of 8GB DDR3L RAM, so if you are going to upgrade RAM down the road, MAKE SURE you buy 1 x 8GB DDR3L RAM, as I put in the link.
  
   
  
  Good luck!
  
   
  
  Edit: If a Solid-State Drive (SSD) is that important to you, 128GB Crucial SSD... If you want more space, just search it out, shouldn't need much more though honestly; just put your most used applications on the SSD (Favorite Games and Programs), and you'll be running at blistering fast loading times in game; you'll notice the difference, I promise you that.
  
  Installing SSD into MSI GT70

I'm afraid I can't offer a whole lot of input as the Samsung 850 Pro is my first SSD and the Samsung Pro line in general are considered top of the line. Honestly the only bad SSDs I've ever heard about are Kingston's as they pulled some kind of bait and switch shenanigan on the firmware causing it to degrade in performance or something of the sort, I'm sure a quick google search will explain if you're really curious so they're probably the only ones to avoid.

The one you picked looks perfectly fine especially where shaving every dollar possible counts, though the most popular SSDs seem to be the Samsung EVO line if you're after good price/performance ratio and the Samsung Pro if you're after best performance. Here's a list that'll probably help you out in your search though as I said it's pretty hard to go wrong. Perhaps someone who's used other brands can chime in with some more input.

EDIT: Upon more research I found a benchmark comparing the Intel SSD you chose vs the EVO 840 (previous model). Seems like it would be well worth it to shell out a bit more for the EVO.

EDIT 2: After further research I think this is probably the best fit for you if you're looking to spend as little as possible. It's even cheaper (and better) than the Intel one you linked.

Here is a slightly cheaper Sandisk with twice the capacity, the X300 is their "premium" branding, so it runs a little bit faster but costs almost double, just for consideration! (I currently have the 1tb version of this drive in my PC!)

M.2 and Sata are essentially physical connections that can be used for connecting from the motherboard to something. The something is typical a storage device (SSD's). This is a pretty in depth video explaining the differences between the types of connections, but is a bit lengthy. What makes M.2 special is size and speed. M.2 drives are less than half as large as their equivalent Sata3 drives, but at the same capacity. The downside to this is that most motherboards will only have 1 or 2 M.2 slots to connect to. The speed part comes in to play with NVMe drives only. NVMe is just a fancy word that means it uses PCI lanes for data transfer. Drives that use this are much faster, and typically more expensive but have the same physical connection. Also, motherboards will typically only support standard M.2 or NVMe, not both. The motherboard you have selected has the NVMe offering, so to use an M.2 drive you would need to make sure it says NVMe or "pci-express" somewhere on its description. Non NVMe drives use the Sata 3 speeds, but still get the benefit of small size, and Sata 3 is the term that will describe pretty much any 2.5in SSD as its the physical connection they use as well as the protocol for reading data!

I have a few thoughts on this build so I will go through the list you have :)

CPU - For a budget gaming build, this is an excellent choice! And when you do get a dedicated graphics card, you'll have the extra CPU power over the Ryzen 3 model if you need it.

Motherboard - I'm a fan of ASRock, though DO NOT GET THIS MOTHERBOARD. Because it does not include video outputs, making it completely useless without a graphics card to connect to a monitor. This ASRock motherboard also only has 2 slots for RAM, so you'd have to completely replace them if you want to upgrade to 16 GB (8 GB of ram is sufficient for about 90% games, though the newer ones will be using most of it). I would recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XF49QNM/?tag=pcpapi-20
As it has built-in video output and 4 slots for RAM.

RAM - As I said, 8GB will be plenty for a vast majority of games. Though, as some others have commented, you really do need faster RAM at the 3000hz + range to truly take advantage of your APU since it does not have built-in memory like graphics cards do and will be relying on your system memory.

Storage - If you want Samsung, get Samsung. If you just want an SSD, I recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521478806&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=crucial+mx500&psc=1
Since it is both newer, $25 cheaper, and performs practically the same.

Case this is entirely up to you. Go with what you want! :)

Power supply 550W is plenty for whatever you will throw at your build.

Cheaper and better RAM.

Very slightly Cheaper, bigger and possible better SSD

Cheaper GPU(Although not sure about delivery costs)

I'm sure there are other case that are cheaper but looks are subjective so I wont bother linking any.

Any money saved for the love of god get a better quality PSU. Even if it is something lower end like a Corsair VS or Cooler Master MWE, neither are great supplies but better than any Game Max one I'd bet. Remember the PSU is the corner stone of your build, never ever try and save money on it.

Awesome, I love the audio upgrade! Don't really need the type C connector yet so this is a great trade off. Thanks!! I noticed that the Sniper has an M.2 connector. Would you recommend a NVMe? Looks like 4x-5x the real world read/write speeds and only 2x the price. You've saved me money from not wasting on an OCing battlestation, so would this be the best upgrade value? (instead of my 850 EVO for my OS/C: drive?)

Intel has an NVME M.2 drive that kicks ass for <$100: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-660p-1-0TB-80mm-978350/dp/B07GCL6BR4

The RX 580 is a good card. Looks like the RX 580 has already jumped in price. If you find they are up close to $200, then you can find RX 590s at that price.

Your case only comes with 1 exhaust fan. Good to get a 140mm fan to put in the front for intake to help cool things down a little better. I use Phanteks myself: https://www.newegg.com/phanteks-ph-f140sp-bbk-case-fan/p/N82E16835709046 They also make a white led one, which can be nice because you can easily see when your case comes on: https://www.newegg.com/phanteks-ph-f140sp-bk-wled-case-fan/p/N82E16835709030

If you can manage an extra $25, the 2600X has a better cooler, the Wraith Spire. So you get a little better processor, and a good bit better cooling. See this cooler comparison review: https://www.techspot.com/review/1635-amd-wraith-coolers-compared/

That's a good cooler for the 2600x. You'd have to spend a lot more than its £40 price tag to get a better white cooler. Not necessarily a bad long-term investment, but the 2600x doesn't really need it.

The b350m is a first-gen motherboard, so it didn't support the newer 2nd-gen ryzen CPUs by default.

If you happen to buy one that doesn't come with a recent-enough BIOS update, it won't work with the 2600x, and you'll need to use an older, compatible CPU to update it so that it would work.

B450 motherboards also support a better turbo boost feature for the 2600x (PBO or precision boost overdrive).

A lot of people report that this feature actually performs better for them than their own manual overclocking for many uses, especially with a little undervolting.

They're both good motherboards though, from what I've read.

On an unrelated note, MX500 SSD is only £50 at the moment for some reason. Worth it.

Oh well there’s your issue, ssd all the way. Your processor is mighty fine. Your graphics card is a great card alonefor a pc, if you’re doing gaming it’ll hold up but if you’re trying to play at ultra or 1440p then you’d have to get a new card, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what you’re going for. But as for general performance in your computer? Ssd ssd ssd. Samsung 850 evos are by far the most popular, and for good reason, but any brand name ssd will do you perfectly fine, such as this crucial one or this kingston . Read enough forums and you’ll see that ssds are the main upgrade for older systems, because the actual os runs off of them, slowing everything down. It doesn’t matter how fast your brain can think through data if it can only read a book at 2 words per minute, the reading speed will be your weakest link. Same with the computer. All of those ssds are great, you might need a sata 3 cable unless you want to replace your hard drive instead of add to it, and the size of the ssd should depend on how much you plan on putting on it. Anything you put on the ssd will run a lot faster, so your OS should always be the first thing, allot at least 16 gigs for the OS, and then any programs you want to run faster. Personally with a 256gb, I can keep all programs on my ssd, and the only thing on my hard drive is games, which is, after loading times, the only computer software that isn’t affected by hard drive speeds.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252750143992

Just wondering if this RAM is compatible? Not entirely sure if my PC has 2 x 4GB or 1 x 8GB but assuming it's the latter would I be right in thinking this will be fine? (Same description as what the PC specs site show) or does it have to be the same brand etc?

I was also wondering if a 120gb SSD would do nicely (Just for the OS), and finally the PSU is 280w, will that handle the 1050?

Thanks! Very excited to upgrade this!


And can anyone do me a huge favour and verify these will be compatible before I bite the bullet haha;

120GB SDD:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01F9G414U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486008661&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=120gb+ssd+drive&dpPl=1&dpID=31-X%2BjRZTpL&ref=plSrch

GPU:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M5FSDS9/?tag=pcp0f-21

500W PSU:
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/components-upgrades/power-supplies/corsair-builder-series-cx500-fixed-atx-psu-500-w-19736920-pdt.html

8GB RAM (Different brand, more expensive than the one from the eBay listing):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00TMMA18S/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1486008927&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=8GB+PC3-12800+1600Mhz+DDR3+SDRAM+DIMM+240-pin&dpPl=1&dpID=41YzXj%2B1jML&ref=plSrch

GET THIS MOTHERBOARD INSTEAD AS IT HAS A WAY BETTER VRM THAT CAN HANDLE A 3950X OC https://www.amazon.com/Asus-Prime-X570-P-Ryzen-Motherboard/dp/B07SW925DR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UOR2QTMTWTID&keywords=asus+x570p&qid=1572971920&sprefix=asus+x570+%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-1

OR THIS IF YOU NEED WIFI

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-TUF-X570-Plus-Motherboard-Lighting/dp/B07SXF8GY3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=UOR2QTMTWTID&keywords=asus+x570p&qid=1572971920&sprefix=asus+x570+%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-2

RYZEN IS NOTORIOUS FOR HAVING ISSUES WITH CORSAIR RAM SO GET ONE OF THESE INSTEAD

https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripjaws-PC4-28800-CL16-19-19-39-F4-3600C16D-16GVKC/dp/B07X8DVDZZ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2XCCYAGMPGNW6&keywords=ddr4+3600&qid=1572972012&sprefix=DDR4+3600%2Caps%2C381&sr=8-5

OR

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WVT8SGF/ref=dp_cerb_2

SSD

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-1TB/dp/B07KGMBCKD/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=NVME%2BSSD&qid=1572972195&s=electronics&sr=1-6&th=1

THAT BEQUIET PSU IS WAY OVERPRICED GET THIS INSTEAD

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-220-G3-0650-Y1/dp/B01LYGFRL6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FGOJGR74XJKV&keywords=evga+650w&qid=1572972243&sprefix=EVGA+6%2Caps%2C369&sr=8-1

GPU WISE WHY ARE YOU GETTING A 2060S, IF ITS FOR RTX THEN PLS DONT, MY 2080 SUCKS AT RTX.

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Graphics-256-Bit-Gv-R57XTGAMING-OC-8GD/dp/B07W95D5V3/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1FK3863HZDJT1&keywords=5700+xt&qid=1572972451&s=electronics&sprefix=57%2Celectronics%2C364&sr=1-5

GET THE 5700XT AS IT PERFORMS CLOSER TO THE 2070S FOR THE SAME PRICE (THIS ONE IS 10$ CHEAPER)

COOLER WISE,

IF YOU WANT AN AIO THIS ONE IS BETTER

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Liquid-Cooler-Cooling-400-HY-CL28-V1/dp/B01N16CAKN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OCFL4DYDBT86&keywords=evga+clc+280&qid=1572972539&sprefix=EVGA+CL%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-1

I'D PERSONALLY STICK WITH THE WRAITH PRIZM AS THERE IS NO NEED TO UPGGRADE UNLESS YOU WANT THAT SWEET 4.4GHZ OC. IF YOU WANT TO OC GET THE COOLER ABOVE

IF YOU WANT AN AIR COOLER, GET THIS

https://www.amazon.com/NOCTUA-NH-D15-chromax-Black-Dual-Tower-Cooler/dp/B07Y3CTQNT/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1QU9QXYJISXDX&keywords=noctua+nh-d15+ltt&qid=1572972675&sprefix=noctua+nh-d15+L%2Caps%2C338&sr=8-3

IF YOU LIVE NEAR A MICROCENTER YOU CAN GET WAY BETTER DEALS THERE.

Yeah I wouldn't trust a current QLC drive's long term endurance as a boot drive, but it could be great for stuff like games, programs and fast data storage. The 2TB MX500 would've been a great choice if that much was in your storage budget. You might not ever need an HDD with that much space. They're still available for a little over $200 if you want to spend that much, or a more reasonable $107 for the 1TB

Not familiar with the S11 pro but if it's the same cost as a SATA drive for an NVMe, it should be worth it too.

Yeah they were good prices, but it's probably not worth kicking yourself over not potentially saving $20-30 bucks. I'm still kicking myself for building my PC when I did a year and a half ago, when my low end GTX1060 cost $350 during the mining craze (would've been 400 for a good one if even available) and 16GB 3200MHz RAM went for $205

Thanks again for help! The processor is an intel i7 3770 (woot woot apparently this is good despite being old) and I have a heat sink that was attached to the fan. It looks like a four pin fan, though, and there are only three pin headers on the board, so I'm not sure if it's actually stock. I got a power supply from an old junked printrbot kit (350w) so we're good on that. It's sized for standard ATX, so I'll get an ATX case so I can fit it. (and also upgrade later.) PSU has all the pins I need except for the 8 pin connector, but it looks like it has two inline-four pin connectors for some reason. Not really sure how that works. Do I have to get an adapter to merge the two into a 2x4 pin thing? (power supply) Also, I'm definitely going to get an SSD. I've been using an old gaming laptop for a few years, and it started out only using HDD. It's been better ever since I bought an M.2 for the OS (and also for some high priority games), so I'm going to do the same for this build.

​

One of my last questions is about the small PCIe slots on the mobo. Is it possible to use my current SSD on one of the PCIe slots so I don't have to get a new one? Or will it being SATA III not work with PCIe?

​

Thanks again for your help, this is super awesome.

​

EDIT: Ack! I'm dumb. For some reason I thought there was an 8 pin plug on the board for power, but it's only a four pin one that the PSU already has.

​

EDIT: ACK! I'm even more dumb! There was a four pin slot for the fan on another part of the board labeled "CPU_FAN"

There's a couple kinds of SSD: 2.5" drives connected though SATA, PCIE based SSDs and then the dedicated slot M.2 and U.2.

SATA SSD speeds are limited by the SATA port itself but the drives are still much faster than spinning HDDs and are easy to install since they're compatible with any build.

PCIE based SSDs as I understand it were useful before M.2 and U.2 slots were as popular as they are now because you could still install them in any computer with a PCIE slot open. But they take up a lot of space and have basically been replaced by the M.2 standard.

M.2 use dedicated PCIE lanes and have a dedicated spot on the motherboard.

So when looking at SSDs you're basically considering m.2 or SATA.

You're budget, storage needs, transfer speed preferences, and motherboard are going to guide you one way or another.

This LinusTechTips video explains it pretty well.

Since I'm spending slightly less than I anticipated elsewhere I'm willing to go a bit more expensive. You're not the first person to recommend a 570 so I'm starting to feel that's the way I should go. However I'm finding out, there's a bit more to it than that. I've seen at least two "Radion 570s" with the same pricepoint but are obviously different, one above and the other on Amazon.

Maybe I just need to be educated on what the nuances of different video cards are. Both are $130, a bit above my initial GPU budget but worth it if the quality and longevity are there, however I'll need to read up on how to interpret GPU specs to determine which would be better for me.

As for SSDs, I just ordered one that looks to be pretty good. Honestly it might be more than I need but I figured I'd spend a little more to better future-proof myself.

I love the build, but there's one thing I'd definitely change and one thing you might want to look into changing:

The Hyper 212 Evo is a decent cooler, but I have some serious reservations that it can keep up with an HEDT processor, especially a 12-core. Nearly any AIO water cooler will do a better job, but this is the one I use on my 9900K.

The "maybe" change is much more straightforward: For the price, your 860 Evo is a good SSD, but you could have much faster storage for the same price by going with something like a 660p NVMe. This would also help offset some of the change in price to get an AIO water cooler.

Other than that, this is an excellent build! It's basically the HEDT version of my 9900K/Z390 Taichi Ultimate/RTX 2080 Ti build called KAIOKENxTEN, which I use for gaming and video editing. You won't be disappointed.

Best Value SSD out there is the Crucial MX500 500Gb. Its $60 US dollars. and is amazing.

You even gain 20Gb for a extra 50 AED

https://www.amazon.ae/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=L1XAYQPKA22M&keywords=crucial+mx500&qid=1571640886&s=computers&sprefix=cru%2Ccomputers%2C248&sr=1-1

​

Also, whenever possible get as much available storage space as you can for these SSD's. Because you do NOT want to over fill them. Never plan on using more than 75% of the available storage. Doing so could drastically shorten the drives life span. This happens because of how SSD's write new data.

​

Hears a really good explanation on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7YBCynA-b0

​

BTW, I wouldn't get ether of them. Two 240Gb is actually only allowing you 360Gbs of usable storage space. And like I said, The MX500 is just a all around better option than both those drives. Pay the extra 50 AED and gets yourself a drive that will last you and give you top shelf performance that will give even the Samsung 860 EVO a run for its money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor | $109.67 @ Amazon
Motherboard | ASRock H110M-DVS/D3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $54.00 @ SuperBiiz
Memory | Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $44.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card | $142.99 @ Amazon
Case | Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $49.00 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $53.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $92.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $597.62
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-02 06:55 EDT-0400 |

I own an i3 6100, and the hyper threading makes such a difference.The Nvidia 1050ti is a fairly new card meaning that it won't go out of fashion in a hurry, but I have heard good things about the AMD rx 470. I don't really know much about AMD, but a 1050ti suits me just fine. The case is nice and small, and I think the only reason that the OS is so expensive, is because it's from an online shop. You can probably find a better deal in store perhaps, I'm not sure. An SSD would be impossible with the current budget, but if you're really desperate, you could swap the hard drive for one, and then get a large hard drive at a later date to store everything on, if you feel that you can survive with less space for a while. In that case, may I recommend this.
The price is the same, but it's only 120gb. So maybe a couple of games installed at a time, until you get the biggie. I've got a pretty similar build, and it can run most things. Good luck!

EDIT However, after a little bit more research, I've seen people go nuts over this thing:. It's a little slower than an i3 6100, but much cheaper. It does have hyper-threading. BUT you may need to reconsider the motherboard, as PC Part picker says you need to mess with bios updates ect ect...

Okay. You're confusing interface with protocol which is very common. The interface is the way you connect them-- M.2 goes straight on your mobo with a small form factor, while 2.5" are larger, easily portable, but require cables to connect.

nVME is a fast protocol that allows the SSD to make use of PCI slot speeds, meaning like way faster than SATA, which is the more mainstream SSD protocol. Here's where things get confusing: 2.5" SSDs (the bigger ones) only use SATA (slower), while M.2 SSDs come in both nVME (speedy and expensive) and SATA.

Of the two, go with the nVME. But tbh, if you don't specifically have an application for the extra speed you won't benefit from it. Boot times are like 7 seconds vs 8 seconds. Which is why I always say buy SSDs for price/gb!!!

For example, the MX300 comes in both 2.5" and M.2 form factors. It will be identical to these expensive samsungs for your purposes but you can get like twice the storage. There are many options to explore. I offer pcpartpicker.com as a good website to use.

I personally like both form factors, but M.2 is certainly easier to use.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-480GB-SDSSDA-480G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G46Q8/

random 2.5" i found 500gb

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ random M.2 i found 500gb

So that SSD seems a bit excessive....

You're generally better off getting a smaller SSD, like 250GB along with a larger mass storage.

Swap that 1TB SSD for this 275GB SSD and this 2TB HDD. You're gonna save almost 100$ on this and have more storage.

You can also get some cheaper RAM like This Kingston HyperX FURY, yeah it's slower at 2133 mhz, butit really doesn't matter.

Now you have about 110$ left over which you can put into a better GPU. You can get a GTX 1070 for 399$ so you'd need to get an extra 20$ on top of your current funds. The 1070 offers substantially better performance than the 1060, you're easily looking at gaining 20-30 frames on average in most games.

Following the "modesty is best policy" principles I would recommend a few things here:

• Go with the really good main monitor, looks like you got the 27 inch 1440p 144hz Acer. (This is freesync btw. I recommend the Dell S2716DGR for the G-Sync - AMD vs Nvidia) and pick up a 1080p side monitor.
  
  
• Ditch the liquid cooling. It's an unnecessary hassle for anyone other than PC enthusiasts in the OC communities. A Cooler Master or the Noctua (if you have enough room in your case.) Both will provide ample cooling and your CPU will last just as long as with a liquid cooling kit.
  
  
• In combo with the above, my favorite case so far (after 4 PC builds for myself and family) is the Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube. Lots of room for cables in the back and gives your components a nice display with LOTS of airflow.
  
  
• I would, however, recommend going to an M.2 SSD, which is significantly faster than a standard SSD. Not much of a price jump there.
  
  I see others have spoken about overclocking your CPU and such already. My opinion is to skip overclocking. For the standard gamer wanting a quality experience that is getting a top of the line CPU, there's zero need to OC. I went with the i7-7700 non 'k' version and have been plenty happy. It saved some money too.
  
  Keep in mind your peripherals. Usually those are overlooked when upgrading your PC, but maybe it's time for a new mouse/keyboard, new controller, headphones, etc.
  
  Also if you're dad is giving you a budget, is he giving you the money to spend, or buying the stuff for you? If you don't get the remaining money from $3k, maybe you should include those things now instead of later.

Some points:

• The power supply is overkill. Something in the 500W range would be plenty. Check this out to make sure you choose a good one: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
  
  
• I've never personally dealt with this but what I hear is "enterprise hard drives" tend to be louder and overcosted. Here's an alternative: link
  
  
• The SSD is super small and will barely fit the OS + maybe a couple of programs. Also, you can get 250 gigs for the same price. Here's a decent one, but there are even cheaper choices out there without much loss of performance or anything.
  
  
• In general, you could find better deals on a lot of the parts, and with the money saved you could make the jump to a 1070 instead
  
  And here's what an example build can look like:
  https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gvxQLD

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately the closest microcenter to me is several hundred miles away so I will be sticking with the A10 and ASRock mobo. I agree that a quad core processor is the safest bet for long-term use of the computer with increasing cpu demands and whatnot.

As for the SSD, is there any reason I shouldn't go with the $97 Samsung 840 series drive?

And for the case, an integrated PSU would be great because I don't have much space in my budget to shell out for a psu. I think I will be sticking with the thermaltake case I have now after all, I'll settle for the front panel 2.0 ports. Those Wesenas look amazing though, I'll definitely look for an opportunity to use one.

Thanks for your input!

Glad to help! That SSD isn't a very good choice for the price you're paying, I would recommend the Samsung 840 Evo instead for $50 less. It has great software and is a very popular SSD. The Crucial M500 is a good choice as well if you really want to save some cash.

SSDs will provide little to no performance difference in games aside from faster loading times. Of course this depends the game, some could benefit from an SSD but most will not. The SSD would make general performance of the operating system and applications far more responsive.

Your Mac Pro doesn't have USB 3.0, so unless you have an internal PCIe USB 3.0 card you wouldn't be able to use a USB 3.0 SSD. And that's assuming that you are really talking about a Mac Pro... you don't have a Macbook Pro, do you? As that can't use USB 3.0 at all. But either way I wouldn't recommend the one you found as it's not a very fast SSD. Good internal SSDs are not any more expensive than an external one, in fact external (of the same performance) is probably going to be more expensive.

I would suggest either this 128GB for $62 or this 256GB for $104. These are some of the best value SSDs you can get. Very fast, very reliable.

There isn't really a performance difference between an SSD on SATA III 6Gbps and USB 3.0. Even some of the fastest SSD won't saturate the bandwidth available on either. However for simplicity sake, it's a lot better to just boot off the SSD internally. You don't want to have to boot to USB 3.0 all the time.

Hey NewMaxx, I really appreciate all the hard work you do to keep us informed, you have influenced a lot of my purchases I make for me and my friends, and I can't thank you enough, but thank you so much! Anyway, I recently ordered an Xbox One X, and I was planning to replace the internal HDD with an SSD. It uses a 2.5" drive and thankfully has SATA III, and I was looking at either the Inland Professional 1TB SSD or the MX500 1TB. This will be for the OS and games, and the drive has to have a capactiy of at least 1TB for formatting purposes. Will the Inland be good enough for those purposes, or should I spend $20 more and get the MX? Thanks again, I appreciate your time.

Main differences are controller and memory type. Memory types are SLC, MLC, TLC, and QLC, from most expensive to least expensive. This video explains it pretty decently, but it doesn't mention QLC. It's the same principle, just Quad-level, so one more than TLC. Slightly less reliable but a lot cheaper. If you're doing a budget build it's cheaper and plenty decent for most people, so something like the Intel 660p is a great deal.

​

If you want something with slightly better performance, longevity, and potential reliability for about the same price, the Sabrent Rocket is fantastic in terms of price/performance. Highly recommend it for most builds. Same controller and memory chips as the Corsair MP510, but a lot cheaper.

Well, I have yet to meet the two of you on here, however, from what I have seen you both are amazing people. I'm sure you both look absolutely amazing :-) Thank you for this contest, and for being so generous.

gift one: Well,I could use this for my computer; it doesn't run the fastest, and I think this would help it with a nice little boost. I was going to purchase it myself, but I came up a bit short this pay period after taking care of bills and what not.

As for gift two...This is up next in the marvel universe for me.

Again, thank you...and... C'mon...gimme.

If you have the original hard drive from 2011, it's possible that it's starting to wear out and slow down, even if Onyx says it's healthy. One of the best upgrades you can do for any computer is replacing your hard drive with a solid state drive, as they are much faster, and your hard drive is probably the bottleneck for everything your computer does.

If you can use a screwdriver and you're gentle, you can replace a macbook hard drive, it's incredibly easy in that model.

Price-wise, you can get 250GB for just over $100 ($130 or $110 being popular options) or 512GB for about $200 ($199 or $239). For your average consumer, the crucial is fine.

Here are some instructions on replacing it.

Good luck. Since you reinstalled OS X, I doubt there's much wrong on the software side. This upgrade really will give you a nice speed bump.

Are you going for that CPU cooler because of looks or specs? Spec wise Noctua NH-15 will give you the same performance for half the price. Also consider that water coolers take longer to cool down after stress vs air coolers.

Consider Evo 960 instead of that WD drive. It's better performance for the same price.

That memory is overkill, look up performance gains for higher memory clock speeds. Gains after 3200MHz are extremely marginal, you can get 3200MHz memory for 2/3rd of the price.

The sweet spot for Power supplies is to be stressed to 60-70% of your load, which puts you at 650W or 750W. Platinum is overrated, go with Gold. EVGA or Seasonic, EVGA for is extremely solid and cheaper, Seasonic is more expensive but the best of the best.

​

If you ask a question, and someone answers it correctly, reply with a thank you, but include this checkmark: ✓ ( or if you cannot enter Unicode, use !check instead )

This will score the user whose comment you replied to a 'point'. Currently the points will unlock special flair that will show in all Daily Simple Questions threads.

This should be working, hopefully

In case you missed it, click here for yesterday's Daily Simple Questions thread.
There may be some questions still unanswered! Below are a selection of questions with no replies. See if you can help them out.

If you don't want to see this comment click the little [-] to the left of my username to collapse this comment.

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> Hi, I have the 2017 Gigabyte Aero 14 with the i7-7700 and GTX 1060.
>
> The hard drive is a SATA Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 (2280), which claims reads/writes up to 530 / 510 MB/s.
>
> Gigabytes web site says the following: Blazing-fast M.2 PCIe Gen3 X4 SSD: Reach 2000 MB/s (optional)
>
> I am considering swapping to a Samsung 970 PRO ($240 USD) NVMe Series 512GB M.2 PCI-Express 3.0 x4, which claims it can reach read speeds up to 3500 MB/s and writes up to 2700 MB/s.
>
> Will I see the full potential of this drive in this laptop, or will I be limited to the 2000 MB/s mentioned by Gigabyte? I suspect that number (2000 MB/s) might just be if you buy it with the upgraded drive right from Gigabyte, instead of swapping yourself.
>
> Other options would be the Samsung 970 EVO ($168 USD - Read 3500 MB/s, Write 2500 MB/s), the Samsung 960 PRO ($200 USD - Read 3500 MB/s, Write 2100 MB/s), or the Samsung 960 EVO ($155 USD - Read 3200 MB/s, Write 1900 MB/s)
>
> Will I notice any difference at all with the 970 PRO vs EVO? I do some gaming, video editing, and photo editing with my laptop.
>
> I'm trying to stay around the $200 USD mark... Are there any other considerations I should take into account?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5w07eg/

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> Anyone have any ideas outside of overclocking to get more frames out of your system without reducing settings. And without buying a 2000 series card, or a second 1080ti.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5w5a27/

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> I'm looking to expand the storage on my Dell XPS 9360 (i5 7200u, 8GB RAM) with an M.2 SSD. To be honest the M.2 slot is a pain to wrap my head around, and I wanted to check with you guys if I understood correctly. I have a few questions:
>
>
> 1) SATA vs NVME (I've read that the 9360 is capped at around 1.8Gb/s), would it be worth it to go for the NVME drive?
>
> ​
>
> 2) I'm currently looking at the 970 Evo, but it has an "M key" slot, while in this teardown, the SSD installed seems to be a "B & M key" slot. Would something like the 970 Evo fit?
>
> ​
>
> 3)From my (very) limited understanding it seems like the 860 Evo would be a good option, as it has the same connectors and has double storage for the money of the NVME drives. I'm also considering the marginally cheaper WD Blue 3D SSD as this is the one used by the poster of the teardown and it may help minimize any unforeseen issues I may have.
>
> ​
>
> I really hope to get some of you guys's input on this as I really want to make sure I'm making the right buy. Thanks!

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5w5d47/

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> My laptop just died, which gives me an excuse to finally get a desktop. I was wondering about whether I should build my own mid-sized tower through /r/HarswareSwapUK or to just buy a Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q (Tiny) that, as the name implies, is extremely small. As I'm in uni, portability is a factor, but only whilst travelling back home. I reckon the price difference is around £100/$140. I'm looking at using cloud-based gaming services at the moment (have access to GeForce NOW) so the lack of a discrete GPU won't affect me right now, but that might change in the future. Also, I'll be running some fairly intensive code. Should I build the tower or just buy the Tiny PC? Sorry for being so long-winded about this.
>
> TL;DR - Can't choose between tiny and large PC.
>
> Edit: Typo.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5wbblr/

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> I need to move apartment and going to sell the PC and make a new one. Thinking of going ultrawide. What is your personal (not hearsay) opinion on ultrawide monitos for non-shooter games (RPG/MMO/RTS)? I never play the usual suspects like Fortnite/CSGO/DOTA, but instead play Tycoons, RTS, FFXIV, ESO, Witcher, etc

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5wcfj0/

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> My brothers pc is constantly crashing, the error message lead us to think it was a problem with a program or windows, so we tried to reinstall Windows from a usb. However, we are unable to format the drive, remove partitions, and install or repair windows. It is possible to boot into the current install of windows. Is this due to a faulty hard drive? What can we do to fix this?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5witn1/

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> Has anyone here put a Corsair Commander Pro in a hard drive cage? Is there enough room to comfortably connect cables on both ends?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5wkgdk/

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> I'm looking at the Lian-Li case for my new PC and I'm trying to figure out the airflow set up as I'm use to having:
>
> Front: Intake
>
> Top (aoi radiator): intake
>
> Back: I Outake
>
> I noticed that the lian-li case doesn't have a rear fan set up so I was thinking something like:
>
> Front: intake
>
> Top(Aoi radiator): intake
>
> Bottom(3 120mm fans): outtake.
>
> With the PSU pointing out
>
> Or is that not good as the bottom would sit to low on the ground?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/9f83mp/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_12_2018/e5uzn9z/

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so do you think it would be better to buy like a 120gb ssd (something like this) for windows and maybe 1 or 2 games, then have the external hard drive for the rest of my games/everything else? because i'm pretty sure after buying everything i'll have about $100 left over that I was going to use for either a better keyboard or more ram/storage. if that doesn't work would it be better to get a 120gb ssd or a 1tb hard drive? thank you so much for your help btw

Yup, that one will do fine. They are all the same card with different coolers as long as it says GTX 1050ti (or in this case, GTX 1050 without the 'Ti' suffix. Ti is faster, but costs more of course). I have that model in my sisters computer as well and she is doing just fine with it.

Other than that, there isnt much that would give a huge increase in performance. With the exception of a SSD.
SSD's really bring any machine to life again. Everything loads so much faster. It will not increase gaming performance (framerate) but it will drastically reduce load times. Most games will load in a few seconds or less. Skyrim on my machine loads so fast, i can't even read the first word in their load screens that normally talk about things in the game.
The downside is, they are expensive for their size. Normally one puts windows on it, and perhaps your favorite game (or software if you use anything specific).
Something like a https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD5O/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1520087828&sr=1-3&keywords=mx300 would work quite well, or the cheaper 120-150GB versions as well.

Depends a bit on how much money you have to spend.

After that, you need a new processor. Sadly, there isn't much you can do with your current hardware in that area. That would mean new motherboard, new RAM and new processor. Which is quite expensive. Pretty much half of a new computer.

If you're doing work with 4k video, it would probably suit you better to have a laptop with a display that supports it.

I think the best option for you with your budget would be the Alienware 17 4k.

It's an incredibly high quality 17.3" machine with a quad-core i7-6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 256GB SSD, Nvidia GTX 980M graphics, and a beautiful 17.3" 3840x2160 IPS display.

You would have no issue with any of your work and you'd get a high quality and accurate display (it's 173.5% sRGB range is FAR ahead of the Acer Predator 17's 114%), which should be an incredibly important factor for you. It doesn't skimp on graphics memory either with 4GB, and you could swap in a larger SSD later if you decided that the 1TB HDD + 256GB SSD wasn't enough for your work. You end up paying too much to get a big SSD stock in laptops, so it's almost always better to get a high quality one aftermarket anyways.

Something like this Samsung 950 Pro PCIe NVMe SSD would be a good addition if needed, as it's higher performance and larger than the default.

Consider changing your SSD for one of these 1TB models--then you may be able to dump the HDD altogether unless you have lots of storage needs. Samsung tax means they're nearly the same price for double the size, and only slightly less performance in benchmarks (but in real world terms, you wouldn't be able to tell a side-by-side difference in boot times/game load times/etc.):

• Inland Premium
  
• Sabrent Rocket
  
  You would only lose on average about 3 FPS if you downgraded the 3600X to a 3600 (save $50).
  
  You would gain around 10-30 FPS by upgrading to the newly release 2070 Super (instead of a regular 2070) and the price is only $5 more, though lots of places are on back order for the next week or so.
  
  You could definitely save money on the PSU with something like this, which would still probably be overkill for your build, but I understand the will to not skimp on PSU quality.
  
  Edit: Oh, and don't forget to update your motherboard BIOS to a version that supports Ryzen 3000 before you put in the new CPU. And make sure your board has a stable BIOS that supports Ryzen 3000 -- I've been waiting weeks to upgrade to a 3600 so I don't buy an MSI B450 board and end up with BIOS problems, though they say they'll have a stable release with the latest AMD microcode by the end of the month :)

> Also the game is not on an SSD

This is 100% the problem.

Especially since:

> Ram: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

8 gig is not a lot of RAM these days for a gaming machine. I'd recommend 16 gig for the sweet spot in terms of price vs performance. 32 gig is nice to have if you're like me and leave up 30+ browser tabs open.

But you'd see a greater performance bump with an SSD. These days, it's crazy NOT to have one as they're relatively inexpensive. You can get a 1 TB SSD for under $100 now. If you want to save a few dollars, get a 500 GB SSD for $65.

If your motherboard supports it, and you've got some money to blow, I'd recommend the 1 TB WD Black NVMe for $220. This thing is blistering fast, with read/write speeds of up to 3 gigaBYTES per second. They also have a 500 gig model for $100.

Seriously though, hard drives are very slow. Even under ideal conditions, read speeds are typically very fast, and their latency is really bad compared to an SSD, even on a 7200 RPM drive. Those stutters can easily be caused by needing to load some data off the hard drive and the game pauses while fetching it. Or, because you only have 8 gig of RAM, it needs to page some data in or out. An SSD would vastly improve both scenarios, an NVMe more than doubly so.

You're super sweet. I am worried. I'm an anxious person ha, trying to get over an anxiety disorder. I'm wondering if I should call them up right now and try to cancel it.

I also just updated that I'll be making music too, using Ableton Live.

I got this SSD: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE500BW/dp/B00E3W19MO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417416832&sr=8-1&keywords=500+ssd

As far as gaming, Far Cry, WOW, anything awesome and naturey that will be coming out. I care more about music and artwork than gaming, though I'd love to run games at full capacity.

Again, you're super awesome.

Edit: Just called and I'd have to cancel it in the next five minutes or I can return it when it arrives with free shipping back.

I also have no idea how to build a computer but I could probably figure it out online, I hope! :)

The MX500 is a great SSD (I have two), but you'll want to go with an NVMe M.2 drive for your primary boot device.

Amazon has the Sabrent Rocket 1TB for $110. It's one of the best bang for the buck PCI Express 3.0 x4 M.2 drives. Similar Phison E12 controller based drives include the $105 Inland Premium 1TB or Corsair's $125 Force MP510 1TB. These are essentially "template" drives using a common firmware, and will generally perform about the same.

Cost is identical, you gain much higher linear read/write rates, higher IOPS and (marginally) lower access latency. It's also a cleaner installation since it mounts directly to the motherboard.

Edit: Some newer drives utilize PCI Express 4.0 x4 connections to enable higher read/write transfer rates on your X570 platform. Very useful for some tasks (eg, linear video editing), but for most tasks don't offer a massive upgrade from current PCI Express 3.0 x4 drives. Add in the extra expensive (1TB starts at ~$175) and it's tough to recommend for most non power-users at this time.

Again, your prices seem to be like 5 years old. You can easily find drives from respectable sources that are faaaar cheaper than that, even in large sizes. Like, here's a 500GB SSD that's going for $0.28 per GB. This is literally the first result on Amazon when I check for SSDs, it's not like I'm digging around for great rates or anything, and it's not even a discounted price. SSDs have gotten straight up cheap, the only reason to go mechanical is if you need particularly large sizes, but even 1TB SSDs are pretty damn cheap. Here's one (again, first result on Amazon, and Samsung is probably one of the best brands) that's $0.31 per GB.

If you want a source that they are common, how about this: When I look up all new laptops on Amazon, there are 3,743 available with a SSD, and only 3,426 without. The majority of new laptops have SSDs.

1. Watching Elementary Season 1 Episode 23 @ 1channel.ch while eating breadsticks, cookies and milk.
   
2. To catch up on the series, breadsticks, cookies and milk are delicious.
   
3. Sleep like a bear. Visit my best friend.
   
4. Become an English as a Foreign Language teacher.
   
5. AOC 19" led monitor @120hz white with black surrounding the screen. Logitech 2.1 system speakers, keyboard, mouse, mousepad, nailclipper, Tape measure, aftershave cream, rubber bands.
   
6. But he loved how smooth her skin was, how her body was so different from his.
   
7. Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole, page 173.
   
8. Chicken wings and a side salad.
   
9. Game of Thrones. Yes.
   
10. Game of Thrones.
    
11. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series-120GB-internal-MZ-7TD120BW/dp/B009NHAF06/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=1ILJB8FRF5UC8&coliid=I2QBR5YHJVUCC0

On Win 7, I would try to get at least 4 gigs of ram if possible, but it ultimately depends on what you're doing with it. Use Crucial's system scanner tool to see exactly how much it can handle and what type of ram it takes. It could be dirt cheap to upgrade it, it could be expensive.

I know you just replaced that hdd, but I would have recommended looking at doing an ssd instead. If its still an option, doing something like this can make a world of difference in older machines. Anything that involves the hard drive is significantly faster. So faster boot times, snappier system performance, and it's all around just better.

If you get 4 gigs of ram loaded into it, you can also use your win 7 product key to activate 10 on a clean installation and breathe some new life into it. I wouldn't recommend 10 on 2 gigs of ram though.

Also, since you used acer recovery discs, did you end up with a clean installation? Or did it reinstall factory bloat? That can make a big difference.

Pelican SD Case for on-set.

A high quality SSD is probably a better idea for portable editing. Flash drives are usually pretty cheaply made (read up on SLC, MLC, and TLC flash storage). I personally have a laptop that has two HDD ports, and one has a 1TB Sandisk Extreme Pro on it for a portable work drive.

For NAS, I love my Synology DS1815+ with 8 x 4TB WD RED drives installed.

When I drive home from a job, a lot of times the footage I'm transporting is worth more than my mortgage to my client. It's important to do everything and anything to protect it.

I am a current Junior in Civil Engineering, and I recently went and upgraded my senior year of HS/Freshman year of college computer to this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015PYZ0J6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This was a laptop I chose for a multitude of reasons: high performance, low cost, easy to upgrade (Youtube links on this laptop specifically detailing how to upgrade compliment the manufacturers on how well-thought-out the design was), good battery life (this is on the low/middle gaming laptop spectrum, and because of this has good battery life), and overall nice looking design. For me I needed a laptop that could run the graphic intensive software that Civil Engineering students use in their upper division classes, while also being able to game on it - in college, from my experience, computer gaming is the most popular. All of the links below are upgrades that go with the laptop well. They are not needed but, they are helpful and relatively cheap. If you have any questions feel free to ask by PM.

RAM upgrade:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SSD:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TGIVZTW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cooling fan (optional):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNMB3KS/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are there any other choices? I'd say M.2 is worth it but not for $100 more.

I'd recommend this Inland Premium M.2 NVMe SSD if you were building yourself or if it's available from the list. Really great SSD and nearly as fast as the Samsung for quite a bit cheaper.

You could also build something yourself, it's not as hard as it seems. All pieces only have a specific slot they fit into. :)

One thing I'm noticing is the non-modular PSU. I would look at getting something that is fully modular, or even semi-modular. It's just easier to work with and I think easier to mantain better cord management.

For the CPU, I would take a look at the 9400 not the 9400F. As far as I can tell, at least in the states, the 9400 is the same price, it's just slightly faster and a bit newer.

The SSD - the 750 Evo seems more expensive than what it's worth. I would take a look at an NVMe drive like the Intel 660p. For 1TB of space, your getting something that is much MUCH faster and, at least in the states, is only $4 more expensive:
Intel SSD 660p Series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GCL6BR4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_85L2CbQP2JY6Y

Then, this way, if you get the faster Intel SSD, you can ditch the HDD, because you'll have 1TB as a boot drive and storage, most likely saving another $50 as well.

EDIT: Also, it seems like the case you're looking at is a full-ATX (correct me if I'm wrong) so then why are you going for a mATX board? You could get something a bit faster, better with cooling, and probably cheaper if you got a full-sized board like this one:
MSI Performance Gaming B360 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CBKQ75V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_agM2CbBWA8CJP

Same price in the USA as the board you've chosen.

Edit 2: Also, I can't find the PSU anywhere come to think of it. Don't buy a used PSU, that is one of the general no-nos, because those things deteriorate over time, what you think is a 500W is possibly only 350W to 400W. Stick with EVGA or Corsair even SeaSonic.

What cheap new laptop were you looking at? Do they sell x86 laptops that cheap? I would worry about program compatibility.
If you want to go the new non-mac laptop route then I would bump up your spending money a bit.

Your laptop is still pretty good, you just have to update it a little. The new battery would be a must for me. Third party may be a little shady (I personally would only buy batteries from the proper manufacturer.)


Ram to 4gb, new battery and an SSD would be amazing.
An SSD would greatly enhance your performance on your laptop now.
This is such a good price

Its really up to you, I would love to see examples of this 300 laptop myself. Then we can really compare things like processor speeds and screen resolution to see what would really be worth it.

EDIT: Just looked around for some sub 300$ laptops and there are some options out there! Just make sure if you go the Linux route to search for the most compatible computer. I had an annoying problem with my last laptop where the backlight and multi touch track pad wouldn't work for ANY linux distro.

I'm using if for a number of things, probably should've listed this in the original post. I only play one game, league of legends, and that doesn't take up much space. I used to be a digital artist, so I do some photoshop and illustrator design work for friends on occasion, but that's not really a priority. I am also in school, but I just use google docs for most stuff, so I won't have many other files or programs on the computer.

Almost all of the space on my current computer is taken up by movies and tv shows I've torrented, but I have no reason to keep any of it, I just haven't needed to delete anything yet so I haven't.

I guess I'll see how far I can negotiate the price down on #3 to decide if its worth it. If I don't decide to do that, though, I'll definitely take your advice on the i5 and 2 sticks of 4gb. Would that be more expensive? Also, what if I did a 500gb ssd? Do you know about how much more that would cost?

Thanks!

edit: looks like it'll cost about an extra $70 to jump up to an i5, not sure if it's worth it but I'll still consider it. It's only an extra $50 for the 480gb ssd so I might do that (although at that point I guess I could just get the 240gb ssd and the 1tb hard drive, thoughts?). The 2x4gb ram I'll definitely do though.

It's probably just me but I'm not a big fan of AMD, just always gone with NVIDIA/Intel, I just prefer it. Since you have a bigger price range you might want to check out some of the new Intel 4th Gen Processors

That is if you want to go with Intel. Since you're not as restricted in price as I thought you should definitely get an SSD in your build, probably just 128gb should do the trick for the OS.

And the graphics card is up to you, I have the NVIDIA GTX-660 and it's pretty good, you might want to get a 670 or even a 770, just don't get the 680. It's 100$ more expensive than the 770, and the 770 has about the same performance, if not more.

Now that's probably more than you wanted to know, but I'm here to give advice haha!

okay thank you, this is really helpful and I now have an idea of my next move for this pc.

thanks for taking the time to do this I appreciate it, plus its given me a nice little project to work on now I have a guideline and little bit more know how, i'm having fun so far learning all of this info and jargon lol , if youd like ill update by pm or create a new post once I have done all of this and let you know how its going haha

edit - would this ssd be suitable ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX500-CT500MX500SSD1-Internal-NAND/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=pc+ssd&qid=1557828415&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

NVME is Non-Volatile Memory Express. NVME is extremely fast, compared to a regular sata SSD.

>NVME's are great for transferring very large files like 4k video or uncompressed audio. If you just want to throw a couple games and your operating system onto it, A regular sata SSD or M.2 will work out fine. The difference in gaming on an NVME is negligible.

In regards to speed

>Hard Drive > SSD = M.2 SSD > NVME

As an example take these two SSD's

• Crucial 1TB SATA - Sequential reads/writes up to 560/510 MB/s
  
• Crucial 1TB M.2 - Sequential reads/writes up to 560/510 MB/s
  
  >One requires power thru a SATA cable, the other just plugs in directly into the motherboard, both have the same speeds.
  
  As for brand recognition, WD and Seagate make good HDDs. You can't go wrong with Crucial or Samsung SSDs.
  
  ​
  
  >I'm 100% going to have this PC wired in, so I suppose wireless capability isn't the most necessary.
  
  If you have absolutely no need for wifi like you stated before, the Aorus Elite should serve you very well. If you ever think you may need wifi, the Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi is a solid board aswell.

> You should buy an SSD ;) Here's a great deal on one for my locale: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01IAGSD5O/?tag=pcp0f-20

Doesn't ship to my location, but I will keep looking.

> That's the main thing to do. Clear out any of the heatsinks or fans that you can.

Any ideas on how to reach certain fans that I don't know how to get to? Or would you need to see actual photos in order to know how to help?

> Download a Windows iso (7 or 10, depending on which you have a license for) from the Googs, and then use Rufus to create a bootable USB drive from which you can tell your motherboard to start up from and install Windows.

And this would make it like the first time I ever booted up my PC when I first got it?

> Anyone complaining about price has no idea what goes into R&D of devices like this. There's no way you'll find a similar device of similar quality for cheap.

Nice attempt at condescension, but I know all about how tech R&D works. I work in computer engineering for the Navy. They do spend huge amounts of R&D dollars, but that's no concern of the consumer's. And don't fool yourself, those R&D dollars aren't actually developing the impressive parts of the tech. That's all Intel and the other real hardware companies. They're just figuring out how best to assemble shit to keep it selling for the most part.

Anyways, the consumer just sees a product with a given level of quality for a certain price. And these products are expensive as shit for low performance components and a level of quality and polish that makes it the tech equivalent of a shiny turd.

The "high res display" and the 500gb ssd are not anything special or exclusive. The display is 2304x1440p. Oh wait, I have a 10.5 inch tablet with a 2560x1600p display. Apple will certainly give you a nice Samsung SSD in your laptop, but the most recent configuration options show that they upcharge $200 for the jump from 128GB to 256GB. You know what the upcharge for the same capacity of SATA SSDs? Fucking $18. And I just bought a 250GB Samsung SSD for a grand total of $108 at Christmas.

Tell me again how you aren't throwing your fucking money out the window? Don't even try to say that the components are good enough and the exterior quality makes it worth it. The $1300 Macbook just announced gets beaten out by an Asus that's $700 for the same hardware. No one can bitch about the quality, its got an aluminum unibody chassis too. Oh and wow, it's thinner (despite all of Apple's pride at how thin their newly announced darling is) and has a bigger screen.

Congratulations! It looks like you just found a nice computer! It appears you're missing a hard drive/solid state drive, SATA cable, and operating system.

To begin, you'll want to get an unused hard drive or solid state drive. These can be found on Amazon, Newegg, or in Bestbuy (among other places). I'll supply links to a few examples below. After you've made you're selection, you'll need a SATA cable. This cable allows you to hook the drive up to your motherboard. The last step is to install Windows. All in all, it's a very simple process albeit a bit time consuming (primarily for the Windows installation).

This is a very simple explanation of an also relatively simple installation/resolution. If you'd like more detailed instructions, I'd be happy to help!

Hard Drive Example

Solid State Drive Example

SATA Cable

Operating System (Windows 10)

Ubuntu is also a FREE operating system that is compatible with your hardware. Most users are experienced with Windows, which is why I listed it. Personally, I prefer Windows over Ubuntu.

EVGA 600 Watt Bronze

Yeah I thought the keyboard was a bit of a waste tbh. My build is pretty similar to yours and I'm using a keyboard that came with an Inspiron my dad got like 6 years ago. It's not mechanical but I still do okay in CSGO

Also for the SSD look at this, this, or even this

As far as monitors go, do you know for sure what you want? Don't buy an ultra-wide or high refresh rate monitor that's twice as expensive as the one you picked out just because I mentioned it lol.

What is most important to you in the monitor?
Resolution?
I can look around for some 2560*1440 monitors

Also your Mobo looks good as far as I can tell

TL;DR: If the computer that you're looking for has support for an M.2 SSD, you can have both the SSD and the HDD. Otherwise, you'll have to change the HDD for an SSD. Getting an SSD will be expensive, but if you opt for the laptop that already has an SSD, you will be completely unable to upgrade the graphics card. You may want to employ your local nerd to help you change your OS data over to the new SSD. Expect to spend about $300 on the upgrade, but realize that adding an SSD makes the laptop feel faster, not game better.

_____

Look to see if the laptop has support for a m.2 SSD slot. If so, you can have both an SSD and the 1TB HDD for storage/games.

The major improvement for having an SSD is reduced loading times of data that would typically be on the HDD. This means you computer boots in seconds (usually <5 seconds, after the splash screen/logo goes away), has minimal lagging after boot, and storage of any large files are infinitely faster.

However, you are looking at some major costs for an SSD drive: a 1 TB drive looks like it will run you just shy of $300 for either the m.s or a traditional SSD. However, a traditional 1TB laptop HDD will run you as little as $50, and if you step up to a higher performance drive, the price will almost certainly stay below $70.

It is worth noting that with most computers, the HDD will make them feel slow, as loading programs bogs the drive down, especially at startup. However, for gaming, there is no impact on performance aside from loading times. Certainly, the graphics card will have a much larger impact on gaming performance.

As far as how easy the upgrade will be, it should be noted that whether you change to a traditional SSD or to an M.2 SSD, you will have to migrate your OS files over to the SSD in order to see any improvement in speed. This can be a marginally difficult process, so ask your local computer nerd for any recommendations. Generally, the moving of the data is the most difficult part, and swapping the physical drives is no more difficult than upgrading the RAM would be.

A person who can come over and do the process for you will almost always be more helpful than a stranger on reddit. (Especially since said person/friend can see and touch the laptop, here on reddit we only have this forum-text stuff to go by ;)

*Note: The links given are for reference only. I do not endorse any of the brands, and I'm almost certain that you can find better deals and/or higher quality products out there if you search around.

I'm not sure if the Apple Store will do that but it's super easy to do yourself. Watch this tutorial on how to install an SSD in the main drive bay, this tutorial on how to install a second SSD in the optical bay, and this tutorial on upgrading the RAM. The MacBook Pro you linked is more than sufficient to run Ableton. I use one just like it every day although it was much slower before I did the SSD and RAM upgrades. Here's a link to the SSD's I use and here's a link to the RAM upgrade kit for that computer. Upgrade at least the main drive to the largest SSD you can afford and max out the RAM to 16GB. Enjoy!

That is an adapter for m.2 SATA drives, like this guy, which is not an NVMe. If you follow your link to the startech adapter you'll see the term 'NVMe' doesn't appear in that product's description at all.

There is another version of the 2.5" tray adapter you linked which DOES take m.2 nvme drives, but this guy has absolutely no SATA functionality. This nvme adapter connects to a u.2 port, which is not super common in a desktop PC, but if you want you can convert an m.2 slot over to u.2 with something like this. It wouldn't change anything about the fact that a storage device that works with this adapter requires a PCI Express lanes to connect to the system, not a SATA port, so it wouldn't let you attach an NVMe drive to a ps4, but it would let you hot-swap your m.2 card in a PC with support for m.2 NVMe drives.


Here is an adapter for m.2 NVMe drives to the most common form used in a desktop PC, because u.2 slots are relatively uncommon.

As a further example, you can look at the manual for the Asrock B450M Steel legend. It was two m.2 slots. One is an 'ultra m.2' slot with support for PCIe (nvme) or SATA storage devices. The second slot is SATA only. If you want to attach a second NVMe device to this board you need to install it in the second PCIe x16 slot, which you can do with the last adapter I linked. I have tested this personally, and found an intel 660p drive will not work in the second m.2 slot, but will work with the adapter to pcie x16 (only 4 lanes connected to the device, but x16 form factor gives good physical security for the adapter).

Looks good. I'm +1 with everyone else who has said 'SSD' with the caveat of choosing a better SSD than the one you have chosen in system builder. The 860 is a SATAIII drive and at 500gb will fill with modern games fast.

If budget is an issue, I'd go this route instead.

(Newegg) https://www.newegg.com/intel-660p-series-1tb/p/N82E16820167462?cm_sp=SearchSuccess-_-INFOCARD-_-intel+660+ssd-_-20-167-462-_-1&Description=intel+660+ssd

or (Amazon) https://smile.amazon.com/Intel-660p-1-0TB-80mm-SSDPEKNW010T8X1/dp/B07GCL6BR4/ref=dp_ob_title_def

The Intel 660p (1tb) is not the fastest NVME drive by any metric but its still 3 times faster than any SATAIII based drive. Plus the extra room is well worth the extra +$20 dollars it would cost.

Again, everything else looks fine, especially if you already have a monitor/KB/mouse and OS. Good luck!

> So I will try to defragment the hard drive later tonight.

This shouldn't be needed, as Windows 7 is much better with this than XP or older were, but it's worth checking.

> Does this mean I should buy a new hard drive? Should I start looking for cyber monday deals?

You should buy an SSD ;) Here's a great deal on one for my locale: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01IAGSD5O/?tag=pcp0f-20

> Occasionally I will spray some air in some fans and on the components of my PC,

That's the main thing to do. Clear out any of the heatsinks or fans that you can.

> How would I do this?

Download a Windows iso (7 or 10, depending on which you have a license for) from the Googs, and then use Rufus to create a bootable USB drive from which you can tell your motherboard to start up from and install Windows.

replace the case with one which can take radiators such as this, get a couple of sticks of 8gb ddr3 ram like these get a good aio cooler like this and get an ssd for boot drive like this all of these examples come to $469.93 and out of those a 120gb ssd would still cause a big speed increase and even a decent air cooler would improve the temps situtation.

Hope this helps

Sure. In the UK but pretty sure prices will be similar or cheaper in the US.

Inateck 2.5 Hard Drive Enclosure, USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Case, FE2004 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IJNDBM4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0jgkDbPEJVKAT

Crucial MX500 CT500MX500SSD1 500 GB (3D NAND, SATA, 2.5 Inch, Internal SSD) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0786QNS9B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hlgkDbQHKN335

Crucial or Samsung ssd are best imo. Capacity depends on how much you want to use it. Destiny obviously benefits from it but other games can too

Yes, you're using intel Haswell!! From the looks of the components you've selected I'm going to assume you don't plan to overclock your CPU, ram looks good (since you're running two dimms), and the PSU looks like it should work great for a single GPU. The only thing I'd be tempted to add is a boot SSD.

Here are some SSD's I'd recommend:

• intel 520 series 60gb SSD --> Amazon
  
• Corsair Neutron Series 64gb SSD --> Amazon
  
• Samsung 840 Series 120gb --> Amazon I'd recommend this SSD

Your motherboard and built in GPU are rather old, leaving you with little-to-no upgrade options on the CPU side of things. The Phenom was a phenomenal processor (pun intended) but it is getting up there in age. If you want to upgrade your processor you will have to buy a new motherboard, RAM, power supply and video card. This is the more expensive option but also the more "future-proof" one as well.

The cheaper route would be to slap two more RAM sticks in there for a maximum of 8 gigs, grab a cheap SSD like the one below and put all of your games on it. If you really wanted an FPS increase you could look into a low power GPU like a nVidia 750Ti or an AMD 460. These both don't require external power but offer decent performance. I would make sure your power supply can support these first though.

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS1311-120GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B019H3B3P6/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1496782398&sr=1-7&keywords=SSD&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A14027457011%7C14027458011

For gaming you are over-spending on the CPU. Those monster i7X chips are great for server applications or high end workstations.

A 200 dollar i5 would be more than enough. This also lets you spend less on a motherboard. ASUS is the gold standard there. MSI is fine. Not amazing. Fine.

The cheaper CPU and board save you around 200 bucks easily combined.

RAM is fine, but look I just saved you 60 bucks.

Going to brand critique you now on drives.

Go with this from Crucial.


1TB WD

I did that with my wifes 2011 MBP too.

​

The 2015 I picked up I got a good deal on I think but it only has a 128GB ssd in it, which is super small and I take a lot of photos with my iphone and Nikon d3200, so I need more space than this.

​

I saw a guide that suggested a samsung 960 evo m.2 NVME drive with an adapter.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2017-ST-NGFF2013-C/dp/B01CWWAENG/ref=pd_ybh_a_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RSQYBBQ008Y2QG3XMKNN

​

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01M20VBU7/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RSQYBBQ008Y2QG3XMKNN

​

so for $160 I could get 512GB of space which compared to OWC is super cheap and worth the attempt I think

​

HDD is better "dollar value," SSD is dramatically better performance for load times, general feel, etc. But if value is most important, you can get 3TBs for < $100, easily.

If you don't need space, this is the best 250 GB SDD for < $100.

Or both: SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB + Seagate 1TB BarraCuda for roughly $98.

Sure thing. It is a german amazon-link but I think you can read all the necessary stuff from it:

Crucial MX500 CT1000MX500SSD1(Z) 1TB (3D NAND, SATA, 2,5 Zoll, Internes SSD)

Erfahren Sie mehr: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B077SF8KMG/ref=cm\_sw\_em\_r\_mt\_dp\_U\_zxVWCbKQR2729

​

Crucial MX500 is the drive you want to buy, then check for the size you want 500gb, 1000gb or even 2000gb. They need to be SATA and 2.5 Zoll build-in size. Not much to worry about besides that.

​

Good luck and enjoy if you gonna buy it!

> The only thing is that they are a bit more expensive than building my own, but I can't beat the size.

Don't look past the nice troubleshooting feature of an external power brick that you can easily swap or cheaply replace to diagnose problems. Also since you don't need much space for this task, little 120+GB SSDs would be perfect. Lowering heat, giving them better performance, and reducing chance of a mechanical failure.

As to more expensive... Still comes in at $300 budget and that's with 8GB RAM and an SSD! Highly recommend you max them out at 8GB since they only have one memory slot.

• Dual Core NUC - $150 - http://www.amazon.com/Intel-DN2820FYKH-Celeron-N2820-support/dp/B00HVKLSVC/
  
• 8GB - $75 - http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-12800-204-Pin-Notebook-CT102464BF160B/dp/B006YG8X9Y/
  
• 128GB SSD - $75 - http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-adapter-Internal-CT128MX100SSD1/dp/B00KFAGD88/
  
  
  
  
  

SSDs can be made with different types of NAND flash. The EVO uses TLC NAND, and the QVC uses QLC NAND. QLC is slower, and has worse endurance. TLC is not top shelf, but better than QLC.

However, you probably won't notice a speed difference unless you're a video editor or have some other super heavy workload. Likewise, the endurance issue is not really going to be a problem for a normal user. Get the cheaper QVO unless you're editing 8k video all day every day.

Or better yet, get the 1tb Intel 660p for $109. It's QLC like the QVO, but uses the nVME connection, which is a faster than than SATA. An nVME QLC drive will be faster than a SATA TLC drive, as SATA is a bottleneck (one of the reasons why the QVO and EVO are so similar, the speed of SATA is a limiting factor). It also regularly goes on sale for around $95 .

But if you're editing 8k video you'd probably want to upgrade to higher end SSD like SX8200 Pro or 970 EVO (but they're roughly 2x the cost)

I've had good luck with the 240GB variant of this ssd. It worked perfectly in my 2011 until the day I sold the laptop. If you don't use your disk drive I'd definitely recommend it. Put your SSD in the original drive slot and put your HDD in the disk slot

Actually the M.2 interface is a new connector found on new motherboards, it uses PCIe lanes but not the slot itself.

You can still use the 960 M.2, but you'd need to buy an adapter such as this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Rivo-Riser-Extender-Drvie-Adapter/dp/B01N09W21D/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526389547&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+to+m.2+adapter

I would recommend the Corsair MX500, the 500gb is currently $154 on amazon, which is a great price. https://www.amazon.ca/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526389685&sr=1-1&keywords=mx500

The 250gb is even cheaper and under $100, but having headroom for game storage is always welcome!

> If cost is nearing the budget, a 128gb ssd should fit windows 10 and Fortnite, he can save up for a bigger one, or I get hand-me-downs from work.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-480GB-Solid-State-SDSSDA-480G-G26/dp/B01F9G46Q8/
$26 - 128gb
$33 - 256gb
$60 - 500gb
$110 - 1tb

There's never a reason imo to go with a tiny 128gb drive. Spend the extra $7 and jump up to 256gb at least. 500gb is a pretty safe cost/size ratio as well.

> If someone could quickly explain the different relevant graphics cards and where you get the most bang for your buck.

Easiest suggestion is an NVidia 1060, for around $200. It's diminishing returns above that, and no benefit unless you're going above 1080p @ 60hz. (Like some people do 144mhz monitors, or 4k, etc).

Alright.

1. It is fairly straight forward as seen here. Since it comes stock with the 1TB HDD, you'll want a m.2 SSD. As for copying the OS over, as I said, sending a quick post over to /r/buildapc should clear things up.
   
   
2. Build quality usually refers to the overall materials and feel of the casing and how well built it is. The Asus ROG Series is very well built and will feel a bit more premium feeling if you were to feel the materials of both notebooks and compare them.
   
   
3. Cooling refers to how well the heat is taken from the CPU and GPU and how well it is dispersed and gotten rid of. Rule of thumb is the thicker the laptop, the more space the manufacturer has to work with in adding heatsinks, piping and venting. ROGs are also very well known for their higher end models (which this specific model is a part of) to have very solid cooling.

Does your desktop's motherboard support M.2? If so, PCIe NVMe? https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-950-PRO-Internal-MZ-V5P512BW/dp/B01639694M/

It is only ~$100 more than an 850 Pro, but has 5x sequential read speeds. Make sure you read up on your motherboard and OS before buying. I've read reviews from people with motherboards that can't boot off of it, etc.

Otherwise, just an 850 Pro/EVO is fine. For mechanical storage, I'm currently buying 8TB WD externals (single drive, not dual!) for $250 and shucking them. Has worked out fairly well.

Hey - if you're up for saving money and doing a fun project, you could just flip a new SSD into your existing machine. Chances are a 2010 model is still perfectly fine for use for anything except games and scientific computation -- thanks to the laws of physics CPUs stopped evolving about a decade ago, PC industry does not like to advertise this fact!

Newer CPUs are more power efficient, better at computationally intensive stuff (more cores), or add features for more efficient.. again, heavy computation. For almost anything else there is zero point in a new build - Word and Excel do not avail of any of these features. As a developer (and non gamer), I'm on my 5th 2011 era Macbook.

Willing to bet £20 the only thing slow about your computer is the mechanical disk. Here's a Crucial MX500 for £90. Add £15 for a USB caddy to temporarily hold either the old or new drive, and a few hours to understand booting from DVD into a program that can clone the old disk over to the new one, a screwdriver you probably already own, a sense of pride that you just saved yourself a cool £1k, and entire family now thinks you're a computer genius :)

Add £20 for new keyboard+mouse, and £150 for a new screen if you want the thing to look the part

edit: oh, if it's a budget model, might want to look at flipping the RAM too. again, you're looking at around £120 for more than you'll ever need. Budget model might have only shipped with 2 or 4. The only thing more RAM will cause is less IO, but with an SSD IO gets way faster anyway, so you could skip this step, or do it as a separate project.

First things first- a Solid State Drive(From now on referred to as SSD) is a storage device with relatively high speeds and lower potential storage capacity for the price, compared to a Hard Disc Drive(Now on referred to as HDD).

You’re generally not going to need an SSD for most games, as the speed of storage isn’t really dependant on your storage. Most data used by programs is loaded into RAM, which is much faster. The only benefits are cases where you may have a game with long loading times because there’s a lot of content to load into the RAM. This is fine though, sometimes it’s nice to have those short loading times for multiplayer games. In actuality, it’s best to have an SSD for operating system storage, so instead of a computer taking a few minutes to start up, it only takes a few seconds.

There are two product types of SSD you can purchase, and two form factors (sizes) you can purchase. If you can update with which case and motherboard you have(and also any other storage that’s coming with the computer, I could have a better idea of what you have to work with, however you’re probably looking for something along the lines of SATA, 2.5” and around 500gb. This is a good option if you have one(or more) HDDs to store pictures, videos, documents, etc.

If you don’t have other storage devices, a 1tb equivalent would be preferable. Alternatively, you could purchase the 500gb SSD and some HDDs to back it up. Or even go a bit further and only purchase a 250gb SSD to hold ONLY your OS and a couple other things.

In terms of price, keep in mind that price for digital storage(SSD) has dropped significantly in the last year, and is forecasted to drop another 10% this year possibly.

TL;DR: Search “500gb SATA 2.5 SSD” online and buy anything from Samsung, Western Digital, Crucial or ADATA.

Hope this helps!

Fractal Designs Define S

This is my current recomendation for cost effective cases. Excellent layout, no wasting space on 5.25" drive bays, and a very efficient layout for air and water cooling.

But anything from fractal designs will be better put together than other cases in its price point. So take your pick

Also i havent seen you post a everyday need/use case for a optical drive, so i would trade that out for even a small SSD. Something like this PNY is a direct swap pricewise, and will make everything feel many times quicker.

The reason people are urging the SSD option is because there is no seek time. I have been using SSDs for something like 5 years now and the difference is night and day. Even the original sataII SSDs are amazingly fast when it comes to running the OS. So while the PNY i listed isnt going to hit the 500MB/s speeds of say a 850 EVO it will be priceless when it comes to general tasks and opening/running most programs on a day to day basis. I have used both the 850 EVO and the PNY listed and outside of benchmarks you wont be able to tell a difference.

If you can save up another $100 you can go with a 6 core x99 solution, since it doesnt look like you are looking to utilize a lot of the new z170 features

Are you on a strict budget? I know this is kind of the other extreme, but good lord its worth the money. Otherwise, a standard SATA 240 is a solid buy. The space will still run out pretty quick if you want to do more then skyrim on the drive though.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01M20VBU7

EDIT: You would want to make sure your board has an m.2 slot though.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go with the setup you stated since it looks the best.
Is SquareTrade for about $30 the great warranty you are referring to?
Last question
I am ordering one for 170 on ebay
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IAGSD5O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
^^ that is the crucial ssd I am getting if it works (2.5" right?)
I am having trouble finding the screen. Will any 14" LCD work? I am going to post on thinkpad asking someone all the exact parts I'll need. Thank you very much! cheers

NVMe is MUCH faster than Sata SSD. Is that what you're asking?

M.2 is the connection but there are two types of drives that use this port.

One is SATA ssd (6gbs) which is the same speed as a typical 2.5 sata ssd.

But the NVMe (32gbs) is many times faster than that. (It uses PCI bandwidth instead of sata which is part of the reason its so fast.)

Its noticeably faster if you're doing content creation like editing and such. And while it is slightly noticeable in game load times and day-to-day PC use, most people don't feel the extra $$ is worth the upgrade to NVMe. (I am not one of those people lol. I like speeeeeed)

Here was my attempt, came in about $40 over if you have Amazon Prime. Decent build - definitely a great home to drop a GPU into later. glhf!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-6600k Quad-Core Processor | $237.89 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | Evo 212 CPU Cooler | $29.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboards GA-G1.Sniper B7 | $109.93 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $64.74 @ Amazon
SSD | Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $124.99 @ Amazon
Case | Apex Vortex Mid Tower Case | $40.44 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA 600B Bronze Power Supply | $39.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $647.97
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-24 18:59 EDT-0400 |

Hi there, u/Soybeanns!

Great choice on wanting to upgrade to an SSD.

If your laptop has an M.2 slot (Have a look on HP's support site at the manuals), why not try something like this.

If not, or you're not too comfortable with M.2, this does the job.).

On the RAM side, well, if you feel like it, you could. However, if all you're doing is MS Word and PowerPoint, 4GB is fine. Any more than that, have a look at how many SODIMM slots you have on Dell's manual, and buy any DDR4 SODIMMs that match.

Clean install would be just what you said.

Hope I helped?

M.2 is CAPABLE of performing faster, but the one you pointed out performs identically to the SATA version. You don't see the speed unless you buy the ones with NVMe (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01639694M/ref=psdc_1292116011_t2_B00TGIW1XG), or even the "slower" 2.0 ones (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V01C376/ref=psdc_1292116011_t3_B00TGIVZTW)

Also, the SATA has a 5 year warranty while the M.2 only has a 3 year warranty. So if the performance and price is pretty much identical, the SATA would be the ideal one to buy as a normal OS drive.

M.2 is still a niche IMO. Yes, it's ridiculously fast and expensive, but you won't utilize the full potential if all you're going to do is boot Windows and load games. Video editing, post-processing, etc. is where you can see the benefits of M.2.

Thank you all so much for the advice. I finally pulled the trigger this weekend and upgraded my mac and the difference is incredible. It would normally take up to 5 minutes for my mac to fully turn on and login. Now its under 30 seconds!

For those looking to do the same thing here's what I did:

1. Crucial MX500 1TB SSD drive : https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B077SF8KMG
   
2. NewerTech NuPower Battery: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAP15MBU78W/#owctabs
   
3. Sata to USB Cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJZJI84/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
4. A computer tool kit. (I already had one, but any basic kit will do) Heres one I found that seems fine: https://www.amazon.com/Kingsdun-Precision-Screwdriver-Repair-MacBook/dp/B01E9RLF1W/ref=sr_1_28?crid=2GIVKIC5PVMUC&keywords=laptop+screwdriver+kit&qid=1555941998&s=electronics&sprefix=laptop+scre%2Celectronics%2C130&sr=1-28
   
5. Flash drive with at least 8gb space and USB 3.0 for speed: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Transfer-Speeds-s-SDCZ48-032G-UAM46/dp/B00KYK2AKO/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_pm?crid=1JNUES6V59YY3&keywords=32gb+flash+drive+3.0&pd_rd_i=B00KYK2AKO&pd_rd_r=e3b71c2f-31f3-48ca-b07c-83203b9d1fe4&pd_rd_w=DdDhT&pd_rd_wg=sef5B&pf_rd_p=eadd3af5-2f5b-4e14-9c3d-ff9268352f18&pf_rd_r=N5T0Q3BEBVJ8CDMW226Q&qid=1555942155&s=electronics&sprefix=32gb+flash+dri%2Celectronics%2C122
   
   ​
   
   

   How to upgrade your Mid-2012 15-Inch MacBook Pro
   

   
   Step 1 - Backup your files
   For me this took the longest, I'm not the most organized person. I also saved my keychain, apple mail logins, stickeys, etc. I was in the middle of projects that I needed to jump right back into after the upgrade.
   
   Step 2 - Create a macOS installer on the USB drive
   Follow this ---> https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/22/how-to-create-macos-mojave-usb-installer-easy-video/
   
   
   Step 3 - Plug the new harddrive in via Sata cable usb
   This is where my first issue came into play. I skipped ahead and swapped out my harddrives only to try and boot up and my system not recognize the new SSD. I first thought I purchased a dud. The truth is you need to format the new drive for the computer to see it. Plug in the new SSD and follow these instructions to erase and format. I chose Mac OS Extended (journaled) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496
   
   NOTE::: you dont have to use the usb drive, you can install the new SSD first if you want and format from the bootable USB.
   
   
   Step 4 - Install the new SSD
   Follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfiGF_pjqvM
   
   When installed, hold Option on your keyboard and then turn on. Select the USB macOS installer and follow instructions. Install onto the new SSD. Should take 20-30 min
   
   ​
   
   Step 5 - The Battery
   
   Follow the instructions in the videos on this page: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/BAP15MBU78W/#owctabs
   Make sure you set aside some time to do this. The install is very fast however its the calibration that takes some time. After you install your new battery, turn the computer on to test, there should be a little charge in it. Shut your computer down and then plug in. Let it fully charge, the light on plug should turn green. Then leave it for another 2 hours. Turn the computer on, unplug, turn all power settings off (follow video) and let the computer run until the battery is completely dead. Then wait a number of hours. This will calibrate your battery with your system.
   
   ​
   
   Then plug in and enjoy your new laptop!

Hey all i'm looking to get a 500GB SSD but I'm not sure if there's a huge difference in performance between the ones I like.

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-500GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=psdc_1292116011_t1_B0784SLQM6

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-NAND-500GB-Internal/dp/B072R78B6Q?tag=pcworld02-20&psc=1&ascsubtag=US-001-3234838-000-1439522-web-20

​

I hope it's ok to post links like this. Thank you

Looks pretty good. A few things I'd advise

Get the 850 evo not the 840
Looks even cheaper on amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS


Also if you live near enough microcenter to drive id recommend getting the *CPU and mobo there. It doesn't list it on pc part picker for some reason but it's even cheaper and they have a mobo combo deal


I would strongly advise waiting for a non founders edition gpu. The other ones have better clock speeds for cheaper and better cooling!

That's on you then. If you actually do contact them by opening the page for Amazons customer service you can talk to them, either by call, post, email or live chat. They expect sellers to deal with things directly so the link in your orders will take you there, but intervene if people are unsatisfied. Iirc it puts that at the bottom of the emails too.

I'm on mobile right now so ill give you an example from the mobile website. If you click where it says "New (# of listings) & Used (# of listings) from minimum price" under "Add to basket" it brings up the page to select which seller to buy from. The cheapest is displayed by default. On this page, you can then see under the price who is selling it and the rating of the seller. The top one in this case is Amazon. https://imgur.com/a/6ZaXy

They are, but they wish to grow larger. Amazon doesn't have negative EPS. Their value is in becoming a future juggernaut, if they didn't plan to expand like this it wouldn't be justified.

AWS is included in the stock price for Amazon. They have competition I agree, but are currently massive.

If you're buying one, you can get a 1TB SSD for around $300, so that is pricey and I'm not sure who would spend that much money just for that. If the difference is enough then I may, but might opt for a 512GB for around $130.

But when you think of the people who may have older 256GB or 512GB that they've upgraded from that they could throw in the PS4 Pro or just purchase one for $70, it may make sense depending on how much of a boost you get, hence why I plan on doing some testing. Right now it's varying by a huge degree from what I've seen and some people are getting 20-50% faster load times on other games.

And while yes I would agree that 256GB is rather small, it's still enough to fit 5-10 games as long as people are willing to delete and re-download games they don't play as often.

Yeah, personally I'd stick with 8GB of RAM, unless there's a good reason to have more.

You should be able to sell those extra 16GB for more that $100.

Then you sell the 1TB drive for $40-50, you're getting close to $200.

Given how powerful the whole system is overall, I'd probably target to upgrade the SSD.

You sell the current 250GB one for more than 100 bucks, so you're now close to $300 cash. Currently the Samsung 850 EVO 1TB is at $340 in Amazon...

I think it'd be amazing to have a 1TB SSD on such a powerful system. He could store pretty much everything in there and it would simply fly no matter what you throw at it.

The 2TB drive could be used purely as a storage box, or even some kind of backup for the SSD (RAID, etc).

The Kingston drive you have in your laptop is an M.2 drive, specifically a 2280 M.2 Sata Drive. It uses a SATA interface to talk to the computer, but it doesn't use the same connector, meaning the drive you've found on Amazon won't fit in that socket.

You should have a SATA connector in your laptop, meaning you should be able to install that Crucial drive above without an issue, you'll just need to remove the old drive to ensure it doesn't cause any ongoing issues.

For ease of install, you can just replace your existing, knackered drive with another M.2 SSD, this WD one for example, or this one from Crucial to get you back on track.

It's almost always worthwhile to build your own system, but if you aren't I would recommend something like this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883221303R

It's open box but it has a better processor and better graphics card for slightly less than the one you chose. I would also recommend throwing in an SSD as a boot drive. It makes a world of difference.

These Sandisk ones are some of the cheapest and most reliable

So you won't be able to use super fast solid state drives due to the age of the machine, but there are some fast SSDs you can use nonetheless. I'll post links for 1TB drives, but if you don't plan on using over 512 or 256GB of storage, you can get smaller drives for a lower price

​

Samsung 860 Evo- Top of the line SSD, Samsung provides free software to clone your hard drive if you can access it from another computer

CrucialMX500- If you want to save like $13, go for this

I'm replacing a hard drive from a Toshiba Satellite E45t-A4100 laptop. My budget is up to $100.00 - which is firm, but cheaper is better. I'd like to put in an SSD with a reasonable amount of space for basic computing tasks + applications.

I'm considering this one: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-2-5-Inch-Internal-CT128MX100SSD1/dp/B00KFAGD88/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1425584003&sr=1-6&keywords=SSD

Here are the OEM specs: http://support.toshiba.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=4005011&isFromTOCLink=false

Any advice? Can you recommend a better hard drive in the same cost-neighborhood?

1. Hard no. Just OC it to those levels, $50 saved.
   
   
2. Yep, 3200 runs really well and is probably the most popular speed people pair it with.
   
   
3. For gaming, not really, but most do. Nobody really uses boot drives these days because you can get a 1tb m2 for $100.
   
   
4. Not with that 1060. But the setup would be good enough to add a newer card to and 1440 would be fine.
   
   
5. Don't get that 970 Evo plus, for less than that you can get a 512gb sabrent rocket which is a better bet.
   
   
   Edit: Drop the 3600x for the 3600 and the 970, use the money saved to get a 1tb sabrent rocket.

If you really want to have a silent PC, you have to avoid hdds and get an ssd instead but it is an investment :) I swapped my 1tb hdd with a 500gb and I am more than happy since my mITX is on my table and it is very easy to hear HDD which becomes very annoying after some time.

Here is a good and cheap ssd if you consider it: https://www.amazon.de/SanDisk-Ultra-480GB-Interne-550%C2%A0MB/dp/B00M8ABFX6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467733069&sr=8-1&keywords=sandisk+ultra+ii+480+gb

If you are on a budget I would recommend buying this SSD. In my opinion it's worth spending a bit more versus a generic one for a quality brand from a reliable seller like Amazon. You could even get the older generation one if you really wanted to save money (CT120M500SSD1).



Also it is a normal 2.5" SATA device so should fit most laptops perfectly.

That's a great idea actually! I wasn't even aware that this was an option. Somehow haven't seen it before. Thanks for the tip. I'll probably switch to something like: Western Digital WDS500G2B0B WD Blue 500GB 3D NAND Internal SSD M.2 SATA

Hi everyone,

I'm a total beginner when it comes to mining and I want to build my own rig and start doing IT. After doing some research and reading, I decided that I want to start mining Monero as it's easier, quite profitable comparing to other coins and has a lot of room left to grow.

First of all, I want to build my own mining rig and these the gear that cought my eye at a first glance into the mining world:

This mining rig frame:

https://www.amazon.es/aluminio-GPU-marco-ventilaci%C3%B3n-Zcash/dp/B0747MPN5L/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524489874&sr=8-1&keywords=mining+case

6x Radeon RX 580:

https://www.amazon.com/XFX-1386Mhz-Graphic-Cards-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1524478740&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=rx+580&psc=1

Motherboard ASRock H110:

https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-13GPU-Mining-Motherboard-CryptoCurrency/dp/B073BX57M1/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1524478305&sr=1-2&keywords=Asrock+H81+Pro+BTC

Power supply Corsair CP-9020140-NA HX1200 1200W:

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CP-9020140-NA-HX1200-Platinum-Performance/dp/B01MZ8A8NW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=gpuz-20&linkId=8257c7a2a842322dd8297808a773b859

Wiring MintCell 6-Pack:

https://www.amazon.com/6-Pack-PCI-E-Powered-Adapter-Extension/dp/B06ZY2R85P/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1496350006&sr=1-1&keywords=pcie+risers&linkCode=sl1&tag=gpuz-20&linkId=8e6e8988b7610fb28cd9d15f36be7493

Intel Celeron G1840 Processor, 4Gb RAM and a 120GB SSD:

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Celeron-G1840-Processor-BX80646G1840/dp/B00J2LIE9C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=gpuz-20&linkId=3e3682e4aab8e8da233cfc406be8799e

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-120GB-SDSSDA-120G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G414U/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=gpuz-20&linkId=25dff6babfe3080d1a49ee3ed801cb59

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-FURY-1600MHz-DDR3/dp/B00J8E92R6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=gpuz-20&linkId=e64416a13af6708bd5126fb5d3d7d5b9

With this set up I calculated a $257 profit at a total of 5500 H/s, 700w consumption and $0.11/kwh and a 1% pool fee.

This seems a little less than I thought and read regarding the profit, am I missing something?

Is the potential hash rate bigger than 5500 h/s or the consumption lower? (I put this value based on what I read on other forums from people with the same video card)

Any advice is welcomed, please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you!

I went nuclear and ordered a full fledged SSD (480 gigs), partially because I plan to build a gaming pc sometime in the future and justified the cost by saying I'll use it with my pc. Here's the one I got-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00M8ABFX6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And here's the enclosure-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JQTO8TU/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's what I'd got and it's worked good, but the part 2 to all this is that you can get a SSHD for cheaper and it's likely to work just as well. That's what my good friend did and he tells me he has 0 pop in issues now. Someone in the r/xboxone subreddit did some SSD vs SSHD tests and found the differences minimal, so the SSHD is what I've been recommending to others. Here's the one he bought-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01IEKG484/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522166973&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Seagate%2Bfirecuda%2Bsshd&dpPl=1&dpID=51Q5JsfaKQL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

So, less money for more storage and basically the same performance. He doesn't know what enclosure he got, he got whatever generic one the store had for cheap.

Edit- just because some people have had some confusion about it, these aren't dedicated "external hard drives." They are real hard drives that are turned into external hard drives with the use of the enclosures (saves you money, with the added bonus that they can also be used in your pc should you ever need it). Here's a video that goes over it a bit more.

https://youtu.be/SHmI414ExRs

The best one for sub $300 would definitely be a Samsung EVO 840 500 GB It is currently 189.99 on Amazon and to double it's space and get a 1 TB, it would be 349.99 but for under $300, the 500 GB is definitely your best bet and is reasonably under the price.