Gaming Building new computer

[NunoSnica]

Hey guys, I'm making my own computer, but since I am no expert, I'd like someones oppinion on the pieces I put together. Basically I'm building a gaming computer, with as less money as possible.

Heres what I'm thinking of getting:


Motherboard- ASUS P8H61-M
Processor- INTEL CORE i3 2120 (3.3GHZ)
Graphics card- ASUS GT440 DI 1GB DDR5
HDD- WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB SATA III 64MB GREEN
PSU- XFX PRO 550W CORE EDITION
RAM- CORSAIR KIT 8GB DDR3 1333MHZ XMS3

And a dvd writer/reader xD

So, I'd like to hear your oppinion on this machine. It's not intended to run hardcore games at maximum settings.

What it is intended is to run most games at at least medium settings.

Give me your thoughts and oppinions please.

Thanks in advance.

P.S: I only noticed now that the links are attached to the stuff I'm getting. You can either ignore those or click on them to see the stuff I'm getting. By the way that's the shop I'm gonna get the stuff from.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Seems alright to me. I have almost the exact same setup but half the RAM and a different mobo and it runs almost everything on high settings, so you should be just fine.

I recommend overclocking the GPU to 900mhz and the shader clock to 1700mhz, everything runs relatively stable and the GPU doesn't heat up too much.

 

[Deleted_171835]

Budget?

 

[cobleman]

Check out the Gskill Ram instead

 

[NunoSnica]

@Suprgamr232 Thanks for the fast reply, that is good to know. I was afraid the PSU wasn't good enough or something like that.

@soulx budget is around 500€


@cobleman hi, thanks for your recomendation! Why would I want Gskill ram instead? Thanks for all the input!

 

[cobleman]

I had corsair and it didnt run as fast as the Gskill i know they may have the same numers and speed but they can be so diffrent when installed

 

[NunoSnica]

Thanks for telling me. They are a bit expensive, is this the one you recomend? GSKILL KIT 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ ECO (CL7) I don't mind running 4gb instead of 8. I kind of think 8 is a bit overkill for me, but a friend said that ram is never too much.

 

[AceWarhead]

Well, 8GB is fast becoming popular for future proofing, and GSKILL are excellent memory makers. I recommend getting the 2x4GB DDR3 RIPJAW memory.

 

[NunoSnica]

@AceWarhead hello and thanks for your recommendation! Is this the one ? xD I'm kinda afraid of buying the wrong stuff. GSKILL KIT 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ RIPJAW X (CL9)

 

[AceWarhead]

@AceWarhead hello and thanks for your recommendation! Is this the one ? xD I'm kinda afraid of buying the wrong stuff. GSKILL KIT 8GB DDR3 1600MHZ RIPJAW X (CL9)

Yes, I believe that's the one. A little pricey, but it's worth it!

 

[Originality]

Ok, someone really needs to clear up the myth about RAM from this thread.

Firstly, the Core i3 you picked only has a 1333Mhz bus. Any faster RAM you throw in will only behave like 1333Mhz, so speed and CL timings will give nearly identical performance in all low-mid range systems.
Secondly, Corsair and Gskill and OCZ and Adata and Samsung and Kingston RAM all perform nearly identically. The RAM brand does not matter.

The advice has been since the first Core i CPUs to get the cheapest RAM kit that you can find, since only high end (read, overclocked) systems can actually make use of high performance RAM.

The other piece of advice is to look for 1.5v RAM since they use less power than 1.65v RAM, but if you're asking for advice in these forums for a low budget build PC than you're unlikely to be able to know what difference this makes.

 

[NunoSnica]

@Originality I see. Thanks for bringing that up! So basically I should get the cheapest 8gb kit(as long as it isn't some white brand) I can find, and if possible, see if they are 1,5v right?

And yes, I have no idea of the difference between 1,5v or 1,65v. And because of this I'd like to ask you for a small explanation if possible

 

[Originality]

In short, stability. Sometimes when you add RAM, you need to increase the voltage to make it more stable. This is especially the case when you overclock. With 1.5v RAM (which is actually the standard for DDR3 RAM), you've got a little headroom to increase it to 1.55v if you really need it. At 1.65v (which is the secondary market for DIMMs that failed the 1.5v test), you have no headroom at all for stability.

That's not to say that 1.5v = high quality, just that it passed the stability test at 1.5v.

Personally, I wouldn't mind paying slightly more for aesthetically better RAM, but it won't change the performance at all. Corsair XMS3 is the standard I put in many rigs, and only in the high end rigs do I opt for something more pricey. It all works, but when I want to show off an enthusiast-grade system, it helps to pick flashy RAM.

 

[NunoSnica]

In short, stability. Sometimes when you add RAM, you need to increase the voltage to make it more stable. This is especially the case when you overclock. With 1.5v RAM (which is actually the standard for DDR3 RAM), you've got a little headroom to increase it to 1.55v if you really need it. At 1.65v (which is the secondary market for DIMMs that failed the 1.5v test), you have no headroom at all for stability.

That's not to say that 1.5v = high quality, just that it passed the stability test at 1.5v.

Personally, I wouldn't mind paying slightly more for aesthetically better RAM, but it won't change the performance at all. Corsair XMS3 is the standard I put in many rigs, and only in the high end rigs do I opt for something more pricey. It all works, but when I want to show off an enthusiast-grade system, it helps to pick flashy RAM.

I see. Thank you very much for clearing that up.

Also, to everyone else, thanks again for all the help! Really appreciate it.