any recommendations for a mobo and ram for a 3570k build? kinda on a budget...how are those ncix cpu+mobo bundles...any good?

if your on a budget, i would recommend that i5's... just as good and cheaper... you can OC those cpus and get good speeds.....

Core™ i5-3570K Processor w/ Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard - $349.99

Core™ i7-3770K Processor w/ Asus P8Z77-V Mothe - $499.99

Ram is cheap, you can get 8gb for around $25-$30 on sale...


if you really want to go cheaper.. go with the AMD A10 cpu... good reviews with a good onboard video card...

NCIX Bundle Deal AMD A10-5800K APU Quad Core & Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 ATX FM2 DDR3 USB3.0 Motherboard - $264.99
the A10 cpu comes packed with the Radeon HD 7660D...

If you want it to do hardcore gaming at the highest settings, then you would look for a different card or go with an Intel setup... if you need an all-arounder, then this is probably the best way.

I'm thinking of getting new hdd space soon,
but I don't get what's the WD Red drives about?
They seem to be getting quite a bit of attention.

I'm only using this for massive media storage (like 2TB worth), and I already have a WD Green 5400 rpm,
but I've read with today's technology, even 7200 rpm's can be just as energy efficient and quiet as Green ones, making them redundant.

And which is more recommended between Seagate or WD?

Red is for NAS/server usage... I'm not too sure about the differences. I think longer-lasting and better able to handle the heat if the NAS is not well-ventilated?

I'd go for WD over Seagate.

Red are built for durability and 24/7 usage.

If I go AMD, I rather go Vishera at that price point though.

For i5 3570k, just wait for good deals on the combos. My friend got a decent gigabyte board with 3570k for $299 (with $10MIR) from ME a couple months back. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, TigerDirect had really cheap i5 3570ks, like $169?

If you are on a budget, you should go AMD. You should be able to put together an FX-8320/990FX cpu mobo combo for under $300, and it will be faster than the 3570K in most cases, and very OCable.

are WD caviar black hdds worth it for gaming storage?
How much faster are black versions vs regular hdd?
and are they more noisy?
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I'm about to RMA this Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3: Buy the Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 AM3+ 760G USB3.0 MOTHERBOARD at TigerDirect.ca

Should I get a direct replacement, or pay an extra $6 for an MSI 760GM-E51(FX)? Buy the MSI 760GM-E51(FX) AMD 760 Socket AM3+ Motherboard at TigerDirect.ca

Did I just have bad luck, or are Gigabyte boards shitty? I'm not sure if failing to POST because a fan wasn't connected is a fault, or just a stupid design.

I've owned a two Gigabyte intel boards...one from the P4 era and one for my current build...both rock solid

I use SSD for all games.

WD Caviar Black HDD for storage & some less demanding games.

Will get WD Green 3TB for storage after I use mine up.

I hate this thread. Makes me want to upgrade but I don't even play games anymore :okay:

Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green SATA3 Intelli Power 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Disk Drive HDD

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA3 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive

Which of these are the better drive for video/music/media storage?

I Purchased a Seagate Barracuda a while back and had problems with it.

I've had my WD Caviar Black 1TB for a while and had no issues whatsoever.

Go with WD Caviar Green IMHO.

WD Red

Why Red? Costs more...
Teach me about NAS, because I'm not sure if I'll even need/take advantage of the abilities that Red has.

I currently have 3 Hard drives of all different brands (I actually did that on purpose) in my current PC,
and never had issues with any of them, and they are all about 4-5 years old since they're carried over from my old system.

So I'm not too picky with brand names, unless there's something proven that "X" brand uses bad parts vs. "Y" brand.
(like the case with SSD and sandforce controllers)


I was actually leaning toward the Seagate only because it says 7200 rpm, costs $10 less, and I assume the WD Green is only 5400 rpm.
I'm not sure how important are these specs and how much are just for advertisement purposes.

Reading a bunch of different reviews, some people claim WD Green's can perform like 7200 rpm anyway.
Or the difference is so miniscule (especially when used as a media storage drive).

Then there's the whole 2x 1tb platter vs 3x 334gb platters. Don't even know what's theory and what's the real deal.

By the way

I have recently revamped my SSD testing methodology, and I think I have a pretty good collection of tests to make definitive recommendations.

If you are in the market for a new SSD, the one to get is the Intel 520

I will explain more in my next review, but I thought I would give everyone here a preview:

http://i.imgur.com/IgWUO.jpg

That is one test that shows consistency of drives when entering a steady state.

There is at least one other SandForce drive in there, so it's not just a controller issue. Firmware and flash hardware also seems to be important.

BTW the drive at the bottom of that chart is a Samsung 830

x-axis = days?

Minutes, sorry.. just did a quick chart in excel for a preview here

y axis - IOPS

Just ordered all the parts I need for a new budget build

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
Asus M5A78L-M LX Plus
Kingston HyperX 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CL9
Plextor M5S 64GB SATA3
Cooler Master CMP-350
Cooler Master RS-500-PSAR-J3 500W
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Recycled parts from previous build
Asus HD6770 1GB GDDR5
WD Caviar Green 2.5TB 64MB SATA3
NZXT Sentry 2

Then I realized the motherboard is only SATA2 :okay:

Everything was less than $400 minus the recycled parts so it's fine though.

Should get a sata 3!
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When it is still a regular magnetic hdd, SATA2 or SATA3 doesn't really make much of a difference anyway. So don't sweat it.

recommend you gettin a SATA 3 board instead, you got a SATA 3 WD hard drive a SATA 3 SSD

Yeah, even SSD's have issues saturating SATA2 in real life scenarios.

Mobo was $50, can't really complain. Cheapest SATA3 board is at least $30 more.

Besides, as far as the SSD goes, access speed is still pretty much the same, as far as I'm aware.

EDIT: I could purchase a SATA III PCIe controller, but one of the PCIe slots will be occupied by a PCIe wireless adapter and the other one will be blocked by the gargantuan Hyper 212