Thinking About Buying the "Unicorn" build, but...

[RealJustin]

Take 8GB RAM from Unicorn, and the rest from Narwhal, it will be far better balanced than either of those two alone. For bit more features you can als swap motherboard to AsRock Z68 Extreme4 for example.

Not a terrible idea... but I need to drop the price a little still.

I want to spend about $1200 total, including Windows7.

[Fuzzykins]

Of course that's true, but my argument was entirely subjective. The benefit of an SSD can't really be expressed in numbers very well. Try and picture it as if surfing the internet with a 1Mbit connection vs. surfing with a 5Mbit connection. Sure, both are good enough for gaming but the almost instant loading of web-sites just makes surfing on a 5Mbit connection so much more seamless and enjoyable.

I could also ask: Do you notice the difference between 60 FPS and 50 FPS? I don't, but I certainly notice the difference between HDD and SSD.

As I was saying in a different thread. SSDs are a bit like large screens. Sure, objectively speaking why would I ever want more than a 19" screen? But once you've played on a 24"...you never want to go back.

Well put. I've owned an SSD mind you, I just never saw it's worth in the duration I had to try it before I took it back. I never restart my computer save a few updates, my WD Caviar Black is plenty fast for most programs. Granted I can't open multiple simultaneously, I don't HAVE to. Open WoW, hit play, tab, open Chrome, tab, input user info etc log in, at loading bar, tab back to google, browse reddit for a moment or two, tab back to WoW, poof. No wasted time whatsoever.

---------- Post added 2011-07-19 at 03:34 AM ----------

Take 8GB RAM from Unicorn, and the rest from Narwhal, it will be far better balanced than either of those two alone. For bit more features you can als swap motherboard to AsRock Z68 Extreme4 for example.

Chaud says all AsRock motherboards are shit and poorly made, so he can't justify them in his builds. (Reference: IRC conversation) So why should we recommend them? (I'm a bit bitter -.-)

[Deleted]

Well put. I've owned an SSD mind you, I just never saw it's worth in the duration I had to try it before I took it back. I never restart my computer save a few updates, my WD Caviar Black is plenty fast for most programs. Granted I can't open multiple simultaneously, I don't HAVE to. Open WoW, hit play, tab, open Chrome, tab, input user info etc log in, at loading bar, tab back to google, browse reddit for a moment or two, tab back to WoW, poof. No wasted time whatsoever.

Fair enough, but I assume since you already had a fast, modern, sleek and well-maintained PC that somewhat diminished the benefits of an SSD. If you take good care of your PC, keep your files defragmented, protect your auto-start and have a fast HDD or even a Hybrid Drive, then you won't see nearly the same benefits as you would on say, a somewhat neglected and dated family PC that is turned on/off on a regular basis, has a large number of programs running and is used by many users.

In a way, the more casual the users, the more beneficial the SSD.

[Fuzzykins]

Fair enough, but I assume since you already had a fast, modern, sleek and well-maintained PC that somewhat diminished the benefits of an SSD. If you take good care of your PC, keep your files defragmented, protect your auto-start and have a fast HDD or even a Hybrid Drive, then you won't see nearly the same benefits as you would on say, a somewhat neglected and dated family PC that is turned on/off on a regular basis, has a large number of programs running and is used by many users.

In a way, the more casual the users, the more beneficial the SSD.

Fair enough. SSD's are incredibly situation-based. We'll leave it at that. :P

[samstein]

I built my first computer at the beginning of this year and learned a few things that might help out.

Case – I have a HAF 922 and it fits the Noctua NH-D14 with a comfortable amount of room around it for my piece of mind (which as a new pc builder will mean a lot to you cause the last thing you want to do is worry about little details after you have opened up all the parts and assemble them). It has nice spacing for cable management through the back so not only does it keep my pc looking fresh from the front, keeping those cables out of the way allows for good air flow and low cpu temperatures. I feel the HAF 932 will be bigger than you want, I do not know much about the 912.

Power supply – I read a lot of forums about making sure that you buy from a quality brand because you want clean, consistent electrical feed to your components. In my mind it is analogous to sports cars recommending premium gas over regular unleaded; it is comforting to know you are giving the best fuel for your vehicle to perform and last. Also, if you ever feel like overclocking (which if you are thinking of building a pc, you are probably the type of person who likes to go a bit beyond the normal person) you want to make sure you have a big enough power supply to do so. I am about to overclock this week so that I can feel comfortable running my games at max settings (wow, starcraft 2) and other programs like fraps for recording smoothly at better rates. I got a 650 Watt power supply which should be enough to overclock and run the 3 drives I have (1 for programs with OS and 2 others set in raid 0 for increased write speeds for fraps), but if I ever decide to run crossfire (2 graphics cards in sync) I know it will not be enough. If you think you will venture into overclocking and running 2 graphics cards down the road, get a 750W or 800W in my opinion.

CPU – I currently have an Intel i5 760 running at 2.8 GHz and had absolutely no problem running Starcraft 2 at all max settings without overclocking and with the stock cpu cooler that came with the chip. Since the i5-2500k runs at 3.3 GHz stock, that cpu will definitely be more than enough for wow to run at the max settings you want. It is also one of the best rated chips to overclock nowadays so definitely get it over the i7, its not worth paying $95 more for a chip that will overkill even more at just the stock speeds. If anything, use that $95 to buy the Noctua cooler and overclock the i5 past the i7.

Heatsink – Noctua NH-D14, get it if you plan to overclock. You do not want to mess with water-cooling until you have more experience and time to research how to make a good system. Those premade systems like the corsair h70 do not get any better performance in tests than the NH-D14 from what I read, and the NH-D14 is super easy to install. I got it for overclocking (which is the only real reason to get an after market cooler, if you are not just save the money cause the stock cooler will work fine) and immediately I saw over 20 degrees in cooler running temperatures (which is a lot, you will not get more without investing a bit more money). Water-cooling is for extreme overclocking and will cost you for a decent system to outperform this monster of a cooler. Plus you will never have to worry about leaks.

Motherboard – Since I am drawing the parts from the Narwhal build, the ASUS P8P67-M PRO should be compatible with the parts. I have not checked but I am assuming whoever posted the build on MMO checked, but I still would double check. I also assume that the person who compiled these lists made sure it would not bottleneck your cpu and gpu.

Memory – 4 GB is good enough. The only concern I might have is that with the Noctua cooler, the ram may be a bit tall with its fins and get in the way of a fan. You may want to check forums to see if it fits with that ram. I use simple corsair ram without flashy fins or heatsinks and there is enough clearance for ram to make me comfortable. There are 2 different ways you can orient the cooler, but I feel that the way that draws from a more open source is over the ram. Just check forums to see what people say. Also, you should realize that Windows 7 64-bit will support more than 4 GB, but the 32-bit version will not. Just to be proactive about your build.

Graphics card – Either listed in the Narwhal should be fine, just whatever brand you feel like. I have a Radeon HD 5850, and no problems at all handling max settings on Starcraft 2. Therefore the 6950, or the 560 will be more than enough for you as well.

Hard drive and SSD – I agree with Fuzzykins. Why do people feel like you need that SSD? Is 200 dollars worth faster load up times for your OS and games? You will more than likely never look back at cutting the SSD out and think “If only I bought that stupid thing so I wouldn’t have to wait the extra few seconds so I can start playing before I got a chance to sit down.” If you are dps than I guess you can be happy with jumping in your 45-minute que time a few seconds faster than the guy who saved over 200 dollars. Trust me, the WD caviar black will be so much faster than whatever crappy systems hard drive you have right now you will feel like it loads fast already (I assume your current one is crappy since you bashed it a little in your post). Just buy that HDD and put everything on there. 500g should be good too if you are on a budget and is $30 cheaper than the 1TB (I only game on my machine so I still have 90% of the memory left). When you are playing games, the SDD will not do anything to help performance. Worst-case scenario, you don’t buy the SSD now, after a few months decide and decide you do want faster load screens, and then you buy one much cheaper because of how fast technology advances.

DVD – There is a reason they are the same on each build, you will only use it for a few hours in the lifetime of the pc nowadays since games do not run off discs anymore.

Installation – It is easy. The pieces fit together like Legos, just be careful of static electricity. I touched a screw on a nearby light switch to discharge myself and used one of those antistatic wristbands because I am paranoid. If you buy the aftermarket cooler, do yourself a favor and put the motherboard in the case first and attach all the power connections from your PSU and fans to the motherboard before installing the Noctua. The heatsink is so big that it will be a big pain to reach in tiny spaces to connect a small fan adapter to small pins without worrying about bending them. And you will not want to have to take it off again, clean it, and reapply thermal compound. Other than that, the manuals make it so easy that if you double-check your connections you should have no problem.

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

[vesseblah]

Chaud says all AsRock motherboards are shit and poorly made, so he can't justify them in his builds. (Reference: IRC conversation) So why should we recommend them? (I'm a bit bitter -.-)

Quality of AsRock has gone up significantly in last 2-3 years and is totally viable choice now for everything except extreme overclocking (the power circuitry will not hold up to liquid nitrogen levels). AsRock is owned by Asus, both boards come from same factory but AsRock just has slightly lower grade components. In WoW terms think of normal mode epics instead of heroic

[Fathr]

Toms hardware uses an Asrock MB in their 2k $ build, so I rest my case:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system...iew-32214.html

When looking at the performace charts for that MB aswell it looks rock solid.

[Fuzzykins]

Quality of AsRock has gone up significantly in last 2-3 years and is totally viable choice now for everything except extreme overclocking (the power circuitry will not hold up to liquid nitrogen levels). AsRock is owned by Asus, both boards come from same factory but AsRock just has slightly lower grade components. In WoW terms think of normal mode epics instead of heroic

Nope, apparently their price and 1 year warranty on older/lower end boards ruin the entire company.

---------- Post added 2011-07-19 at 05:10 AM ----------

Toms hardware uses an Asrock MB in their 2k $ build, so I rest my case:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system...iew-32214.html

When looking at the performace charts for that MB aswell it looks rock solid.

You're likely to receive flame for reading TomsHardware, as well as a general disregard of entirely factual based information. (Another IRC conversation topic. (: )

[Psst. For the record, I have an AsRock and an Asus in two systems I own.]

[vesseblah]

Nope, apparently their price and 1 year warranty on older/lower end boards ruin the entire company.

Not the first and probably not the last thing where I strongly disagree with Chaud's builds, but shit happens... Too bad they're on the front page with all the obvious faults.

Biggest problems would be silliness like...
- putting WD Caviar Black & SSD on Narwhal but still keeping 4GB of RAM
- Recommending OCZ Vertex3 for the highest end build while bashing Intel320 above, as both have quality issues
- Going for AMD and very expensive dead-end motherboard for $700 bracket instead of infinitely more future proof i3-2100

[DeltrusDisc]

Stay away from OCZ SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs, especially their 120GB variants. I suggest opting for Kingston, Corsair, Crucial, or Intel for SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs, personally.

(This is if you decide to go ahead and get an SSD, but also just spreading some knowledge so no one gets screwed by OCZ, I was lucky I bought from a local store and returned my OCZ Agility 3.)

[chaud]

Toms hardware uses an Asrock MB in their 2k $ build, so I rest my case:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/system...iew-32214.html

When looking at the performace charts for that MB aswell it looks rock solid.

http://scientiasblog.blogspot.com/20...-its-soul.html
Almost as relevant today, just look at the mess they made with the WoW GPU benchmarks.

- Going for AMD and very expensive dead-end motherboard for $700 bracket instead of infinitely more future proof i3-2100

The only mobo that is a problem is the lowest end one and it will be replaced with http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-M5A97-AMD...1082740&sr=1-2 next month, as it was OOS at the time of posting. AM3+ will last a year or two at least, just as long as Intel (provided they don't change their mind about the Ivy Bridge socket).

[vesseblah]

AM3+ will last a year or two at least,

Seriously doubt it. Remember that AM2+ sockets ran PhenomII's at 20% lower performance even though they did run the CPUs. It's very likely that same thing will happen again and AM3+ boards will suck donkey balls with Bulldozers making it dead-end build. I can not honestly recommend trusting on AM3+ being worth the price now that it's being phased out and i3-2100 outperforms it by a mile in games.

[samstein]

In addition to my previous long post, here is how I would build it today based on the Narwhal build:

Case: HAF 922
99.98 on Newegg

Power Supply: Corsair 650TX V2
89.99 (on Newegg and Amazon so I would go Newegg with all the other stuff)

CPU: Intel i5-2500k
219.99 on Newegg

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 (Only of you plan to overclock. I bought one months after to overclock so you can wait on this as well)
89.99 on Newegg and Amazon

Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-M PRO
149.99 on Amazon (could not find it on Newegg)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB
39.99 after mail in rebate (I believe 69.98 before) at Newegg
I chose this ram because I am sure it fits under the Noctua, but if you are not getting the cooler, and even if you don’t buy it now, at least if you decide to you know your ram will not get in the way in the future.

GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti
Either should be fine and work within a few FPS of each other, but the GTX has much better reviews of reliability, and you want to get to gaming without worrying about crashing in a month or so.
244.99 on Amazon (and you get 30 on rebate afterwards)

HDD: Western Digital 500g caviar black
If you are going to be storing a lot more data go for the 1TB, but I think saving 30 dollars for less excess space is better
59.99 on Newegg

DVD: ASUS Burner
19.99 on Newegg

Total without Noctua cooler:
954.91 (about 1021.31 with tax)
Which should give you enough money to buy windows 7 in your 1200 dollar budget (Don’t for get you are getting 60 bucks back on mail in rebates, but they usually take 2-3 months to get so don’t be too concerned about it initially).

I would suggest waiting on the cooler if you are not planning to overclock right away, this comp will run super smooth as is. If you decide to overclock, you can always purchase it later when the price goes down (same with the SDD if you really want faster load times, but at the moment I do not see it being anywhere worth the money).

[llDemonll]

US Configuration (using newegg.com)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
MB: [Z68] ASUS P8Z68-V Pro ATX
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6970
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) 1600
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III
SSD: Corsair Force GT 120GB SATA III
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold
CPUHS: Corsair H60
CASE: Antec P183 Mid Tower
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM (64-bit)
Total Price: $1695 USD
Configure More

My suggestion for what you should get in the unicorn price range

[Deleted]

Unicorn build isn't that good.
Intel I5 2500K
Asus P8P67 Pro
8gigs of Ripsjaw X series 1600MHz 9-9-9-24-2t
Amd 6970
1Tb caviar Black
Crucial M4 64 gigs
Haf 932 Advanced.
Xfx Core Edition 850W.

this
If you dont overclock get i5-2500 (not k) and h67 motherboard. Power supply might be a bit overkill.

E: I'd prefer Samsung F3 as hard drive

[chaud]

Seriously doubt it. Remember that AM2+ sockets ran PhenomII's at 20% lower performance even though they did run the CPUs. It's very likely that same thing will happen again and AM3+ boards will suck donkey balls with Bulldozers making it dead-end build. I can not honestly recommend trusting on AM3+ being worth the price now that it's being phased out and i3-2100 outperforms it by a mile in games.

Maybe with the AM3 boards that will support Bulldozer, but Bulldozer's release socket is AM3+. It wouldn't make any sense to release a new socket only to replace it right away.

[Leyth]

I would go with the 2500k over the 2600k. I don't really see the need for HT and it has shown FPS decreases in most titles. You can take the 2500k to 4.5-5.0ghz on air as well. You can use the money saved to get 8gigs of ram instead.

[RealJustin]

In addition to my previous long post, here is how I would build it today based on the Narwhal build:

Case: HAF 922
99.98 on Newegg

Power Supply: Corsair 650TX V2
89.99 (on Newegg and Amazon so I would go Newegg with all the other stuff)

CPU: Intel i5-2500k
219.99 on Newegg

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 (Only of you plan to overclock. I bought one months after to overclock so you can wait on this as well)
89.99 on Newegg and Amazon

Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-M PRO
149.99 on Amazon (could not find it on Newegg)

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB
39.99 after mail in rebate (I believe 69.98 before) at Newegg
I chose this ram because I am sure it fits under the Noctua, but if you are not getting the cooler, and even if you don’t buy it now, at least if you decide to you know your ram will not get in the way in the future.

GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti
Either should be fine and work within a few FPS of each other, but the GTX has much better reviews of reliability, and you want to get to gaming without worrying about crashing in a month or so.
244.99 on Amazon (and you get 30 on rebate afterwards)

HDD: Western Digital 500g caviar black
If you are going to be storing a lot more data go for the 1TB, but I think saving 30 dollars for less excess space is better
59.99 on Newegg

DVD: ASUS Burner
19.99 on Newegg

Total without Noctua cooler:
954.91 (about 1021.31 with tax)
Which should give you enough money to buy windows 7 in your 1200 dollar budget (Don’t for get you are getting 60 bucks back on mail in rebates, but they usually take 2-3 months to get so don’t be too concerned about it initially).

I would suggest waiting on the cooler if you are not planning to overclock right away, this comp will run super smooth as is. If you decide to overclock, you can always purchase it later when the price goes down (same with the SDD if you really want faster load times, but at the moment I do not see it being anywhere worth the money).

Just got home from work and read all of the new posts. I don't have many questions really but would like to thank everyone who posted their thoughts/builds.

This seems like a pretty solid build and very close to what I think I am looking for. I would probably go with something along these lines:

Case: Cool Master HAF 922
Power Supply: Corsair 650TX V2
CPU: Cooler: Intel i5-2500k
Motherboard: Corsair XMS3 4GB **Would 8g be too much? May buy different brand**
Memory: GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti
HDD: Western Digital 500g caviar black **Maybe 1TB??? double the bang for only +50% of the buck**
DVD: Almost anything will do here...

The SSD I will probably put off for now, and if I ever feel the need to get it, will be the first thing I buy as an Upgrade/Addon.


My only Question is: Will all of these parts work together?

Lastly, Thoughts?

[vesseblah]

Motherboard: Corsair XMS3 4GB **Would 8g be too much? May buy different brand**
Memory: GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti
HDD: Western Digital 500g caviar black **Maybe 1TB??? double the bang for only +50% of the buck**

- Missing motherboard there
- You don't need expensive special RAMs with Sandy Bridge CPUs, rather take cheaper 8GB kit that superfast 4GB kit
- For far superior price/performance pick Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDD instead of WD Caviar Black

[Jurwi]

- Missing motherboard there
- You don't need expensive special RAMs with Sandy Bridge CPUs, rather take cheaper 8GB kit that superfast 4GB kit
- For far superior price/performance pick Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDD instead of WD Caviar Black

^- what he said, there's barely any real world performance difference between faster and slower ram sticks with SB CPUs. F3s are also amazing bang for the buck.