Attention Mid-Range System Builders - Updated 08/01/2015

[mfenn]

New build. Not as good of a deal week this week unfortunately.

 

[mfenn]

New build posted. The biggest change is jumping on that ridiculous $40 XFX Core 550W deal.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Cut down costs some more with this $90 128GB Sandisk Ultra Plus SSD (slightly worse, as in milliseconds worse, than the Plextor M5S in pretty much every metric, but it is $18 less!)

 

[mfenn]

I haven't heard many good things about Sandisk SSDs. Link to review?

 

[Sleepingforest]

I can link you to the Anandtech Bench (256GB version vs 250GB Samsung 840), and the Anandtech Review. Not great, but not bad is the conclusion.

 

[mfenn]

I can link you to the Anandtech Bench (256GB version vs 250GB Samsung 840), and the Anandtech Review. Not great, but not bad is the conclusion.

Hmm, not too bad. I will make a note this week and work it into next week's build assuming prices stay competitive.

 

[Sentinel]

I ordered the SanDisk UP a couple weeks ago right after the 840s bumped up in price.

 

[mfenn]

New build posted. ASRock is losing it's grip on the value build. Either that or they've been so successful that everybody else has had to emulate them. The usual SSD, HDD, PSU, GPU dance happened this week, but there result is that the final price is exactly the same to the dollar as it was last week.

 

[mfenn]

New build posted. I hopped on that MicroCenter-esque CPU/mobo combo. The 840 120GB is also back down to $100, which is good considering the way memory prices have been going lately.

 

[mfenn]

New update, largely similar to last week except we get the Corsair 300R in there! A good combination of deals also drives the price back below $1000.

 

[xeledon20005]

I can link you to the Anandtech Bench (256GB version vs 250GB Samsung 840), and the Anandtech Review. Not great, but not bad is the conclusion.

Why compare a 256 gb to a 250 those results make the samsung look bad,

This link is for 256 samsung 840p vs 256 sandisk
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/665?vs=736

for prices the 256gb samsung 840p is $250
San DIsk Ultra 256gb is $180 on newegg
SO a big saving of $70 for the sandisk
Ive owned both types of ssd, upgraded from sandisk 128gb to 2 128 samsung 840p in raid0- got them on sale.
Crazy saving for the 256gb edition even though the performance of the samsung is better.

 

[mfenn]

Why compare a 256 gb to a 250 those results make the samsung look bad,

Because the SanDisk Ultra and the Samsung 840 (non pro) are in the same price category. They both have 256GB of NAND on board, the final capacity is just a matter the amount of overprovisioning each one does.

 

[Torn Mind]

Why compare a 256 gb to a 250 those results make the samsung look bad,

This link is for 256 samsung 840p vs 256 sandisk
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/665?vs=736

for prices the 256gb samsung 840p is $250
San DIsk Ultra 256gb is $180 on newegg
SO a big saving of $70 for the sandisk
Ive owned both types of ssd, upgraded from sandisk 128gb to 2 128 samsung 840p in raid0- got them on sale.
Crazy saving for the 256gb edition even though the performance of the samsung is better.

840 Pro and 840 are most certainly not the same drives and the difference in gigabytes is not the primary cause of performance differences between the two.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/665?vs=678
This is the 840 vs. the 840 Pro. 840 Pro beats out the 840 in most instances. The 840 is a worse-performing drive than the 840 Pro.

 

[DJJoeJoe]

I'd just like to pipe up and say that I appreciate the time put into this thread, it's an outstanding resource for someone like myself that doesn't pay attention to the day to day fluctuations of computer parts and pricing, but needs to every once in a while get a very efficient breakdown to look at.

 

[mfenn]

I'd just like to pipe up and say that I appreciate the time put into this thread, it's an outstanding resource for someone like myself that doesn't pay attention to the day to day fluctuations of computer parts and pricing, but needs to every once in a while get a very efficient breakdown to look at.

Glad that you find it helpful!

 

[mfenn]

New build, the 300R went off ridiculous sale, so we're down to "only" the 200R. Everything else is pretty similar except for the PSU and the exact SKUs on the other parts.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Good job, as always! The only thing I'd suggest is to offer the NXZT Source 210 Elite as an option. It's $43 before taxes at Amazon (not what you usually do, but I'd like the option to be known).

 

[mfenn]

Good catch! I like to keep the parts in the base build all from one vendor, but I will add the 210 Elite from Amazon in as an alternate.

 

[harobikes333]

mfenn,

take a gander at these CPU / MOBO combos... pretty decent.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2312354

 

[mfenn]

mfenn,

take a gander at these CPU / MOBO combos... pretty decent.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2312354

Yep, the final one in that list was actually my recommendation this week.

 

[mfenn]

New update, the main build is largely similar except for price updates. The Corsair 300R is on a very nice sale though. I swapped the lower GPU recommendation to the GTX 660 because 7850 prices are unimpressive and the GTX 660 is generally faster.

 

[demiro]

I'd just like to pipe up and say that I appreciate the time put into this thread, it's an outstanding resource for someone like myself that doesn't pay attention to the day to day fluctuations of computer parts and pricing, but needs to every once in a while get a very efficient breakdown to look at.

A big +1 on this. I'm new to this activity - this thread is super helpful. Thanks mfenn.

Question to mfenn, or anyone: What would you expect the $1000 build to cost as a pre-assembled unit?

 

[mfenn]

A big +1 on this. I'm new to this activity - this thread is super helpful. Thanks mfenn.

Question to mfenn, or anyone: What would you expect the $1000 build to cost as a pre-assembled unit?

Glad to help!

How much an equivalent machine would cost pre-built depends on who you get to build it of course. I'd say that between missed deals and the actual building charge, you're looking at +$200 on average.

 

[mfenn]

New build, lots of combo deals! Getting the 200R for effectively $30 is pretty nice. The stock build does sacrifice dual-channel operation, but I don't know that there's a lot of evidence that typical desktop tasks are particularly sensitive to memory bandwidth.

 

[Triglet]

Think it's worth upgrading my mobo/cpu/ram to what the guide suggests? What I have is awfully long in the tooth, curious to what you guys think.

Thanks