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Finalising mATX build before ordering - pointers welcome

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Dec 1, 2012
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Motherboard
ASUS ROG Strix F Z390
CPU
i7-9700K
Graphics
6800XT (Powercolor Red Dragon)
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Hi guys. This is a follow up to http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...oking-general-advice-possible-matx-build.html

After more reading, research, and optimisation, I've come up with an almost final parts list for my mATX build:

- Fractal Design Define Mini case http://www.scan.co.uk/products/frac...micro-atx-mini-tower-performance-case-w-o-psu
- Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530W PSU http://www.scan.co.uk/products/530w...us-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx
- MSI 660 Ti Power Edition http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...gpu-1019mhz-boost-1097mhz-cores-1344-2x-dl-dv
- Corsair 16GB RAM http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb...(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-11-11-11-30-15v
- MSI Z77MA-G45 motherboard http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007KZQF4S/?tag=tonymacx86-21
- Intel i5 3570K
- TP Link TL-WDN4800 wifi card
- Sandisk Extreme 480GB SSD

It was a close call between the Define Mini, Arc Mini and Silverstone TJ08-E cases, but I just like the Define best, and the acoustic dampening is a big win for me. Also close is the decision between the MSI mobo and the ASUS P8Z77 M Pro, but the Asus doesn't really offer much more for the extra price that I need. I think the PSU should be enough for me, and it has great reviews. The MSI Power Edition 660 Ti does better on benchmarks than the regular 670! And finally, I never understood the point of crazy heatsinks on RAM so I got the plainest I could find ;)

I think all of this stuff is used by people on this site (maybe not all at once!) so I'm assuming I should be fairly safe. Let me know if there's anything I could change/improve/save money on. I plan to order in a couple of days or so.

Thanks!
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb...00mhz)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-11-11-11-30-15v

personal choice, but id pay the extra £4 and go for the xms3 over what youve chosen.
no other reason that the heatsinks look and feel great. the £4 is worth it over the white sticker you get on the value choice ram.

other than that, looks like a great build

Thanks :)

Actually, a question about the RAM - I noticed that they have 10-10-10-27 and 11-11-11-30 variants. I know it's something to do with voltages and speeds but do you know what the difference is? It seems like performance wise there probably isn't much difference, but if that is the case, I'd like to understand why there is the distinction in the first place!
 
those are the ram timings.
google for more info.

for most people, makes no difference. iirc, it was more important in the p4/amd athlon days.
 
those are the ram timings.
google for more info.

for most people, makes no difference. iirc, it was more important in the p4/amd athlon days.

Cool. It seems that lower numbers correspond to lower CAS latency, so since the CL10 and CL11 sticks cost about the same, I may as well go for a CL10 pair.
 
I ordered my parts today :) Am rather excited!

I changed the graphics card to the Gigabyte 660 Ti OC only because it was a bit cheaper and supposedly the fans are also a bit quieter. As much as I wanted an SSD-only machine, I figured it's just not cost effective at this stage so I opted for a 240GB Sandisk Extreme which I will partition into 2 for Win and ML, and a WD Green 1TB for storage.

If I feel a bit dangerous, I might also try to take my 500GB WD external Time Machine HDD out of its enclosure and stick it inside the case for SATA speeds and to reduce desk noise and clutter. As far as I'm aware the hard drives in those things are regular 3.5" SATA so it should work hopefully.

Comparing the cost (including the 24 Dell U2412M monitor I got) with an iMac (including my HE discount) my build is slightly cheaper than the 21.5" higher end model which has a slower i5, half the RAM, no SSD, only a 5400rpm HDD (wtf even my 2008 iMac has a 7200rpm!), a smaller screen of course and a much worse graphics card.
I am pleased :headbang:
 
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