Family Desktop

Hello everyone!  Looking for helpful input since I don't know much about these components.  We currently have a 11-12 year Dell desktop.  I love that is still going and reliable, but its time to upgrade.  I'm trying to convince my husband to try a small company but we are both hesitant because we know Dell, we know we'll get a reliable computer even though their support sucks.  Anyways, thru research I narrowed down to Origin and DS with DS being my first choice.

I don't want to spend more than $1,500 on a new desktop.  I want something that will last a long time, I can upgrade the memory and OS later on, will be quiet (not super quiet, just not a loud hum like we have now), and has the cool stuff you find other places (USB 3.0, bluetooth...).  It will be the primary computer for the family used for web surfing, light gaming, light photo and video editing, office and school work and lots of heavy multi tasking.

Here's what I built so far for $1,583 (more than I want to spend):
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master Elite 430
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE (Intel Z77 Chipset) (Higher Overclocks and Unique Wi-Fi Features)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (High Performance Cooler)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks

Is this good for us?  Should I change some stuff so components will work better together?  Should I downgrade to an i5 3570 3.4 GHz Unlocked Quad Core to save money without sacrificing much?

Thanks in advance for all the input 

Hi snapdragon360. Welcome to the DS forums!

I think you used very good component selections for the most part in your build, and you came to the right place for lot's of suggestions to tweak your build at or near your stated budget target.   We want you to end up with the very best performing PC for the money you will spend.

tdtnsp's excellent suggested build #776706 shows that he wanted you to use a better Corsair 300R case, and enjoy a dual hard drive setup by adding a solid state boot drive (for Windows) in addition to a standard storage drive.    Expensive option, so reducing the RAM to 8 GB, switching the motherboard, and cutting the size of the storage hard drive to 500 GB were where he made cuts to stay close to your budget.    You should be fine with 8 GB of RAM, and it's easy to add another 8 GB stick of RAM if desired. The excellent Sabertooth board doesn't have wifi or bluetooth but it does have the longest mfg warranty of 5 yrs...the other boards have 3 yr mfg warranties.   The SSD would make for faster boot up times, and you could add another storage drive later very easily in that case.    A great build, but loosing some things you had wanted...

I also wanted you to use the better & roomier Corsair 300R case...more flexible to add fans if needed or for ease of adding components.    Dropping the CPU down to the i5 3570k should be quite acceptable for the uses you mentioned, but I wanted you to get more performance & value out of the 3570k by letting DS do what they do best...a safe, smooth & stable Stage 1 overclock of the CPU...and I felt a slight bump up on the graphics card to the stronger GTX 660 would benefit you greatly for gaming & photo or video use.    I went back to your preferred Deluxe mobo with wifi + bluetooth which is also an excellent and popular board, I used a compromise DVD burner that also reads Blue Ray disks, and I went back to a single hard drive solution using a little better Western Digital Black 1 TB hard drive.   See which build meets your needs the best.   Hope this is helpful!

See Ticket # 776745
Lucky I guess...lol... with the current promotion (extra $25 off) it came in exactly at your target of $ 1500. Don't forget to select the free game, and the free DS t-shirt!

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Carbide 300R (With Window)
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K 3.40 GHz (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE (Intel Z77 Chipset) (Higher Overclocks and Unique Wi-Fi Features)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: ASUS Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs) (Model: BC-12B1ST)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB (Includes PhysX)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (High Performance Cooler)
H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: FREE NVIDIA Bundle - Assassins Creed III (Digital Download Code for all GeForce GTX 600 Series)
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

HockeyBuck, Why did you choose not to do the OS boost?

Haha...Well, it's because DS PC's don't come loaded with any bloatware... and there's really nothing in the Op System to boost ma'am.    Won't hurt anything to select it, but you probably don't need it.

Many of us here in the forums have lots of the latest tech goodness on our own Digital Storm rigs...so it's hard to remove better tech to hit a price target, when we want new customers to enjoy all the best gear they can afford.     Make the best choices you can, and then be happy with your new build!    

If budget does go a skosh higher, we can certainly suggest how extra might be put to use to get you a bit more performance...but after hearing you went 10 yrs on an old Dell, lol, I kinda expect the improvements you'll see with any 2013 DS rig to be quite a nice performance shock for you and the fam!    It's not always just about gaming performance, but a great gaming rig generally makes for the best all around family PC performance as well.... Especially when you know someone plans to keep the new PC much longer than most people would...lol.    You will want it as future proof as possible, so that it's level of performance can still make you happy using it a few years down the road.

CPU and motherboard are biggees as most folks won't ever change those primary components...while you likely will want to change video cards every 2-3 years just to keep up or to take advantage of video improvements, and you can add ram or a hard drive easily yourself.    Overclocking on an Intel i5 or i7 K processor designed (unlocked) for that purpose just gets you more overall performance for your money.    More heat gets generated with overclocking, so liquid cooling and fan upgrades or roomier better airflow cases can help get rid of that heat so performance doesn't suffer.    DS Tech Support is there to back you up if there are any problems.    No worries.   

Edited by HockeyBuck - 18 Jan 2013 at 12:16am

Excellent!     Think you came to the right place ma'am.    DS will build you a solid and long lasting system.   

I really like that compact Corsair 300R case... I'm having DS build a similar Epoch 1 system for my in-laws to use, same 300R case.    It's well vented, lots of options to add up to (3) more hard drives, and several more case fans can be added if more air is needed... Has the usual Corsair solid build quality.

You'll have to share some pictures with us all when you un-box...