How good is this spec?

[teddytoot]

This month's issue of (UK) PC Format contains an article on building a mini power PC for games.
The spec is as follows:

Chassis: BitFenix Prodigy

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-1 DeLuxe

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB

GPU: NVidia GTX670

SSD: Kingston HyperX 120GB

HDD: 3TM WD Red

Cooling: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer

PSU: Thermaltake 750W

Their cost £1084

One would need to add a DVD R/W, and I wonder if any gain would be had by going for a larger SSD.

Any comments on the above as it seems quite a reasonable price.

 

[SnakeLight64]

I'd say that's a bloody good build! although, if you wanted you could follow this build of a mini-ITX build: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2012/08/31/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-august-2012/6

I'm going to build myself a mini-ITX build and it'll be around the same specs as the one on bit-tech, although, i may change a few things to cut back on the price.

 

[LNERlover5]

The Prodigy is a brilliant case, so many options in such a small space! The main gain from a larger SSD is simply that one can place trainz on it, I found that on a 64GB Crucial M4 while I could get trainz on it there was little space left, the speed was well worth it though as load-time induced lag vanished.

 

[clam1952]

At that price I'd grab it! the i5 3570K has some cracking reviews.
Can't get that setup up from my usual sources for less than £1200 and that's not including the case or cooler.

The SSD if running just the OS 120GB is probably fine, I'm using a 120GB for the OS and a 240GB for the main Trainz install currently about 80GB Case if I'm looking at the right one, has 2 x 2.5 drive bays as well as several 3.5's may as well use them!

 

[pcas1986]

I have two SSDs in my machine: a 120GB for the O/S (Win 7 Pro 64) and another 240GB SSD I bought more recently just for Trainz (TS12, TS120 and TS4) as well as a 2 TB HDD for all my development stuff. The boot drive (C still has about 47GB spare. My HDD has 1.67TB free of a formatted total of 1.81TB. A 3TB HDD is enormous unless you plan to store lots of videos on there.

The SSD is brilliant for fast bootups but I must say that I was disappointed with the Trainz results on the newer SSD. It is no faster than when I had Trainz installed on the HDD.

 

[johnwhelan]

I'm not a great fan of water cooling, water has this nasty habit of leaking slowly over time right in the places where you don't want it to.

I think you'd need a dedicated 240 gig SDD drive for Trainz and I suspect the major advantage is that scenery items might pop up a little faster.

Cheerio John

 

[kin3]

Here's my spec;

PU...........Intel Core I5 3570K
Motherboard...Asrock Z77 Extreme6
Graphic.......EVGA GTX 670
Mem...........16mg Gskill 8Gx2
PSU...........Rosewill Capstone 650
SSD...........Plextor 128G
HD............1Tb
DVD...........LG
OS............WIN 7 Home Preium
case..........Cooler Master HAF 932 full tower

I would get as much ram as you can afford. It is cheap right now and I think Trainz uses a lot of it. I also like a tower case and this one is big and cool.

 

[johnwhelan]

Here's my spec;

PU...........Intel Core I5 3570K
Motherboard...Asrock Z77 Extreme6
Graphic.......EVGA GTX 670
Mem...........16mg Gskill 8Gx2
PSU...........Rosewill Capstone 650
SSD...........Plextor 128G
HD............1Tb
DVD...........LG
OS............WIN 7 Home Preium
case..........Cooler Master HAF 932 full tower

I would get as much ram as you can afford. It is cheap right now and I think Trainz uses a lot of it. I also like a tower case and this one is big and cool.

Currently Trainz is a 32 bit program so even under a 64 bit operating system it will use a max of 4 gigs, the operating system should be happy with a gig anything more just generates heat. Because of the way that dual channel and triple channel memory work you may have to go to 8 or 6 gigs to get 4 available for Trainz.

Cheerio John

 

[clam1952]

I think you'd need a dedicated 240 gig SDD drive for Trainz and I suspect the major advantage is that scenery items might pop up a little faster.

Cheerio John

Basically correct plus load times are a lot quicker and tabs don't suffer from delays in surveyor. EDR's should you need to do them are a lot quicker as well.

 

[shaneturner12]

Only thing to remember with a SSD is not to defragment it.

Shane

 

[clam1952]

Only thing to remember with a SSD is not to defragment it.

Shane

Good point and worth mentioning, incidentally Defraggler Lists SSD Detected against each SSD Drive so you don't defrag them, doubt if MS's Defrag will though.

Edit:
Just had a thought, if anyone has replaced a drive with an SSD, better make sure they haven't got a sheduled defrag set up in Task Sheduler for that Drive letter.

 

[shaneturner12]

Most good defrag software should detect an SSD and refuse to defrag it. In fact, with Windows 7, it will not try to anyway due to the trim function that SSDs support, which I believe Windows 7 does as well.

The software I personally use (O&O Defrag) also supports scheduled use of the SSD Trim function as well.

Shane