# Which board for my i5-2500k?



## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

I am currently building a new PC for gaming/streaming and need a little bit of help on which mobo to purchase. I am really set on the i5-2500k processor and have been reading a ton of information about the different boards. I do not plan on upgrading anytime soon or need anything for IvyBridge. I was thinking about a p67 since I do not plan on using the integrated graphics. I do not need SLI/Crossfire. I am just curious about which board to actually get. I will list what I will be planning to do here: 

2 hard drives (1 SSD with a HDD or 2 HDD) 
1 video card 
2x4g RAM 
Overclock the processor 
Stream games @ 720p 

Just looking for a really solid board for something like that. My price range is around $150-$175 if that helps. Any kind of response would be greatly appreciated been running in circles trying to find something...

I had someone recommend this board Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

said it was best choice for the price range. any thoughts?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Hi Skrail, Welcome to TSF!!

Even if you dont use the integrated graphics a Z77 will do fine as well

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

or 

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Thanks shotgn!  I have one more crucial question if you don't mind... here is my build set up I'm going with:

Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD 
GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI 
SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I was wondering what PSU to go with this build? I do plan on overclocking so I have no clue which one to go with that will power it reliably. I'm looking to only spend $60-$80 for one...


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Edit: Also running this memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

$60 to $80 will not get you a good quality PSU. You need 550W minimum for the 550ti. 
Drop the SSD, not a good value at this time and will get you little more than faster boot times, and apply the savings to a good quality PSU.
SeaSonic-XFX-Corsair (not the CX-GS-M Series) are top quality.
If you just have to OC, go with a 650W PSU.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ok I dropped the SSD for a Seagate 1TB, thanks for the info  I also looked at a couple of the PSUs you mentioned..eeek. Do you have any suggestions on which one? I also do not need SLI/Crossfire ready PSU.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Good quality PSU's, an absolute necessity, are not cheap.
SeaSonic-XFX-Corsair (not the CX-GS-M Series) are top quality.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

As Tyree stated, That is one component you do not want to skimp on. 

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Newegg.com - XFX Core Edition PRO650W (P1-650S-NLB9) 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ok so I went ahead and added the corsair PSU you linked me. Here is my build as of yet  looks pretty good so far http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4nl717v3o1r90yc7o1_500.jpg
any suggestions?
now lets just hope it all goes together fine lol.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

All looks compatible. What case are you using?


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

still in the market for one D: not sure yet..also thank you all for the help! much appreciated! as far as the case goes, I'm not looking for anything visually fancy..just something with good air flow I guess and that will have enough room for the mobo and card.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

My personal favorite mainstream case. I have used this case in builds several times. 
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Coolermaster makes great cases and has excellent customer support.
Antec is good as well.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Best bang-for-buck motherboard for socket 1155 in my opinion:

Newegg.com - ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASUS and Gigabyte as a brand are better than ASRock, but that particular ASRock board is a great buy.

You can spend the savings on getting a better video card if you haven't bought one already. The 2500k is capable of much more intense gaming than a 550 Ti can support.


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

I'd go with
Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
for the mail in rebate, puts it at the same price the asus shotgn recommended, which is also good, but you get an extra PCI-E slot and SLI ability (which you said is not important to you, but it's essentially free here) The board toothman recommended also looks good, but it is a sandy bridge mobo, only supports ram speeds up to 2133 versus 2400, and Asus is like the top of the line. They always have the best chipset heatsinks and everything. His is probably the better bang for the buck though. Tough decision.

For case I'd go with
Newegg.com - Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock
because it has a front panel USB 3.0 port, and an HDD dock on top.

I'd also say that I think small SSD's can be worth it IF you have a large file storage drive somewhere on your network. All you need is 1 in a house and after that I believe small SSD's are the way to go on gaming comuputers. If you don't have 1 or you're not networking your computers, then go HDD.

BTW the way you are linking screenshots of your shopping cart is very odd, why don't you just right click each item in your cart, click copy link location, and paste the URL here, like we are doing and like you did in your first post? Your 2nd post looks like you are highlighting the items, then right clicking and copying and pasting... just right click the names of the items because they are hyperlinks, and copy link location(if using firefox)... or "copy shortcut" if you are using IE (god forbid?) If you're using tabs, right click the other tab and click move to new window, so you don't have to keep going back and forth between tabs for each item

Also, why 720P????


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

CoolerMaster and Antec make some very well constructed cases in the $50 to $75 range.
One 120mm fan in front & rear will give the proper case cooling. Too many fans can disrupt the desired front to rear airflow.

The Antec 300 is a very well made case: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

@Toothman & darfvayda:
I already ended up purchasing the Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS for a mobo before I could get back to view these forums :tongue:

@Toothman: I am currently building 2 of these machines and trying to keep the grand total under $2000. I would love to get a better graphics card that the computer is going to be made for, but with my expenses at the moment, I don't think that's possible. If you know of any better card in that range, I would love to know about it:smile:

@darfvayda: I ended up going with the Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive for the hard drive. Dropped the SSD cause we aren't networking these machines and cost. Yes, the linking of items was terrible on my part lol. I should have just used "Copy link address". Currently running Google Chrome, not IE (ewwww) lol. I want to stream my gameplay @ 720-720p because it is a good resolution for viewers and going any higher to say 1050 or 1080p is overkill for little increase in sharpness. My computer will show the game in higher res but through the streaming program (Xsplit), you set it to a certain res that viewers will be watching.

@Tyree: Checked out some cases from those companies  Might be a stupid question, but does it matter what case I get for my mobo? are they all universal?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

> Checked out some cases from those companies  Might be a stupid question, but does it matter what case I get for my mobo? are they all universal?


They are universal, some are just better made than others


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Thanks shotgn! that is really good news


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

However make sure that the case says it supports ATX. Some smaller cases only support micro-atx and smaller. But if you go with a Mid or Full Tower you will be fine.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Any case that will accept the ATX Mobo will do. Mid-Towers are the better choice.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

mid it is then  after the account gets murdered, i'll look for a case lol


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

any ideas for a card better than Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ?

same price area but a little better?


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

I guess I don't really get what these computers are being used for... I assumed gaming. What are you going to be streaming to viewers? Movies on a large screen or something?

A 6850 would be better than a 550ti and about the same price, maybe a little more expensive, but both are probably overkill for 720p.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

darfvayda said:


> I guess I don't really get what these computers are being used for... I assumed gaming. What are you going to be streaming to viewers? Movies on a large screen or something?


Streaming games. Diablo 3, League of Legends, and maybe some World of Warcraft.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

The card is really just for my graphics satisfaction and FPS. The streaming will really rely on memory, processor, and internet upload speed.


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

So as you're playing, you're streaming your game out over the net so other people can watch you play? What's the point of that? Just wondering.

I'd suggest 
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L )


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L ) this is same price w/256 bit compared to the Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card w/192 bit. Then there is the more expensive option with 2GB on it 256 bit: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (100315-2GL )


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

darfvayda said:


> So as you're playing, you're streaming your game out over the net so other people can watch you play? What's the point of that? Just wondering.
> 
> I'd suggest
> Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L )


TwitchTV
Viewer count = the ability to play adds. Adds make you money. Maybe a pipe dream but oh well lol.


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

Cool, never seen anything like that.

1GB is all you need for 1 monitor, 2GB would be better if you were running 2 or 3 monitors.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ok I'm pretty sold on Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L )


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

plus this: GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs Radeon HD 6850 – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Skrail said:


> ok I'm pretty sold on Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L )



Good choice


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

@Tyree and anyone else:
The Antec 300 case is awesome. Tyree stated "One 120mm fan in front & rear will give the proper case cooling. Too many fans can disrupt the desired front to rear airflow." Do I not use the top fan that it comes with then and just throw a 140 on the front? Also, the PSU has a fan on the top of it. That case holds the PSU on the bottom rear. Will the fan from the PSU pushing air upwards matter at all? case: Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case PSU: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Mainly what cause air turbulence in cases are side fans. The front (intake) and rear and top (exhaust) are fine.

The psu will also vent out the rear of the case. That fan on the psu intakes air.


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

When the PSU is in the bottom of the case, it is upside down(at least in mine), and it sucks air in from the (now) top and blows it out the back of the case.

Looks like consensus says the top fan is also best to be used as an intake.... everything as an intake except the fans at the back of the case to keep the highest positive pressure inside.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

I happen to disagree with the top fan being used as intake but to each their own.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

If you can afford the 6850 over the 550 Ti, that would be a great improvement. But don't use hardwarecompare, especially for Nvidia versus AMD. It tells you very little about real-world usage. The best data for that would be individual game benchmarks.

As for cooling, I prefer to match intake and exhaust. Sucking hot air out is just as important and blowing cool air in.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

yeah I went with the 6850  bought and on the way. Plan on using the Antec 300 with 2x140 fans in front and just using exhaust on top and back rear.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

The pus should have the fan on the bottom to draw in cool air and not the cases hot air. That's why the case is designed like that. My case has raised rubber feet with a screeen guard over the bottom air intake so it draws cool air.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

what case is designed with the bottom intake like that? also with the same price and quality as the Antec 300?


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

My Coolermaster CM690 II is designed like that.

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

Seems like with the PSU drawing air from underneath, the air it is exhausting could just get looped back right underneath. When it's drawing air from inside the case, it's helping to cool the inside of the case by acting as another exhaust fan. Hmmm, hard to say which is best.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

I mount my PSU's bottom up in bottom mount cases primarily because I am very skeptical of the PSU being able to get sufficient air with the fan on the bottom. It puts the wiring to the front but nobody sees it anyway.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Tyree said:


> I mount my PSU's bottom up in bottom mount cases primarily because I am very skeptical of the PSU being able to get sufficient air with the fan on the bottom. It puts the wiring to the front but nobody sees it anyway.


It gets more than enough air Tyree. The PSU fan is barely running so much so I can't hear a thing. Why suck hot air to cool the PSU. Kinda defeats the purpose of cooling, no? PSU's would not be designed to run in that manner if it was an issue. The case has to be designed for it though! I've got tons of PC's out there setup like that and no issues whatsoever!


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case this case was recommended to me from a friend but just out of my price range  want to buy 2 for the builds and was planning on keeping it below $100 for both. Antec 300 it is  thanks everybody for the info  everyone has been really helpful! appreciate it so much

So do I want some beefy fans for the Antec 300 to mount in the front for some really good air flow?


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Did some research on fans and cooling. So I want the same amount of CFM coming in the front and exiting the back and top rear (intake and exhaust all same CFM). If that is the way to go, I'm probably going to have to switch out the 2 stock fans on the Antec 300 for something with more exhaust power because I'm planning on going with either two of these in the front Newegg.com - Scythe DFS123812-3000 "ULTRA KAZE" 120 x 38 mm Case Fan or two of these Newegg.com - Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan . The question is now, do I need that much cooling power? 

The side case fan is bugging me. Wondering if I should just cover it.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The Antec 300 comes with Antec Tri-Cool fans that have three user adjustable speeds. Adding a 120mm Tri-Cool to the front would be all that you need. I disconnect the top 140mm fan.


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

you would want to put those ultra kaze at the back, and have all the other fans on intake add up to the ultra kaze cfm


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ahh sounds good  where can I get the TriCool fans at? newegg with no search results 

and what about the side panel fan? do you block it or leave it open? considering air flow in the case?


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

also the top? blocked or open?


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

@darfvayda: I would like those fans but if I can save money and only have to buy 2 Antec Tricools (1 for each case) I'd rather do that


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## darfvayda (Apr 9, 2012)

Are you going to be overclocking? If not, you probably don't need to worry about it. The case fans that come with it should suffice, and I wouldn't advise overclocking until after about 30 days of use. In that time, you can see what your temps are like, then see what they're like after a little overclocking, then decide if you'd like to get some more case fans or not.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

There's not much need to overclock these modern day processors. I overclocked mine from 3.2 to 3.8 and didn't see a whole lot of difference except my whole system ran hotter.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

The Antec 300 does not include a side mount fan and side fans commonly disrupt the desire front to rear air flow. If there is an opening where no fan is used. you can block it, use a filter or leave as is.
As above, OC'ing is not needed with modern CPU's and voids warranties.


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ok I wont OC until a month of use...might not need to at all. probably just get a filter for the fan openings I don't use. Just trying to find the fan specs for the 120mm in the rear so I can buy a 120mm for the front >.< I really want at least 1 in the front...


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

ordered the cases and found the identical Antec TriCool fans Newegg.com - Antec 761345-75120-9 120mm Case Fan


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

Everything arrived except the memory. Figured out that I don't want a 1TB HDD, would rather use it for storage. Thinking of getting a good HDD or SSD. The problem I now encounter is buying a nice HDD for boot/load times is almost ridiculous considering an SSD will cost you the same price...might as well go with the SSD. Thoughts?


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

SSDs give faster boot/load times but come with _much_ worse dollars-to-gigabytes. I use a 7200 HDD for boot/games and don't feel like it's too slow at all.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Skrail said:


> The problem I now encounter is buying a nice HDD for boot/load times is almost ridiculous considering an SSD will cost you the same price...might as well go with the SSD. Thoughts?


What SSD is equal to price of a standard HDD of the same capacity?


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## Skrail (May 26, 2012)

I'm talking like, an HDD with 10,000 rpm SATA 6.0gb/s. Better off going with SSD even though there is less space.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Depends on the price range. These two:

Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLHX 300GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

may not be all that different in cost-effectiveness, but the bigger 10k HDDs have much, much more gb/$. For example:

Newegg.com - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

In my opinion, a standard 7200rpm is still just fine.


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## ComputerColby (May 30, 2012)

Prices for SSD's are going down. The only reason their high is because they are new.


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