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[Toriad]

I need some third party "expert" opinions on this build I found online recently, I have little to no experience in computer components and would like to know if this would be a viable budget high performance desktop pc build.

Motherboard
Asus M4A79XTD EVO Motherboard   ($100)

CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor  ($120)

RAM

Corsair XMS3 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM  ($40)

Video Card

Sapphire 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 Video Card  ($110)

Hard Drive

Seagate Barracuda 1TB  ($55)

DVD Burner

ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD Burner  ($21)

Case

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case  ($35)

Power Supply

Cooler Master GX Series 650W  ($90)


TOTAL COST: $623 (USD)

[Thief^]

Looks pretty good to me:
Asus are a good brand, the motherboard should be stable
Top-end quad-core cpu, niice
Mid-high gpu
Seagate Barracuda hard-disks are nice and high-speed
DVD burner, meh, doesn't matter much
Case, meh, doesn't matter much
Power-supply is 80+ (bronze) certified, so should be decent, and 650W should be plenty of power for a single-gpu system

[Phmcw]

A small SDD for the OS and games install would do wonder on your boot/loading time.

[dageek]

That's a good computer for a decent price, but you should get an SSD for your OS and keep documents and stuff on the other HDD.

[Toriad]

Oh? What makes SSD better then HDD? also, isn't the lifespan shorter too?

[klingon13524]

But will it blend?

[Tilla]

Oh? What makes SSD better then HDD? also, isn't the lifespan shorter too?

Shorter lifespan but if you're just using it for OS and a few high-data apps (fancy games) it'll last longer. The advantage is in sheer speed, both in boot and in seeking in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt6VbOY3xE0 this one is 4 years ago and the speed has only improved I imagine

[Phmcw]

Oh? What makes SSD better then HDD? also, isn't the lifespan shorter too?

Way faster to read and write , which mean that when your whole OS have to load in Ram or when your high end game have to load, it will do so much faster. The downside is that the GB is very expensive and shorter life. Which is why you only install your OS, games and programs on it, and your data, movies and music on your classical HDD.

[G-Flex]

There have also been reports that SSDs, despite having no moving parts, can have a startlingly high failure rate. They're a newish technology, so I wouldn't touch them unless you have a lot of cash to blow and can make backups (or don't care much if it fails).

[Toriad]

Decisions decisions. Also how practical is it to run a pc without a case? like all the chips just sitting around on the table for example. Any downsides other then the aesthetics and dust?

[G-Flex]

If you do that, I'll smack you across the face via telnet. That's how stupid that idea is.

Also, why would you have free-floating chips as part of your computer configuration? That's a tad confusing.


For a more serious response: You need a case to protect from dust, protect from mechanical disturbances (and getting hit with things), protect from fluids, to keep everything in proper position, to properly ground things that should be grounded and insulate things that shouldn't be, and to achieve proper airflow/cooling. Those are the reasons I can think of off the top of my head, anyway.

[Phmcw]

Or is it? There are case that are basically nothing but a big fan... But it still does sound like a good idea. Except if you're willing to make your own case substitute, which I wouldn't advice for a beginner.

[G-Flex]

Or is it?

Yes.

[Tilla]

There are some neat open-air cases out there, Linus from NCIX (he does their videos on youtube benchmarking and unboxing products and such) uses one for his home system testing. You definitely do NOT want to run it exposed for threats like dust, insects etc most of the time though, he tests parts for a living There's a reason why every computer on the market comes in a case, beyond just keeping stuff neat, it protects them from the elements and directs the cooling where needed properly, and most will reduce noise significantly too - unless you're going liquid-cooled and even then hard drives and the like still whir a bunch. There's really a lot that can go wrong.

[G-Flex]

Even an open-air case needs to be designed to, say, insulate boards from being grounded where they shouldn't be, and provide ground points (possibly not in all cases?) where necessary. You can't just sit a motherboard on a desk and expect it to work for a significant period of time.