.
You're getting a full ATX PC case but instead opt for the midget micro-atx ASUS Gene?
Not 100% sure what you mean, but are you saying I should choose another motherboard?
Because you are going with a small form factor mobo, you could consider a smaller case. Or, conversely, you can look at larger mobos that have more expansion options/slots for future upgrades.
Your budget is very generous, although that's by U.S. newegg standards. I realize Denmark/EU is a good bit more pricey ... but, still, $2000 US is substantial.
I'm gonna stay out of the Intel CPU/mobo recommends; others here know that far better than I.
But two things stand out to my eye.
1) because your budget is so generous, it's a fairly trivial cost to get a pair of 8 GB RAM for total 16 GB in two slots. For one example of performance RAM that will take care of you for some years:
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G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-1600C9D-16GXMI know newegg is out of reach for you, but reference the specs on that to see what value you could target. A pair of RAM sticks can get slightly lower CAS timings than a set of four. These particular sticks can be adjusted a bit more aggressively than others that are more budget. It just means that you have, for the most part, tweaked your RAM toward the higher end of performance and it's unlikely to be your bottleneck on your system going into the future. In this price range, you're doing about the best you can; spending a lot more money will only buy slightly better performance, which you don't need.
Slightly more budget lines that will probably also be everything you could really need:
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G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-1600C10D-16GAO -
CORSAIR XMS3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model CMX16GX3M2A1600C11Just likely you'll end up with very slightly lower timings for the applied voltage & no or limited overclock options ... things that don't sound like they'll affect you from what you've posted so far.
2) The SSD is pretty small. A 60 GB is large enough for your OS. We assume it's Win7, which will install between 20 GB and 25 GB and slowly bloat over the years up to about 30-ish GB. After formatting a 60 GB, you'll have approx. 54 GB usable space ... so about 24 GB left over for apps & games that can best use SSD speeds. Further, you generally want to keep about 8% - 10% of your SSD free or it can slow down quite a bit. Still faster than a mechanical drive, but let's say for estimate that you really only have ~20 GB available space for apps. Yes, I'm estimating aggressively, but really you're not gonna have more than about 5 GB more than I just listed ... so ...
Consider SSDs in the 120/128 GB range. Right now, these are the best value for your money. You can go with a 60 GB SSD that'll run you $80 to $100 on the low end, or you can look at 120 GB drives that go as low as $95 - $110 on the low end, up to about $140 - $160 for very superior brands, such as
Crucial, Mushkin, Patriot, Intel, Samsung & Plextor. I'd avoid OCZ, Kingston, ADATA, Corsair and some of the more off-name brands for right now ... they seem to have some fairly serious reliability issues that still have not been resolved, and they sell their stuff at low prices which sucks a lot of people in.
A couple examples:
Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW120A3K5 120GB SATA III MLC - a bit pricey. I don't like the MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 1,200,000 hours, especially for this price. 1.5 million and 2 million hours are better if you can find them .. however, Intel makes really damned reliable SSDs, so probably a decent bet for a 520 series (slight upgrade from their 320 budget line). Uses Sandforce controller, which has been problematic ... however, the last four to six months it seems that most manufacturers have finally tracked down and solved the bugs in those.
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR90GB 90GB SATA III MLC - good price at $1 per GB, very reliable brand. 2 million hours MTBF, also a Sandforce controller. You "
should" be able to find something at $1 or slightly less per GB these days, even in the EU.
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC064D/AM 64GB SATA III MLC - very pricey for the size. However, a reliable model/series (830) w/ 1.5 million MTBF, using the Samsung proprietary controller, which has been excellent. The 64 GB unformatted size here could make quite a bit of difference over a 60 GB if you're shaving it this close.
Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe MKNSSDCL120GB-DX 120GB SATA II MLC - Notice this is
SATA II,
not III. For your needs, SATA II on an SSD may well be worth the compromise if the price and reliability numbers are good. There's a lot going for this particular drive, especially if I found it for about $95 or $100 ... which it was on sale just recently.
And I'll stop with this one:
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 128GB SATA III MLC - I like it for the 128 instead of 120 unformatted size, and comes in under $1 per GB, barely. But, have seen this on sale for $105, also. I don't like the 1.2 million MTBF, but that's in comparison to others ... it's still substantial, and Crucial is one of the most reliable brands on the market at the moment. Notice this one uses the Marvel controller. It has had substantially fewer issues than the Sandforce. Although, again, in recent months most of the Sandforce issues seem to have been addressed by most manufacturers, so it probably isn't such a big deal anymore. Just pointing out, this is the other major controller option to keep an eye on.
And, I suppose
3) - the mechanical hard drive. Try to avoid the WD Green drives, especially if you will install any apps on it .. which you almost assuredly will if you go with a 60/64 GB SSD. Try to find an affordable WD Caviar Black. And, if you happen to run across a good price/deal, no reason you can't install a notebook drive or two in your system.
So, if you happen to find a 640 GB or 750 GB WD Scorpio Black, or even two, at a good price break, you can certainly consider that option. They will be lower power, run at lower temps, have about the same performance, and generally be much more reliable ... very especially if you have to install apps on it/them. Your budget could allow you to maybe get an SSD, plus a WD Scorpio Black (maybe 320 or 500 GB) for additional apps + application work space (think: photoshop scratch drive) + some performance data storage, and then a 1 or 1.5 TB Green drive strictly for data storage.
Keep an eye out for the 1 TB F3 Spinpoint or the 2 TB F4 Spinpoint drives from Samsung. If you see them at a good price break, they are quite reliable drives for mass data storage.
Again, I don't know what you'll face in the current EU market, so of course you have to adjust accordingly. But, the approximate percentages in difference should hold.
