Yeah, I try to cut down on my electricity consumption and do most of my work on my laptop.
OC sucks a lot of power from the sockets!
where would i find information regarding this cell layering for a specific drive or does it just go by model?
I was planning on going with a 60gb with windows 8, everyone agree?
With the current (very reasonable) cost of SSD's, you'll kick yourself later if you get less than a 120/128. Windows 8 plus the basics (Office, Acrobat, etc) will chew up 30 before you even start doing anything.
PPtk
You'd want more than 60GB, especially if you don't want to move your documents folder and secondary programs, etc. Plus you'd want some extra space for installing those programs you use regularly and don't want to always have to wait for it to load.
The cell layering thing really does go by model/series, so you have to search each one you're interested in, up.
I know the entire Samsung 840 series (the cheapest major market SSDs) are MLC, so is only 1,000ish write cycles.
One thing I would like to point out is that Samsung makes two versions of the 840 series SSD, the basic and the pro.
I’d avoid the basic, since while it’s a decent SSD, it uses TLC, compared to MLC, and stores three bits per cell compared to two bits per cell. As mentioned above, this reduces the lifespan of the SSD.
The 840 series pro on the other hand, is quite a different story. It’s easily the best SSD in the current market. Another difference is that the pro series comes in sizes of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB, compared to 120G, 250G, and 500GB of the basic series.
I agree with that, 128gb min, but you can consider just running the os and programs on the ssd and all data on hard drives, or even plug in drives with usb 3. Data retrieval is fast enough either way, and it makes back-up easy; just clone the drives. It’s a good idea to back up the os on the storage disks as well; every disk is bootable, and every drive is an instantly bootable, running computer with no down time, and re-creating or upgrading the boot disk is painless and can be done from any system drive, and only takes an hour rather than a day.
That’s how I do it, there may be some unforseen downsides, but I haven’t run into any yet.
If you’re just a casual gamer, AMD FM2 platform with A10 CPU is really good (and budget wise) choice. Otherwise i5 with additional AMD graphic card is a way to go… And btw. good luck with choosing intel chipset/mobo J)
Kingston V300 or Samsung 840PRO 120GB min. would be my choice for system hdd (depending on a budget of course)
Choosing data hdd is much trickier task as you can basically chose only between seagate and wd (toshiba 3.5” is a “newcomer” based on hitachi) Despite making promise to myself many years ago that I would never buy WD hdd in my life I did just that recently as Seagate is even worse now :exmark: To be more precise WD20EZRX 2TB model.
I recently got a usb 3.0 external drive, it should keep me running for quite a while, though i do appreciate the 128gb advice and am now researching in that direction.
what does everyone think of this drive, it seems to be one of the few that meet the requirements for the best price
interesting website, it seems i am going for the superb minus a few components, they should add the capability of making my own column because i am picking parts from different categories
I recently upgraded my old AMD Athlon 64 single core on an Asus A8N-SLI Premium running Windows XP. There was nothing wrong with the old system except that it is showing its age and newer programs are using up more memory than the 2 Gig I have on the motherboard and I cannot play 1080p video smoothly.
The system I upgraded to is an i5-3570K on another Asus P8Z77-V running Windows 7. I bought the older Samsung 830 SSD and bootup time to the desktop is only 20 seconds including typing in my password. I am very satisfied with the upgrade and look forward to another 5 to 7 years of use from it.
Both my old and new systems are overclocked and I never had any issues with the CPU or motherboard.
The stock intel heatsink is fine if you’re not planning on overclocking your processor, and it runs reasonably quiet when it’s not clogged with dust and debris.
Bort -
If you're going i5, you definitely need the 3570K. It has an unlocked multiplier so you can overclock it with ease, is hardly more than a 4570, is less than a 4670 and an overclocked 3570K will rip the panties off either one. I just built a new i5 and two i7 systems and I'll tell you what, a 3570K can hang with and even spank the $100 more expensive 3770K i7.
Not sure what your budget is but I'll spec a blistering fast system for you right here:
cpu: Intel i5 3570K $219.99 (seriously consider a cooler, $50- $100 depending)
mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 $134.99 (Foy's home rig has the Extreme6 $154.99)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 gig kit (2 x 4) 1600 low profile $72.99 (in case you step up the cpu cooler, which you should) (overkillFoy recommends a 16gb/4 x 4 kit)
OS drive: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB SSD $149.99
storage drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB/64mb cache/7200rpm $142.99 (better yet, get 2 of these bad boys and strip 'em for a super fast RAID O)
video: EVGA GTX 650 Superclocked $149.99 (if you're not a heavy gamer, but even if you are this is still not bad and you can go SLI later because the Extreme4 has two 3.0x 16 lanes) - graphics card is kind of hard to guess without knowing your needs)
psu: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800 $159.99 (never skimp on the power supply - if you can afford more, do it)
optical: Lite-On Blue-Ray/DVD burner $74.99
And whatever case you're using. $1,100 and it will scream, I promise. I've had my 3570K OC at 4.4GHz for over 7 months (with a honking Noctua cooler) and it is dead reliable and completely stable. It will cold boot Win 8 to a desktop in about 15 seconds. If you don't game you can save on a cheaper card (or spend waaaay more) and a buck-fifty for 3 gig on the hard drive, doesn't make sense to go small.
I've built quite a few systems and I tend to be rather narrow minded on a few things. Right now, when so damn much horsepower can be had for relative pennies, only an idiot buys AMD. Same goes for RAM and drive space, overkill doesn't cost that much more. When it comes to solid state drives, I go almost exclusively with Samsung. With not a single SSD failure in the last dozen or so rigs I've built, I don't care if Sammy is best or not. Foy simply does not have the energy to experiment and I know I won't be getting annoying phone calls because of the SSD.
And, if that's not enough flame bait, here's one more: Foy absolutely loves Windows 8, best OS there is. Period. Just be sure to install Classic Shell.
bringitFoy
You can't SLI that card.
Overclocked i5-3570K is a great idea!
CPU-Z Validator 3.1 - it just murders any (non-overclocked, of course) i7’s in benchmarks 
Foy, what’s your Noctua cooler model, if you don’t mind me asking?
How are the temps? 
I definitely recommend Samsung 830 SSDs, I've read a lot of good things about them and I own one.
60Gb is a no go, 120/128GB is needed.
840 Pro are great too (they’re basically upgraded 830’s), but avoid non-Pro 840’s - they use TLC memory that will wear out very fast.
Thanks for taking the time to do such a detailed post Mr Foy 
I already have a WD 3TB USB 3.0 external, so thats taken care of, and i agree, you can never have enough storage space. I am definitely going for 128GB SSD after all the recommendations here, i am currently considering this, does it have the good cells?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1088&item_id=057861
I have not yet looked into mobo, ram, power supply or case, but plan to.
I’ve traditionally bought Asus motherboards, but would consider MSI, i don’t know anything about ASRock though, and would appreciate mid range board suggestions, with an eye on longevity, i won’t be overclocking though.
I know nothing about modern Ram companies, what to buy, what to avoid, but i am planning on getting 8GB
Power supplies i also know little about, i know Corsair has ones with 7 year warranties, not sure if i will go that pricey, but would be interested in good quality
I’m not picky about cases, as long as its not super thin sheet metal and is durable enough i am happy, it sits in a corner so looking nice is pointless, its all about decent durability, are there cases i should avoid?
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, and they are taken to heart, i’ve already changed a few ideas based on your suggestions
Any thoughts on this mobo, should i go for something different, a bit pricier for more features/performance, or faster ram support (if there is such a board)? Should i go for an MSI instead?