Building New PC

[Boyiee]

Havent built one in a while, and have an idea of what I'm looking for, but any suggestions help.

It'll be a desktop, all I need is the tower - have monitor/etc so yeah.

Right now I'm running an AMD 3700+ 2.21ghz 2gbram on xp pro with an 8800gt. I'm looking to get a quad core, probably 4870X2 or CF 4870's or even an SLI setup, and thats my main concern cause I've never done that before - lots of reviews back and fourth about what exactly to get which I was looking for opinions on. I want to run Raid0 as well, have never done or set that up before and it's also a worry of mine. Right now I have an 80gb HDD which is pleanty for me, I don't need much, so the greatest I can see myself getting is 2x 250gb's, anymore than that seems wasted, infact that seems kinda wasted as well but hey I'd like it to last a while.

The quad core I was looking at is an intel 2.83ghz, looking at Vista ultimate with 4gb of ram. Any suggestions? Has anyone built anything similar lately? Looking to spend 1500-2k, with 1700 being the sweetspot pricewise. My main issue is cooling, I burnt out my 8800gts a few months ago, and no fucking clue how even, so with getting such a large upgrade, and with rumors that 48xx CF/QF setups are loud as fuck, I'm just concerned about good cooling since if I'm spending 500+ on a card alone, I don't want it to fry.

It will be a dual monitor setup, I play alot of wow and cod4 and UT so it's gotta be able to fly through those. Also with the new games coming out this year, and things like Fallout (which i've never played before) I want it to just run well.

Any part suggestions I would greatly appreciate, any wishlists on newegg that you have recently set up or have on hand, or are bored enough to make would be fantastic.

Here is my current possible setup - any suggestions or whole new setups would be greatly appreciated. I DO multitask like crazy, I run alot of things at once and by christmas I'll be using 2x 22inch monitors as well, really dont want to burn anything out. Like i said, cooling is a big concern, I've never setup liquid before, and really this will be the 2nd pc i've built so any help on Raid or SLI/CF would be great. I have an AMD board now, looking at intel for my next.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=5222009

(btw I know there is better rebates on some memory I just threw those in for now and see what else is out there)

[Boyiee]

Wow these threads usually get alot of replies... I didn't want to put this thread in general or necrobump an older thread from general... is what I put together a good build? I know you guys are pretty good at recommending different mobos/cpus/psu/vid cards or are on the ball about compatibility options.

[Blabj]

I'd change the RAM for OCZ RAM if you can (assuming from your choice of components that you'd probably be overclocking this a little bit?) I have the same RAM and although it's decent it doesn't overclock terribly well, go for RAM with a lower timing (example; the ram you chose has 5-5-5-15, look for 4-4-4-12 or better)

Similarly, you could go for a better HSF, I would suggest a Tuniq Tower 120, which offers better cooling than the Freezer Pro 7 and thus you'll be able to get a higher overclock.

I would also say get a better case since the one you've picked is gaudy as hell and I wouldn't like to sit anywhere near it. And spec a couple of case fans since you'll need all the airflow you can get. You'll also get 2-3 SaTa cables with your Mobo and possibly your case so I wouldn't bother with that either, and most heatsinks come pre-installed with thermal paste (I know for a fact the Tuniq and the Arctic Cooling do) so unless you wanna get your hands dirty cleaning off the old paste and spreading more yourself you could spec that out too, although putting your own paste on may affect cooling a little bit.

[Xanthe]

While timings for memory are important, you should also look at the speed. DDR2 1066 with 5-5-5-15 timings will most likely outperform DDR2 800 at 4-4-4-12. Just make sure whatever motherboard you get supports the memory speed.

Regarding your motherboard choice, since you are going with an ATI video card I would suggest not getting an nForce motherboard. I would get an Intel chipset instead, such as a P45 or X48.

I'm personally going with an ASUS Rampage Formula X48, Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 2x 2GB, and the same processor you selected, an Intel Q9550.

[Shuemue]

I'd agree on the Tuniq or Ultra 120 for cooling over the Freezer 7 Pro, and I'd suggest a Corsair PSU. I'd been an Antec fanboy, but I went with a Corsair after reading a few reviews and I'm glad I did.

[levish]

I have reservations about running ATI products on a NVidia board (mostly baseless) but I'd personally just go for a Intel based Board

[Shuemue]

I'm running a Gigabyte P45 board, extremely happy with it, everything just worked instantly.

[Blabj]

Asus P5K Wifi-Ap Premium here, very satisfied.

[Boyiee]

I've never run an ATI board before, and I'm kinda hesitant. The only thing is, the 4870X2 is pretty damn good, and I'm not sure what's comparable nvidia wise... is it the 280? I haven't heard too many good things about it.

I'm gonna check into the intel chipsets, as long as I can keep that cpu cause i'm pretty set on that - unless there is something else around it's price that will really do me well.

[Boyiee]

Ok, this is what I've come up with through recommendations from you guys and others.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=5222009

Only about $80 in MIR's but that's not a big deal. I was expecting to spend 1500-2k anyway.

I might cut back on a few options, but not sure yet. If I do it'd probably be on case, -1HDD, and PSU - it seems a little much but it is pretty damn nice lol.

[Xanthe]

Some nice revisions you've made there. I've got a couple more suggestions for you just from what I've come across in my research.

For the graphics card, go with the Sapphire branding instead of the Diamond. I asked around and people have been a lot more satisfied with Sapphire cards than Diamond, plus the warranty period is much longer, especially important with such a large investment. They cost exactly the same, so it won't impact your budget to switch.

Your power supply is a good choice, but overpowered for your system. Unfortunately, if you want to stick with a Corsair power supply and still have it be modular and 80+ certified (energy efficiency rating) you're not going to find anything better. I ended up going with a 750W Thermaltake Toughpower. While it's 250W less than the power supply you had picked out, it's more than enough to power your system and it costs almost half of the Corsair while still being from a highly reputable company, and it's still modular and 80+ certified. Ultimately your decision, but an excellent point to save money by being more efficient. Note I'm NOT condoning getting a cheapo power supply to save money. This happens to be a quality component that currently has $80 off in discounts and rebates.

Regarding hard drives, you can be a little more cost-efficient with your $/GB. There is no good reason for you to get two 250GB drives when you can get a single 1TB drive for almost the same exact price unless your plan on running RAID (which it doesn't appear you are). Instead of getting those two drives, spend $10 more from what you saved on the power supply and get a single 1TB drive.

For cases, check out the Antec 900 and 1200 as well. Thermaltake Armor is a great case, but it doesn't hurt to look around. One great aspect of the Antec cases is that they use all 120mm+ case fans which makes for an overall quieter cooling solution. In fact, you can get the 1200 for less than the Termaltake Armor after all discounts and shipping costs. The 1200 is probably the most comparable to your current choice. Take a look and see what you think.

These are all just my opinions I've formed from the past few months of researching my own build, so take them as you will. Good luck as you pull together your system!

[levish]

switch out the tuniq for a Xigmatek 1283 / 1284 or Thermalrite Ultra 120 Extreme / fan of your choice

although at this point I'd personally wait on Nehalem and build a system based around that, i mean its another month or two for general availability and you'd be looking to use ddr3 for it

just saying :s

[Jotaru]

I'm gonna just toss this here instead of making a new thread-

With all this talk of CPU overheating (and since I have an E6850 OC'd from 3.0 to 3.4) I decided to check on CPU temp, and its idling currently at 34' (FFXI running) and under load (had both cores @ 100) the highest I saw it was 45-50... it seems to be amply cooled on its own, and I'm just using the stock cooler that came with it. That being said, its saying my ambient system temperature is 55' (then again, this reading is coming off RivaTuner) and my vid card (8800GT) is sitting currently at 68' - again, with only FFXi running, and its not currently overclocked.

Ideas to rectify this? I have a 120mm in front, and a 120mm on top, but none in the back due to it being a secondhand case and never really messing with fans myself before... The way my case is setup, the PSU is on the bottom, and the GPU is just pushing its air downward; it probably isn't making very much airflow down there to mix it up and cool things off. Are there vid card coolers I can buy, or some way I can sort things out so its not 70' IDLE?

Edit: Feeling around a bit, my northbridge heatsink is OMGWTF hot; is this a problem? And can I fix it? /shudder

[Boyiee]

Some nice revisions you've made there. I've got a couple more suggestions for you just from what I've come across in my research.

For the graphics card, go with the Sapphire branding instead of the Diamond. I asked around and people have been a lot more satisfied with Sapphire cards than Diamond, plus the warranty period is much longer, especially important with such a large investment. They cost exactly the same, so it won't impact your budget to switch.

Your power supply is a good choice, but overpowered for your system. Unfortunately, if you want to stick with a Corsair power supply and still have it be modular and 80+ certified (energy efficiency rating) you're not going to find anything better. I ended up going with a 750W Thermaltake Toughpower. While it's 250W less than the power supply you had picked out, it's more than enough to power your system and it costs almost half of the Corsair while still being from a highly reputable company, and it's still modular and 80+ certified. Ultimately your decision, but an excellent point to save money by being more efficient. Note I'm NOT condoning getting a cheapo power supply to save money. This happens to be a quality component that currently has $80 off in discounts and rebates.

Regarding hard drives, you can be a little more cost-efficient with your $/GB. There is no good reason for you to get two 250GB drives when you can get a single 1TB drive for almost the same exact price unless your plan on running RAID (which it doesn't appear you are). Instead of getting those two drives, spend $10 more from what you saved on the power supply and get a single 1TB drive.

For cases, check out the Antec 900 and 1200 as well. Thermaltake Armor is a great case, but it doesn't hurt to look around. One great aspect of the Antec cases is that they use all 120mm+ case fans which makes for an overall quieter cooling solution. In fact, you can get the 1200 for less than the Termaltake Armor after all discounts and shipping costs. The 1200 is probably the most comparable to your current choice. Take a look and see what you think.

These are all just my opinions I've formed from the past few months of researching my own build, so take them as you will. Good luck as you pull together your system!

As for harddrives go, I don't need space. I wanted to run Raid, since I've never done it before. 500gb will never ever get used up by me, I have a hard time using all 80gb of my HDD now. Anything over 100gb is too much really, I don't need much space.

I went with the Diamond because it has better reviews honestly. I've been looking at both, and I just see it being purchased more and havent heard bad things about either - plus the sapphire went out of stock lol. As for powersupply, there is a reason it's overpowered. For when I add my 2nd 4870X2 and run quadfire. I didn't want to get a smaller supply that I will need to replace.

As for cases, I had that case, one other, and the one I selected in comparison. And I forget why I exactly went with the one I did. I didn't even come across the 1200, thats alot of fans. That wont be loud?

If anything, I will cut back on the PSU cause I'm wondering when/if I will get that 2nd 4870X2 anytime soon. If I do change psu, and maybe change HDD's, maybe i'll get the 1200 case since it's retarded.

Edit:: The Tuniq 120 seems to be huge and barely fits into antec 900's and 1200's, how important is it to get this? I doubt i'd be overclocking for a while, I'm just trying to run the case as cool as possible for longevity. Eventually I might OC it though... I don't know. Do I really need that piece?

[Shuemue]

If you're not going to OC it, you're spending too much money imo

[Boyiee]

If you're not going to OC it, you're spending too much money imo

I'm assuming you mean the CPU? The only problem I went with a quad core was because I'm afraid of how soon it'll get outdated. When I bought my current single core, it was outdated almost immediately. I could also save around 80-100$ getting a core2duo, so I'll probably go with either this or this

Also upgraded to a raptor, and downgraded the mobo for a 70$ savings but not sure if I'll keep that since I've heard it has problems with 1066 ram... this would be around the final setup however probably with one of the core2's above:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=7228714

[Shuemue]

Okay I'll put it like this, are you aware that by spending $1700+ you'll probably get at most a 10% performance increase over a $1k build?

You could EASILY spend $1k on a decent box with a Q6600 quad core CPU that OC's really nicely (to the extent it'd equal the CPU you're intending to buy and run at stock) and a single HD4870, a truly awesome GPU.

So yeah, unless you're rich or a serious, serious gamer, you could easily save $500+

[Zoelef]

Disclaimer: Pro-frugal bias

Q9550 + This RAM: G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-1000 - $378
Your FSB for overclocking is capped at 500 instead of 533, but you save $71.

Power Supply: Corsair 750W - $98, $20 MIR
A favored manufacturer from another forum I frequent; if you don't mind purchasing from a second vendor you save $61 pre-tax.

Also, Intel is projected to cut prices on some processors on the 19th, but the Q9550 isn't listed there. However, the Q6600 is if you're so inclined.

Finally, if you really want to cut a corner the W.Digital 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive is only $75.

[Shuemue]

If a c2d is fine over a quad, then I'd suggest the E8400, it's amazing bang for your buck, and again OC's really nicely. I'm running mine at 3.6ghz using just the cheap Freezer 7 Pro HSF for cooling.

I can appreciate that you want badass hardware, but imo prices are at the level where it's better to save you $500 now and just replace it a little sooner, it's pointless struggling on with borderline obsolete hardware in 2-3 years.

[Kurp]

it's better to save you $500 now and just replace it a little sooner

^that

I'd link a decent build, but the Newegg site is set up horribly and I'm waiting for a refresh of their wish lists.