PC Building Crew

[KCOTT]

I'm building my first PC. I don't really need a PC as my laptop suits my needs just fine, but I'm building one slowly with a piece here and a piece there until it's done. This whole thing is new to me, but it seems more fun than just buying a packaged deal from like HP or Dell. I also like how it's easier to upgrade over time. During college I played the shit out of BF1942, so I'm looking forward to enjoying the franchise again when BF3 comes out and when the computer is finally built.

So far I've bought (after researching):
HAF X Tower (~$180)

Samsung 1080p monitor/tv (~$200)
Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 ($25)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SIMPXM
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ Cpu cooler ($30)
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...TF8&coliid=I2ZQ4OCN7JOKHY&colid=3CF4EBJLE5Q09

Next on the list is:
ASUS LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 Supported Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2400 Motherboards P8Z68-V PRO
http://www.amazon.com/6Gbps-Support...UTF8&coliid=ICO344EQ27ZR0&colid=3CF4EBJLE5Q09
i5-2600k processor
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2500...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315948879&sr=1-2
- power supply
- RAM
- blu ray player/writer
- video card (right now I'm trying to research, don't know much)
- Windows 7 OS (or is 8 supposed to be out soon?)

Thoughts? Recommendations? Post your builds?

 

[Jon]

I build for quiet and reliability.

One of these days I'll go for no moving parts.

 

[HerbFoster]

I haven't built a new computer since college either, but when I built it Newegg was a great source for computer parts.

I recently replaced the power supply in one of my friends computers and this helped:

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html

 

[The Oi]

This guy better get his balls busted as bad as I did...


In all seriousness, newegg is the shit. With a couple small exceptions, I used newegg exclusively for my first build a couple weeks ago.

 

[gourimoko]

What's your budget? I would always go Radeon for my gfx cards.. The 6990 is the best card in the world, but may be too expensive. You can get a 6970 for ~300, or a 5870 for cheaper still. I currently use 2 5870's in crossfire.

To be honest, if you have the budget, I would upgrade from the i5 to an i7. Go for broke on the CPU. Multithreaded game engines are now common place (which wasn't the case just a few years ago). You could go AMD to save money, but I absolutely love Intel chips these days.

 

[KCOTT]

What's your budget? I would always go Radeon for my gfx cards.. The 6990 is the best card in the world, but may be too expensive. You can get a 6970 for ~300, or a 5870 for cheaper still. I currently use 2 5870's in crossfire.

To be honest, if you have the budget, I would upgrade from the i5 to an i7. Go for broke on the CPU. Multithreaded game engines are now common place (which wasn't the case just a few years ago). You could go AMD to save money, but I absolutely love Intel chips these days.

I don't really have a budget, just doing whatever it takes to build a solid computer without being over the top. For some reason in my research it seems like Radeon is not normally a favorite. Not sure why. Also from what I've read, seems like a lot of people say to go with i5 and don't really need an i7.

Forgot to add to the list, I'll also be buying a SSD for windows to boot on.

 

[SauDogg]

I plan on building my own PC next summer (hopefully). Pretty excited to take my gaming to the next level!


Windows 8 is pretty much only for tablets and phones. You should just stick with Windows 7

 

[Man Called X]

What's your budget? I would always go Radeon for my gfx cards.. The 6990 is the best card in the world, but may be too expensive. You can get a 6970 for ~300, or a 5870 for cheaper still. I currently use 2 5870's in crossfire.

To be honest, if you have the budget, I would upgrade from the i5 to an i7. Go for broke on the CPU. Multithreaded game engines are now common place (which wasn't the case just a few years ago). You could go AMD to save money, but I absolutely love Intel chips these days.

Seriously, the EVGA card I bought had better specs than the comparably priced Radeon. I was shocked too.

 

[Ren]

Some tips:

The new I core's are nice but 90% of the people who buy them don't use them to there full capability (using virtual servers etc), so if you're purely building for gaming I prefer AMD, more bang for the buck.

Secondly, Video Cards. Ati's are also more bang for the buck but they have serious driver problems. If you play older games, hell even if you play newer games you WILL have driver issues. I've used nvidia for years, then my last card I purchased was a Radeon. I will definitely be going back to Nvidia. They are a little more pricey but there driver support is 50x better.

Depending on the video card you get you will need some decent power for your pc.. probably 650+.

 

[gourimoko]

1) I can't understand why one would want to save $100 by skimping on the CPU.. Getting the i7-2600k vs the i5-2500k and is only ~$100 more. When people refer to virtual machines etc as being the reasons to go with an i7, they're missing the point. First off, Sandy Bridge i5/i7 are both quad core processors, so each has a 4 physical cores; however, the i7 has hyperthreading enabled. This results in the operating system being able to allocate 8 simultaneous threads of execution across 8 logical cores. Benchmarks have demonstrated that a single core, using hyperthreading, is usually 30% faster than the equivalent single-threaded task on the same CPU. This relates to everything from tabbed browsing, using office programs, photoshop, file compression, video encoding, etc... Why go cheap here?

2) ATI vs Nvidia: It has been mentioned, and correctly so I might add, that ATI/AMD cards have driver issues. This is definitely the truth. However, a savvy user can get around most of these problems. For more info, just ask and I can explain in detail why ATI drivers crash and how to avoid the issue 100% of the time. However, with regards to a new build. Assuming money is at least somewhat a factor, the best configuration you could get for your money is buying two Radeon (non-sapphire) 6950s for ~270 a piece. You can unlock both to 6970s and run in crossfire.. For roughly $540, you'd have a FAR better gfx setup than you would get from 1 NVidia 580... Hell, just one 6950 unlocked to a 6970 is very comparable in performance to a 580, such that the difference in price makes Nvidia a non-option, IMHO.

EDIT: Just saw you want an SSD. Don't fall into the trap of buying a small SSD as a boot-only device. Get a larger SSD, in the range of 120-240GB. Why? Because you should not only boot from it, but install all your frequently used applications and games to it as well. 120GB should suffice for just about every user. 60GB, imho, is a start but you'll find yourself wanting to upgrade.. IIRC, Vertex 3 drives still need ample free space (15-20%+) in order for TRIM and garbage collection to work correctly. This space is not pre-allocated, so if you buy a 60gb drive and end up filling 50gb, your performance will drop off by an order of magnitude.

 

[Ren]

1) I can't understand why one would want to save $100 by skimping on the CPU.. Getting the i7-2600k vs the i5-2500k and is only ~$100 more. When people refer to virtual machines etc as being the reasons to go with an i7, they're missing the point. First off, Sandy Bridge i5/i7 are both quad core processors, so each has a 4 physical cores; however, the i7 has hyperthreading enabled. This results in the operating system being able to allocate 8 simultaneous threads of execution across 8 logical cores. Benchmarks have demonstrated that a single core, using hyperthreading, is usually 30% faster than the equivalent single-threaded task on the same CPU. This relates to everything from tabbed browsing, using office programs, photoshop, file compression, video encoding, etc... Why go cheap here?

2) ATI vs Nvidia: It has been mentioned, and correctly so I might add, that ATI/AMD cards have driver issues. This is definitely the truth. However, a savvy user can get around most of these problems. For more info, just ask and I can explain in detail why ATI drivers crash and how to avoid the issue 100% of the time. However, with regards to a new build. Assuming money is at least somewhat a factor, the best configuration you could get for your money is buying two Radeon (non-sapphire) 6950s for ~270 a piece. You can unlock both to 6970s and run in crossfire.. For roughly $540, you'd have a FAR better gfx setup than you would get from 1 NVidia 580... Hell, just one 6950 unlocked to a 6970 is very comparable in performance to a 580, such that the difference in price makes Nvidia a non-option, IMHO.

EDIT: Just saw you want an SSD. Don't fall into the trap of buying a small SSD as a boot-only device. Get a larger SSD, in the range of 120-240GB. Why? Because you should not only boot from it, but install all your frequently used applications and games to it as well. 120GB should suffice for just about every user. 60GB, imho, is a start but you'll find yourself wanting to upgrade.. IIRC, Vertex 3 drives still need ample free space (15-20%+) in order for TRIM and garbage collection to work correctly. This space is not pre-allocated, so if you buy a 60gb drive and end up filling 50gb, your performance will drop off by an order of magnitude.

Yes, if the difference is only $100 than I recommend the i7. Back when I was looking for CPU's the I cores just came out and the comparable I core model to the AMD model was a good $250 more expensive, checking now they have the prices more in line with there competitive counterpart. Even still, the I core processors perform only slightly better while gaming, at least from the benchmarks I read. If you got the money, go for the I Core.

As far as ATI vs Nvidia, I still say Nvidia. To say you can find ways around all the driver issues is false. For example, I was playing The Witcher (a relatively new game, I think I bought it about 2 months after release), I had many graphic problems, as well as a few other bugs only associated with ATI cards. I searched and searched for bug fixes and driver fixes but there was nothing. I also had problems with my BF BC2 but was able to find a fix for that through the ATI site. Overall if you are going to spend the extra money (like with the processor), then why skimp on the video card especially for a gaming machine?

Edit: Good article about gaming processors: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gaming-performance,3007.html

It doesn't sound like much of an improvement, and frankly it will make remarkably little difference when it comes to gaming. The $100 spread between the Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K is only recommended if you want to brag, because you're probably not going to notice any appreciable frame rate difference. The Core i7's strength is only really exploited in heavily-threaded workstation applications, rather than games.

 

[caf]

I wouldn't get a SSD drive yet. They are too expensive and not worth it at the moment. They have a limited number of read and writes before they crash, and their price per gigabyte just isnt worth the performance increase. You aren't using it in a laptop either so its low peer consumption isn't a benefit either (I just got a hybrid drive for my laptop that's pretty awesome.) Look into doing a raid for performance increase, or just get a 10000 rpm raptor. I had one of those in an old build and was happy.

As far as processor. I used to be a big AMD nut. They used to be much better than intel. I've had an 1800+ a 61-fx and one of their first dual cores. That's when they were focused on the consumer market. They have always been a server first company while doing consumer on the side but for the past 3-4 years since they acquired ATI they have been focusing more attention on the system on a chip, mobile market. Id stick with intel. An i5 should be good for you.

In terms of RAM, I've always used Gskill but I haven't bought desktop ram in awhile. They have (or used to atleast) the highest performance, reliable ram, for much cheaper than other brand names.

In terms of graphics, go nvidia. Hands down. No question. Ever since ATI released their catalyst control center I have avoided ATI. That software is such crap you will regret it if you buy ATI.

Just a few other notes since this is your first build (and for future builds). First off NEVER use the power supply bundled with a case unless you know its highend. They are cheap add ins for the most part. I can't tell you how many friends I've had that have fried computers because their power supply went bad. Get a decent power supply.

Second, remember to discharge yourself before you start and randomly during your build by touching a metal object such as your computer case. Don't forget the copper spacers that ground your motherboard. Yes I have had a friend just screw his motherboard into the case and short it out.

It looks like your case is pretty big, but on smaller cases think about the size of all the parts and how they will fit in. I usually mount the peripheral drives first and then the motherboard. One time I mounted the motherboard first and couldn't fit my harddrive in. Had to take everything back out.

Also. Invest in zip ties to have good wire management. It just looks cleaner and allows for.good.airflow making a happy computer.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[caf]

Also, trust me on this. Only get what you need. I always used to have the best of the best and paid out the ass for it to see my friend have the same spec computer 6 months to a year later for a quarter of the price. Just get what you need. If you want to play legit games get a good graphics card. The pci express port isn't going anywhere.

But my new motto is its better to buy a 1000 computer now and another in a few years instead of buying one 2000 computer now. As far as upgrading, you most likely wont upgrade your core components (ram/processor) a new socket will come out before you know it and a new ram pin set also. Then upgrading to a better legacy processor/ram for that socket will be more expensive than buying a new socket processor. Only upgrade peripherals separately. Upgrading the core components (mobo/ram/processor) should be done at the same time unless you are just looking to add a stick of ram.

 

[caf]

And as jigo said, use newegg. They are the best. If you ever have a problem with a part, their customer service is superior to anyone elses. Also, new customers get 10 dollars off a 50 dollar order until 9-15 using the code NEWCUSTOMER10. I made another acct just to use this deal cuz im a cheap ass. I just bought an asus N16 router. Can wait to flash it with DD-WRT and have my printer be wireless along with attaching an external harddrive to it for my own personal online storage. An external harddrive that is just an internet connection away... so useful.

 

[gourimoko]

With regards to ATI vs Nvidia, I think it's important for posters to start naming actual cards rather than brand names.. As X demonstrated, he got a Nvidia card at a lower price point than its comparable ATI card. I'm specifically referring to top-of-the-line cards. Thats 570, 580 for Nvidia and 6950, 6970 for ATI/AMD.

As far as driver issues; whatever issues one may have, they certainly do not make the cards inoperable. I've recently played Vampire: Bloodlines and Deus Ex on both a 5870 and the mobility 5570 in my laptop, and I had no issues whatsoever. When issues pop up with driver crashes, usually that can be fixed by tweaking minimum clock speeds in the Catalyst configuration files.

EDIT: That is not to say that there aren't any issues with ATI Drivers.. There are, and they are annoying. But paying nearly 2x the price for a slightly better card just doesn't make sense. But again, I'm referring to the difference between the Radeon 6950 and the GTX 580. Especially when you can unlock and crossfire two 6950s to get nearly unrivaled performance at a great price.