Soon to be Built

[Jbc223456]

Hey all, I'm about to start buying parts for a computer I'm about to build for myself. Getting kind of tired having to share a computer with four other people in the house, so I figured that with a few months of saving (which has already begun) I could build my own rig.

Mainly what it's going to be used for: Schoolwork, Gaming, Web Design (usually Dreamweaver CS4, that's what we're using in school), a little video editing, and a little photo editing. Basically, a computer for all around use. I don't want to go all out and spend a ton of money, but at the same time I'd like a computer that is an improvement from the one I am currently using (NVIDIA 8400GS, 160GB HDD, 2GB ram, and Intel Pentium E2200 @2.2GHz).

My price range is around $1,000-$1,500. I have a rig already kind of put together, so I'll put those items down below. If there is any room for improvement, I'd appreciate some input. If there is any room for saving a few bucks, that's helpful as well. Thanks for taking a look.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E
CPU: Intel Core I5-750
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5770
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W
RAM: Corsair Dominator 8GB DDR3 1600
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Optical Drive: ASUS DVD Burner

[Nikon]

with a 1500 dollar cap, you can build a beast of a machine. how heavy of a gamer are you? i would recommend the gtx 460 1gb to any gamer, or a 5830 / 5850

[David M]

For a $1500 rig used for gaming, get a 480 or a 5870. Scrimp elsewhere if you need to.

You can cut back to 650 watts with your PSU and save a little money.

The rest of the build looks fine.

[The Other Steve]

Hi. Two suggestions/thoughts:

1. Wait until you are ready to buy to put your parts list together. One reason is, new products may be released/existing products may be suddenly discontinued by the time you are ready to actually buy. Another reason is, things will go on and off sale, and change your strategy. I took a couple of weeks to put my parts list together, and the latter happened to me.

2. Start preparing for the inevitable: My experience is that if you have the fastest and newest rig in the house, everyone else starts asking if they could possibly get a little time on it.

[Jbc223456]

Thakns for the feedback. I'm not too heavy of a gamer. I like to play Fallout, COD, etc, plus some online games, but I'm not picky about playing them on max settings or anything. I just wanted a graphics card that I've searched around and heard good things about that would let me play the games on pretty decent fps, etc.

The PSU I wasn't too sure about. I know SeaSonic is a good manufacturer, so I thought I would stick to that brand. I just wasn't sure about the amount of power I would need. Will change the wattage accordingly.

Also, the case. I know Antec Nine Hundred is good. Are there any others that are also decent for this type of rig? I like having options on how the case looks.

[David M]

You won't need the 5870 or the 480 then.

Antec and Corsair are also good PSU brands.

As previously mentioned, buy all of your parts at once, ideally from one source.

[Jbc223456]

Yea, I'm probably going to be getting all my parts from Newegg. I've searched around at all the local stores and the prices are too high, even if I include shipping on all my parts. This rig comes out to about $1,300 after shipping, which leaves me $200 for a decent monitor. Forgot to add that in the beginning, the $1,000-$1,500 budget needs to include a monitor.

[Jbc223456]

Alright, here's the new PSU. Pretty much the same as the one listed above except 650W instead of 750W.

SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W

[glc]

No need to spend 140 bucks for a 650 watt PSU.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

[rwest]

Originally Posted by jbc223456 I know Antec Nine Hundred is good. Are there any others that are also decent for this type of rig? I like having options on how the case looks.

Durablity, Sharp edges, and room inside the case, are other factors considered besides how it looks to make a quality case.

The Antec cases are reccomended alot for these reasons. But looking at cases from a aesthetic point, most cases will have adequate cooling for general purpose use, and hold your components just as well.

This is actually where newegg reviews may come in handy, not all reviewers know what thier doing, but anybody can tell you if blood was drawn while buildng, or if the case just feels cheap. Cooling ability may take a little more research, but for the most part- all fans move air.

I've read that Lian Li and CoolerMaster cases are goood.

There's ton of mid range cases that have a lot of eye candy that will serve you well. I happen to like the looks of NZXT cases, but haven't built with one. Mine is a Rosewill (it's not a reccomended brand) but I'm very happy with it.

If you want that pro's opinion-just put up a link.

[glc]

From a quality standpoint, I think the best made cases are Lian-Li, Antec, and Coolermaster.

[David M]

Originally Posted by jbc223456 Yea, I'm probably going to be getting all my parts from Newegg. I've searched around at all the local stores and the prices are too high, even if I include shipping on all my parts. This rig comes out to about $1,300 after shipping, which leaves me $200 for a decent monitor. Forgot to add that in the beginning, the $1,000-$1,500 budget needs to include a monitor.

This is a great monitor which I personally recommend since I have one. It's inexpensive for what you get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-047-_-Product

[Jbc223456]

Thanks for the input glc, rwest, and David

I think I'll go to a cheaper PSU, which will give me a little more room for improvement if I decide before I build that I want a better GPU or a little faster CPU. I think I'll go with that Corsair PSU, much appreciated glc. I'm also think I'm going to stick with the Antec Nine Hundred.

David, did you buy that monitor from newegg? If so, are they pretty reliable when shipping their monitors?

[glc]

I've never had an issue with Newegg's monitor shipping, but they don't double box them. They tape the factory carton shut and slap a UPS label on it. I suppose it's possible for the brown monkeys to damage them so refuse delivery if the carton shows up damaged.

[Jbc223456]

Thanks glc. Will remeber that when I order.

[Jbc223456]

After searching through the forums for suggested brands of GPUs, I've come to conclude that Sapphire, while they are decent cards, do not have any end user support. Therefore, I'm going to scratch out that video card and look for a Diamond or HIS card (which I have gathered are both good cards with end user support). I have three options, all of which are going to nearly put me at the $1500 mark or just over it.

DIAMOND 6870PE51G Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

HIS H687F1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

I switched from the I5-750 to the I5-760. There was only a $9 price difference (after shipping it is only $2 more for the 760 because the 750 didn't come with free shipping).

Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760

I have also decided to scratch out the Dominator DDR3 1600 8GB and go for a cheaper set of DDR3 1333 8GB RAM. The reason for this is the $80 price difference and from what I've read, there isn't really a noticeable difference between the 1333 speed and1600 speed, unless benchmarking your computer, which I don't plan to do. I was curious if this memory is still compatible with the mobo and CPU I am getting.

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M4A1333C9

[David M]

Originally Posted by glc I've never had an issue with Newegg's monitor shipping, but they don't double box them. They tape the factory carton shut and slap a UPS label on it. I suppose it's possible for the brown monkeys to damage them so refuse delivery if the carton shows up damaged.

Amazon double boxes fragile hardware like monitors.

Good idea glc about refusing damaged boxes. Perhaps they will get a clue one day not to throw packages or stack things 10 high?

It baffles me how USP and FedEx has all this amazing technology for delivering packages but they still cannot figure out how not to damage them.

[inferno523]

Very true i cant count how many times UPS has damaged or lost packages on me

[glc]

From what I understand, Diamond cards are identical to Sapphire except for branding, and Diamond has end user support. HIS has support, and is one of the leaders in cooling solutions.

The ram you chose is fine. However, I'd spend the extra 5 bucks and get a 4gb x 2 kit:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9

[Jbc223456]

Any preference over getting the 4GB x 2 kit over the 2GB x 4? Or will the mobo/cpu perform better with the larger sticks?

I'll make the changes according to suggestion. The 4GB sticks will allow me room for upgrade in the future if I wanted to.

[David M]

Chances are you will never need more than 8 gigs of RAM. (I'm sure I will be laughed at for saying that 10 years from now.) Go with what overall costs less, the speed is the same. Your computer only starts running slower when it has used up all the existing RAM and the applications then have to start accessing the hard drive as opposed to what has already been preloaded into the RAM.

[glc]

The 4gb x 2 kit recommendation was made solely for the future upgrade possibility. The price of 4gb modules has come down to where there is very little difference.

[Jbc223456]

I think I'm going to go with the 4GB x 2 sticks instead. There's only a $5 price difference between the four 2GB sticks and the two 4GB sticks.

Of course when I graduate and go to college to major in computer engineering, I'll be bringing this computer along with me (or keeping it home if I plan to stay at home to go to college) and more often than not I'll probably need the upgradibility.

I went ahead and added the HIS 6870. After totaling it up and calculating in shipping, it comes out to $1,505 and some change. I think this is what I'll be ordering when it comes down to it.

[rwest]

Originally Posted by glc The 4gb x 2 kit recommendation was made solely for the future upgrade possibility.

I was under the impression that two stix of ram is always better than 4 stix because it's easier on the memory contoller. Is this not true due to the amount of ram? Or is it the DDR3?

[Jbc223456]

I'm really itching to get this thing built soon.. Looking at newegg and the black friday sales, my monitor is 169.99 (reg 239.99) Corsair CMPSU 750 PSU is 45.00 off (94.99, reg 139.99), and the core I5-760 is 34.00 off (174.99, reg 208.99).

However, the HIS 6870 is out of stock, so I was wondering if I took the plunge and bought all the parts tonight/tomorrow morning, another decent GPU (perhaps the HIS 6850 unless a 5000 series card would be better).

[fthy]

.......as well as ur Antec 900 $59.99 after mir

I'm checking out my cart any moment now

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Jbc223456]

I know, which is why I want to do it now... Curse Black Friday and their deals!! :P

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!

[Jbc223456]

About to buy the parts, any suggestions on a decent GPU (I'm thinking about just getting the HIS 6850).

[glc]

In stock:

Newegg.com - HIS H687FT1G2M Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

[Jbc223456]

I saw that one glc, however, it is factory overclocked and demanded a $40 increase from the one I had originally chosen... I decided to go with a HIS 6850 instead, and went ahead and placed my order. Should be arriving in a few days =)