Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

My laptop's graphics card has given me reason to believe that it's going(8600M GS, so it's not unexpected), so I figure it's high time to build myself a proper desktop. Not really going high-end, just something I can upgrade in the future without "buy a new one; e.g. the laptop method". So far this is what I've come up with:

Processor:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=48957&vpn=BX80616I3540
Motherboard:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=48967&vpn=BOXDH55TC
Power supply:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55789&vpn=CMPSU-600CX
Graphics card:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814129150
RAM:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820233144
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820231311
Case:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=49224&vpn=RC-692-KKN3
(it's cheaper on newegg but I think I can price-match it down)

HDD, DVD drive I've got lying around, monitor/mouse/keyboard I'll pick up at future shop, probably 17" 1440x900, MX518 to replace my aging MX500, dunno what keyboard, I'd buy online but I want to be sure I like the feel of it.

Anyone with more build experience see problems with this setup?

If you're going for price/performance get a AMD AM3 quad.

Ehhhh. Vastly prefer Intel to AMD, and the i3's enough of a leap up from my 2.16 Core 2 Duo as it is.

Why the fuck are you even considering buying an LGA 1156 CPU? That socket is now officially dead, because socket 1155 came out just several days ago. Horrible investment. Like I've been saying all along, the only Intel socket worth dumping money into is 1366. It still out-performs the new Sandy Bridge chips. Intel, innovation? Ha!

Now, unlike Intel sockets, AMD plans to keep AM3 around for a long time. Three years from now, you'll be able to install the newest AMD CPU with not more than a BIOS flash to your motherboard. You won't have to buy an entirely new system to get another CPU.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

Why the fuck are you even considering buying an LGA 1156 CPU? That socket is now officially dead, because socket 1155 came out just several days ago. Horrible investment. Like I've been saying all along, the only Intel socket worth dumping money into is 1366. It still out-performs the new Sandy Bridge chips. Intel, innovation? Ha!

Now, unlike Intel sockets, AMD plans to keep AM3 around for a long time. Three years from now, you'll be able to install the newest AMD CPU with not more than a BIOS flash to your motherboard. You won't have to buy an entirely new system to get another CPU.

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Have you even looked at the price difference between the cheapest 1155 and the CPU he picked out? He's clearly not looking for an i5. He'll have no trouble upgrading to an i5 or i7-860S if he wants to. Those provide really good performance too.

You missed the point. I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about longevity. Socket 1156 has always been an evolutionary dead end and doesn't provide any of the benefits that 1366 does apart from supporting Hyperthreading in its CPUs. Socket 1366, however, is going to be gone in a few months as Socket 2011 takes its place.

My point is that he won't be able to upgrade later for a reasonably (well, as reasonable as Intel gets) unless he uses Socket 1155, 2011, maybe 1366, or AM3. I don't know about you, but when I build a PC I make sure that I can upgrade it in the future for as little as possible.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

You missed the point. I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about longevity. Socket 1156 has always been an evolutionary dead end and doesn't provide any of the benefits that 1366 does apart from supporting Hyperthreading in its CPUs. Socket 1366, however, is going to be gone in a few months as Socket 2011 takes its place.

My point is that he won't be able to upgrade later for a reasonably (well, as reasonable as Intel gets) unless he uses Socket 1155, 2011, maybe 1366, or AM3. I don't know about you, but when I build a PC I make sure that I can upgrade it in the future for as little as possible.

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Do you really expect the 1156 i5s and i7 to be outperformed by over 35% in the next 4 years? He'll be fine with the 1156.

I'm now the proud owner of 300 US dollars (worked this weekend, finally), and feel the need to make my desktop a current gaming computer. I am thinking about buying a new motherboard, CPU, and some new gaming RAM. That would make my computer way better, except for my graphics card. With the parts i'm thinking of buying, it'll leave me with 62.19. That isn't enough to get a decent graphics card. What also troubles me is that I think it is dying, because this is the second new monitor i've gotten (HP S2031, first was an Acer) that is showing dead pixels on things such as games.

So the questions arise; should I buy a new graphics card, and have all of my other parts bog it down? Or should I buy the parts and have my graphics card bog them down?

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

You missed the point. I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about longevity. Socket 1156 has always been an evolutionary dead end and doesn't provide any of the benefits that 1366 does apart from supporting Hyperthreading in its CPUs. Socket 1366, however, is going to be gone in a few months as Socket 2011 takes its place.

My point is that he won't be able to upgrade later for a reasonably (well, as reasonable as Intel gets) unless he uses Socket 1155, 2011, maybe 1366, or AM3. I don't know about you, but when I build a PC I make sure that I can upgrade it in the future for as little as possible.

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I don't see the need to upgrade past an i5 or whatever for a long time honestly, and by that point it's not likely that Socket 1155 or 2011 will still be a viable choice. As far as Intel vs. AMD, what I've been told every time I talk to people about this is that AMD is only viable if I'm just going to do gaming, which I'm not.

It's going to take me another three months at least to get the parts anyway, only making $100 or so a month off this shitty paper route.

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Originally Posted by Amit

Do you really expect the 1156 i5s and i7 to be outperformed by over 35% in the next 4 years? He'll be fine with the 1156.

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You might be surprised. In one year? No. In Two years? No. In three years? Maybe. Four years? Probably.

Also, remember that gaming is one of the most intensive applications, too. Unless you intend to fold, decode/encode tons of ripped video, or otherwise do some serious simulation, you aren't going to see the benefits. Your feeble human reflexes can't tell the difference between one nanosecond and three. As far as using 3D modeling applications and 2D graphics software, that's GPU-accelerated anyways.

It doesn't matter if you don't intend to upgrade for a good long while. If you don't have to drop the extra $150 on a motherboard later, why do so?

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

You might be surprised. In one year? No. In Two years? No. In three years? Maybe. Four years? Probably.

Also, remember that gaming is one of the most intensive applications, too. Unless you intend to fold, decode/encode tons of ripped video, or otherwise do some serious simulation, you aren't going to see the benefits. Your feeble human reflexes can't tell the difference between one nanosecond and three. As far as using 3D modeling applications and 2D graphics software, that's GPU-accelerated anyways.

It doesn't matter if you don't intend to upgrade for a good long while. If you don't have to drop the extra $150 on a motherboard later, why do so?

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Except it's likely that I will have to, since I doubt I'll be upgrading until at least two steps after 1155/2011

Well, you asked for opinions, and you got mine. I wouldn't want to blow my cash on a socket that was obsolete before it was even released. 1156 is and has always been the wrong way to go for anyone serious about his computer's longevity.

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Originally Posted by ThePlague

So the questions arise; should I buy a new graphics card, and have all of my other parts bog it down? Or should I buy the parts and have my graphics card bog them down?

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Get the parts and upgrade the video card at a later point.
They might be bogged down but replacing a video card is alot cheaper than buying new parts you'll want to upgrade at a later date anyway.

Alright, thanks.

e: What's people's opinions on gaming mice? The one I currently have is making my hand cramp lately, so I just bought this, along with those PC parts I previously linked to. What really got me into buying that was the precision aim and the adjustable back.

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Originally Posted by ThePlague

Alright, thanks.

e: What's people's opinions on gaming mice? The one I currently have is making my hand cramp lately, so I just bought this, along with those PC parts I previously linked to. What really got me into buying that was the precision aim and the adjustable back.

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To be honest you don't actually need all those high DPI and ergonomics and so on to be good in an FPS - I know a guy who uses a cheap 3 button Microsoft mouse and gets a 2:1 k/d ratio in COD4.

Nevertheless, I love the way these mice just fit my palm perfectly and are quite comfortable to hold for hours at a time. I find the on-the-fly adjustable precision and all that to be a bit of a gimmick, have yet to see it really affect my actual skill in game, but you can't beat the ergonomics of these. I use a Steelseries Ikari Laser, bought it at almost $30 off, pretty happy with it apart from its lack of side-to-side scrolling. It's actually quite difficult to feel comfortable with normal mice again once you've used a Steelseries Ikari Laser.

Oh, and there's the showing-off aspect, as is the case with the rest of the PC assuming it's a custom build. Yes, that $60+ Logitech or Steelseries or Saitek is ultimately doing the same damn thing as a $5 surplus store mouse, but hey, if bragging about your CPU and video card isn't enough, there's the mouse!

I use a Razer Plasma Diamondback, but Razer doesn't make mice like they used to. They've gone from dense, high-quality plastics to light, chintzy shit that breaks in three months unless you are willing to drop more than $80. That said, I do like the Mamba and current iteration of Lachesis. Both felt good in my hand, and had decent weight. The Lachesis has customizable lighting. :D As for the R.A.T., I've never really fancied it. Too many greeblies. The Logitech G5x is pretty good.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

You missed the point. I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about longevity. Socket 1156 has always been an evolutionary dead end and doesn't provide any of the benefits that 1366 does apart from supporting Hyperthreading in its CPUs. Socket 1366, however, is going to be gone in a few months as Socket 2011 takes its place.

My point is that he won't be able to upgrade later for a reasonably (well, as reasonable as Intel gets) unless he uses Socket 1155, 2011, maybe 1366, or AM3. I don't know about you, but when I build a PC I make sure that I can upgrade it in the future for as little as possible.

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With my experience of upgrading and i and alot of people i know have done it for a long, long time. Is that most upgrades are done in chunks.

For instance i bouht my q6600 so it would last me for a long long time and i'd be able to upgrade ect when i needed to, however when it came down to it, the chipsets had changed and it was useless, by buying mid range or high end shit most people are expecting 2-3 years outta their PC these days, which isn't as big an ask as it used to be. i know i got a hell of alot of miles outta my old 8800GTX. so much that even when i upgraded the main shit (CPU, Ram Mo board) in a single upgrade i kept the 8800 for another year afterwards before moving on.

Things like GPU's and HD's get upgraded sporadically, But as for Motherboard, CPU and ram Dont, they tend to be tied together pretty much.

Again, unlike 1156, LGA 775 was a very long-lived platform. With the 1156, you can't upgrade in chunks because by the time you've finished going around, it's not supported anymore. 1366 has had a somewhat longer life, but it's going out the door in a few months, too. I'm just saying if you are going to be building a new rig, then make the base components (CPU and motherboard) be the ones you can keep around for awhile.

By chunks i mean, CPU, motherboard and Ram is all done at the same time.

90% of all upgrades to these parts i've seen are done like that.

Case in point, the plague who posted just a little while ago is doing that exact upgrade

And it worked for me, except I bought a regular motherboard(not micro ATX) and had to buy a new case (Antec 300). In the end it was a good decision anyway. Now all I need to do is save up for a new graphics card.

In case any of you are interested in notebook RAM, there is a ridiculous deal going on for 4GB sticks, DDR3 1333 mhz, 204 pin SODIMM. I made sure I picked up two for myself before posting this, they're almost never instock.

if iv got an old hp laptop from 2007, would that ram work in it? if so i think i might buy some
E: better question: if there are two sticks of 1GB DDR2 ram in this, and i remove one of them for one of those 4GB DDR3 ones, will that work?

I don't think your motherboard would support DDR3 at all, especially the higher clocks associated with it. And it definitely would not work using a stick of DDR3 in combination with a stick of DDR2. Not sure about laptops, but DDR3 for desktops physically do not fit into DDR2 sockets.

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Originally Posted by Donut

if iv got an old hp laptop from 2007, would that ram work in it? if so i think i might buy some
E: better question: if there are two sticks of 1GB DDR2 ram in this, and i remove one of them for one of those 4GB DDR3 ones, will that work?

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No, it won't. You have to use DDR2. The motherboard might also not support more than 4GB period.

There are flaws with the Sandy Bridge series of CPUs from Intel. Well, that's what happens when you don't double check the move of the chipset from the motherboard to the cpu. Good thing ThePlague didn't jump the gun and grab a 1155 series board.

I've recently made the jump from Intel to AMD after having my E6750 serve me well for several years and currently looking for a motherboard which will suit the AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE that I have in the post/mail.
I can't really spend a awful lot of money on computer parts due to current circumstances and currently looking at a Asrock board.
Due to previous experiences with a certain brand [Asus] my motherboard choices are pretty limited and my current limit is around the £50 mark, I don't need a very flashy board all I need is a board which:
A: Isn't Asus
B: Supports the phenom X4 9950
C: is under £60
D: supports atleast one PCI-E x16 slot and has room for one PCI slot.
E: supports either DDR2 or DDR3 [prefer DDR2 due to having several memory sticks for that already.]

If anyone knows of any reliable UK hardware sites which have a good list that I could go through that would be appreciated, I've already gone through:
PCworld
Maplin
Dabs
Novatech

Wait, you bought a Gen I Phenom processor? Why? You do know that they had a TLB error and that the fix reduced their performance by as much as 15%, right?

Any motherboard with an AM2 or AM2+ socket will support that processor, though. Should be easy enough to find, it isn't as ancient as Socket 939. As for that ASRock board, I can't fault it. I have an ASRock, and it's been nothing but awesome so far.

I've got an ASRock AM3/DDR2 motherboard, works great.

Actually, as of the latest sales figure reports, ASRock is now the No. 3 manufacturer of motherboards with 8 million sales. It has pushed MSI down to fourth place. Gigabyte is second with 18 million, and ASUS is in the lead with ~21 million. Can't see the attraction, though. ASUS is kinda pricey for not much more in features.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

Wait, you bought a Gen I Phenom processor? Why? You do know that they had a TLB error and that the fix reduced their performance by as much as 15%, right?

Any motherboard with an AM2 or AM2+ socket will support that processor, though. Should be easy enough to find, it isn't as ancient as Socket 939. As for that ASRock board, I can't fault it. I have an ASRock, and it's been nothing but awesome so far.

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I got the chip for a price I couldn't really argue with which was around £50 including P&P.
I've looked it up and saw about the TLB error and the fix but considering the set up I currently have is on it's last legs I figured I would update the chipset instead of spending another 5 hours scouring the local town looking for a shop that still stocks LGA775 boards.
The first Asrock I had was pretty awesome and was in fact the first motherboard I ever had, even supported the then new 939 chip type.

As long as I know this board lives up to my nostalgia of Asrock and won't follow suit of my previous Asus boards then I'm perfectly happy to go with it, I just wanted to ask here before I put the money where my mouth is.
Reason I avoid Asus is that I've had 3 completely different model motherboards from them and all three have died of a north bridge chipset failure within 6 months of each other.
To make matters worse the first motherboard was sent off via RMA and subsequently lost in Prague untill 7 months later I was given a different board by them which died from the exact same problem as the first.

Fair is fair, can't argue with a $50 quad core CPU ($50 because electronics are usually converted 1:1 before taxes). I'm just not sure a 9950 BE will outperform a Core 2 Duo.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

Fair is fair, can't argue with a $50 quad core CPU ($50 because electronics are usually converted 1:1 before taxes). I'm just not sure a 9950 BE will outperform a Core 2 Duo.

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I'm not entirely sure myself but if it at least matches the performance of my current Core 2 Duo then it's good enough for me, the clock speeds are the same and I would guess having the extra cores should allow some leeway.
I don't exactly plan on overclocking so that won't be a issue either.

The motherboard I currently have is a old Biostar G41-M7 and that was the only motherboard in town that supported the LGA775 chipset.

Eh, clock for clock C2Ds and C2Qs were more efficient than Phenom Is. You might have to overclock to get the performance on par. Multithreading should be better, though.

Right then chaps, I'm looking to build my first computer. I've done a bit of researching and here are the items that I'm looking to buy:

ASUS P7P55 LX motherboard ATX iP55

Intel i5-760 Core i5 Quad Core Processor

Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 2 x 2GB DDR3 SDRAM

Sapphire ATi Radeon HD6870

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU Cooler


What are you guysus opinions of these items? Are all of these items compatible with each other? I'm fairly certain that the motherboard and processor are, but I can't tell if the RAM is. Motherboard and RAM are DDR3, but I don't know if the motherboard is fast enough for the RAM. Once I build my new comp I'm not looking to upgrade for a few years, so I'm not too concerned about upgrading.

Everything there is compatible, though the Arctic Cooling heat-sink-fans (HSF) are only generally better than the stock ones in most cases. Look at a Zalman or a Thermalright / Thermaltake if you can spend some extra money on the HSF. I can personally vouch for Thermalright Ultra-120 being awesome.

If you aren't looking to upgrade for a few years then you should probably wait a couple more weeks and get a Sandy Bridge CPU...that's socket 1155. That socket, 1156, is dead. That said, everything you have there is compatible.

I wish Asus would put out the revised 1155s boards already. I think I'm gonna put together a 2600k build. :)

gimme your old comp when you get a new one :)

I'll sell it to you. :realsmug:

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Originally Posted by king_nothing_

I'll sell it to you. :realsmug:

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$100.

So for my next build I've wanted to do a dual-loop water-cooling setup and I'm thinking this is the case for me:
http://freelancer.modacity.net/pics/..._mods_case.gif

On your own here, I don't know anything about water cooling setups. That said, it's a box. Not even a slick-looking box. It's a box with stamped cutouts. Unless it's made out of titanium or maybe even stainless steel, I can't honestly see how you justify dropping $335 on it.

It's a purely functional water-cooling case design with plenty of room for custom reservoirs and a good sized pump. The two 3x120mm mounting holes would be perfect for two 360 (triple) radiators so I can cool the water before it hits the CPU in addition to before it hits the GPU(s). For example:

Pump
Reservoir
360 Radiator
CPU
Chipset (optional, might not do this since it costs quite a lot more)
360 Radiator
GPU(s)
Pump

I'd probably get some neon green lighting going on and call it "My Little Borg Cube". You're completely right though, it's crazy expensive, but that's because these are made to order in the U.S. out of fairly thick Aluminum.

It's really a toss up between the Mountain Mods and getting a Corsair Obsidian 800D, because they're just damn sexy and very water-cooling friendly...
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5...uarterview.png
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7...oorwcovers.png
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/5...idedetails.png
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1456/800dinside.png

Obviously a lot less space to work with, only room for one 360 radiator in the top but you can get a 480 quadruple radiator in the top with some modification to the case top and sacrifice of one or two 5.25" bays. That said, I really like those cylinder style reservoirs and have always wanted to build a rig that included one of these. And I could always stick a 120 radiator in the PSU compartment at the bottom under the existing 120mm fan in the 'shelf'.

I'd go Corsair, Really regret not getting it when I had the chance.

So is that setup designed mainly for overclocking? Or is it just for more powerful components?

Get the Corsair. With the other one, you are overpaying and getting literally nothing in return for it; you'd be better off building your own with some sheet metal stock.

Hey all looking for a performance drive in the ~$150 range. Had the WD 300GB Raptor in mind for decent storage space and good loading times. The main question is that would spending $150 on a 60GB-80GB SSD instead for the performance gain (if there is some?) be worth losing out on more than double the space.

I would get the Raptor. I don't think the decreased load times would be significant enough to loose out on half the storage space. Even more so if you have a lot of games or large programs installed.

The load times are night and day when you have an SSD, actually. Everything is so much snappier. That said, if you don't want to jump on the SSD bandwagon just yet, look at Seagate's hybrid drives.

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

The load times are night and day when you have an SSD, actually. Everything is so much snappier. That said, if you don't want to jump on the SSD bandwagon just yet, look at Seagate's hybrid drives.

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Those appear to have only 4GB of SSD space, should have stated when I meant loading times it's for the OS + games I play frequently. L4D2 alone is 16.4GB for me.

You don't choose what gets put in the SSD part of the hybrid drive. It automatically puts the most accessed files in there (OS components and such) if I'm not mistaken. Not to mention you don't actually load the entire installed file size of the program you're using, your computer just loads the components it needs from the drive when they're called on into RAM.

Mostly.

Eh looked up some HD Tune benches comparing regular 7200RPM drives of today to the raptor and then some SSD. Raptor doesn't seem to be that much better than standard drives but SSD is much better. Didn't see any benches for the hybrid drives you have any videos or benches I don't know about showing it in action?

All I have is a personal testimonial from some guy on Notebook Review that put one in his Alienware M15x with the same specs as mine. His boots 10 seconds faster give or take a few seconds. He also says it does load most commonly used programs a lot faster than the 7,200 rpm drives that the laptop ships with.

We're running different software configurations though, so it's not the best benchmark.

And this is the laptop version of the drive obviously, the desktop one probably performs even better.

Going to build a mid range micro atx machine preferably AMD based. I already have everything in place except the Motherboard, CPU and ram. Any advice?

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Originally Posted by Rook

Eh looked up some HD Tune benches comparing regular 7200RPM drives of today to the raptor and then some SSD. Raptor doesn't seem to be that much better than standard drives but SSD is much better. Didn't see any benches for the hybrid drives you have any videos or benches I don't know about showing it in action?

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I have the Momentus XT Hybrid 500gb. I can open Firefox in under a minute.
The loading times for photoshop and other commonly used programs are immensely increased. It saves most used files to the SSD portion (startup files, commonly used programs) + the speed of a 7200 rpm drive for everything else.

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Originally Posted by MrBig

I have the Momentus XT Hybrid 500gb. I can open Firefox in under a minute.
The loading times for photoshop and other commonly used programs are immensely increased. It saves most used files to the SSD portion (startup files, commonly used programs) + the speed of a 7200 rpm drive for everything else.

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I would sure hope you can open firefox in under a minute, it opens in under 5 seconds on both my pc's lol... Also I think you meant greatly DEcreased load times haha.

Yeah lol. Not a single thing in that post pointed towards increased performance hahaha.

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Originally Posted by Amit

Yeah lol. Not a single thing in that post pointed towards increased performance hahaha.

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40 seconds from after pressing the power button. Compared to ~4 minutes after pressing the power button on my old 5400 rpm drive with no other changes. I tried a 7200 rpm drive while I was waiting for the hybrid to arrive and it was still over a minute to open firefox.

Oh, you're talking about from start up - opening Firefox.

We all thought it was taking you minutes to launch Firefox from the desktop.

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Originally Posted by Freelancer

Oh, you're talking about from start up - opening Firefox.

We all thought it was taking you minutes to launch Firefox from the desktop.

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I obviously wasn't. What kind of modern hardware would take that long to do anything, let alone an HDD/SDD drive.

e: 1337 posts you say? Looks like this will be my last post on this forum unless Bungie's next game is released on PC.

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Originally Posted by Freelancer

All I have is a personal testimonial from some guy on Notebook Review that put one in his Alienware M15x with the same specs as mine. His boots 10 seconds faster give or take a few seconds. He also says it does load most commonly used programs a lot faster than the 7,200 rpm drives that the laptop ships with.

We're running different software configurations though, so it's not the best benchmark.

And this is the laptop version of the drive obviously, the desktop one probably performs even better.

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Did he have to send it it 3 times for software errors and motherboard malfunctions? My friend Derek did with his M15X and they told him it was common problems with that model. I'm looking to build a PC soon myself or buy a high end laptop, so I'm a bit skeptical about alienware.

Nope his was fine, so is mine. Best laptop I've seen on that hardware level, build quality is amazing.



I'm also looking for feedback on a build I have planned for this summer if everything goes well... My current rig is about 6 years old now and upgraded to its maximum potential, it's time to start a new 'core-system' for the next 6 years! Now I'm looking to future-proof this system as much as I possibly can, when I say future-proof I basically mean buying the best and most powerful components I can at the time and going from there.

The system will primarily be used for triple-monitor gaming at 5760x1200, video editing, photoshop, overclocking (of course!), occasional folding if I get back into it, and general computer use (browsing the web, emails, etc).

Here's what I have slotted so far:
http://secure.newegg.ca/WishList/Pub...umber=13247985

And for those of you that are lazy:
Intel Core i7-990X 3.46GHz LGA 1366 Six-Core Desktop Processor
EVGA X58 4-WAY SLI Classified XL ATX Motherboard
G.SKILL PI+ Turbulence 12GB (6 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 Memory
2 x EVGA GTX 590 CLASSIFIED 3GB GPU's
Intel X25-M SSD
CORSAIR AX1200 1200W PSU
Corsair Obsidian 800D Case

I plan to do a custom water-cooling loop in the future, but will most likely start the build air-cooled to keep the initial starting cost a bit lower. That said, should I go with the Megahalems or a Corsair H70?

1 of my Bro's 24 inch 16:10 screens just died.

is there ANY 16:10 screens left on the market, or are they all "designer graphics screens" shit now, with ells and whistles attached..

Figure out what died! If it made a pop or hiss you may have lost a capacitor or two and its an easy fix~ Or give it to me :)

Freelancer get the cube case, everyone is building with that corsair thing already. Also enjoy your dead video cards. Hopefully nVidia does something about 590 before you buy them. :v:

OMG 2 X GTX 590's??? Are you Bill Gates??

Freelancer, you best be using triple 2560x1600 monitors if you have two.

I would say that 6990s are better, but you do compute tasks and the 590 is much, much quieter, so I'll leave it.

I'm sure there will be new GPU's out when I can afford this rig, there might even be a new Intel processor I'd be interested in at the time. Probably going to build sometime in August if I can afford it then. And yeah Warsaw, I need the Nvidia GPU's for Adobe stuff + Badaboom, CUDA, etc... PhysX is fun as well. Not to mention the last 5 rigs I've built for other people using AMD/ATI GPU's have had driver related problems.

And Warsaw, I'm sure one would cut it, but as a hardware enthusiast it would be awesome to have two. Having the ability to dedicate one of the two cards cores to PhysX while gaming would be awesome.

If you do want a dedicated Physx card I would get an older, less expensive card.
But, hey. It's up to you. Nice build btw.

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Originally Posted by InnerGoat

Figure out what died! If it made a pop or hiss you may have lost a capacitor or two and its an easy fix~ Or give it to me :)

Freelancer get the cube case, everyone is building with that corsair thing already. Also enjoy your dead video cards. Hopefully nVidia does something about 590 before you buy them. :v:

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He's doing electrical engineering so i told him to get some schematics and try to fix it himself.

so hopefully he can do that ^_^

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Originally Posted by Freelancer

I'm sure there will be new GPU's out when I can afford this rig, there might even be a new Intel processor I'd be interested in at the time. Probably going to build sometime in August if I can afford it then. And yeah Warsaw, I need the Nvidia GPU's for Adobe stuff + Badaboom, CUDA, etc... PhysX is fun as well. Not to mention the last 5 rigs I've built for other people using AMD/ATI GPU's have had driver related problems.

And Warsaw, I'm sure one would cut it, but as a hardware enthusiast it would be awesome to have two. Having the ability to dedicate one of the two cards cores to PhysX while gaming would be awesome.

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Fingers crossed for Intel to release the Socket LGA2011 by then. What will you do if 2011 is not out yet but is right around the corner?

As for better cards: not likely. Maybe the Radeon HD7000 series (wow, full circle for me...have an old Radeon 7000) will be out in September or October, but the dual version would still be four months off at least. Nvidia will be behind that.

Well I was thinking of waiting for Ivy Bridge honestly, if I do that I'd be able to save up and get all the stuff I'd need for the dual-loop water-cooling setup as well most likely... I'm actually debating if I should do a custom loop this build, changing out the water every few months sounds like a lot of effort that I wouldn't want to do.

If I were in your shoes, I would hold off for Ivy Bridge unless I was to build it right now. I hate buying something and then having it made obsolete one month later. Buy the best when it gets released, then coast while the mainstream catches up.

As for changing the water: why? If it's a closed loop, what is the need? You should run some alcohol/antibacterial fluid through the loop first to sterilize it and then use distilled water. Actually, I think there are additives you can mix into the water to prevent growth of bacteria.

Oh yeah, for an H70 or other closed loop system there's no maintenance required. I'm talking about when I go with a completely custom loop like below, this would require maintenance every 6 months to 1 year. Just draining the loop and cleaning components, then adding some more distilled water and PT Nuke or other additives.

This is the plan I've come up with for cooling the 800D:
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/665...opobsidian.jpg

Alternatively a dual-radiator configuration:
http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/6...opobsidian.jpg

I know most of you here haven't water-cooler before but if you have any suggestions on a res/pump that would maintain decent flow rate through those rads I'd love to hear about it. I'm thinking of the XSPC X20 750 or the Koolance RP-452X2 which are 12.5L/min and 17.4L/min respectively. The neat thing about the RP-452X2 is that you can install two 17.4L/min pumps in series or even run a parallel loop since the res can function as two separate res's by itself... I like the clean look of the XSPC res a lot more though.

EDIT - So to clarify, the current list of water cooling components I'm looking at is as follows:

Radiator(s):
• XSPC RX480 or RX360 Radiators (depending on the space I have to work with/how hard modding would be to do cleanly).
• XSPC RX120 or RS120 Radiators (for the dual radiator setup, RX120 if I have the space, RS120 if not).

Pump/Reservoir:
• XSPC X20 750 (prefer the clean look to this res).
or
• Koolance RP-452X2 w/Koolance PMP-450S Pump (seems to be the better choice for performance, can use two pumps in series for awesome flow rate if needed).

I'm thinking about purchasing a joystick. I found this one to be pretty interesting, and it's made by the same company that made my RAT 5. I'm not looking for anything expensive, because i'm also going to buy a keyboard and 1tb HDD. I just want something that'll last, and fly helicopters in BC2 and such with.

Yeah Saitek makes pretty good joysticks, the one I have does the job.

I believe there was a fix for the ST90 on the EA forums. I guess that might help with your joystick if the throttle isn't picked up by default. I think the Cyborg V.1 should work properly though. My Cyborg 3D Gold USB's throttle won't be picked up at all. While I can do everything with the stick, I need to keep my hand on the keyboard for the throttle :ugh: My thinkpad had a trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard though and that works great as a joystick without yaw, but that's not a problem since the WASD keys are close to it. It feels better than using a mouse, but works better than using my joystick.

I bought the Saitek AV8R joystick for its styling, but it also has turned out to be a solid device. It works 100% in Bad Company 2. I would recommend the brand.

I got my Cyborg 3D Gold USB about a decade ago and it's worked great so far. I don't think I'll need to replace it in the next ten years either. I've had my Logitech Wingman Extreme Digital 3D even longer. I upgraded to the Cyborg 3D because it has a better throttle, more buttons, and a 3D spring. I want to buy the Cyborg X (otherwise known as the FLY 5) at $50 US, but I don't have any real reason to. My current joysticks work great (except with BC2). Damn you, Saitek, for making long lasting, quality products!

Updated plan:


Would allow me to stick a 240 or 360 radiator on the rear of the case using radiator standoffs if I wanted to. Will most likely use a 240 radiator back there if I decide the 480 radiator isn't enough to cool CPU + GPU + GPU or I decide to add a motherboard water block as well.

Something like this will go on the top of the case so the fans sitting above the top of the case aren't completely exposed most likely. However I'll need to use a radiator grill on the top of the 800D to allow for a 480 quad radiator, will use this one. If it causes the Koolance shroud to sit to high off the case and it's not flush then I'll sell the shroud probably and just let the fans sit 'naked' on the top of the case.

And then there's my cheap rig with $2,000~ worth of storage space in it:

Code:

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Case:
Antec Nine Hundred II ----------------- $109.99
ThermalTake iCage --------------------- $29.99

1156:
Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz ------------- $99.99
Asus P7H55-M PRO ---------------------- $99.99
Kingston HyperX Genesis 4GB (2x2GB) --- $54.99
--------------------------------------- $254.97

1155:
Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz ------------ $119.99
Asus P8H67-M LX Rev 3.0 --------------- $96.99
Patriot PC3-10666 4GB (2x2GB) --------- $49.99
--------------------------------------- $239.97

RAID Card:
Areca 1220 ---------------------------- $525.61

Hard Drives:
Western Digital 500GB Caviar Black ---- $56.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black ------ $179.99
--------------------------------------- $1,496.91

Optical Drive:
LG Super-Multi 22x -------------------- $22.99

Power Supply:
Corsair AX 750W ----------------------- $179.99

Totals:
1156 Total ---------------------------- $2,620.45
GST ----------------------------------- $131.02
Total --------------------------------- $2,751.47

1155 Total ---------------------------- $2,605.45
GST ----------------------------------- $130.27
Total --------------------------------- $2,735.72

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And I'll drop this in here for the sake of adding more knowledge and experience to this thread:

So I've been running a RAID-0 that most of you know of for my OS/Programs drive. In addition to that I used to be running two separate RAID-1 (mirror) arrays using a total of four WD Caviar Black 1TB drives. That gave me a total storage space of 2TB because that's how two arrays with two HDD's in each array mirroring each other works.

I recently filled that 2TB of space and needed more, so instead of running out and spending money on more HDD's I just distributed the 2TB to other computers I have access to and combined the two RAID-1's into a single RAID-5. This gives me 3TB of storage and I still have data protection if one of the drives fails for some reason.

Read statistics:
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/5...dbenchmark.jpg

I can't get write statistics because HD Tune only allows you to do a write benchmark when there are no partitions setup on the drive in question. I was eager to get my data back onto this new RAID-5 so I never performed the write test. However I can tell you this, a software RAID-5 is not the way to go. I only get about 13MB/s sustained write speeds for large file transfers, it bursts at around 110MB/s to start with but decreases to 13MB/s within 30 seconds.

In the future I won't both running RAID-5 or RAID-6 on a software RAID solution. There's a reason actual hardware RAID cards cost upwards of $200 when the support RAID-5 and RAID-6, they have their own processor to handle all the data striping and parity calculations. As a matter of fact I'm looking into setting up a 12TB RAID-6 using eight 2TB WD Caviar Black drives in the future here. I'm going to build a cheap system and then put in a quality hardware RAID card for the eight drives.

Might as well just invest in dedicated server, then.

I have three quad-CPU Pentium III servers for this kind of shit...

Haha yeah... When I originally built this rig though I planned for everything to be internal. This was because I wanted to be able to take everything with me to LAN parties and such. However I failed to realize that HD video really adds up in the storage department.

I just realized that I may be able to save some money by getting a PCI RAID card for the 12TB RAID-6 I mentioned in my second last post. Then I can use my Pentium 4 system that I have lying around instead of spending an extra $750 on a new system just for that.

Wait no, the above is silly. I'm going to wait to buy the good RAID card and 8 2TB hard drives until after I build my water cooled system early next year with Ivy Bridge! Then I can convert my current system into the file server as well as a practically-everything-else-home-server-related server! Genius! Can also sell off one of my GTX 285's if it's just going to be a home server, will help cover some of these costs:

Water cooling components I'm thinking of grabbing from Frozen CPU when the time comes:

• 3 x 2.5 Meter (8 feet) Feser Tube Active UV Hose - Retail Packed - 1/2" ID (3/4"OD) Anti-Kink Tubing - UV Acid Green
• Black Ice GTX Xtreme 480 Radiator - Black
  
  • 2 x 1/2 x 3/4 Compression Fittings-Black
  
  
• Black Ice GTX Xtreme 240 Radiator - Black
  
  • 2 x 1/2 x 3/4 Compression Fittings-Black
  
  
• Swiftech MCB-120 Revision 2 "Radbox"
• 12 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm x 25mm Fan - 1850 RPM
• EK Supreme HF Universal CPU Liquid Cooling Block - Rev 2 - Acetal
  
  • 2 x 1/2 x 3/4 Compression Fittings-Black
  
  
• 2 x EK GeForce 590 GTX VGA Liquid Cooling Block - Nickel
• EK FC Bridge Dual Parallel - SLI Connection
  
  • 2 x EK FC Link GeForce
  • 2 x 1/2 x 3/4 Compression Fittings-Black
  
  
• Koolance 4-Fan Radiator Shroud - Black
• Swiftech MCP355 12 VDC Pump

Total: $1,158.56
(I'm probably missing a few things like extra fittings/barbs but I'll figure all that out closer to the build)

And then I guess I'll order the XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir for Single Laing DDC from performance-pcs.com since they don't seem to have them at Frozen CPU (only the dual/split res version).

Obviously if the CPU/GPU plan changes when I'm ready to build the blocks will change as well. But the rest of the water cooling components will likely stay the same.

Dear Modacity:

I'm looking for a new dual core CPU to put in this PC in order to speed up gamecube emulation (I miss Metroid Prime since I sold my wii :saddowns:) but I only want to spend about 100 dollars. I found this one here, and it seems like exactly what I want. Thoughts, advice?

I've got a 600 watt power supply with nothing overclocked, and I don't plan to do any overclocking. Is that enough? I'm kind of a newb at this stuff.

As long as your motherboard supports it and it's better than what you have I don't see any issues with that CPU.

It's the same socket AM2+ as the other one, so it should work, right? Also, is there anything I'd need to do when installing it other than plug it in? Like, any software?

The CPU you linked to is socket AM3.

Socket AM3 CPUs can work in an AM2+ socket (with slower HT speeds), but the reverse is not true. AM3 has one less pin. Just check your motherboard to make sure it supports AM3 CPUs.

I did not know that, good to know.

/Doesn't use AMD.

I know they are not the most powerful, but they are always a better long-term investment than Intel. Their platforms stick around longer and are less costly than Intel, and you get as much performance as you could need barring special requirements.

Just because Intel releases new chipsets more often doesn't make the older ones any less viable than their AMD counterparts though. My Socket 775 is two chipsets and 6 years old and still running strong and powerful.

I know. But I like to know I have the best that my chosen platform has to offer and that I can always update it as needed. When Intel changes sockets every other year, they throw a wrench in that plan because now I have to get a new motherboard, too. I can't just slap in a new CPU and be done.

That's why you do what I do and build a system with the best of the best every 6-7 years. Doesn't matter if the sockets change because you've already got a setup that will last that long at least.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pooky

Dear Modacity:

I'm looking for a new dual core CPU to put in this PC in order to speed up gamecube emulation (I miss Metroid Prime since I sold my wii :saddowns:) but I only want to spend about 100 dollars. I found this one here, and it seems like exactly what I want. Thoughts, advice?

I've got a 600 watt power supply with nothing overclocked, and I don't plan to do any overclocking. Is that enough? I'm kind of a newb at this stuff.

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I own the 550 since 2009 and it's pretty much the same thing cept mine has 0.1GHz less of a clock. Runs L4D2, ME2, Dragon Age, number of things all on high on stock w/ good frames and if you want to get into it these chips can get ~3.8GGHz OC real easy with a decent cooler. Only thing it's really chugged on is BC2 at 1080p which is a CPU intensive game that supports quads.

I do believe AMD has a $100 Athlon II X4 quad core part...

@Freelancer: I like to update more often than that. If I get a new GPU, chances are a new CPU will follow soon to limit bottlenecking. =þ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

@Freelancer: I like to update more often than that. If I get a new GPU, chances are a new CPU will follow soon to limit bottlenecking. =þ

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Extreme Edition Core 2 Quads still don't bottleneck iirc, not very much if they do. :)

They do. Even the newest i5s bottleneck. The only way to get out of it is to use an i7. I refuse to drop money on second-tier platforms (1156, 1155).

Anandtech does some very thorough testing.

I've decided to upgrade my CPU, and I don't need anything flashy or expensive, so I found this one, what do you think? Should I change my mind? Does it have good stock cooling, overclockable etc.

How well would it run newer games?