Building a new PC!

KaotiK · Jul 14, 2009, 07:37 PM

Ok so im a newbie at this, but i want to build one to learn etc

Its for gaming, so itd need to be able to run the top games out etc and pretty high settings on my 20" wide monitor (1680x1050). Basically jsut want a good upgrade over the one im using now, as il be then giving this to my sister.

On my current pc my specs are:

Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0ghz
abit IP35 PRO motherboard
Corsair 2GB RAM
8800 GTX 768MB card
creative xfi sound blaster sound card

Dunno what else to put but yea. I looked at the stickied thread and kinda built one, but dunno if its any good or even an uprgade!

heres a screenie of what i put together.. http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3317/hereei.jpg

So yea, advice please! much appreciated

**kris23** · Jul 14, 2009, 08:00 PM

Welcome to DH KaotiK

thats a pretty good build right there,

the 920 Quad is powerful enough to outperform the E6850 per core with some overclocking, but i highly recommend the 940 BE as it can overclock to 3.8 to 4GHz more easily than the 920 with some good air cooling....

as a Quad Core with identical clocks with similar clock efficacy, the 940BE is twice as good as your current E6850, allowing you to handle more CPU intensive games

everything else is pretty good, the 4870 GPU performs significantly higher than the 8800GTX.... something around 40% more power

also, you will need to overclock slightly just to use the DDR2 1066 RAM you spec'd, if this were mine, id get 8GB of OCing friendly, low latency CAS 4 DDR2 800 instead..... games are using more and more system RAM

lastly, do you have a particular budget and place to shop? if so, i can put something together thats more suiting to that price-range

KaotiK · Jul 14, 2009, 09:28 PM

Id say around £600-700.

**kris23** · Jul 14, 2009, 10:03 PM

hey man, heres what i came up with from Overclockers.co.uk

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P AMD 790X (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-Crossfire PCI-E 750W Power Supply

Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black (No PSU)

2x OCZ Blade 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel (OCZ2B800C44GK)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM

this is a system without an OS, costing £636 inc. VAT and shipping

youll need an OS if you want to use the system... either purchase one or run without an activation key for up to 4 months

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525)

KaotiK · Jul 14, 2009, 10:08 PM

thanks

Would i be able to use my current xp cd and key i have with this computer?

Also, can you check my thread in the nvidia graphics card section, i posted a problem about my card there, just incase you may know whats up

**kris23** · Jul 14, 2009, 10:21 PM

you cannot use a CD key that has already been activated on another system sadly... it has to stay with the system it has been activated on

besides, if you are talking about windows XP 32-bit, you will not be able to utilize all of your system memory with its limit of 4GB... the system i posted above has 8GB system RAM with 1GB on the video card, 9GB+ already exceeding the limitations of a 32-bit OS, you need a 64-bit OS

KaotiK · Jul 14, 2009, 10:37 PM

ah k, just people always telling me vista isnt worth it etc etc. But i understand what you mean, need to get the best out of the pc.

**kris23** · Jul 15, 2009, 12:38 AM

dont believe everything you hear in the news..... half the dudes there are paid to say such things....

if vista was not worth it, you can be sure that the majority of the tech savvy people on DH wouldn't have touched it.... and you can see that simply isnt the case... you even get a voucher for windows 7 with a purchase of a copy of vista now, and the windows 7 RC1 is already excellent

PH3N0M · Jul 15, 2009, 01:21 AM

+1 on what Kris23 has said. Pay no attention to the Vista naysayers. I, too, hated Vista until I purchased a rig that could run it efficiently. After installing Vista x64, I never went back to XP. Vista only runs like shit if you try to run the OS on the bare minimum specs required.

**kris23** · Jul 15, 2009, 05:38 AM

if you are in no rush to get rid of the system, you probably should wait until Core i5 is released, it is said to be as fast as current i7 machines at a far lower price-point...

ATi is also said to release the HD 5000 series DX11 cards very soon, sometime between september to october

YnHDaRkMaN · Jul 15, 2009, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris23

...and the windows 7 RC1 is already excellent

yeah, it is...
and if you really want to avoid buying an OS right now and save some money, you can still download Win7 RC and you'll be able to use it until March 2010 or so...

**kris23** · Jul 15, 2009, 07:23 AM

feel free to use the windows 7 OS on this system if you cannot get a full copy of vista right now.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win.../download.aspx

KaotiK · Jul 15, 2009, 09:26 AM

i should be able to get vista. Im going to need the system as soon as. As in my other thread, my card is just dead

Unless i buy a new card and use it in this system right now? or would that be pointless

Also can you fit a creative sound blaster sound card in that setup? if so which one?

Cow_160483 · Jul 15, 2009, 12:46 PM

Just to add my 2 cents i would go with windows 7 RC then buy it over vista .

**kris23** · Jul 15, 2009, 06:08 PM

you can buy a cheap ATi HD 4850 and that can equal to outperform the 8800GTX you used at a low price point

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCS 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

then that probably would give you more time to get things sorted

as for a sound card, the best X-fi you can get are the ones made by Auzentech

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=11&subcat=

KaotiK · Jul 16, 2009, 09:48 AM

and that motherboard will support the use of the soundcard to with everything else?

**kris23** · Jul 16, 2009, 10:25 AM

yup..... support it, as well as a second 4870 if you would like

procupine14 · Jul 16, 2009, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cow_160483

Just to add my 2 cents i would go with windows 7 RC then buy it over vista .

Yeah honestly you could just use that free copy of the RC of win 7 for now and buy a copy of the real OS in a few months when it drops on retail shelves and then you are set. That way you can skip using vista (not necessarily because its bad because its far from it) and go straight to win7 for direct upgrading purposes.

procupine14 · Jul 16, 2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PH3N0M

+1 on what Kris23 has said. Pay no attention to the Vista naysayers. I, too, hated Vista until I purchased a rig that could run it efficiently. After installing Vista x64, I never went back to XP. Vista only runs like shit if you try to run the OS on the bare minimum specs required.

I HATE the vista naysayers

they make me angry! Basically because I took the plunge into vista right after it cam out and was so mad at the media when it turned out to be as nice as it is.

**kris23** · Jul 18, 2009, 08:26 PM

lol sadly theres alot of them......... sure is nice to know that Win 7 is going to be even better..... barely uses any RAM with Superfetch.....

now if they get rid of the CPU spiking issues then everything will be perfect!

KaotiK · Jul 23, 2009, 10:50 AM

Hey guys, buying the computer in a week or so once the money comes in.

But few more questions, speaking to friends and stuff they say i should go intel core i7? Or does the AMD peform just as good? Just weighing options lol

Want a PC thats gonna last me a while running the top end games on high etc.

the one you built does look perfect to me but just asking to make sure and stuff hehe

**kris23** · Jul 23, 2009, 10:40 PM

i7 is definitely a better performer than the AMD.... you see great boosts with CPU intensive games but no matter how you look at it, its rather expensive and goes beyond your price-range, unless you can get the extra couple pounds?

i put together an i7 system similar to the AMD system

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail

Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-Crossfire PCI-E 750W Power Supply

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)

Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black (No PSU)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM

costs £762.29 inc. VAT and shipping

if you want BOTH crossfire and SLi support, you will need a better board

Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

bringing the price up to £790.29 inc VAT and shipping.

a fair bit more expensive but it is an awesome system........

KaotiK · Jul 24, 2009, 01:11 PM

Hmm yea its a hard one as id need an OS to. Might be worth saving that bit extra to get the betetr system if thats much of an upgrade.

A Desire to Game · Jul 24, 2009, 07:51 PM

Components to consider:

WD Caviar Black 500GB (little bit more, 32MB cache, great performer)

4870 1GB (XFX has Double Liftime Warranty and is great brand, Sapphire has 3yr warranty but runs much cooler and quieter, weigh your options)

AMD 720BE or 940BE (GAME performance relatively the same, but spending a little more for a quad would be nice for the future)

ASUS 790GX mobo (ASUS 790GX is cheaper than the GB 790X, stick with the 770 if not crossfiring to save $$$)

SATA DVD Burner (get SATA...nuff said, might as well get Lightscribe)

Case (both CM cases are nice, so is the Antec 300 for the price, 300 has big 140mm fan on top and has about the same appearance)

RAM (4 or 8 gb of course, DO NOT NEED MORE THAN 4GB FOR GAMING, low CAS latency would be nice, I like Corsair and Patriot)

PSU (try to go modular if you can afford it, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, & Enermax in that order)

You need to decide if you plan to crossfire now or in the future so you can decide what PSU and Mobo you want. Remember you can Xfire older model cards with new models (not with SLi).

**kris23** · Jul 24, 2009, 08:12 PM

kinda funny how nearly every component i recommend is in line with those suggestions........

but since i have built a system with dual Caviar Blacks, i have to say that the 7200.12 is a better deal... performs as good to better and is alot cheaper

if you go with i7 and a high end motherboard, you can use BOTH CF and SLi and not need to compromise

KaotiK · Jul 26, 2009, 11:58 AM

Right, ive mangaed to pesuade my dad to help me out on money, and i can spend about £1300. Alot of moneys but i want a quality system. I used your suggestions and made this.. : http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1751/thispc.jpg

So just some more advice needed on what needs changing etc. That comes to £1243 inc vat and shipping.

**kris23** · Jul 26, 2009, 09:25 PM

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card

Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black (No PSU)

2x XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)

Prolimatech Megahalems Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1366)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS)

Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525)

£1,275.83

pretty much consumes the whole budget right there...... but you save some money some places to get better stuff in others...

the Auzentech X-fi Forte is a far better card than the X-fi's from Creative due to the higher end components and better engineering used within

KaotiK · Jul 26, 2009, 09:55 PM

Nice one, thanks man

**kris23** · Jul 27, 2009, 12:23 AM

welcome, also i got you a better gigabyte board as it seems ASUS techs were smoking crack when they designed that other board....... 2 PCI-E slots were set right next to each other...... just goes to show how far they fallen

A Desire to Game · Jul 27, 2009, 01:59 PM

Great minds think alike...he he.

I like the i7 build better...of course. 2x 4870 1gb will blow some serious hot air and make some serious noise. I love XFX, I own them. But I just built a rig with a Sapphire 4870 and let me tell you those things are as QUIET as it gets. Just consider it.

2x 4870's at 1680x1050??? I dunno if thats where I'd put my money. I'd go with a single card that will give you better minimum FPS in games. 4870's will give you crazy FPS but you will still have some dips where the 4870 isn't fast enough.

What kind of games will you be playing? Crysis, Warhead, . . . Nvidia titles?

Corsair Dominator RAM looks pretty but may be too costly for this build. OCZ makes good RAM...I hear.

Jul 14, 2009, 07:37 PM	#1
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Building a new PC! Ok so im a newbie at this, but i want to build one to learn etc Its for gaming, so itd need to be able to run the top games out etc and pretty high settings on my 20" wide monitor (1680x1050). Basically jsut want a good upgrade over the one im using now, as il be then giving this to my sister. On my current pc my specs are: Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0ghz abit IP35 PRO motherboard Corsair 2GB RAM 8800 GTX 768MB card creative xfi sound blaster sound card Dunno what else to put but yea. I looked at the stickied thread and kinda built one, but dunno if its any good or even an uprgade! heres a screenie of what i put together.. http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3317/hereei.jpg So yea, advice please! much appreciated

Jul 14, 2009, 08:00 PM	#2
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! Welcome to DH KaotiK thats a pretty good build right there, the 920 Quad is powerful enough to outperform the E6850 per core with some overclocking, but i highly recommend the 940 BE as it can overclock to 3.8 to 4GHz more easily than the 920 with some good air cooling.... as a Quad Core with identical clocks with similar clock efficacy, the 940BE is twice as good as your current E6850, allowing you to handle more CPU intensive games everything else is pretty good, the 4870 GPU performs significantly higher than the 8800GTX.... something around 40% more power also, you will need to overclock slightly just to use the DDR2 1066 RAM you spec'd, if this were mine, id get 8GB of OCing friendly, low latency CAS 4 DDR2 800 instead..... games are using more and more system RAM lastly, do you have a particular budget and place to shop? if so, i can put something together thats more suiting to that price-range __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums! Last edited by kris23; Jul 14, 2009 at 08:19 PM.

Jul 14, 2009, 09:28 PM	Thread Starter #3
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! Id say around £600-700.

Jul 14, 2009, 10:03 PM	#4
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! hey man, heres what i came up with from Overclockers.co.uk AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 940 Black Edition 3.0GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 XXX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P AMD 790X (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-Crossfire PCI-E 750W Power Supply Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black (No PSU) 2x OCZ Blade 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel (OCZ2B800C44GK) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM this is a system without an OS, costing £636 inc. VAT and shipping youll need an OS if you want to use the system... either purchase one or run without an activation key for up to 4 months Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525) __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums! Last edited by kris23; Jul 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM.

Jul 14, 2009, 10:08 PM	Thread Starter #5
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! thanks Would i be able to use my current xp cd and key i have with this computer? Also, can you check my thread in the nvidia graphics card section, i posted a problem about my card there, just incase you may know whats up

Jul 14, 2009, 10:21 PM	#6
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! you cannot use a CD key that has already been activated on another system sadly... it has to stay with the system it has been activated on besides, if you are talking about windows XP 32-bit, you will not be able to utilize all of your system memory with its limit of 4GB... the system i posted above has 8GB system RAM with 1GB on the video card, 9GB+ already exceeding the limitations of a 32-bit OS, you need a 64-bit OS __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 14, 2009, 10:37 PM	Thread Starter #7
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! ah k, just people always telling me vista isnt worth it etc etc. But i understand what you mean, need to get the best out of the pc.

Jul 15, 2009, 12:38 AM	#8
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! dont believe everything you hear in the news..... half the dudes there are paid to say such things.... if vista was not worth it, you can be sure that the majority of the tech savvy people on DH wouldn't have touched it.... and you can see that simply isnt the case... you even get a voucher for windows 7 with a purchase of a copy of vista now, and the windows 7 RC1 is already excellent __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 15, 2009, 01:21 AM	#9
PH3N0M The Master of Sarcasm Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: The U.S. of A Posts: 348 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! +1 on what Kris23 has said. Pay no attention to the Vista naysayers. I, too, hated Vista until I purchased a rig that could run it efficiently. After installing Vista x64, I never went back to XP. Vista only runs like shit if you try to run the OS on the bare minimum specs required. __________________

Jul 15, 2009, 05:38 AM	#10
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! if you are in no rush to get rid of the system, you probably should wait until Core i5 is released, it is said to be as fast as current i7 machines at a far lower price-point... ATi is also said to release the HD 5000 series DX11 cards very soon, sometime between september to october __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 15, 2009, 07:23 AM	#12
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! feel free to use the windows 7 OS on this system if you cannot get a full copy of vista right now. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win.../download.aspx __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 15, 2009, 09:26 AM	Thread Starter #13
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! i should be able to get vista. Im going to need the system as soon as. As in my other thread, my card is just dead Unless i buy a new card and use it in this system right now? or would that be pointless Also can you fit a creative sound blaster sound card in that setup? if so which one? Last edited by KaotiK; Jul 15, 2009 at 11:40 AM.

Jul 15, 2009, 12:46 PM	#14
Cow_160483 HH's only cow moooooo... Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: BOTSWANA Posts: 6,813 Rep Power: 300 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! Just to add my 2 cents i would go with windows 7 RC then buy it over vista . __________________ Decode! Muhahahahah!

Jul 15, 2009, 06:08 PM	#15
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! you can buy a cheap ATi HD 4850 and that can equal to outperform the 8800GTX you used at a low price point Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCS 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail then that probably would give you more time to get things sorted as for a sound card, the best X-fi you can get are the ones made by Auzentech http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=11&subcat= __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums! Last edited by kris23; Jul 15, 2009 at 06:33 PM.

Jul 16, 2009, 09:48 AM	Thread Starter #16
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! and that motherboard will support the use of the soundcard to with everything else?

Jul 16, 2009, 10:25 AM	#17
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! yup..... support it, as well as a second 4870 if you would like __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 18, 2009, 08:26 PM	#20
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! lol sadly theres alot of them......... sure is nice to know that Win 7 is going to be even better..... barely uses any RAM with Superfetch..... now if they get rid of the CPU spiking issues then everything will be perfect! __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 23, 2009, 10:50 AM	Thread Starter #21
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! Hey guys, buying the computer in a week or so once the money comes in. But few more questions, speaking to friends and stuff they say i should go intel core i7? Or does the AMD peform just as good? Just weighing options lol Want a PC thats gonna last me a while running the top end games on high etc. the one you built does look perfect to me but just asking to make sure and stuff hehe

Jul 23, 2009, 10:40 PM	#22
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! i7 is definitely a better performer than the AMD.... you see great boosts with CPU intensive games but no matter how you look at it, its rather expensive and goes beyond your price-range, unless you can get the extra couple pounds? i put together an i7 system similar to the AMD system Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-Crossfire PCI-E 750W Power Supply OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case - Black (No PSU) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM costs £762.29 inc. VAT and shipping if you want BOTH crossfire and SLi support, you will need a better board Asus P6T Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard bringing the price up to £790.29 inc VAT and shipping. a fair bit more expensive but it is an awesome system........ __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums! Last edited by kris23; Jul 23, 2009 at 10:54 PM.

Jul 24, 2009, 01:11 PM	Thread Starter #23
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! Hmm yea its a hard one as id need an OS to. Might be worth saving that bit extra to get the betetr system if thats much of an upgrade.

Jul 24, 2009, 07:51 PM	#24
A Desire to Game HardwareHeaven Hoosier Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 296 Rep Power: 33 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! Components to consider: WD Caviar Black 500GB (little bit more, 32MB cache, great performer) 4870 1GB (XFX has Double Liftime Warranty and is great brand, Sapphire has 3yr warranty but runs much cooler and quieter, weigh your options) AMD 720BE or 940BE (GAME performance relatively the same, but spending a little more for a quad would be nice for the future) ASUS 790GX mobo (ASUS 790GX is cheaper than the GB 790X, stick with the 770 if not crossfiring to save $$$) SATA DVD Burner (get SATA...nuff said, might as well get Lightscribe) Case (both CM cases are nice, so is the Antec 300 for the price, 300 has big 140mm fan on top and has about the same appearance) RAM (4 or 8 gb of course, DO NOT NEED MORE THAN 4GB FOR GAMING, low CAS latency would be nice, I like Corsair and Patriot) PSU (try to go modular if you can afford it, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, & Enermax in that order) You need to decide if you plan to crossfire now or in the future so you can decide what PSU and Mobo you want. Remember you can Xfire older model cards with new models (not with SLi). __________________ Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

Jul 24, 2009, 08:12 PM	#25
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! kinda funny how nearly every component i recommend is in line with those suggestions........ but since i have built a system with dual Caviar Blacks, i have to say that the 7200.12 is a better deal... performs as good to better and is alot cheaper if you go with i7 and a high end motherboard, you can use BOTH CF and SLi and not need to compromise __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 26, 2009, 11:58 AM	Thread Starter #26
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! Right, ive mangaed to pesuade my dad to help me out on money, and i can spend about £1300. Alot of moneys but i want a quality system. I used your suggestions and made this.. : http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/1751/thispc.jpg So just some more advice needed on what needs changing etc. That comes to £1243 inc vat and shipping.

Jul 26, 2009, 09:25 PM	#27
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card Coolermaster HAF 932 Case - Black (No PSU) 2x XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) Prolimatech Megahalems Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775/1366) Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500418AS) Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM + Windows 7 Upgrade Voucher (66I-03525) £1,275.83 pretty much consumes the whole budget right there...... but you save some money some places to get better stuff in others... the Auzentech X-fi Forte is a far better card than the X-fi's from Creative due to the higher end components and better engineering used within __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 26, 2009, 09:55 PM	Thread Starter #28
KaotiK HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 53 Rep Power: 0	Re: Building a new PC! Nice one, thanks man

Jul 27, 2009, 12:23 AM	#29
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,017 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! welcome, also i got you a better gigabyte board as it seems ASUS techs were smoking crack when they designed that other board....... 2 PCI-E slots were set right next to each other...... just goes to show how far they fallen __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jul 27, 2009, 01:59 PM	#30
A Desire to Game HardwareHeaven Hoosier Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Indiana Posts: 296 Rep Power: 33 System Specs	Re: Building a new PC! Great minds think alike...he he. I like the i7 build better...of course. 2x 4870 1gb will blow some serious hot air and make some serious noise. I love XFX, I own them. But I just built a rig with a Sapphire 4870 and let me tell you those things are as QUIET as it gets. Just consider it. 2x 4870's at 1680x1050??? I dunno if thats where I'd put my money. I'd go with a single card that will give you better minimum FPS in games. 4870's will give you crazy FPS but you will still have some dips where the 4870 isn't fast enough. What kind of games will you be playing? Crysis, Warhead, . . . Nvidia titles? Corsair Dominator RAM looks pretty but may be too costly for this build. OCZ makes good RAM...I hear. __________________ Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)