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Happy New Year everyone! First, something I need to get out right off: I have been reading the [H]ardforums for about a year-and-a-half now, drooling over the 'show us your setup/display' threads and learning as much as I can from everyone's experiences here. I'd like to thank Tirades, Danny Bui, Enginurd and Silent-circuit to name a few (but not excluding the rest of you!) for actually helping me with my old build until it's final days without even really knowing it and showing me what's what when it comes to a decent rig. Thanks everyone [H]ard for setting the bar!
With that holiday sap out of the way I'll cut to the chase. I've had my computer since the FX-53 first came out and was the new hotness and PCIe was the slightly more expensive, yet unaccepted alternative to AGP. It has given me many moons of good times but finally gave up the ghost for everything but safemode (where I'm posting from now). I'm at my wits end and have decided it's time to retire the old girl. Finally registered and here I am.
For a while I thought about using a boutique such as Ava or Puget but the more I read these forums, the more I got the courage to just do this on my own. I know there are many posts semi-similar to this but I don't want to hijack someone else's thread and steal thunder from their rigs-to-be. My apologies for any redundancy but I wanted to get your thoughts on what you would do in my situation and if this looks okay:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily gaming. IL-2, BF2 and Supreme Commander are oldies I'd like to play full bore, and I would love to play L4D, Fallout 3, GTAIV (I know, terrible port), and WiC in all their full-detail glory, amongst so many others I missed thanks to this old machine. Also this will be my main movie watching device when I want to view a good manly flick sans girlfriend.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Anywhere from $1600 up to $2000 Shipping/Tax included. I'm flexible, just don't want to break that 2 large cap if I can help it.
3) Where do you live?
Eau Claire, WI (keeping parts cool will not be a problem!)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything but input devices, speakers, case and monitor. Will pick up 22"-24" for birthday in February unless I can eek enough money out of this build to justify it early.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
The only parts I'm keeping are the monitor, keyboard/mouse, speakers, possibly the 74GB Raptor for a game drive if it's not silly to have, and the case, though the V2100 is WAY more than I need anymore, and the pseudo BTX upside down situation (hitting the divider) may cause issues with a decent HSF?. Too bad I know no one who will buy the beast. Gonna look into a CM690 or P182 (small but great ventilation) down the line though I'll miss the Lian-Li quality.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Never oc'ed before, but read the i7's have a pretty easy learning curve as long as you don't have high-in-the-sky hopes for 4Ghz+ where you have to tweak more. I just don't want to hurt my new baby!
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
Currently have 19" that does 1280x1024 comfortably but pains my eyes at 1600x1200 due to 60hz refresh. Shooting for a 22" but would go 24" in the next two months. If a good deal on something quality for ~$300-400 comes along maybe earlier. (BenQ G2400WD has been teasing me for ages).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Would start buying core things (CPU/MOBO combo listed below?) as early as today. Rest when next paycheck hits this Friday. This has been a long time coming!
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I come from a land just before SLI and CF, so very unsure of rocking two cards. Was thinking GTX 260 55nm now and use EVGA step-up to something more beastly (or tread waters I haven't since my Voodoo 2 and get another 260?) if the new monitor demands it? No RAID, no special connection needs.
I went whole horse and early adopted on Socket 939 back in the day and got bit in the ass by the AGP situation, early BIOS issues etc., but in the end it lasted me a LONG time. Would love to save money on a 775 rig very similar to this but don't want to hinge everything on overclocking a q6600 only to find I can't do it! And if I get a higher clocked stock quad, from what I've read the price difference is so close to i7 there's not much point. C2D seems like an iffy proposition at this point since games are finally starting to have quad 'optimizations' which leaves:
CPU/MOBO - Core i7 920 / EVGA SLI X58 combo @ NCIXUS for $570 shipped
(read EVGA support is excellent and I have none of the games bundled, good deal?)
HSF - Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT @ Heatsink Factory for $84 shipped
(is there anything cheaper but near as good for keeping things cool if I oc?)
RAM- G.Skill 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 @ Newegg for $185
(would jump up to Corsair if truly that much better, or down to 1333 G.Skill if 1600 isn't worth it since I don't want to go nuts on the overclocking)
GPU - EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm @ Newegg for $265
(Seems to give some of the best performance for the money returns compared to say 280. Would go 4870 1GB but I like the thought of the step-up plan if the 260 doesn't cut it within' 90 days.)
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 64001AALS 640GB @ Newegg for $80
(More capacity for all the games I hope to play! Giving the 250GB to the girlfriend, using the 74GB Raptor for boot and a few heavier duty games)
DVD-RW - Samsung TS-H653N @ Newegg for $23
(2x slower than the SH-223Q and $8 cheaper, every little bit helps I suppose!)
PSU - Corsair 750-TX @ Newegg for $120
(More than enough for a single card now and possibly SLI/CF or a heavier duty single card and/or overclocking the cpu later {thanks guys!})
OS - Vista 64bit OEM @ Newegg for $100
(First time with the new OS, how limited are the installs if I mess something up and have to start fresh?)
Ends up around $1440 for everything shipped if I do my hurried math correctly. And that is minus a case and minus a new monitor. Does this sound reasonable or should I lay off the Core i7 kool-aid, tighten the belt, and get a cheaper C2Q set up? Like I said this is my first TRUE build, the last one was done years and years ago by a friend while I assisted with minor things after the CPU and motherboard install so it's a semi-terrifying prospect to have all the responsibility on my hands now! But I'm very excited to get things moving with your help! Sorry for the excess of minor questions and if this seems convoluted at all!
With that holiday sap out of the way I'll cut to the chase. I've had my computer since the FX-53 first came out and was the new hotness and PCIe was the slightly more expensive, yet unaccepted alternative to AGP. It has given me many moons of good times but finally gave up the ghost for everything but safemode (where I'm posting from now). I'm at my wits end and have decided it's time to retire the old girl. Finally registered and here I am.
For a while I thought about using a boutique such as Ava or Puget but the more I read these forums, the more I got the courage to just do this on my own. I know there are many posts semi-similar to this but I don't want to hijack someone else's thread and steal thunder from their rigs-to-be. My apologies for any redundancy but I wanted to get your thoughts on what you would do in my situation and if this looks okay:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily gaming. IL-2, BF2 and Supreme Commander are oldies I'd like to play full bore, and I would love to play L4D, Fallout 3, GTAIV (I know, terrible port), and WiC in all their full-detail glory, amongst so many others I missed thanks to this old machine. Also this will be my main movie watching device when I want to view a good manly flick sans girlfriend.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Anywhere from $1600 up to $2000 Shipping/Tax included. I'm flexible, just don't want to break that 2 large cap if I can help it.
3) Where do you live?
Eau Claire, WI (keeping parts cool will not be a problem!)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything but input devices, speakers, case and monitor. Will pick up 22"-24" for birthday in February unless I can eek enough money out of this build to justify it early.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
The only parts I'm keeping are the monitor, keyboard/mouse, speakers, possibly the 74GB Raptor for a game drive if it's not silly to have, and the case, though the V2100 is WAY more than I need anymore, and the pseudo BTX upside down situation (hitting the divider) may cause issues with a decent HSF?. Too bad I know no one who will buy the beast. Gonna look into a CM690 or P182 (small but great ventilation) down the line though I'll miss the Lian-Li quality.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Never oc'ed before, but read the i7's have a pretty easy learning curve as long as you don't have high-in-the-sky hopes for 4Ghz+ where you have to tweak more. I just don't want to hurt my new baby!
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
Currently have 19" that does 1280x1024 comfortably but pains my eyes at 1600x1200 due to 60hz refresh. Shooting for a 22" but would go 24" in the next two months. If a good deal on something quality for ~$300-400 comes along maybe earlier. (BenQ G2400WD has been teasing me for ages).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Would start buying core things (CPU/MOBO combo listed below?) as early as today. Rest when next paycheck hits this Friday. This has been a long time coming!
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I come from a land just before SLI and CF, so very unsure of rocking two cards. Was thinking GTX 260 55nm now and use EVGA step-up to something more beastly (or tread waters I haven't since my Voodoo 2 and get another 260?) if the new monitor demands it? No RAID, no special connection needs.
I went whole horse and early adopted on Socket 939 back in the day and got bit in the ass by the AGP situation, early BIOS issues etc., but in the end it lasted me a LONG time. Would love to save money on a 775 rig very similar to this but don't want to hinge everything on overclocking a q6600 only to find I can't do it! And if I get a higher clocked stock quad, from what I've read the price difference is so close to i7 there's not much point. C2D seems like an iffy proposition at this point since games are finally starting to have quad 'optimizations' which leaves:
CPU/MOBO - Core i7 920 / EVGA SLI X58 combo @ NCIXUS for $570 shipped
(read EVGA support is excellent and I have none of the games bundled, good deal?)
HSF - Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT @ Heatsink Factory for $84 shipped
(is there anything cheaper but near as good for keeping things cool if I oc?)
RAM- G.Skill 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 @ Newegg for $185
(would jump up to Corsair if truly that much better, or down to 1333 G.Skill if 1600 isn't worth it since I don't want to go nuts on the overclocking)
GPU - EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 55nm @ Newegg for $265
(Seems to give some of the best performance for the money returns compared to say 280. Would go 4870 1GB but I like the thought of the step-up plan if the 260 doesn't cut it within' 90 days.)
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 64001AALS 640GB @ Newegg for $80
(More capacity for all the games I hope to play! Giving the 250GB to the girlfriend, using the 74GB Raptor for boot and a few heavier duty games)
DVD-RW - Samsung TS-H653N @ Newegg for $23
(2x slower than the SH-223Q and $8 cheaper, every little bit helps I suppose!)
PSU - Corsair 750-TX @ Newegg for $120
(More than enough for a single card now and possibly SLI/CF or a heavier duty single card and/or overclocking the cpu later {thanks guys!})
OS - Vista 64bit OEM @ Newegg for $100
(First time with the new OS, how limited are the installs if I mess something up and have to start fresh?)
Ends up around $1440 for everything shipped if I do my hurried math correctly. And that is minus a case and minus a new monitor. Does this sound reasonable or should I lay off the Core i7 kool-aid, tighten the belt, and get a cheaper C2Q set up? Like I said this is my first TRUE build, the last one was done years and years ago by a friend while I assisted with minor things after the CPU and motherboard install so it's a semi-terrifying prospect to have all the responsibility on my hands now! But I'm very excited to get things moving with your help! Sorry for the excess of minor questions and if this seems convoluted at all!
