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Build look good?

S

Seraphim974

Gawd
Joined
Nov 7, 2003
Messages
928
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Building a PC for gaming. (mid-range gaming that will be able to run current and upcoming games at high settings without over-spending) Web browsing, movies.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
900ish Trying to see if prices can be lowered however I think I just about got it as cheap as can be without reducing quality. Questions lie mainly in PSU and Video card suggestions.

3) Where do you live?
La Crosse, Wisconsin

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
PSU, CPU, Mobo, RAM, Video Card, Windows 7

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Sound Blaster Fatality X-fi, 300GB WD Velociraptor 10.000rpm, DVD-RW, wireless network card, Lian-Li PC-C32B ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
19" NEC CRT. Will upgrade sometime to a nicer 24"-29" LCD (where I guess I'll have to conform to some super high native resolution to avoid blurriness)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
November-December. I make $205 a week so I will be buying a part at a time.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Just the usual, USB 3.0, dont need SLI or Crossfire. SATA 6 GB good.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? No.


Build I already had in mind:
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $107
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core $160
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory $67

Windows 7 home premium OEM $100

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply $110

GIGABYTE GV-R687D5-1GD-B Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity $248 after shipping

Total: $792

Any input on this such as video card or PSU or anything else is appreciated.
 
Save up some money so you can buy as many parts as possible in one go. Yes, I understand you only have $205 available per week, but most of the good deals and specials require you to buy multiple parts at once (all of NewEgg's combo deals work under this premise).

For now, wait a week to see whether or not NewEgg (or Fry's or Micro Center, should you live near either one) has some good deals for the first half of November. You should also keep in mind that come Black Friday, there will be plenty of deals available.

What's the resolution that you're using on your 19" monitor? For 1600x1200 or lower, the HD 6870 will be overkill. If you're planning on buying a larger monitor in the future, it may be better for you to buy the video card around the same time. As for the power supply, it's a relatively good price, but it's more power than you need for one video card.
 
Yeah perhaps I could reuse this GTX 9800 in my signature until I pick up a new monitor since I range from 1280x1024 - 1600x1200 resolution.

And I guess I will look for perhaps a 650 watt PSU?? I will only have to upgrade to a better video card in the future like the HD 6870 mentioned and certainly upgrade past the 4GB DDR3 ram to 8 or 12 GB total in the future. Do you think a cheaper 650 watt could cut it?
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes.
Click to expand...

Hey Danny Bui you had told me that my old HDD and Sound card that were in my old computer that died from bad electrical wiring would do no harm to new computer parts. The same is true for a video card using two 6-pin PSU connectors probably right? Because now I'm thinking of just, for now, recycling my Video card in sig for this new build until I run into more money.
 
Yes its true for the video card as well.

Just to confirm: I fully agree with tiraides: Save up your money until you can buy the parts in one go. You're making better use of your money that way.
 
Good point. I actually should have mentioned in OP that I will be checking and buying parts in pairs with newegg combos. Wasn't thinking. Thank you guys for info. With this post I dropped my initial cost to get up and running again from ~$850 down to ~$550.

I am going with a 650 instead of 750 or even 850 watt PSU.. saving $20
Also going to recycle video card for now saving $250 off the bat.

Just hope the OEM Windows 7 doesn't give me any gripe. Should just be a normal windows install except limited transferability/reusability.

Thank you.
 
Revisit this thread when you're ready to buy some parts, but don't buy anything until we have a chance to review what you're considering.
 
Going to try to buy today or tomorrow on newegg: ( I essentially Decided up a 650 Watt PSU and reuse my video card for now) (also didn't really see any good combos to take advantage of so I'm gonna order tonight or tomorrow unless someone sees sumpting amiss)

ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $110
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core $166
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1300 Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9S-4GBRL $63

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...$92

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $100

Then reusing Nvidia 9800 GTX from old computer for now and rest of old hardware: (DVD drive) WD raptor HDD, SB Fatality, monitor, case, mouse keyboard.
 
I'd spend the extra $15 for this better quality motherboard via a combo deal:
$290 - AMD Phenom II X4 9565 Black Edition CPU + Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard Combo
 
The mobo in that combo, M4A89GTD PRO/USB3, the expansion slots are different. Can a single GPU go in either of the two PCI -E 2.0 x16 slots? And a PCI-E x1 sound card will probably operate in a PCI-E x4 slot as well? Reason I ask is this 9800 GTX if it's in the very first slot (PCI-E x16) it will probably take up the space that the next slot down uses (PCI-E x1) so that I won't be able to put my sound card in that PCI-E x1 slot. (DER der der..) Thanks!
 
Seraphim974 said:
The mobo in that combo, M4A89GTD PRO/USB3, the expansion slots are different. Can a single GPU go in either of the two PCI -E 2.0 x16 slots? And a PCI-E x1 sound card will probably operate in a PCI-E x4 slot as well? Reason I ask is this 9800 GTX if it's in the very first slot (PCI-E x16) it will probably take up the space that the next slot down uses (PCI-E x1) so that I won't be able to put my sound card in that PCI-E x1 slot. (DER der der..) Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes to both questions.
 
Hey- you guys are awesome; I think this is my last question, I'm not over-clocking the CPU...and even if I do end up OC-ing down the line I'll need a nice heat-sink that'll probably come with its own paste... Do I just use the stock cooler with thermal pad for now and slap it on?? Or Arcticlean $12 and some good paste $10?? Isopropyl alcohol to remove pad and then good paste?? What are yourses guyses experiences if you'd please. I'm thinking of arcticlean $12 (or $6 on acousticPC) and Noctua Thermal Paste $10 (Newegg) right now without any input just to perhaps keep healthier temps and have some on hand for future projects. Thanks for your timeshare.
 
Though ArcticClean works better than isopropyl alcohol (get 91% or better), it's not really necessary.

I recommend Arctic Cooling MX-2 or OCZ Freeze for excellent performance with no curing time.

However, if you aren't going to overclock, unless you have a poor cooling configuration within your case, you don't really need a good aftermarket CPU cooler to get the job done.
 
tiraides said:
Though ArcticClean works better than isopropyl alcohol (get 91% or better), it's not really necessary.
--Thank you I'll price them out.

I recommend Arctic Cooling MX-2 or OCZ Freeze for excellent performance with no curing time.
--K, more stuff to look at. I was just going off Danny_Bui's suggestion here to someone else about this Noctua surpassing AS5. I'll check these out too.

However, if you aren't going to overclock, unless you have a poor cooling configuration within your case, you don't really need a good aftermarket CPU cooler to get the job done.
--No over-clocks right now, I've had four computers go toast lately and don't want to try anything special right now. (Perhaps later with a purchase of a nice heatsink/thermal paste product[like in my previous post].) My case should be alright for air-flow though, Lian-li with two 120MM mid-case and one 8MM I installed in the back. It's a horizontally aligned case however so it might suck for airflow, we'll see. I love hiding cabling (it's my hobby) so that won't be a problem for airflow, no more ribbon cables, I need only 1 HDD--1 DVD-RW installed (no wife or kids yet [real-life ones anyways] to take up disk space or cd trays, etc..)
Click to expand...


Look in tiraides quote above, per my lawyer, words after any and ALL "--"'s are not the words of tiraides but the words of the author of this really dumb reply. thanks
 
Last edited:
Computer works good..
My old Netgear WPN311 wireless adapter sucks though; keep dropping internet connection. More than on my old AMD 64 3500+ I was just using it in a week ago..
Thanks for the suggestions.
Oh and I went with a Seasonic x650 650watt for 129.99 instead of the $90 Corsair since I didn't like the reviews. The Seasonic is modular too. Later.
 
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