Build

D

DarthWombaT

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
1,663
-- What your budget is (and whether it includes taxes, shipping charges, and/or other costs)
1300 without taxes

-- Which parts you need within that budget
CPU, MOBO, RAM, PSU, HSF, VIDEO CARD

-- What the system is going to be used for
Gaming / developing / photoshop / web

-- All of the components that you already have and/or are planning on reusing
None, the only thing I have that I could reuse is a 485 watt Enermax Noisetaker ATX 2.0 but I doubt it's enought

-- Which components you are considering getting (list out your components with model numbers/names along with links to the stores you're getting them from)
PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
MOBO ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
CPU Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
RAM G.SKILL 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T2-12GBNQ - Retail
HSF COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

-- The question(s) you have -- or, the reason you made the thread in the first place
Am I going in the right direction?
I want something relatively futureproof, in the future I'd like to add another video card, or upgrade the CPU...
Should I look for better memory? (timing in specific 9-9-9-24)

-- Be as specific/detailed as possible (without writing a novel -- some of us have short attention spans here...)
OK

Will you be overclocking?
No

What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
20" CRT (lol) but will be buying Flat Panel

When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon as possible

What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SATA, going to run a single SSD

Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes.

Whats the budget for the case, HDDs/SSDs, and optical drive(s)?
Using an ATX Server case I've been building PCs (circa 1997)
Already have optical and SSD

Also, what size/res flat panel monitor do you plan on buying?
Havn't even looked at that, I'll just the 20" CRT for a while

If a while from now, what resolution/settings do you game at?
1280 x 1024 currently (native res of CRT)

What games do you play?
EQ2 and hopefully all the ones my current setup can't handle.
 
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I was actually under the impression that the Phenom II held it's own against everything Intel had to offer in games specifically.
 
Please answer the questions in the Sticky Thread.

Asking for Build Help?: ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST

guitarslingerchris said:
I was actually under the impression that the Phenom II held it's own against everything Intel had to offer in games specifically.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Intel Core i7 still outperforms the Ph2 and Core2 CPUs, especially when you get into the multi-GPU arena. However, yes, Phenom2 holds its own against Core2, especially when you consider AMDs new lower prices.
 
Heh, a mix of the build guide and the build help thread questions... lol. Though, some things are still left unanswered...

What will you be doing with this PC?

You mentioned you only needed CPU, MOBO, RAM, PSU, HSF, and VIDEO CARD for that $1300 budget. Whats the budget for the case, HDDs/SSDs, and optical drive(s)?

Also, what size/res flat panel monitor do you plan on buying?
How soon will you be buying this new monitor?

If a while from now, what resolution/settings do you game at?
What games do you play?


Without those answers, I can tell you that the HD4890 is probably your best bang for buck (found for around $250, $210AR) if this is a gaming system. Though, its overkill for a 20" CRT, since you can simply lower the resolution and get good performance out of cheaper cards, like the HD4850 ($120). If you plan on getting a 22" 1680x1050 LCD, then the HD4890 is good. If you plan on getting a 1900x1200 monitor, then the HD4890 is the minimum card I'd recommend for gaming at native res.

If you're not OC'ing, no need for better memory. Though, DDR3-1600 will allow you to OC nicely, if and when you decide to OC. BTW, if you're not OC'ing, no need for the V8 cooler. Alternatives to the V8 include the Xigmatek Dark Knight (best value), Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, and the TRUE 120. A safe, quick and easy OC on the 920 would be around 3.4Ghz.
 
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I am interested in 1680x1050 eventually, I hate wide screen resolutions but I got my mom one for her birthday and I really liked it.

As for cooling I might keep the V8, just because I've always had over the top cooling and most of the reviews I saw for this said it was excellent. My AMD socket A had an Alpha PAL 8045 with some god awful Delta fan.
 
The Xigmatek Dark Knight performs on par with it and costs much less.
 
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When are you going to purchase your new monitor? It looks like, with a couple of parts swaps, you could fit in the costs of a 22 inch monitor within that $1300 budget. If you are satisfied with a 1680x1050 resolution, you don't really need to get anything more than a GTX 275 or an HD4890.

Along those same lines, if you're only considering the use of one video card -- you really have no need for a multi-card SLI or CrossFire setup at the above resolution -- you don't need an 850 watt power supply for everything. A good PSU of at least 550 watts with at least 40A combined on its 12V rails would be enough for your needs. There's at least one power 650-750 watt power supply available for under/around $100 that is more than enough for your needs.

Out of curiosity, which SSD did you pick up for this build? Do you have the brand and model/name for the case you're reusing for this build?

With DDR3 RAM, tighter timings (like CL8 RAM) offer no noticeable performance benefit compared to using faster (e.g., DDR3 1600) memory -- and that difference is only realized while overclocking. If you really want an eye towards the future, get DDR3 1600 RAM now so that you have one less thing to worry about if and/or when you decide to overclock. DDR3 1333 RAM can be found for a bit less, yet it can still enable you to obtain a decent overclock.

The Xigmatek Dark Knight cools about as well as the Cooler Master V8 for a fraction of the price. Though either CPU cooler (or the other two that enginurd recommended) would cool better and run quieter than the retail HSF, neither one is a necessity for you.
 
$1300, I would do this:

VIDEO CARD/CPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 4890 1gig + Intel Core i7 920 both for $490 ($15 MIR on video card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.198947

MOBO - Asus P6T SE Intel X58 for $200 w/free shipping ($15 MIR)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010451

PSU - Corsair 650TX 650 watt PSU for $94 w/free shipping ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

RAM/HDD - OCZ Platinum 6GB DDR3 1600 + WD1001FALS 1TB both for $193 ($20 MIR on ram)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.199045

HEATSINK - Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm for $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

MONITOR - Asus MK241H 24” 1920x1200 for $270 w/free shipping ($20 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236033


Total: $1,287
 
I've had a G.Skill SSD that I had in my laptop. It's nowhere near the performance of the Intel SSDs but the performance difference between that and the typical hard drive I have always used was unreal. If the price really does drop this next product cycle I might pick up an Intel SSD.

I want to keep the 12GB memory, I want to use a Ramdisk and every PC I've always built I always felt like I needed more memory (I threebox EQ2).

I also forgot to add that I will most likely add in another video card, whatever one I choose, at a later date

Thanks for the input so far!
 
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DarthWombaT said:
I want to keep the 12GB memory, I want to use a Ramdisk and every PC I've always built I always felt like I needed more memory (I threebox EQ2).
Click to expand...

Do you have a 64bit or 32bit OS key/license?
 
Gonna run Win 3.11

XP 64 bit ;)

I havn't checked if everything I have has drivers, but I will once I think I have a 'finalized' build
 
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Do you have a particular reason as to why you're planning to run XP 64? It's an odd duck OS with very poor driver support -- considering that it was never really XP, but Server 2003 64-bit with the XP skin.
 
Because it's not Vista and that's the 64bit license that I have. However, if I can't find drivers for the hardware I buy I will probably have to wait until 7 comes around before I can build this machine.
 
Vista 64 is a much better platform than XP-64. It's faster, has a cleaner, more stable, and more secure code-base, and has has far fewer compatibility issues with both hardware and software. If you're keeping XP-64 because of some notion that Vista is somehow deficient, I strongly encourage you to reconsider.
 
You could just use the Windows 7 RC 64bit until October when the retail version of Windows 7 is released if you don't mind reinstalling your OS. That way you avoid having to pay for Vista and avoid the potential driver issues of XP 64bit.
 
... and use XP mode in 7 until you're finally tired of XP... hehe.
 
enginurd said:
... and use XP mode in 7 until you're finally tired of XP... hehe.
Click to expand...

An interesting thing I've heard about Virtual XP mode is that it will require hardware VM support -- interesting because I didn't know Virtual PC (which this will be based on) can even take advantage of such support.

If the Core i5 ships without VM support as I've heard, a lot of power users looking to buy midrange systems are going to wonder why they can't use Virtual Windows XP.
 
Hm... that would suck if "i5" shipped without VT. :( We had it in Core2 mainstream, so I would think it gets maintained in the mainstream Core "i5".
 
DarthWombaT that is a really sweet system in you sig. Where did you manage to get 256MB of EDO RAM?
 
G0M3S said:
DarthWombaT that is a really sweet system in you sig. Where did you manage to get 256MB of EDO RAM?
Click to expand...
At the time I acquired the machine it wasn't as antiquated as it would be now, what actually brought me to [H] was upgrading FROM that machine. The CPU is far more interesting, I had a thread on here with pics and CPU-Z info which was enough to intrigue a few people to the point where I still get PMs from time to time about the CPU.
 
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