building a new pc

Joined
Sep 25, 2003
Messages
46
Hello,

This is a fairly long post so if you aren't feeling very helpful you may want to stop reading now. If you are feeling helpful please continue onward. Thanks

I am looking for advice on building a new pc. It has been about 7 years since I built my current pc. It has been going strong, but it is showing its age. I know very little on the current generation of hardware out there.

I am looking to spend no more than $3000.00 total, I would like to keep it as low as possible. I would prefer to spend $2000.00 or less but as long as Newegg has there no interest offer for 12 moths, I can go up to $3000.00.

I need to order my parts before the end of this month.

I am looking for my new pc to be able to do it all. Gaming, HTPC, etc. By no means does it need to be the absolute best at anything, but I would like it to hold out as long as my current rig, therefore a certain amount of future proofing will be required. My current pc hooks up to my TV via a standard VGA cable, and the audio runs from the on board card to the tv via a standard audio out cable. The picture looks great, but the audio is quiet, therefore I have to jack the volume on the tv way up. I am hoping to use HDMI out from the new PC to the tv to solve that issue. a DVI to HDMI adapter made the picture look like crap on my current pc, which is why I am using the standard VGA option. For audio output, I would like to one day have myself a nice surround system via an Onkyo or Harman Kardon reciever but for now I will just have the audio going right to my tv, but I do want this ability for the future. I hope this is enough background info on what I am expecting out of my new pc.

I will not be over clocking the holy crap out of this rig. I may toy around a bit here and there but it is certainly not immediately necessary, the option to do so later on will be nice though. I will also be air cooling for now, and possibly moving on to water cooling later on. My case will be one of the amazing cases the folks over at mountainmods.com have come up with.

Now for the parts I am looking for. I am pretty sure I want to go for an Intel processor. From what I have read so far they are doing a bit better all around. As far as which processor, I have no idea. 7 years ago the choices were so much easier...

My current mobo manufacturer is ASUS, I am pleased with it, but again, have no idea as to who is making the best motherboards these days. Since from what I can see almost all the motherboards are coming with pretty much the same options.

Memory, not even sure what to get here, I know I'll be getting Windows 7 64 bit, so I don't think I need to limit myself to 4GB but I doubt I need 32GB of memory either.

For the Video card, I have almost always chosen ATI over Nvidia, but I am open to new things. From the above info, I want to hook up to my HDTV via HDMI. and the TV will provide the audio as well. Dual monitor support would be awesome, but not required. my HDTV is 37" and my other monitor is 17" in the past a dual monitor setup with that was always a pain to get right. I'm not to hip to all this dual SLI and crossfire stuff. but since I am wanting a system with a good bit of future proofing no need to hold back on recommendations. I do not need the absolute best in cutting edge graphics cards. I want to be able to play games with options turned all the way up, and be able to play HD content flawlessly.

Sound Card, as stated before I would like to eventually have my audio going to a surround sound receiver, but for now I imagine the on board audio will suffice, as long as it will be output through the HDMI cable on the video card. so hopefully the on bard audio and the video card setup is able to accomplish that.

For my new HD, I'll likely go with a nice SSD for my OS and just use the current HD's I already have. Unless of course people recommend against using SSD's.

For the Power supply I will obviously need enough juice to run everything. I also need it to be efficient, not a fan of wasting all kinds of energy. Antec has been amazing for me in the past, but I am by no means limiting myself to one company.

I plan on using Windows 7 64 bit, and possibly dual booting back to XP, or maybe even multi booting with XP and Linux.

That is all I can think of for right now, I'll get back to doing my research on these matters but any and all help/input would be greatly appreciated. I apologize for the length of this post.

If you feel the need to flame me or try to get in my ass because I didn't do all this research on my own, please reconsider typing up a long drawn out ass chewing and wasting your time on it and for that matter, don't waste time on short flame posts either. I am looking for helpful feedback, not use the search feature.

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Woo long post :p Anyways, one question, why are you going to dual boot to XP? Windows 7 comes with XP mode which should run any programs you had on XP.

You are definitely on a good path as per your choices for the money. Without getting too specific I would say this is what you could go with:
I7 930 + Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
G.Skill DDR3-1600 3x2gb
XFX 5870/5970
Intel 80/160gb X25M-G2 SSD
WD Black 1TB (FAEX version)
Case of your choosing
PSU Can be chosen once you pick your parts (choose from seasonic, antec, corsair mainly).

Then of course you can consider the possibility of eyefinity (which if you didn't know is gaming across 3 or more screens). If anything I would suggest atleast a single nice 24"+ monitor with preferably 1900x1200 resolution. Eyefinity would be nice since it seems like you may have the budget for it.

This build would be more toward the $2500 range WITH 3 monitors for eyefinity, or more toward $2000 if you just decide on single monitor action.

Anyways, hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the reply, I wasn't aware of 7's XP mode. I'm still rocking out to old school XP. Not sure if I want to rock out to 3 monitors or not, never even gave that a thought. Again thanks for the feedback now I'm going to start looking some of that stuff up.
 
I'm not terribly worried about a mouse or keyboard. I could just use my current stuff. However if you would like to make a recommendation please feel free.
 
Something I forgot to mention is case fans. I know I'll be using 120mm fans. Its been a while since I had to buy one but the last time i did it was a Yate Loon. Anyone have any other suggestions as far as what brand of fan? Also my Mountain Mods case will have plenty of fan holes, so I'll need a solid front panel fan controller. I will need help with this one, fan controllers have come a long way since seven years ago. anyone have a personal recommendation here?
 
Yate loons still are quality fans at a low price. If you wanted to spend more scythe/noctua make solid fans as well. Not too sure about good fan controllers, I see alot of people with the NZXT sentry.
 
so here is an early build let me know what ya'll think:

Antec TruePower Quattro Series TPQ-1200 OC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371039

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100281-2GVXSR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.401711

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.401711

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.381166

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.403947

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Full
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116718
 
Last edited:
I have updated my build to reflect a different SSD and motherboard. I accidentally chose the wrong combo deal and picked the UD9. Also I am still on the fence with my power supply choice and video card choice. As far as the power supply goes, I feel it is a very solid future proof choice but if I can save some money I will.

Now for the video card, I am just flat out confused. I have to idea what is what anymore, and when I bought ATI it was always made by ATI. I still don't fully grasp this SLI or Crossfire business. Perhaps I will delve into that later on, but cooling with multiple video cards seems like one hell of a chore. If I do go with a 5870 or similar, I'll likely throw http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=546 on to cool it. But if I decide to get 2 for a crossfire setup will I be able to use such a cooling option?

Other than that nonsense I feel pretty confident about my current choices, unless of course someone wants to make some suggestions.
 
Last edited:
I have update my build to reflect a different SSD and motherboard. I accidentally chose the wrong combo deal and picked the UD9. Also I am still on the fence with my power supply choice and video card choice. As far as the power supply goes, I feel it is a very solid future proof choice but if I can save some money I will.

Now for the video card, I am just flat out confused. I have to idea what is what anymore, and when I bought ATI it was always made by ATI. I still don't fully grasp this SLI or Crossfire business. Perhaps I will delve into that later on, but cooling with multiple video cards seems like one hell of a chore. If I do go with a 5870 or similar, I'll likely throw http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=546 on to cool it. But if I decide to get 2 for a crossfire setup will I be able to use such a cooling option?

Other than that nonsense I feel pretty confident about my current choices, unless of course someone wants to make some suggestions.

Pretty good choices, but one thing, that psu is way overkill. A quality 650w unit would run your system let alone a 1200 watt. If you want modular and you want to have a bit of headroom then go with this:

Corsair HX750

Also go with the XFX HD5870 instead of the Sapphire.

Also you don't need windows ultimate, windows pro would be fine.
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
 
So regarding the XFX HD5870's, there are 4 different ones that have 2 different price points here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...activatedMark=False&Order=PRICED&PageSize=100

are the higher core clocks and the higher effective memory clock worth the money?

and thanks for the windows 7 and PSU recommendations.

I think I have narrowed the video cards down to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4150490&cm_re=xfx_5870-_-14-150-490-_-Product

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150487

other than speed and eyefinity I am not sure if there are any other differences
 
Last edited:
I think your build looks very well thought out and picked.

Add an HDD or two for raw storage, maybe a bluray player, how about sound what are you using for audio?

And what have you in mind for cooling?

And yes you could definitely save some bucks on the psu.

btw I like that custom case, pretty sweet those are!
 
I'm just going to use my current storage drive for now. I will likely grab me a bluray player in the future but maybe after I tweak my PSU maybe I will reconsider. For now I guess I'll stay with the on board audio until I have my sound system. As stated in the horrible long original post I would eventually like to output to a surround sound receiver but for now I'll just be outputting to my tv via HDMI. I am of course open to suggestions. Thanks
 
So regarding the XFX HD5870's, there are 4 different ones that have 2 different price points here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...activatedMark=False&Order=PRICED&PageSize=100

are the higher core clocks and the higher effective memory clock worth the money?

and thanks for the windows 7 and PSU recommendations.

I think I have narrowed the video cards down to:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4150490&cm_re=xfx_5870-_-14-150-490-_-Product

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150487

other than speed and eyefinity I am not sure if there are any other differences

The one I linked is fine. You don't need to pay $30 for them to overclock your card a whopping 30mhz. Both cards support eyefinity, I see one puts it in the title and the other doesn't.
 
The one I linked is fine. You don't need to pay $30 for them to overclock your card a whopping 30mhz. Both cards support eyefinity, I see one puts it in the title and the other doesn't.


Roger that, I went with the cheaper option. I'll be linking an updated build soon. Thanks for all the feedback.
 
Pretty good choices, but one thing, that psu is way overkill. A quality 650w unit would run your system let alone a 1200 watt. If you want modular and you want to have a bit of headroom then go with this:

Corsair HX750

I like the Corsair recommended, part of why I like Antec is obviously the quality and reliability but also the manufacturers warranty and customer service.

I came home one day to a dead house and a blown PSU. Like a fool I just bought a new PSU. almost 2 full years later I come home to the same situation. Now I am in a bit of a pickle so I dig through some paper work and see that my previous PSU which is an Antec is still under warranty. Unfortunately I didn't have a receipt only a bar code from the box. Long story short Antec replaced it without hassle and basically upgraded the hell out of the PSU since the original one was no longer being made.

How does Corsair compare? Am I likely to experience such customer support and such? Its a small consideration but one to look at no doubt.

For now I like the recommendation and have added it to my build.
 
here is an updated build, I think it looks much better, thanks all for the suggestions.

XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116717

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.381166

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.381166


total right now with shipping is $1670.87 this is not including the monster of a case I'll be getting.

I do have some room now for a Bluray player/burner and/or a sound card. Based on what I am looking to do in the future regarding outputting to a surround receiver do ya'll think I should invest in a sound card now, or just upgrade later on when my sound system is in place?
 
Last edited:
I like the Corsair recommended, part of why I like Antec is obviously the quality and reliability but also the manufacturers warranty and customer service.

I came home one day to a dead house and a blown PSU. Like a fool I just bought a new PSU. almost 2 full years later I come home to the same situation. Now I am in a bit of a pickle so I dig through some paper work and see that my previous PSU which is an Antec is still under warranty. Unfortunately I didn't have a receipt only a bar code from the box. Long story short Antec replaced it without hassle and basically upgraded the hell out of the PSU since the original one was no longer being made.

How does Corsair compare? Am I likely to experience such customer support and such? Its a small consideration but one to look at no doubt.

For now I like the recommendation and have added it to my build.


I've never dealt with them because I've never had anything by them go bad, that being said if you like antec (I do too) you could go with this psu:

Antec TruePower New TP-750 750w

It currently it selling for $105 before rebate, which is a pretty good deal. Unfortunately it is only SEMI-modular.

here is an updated build, I think it looks much better, thanks all for the suggestions.

XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116717

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.381166

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.381166


total right now with shipping is $1670.87 this is not including the monster of a case I'll be getting.

I do have some room now for a Bluray player/burner and/or a sound card. Based on what I am looking to do in the future regarding outputting to a surround receiver do ya'll think I should invest in a sound card now, or just upgrade later on when my sound system is in place?

Looks very good, and you can consider the psu I suggested above. I would save until you have the system in place before buying it. Will your comp be hooked up to a TV? If not you might as well buy a cheap stand-alone bluray player.
 
I'm going to go with the Corsair. I like the modularness (if that is even a word) and it seems to be more efficient. I'll give them a shot.
 
I've never dealt with them because I've never had anything by them go bad, that being said if you like antec (I do too) you could go with this psu:

Antec TruePower New TP-750 750w

It currently it selling for $105 before rebate, which is a pretty good deal. Unfortunately it is only SEMI-modular.



Looks very good, and you can consider the psu I suggested above. I would save until you have the system in place before buying it. Will your comp be hooked up to a TV? If not you might as well buy a cheap stand-alone bluray player.

I will be hooking this pc up to my tv, however since currently I am lacking a PS3 and an XBOX 360 this could be a decent opportunity to invest in either or both. Another discussion for another time perhaps. My main concern is getting all the necessary parts ordered while Newegg is offering the 12 months no interest if paid off in full by the 12th month.

I think the build is solid, and I agree, I will wait until I have my sound system in place before grabbing a sound card. The main goal here is to build a pretty nice system that will last hopefully as long as my current system (7 years and change).
 
I think your build looks very well thought out and picked.

Add an HDD or two for raw storage, maybe a bluray player, how about sound what are you using for audio?

And what have you in mind for cooling?

And yes you could definitely save some bucks on the psu.

btw I like that custom case, pretty sweet those are!

Ya I have never owned a Mountain Mods case, but I will soon enough, and I will likely never use a different case. Yes they are expensive but I believe in this regard you are certainly getting what you pay for. I am tired of trying to work in my current case. It's such a pain. They also do fully custom orders too, but I feel an only slightly modified case from them will be more than sufficient.
 
Check out this combo. Ram is slightly better and the same vid card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.401502

edit: why did you have to show me these mountainmod cases..... now i want want thanks op

ha, sorry about showing you the cases...

check out the user gallery over there for some nice customized Mountain Mods cases, in case you haven't seen enough http://www.mountainmods.com/gallery/ :)

As far as the combo you linked goes, it looks good. From what I can see it is a slightly different card. It seems this card is not a Cypress XT version, which to be fair, I am not even sure what the hell that means. However it seems from some of the reviews I should stick to the Cypress XT version. Please, everyone share your thoughts on this. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
ha, sorry about showing you the cases...

check out the user gallery over there for some nice customized Mountain Mods cases, in case you haven't seen enough http://www.mountainmods.com/gallery/ :)

As far as the combo you linked goes, it looks good. From what I can see it is a slightly different card. It seems this card is not a Cypress XT version, which to be fair, I am not even sure what the hell that means. However it seems from some of the reviews I should stick to the Cypress XT version. Please, everyone share your thoughts on this. Thank you.

oh wow I didn't notice that. Specs look identical with the exception of
Power Connector 2 x 6 Pin
vs
Power Connector 6 Pin

in for knowing what the difference is
 
oh wow I didn't notice that. Specs look identical with the exception of
Power Connector 2 x 6 Pin
vs
Power Connector 6 Pin

in for knowing what the difference is

Indeed, the only reason I noticed there was a difference is that the one that apparently is not the Cypress XT version has some reviews and comments saying to just get the other version. Other than that, yes I would say the Specs on Newegg seem to be identical.
 
You mentioned in your original post that you may eventually dual boot Linux. If you do plan on doing this, I highly recommend going with an Nvidia card. They have much, much better Linux support.
 
You mentioned in your original post that you may eventually dual boot Linux. If you do plan on doing this, I highly recommend going with an Nvidia card. They have much, much better Linux support.

what Nvidia card would you suggest then? And how does it match up to my ATI choice?
 
Just for the record, ATI cards will still work under Linux. However, I have heard horror stories of people having bad experiences with getting certain things to work on Linux with an ATI card. Nvidia has much better official drivers for Linux, found here. Hell, if you run Ubuntu you can choose to have Ubuntu install the Nvidia drivers automatically, it's an option in Ubuntu's autoupdating program. You may want to ask around in the Operating Systems forum before you decide, they'll know more about it.

As for my suggestion, if you have the money, go for a GTX 480. Check out this card. It's better than the 5870, not by leaps and bounds though.

If you're serious about eventually running Linux, ask around in the OS forum. It may be fine for you to have an ATI card if you don't plan on messing around with WINE, for example.
 
Back
Top