Help A Rusty Builder Out

A

AoL_Is_My_EnEmY

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2002
Messages
1,113
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
The primary use of the PC will be gaming, with a close second in Photoshop / 3D work.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,500-$1,800

3) Where do you live?
Massachusetts, an hour south of Boston. (If that helps)

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, RAM, GPU, Sound Card, Mobo, HD, Case, PSU

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I'm going to drop my 1TB drive in there for storage, that's about it.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Slightly since I've heard it's easy with i7.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I have a 22 inch monitor, but sometimes like to output via HDMI to my 50 inch 1080p tv.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as possible.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Nothing too spectacular, a no brainer approach to OC, but whatever is recommended.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, although I think I'm going to have to purchase 64bit Vista because I only have 32bit Media Center.

Here's what I had already found at NewEgg, just to give an idea. Whatever you guys think is best.

  • GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
  • EVGA 017-P3-1291-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
  • Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
  • CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
  • Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920
  • OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK
  • Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive)
  • Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready
 
I've been up too long or something. I clicked on the thread having misread it as "Help a busty builder out." So now that I sit here in disappointment, I will try my best to help. Your parts list is solid but I've got a couple opinions.

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GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Great board, but I can't really say that the the price is worth it over the EX58-UD5. Our testing showed that the Extreme version provided almost nothing that the UD5 didn't.

EVGA 017-P3-1291-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express
2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

This is what I would choose as well.

Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I hate this case. The flaps on the front are useless, noisy and serve no purpose. They don't protect anything nor serve any function near as I can tell. The case is cheap looking and is a bad rip off of the CM Stacker as far as I am concerned. (Concerning the interior.) With that said this is a personal preference thing, and not directly related to function.

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

Excellent. This should be overkill for your setup thus leaving you room to grow.

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

Excellent choice. I can see little reason to buy anything else at this point. Especially within the budget you've established.

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK

I prefer Corsair myself, but I've used OCZ over the years with great results. No problems here.

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive)

This is what I would choose but I can promise that many people will disagree with this selection. They will probably recommend a larger dive with performance they consider "as good as, or good enough." You may also want to consider a storage drive due to the Velociraptors small capacity.

Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready

Here is where I really disagree. For air cooling on today's hottest processors, I can see no reason to choose anything but the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. (Cost not withstanding.)
 
Thanks for the fantastic feedback, I apologize I'm not that "Busty", heh. I'll look into that other Gigabyte board. The case I just picked one that looked attractive, but I hate "cheap" feeling cases, I want something solid (aka won't break even if I wanted to take a bat to it). I'll keep looking. I'll check out that heatsink, I sort of just picked a random one and hoped it'd be good. As for the HD, I've got a 1TB 7200 RPM IDE drive, I was going to use for general storage. Do you think I still should get a larger Raptor... they had a 300GB for a bit more? Once again, thanks for all your advice.
 
AoL_Is_My_EnEmY said:
Thanks for the fantastic feedback, I apologize I'm not that "Busty", heh. I'll look into that other Gigabyte board. The case I just picked one that looked attractive, but I hate "cheap" feeling cases, I want something solid (aka won't break even if I wanted to take a bat to it). I'll keep looking. I'll check out that heatsink, I sort of just picked a random one and hoped it'd be good. As for the HD, I've got a 1TB 7200 RPM IDE drive, I was going to use for general storage. Do you think I still should get a larger Raptor... they had a 300GB for a bit more? Once again, thanks for all your advice.
Click to expand...

As i said, my hatred of that case is purely one of personal preference. I just can't stand the way that case looks. I hate the flaps. It is durable though. I'll give it that. There are plenty of others that are durable as well such as Antec's P182.

As for the Raptor, you'll be fine. You don't necessarily need to go for the 300GB version.
 
AoL_Is_My_EnEmY said:
Are you saying I should or shouldn't get that? lol.
Click to expand...

He's making fun of the fact that I screwed the name up. It is called the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Thermaltake cooling solutions are generally not known to be all that great for the most part and I insulted the best cooler on the market by calling it a Thermaltake. As for the Ultra 120 Extreme itself, there are some cheaper alternatives, and they do come close to offering the performance of the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Time and time again the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme has proven to be one of, if not the best heat sink on the market. The downside is the cost. However, it has a superior mounting bracket that is easy to install and is durable as hell. The quality of the construction and its performance can't be denied. You have to supply your own fan for the unit, but there are plenty of great performers, there are many that are very quiet, and of course there are some that provide a balance between silence and performance.

I've got two Thermalright Ultra 120 Extremes in my box and one more in my girlfriend's machine. I could not be more pleased with them.
 
Dan_D said:
He's making fun of the fact that I screwed the name up. It is called the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Thermaltake cooling solutions are generally not known to be all that great for the most part and I insulted the best cooler on the market by calling it a Thermaltake. As for the Ultra 120 Extreme itself, there are some cheaper alternatives, and they do come close to offering the performance of the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Time and time again the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme has proven to be one of, if not the best heat sink on the market. The downside is the cost. However, it has a superior mounting bracket that is easy to install and is durable as hell. The quality of the construction and its performance can't be denied. You have to supply your own fan for the unit, but there are plenty of great performers, there are many that are very quiet, and of course there are some that provide a balance between silence and performance.

I've got two Thermalright Ultra 120 Extremes in my box and one more in my girlfriend's machine. I could not be more pleased with them.
Click to expand...

Hrmmm... Thermaltake not being that great... Well, I have been using my TT Big Typhoon with a TT Big Typhoon VX fan since my Athlon64 3700+ days... over 2 years now and I still see absolutely no reason to upgrade it any time soon. CPU never goes over 62c Orhtos/Prime95 load on the system in my sig.
 
cyclone3d said:
Hrmmm... Thermaltake not being that great... Well, I have been using my TT Big Typhoon with a TT Big Typhoon VX fan since my Athlon64 3700+ days... over 2 years now and I still see absolutely no reason to upgrade it any time soon. CPU never goes over 62c Orhtos/Prime95 load on the system in my sig.
Click to expand...

Well most of the time, Thermaltake heat sink and fan products aren't all that great. Don't get me wrong, they aren't terrible but there is almost always better. I've got a Thermaltake Big Typhoon (Hate the VX) and its a fine heat sink and fan. I've got no plans to pull that from the machine it is in anytime soon.
 
The newer LGA1366 version of the TRUE 120 comes with a fan. ;) Alternatives to the TRUE120 are the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, Cooler Master V8, and Xigmatek HDT-S1283 w/ ACK-I7361.

The VRaptor is great if you don't mind spending the money on it. From a cost/performance perspective, it loses to its Caviar Blue/Black brothers, since they offer nearly the same performance for much less in price, and also offer more space. If you want something faster than the VRaptor, check out the OCZ Vertex SSDs:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=670

$135 - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30G 2.5" 30GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD)

For RAM, I prefer G.Skill since they offer the same performance for a lower price. I've been using them since my s939 days (DDR1), and they work great.
$110 - G.SKILL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-21, 1.6V -1.65V, F3-12800CL8TU-6GBPI
$110 - G.SKILL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.5V – 1.6V, F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ
 
enginurd said:
The newer LGA1366 version of the TRUE 120 comes with a fan. ;) Alternatives to the TRUE120 are the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, Cooler Master V8, and Xigmatek HDT-S1283 w/ ACK-I7361.

The VRaptor is great if you don't mind spending the money on it. From a cost/performance perspective, it loses to its Caviar Blue/Black brothers, since they offer nearly the same performance for much less in price, and also offer more space. If you want something faster than the VRaptor, check out the OCZ Vertex SSDs:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=670

$135 - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30G 2.5" 30GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD)

For RAM, I prefer G.Skill since they offer the same performance for a lower price. I've been using them since my s939 days (DDR1), and they work great.
$110 - G.SKILL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-21, 1.6V -1.65V, F3-12800CL8TU-6GBPI
$110 - G.SKILL 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.5V – 1.6V, F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I think the Vertex costs a little bit more than what I'd like to spend. But I'm looking into G.Skill because if it will save me money I can afford to put it somewhere else.
 
Eh, its cheaper than the VRaptor, lol. Just use a Caviar black 1TB for your storage. ;)
 
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