• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

i7 Build Help

T

Tee_eM

n00b
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
4
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
*** Work, Gaming, some light photoshop/c4d/vegas and general computing
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
*** $1,000 to 1,200 before Tax\Shipping
3) Where do you live?
*** NewJersey
4) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
*** Case (Cosmos 1000) and Monitor (SyncMaster 997DF)
5) Will you be overclocking?
*** Not Initially
6) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
*** RAID, Firewire, SLI potential. Something that has room for upgrade in the future if I ever decide to.
7) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
*** WindowsXP Pro x32.

I'm building a new system within the next two weeks to replace my current one. I had two of my friends help me out with the build because they are both "hardware junkies." Now I figured I would come stop lurking the forum and post something again so Does anyone see any problems with it or have any suggestions --FYI I honestly can't say I have "loyalty" to any one brand. So I am really opinion to any suggestions.--?

This is what the build looks like currently:
$114 - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V
$229 - Intel Core i7 920
$ 59 - G.SKILL 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
$239 - EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB
$ 79 - Noctua NH-U12P
[2] $69 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB
$26 - Pioneer Black SATA CD/DVD Burner

The motherboard is the one part that they both kept switching around but there suggestion to me were either the:
$269 - P6T Deluxe X58 1366 ATX Motherboard
or
$269 - EVGA E758-TR 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX

I also have one question more question. Obviously that particular RAM was chosen b\c I have a 32bit OS. Would it be worth it for me to use Windows7 x64 right now and go with more ram or could I but it off a live with the 3GB for a little while?

Thanks in advance.
 
Windows 7 is a great OS and x64 is the future, x32 is a dead end in my opinion. If money isn't a terrible concern I would recommend starting with 6 gb, and the general consensus around here is that the best "bang for the buck" ddr3 ram at the moment is: G.skill 1600 - $94. It runs at great voltages which gives you some decent headroom for overclocking.

I don't know about the noctua, but I like the CM v8 personally (only $62 right now with free S/H) and of course the TRUE is still the best of the best. Also, the Dark Knight gives great bang for the buck at $40.

I have that power supply in my system, it is rock solid and has gotten a lot of good reviews. You do end up with a lot of cables to stow but in the cosmos I can't see that being too much of a problem.

Mobo: If you aren't going tri-SLI you may be able to save some money here. Others can give better recommendations on the exact model than I can, but I can say that Asus and Gigabyte are generally two of the better reputation brands.
 
Last edited:
PSU: If you're a cable management junkie the 750HX came out today. It's being sold for $139.99 over at Amazon (Newegg for some reason isn't carrying the 750HX even though the have the 850HX and they both came out today, I don't know what that's about).

Videocard: The EVGA is a great card and you can't go wrong with it. However, if you want a different game (Call of Duty: World at War), a factory overclock of 7MHz (wooo!), or just to plain save $5 check out the XFX GTX 275. Anyway you look at it though you can't go wrong with either.

Cooler: I would suggest the Xigmatek Dark Knight (Wow, I feel like a spokesperson for them given how many times I've recommended it of late) it's $40 and provides almost the exact same performance.

RAM: It's cheap and Windows 7 is free (for a year at least) you could always toggle back and forth depending on your needs between Win7 and XP although hopefully someone else can give you better insight than I can.

Motherboard: I truthfully don't know but the ASUS P6T seems to be getting a lot of good reviews.
 
Tee_eM said:
I also have one question more question. Obviously that particular RAM was chosen b\c I have a 32bit OS. Would it be worth it for me to use Windows7 x64 right now and go with more ram or could I but it off a live with the 3GB for a little while?
Click to expand...

Regarding the build, everything seems ok.

I would go with Windows 7 because, as was mentioned, x64 is the norm and has its advantages over x86. Also, if you get a 6GB (3x2GB) kit now, it gives you more upgrading room for the future because you're getting three 2GB sticks and not three 1GB sticks, leaving more slots available for expansion.
 
Thanks for all the advice so far. I think I am going to use Windows 7 as my main OS so I'm probably going to go with the G.Skill RAD mentioned in his post. Now I just have to decide on which motherboard and what HSF to go with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top