Mac user, building first PC ever, plz help!

Z

Zanza

Weaksauce
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Nov 25, 2007
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dear friends, i am in need of your knowledge. as you can see above, i am a pure Mac user and have been for the past few years. that said, i have been using Windows 7 at work and am very impressed with the new OS. i would like to get some help building my first gaming PC, focusing on hardware recommendations, specs etc.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mostly gaming and listening to music, watching videos. I would also like the PC to be strong enough when i start getting into video and photography etc.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Would like to keep the PC around $2k, peripherals around $1.5k. Taxes/shipping no problem.
3) Where do you live?
Canada
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
All new
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not sure?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dell Ultrasharp 3007
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Huh?
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
New build will come with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit



So this is the spec list I've worked out with a NCIX staff near my house. Looks ok to me but, not sure if any of you can make it better or recommend other hardware. Any help you can provide would be awesome, thanks in advance!


1 x Intel Core i7 860 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ Hyperthreading 8MB Cache Retail Box
1 x Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA775 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3
1 x MSI P55-GD65 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 3PCI-E16 CrossFire SLI 2PCI-E1 PCI-E4 2PCI eSATA GBLAN Motherboard
1 x G.SKILL F3-16000CL9D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-16000 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-2000 CL9-9-9-27 Core I5 Memory Kit
1 x GeForce GTX 285 648MHZ 1024MB GDDR3 2.484GHZ PCI-E Dual DVI-I
1 x Antec Twelve Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 1200 ATX 12 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio eSATA
1 x Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty
1 x Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22X DVD+-RW SATA DVD Writer Black OEM
1 x AuzenTech X-FI Prelude 7.1 Sound Card PCI 32BIT EAX 5.0

p.s. Can i get this rig up to 8GB of RAM or is there no slots left?

p.s.s. Will the Edifier S330D speakers i have work with that soundcard? Optical cable needs to connect the soundcard to speakers, thx!
 
I dont know. That list above is nice. But with a 2k budget, i would be going Core i7 920 with a DX 11 card.

About the 8gb of ram. That depends on your motherboard capability. If you want 8gb then look into a mobo that can support that much...but 8gb of memory usually is over kill

And about your speakers. If they need an optical input. CHECK and make SURE that your soundcard you have selected has an OPTICAL OUT on it.
 
wow thanks for the fast response!

i will ask if that MOBO can hold two more sticks of that DDR3 RAM... it says 4GB is standard, 2x2 but i want 6 or 8... as i heard Windows 7 can take advantage or the extra RAM?

also, if i get charged 2k for the above PC, is that ok or should I look for a better deal? i have friends that can build me a PC but, i kinda just wanna order parts and let a company build and test it for me so i can just go pick it up, bring it home and plug it in...
 
bro, your gonna over pay if you have a company build it. I highly suggest finding someone you know or ask somebody who knows what their doing to build it for you. But overall thats a great system its just..i think you can get a little better for the price.
 
thanks for your advice, it is sincerely appreciated

can i ask then about warranties... if this place builds it for me, they said i can bring it in anytime over the next year if something is wrong and they will fix or replace for free... is that a good thing? unfortunately if anything goes wrong with this new PC, i have no idea how to fix it heh
 
well that is a nice rig for sure.... that motherboard has 4 ram slots and you will be using 2 so yes you can add more RAM

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1675 here is a good review of that board fyi


also, I would not pay someone to build my PC unless i had no time and more money that i knew what to do with. That being said, i have a WHS, HTPC and a Gaming Rig that I have built myself and have built atleast 15 PCs for myself alone over the last 10 year.

$2k seems high, but it is in Canada.....


also you DO NOT need that sound card.... your motherboard has optical out already... save the $$

I think that PSU is overkill, but I have no built an i7 rig with a 285 GTX, but it is a nice PSU, good brand and good quality. The HDD is a nice fast drive but the WD 1TB black is similar speed and almost 2x the size with a similar price. I would go with a 128GB SSD with that build if I were you and a 1TB-2TB WD GP drive for storage.

Also... that GPU is a little weak.... get a ATI 5870 here in the US they are around $400
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10011217&prodlist=froogle

but much better performance and will keep up with that CPU
benchmark as source:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/22

looks great man..... can i ask?.... what do you do for a living?
 
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i'm still in university.... but i do work as a functional operations manager on a major network systems project

sadly i work with technical developers and computer guys but have no actual computer knowledge myself heh... i just manage the smart people, keep them on task -_-
 
Yea thats just one of the things. If you really have no idea about what to do, then i would suggest something that you have warranty so that if something goes wrong you can get it dealt with easily
 
ok that is maybe what i may do then

i don't want to come off sounding like a total idiot... cuz once the PC is built, i can use it very well... OS, software stuff i get but actually building the computer w/ parts is another world to me heh, i dunno where to start
 
did you see that the audio card is a waste for your use and you can hook your speakers up to the mobo directly....

also check out the ATI 58XX series cards and a nice 128gb SSD for the OS drive.

right now you have some new/top line tech and some older stuff mixed in and for similar price you can have a signifiactly better setup...

however your speced setup will kill those imac in pure power anyways......
 
oh wow, that is actually important advice to me... so i don't need to pick a sound card at all? the way the staff talked, it was like... ok Zanza, what sound card do you want? so i assumed i had to pick the sound card or i wouldn't have any sound

if the MOBO has an optical out, i can connect my digital speakers directly to the MOBO? that is pretty cool...

EDIT: oh wait, is MOBO sound kinda like integrated onboard video? cuz i like listenng to music so sound quality is big for me... this Auzentech Prelude sounds like a top tier sound card which i am assuming is better than onboard audio?
 
there will be no difference.... the onboard DAC isnt decoding... you are offloading decoding via SPDIF to the speakers or reciever....

the "sound card" will not make a difference.

you could check in the audio forum..... I am a HTPC guy myself and everyone in the HTPC scene uses onboard HDMI out and no one uses a sound card because the decoding of audio is done by my Onkyo AVR
 
wow thanks so much buddy, you just saved me a few benjamins!

may i ask then about the RAM... with that spec list above, in your opinion, is 4GB of that RAM type be more than enuff for my gaming and photog/video needs?

it seems like that MOBO can house 8GB of RAM but somebody above said it was overkill... is 8GB overkill? will i even see a performance increase worth the extra money?
 
gaming.... yes it a good, you will get a bigger jump in performance with a better video card over 8GB of RAM.....

however loading HD video is another story.... the more ram the better for HD video editing... so you and only you know how much real Adobe Premier type editing you will be doing or if it is for your sony HD HDD handycam....

I would scratch the sound card, get a better GPU like the ATI 5800 series cards, get a better OS drive (SSD) and leave the 4GB of RAM for now.... then add 4 more later

RAM prices are quite high at the moment and should come down by next summer..... there has been a slow down of production of RAM and an increase in demand and therefore all RAM prices are HIGH
 
hmmm, i thought about swapping out the HD to SSD but the capacities are so small... the 120GB and 160GB SSD drives would push the entire system cost well over 2k... is SSD worth the premium price tag?

also, i will stick with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and cut out the sound card like you recommend... for the discrete GPU, i have always liked Nvidia for some reason tho i recognize ATI are coming out with real gems nowadays...

i could swap out the GTX 285 for a 5870 but not sure what monitors use Displayport or HDMI... i guess i could use an adapter and go DVI to HDMI.... is the Radeon 5870 that superior to something like the GTX 285 or 295?
 
here is a good review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/22

the SSD thing is hard right now...

the Intel 80gb is a nice price at the moment.... $240 USD from newegg. More than enough for most programs and such.... then add a 1TB black drive if you want good performance

you could always get a 1TB WD back now and then add a SSD later.

it just seeing a nice fast CPU, RAM and GPU being bottlenecked by slow I/O from a HDD is tough
 
My two cents:

Keep the sound card, or get a better one. While onboard would suit your needs, as an audiophile you will notice the sound quality difference a good sound card can make.

get 8GB RAM. Why not? RAM is up in price, but still pretty cheap.

Swap the nvidia card for one of the new ATI 5800 series - I'd think the 5850 would be a good choice for you.
 
Forget that liquid cooler and go air. That thing is noisy and doesn't do as good a job as a good reliable heatsink.

MSI P55 Mobo = no. Asus = yes.

Dude, forget the 285, get an ATI 5K series, why on earth get that nvidia crappy thing if you're going to spend that kind of money?

Get a fast regular hard drive. WD Caviar Black is fine. I think SSDs are only there for epeening, they're by far the biggest waste of money in modern gaming rigs, followed closely by liquid cooling.
 
I've heard that cooler is actually really nice? I dunno, I was thinking about using it for a future build.

I agree about not buying MSI - while some people have great experience w/ them, I am an IT guy by trade, and we have used MSI as our board of choice (not mine) at work. We've has nearly a 10% failure rate on them.
 
uh oh, i'm getting a little confused now lol

so first off, onboard audio via optical out on MOBO vs. a $150 sound card, Auzentech Prelude... i am told that soundcard is top of the line so, i'm assuming it does something? if some1 can definitively tell me that going MOBO is the same as the Auzentech, I won't spend the money, and just keep the onboard option... i am a bit of an audiophile tho, sound quality is important to me....

secondly, looks like all of you prefer the 5800 series GPU's over the GTX series, i will see what I can do...

thirdly, cooler... not good? should i go traditional with this or the liquid cooler?

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 LGA775/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNH-P12 120MM Fans
 
Here's the most recent Tom's Hardware comparison of all video cards in all price brackets FYI, posted yesterday. Be sure to check out the last page along with the one for your price point, for some reason everyone misses that the last page has a summary of all video cards by vendor and model.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2464.html

Cooling is such a personal taste thing, YMMV. I like air, shrug.
 
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