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Razer X

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
1,169
**Updated**

I have been waiting a long time to make one of these threads. :D

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some media but mostly gaming. Skyrim, Diablo 3, Rift (if I can ever find the time to get back into it), whatever other games might be coming out that could tax a new system - at the highest settings possible.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,200-$1,300 and that needs to include shipping and tax. Of course less is best, but I'm willing to dump the full amount into it if it's going to be worth it.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Cookeville, TN 38501
I'm 45 minutes away from the nearest Best Buy, you can forget a trip to Micro Center. Also, I am sadly aware that I'm going to get screwed on tax. :(
I'm really not sure whether or not it will stick, but I've been hearing a lot about this 'use tax' TN is trying to get people to pay when using Amazon. If it's legit and they can force people to pay it then it really won't matter where I order the parts.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Everything. :p I'm going to need the whole package. Hell, I don't think I even have any thermal paste around here anymore.
CPU
RAM
MOBO
Case
Video Card
PSU
SSD
HDD
HSF (and thermal paste if it doesn't come with any)
OS

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Samsung 40 inch 1080 LCD TV

6) Will you be overclocking?
Almost definitely. The last thing I OC'd was a Pentium 3 and I'm itching to try my hand at it again. Nothing major though, I don't plan to water cool.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Currently I'm using a 1280x1024 Samsung SyncMaster 712N. Seriously. For the near future I'm thinking about using my 1080 40 inch TV and saving up later for a new screen. More on this below.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Sometime between today and next weekend. I know that a lot of the retailers change their deals at the beginning of the month. If it will be worth it to wait and see what offers there are in May then I will wait, otherwise I'll pull the trigger this evening or tomorrow evening after work.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
I am wanting to move to Crossfire/SLI eventually, but probably not initially, so I will want a motherboard and PSU that can support that. I guess USB 3.0 could be cool, but it's not really a major factor for me.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Nope, I'm going to need to purchase Win 7 64 bit.


Some background information:
I am currently using a AMD 64 (not the X2) 4000+ with a BFG 8800GTX OC and 3 gigs of RAM with a 180 gig 5400 RPM hard drive. I think I built it in 2006, so I'm a bit behind the times. I'm wanting to move to a 3 screen Eyefinity/NV Surround setup using either IPS or 120 hz monitors, but there's no way I can budget for that right now. What I'm wanting to do is build a base that I can add to later when I can save up more money. That's why I'm thinking get a xfire/sli ready mobo, but only one video card for now. I'm hoping to make the move to 3 screens some time this fall. In the mean time my thought is to use my 40 inch 1080 Samsung in my living room. We canceled our cable a couple of months ago so we just use it to watch movies right now. I already have a wireless mouse and keyboard and a spare wireless network card I can probably dig up.

I know, I know. TLDR

Any and all help is appreciated. I'm a bit out of the loop right now, but have been trying to play catch up lately with the current tech. From what I've seen I'd say I probably want an i5 3570K with an after market HSF, 8 gigs of RAM, and a 700-750 watt PSU. I'd like to get a 1 terabyte HDD, but am willing to drop to 500 gig for budget purposes if that money is best used elsewhere. On the video card I'm a little less sure. Should I be looking at (can I afford?) a 7xxx series? Or a 560? Or is there a better option for me? I know some of you guys are amazing at finding deals and throwing together some truly kick-ass systems, I'm just hoping to benefit from your super powers.
 
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I'd recommend waiting for Ivy Bridge if possible since it'll offer a 15% to 20% performance improvement over current SB CPUs. Also, if you wait, Nvidia's new 6xx series cards will be out within a month as well. So that might either cause AMD to lower prices a little or Nvidia might release better bang for the buck card than AMD>

SSD wise, I wouldn't recommend using that OCZ SSD since it's rather slow, not that reliable, and relatively small even for just an OS drive short of extensive pruning and modification.

Oh and can you order from Amazon without getting charged tax?
 
I probably should have mentioned this in my original post. My main reason for not wanting to wait another month is that my wife is due at the end of April/beginning of May with our first child (girl) and I'm hoping to have a new system up and running before she gets here.

I'm not sure about the tax situation for TN residents in regard to Amazon. I think that it depends on the seller.

Edit:
I can likely be convinced to wait for Ivy Bridge, it will just probably mean not having as much time to put into it once I get it.
 
Razer X said:
I probably should have mentioned this in my original post. My main reason for not wanting to wait another month is that my wife is due at the end of April/beginning of May with our first child (girl) and I'm hoping to have a new system up and running before she gets here.
Click to expand...
Congratulations! I hope all goes well!
Razer X said:
I'm not sure about the tax situation for TN residents in regard to Amazon. I think that it depends on the seller.
Click to expand...
Just looked it up: Amazon proper doesn't charge sales tax for TN residents. And Tigerdirect doesn't charge TN residents tax either. So that's gonna help.
Razer X said:
Edit:
I can likely be convinced to wait for Ivy Bridge, it will just probably mean not having as much time to put into it once I get it.
Click to expand...
True but it'll put you in a better place performance wise. For the kind of resolution you're planning on, triple 1080P IPS/120hz, you're gonna want as much VRAM as possible. So 2GB or more. So that means you're looking at AMD GPUs or Nvidia's GTX 680 card. Unfortunately due to the lack of competition from Nvidia, AMD GPUs are a bit pricey at the moment. With the release of the GTX 680 cards, given another month or so, that should either A) drive prices down or B) Nvidia might end up releasing a mid-range GPU.

Oh and did you want a SSD or will you be fine with a regular drive?
 
I would like a SSD for an OS drive. I was hoping to use the one I got from my SS, but if it's not a good choice I have another project it might be good for.
 
New midline-cards from Nvidia are due soon also! Looks ideal for your build though I'm sure you could worm in a GTX 680 if you really tried :D

Do you need a keyboard/mouse?
 
I'm not worried about a mouse or keyboard. I have a Logitec G7 mouse and a Saitek keyboard as well as a Logitec K400 keyboard. I'll probably want to get new one's down the road, but for now they are not priorities.

It's definitely sounding like the smart money is on waiting a bit longer. I had hoped to build it sooner, but I suppose I can be patient a little longer.
 
**Bump**

I have update my first post. I'm pretty much ready to order once I figure out what parts to get. In unrelated news, my daughter was born on April 16th and is doing great. :D
 
Razer X said:
In unrelated news, my daughter was born on April 16th and is doing great. :D
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Congrats man! Good luck with the next 18 years!

Now to the bad news: Ivy Bridge was only 5% faster than SB. So I'm sorry for making you wait this long for a 5% performance increase. In addition, the 3570K isn't available from Amazon.com or Tigerdirect.com. It is available at Newegg but due to it being a new part, its price is at a high $250. Not to mention the added TN tax. So I would actually recommend buying the 2500K instead. Cheaper by about $40 to $50 once tax is factored in and only 5% slower.

So here's a prelim build:
$216 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$160 - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard
$40 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$400 - Gigabyte GV-R795WF3-3GD HD 7950 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$125 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
$96 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB Hard Drive
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$25 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1302 shipped.

If there's any part you should buy the second you read this, it's that SSD: That's an amazing price for a solid SSD. So it might sell out soon.
 
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Thanks Danny. You are the man. I just ordered everything and it should be here by the end of the week. I'll put some pics up once it comes in.
 
Well, all the parts came in and I got it pieced together. Sadly it's not posting. The motherboard's splash screen pops up and then immediately disapears and then nothing. Normally I'd stay up all night troubleshooting until I figured it out but between having a newborn and work I'm skipping straight to asking for suggestions. Hopefully I can get it up and running before the weekend. I greatly appreciate any advice.
 
Reset CMOS?
Make sure that all power cables are plugged in?
Reseat the RAM, CPU, and video card?
 
I pulled everything out and put it back in one piece at a time.I even tried using different RAM slots and using only one stick of RAM at a time in each of the different slots. I reset the CMOS and I checked all the cables. I tried pulling out the vid card and used onboard. In every single situation I am getting the same results. I'm not hearing a post, and I just get the splash screen for a second and then nothing. The debug LED on the motherboard goes through the various motions and I'm not seeing any of the error codes. Once it gets to A9 ("Bios setup is started" according to the manual) it just hangs there and nothing happens.
 
Try the stock HSF?
Unhook/uninstall the HDD, SSD, and GPU?
A different PSU?

RMA the motherboard if you can't figure out the issue.
 
Yeah, so apparently you can't view the bios screens over HDMI. I yanked out my vid card and plugged a VGA screen in and it worked fine, Got Windows installed, installed all my drivers, then plugged the vid card back in. Spent a couple hours last night playing Skyrim on Ultra High settings. Very nice. The only problem I'm having now is that it won't detect my second hard drive. It's been a while since I've played around with SATA settings and I imagine I'm just doing something wrong.
 
LOL! Wow, it's always the little things.

Try a different cable and/or a different port. Also if this is a new drive, make sure to initialize it in "Disk Management" and then format it from there.
 
It's showing up in Device Manager under 'Disk Drives', but it's not showing up in Disk Management or My Computer.
 
Look through Disk Management again. But scroll down the list of drives/devices. It should be there.
 
Here's a screenshot. I have a feeling I'm missing something embarrassingly simple. Although, in fairness, I am somewhat distracted by a very unhappy (and screaming) infant in my arms. I'm pretty sure that ST31000524AS is my missing drive.

Untitled.png
 
See the vertical scroll bar in Disk Management? Scroll down, you'll see the drive there and you can initialize it from there.
 
Sometimes I worry that I might be mildly mentally retarded and/or completely blind. Thanks again Danny. That was the last little thing hanging out there. My new rig is fully up and running. I'll see what I can do about putting some pics up later for anyone who might be interested.
 
It happens to all of us. Especially for those who have a new baby now. ;)

Anyway, pics would be great!
 
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