New Comp Build

Russ said:
thanks. When I made this thread (you will notice it was a while ago, seeing as I've edited the OP at least 10 times...) I wasn't sure where to put it. There didn't seem to really be a place for a whole new computer, just stuff like the graphics cards and cpu forums.

I asked a mod (in the questions/help forum) to move this to general hardware. You know, I have over 100 posts here but I haven't ever been to the general hardware forum. :-P Mostly I hang out in Video cards, AMD procs, Overclocking, watercooling, nVidia flavor, and sometimes memory or (re)sale. Thanks for pointing it out.
Click to expand...

No problem...I just cleared 10,000 posts yesterday...and there are still forums I've never touched. I'm 100% Overclocking & Cooling / Case Modding.
 
wow, lmfao. just thinking of "poor misunderstood sections that get 5 hits a day" cracks me up. I've never even really considered any "[H]obbies" forums. There are a lot of them.

10k posts is a lot. I guess if you have had 2 years and 2 months to do it...

haha, I'm going OT in my own thread. O well, seems no one really wants to critique my choices. Maybe in general hardware.
 
cornelious0_0 said:
No problem...I just cleared 10,000 posts yesterday...and there are still forums I've never touched. I'm 100% Overclocking & Cooling / Case Modding.
Click to expand...

Lies!
LIES!

You have posted 11 times over here in the Video Card section.

So 11/10,023 = .10975% of your posts were in the above thread.

:D
 
mentok1982 said:
Lies!
LIES!

You have posted 11 times over here in the Video Card section.

So 11/10,023 = .10975% of your posts were in the above thread.

:D
Click to expand...

Arg.....you got me.

Oh, and mentok, i dunno what you were trying to do, but your sig is 9 lines too long, 10 lines max bro. ;)
 
I guess it's up to me to keep this thread going:

For the water cooling, get the D5. If you look under special deals on DD's site and click the link, you can get a 15% discount when you buy both together. The D5 puts a lot less heat into a loop than a Mag5, and the D5 is DC 12v so you just plug in the molex to power it, instead of a chord running out of your case that you need to remeber to plug in or see your hardwarew go bye-bye ;)
Don't get the DD double heater core, if you're going for quiet get a BIP2 (or 3 if you want it) or a BIX2 if you care about looks & performance. The BIP2 is less than the heater core and works much better with low cfm fans, and the BIX2 has the advantage of easy mounting.
Otherwise, your setup looks pretty good, just remember to always run a leak test and set up your tubing for the shortest length of tubing with the fewest tight curves (do some planning/look at what other people have done and you'll be fine).
 
Thanks, I didn't think anyone would ever post on this.

When I was putting this together I had forgotten about teh TDX D5 combo. That's a lot of savings on the D5 (105-55 = $50 pump) which is what I was planning on spending for the Mag3/5. I will eventually update this to include that.

There were some other things that I got attracted to on Newegg. $50 5.1 system (Logitech, 530 something or other), $40 MX518 (maaaaybe), Seasonic S12-600 or 500 (+$40 or $0), regular $41 TwinMOS 512mb (SP is gone from Newegg), a 160gb HDD (I have one 60gb atm), and that's it I think.

I've been having a financial shortage recently, My dad wants me to save my money from this summer for college, so I'm going to try to avoid spending that. I asked my grandparents for some money but they are only paying for my high school tuition ($700) this year. My mom (parents divorced, I live with my dad) just moved into a new house so she says she can't help right now, and my dad doesn't want to pay for my computer right now as I have a $1000 school trip (to Hawaii) coming up and he's buying me a $2000 car. That leaves me with $500. >_<;

I am thinking of cutting down a lot on my components to get like $800 worth of stuff and keep my watercooling :D (I REALLY want to overclock). I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find a cheap but upgradeable watercooling system for socket A or 754 though. Also giving up the Venice's overclocking ability is hard for me. :p If I stuck with the 3000+ I figured I'd get the DFI Ultra (instead of SLI-DR) and a 9800pro or 6600GT or something.

However, there is still a slight chance that my mom/grandparents will contribute to the computer, so I'm hesitant to slash my budget just yet.

----

about the pump. Wow! I hadn't looked at the Black Ice completely, I thought the Pro was just the 80mm versions and the Xtreme was uber expensive. My only problem with the BIPII is that there isn't an option for a shroud like with the heatercore. Should I get one from the heatercore selection page?

Maybe I should just get the higher cfm Panaflo fans instead of the M1A.

-----

o yeah: I'll update the first post of this soon, I don't have time right now.
 
bump

Ok, updated some stuff. Change to 3/8" Tygon for water cooling. Added the TDX/D5 bundle. Added either a heatercore OR BIP2 as my rad w/ respective Panaflo fans. Added a misc. section with possible buys, stuff I kinda want but don't need. Changed case. Changed mobo to the Ultra-D. Changed ram to something that's actually ON newegg (and $14 cheaper total). Changed PSU to Seasonic S12-500.

I'm thinking of looking somewhere else for Panaflo, I might save $3-8 on each fan. I dunno about shipping, but I'm getting 3 of them, so it could be significant. Would pay for my RAMsinks at least.

I'm still wondering, where can I get a shroud for the BIP2? Do I need one like on the heatercore?
 
i see ur gonna use twinmos ram....is this ram as good as im reading it is for such a cheap price? its a name ive never heard of till today when i was just browsing randomly thru the forum....
 
If you have a DFI board or ddr booster, both of which will get you to over 3 volts on the ram voltage. With >3v, the twinmos should have really good timings and speeds.

I wanted twinMOS speed premium, but it has dissapeared from newegg.
 
bump

Well apparently normal Twinmos sucks. I was unaware of this... :(

I am now officially on the lookout for some high-performing but cheap, ram. Maybe I'll get TM SP from monarch or something... I should check that.
 
A new hard drive will get you more than more capacity. For less than $100, a Maxtor DiamondMax10 200GB drive with a 16MB buffer will be about twice as fast as, and at least 50% faster than, your old 60GB drive. It will give you a huge improvement in your boot time, load levels in your games faster, and make your computer 'just feel smoother.' Another worthy drive is the 160GB Hitachi T7K250 for less than $90 (both SATA). I would reconsider the decision to reuse your existing hard drive.
 
Yea, if you notice I have a 200gb Maxtor 7200.16 in the misc. section. I need to see what kind of a budget I will have. If I can, I will get it.

The only 7200.16 200gb I could find was IDE. Not a problem, as I have 2 opticals and a fdd, but 4 IDE connections on the DFI nf4 Ultra, so I will be able to put it on. They had SATA versions of 7200.8 in 200, 250, and 300 and 7200.16 SATA in 250 and 300, but only IDE 7200.16 200.

update: Changed my ram to Crucial value.
 
Ok guys, big update this time. I branched out from Newegg a little.

1 thanks for the HDD link, and I will probably get that over the Newegg one just b/c of Newegg's supposedly crappy HDD shipping practices.

2 Mobo price dropped dramatically. I left the Lanparty series and got the DFI nf4-DAGF. It has what I need (1x pci-e x16, 4x IDE drives, 4x SATA drives, gigabit lan, same onboard sound as all DFI, high ram voltage), but it is $20 cheaper than the least expensive LP nf4-D that I could find! Anyone know if this board OCs the same as the LP series?

3 PSU price dropped by $24!!! Broke out the froogle for this one. $105 from case-mods.com as opposed to $129 from Newegg!

4 Watercooling price dropped slightly. I found some cheaper Panaflos and dropped the shroud for now.

5 7800GTX for $549 on ZZF!

6 other small changes all around

Overall my price line dropped by well over $150!!! I think I can keep it all under $1500 WITH my case. Once again I wonder how much the case will be, and when the fark is it coming out?!?!? I just might be able to get that HDD too. 1225 + 100 HDD + 20 RAMsinks = $1345. So if the case and shipping is under $155... Dam, just re-discouraged myself. O well. Maybe more like $1550.
 
Excellent work. As you can see, Newegg is not the be-all and end-all of computer parts dealers. Presuming that they are the cheapest dealer and not bothering to look anywhere else is just asking to get ripped off. Newegg is still a very good dealer, but it pays to check out their competitors and keep them honest. It also has the virtue of saving you money or getting you better gear for the same money.
 
Well, I may have found a case. It's not perfect, and I realize a lot of cases might work with a 120.2 rad this way, but the Antec Sonata is cheap ($99) compared to full tower cases, and someone on [H] has specific experience with using it and a 120.2 rad w/o modding.

RAMsinks added too.

Interesting, my total is ~$1,337. (Not including HDD and speakers)

I'm gonna look around for a FUNCpad. Heard they were good.

I am also going to try to set up a MUCH smaller budget, using socket A and more of the parts that I already have (fx5200, 1.4 T-bird). This is in case I decide to wait until M2 and (perhaps) a 7800 "ultra" version.
 
bump

I am changing my case again. The Sonata comes with a PSU I don't want, so I've halved the price by getting a version w/o 1.

Still waiting for the Gigabyte 3D Aurora, it looks so sweet!

Added mushkin Speed Premium 1GB sticks as an alternative RAM choice instead of mushkin blue. Now I have the budget choices I want, all I need to decide on is 1GB or 2!

will probably update this thing with the low budget thing. Will be getting the Seasonic PSU, the HDD (if I can get a SATA drive on a sA mobo), the Crucial value ram, maybe the speakers, a case, watercooling, and a socket A mobo. Then I can transfer pretty much all of that over to an M2 and DDR2 if I decide on that. I don't know!!!! What should I do? 939 now or M2 in 6 months or so?

edit:
Ok, no low end system. It turned out to be like $715 or something (with Seasonic, Crucial, Maxtor, Logitech, Antec case, a Biostar nf2 mobo ($52?) and the watercooling. This was going to tide me over to M2 and 7800ultra (If it comes out), but I decided to go with my main system, and just sell the 3000+ ($119 straight up more than the sA, but can sell it better), ram (would have been same stuff as the full upgrade), mobo (was only $40 more than the sA), and 7800GTX (not included in small just because it's pci-e.) as necessary. Everything else would remain the same. There simply wasn't enough of a price difference to justtify not getting s939.
 
nice system!

1. i would recomend the aerocool modular psu for $99 @ zipzoomfly
-it is 550 watts and has free second day shipping
-it also has nothing but good reviews and very powerful 12v rails (12v1:20A 12v2:18A)
-link
2. xfx video card a great chioce!
ATACOM has the 490gpu 1300 mem clock for $558 link
 
Thanks for the support. I'll hopefully be buying my system this week.

What would I gain with a modular PSU? What is different from a normal psu?

I made a thread concerning my two choices for a video card. I would appreciate it if you could read it and maybe comment on it.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=929840
 
sorry for the double post/bump, but I have some good news!

Everything is finalized! I am finally getting my computer!!!!1 I've wanted a new computer since two of my friends got SLI in January, and been specifically planning components since Spring Break. That was the week following the 1st of April!

So, after 3 months and 3 weeks, I am ordering my computer. I'd like to thank all of you for your information, my computer would have stunk without it!

I think some of my original specs were an ASUS mobo, SLI 6800GTs (or a single 6600GT if I couldn't afford it), 1GB Geil TCCD (I think) ram, Antec 550w PSU, and a Zalman 7700 on a 3200+ Winchester! Imagine how bad that would have been compared to what I have now.

Once I get the shipping cost, I'll update the first post with that, then it's off to the races. I'll be sure to post pics of the build and finished product!
 
Russ said:
edit: ug, haveing some complications with the fan. I think I'll get the Thermaltake Thunderblade b/c it is pretty quiet (although louder than advertised) and moved air comparable to the Panaflo. here are the choices:
THERMALTAKE Thunderblade A1926 120mm Blue LED $10.99 - 78 cfm 21 dBA
SILVERSTONE 120mm 2 ball $16.99 - 103.44 cfm 44 dBA
Panaflo FBA12G M1A $11.99 - 86.5 cfm 35.5 dBA
Click to expand...

This is something I'm still trying to figure out, too...

The Thunderblade looks best in theory, but I've been hearing seriously negative things about TT's spec listings being fraudulent...??....

I'd really just like a plain blue plastic UV-reactive fan, but all the best fans seem to be the plain black ones...sigh....
 
y? I've never used one, but from what i see one of those things goes in each corner. I dunno if more would be needed.

And I've definitely strayed towards Panaflos for fans recently. Because of all the negative stuff about TT (I've heard a LOT of people say they test their dBA from twice the distance of other people, there's no regulation on it) mostly. And that I found a site with $10 Panaflos! :D

O, the MIR on my ram expired before i bought it... :( O well, at least my CPU price has fallen again. It's $6 less AND with free shipping (it was like $7-10 without free), so that mostly makes up for the missed MIRs without having to send anything in. :) The newegg price that I quoted included the ram at it's current price, so nothing's changed there, or in the total (expect that I have to lower it for eWiz).
 
"Newegg total: $187.30
Monarch Computer total: $89.00
eWiz total: $119.95
Zip Zoom Fly total: $636.50
Silicon Valley Compucycle total: $13.89
Case-Mod total: $114.68
CoolPC total: $193.58"

Sure is a lot of sites to buy stuff from, huh? And when I buy my watercooling stuff it will be from 4 more! (Maybe three).

I think I've memorized my debit card number from typing all those times!
 
well Russ, i hate you. i'm in the same boat as you were 3 mo. ago. i'm going to be able to start ordering my parts in 3-4 months and the anticipation is kiling me. i sit on newegg for hours at a time just staring at parts....hehehehe. hope you enjoy your new system. btw, this thread is really sweet, it should be stickied for losers like myself, as there was alot of useful information posted (as noted earlier in the thread), in an organized and legible manner. peace. :cool:
 
thanks! Yea I hated all the waiting. Luckily I got payment for my summer job last week, $900, so I was able to pay for everything. I actually had to squeak a lot in, once all the sites charge me I'll have $8 in my checking account! Luckily I have no bills to pay (well, none except my cell phone, but that's not for 37 days). :D

I wasn't able to buy my watercooling or speakers at the moment. However, I'm having $400 sent down from a savings account soon, so hopefully I'll be able to buy them soon. Have I already said this? lol. :eek:

My case is gonna be so kickass! I DID buy the Gigabyte, hopefully it won't come out in other places for a long time so I can gloat on being one of the first to have it. >: )

I am going to be gone next week, and I doubt everything (especially the case), will arrive before then. So I have two weeks before I start building. I wonder if I can get the watercooling by then. :D

---

About the sticky, thanks. I don't think the mods would ever sticky an individual thing like this, BUT, I am working on a general hardware guide here. I think it's on like the third page at the moment, but I don't really want anyone to post there too much yet, so that's a good thing. It isn't done, I just have mostly the hardware up for now. As you can see if you read it, I will be adding general guides for different budgets and applications soon, and a discussion and reasoning part at the end. Hopefully at the end it will be much more useful to everyone than this thread has been. : ) Of course, this thread in particular has guided me towards a lot of new discoveries. I didn't know jack squat about watercooling when I started posting here in April, and now look, my two most active forums are watercooling and general hardware! They are practically the only one that I check regularly.


----

hmm, it seems I have used too many smilies. >_< d'oh. There I go again...
 
update:

I recieved the Monarch, Newegg, and ZZF packages all at once (they were all Fedex 2nd Day). Ordered Sunday morning, they got here wednesday afternoon, but I wasn't here or on thursday when they tried to deliver. So I got it all on Friday.

Ram (2GB of Mushkin SP) from newegg, 7800GTX (+Xgear controller, woot!!!!) and HDD (Maxtor 200gb 7K.16) from ZZF, and mobo (DFI nf4-DAGF) from Monarch.

Today I got the power supply from Case-Mod.com. Seasonic S12-500. :D

All I need now is the CPU (Venice 3000+) from eWiz.com and the AS/heatsink from SVC.com (cheap, temporary :p).

The Australian site I want to get the case from is being troublesome. They refused to send the case overseas initially. :( I am in negotiations right now to find out an alternate way to send it. However they aren't responding very promptly.
 
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