New Rig, comments please

C

c10

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
137
I'd like to start by saying that this is my first build ever, and that I'm a lifetime subscriber.

I bit yesterday on the Q9450 deal at frys.

Also bit on the corsair 750w psu.

So, that means I have:

Q9450
Corsair 750w PSU

Heres how the rest of it plays out (and this is where I would like comments/suggestions)
Asus P5Q Pro MOBO
2x Asus 4850 in CrossFire
2x 2x2GB Corsair Dominator Memory DDR2 PC1066
Thermaltake Armor Series Full Tower Black case
WD 640GB SATA HD
(need sound card suggestions)
(cooling?)


Future purchases: Receiver, home theatre bookshelf speakers, center channel, sub for 3.1 premium sound.

Use of the rig: first and foremost, gaming. Vanguard specifically. Maybe AoC if I get bored. Next would be general computing and media. Currently torn between running dual displays at ~22'' or one larger display @ 24-26''.
 
Dominators are generally overpriced, so I'd suggest dropping them.

I'm not an ASUS fan -- far too many /terrible/ experiences with customer service and generally faulty products, like my laptop which has died 3 times now at the 6-8 month mark -- but to each their own, there.

I'd look to the Asus Xonar DX, D2X, Azuntech Prelude, or Bluegears bInspire for sound, though honestly if you get a reciever with digital input and a board with digital out (there are few without, anymore), onboard should do just fine.

The Xigmatech HDT-S1283 with a bolt-thru mounting kit is pretty much the HSF to have at the moment. That, or the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 is a good option.
 
silent-circuit said:
Dominators are generally overpriced, so I'd suggest dropping them.

I'm not an ASUS fan -- far too many /terrible/ experiences with customer service and generally faulty products, like my laptop which has died 3 times now at the 6-8 month mark -- but to each their own, there.

I'd look to the Asus Xonar DX, D2X, Azuntech Prelude, or Bluegears bInspire for sound, though honestly if you get a reciever with digital input and a board with digital out (there are few without, anymore), onboard should do just fine.

The Xigmatech HDT-S1283 with a bolt-thru mounting kit is pretty much the HSF to have at the moment. That, or the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 is a good option.
Click to expand...

The dominator memory I found was 136$ each, for the 2x2gb kit of ddr2 pc1066. Its a savings combo on newegg, though I am not sure thats a great deal in general.

For now I plan on just running some headphones until a month or two from now when I can make the next leg of this purchase. That said, I don't want to have to upgrade my sound card when that comes to fruition. I'll take a look at those sound cards you mentioned.

I know nothing about cooling, so I will just take your word for it on that. Thanks for your reply!
 
Whoo! Just found that the same dominator memory with a 40$ MIR at tiger direct. 92$ a pop sounds alot nicer.
 
If you are considering dual display, forget about a multi-card setup. The "two cards into one supercard" feature provided by SLI and CrossFire would only work on the primary monitor -- all other monitors would be disabled. (Supposedly, CrossFireX "fixes" this problem, but I haven't heard of anyone being able to use CrossFireX on multiple monitors.)

With a 24 inch LCD, or even a 26 inch monitor, you may be able to get away with using one HD4870. However, that depends largely on the games that you play.

Do you plan on overclocking your machine? Do you know how? If not -- and assuming you haven't bought anything else other than the processor and PSU -- get a 4GB kit of DDR2 800 or DDR2 1000 RAM. You don't need any "performance" RAM, not even for overclocking, so don't spend any extra on it.

Which monitor/resolution are you (considering) using RIGHT NOW?

Don't count the "savings" from mail-in rebates... you still have to pay the full (before rebate) costs first.
 
I'd like to use as big of a resolution as possible. I'm running 1280x1024 on my laptop, but want something better for my big display.

I'm going to be playing AoC / Vanguard (vg primarily).

I would like to OC my machine, but I know nothing about it. So thats a future issue. I'd like to run 8GB of memory just because its cheap so why not? I know MIR are hit or miss, but most of the time you get them back if you do them correctly.

I'm really not sure as to what kind of display I should use. I think I'd get more out of the bigger monitor when gaming, but for everything else I'd want dual monitors... but I think 80% of the time my cpu was on I'd be in VG.
 
Okay...

- What's the most you're willing to spend on this rig?
- Have you bought a monitor yet? If not, what are you considering for your first monitor?
- How long do you want this machine to last? Will you be making any incremental upgrades during this time?
- Do you also want this machine to function as some sort of HTPC?
- Besides what you've already bought, is there anything else that you already have for this build?
 
tiraides said:
Okay...

- What's the most you're willing to spend on this rig?
- Have you bought a monitor yet? If not, what are you considering for your first monitor?
- How long do you want this machine to last? Will you be making any incremental upgrades during this time?
- Do you also want this machine to function as some sort of HTPC?
- Besides what you've already bought, is there anything else that you already have for this build?
Click to expand...

- $2,000 is really my upper end limit on this.
- I do not have a monitor yet. I'm considering either dual 22'' displays, or a 24-26'' single display. I don't know much about monitors so I am trusting [H] on this one.
- I'd like this machine to last 2-3 years. It doesn't need to be top of the line that entire time, but I'd like it to still perform well for the duration.
- Yes, I'd like it to be a HTPC of sorts (in the future). For now it will be housed in a study along with my roommates PC for a gaming room. However, in the future I will be putting it in my living room with a reasonably nice home theater system.
- I have a mouse for it. Thats it. All the peripherals outside of the primary parts are foreign to me. However, I do have a very hardware savvy friend who will be helping me assemble.
 
matrix563 said:
i'd wait and get a 4870x2 ;)
Click to expand...

It looks like a fantastic board, but IDK if I can wait a month. I've already been reading for the better part of a month (I work long hours, it hasn't been that much total time). I read those are expected out in late july/early august.
 
I'm going to post a build and then go from there.

Already purchased: Intel Q9450 and Corsair TX750

$145 - Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS ATX full tower case
$150 - Asus P5Q Pro (free shipping)
$37 - Xigmatek HDT-S1283 CPU cooler
$7 - Xigmatek ACK-I7751 retention bracket
$87 - OCZ Platinum Edition 4GB DDR2 1000 kit ($30 mail-in rebate)
$95 - Western Digital 640GB SATA hard drive (free shipping)
$27 - Asus DRW-2014S1T SATA DVD burner(free shipping)
$310 - VisionTek HD4870
$100 - Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit OEM (free shipping)
======
$958 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

Since you haven't decided on a monitor just yet, I didn't go overboard with the parts selection. Again, one HD4870 can handle games on a 24" or 26" monitor, so you may not have to grab a second one. I'd hold off on making any changes to the video card until after you decide upon a monitor.

Unless you're going to use some memory-intensive programs (like Photoshop or Maya) or you plan on running lots of VMs, you don't need 8GB of RAM. If you plan on overclocking, you'll want at least DDR2 1000 RAM... but the prices are starting to rise on them. (The OCZ kit was the cheapest set I could find on NewEgg -- and I wasn't counting the rebates.)

Peripherals are largely subjective, so I won't make any recommendations there. But since you're going through all of this trouble for a high-end speaker system, I suggest going with either a 2.1 setup -- and forget the center channel speaker -- or going all the way with a 5.1 setup.

Check out the Displays forum here for suggestions on a monitor (or two) you could buy. There are too many factors involved in finding the "perfect" monitor for me to recommend one -- hell, I'm still looking for the "right one" for me.
 
Thanks for the info. I'm looking into monitors right now.

I'm kinda talking myself into one big monitor. Thinking a 26'' Samsung.
 
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