Please review the specs for my new computer

SirWilliam

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Aug 18, 2008
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I am finally ready to build my own gaming PC and would like to hear some feedback on my setup before I go forward with it. Not a huge fan of the case if you have any recommendations under $200 let me know.

Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core

GPU: XFX HD-597A-CNB9 Radeon HD 5970 Black Edition 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 (waiting for one to be in stock)

Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard w/ USB 3.0 & SATA 6 Gb/s

Memory: G.SKILL ECO 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Power:Seventeam ST-850PAF 850W ATX 12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Case:COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

Cooling:CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler
 
Well, everything in your system looks good, but I would get some more known power supply. I would say go with Corsair power supply like tx850. It is actually on sale right now on newegg.
 
Well, everything in your system looks good, but I would get some more known power supply. I would say go with Corsair power supply like tx850. It is actually on sale right now on newegg.

Okay I changed that out. Any thoughts on a better case?
 
Don't listen to the noob who doesn't know Seventeam. Seventeam makes some of the best power supplies around.
 
Ok, no one has asked this yet, and shame on you all...

but,

What Rez/Monitor setup?
 
Definitely get an SSD if you can afford it. I don't think there's any modern systems that should be without an SSD!

I could get a 128GB SSD for $200 more than the 750GB WD....I already have a 750GB WD so I was going to do RAID. I am not sure it is worth the extra $200 when you get such a small amount of space.
 
Ok, no one has asked this yet, and shame on you all...

but,

What Rez/Monitor setup?

My monitor is kind of old. It is a Lenovo L220x 1920 x 1200 native resolution...it is PVA tech so not sure how well it will work out.
 
I could get a 128GB SSD for $200 more than the 750GB WD....I already have a 750GB WD so I was going to do RAID. I am not sure it is worth the extra $200 when you get such a small amount of space.

Get an 80GB model which should fit Windows and most of your games and apps comfortably. The speed should knock your sox off. You need to understand how much of a performance improvement it is. You're paying for a performance increase when you buy an SSD, it's just like shelling out extra money for an i7 over an i5, and a 5970 over a 5800 series card. When you load Windows, your apps, and game maps--any large data sets--you will be Wowed, you'll be glad you spent the money.
 
I could get a 128GB SSD for $200 more than the 750GB WD....I already have a 750GB WD so I was going to do RAID. I am not sure it is worth the extra $200 when you get such a small amount of space.

Don't bother with 128Gb and above SSDs. They're too expensive.

Aim for the 30/60 Gb SSDs. If you can, buy two of those and RAID0 them.

Hell, just buy a single 60Gb SSD and use that as your OS HDD, and use your 750Gb as the data HDD. This is a configuration that has worked well for many others, and speeds up average daily tasks.
 
Hell man, if your going with a 5970 and a i7 , get a SSD while your at it. Otherwise very nice system.
 
+1 60-80gb SSD + 750gb HD = WIN

BTW, that vid card will do great for a good while at 19x12 res. Very good choice there.
But if you get a wild hair up your ass and decide to try out EyeFinity, you might want to consider X-fireing two 5870 2gb's instead.
 
Any thoughts on a better case?

Case are one thing that we can't really "recommend" to you. It's mostly a personal choice between many different people. I can give you a whole list of different cases, but I can't tell you to choose this specific one because it looks cool to me. What looks cool to one person looks like complete garbage to another.

Nevertheless, check out these cases:

Antec 300
Antec 900
Antec 1200
Corsair Obsidian 800D
CoolerMaster 690 I and II
NZXT Tempest
Any Li Lian

There are many more.
 
and if you don't have a major retailer with a specific case close to you, newegg's the goto place for usually decent pix from many different angles. Love the zoom feature.
 
As far as cases go I couldn't be happier than with my Antec 1200, a very well built case. You also need to be mindful of which case will fit the 5970 because it's over 12" long, the Antec 1200 does just but it pokes in to the drive bays a bit so you'll lose 2 HDD spots, theres plenty to begin with though. A lot of cases simply wont fit this card so make sure to check first!

As for a SSD, well to be honest a lot of people are saying that this is one of the best things you can do to improve your experience with your computer, we have a lot of CPU and GPU power now a days but HDDs are still pretty damn slow. You really need to do your research on this first though because they're expensive and there's also a lot of very bad designs out there, Anandtech took SSDs to town and did a killer article which is HUGE, they go through some of the problems and some of the brands with bad performance.

When I have a bucket loads of cash to blow on new components I'm definately in for a SSD for my primary drive.
 
I cannot wait to put this thing together. I have taken apart and put back together computers in the past but I have never built one myself. Does anyone have a guide they would recommend or will it be pretty straight forward? Thanks.

Here are my final build specs (changes in bold):

Processor: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core

GPU: XFX HD-597A-CNB9 Radeon HD 5970 Black Edition 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard w/ USB 3.0 & SATA 6 Gb/s

Memory: G.SKILL ECO 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Power:CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply


Case:LIAN LI PC-A71F Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case


Hard Drive: Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Cooling:COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ...
 
I really dont recommend P55 stuff right now, since 1155 is coming out soon to replace it..

rather wait or go for x58 / core i7 920/930 ...
 
What about the 6.0/Gbps hard drives? I would probably get one of those over a SSD. I mean, what the hell is the point of getting a 60GB SSD? You put a few games on it and you're done and not to mention that you can get a pretty high capacity hard drive running at 6.0/Gbps for a lot less than any SSD at a decent size.
 
6Gbps doesnt make a difference when your platter drive is only hitting 800Mbps.

SSDs arent about pegging the interface bandwidth with large file copys or reads.

They are about small file random read/write performance which is what an OS is primarily doing.

A good SSD will take reduce the bottleneck that most systems have nowadays.
 
SSD is good for a gaming pc, so I too would recommend it, though if you wanted security in terms of encryption SSD is the worst hdd technology to get.
 
SSD's rock the hell out of platters. ESP if you can dish out a little more for RAID 0. i was skeptical at first thinking i wouldnt care about it, but decided to buy two 60gb ocz vertex turbo's because they were 100 bucks off on newegg.

Ill just say if that isnt what they meant by the messiah's second coming, i dont know what can top it.
 
I really dont recommend P55 stuff right now, since 1155 is coming out soon to replace it..

rather wait or go for x58 / core i7 920/930 ...

I could do a x58 with a 920 but it is more expensive and the difference in performance is marginal (could be wrong though). I think for the money this build isn't too bad and I think it will last me a good while.

I would check out this SSD review
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18757

and then perhaps rethink your ssd choice.

get the Corsair Nova or the SSDNOW kingston drive just my opinion though.

What is wrong the SSD I choose? 128GB is too expensive for me.
 
the Intel 80GB is much slower then its bigger brothers

mostly on the write speeds is where it suffers but just thru out a couple other options.
 
I could do a x58 with a 920 but it is more expensive and the difference in performance is marginal (could be wrong though). I think for the money this build isn't too bad and I think it will last me a good while.

I doubt 920 with x58 will be more expensive than the setup you listed..
you can grab a 920 for like 199 anywhere in MC or Frys.

x58 mobo can be dirt cheap... and more expandable in future..

and for RAM, you can just grab the triple 2GB ram, which should be cheaper than 8GB..

I find 6GB is more than enough, don't know what to do with 8GB..
 
I doubt 920 with x58 will be more expensive than the setup you listed..
you can grab a 920 for like 199 anywhere in MC or Frys.

x58 mobo can be dirt cheap... and more expandable in future..

and for RAM, you can just grab the triple 2GB ram, which should be cheaper than 8GB..

I find 6GB is more than enough, don't know what to do with 8GB..

The 920s I have seen are like $300 and the 920 is slower for gaming than the processor I choose.
 
Actually x58 isn't that much better of an option right now either as it's on the chopping block a little over a year from now. With that I'd say your choice could go either way. Also, as long as the SSD supports TRIM and a gen2 or better chipset, you should be in good shape. Nothing wrong with that intel nor most of the 60/64gb drives. I'm using a superTalent 64gb right now and no complaints.
 
Building a good computer these days is overwhelming... I would probably be better off just saving my money. I have already lived 4 years without video games; no real reason to bring a bad habit back.
 
ahem, you can build a good PC easy and pretty cheap.. what you been talking about has been a great pc.
 
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