The (new) Official PC building thread!

nice work Creaky...ok back to topic...i'm not a pc builder but i have the knowledge on how to build or at least know wat parts needed to build a good pc...ok the pc i wanna build consist of:
-Intel C2D E6600 cpu
-eVGA 680i mobo
-2x 7600GT or maybe 1x 7950GT
-2GB of RAM(still deciding wat brand/manufacturer to get...any suggestions...budget between $150 - $200(R1000 - R1500))
-250GB WD harddrive
-Thermaltake case(cheapest u can get)

thats bout it

 

I think this rig is awesome, a friend put it together for me, tell me what you think!

LIAN LI PC-V1000APLUSII W Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

SONY 18X DVD�R DVD Burner Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model AW-Q170A-B2 - OEM

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK - Retail

NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM

ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (x4)

COOLMAX CUG-600B ATX 12V( V.2.2) 600W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail

BFG Tech BFGR7950512GTOCE GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Grand Total: $1,641.14

My only concern was the power supply, and we are currently talking about a water cooling system. So, is this the most bang for my buck?

 

hey bra nearly as same as mine...VERY COOL...i like it...yes its bang for buck...try overclock ur cpu to 3.6GHz...then its bang for big bucks

 

Ok I have two suggestions to everyone who's building a new PC. Listen to it because I didn't know at the time I choose the parts and had to find out the hard way.

1. Don't get a Sony DVD-Burner. Their speed for reading is locked in Nero CD-DVD Speed via firmware so you could set it to 16x but it would still read at ~.5x. Sony DVD-Burners are just rebranded BenQ's and Lite-On's so if you want the same quality get one of those brands, their read speed isn't locked like that. I read reviews that Plextor's are good quality and have a 8mb cache instead of 2mb but are also ~$100 instead of $30.

2. Don't skimp out on the PSU. A bad PSU can lead to many mysterious failures and errors. Plus they die fast and may even take your rig down with it. You don't want to spend $1990 on parts and $10 on a PSU. It would suck if that $10 PSU died and took down the parts with it. A good PSU could last for a long time without a upgrade.

 

@ l34merik
the best way to get good read speeds is to get a rom drive, to find out which is the best in your budget ask in the dvd rom/rw threads as they know their stuff.

couldn't agree more about the psu, they often take other componants with them too.


@ Rob_K
if your looking at water cooling look for a case with it in mind then you wont need to mod your case for the rad and tubing to all fit.

the p5n mobos arent the best overclockers so i dont think that you will get 150% out of one, but you might be lucky, the rest off your kit might get you there though. this too is a topic with its own thread.


@ gtr35
you are always better to get the most expensive card you can afford and then add another in sli/xfire later when the price has fallen and you need a performance boost. add to that the 680i will push a 7950 to 125% with ntune, real easy.

as for your ram, im guessing you want to oc your 6600 some so its pc6400 you will want. this is about the best you can get for that money. if you could strech your budget to get some of these it would make it all alot easier as they are sli certificated, which means that in a 680i mobo they, like the 7950, can be easily oced. they have all been designed with each other in mind which can only cause you less headaches.

i dont like to point poeple towards any case in perticular as it all comes down to personal taste. what i will say is, look for one with front and rear fans(the bigger the better), a side vent for your gpu all with filters if you can, and a harddrive rack that does not run across your case as these block airflow.

have fun

 

i need help finding a good mobo i know good brands and models of hardware for very thing but mobos my current prosscer socket is 462 or A. and i have a 1.2ghz amd athlon tbird runs good but not what ive been wanting. i want a new kind of socket cause mine is very old type. all my drives are ATA IDE ill need 2 IDE drive slots i have a floppy but dont use it so i dont care. i need this mobo to be UPGRADE FRIENDLY as my PC is heavily upgraded. i dont need agp but would perfer it. here is the tricky part tho it has to support SDR DIMM ram

thank u to any1 who gives suggestions BTW i know ALL the sites i need specific mobos

curren mobo:Asus A7V-VM 1.02

 

oh i almost forgot ATX power but thats almost a gimmie

 

if you want to keep your sdr you are going to hamper the upgradabilty of any system you pick. heres a list of boards that support it, as you can see its not rich pickings.

sorry bro but maybe its time to change to ddr or ddr2.

hope this helps.

 

thnx for the tip...by the way i'm saving up for CORSAIR XMS2 anyway...so is 680i is good...and also saving up for 7950GT...

 

@gtr35

the initial reviews look very good, but it is not unknown for these "review samples" to be of the highest quality, then when full production starts the qa slips. nvidia do have a good track record when it comes to highend chipsets tho so it would be a big surprise to me if they (680i) bombed.

if you wait till the spring they (and ati) have more dx10 cards coming out. i would guess that a 8600gtx will cost and perform about the same as the 7950 but that is like i said just a guess.

no probd m8, thats why were here

 

oh ok i thought 8900 series will be out and not 8600...thats interesting...i hope 8600GTX is cheap ans faster than 7900GTX...
thnx again...

 

i dont play that advance of games and i dont even have close to enough money for new RAM

 

me too...but i'm into graphics of the games...not the game play...nowadays games r boring...thats wat i think

 

the rumour mill is saying that upto 7 cards are on the way from nvidia as soon as ati's new ones hit the shelves. im guessing they will be two low, 2 mid and 2 high end cards, 81s 86s 89s? maybe a gx2 style card aswel?

@rudsta
i would get a nforce 2 board for your tbred, and see how far you can oc it, as the p4s you could get wont give you a massive boost in performance.

 

i want a new mobo to uprgrade my processer but i think i found a goo 2.0ghz procser that will work in my currnet mobo also i dont have bios with any advance features literaly NONE GAYEST BIOS EVER ARE PHONIEX

 

im thinking of building a media PC. whats a good cost effective setup? im not sure exactly what all i would need, as far as how how end of the various pieces. Im not trying to spend a fortune. I want to be able to output video from the PC to the tv it will hooked up too (tv has component and HDMI) I also want it hooked on a network so I can access other files on the network through the tv, and finally to be able to use it as a DVR.

 

hmm...lets hope so...and cheaper...

 

@forumcrew
something like a sempron system and a 1300 or 7300 would do that job.

you can get a semp 3000+ that will run @ 35w which would be quiet to to cool, and both of those graphics cards can be bought with passive coolers which would be ideal. the biggest problem is getting a psu that is as quiet as the rest of the system

if you want it in a media center case it gets harder (and more expensive) to get parts that fit, but a micro atx would be easy, and cheap, to build.

 

Hey all my pc aint much but its 5 months of hard work and savings ^^

Asus A8N32-SLI (mobo)
AMD 64x2 4800+ 2.4ghz (939) (CPU)
twin XFX 6800 XT SLI'd together
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Logitech x530 5.1 Speakers + Sub
NEC 3550a dvd Burner
networked 300gb of HD space
5 case fans
a rare Linux Coreal case Full Tower server case solid steel
chiefmax 550 watt psu not sure on its efficiency rateing but it was 20$ lol
Thermal Take big typhoon modified with a Silverstone 110 cfm fan on top with vltage nob for rpm adjustments
20$ fanbus
a ernmax 5.25 bay extender
psu silencer kit by vantec and a son to be installed sata 40gb HD

Well thats my rig flks hope this build helps out others o and it aint a cheap build