The (new) Official PC building thread!

to answer the PSU Question....ITS PERFECTLY FINE!

the antec earthwatts are very good PSUs, and will run everything in that list perfectly. 500W is overkill even for you. a c2Q extreme and an 8800GT draw about 210W so you should be fine (inc on DVDrw drive and 1 HDD)

the mobo will have no problems with the GPU, but if you are not going to be OCing, its a huge waste of money.

btw what res do you want to play crysis at, casu it will not run at max settings on any current single card even at 1280 x XXXX.

the RAM, if you are not OCing, then you shoudl get some good branded (g.skill, OCZ, corsair, curcial, mushkin...) PC6400. this will run at 333, which will be perfect for your CPU, which wil have an FBS of 333 aswell. if you are OCing, get the PC8500 (1066) RAM.

 

@cincy
You can build a Smok'in Machine for $700 to $800...that will do everything that the $2,000 machines can do...
Anything you Build yourself...you can take Great Pride In!...

Did you pick-up any of the parts during the Sales?...

@tsukia
I am not a fan of Kingston...it is not really considered one of the better manufacturers...Crucial...Corsair...G-Skill have much better reputations...get the best memory you can for your money....you can do better then Kingston...for probably Less money...

If you are just looking at jumping to the 6850...there is not a big difference between the 6750 & 6850...Do Not spend the extra $80...save the money and look to upgrade to the Penryn once it is here and affordable...it will give you a Much Biggest overall performance gain...with the benefit of lower power consumption...

 

I was messing with abuzar.... lol.

Don't get an inferiority complex this early in the game. As Lp531 said you can get an AWESOME machine for $700-$800. Once you send me that list I'll show you. hehehe. Anyway be sure to come here and our other HAUNT for other ideas and for sure compatibility issues.

....gm

tsukia,
I completely agree with Lp531 on the RAM. Any of those makers are great and will more than likely be cheaper and more reliable than the Kingston. The Kingston isn't complete crap but it's NOT as well liked or made as the manufacturers Lp531 mentioned. Of course this is from other members and research. Unfortunately I don't have the Kingston Memory.

 

Has anyone tried the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo...It crashes my computer...sends it to restart...
That is the second New big titles (Crysis) who's Demo does not work...I hope the Game does better...
Frankly this makes me cautious about buying it...I have been burned to many times by crappy games...or crappy game play...or rootkit filled games (Brothers in Arms-earned in Blood...Bet on Soldiers...etc...)

 

man i haven't had time to game in months, thats why when i update I'm keeping the videcard i have

 

To be honest, Abuzar, I hope you like building PCs from scratch, because doing it that way round I think you may have sold yourself a bit short there.

Tsukia: Corsair memory is what I tend to use, but there are a number of good brands out there, OCZ is another of them. As for Kingston, you don't tend to see many enthusiast builds using it. Whilst it's generally well made, I don't think it performs quite as well as other brands.
As for DDR3, I wouldn't bother. The chips used are the same as for DDR2 now, and the cost is just too great for it to be worth considering, get a motherboard like the GA-P35C-DS3R that supports both.
If you want silence, you don't really want an Antec PSU, they're not quiet for gamign builds. Get a Corsair HX series power supply. They are very quiet indeed. Also note that the 8800GT is very loud compared to some graphics cards. Instead, I'd recommend using ATI'S Radeon HD3870. It performs at a similar level to the 8800GT, but is more futureproof because it offers newer technologies such as Directx10.1 and provides an all-round better image quality than the 8800GT.

Lp: I tried the UT3 Demo and it worked fine for me. The Crysis Demo also worked fine. if I'm honest, I don't think the graphics in Crysis are worth the ridiculous system requirements, but UT3 seemed to strike the balance quite well. I tend to find though, that neither game is too happy about using Anti-Aliasing, which sucks A LOT because AA I think is a fundamental requirement in games if you want them to look good. it's hardly an involving experience if the rocks and trees look like saw blades.

 

One of the main reasons I am building new is that my system wasnt up to par for editing HD video of my bands performances.
Nero 7 edits AVCHD video, but my system is too slow (Opteron 185 @2.9, 7600GT gfx) for live editing without converting it to some other file format, therefore losing quality. Watching the video through the preview window is impossible, where all normal files play superbly. The sound doesnt clip, but it looks like its missing frames and skipping video. MAybe get another 7600GT and attempt SLI with this rig, but I dont think its merely my gfx card causing this. I'm thinking Penryn when it comes out, I've built both Intel and AMD so I'm not really a fanboy, just wanting the best of the two I can get. I'm not much of a gamer although I was hooked on Doom 3 for awhile when it came out.
I guess I'm asking if I should get the best, newest, most expensive gfx card to go along with the new mobo and expensive new CPU or what I should be looking for to fix my problems.

 

Sam, what do you mean I sold my self short? I do like building PCs from scratch though.

 

I mean you didn't really make much of a 'profit' on that system, so you haven't exactly got yourself much extra to upgrade with...
Deadrum: I'd recommend getting a powerful, but reasonably priced graphics card like the Radeon HD3850 for your system. if it boosts your frames, you know where you need to upgrade (and if necessary you can further upgrade to an HD3870 or 8800GTX and sell the 3850). If it doesn't, you won't have spent so much that you can't afford a better CPU, and you now have a decent graphics card!

 

It is a good idea to get a new card now and check to see how it boosts everything overall for this rig, then later swap cards back when I finish ordering parts for the new. I have talked myself into a totally new build, not just upgrading my AMD939. I mean I missed a whole generation of CPU's so its time.
I found this card http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130300
It looked the best when comparing similar ones in that range.
I will wait a week or 2 before ordering though, I have contractors rebuilding a garage onto one of my houses and I need the extra cash for anything unexpected.

 

The 8800GTS is a pointless buy nowadays. Save your money and get an 8800GT. It's faster and also cheaper.

 

Yeah, guess the GT's were sold out at NewEgg, I looked someplace else and seen what you mean.

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-066-GL

I was wondering if i should take this ram for my Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R. I was originally going for,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-108-CS

or

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-072-OC

 

Personally, I prefer Corsair and OCZ to GeIL. I use that exact set of XMS2 and it has served me well so far.

 

ok guys here is what ive got on my build. the MOBO, CPU,MEM are a for sure thingthe rest im still not sure on or am pretty sure on it being in the top 2 for me
Tower and PSU combo
Video card ???
Cooler


these here are a sure thing for me
MOBO
CPU
MEM

i dont have a HDD here cause im gonna use my gift card at BESTBUY to get a 320 sata segate.

now the tower i chose is the coolmaster RC-690 that was offered by LP531 i think. but it has a powersupply with it. is it anygood? or should i get the cosair PSU 550w???

the total here is $604 not includeing s/hi think if i dont get the tower/psu combo it will be about $60 more to get the tower seperate and the cosair 550w PSU.plus i have about $100 in MIR's when i get that in i might get a couple sata optical drives

the GPU i chose is it any good? like i said im not into gameing or anyhting like that so i dont need a major one.


now and yes im thinking of OCing..lol what advantage would i have if i OC'd the cpu? its 2.667 now and if i did OC it to say 3.0 what big gain would i have? would i notice it at all?

 

I'd buy the 520W HX Corsair over the 550W VX. The HX seems a better designed series to me.
The graphics card is extremely weak, but if you're not a gamer, I suppose you'll have no need for a particularly powerful one.
Good component choices all round otherwise.

 

so i should stear away from getting the tower/psu combo? ill look at the 520HX cosair.

so if i go with the tower and the HX520w cosair PSU my total would be $647 as to $604.. i can deal with that. and thats with S/H. then get my HDD from bestbuy with the gift card...

you all got me crazy in antisipation of this build...lol

 

L@@KS like those deals from last night are gone!!! DANG IT.... I looked at ZZF but no luck really buddy. If you can wait a few days I would almost bet there will be some more "good" deals to be had for P/S and cases. If you had purchased last night the deal for the case and P/S would have been a $30 dollar savings and 100W bigger P/S.

....gm

btw I'll continue to look for you.

 

i still have about 2 weeks before i can get anything so im sure there will be more sales..lol i have all this stuff saved right now.. like i said i got it narrowed down to almost the final thing. the mobo cpu and mem and id say the tower are fr sure right now still havent made up my mind on the video card that one i just posted i think is a cheapy.... dont think your gonna hurt my feelings in saying that.. you guys know more about this than me i am takeing in all the info i can....