The (new) Official PC building thread!

thanks man, My build will be very high end, but also under $1500 CAD, but i have found a great store (Canada Computers) and I might get a few parts on ebay (not motherboard, or processor, just things that people can wreck by being static like a heatsink or PSU

I am thinkinking of going with another asus motherboard and a 550watt version of the antec powersupply

 

@mike

nothing wrong w/ Asus mobos, i like them myself as well~

as to the powersupply though, i would STRONGLY suggest you get a bigger unit IF you are saying that you will be going "very high end"...550w is NOTHING these days and will not be enough if you plan on going with an 8800gtx as well as all the other components in your system. Antec makes decent PSUs, but i could easily name off a handful of companies that are better AND more reliable from experience...if on a smaller budget in terms of powersupply, i would suggest looking into the Corsair 620W or the OCZ 700w GameXStream units, i have not personally used or tested the Corsair, but i have nothing but GOOD things to say about the reliability of the OCZ 700w unit that i used and still use today (both of which are the next step up from the Antecs and priced competitively for that range of powersupplies)

 

@spenman91 from other thread...

if $700 is your budget for just the mobo and processor, i would highly recommend an E6600 for the cpu and depending on the chipset of your choosing for the mobo, either an Asus, eVGA, or Gigabyte brand board...this will depend largely upon WHICH chipset you would like to go with...P965, P975, 650i, 680i, P35, etc.

as to the memory, if it's DDR2, then there shouldn't be a need to upgrade and you can simply bring it over from your older system...should you CHOOSE to upgrade to faster/higher bandwidth memory, or larger capacity (ie. for example if you have 512mb x 2 sticks now, i would opt for 1gb sticks x 2 for an upgrade, look for PC2-6400 speeds too, anything below that will limit your overclocks in the not to distant future) companies to consider for memory that I would personally recommend are Corsair, Mushkin, OCZ, G.Skill...i've used pretty much all the rest before at one point or another such as Kingston, Crucial, Patriot, Geil, PNY, Super Talent, PQI, and the list continues with the lesser generic crappy brands) but i PERSONALLY only use the 4 companies i suggested above for their quality and reputation (customer service/support is an important aspect to consider should they fail later and you need replacement kits thru RMA)

that's a start...more to come later once you are ready to take the jump.

 

I had looked at the 680i chipset in an earlier post and I liked it pretty well. I had seen it featured as a chipset used for some benchmarking test used at tomshardware.com, and assumed it had to be pretty decent, plus I noticed it supported SLI.

As far as the processor, I was planning on getting the E6600 unless somebody said something otherwise. Since it is going to be a while I thought I might should look into the Q6600, I think it was a little over $400, and I figure multi core is coming. But if I was buying right now I would definitely want the E6600.

I already have 2, 1 gig sticks of ram. But I thought I generic ram would keep me from being able to overclock very much, so I thought I might need good ram.

Thanks for the help, and hopefully I will get to do this upgrade sooner than I think.

 

spenman91

if time is not an issue at this point and you are slowly saving up, then the quad-core is def. a possibility~

with a hefty budget of $700 for just cpu and mobo, even if you were to buy NOW, you could get a Q6600 and a very good mobo~ i would wait until the end of the year, Intel will be releasing an updated version of the quads (lower volts and revised steppings) as well as the newest breed of 45nm chips. something else to consider, the price for the Q6600 will be less than $300~ supposedly price cuts will be effective a month from now, July 22nd to be exact, and the Q6600 will be estimated @ $266 in quantities of 1000, so realistically speaking in the consumer market for the avg. joe to buy one, i would guess approx. the $300 mark give or take $20

i was impatient so i HAD to give the Q6600 a test-run, while content, i'm not completely satisfied with how far i've taken it...i'm just hard to please when it comes to overclocking~

btw, i paid $500 for mine (retail 3 year warranty kit), prices have dropped a bit now and will continue to drop and you will notice a DRASTIC price cut next month for the Intel quad-cores and by years end you should have PLENTY to choose from at very good prices...also, you may want to consider the new 45nm Intel "Penryn" chips that should be due out shortly after if no delays occur. (i know I AM looking forward to them)

if you have generic ram now, as long as they are DDR2, they should work...you will have no problems booting/POST and they'll more than likely run fine with the setup...BUT, if you plan on overclocking, chances are your "generic" ram that you have now will be your bottleneck and hold you back...what is the rated speed of them if i may ask? ie. pc2-3200 (ddr2-400mhz), pc2-4200(ddr2-533mhz), pc2-5300/5400(ddr2-667mhz), pc2-6400(ddr2-800mhz)? you can probably find the info i'm asking for on the sticker that is on the ram itself...or cpu-z will tell you quickly and easily too~

give it some thought, prices will continue to fall if you have the patience to wait...come x-mas time, there will be some VERY sweet deals to be had for current tech.

docTY

 

On ebay there is a OCZ 850w GameXStream, and it's in Canada! I am going to bid. Hopefully I will get it cause it looks great.

In my fist system I used a PSU that came with the case, that was a big problem, it died 20 days after!



Edit:

after reading your post above I have decided that I will only buy ths PSU and a case for now, then I will get the rest later on, mabey get a quad

 

An OCZ Power supply is far better than one that comes with a case, but always remember, if it's on ebay, why is it on ebay?

 

it says its new w/plastic wraping around the cardboard

 

sounds good to me~

btw, this is docTY~ LOL

 

just because it is being sold on ebay doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. there are a lot of new items for sale on ebay. If it is in the original box and in plastic wrap, I would't be concerned.

 

Good point Mort81!!! Also, make sure the seller has a excellent "feedback", and the best sellers are ones who have stores, because they cannot afford bad feedback.

I believe I read that "Bigdk" (sp?) sells his OC'd computers there, and you gotta believe in his stock. BTW, where is he?

 

Oh I quite agree, I've had numerous PC components off ebay I've been happy with, you just have to remember there's always a risk.

 

Could use a few suggestions !! I'm wanting to to buy a new Monitor,but a little unclear as to type.I'm wanting a 20"22",is their a big difference in the display characters on a regular or wide screen Monitor.Also considering with or without built in speakers as the price difference is only a couple of D$ars
tp://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpN
This is a Samsung for $250.00

 

I have a dual monitor setup with a 19" 1440 x 900 Samsung, and a 22" 1680 x 1050 Westinghouse. The only difference I really notice is that the Samsung has brighter and more true colors than the Westinghouse. But the Westinghouse is sharper and has more display area. The font size and everything is basically the same but the 22" just has more area.

 

I like viewsonic's. here's a good deal on a 20.1" widescreen with AGP and DVI interface. viewsonic VX2035VM I paid $300 for mine less than a year ago.

 

I'm with Mort on the ViewSonic monitors. I have 2, ones a 17" (at home), the other is a 19" (at work). They have great colors and sharp displays. btw the 17" is 5 years old.

....gm

 

I had a G90f+ CRT of theirs and was quite impressed (although it was originally an E92 which had to be warranty replaced)

 

A friend and I have spent many years building computers and have become tech enthusiasts, we recently created a website to try and help others with our own personal experiences and accomplishments.

We are attempting to made a helpful guide to building your own computer, finding low-cost, high-quality hardware and software.

We would appreciate feedback and suggestions for additional content from the community.

*link removed*

My apologies, our intent was not to advertise but to get suggestions. However, I can see how it's easy to take it as blatant advertising.

 

As nice as that website looks, I think thats against the rules to put a site like that on here. I don't know if I should take this as spam or as someone that made a website and it just advertising it one here just to get the word out about their site.

Edit: I do like the site but I don't think it's appropriate to put here. I could be wrong (I have been before).

 

Just find the forum rules and go to Advertising and Scams. I believe #1 is the rule you are "quoting". LOL.


.....gm

edit: heck here's the link - forum rules