The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

@ikknight

first of all.i would like to say welcome aboard and glad to have you stop by the thread we are all here to help..the God Father of this thread(Russ) started you off with good pointers about the board that your looking at so sit back and listen and learn and do some research on different parts that make a custom built we call it not store bought..lol we all will come at you with different options but at the end it's your choice and your money so good luck on your first build

in your build 1 thing you failed to mention was the cpu...my choice would be for the cpu..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054

i believe cincyrob would agree also with the choice..prove me if..i'm wrong cincy...remember ikknight you will need alot of air flow with such big video cards because they produce alot of heat and heat rises so pick you case prefectly one with alot of fans you can install and good heatsink..fan setup as well out and away fast..personally to me Cooler Master meets that mission in good air flow models 590,690,923,810 those are a few..i like don't get me wrong a few of the antec models do put me in the mind of Cooler master with there fan ports...

best of luck
Will

 

Lol well spotted Will!

 

rick5446,

It's a part of them. The Southbridge chip allows a maximum of 6 Sata ports. That's why some motherboards only have 5 ports inside, because the sixth is used for the E-Sata port on the back of the computer. I kind of like the 8 ports on mine as you can use the two GigaByte ports (Purple) for external drives and you can hot swap them, meaning you use the "Safely Remove Hardware" button in the taskbar to turn them off and remove them while the computer is running. Just plug one in and it initializes, and click the little Green arrow icon in the taskbar to remove them without having to shut down! Same thing as using a Flash Drive!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

To be more straight though, no, the eSATA is a different connector to the internal S-ATA connectors and thus requires a different cable.

 

sammorris,

That depends on the system. The E-Sata on mine that came with the MB uses the same type of cable ends, with a separate plug for power! I highly recommend the Gigabyte ports for the E-sata because of the "Hot Swap" ability. I gather that the ones on the back of some motherboards are Hot Swappable, although I don't know for sure. I've used mine before and used the purple port to connect it, it's just like plugging and unplugging a flash drive! Simple, and it works well! It's still part of the total number of the ports though!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Neither the ones that came with my GB boards do, and I bet they're the same - they plug into normal S-ATAs internally, but have e-SATAs on the outside, which is why they provide you with eSATA to S-ATA adapter!

 

I just looked at the two I have and they are different. That particular one must have been their first attempt at it! I'm going to put both in so I can use it with a bare HDD as well as a proper external. Best of both worlds! LOL!! For a guy like me that works on a lot of computers, it's a blessing to be able to take a bare drive and check it out without having to open my computer case to do it!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I've seen S-ATA to normal S-ATA brackets, but didn't realise Gigabyte used to do it that way, fair enough...

 

It's funny, I never would have noticed if you hadn't said something! The second one I got came with a customer's MB and wasn't used! He dropped it off to me and asked if I wanted it! Now I finally know why every E-Sata plug I've seen was different! LOL!! Mine has two plugs, a standard Sata port and a Molex connector you plug in a Molex! My Mb came in an old P4 Titan box, straight from GigaByte, so it was probably just sitting around and they threw it in the box! I'll take it for the afore mentioned reasons! Best of both worlds! LOL!!

Russ

 

The molexes are still used, and are both a fantastic and bad idea - fantastic because they're useful for powering internal components externally, potentially bad because of how easy they could short your PSU.

 

Thank you for everyone who responded. Yeah stupid me, I had completely forgotten to mention the CPU. Will, Surprisingly that is the exact one I had bookmarked hahah. I am going to go with that new case that you had linked cincyrob.

But, Sam, as far as the Graphics card and motherboard go that you had listed. How does the video card compare to the nvidia geforce 8800 gts or GT. Also is that the best Motherboard for gaming? I want to get a really good motherboard so I do not have to replace it later, or atleast for another two years.

Not only is the computer going to be used for gaming, it's also going to play a major part in video editing using programs such as adobe premiere. Adobe premiere really lagged the hell out of my old computer when using certain codecs and large files. I do not want that to be the case with this one.

 

The only problem I ever encountered with Molex plugs is I've seen them burn up and even turn brown, black and melt. Then again I've seen the same thing with all different types of connectors and even memory sockets. It mainly has to do with the heat generated by high resistance connections. I've used a spray contact cleaner on mine for years, and I've never had that problem on my own personal computers. I also look at the physical plugs themselves, particularly the female plugs as the contacts are very cheap and most have a split in them on one side. I make sure the gap in the split is close enough to give a tight fit to the prongs of the male plug and then I install them. Saves a lot of future "Smoke signals" LOL!! Historically, this has always been a problem with low voltage. Bad connections can and do ruin PSUs and other components! Back in the dark ages, Cold solder joints would cause the same sort of problems!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

true enough Russ it's like a car with a dead battery but with the
e-sata rear connection on the back atlease you don't have to pop hood and give a jump..lol E=emergency S=service A=acess T=to A=assemble..LOL...i found myself popping the hood to much to connection peoples drives to wipe them clean and to tranfer files to another drive..then..i said to myself what's that bracket in that gigabyte box for?...man that was to make the job easier now the sata connection on the bracket plug in's are much thinner plugs but they do have the same groove..some people perfer not to use that bracket,but heck..i love it hook and go and with the power connection
also good setup indeed...

just a suggestion from me link below
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131297
but..i'll don't wanna step on sammy feet..lol take it away sammy

I will stop by Micro Center tommorrow and take a look at for myself...

 

This CASE looks well and easy to vent.Ultra M923 ATX Black Full Tower Case
http://www.compusa.com/applications...?EdpNo=3319620&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

 

ikknight: Better at everything really, not by vast amounts, but certainly should work a lot better in video encoding etc. as that's what ATIs were built for.
Russ: A bit of a scarbear but it's true, I see more abysmally-made molex connectors now than I do proper ones, I usually have to bend the male pins as they're wonky, or worse put them back as they slide clean out of the plastic, pin, wire and all!

rick: That's a completely up-side-down setup, meaning the 120mm is technically a bottom fan in the traditional sense, so you have two 120s in, and only one 120 out, in my experience that doesn't make for good cooling.

 

i just went and looked at that case.. it is AWSOME!!!!!!!!!..i want it badly..its abot 6 inches taller than my RC690 and easy 2 inches wider....the 3 230mm fans are monsters!!!!!!!!!!

this case is built way better than the RC690.... AWSOME is all i can say

 

Yeah, the HAF is a pretty nice looking box...

 

unruly to me

each to their own i suppose

and ikknight for CPU, how much do you have to spend? i would recommend the Q6600 for $200, and for $285 the Q9550

 

BTW CompUSA is now owned by the fine forks that own Tiger Direct. They own 18 stores and the compUSA name!
I can't agree on the case aifrlow of that tower though. I see what they are trying to accomplish, but they are going about it the wrong way. They are trying to get some cool air to specific locations. While this might have worked well in the days of low powered computers, todays machines that have some very high temperature video cards that vent their heat into the case, that create it's own set of problems. Add high CFM fans, and the problems get worse as you have so much airflow coming in the side vents that it interferes with smooth airflow throughout the case. In my opinion if you are going to put static air vents in a computer, they should be mounted low and towards the front of the case and have fixed louvers that allow the airflow to blend with the front to back natural airflow of any case that allows the air from the vent to blend with a case's natural airflow, rather then clash with it at a 90 degree angle. OxiMoron (my Super eMachine) is the coolest running computer I have ever seen and has a single 92mm fan on the rear! The highest temperature I've ever seen for the CPU is 40C, and that was while encoding video in an incredibly warm, 88F/33C room! I've been studying it's airflow characteristics, but I need to build a duplicate side cover out of clear plastic and run some cold smoke tests to be able to see what's going on inside the case. Here's some pics to show what I'm talking about!

left side view
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/6200/8311403603lyf9.jpg

Right side view
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/419/8311403605rjp4.jpg

Rear view
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/5749/8311403607rearwu2.jpg

It also has a large air inlet behind the front cover and a 4"x2.5" vent in the side cover in line with the CPU cooler, and that's all there is! I've concluded that it works so well because of the placement of the 3 rows of vents and the fact that all the vents have 45 degree louvers on them that point upward, keeping the airflow away from the normal 90 degrees of most case vents. Whatever the reason, it's case's cooling abilities are simply amazing!

I'm going to see if I can get a replacement case from eMachines so I can put my computer's components in it and see how well it cools. I'm betting that the results will be amazing!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

hmmm...the Q6600 has a better voltage limited 1.5v ,65nm,Kentsfield ..the E8600 has a better Operating Frequency at stock 3.33Ghz ,45nm,Wolfdale at last but not lease the Q9550 has the best L2 Cache at 12MB,Yorkfield all these at default setting..

link:
Compare

which is the better overclocker?

Let the debates begin..lol
i know where my vote is...lol