Building a PC. I need opionions update

[Mr.Bazerkus]

I've decided I am going to try to build it myself. I watch a very indepth video made by pc world. And I've read a couple of guides. I guess all I want is some feedback, and if anyone notices any of the parts are not compatible tell me. Some of the parts come in a bundle so I will say that when adding them.

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM -135$

ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail -160$

EVGA 896-P3-1171-AR GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported ... - Retail - Comes with free call of duty 5
-200$

OCZ Technology OCZMSEQRD Blue 7 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Laser Gaming Mouse For Desktop - Retail
- 20$

SABRENT CRW-UINB 68-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader w/ USB 2.0 Port supports SDHC/VISTA - Retail 13$
OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Retail


- Comes with a heatspreader what ever that is 105$

LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-Ray DVD Drive SATA Model DH-4O1S-58 - Retail
-77$

Here come the bundles
1st bundle

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

Thermaltake SopranoRS VG7000BWS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
- Comes with a 8gb usb drive - 140$

2nd Bundle
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

BIOSTAR TPOWER X58A LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
- 449$

All in all this system will cost $1,365.89 up front without shipping 40 dollars more with the shipping. But with the stupid mail in rebates I'd pay that off and still save 10$. Oh yeah I plan on overclocking this system so I have some cooling items on my wish list I'm not sure if I'm going to get them or not


ZALMAN VF700-ALCU 2 Ball VGA COOLER - Retail- Not sure if I need this but if it helps with overclocking the graphic card further. I might get it 23$


Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound - OEM- I've heard this can really help 5$

COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail-60$

Edit
About operating system. I'm sure I'm going to get window 7 64bit when it comes out in october, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do until then. I have 3 options I guess
1. Is to use ubuntu and just wait it out
2. Is to borrow xp or vista from some friends online
3. Is to get vista and see if their are any discounts on upgrading to windows

 

[noradseven]

Price check on newegg, but yeah that will easily be able to play those games. I assume you already have a monitor, also I would scrap the 3-1Gb for 2-2Gb or 3-2Gb, because 7 will be able to handle more plus ram is cheap and 3Gb will be limiting in like 1 year for you.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

Yeah that is a good idea.

Yeah I tried to get a motherboard that was as future proof as possible

it has room for up to 24 gb of ram. Which seems ridiculous today, but may it will not be in the future.

 

[Superstar]

By the time you need 24GB of RAM, DDR6 and 4Ghz Octocore will be the standard. In which case you need a new Motherboard anyways.

Not even 4GB of RAM is needed unless you heavily multitask Movie Editing and 3D Modeling.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

Your right I could get one with room for just 8 and save some money.
I don't want to go all the way down to 4 because once 64 bit gains popularity games could easily utilize more then 3gb of ram.

 

[noradseven]

By the time you need 24GB of RAM, DDR6 and 4Ghz Octocore will be the standard. In which case you need a new Motherboard anyways.

Not even 4GB of RAM is needed unless you heavily multitask Movie Editing and 3D Modeling.

More RAM is always better, while it may not improve gaming that much it helps with the speed of loading things, and changing between game and browsers, and just helps the computer run smoother, also I think in the coming years we will see a bit of a push in RAM, because of how cheap and available it is right now.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

Actually technically the I7 does have octocore.
Not really, but when the I7 was released Intel reintroduced their ht software the one that was last seen in the Pentium 4. I guess if utilized it is supposed to help, but not sure how

 

[Superstar]

More RAM is always better, while it may not improve gaming that much it helps with the speed of loading things, and changing between game and browsers, and just helps the computer run smoother, also I think in the coming years we will see a bit of a push in RAM, because of how cheap and available it is right now.

It will only help the computer if it has a bottleneck. If you only need 2GB of RAM, it doesn't matter if you have 4 or 400 GB. There will be a push of RAM, but the motherboard won't be compatibile with the newer generation parts because that's the nature of updating.

I don't recommend getting a motherboard with a maximum of 4GB though, I think one of 8GB is just fine.

 

[Kirby King]

Sure, but it's easy to find a way to use more RAM than you "need". Things like caching applications/files in memory are ways (smart) operating systems can utilize more memory than you'd actively be using.

Memory is pretty cheap too, so I'd probably spring for more. You can use it to run Firefox, for instance.[/zing]

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

I might get 64 windows 7 when it comes out.
Is it good or not I mean 64 bit windows. I've heard that it is not that great.
But I haven't check on how good it is in a long time. Is it better now or what?

 

[Superstar]

Windows 7 is meh, at least now. Everything "works", but I'd recommend updating drivers. Sound especially is bad.

Some compatiblity issues here and there. But whatever.

EDIT: I'm talking about Motherboard Memory Slots. He should spring for at least 4GB, definately.

 

[noradseven]

Windows 7 is meh, at least now. Everything "works", but I'd recommend updating drivers. Sound especially is bad.

Some compatiblity issues here and there. But whatever.

EDIT: I'm talking about Motherboard Memory Slots. He should spring for at least 4GB, definately.

At least its not Pulse audio on linux, hahaha.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

at superstar
quoted from cnet
"A potential complication here is that the new memory controller has three channels to the RAM. That means that unlike most desktop setups, which involve two or four memory sticks, Core i7 systems will want memory sticks in multiples of three. Hence why Intel shipped our test system with only 3GB of RAM (we got creative with a 2x1GB, 1x2GB RAM configuration, for 4GB total for testing), and why in high-end PCs that use the new X58 platform, 3GB, 6GB, and 12GB configurations will be common. X58 will also only support DDR3 RAM, whose prices have thankfully come down over the past year"
This is for the I7 proccessor

 

[Cactuar]

Careful with ibuypower. Extremely mixed reviews, and most of the bad ones are like horror stories.

Check them out on better business bureau and sort by lowest ratings. It's entertaining if nothing else.

 

[Superstar]

K then, spring for maybe 6GB of RAM. XD

Or a 2GB and 2 1GB, or 2 2GBs and a 1GB.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

I found out after adding up everything I want it going to be more expensive then I thought, but I think 1500 is very reasonable

 

[Superstar]

Wait wait:
3 Nvidea 9800 gtx

What? You don't need 3. In fact, going for a higher end card, something in the 2xx series, will get you more performance for less power consumption than 2, or maybe even 3 9800GTX.

9600GT plays Bioshock at the maximum settings, even. A 9800GTX is a large step up that even just having one of those for now is fine. 2 cards doesn't get you "double performance", FYI.

Also, your case has a powersupply, and you're getting a second power supply? Get a case without a power supply, one with awesome cooling like the Antec 900 [or 1200], and don't buy the cooling system. Also, that powersupply [if you remove the excess graphics cards] might be a tad much. Doesn't hurt at all [not even the bills] to have more Watts, but that's maybe putting a dent in your wallet.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

1. Yeah I'll look at some benchmarks, but your right 2 260 or so should benifet me more then 3 9800 gtx. Just because I have 3 slots doesn't mean I should or have to fill them all.

2. Future proof the point. Just because a card can play games today doesn't mean it can play games in the future. I want a card that is powerful enough to play future games and at he very least lower settings.

3. Yeah I buying the computer from ibuypower.com because I don't want to build it myself. But still want the cheap price and custability that comes with building it yourself. and all their cases come with a powersupply built in
4. Not sure if any of their cases have a bulit in cooling system. I did see one with 2 fan looking things, but I thought it was more for looks. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Superstar]

Thing is, so long as you can play Crysis, Graphics wise, you're already future proofed. I don't see games getting that much more graphically intensive anytime soon, at most probably just the CPU and RAM will need to be future proof.

Sometimes, it's best not to be "modern" future proof, but to make it awesome today, and just swap a part out when it starts getting archaic. Saves money too. Just get the absolute best card on the market that's under 300 dollars. It'll work better than 3 9800GTX and be cheaper too. And that's already very future proof. Just remember it's not about the graphical memory. So many people get mixed up with that. XD

And look into the cooling thing, there's money saving potential there.

Also, it's not hard to build a PC. First try took me about 2 hours. And I was reading the manual most of that time.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

I don't think building it is hard. I'm just worried about getting all the parts and stuff. It would be horrible if I got something and the pc wasn't working because one of the parts was incompatible

And actually I've decided I'm most likely going to get it from avadirect. I've heard alot of horrow stories about ibuypower. And i think it would be best to go to a more trust worthy source.

$1266.25 UPDATE $1266.25
# COMPUCASE (HEC), 6C28B Black Mid-Tower Case, No PSU, ATX
# HEC, X-Power 585 Power Supply, 585W, 24-pin ATX12V, Dual 80mm Fans, Retail
# XFX, X58i, LGA1366, Intel® X58, 6400 MT/s QPI, DDR3-1333MHz 12GB /6, PCIe x16 SLI CF /3, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW, ATX, Retail
# INTEL, Core™ i7-920 Quad-Core 2.66GHz, LGA1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 130W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
# COOLER MASTER, Hyper N520 CPU Cooler, Socket 775/1366/754/939/940/AM2, Copper/Aluminum
# KINGSTON, 3GB (3 x 1GB) ValueRAM PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz CL7 (7-7-7) 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
# MICROSTAR, N250GTS-2D512-OC, GeForce® GTS 250 760MHz, 512MB GDDR3 2300MHz, PCIe 2.0 x16 SLI, DVI /2, Retail
# MICROSTAR, N250GTS-2D512-OC, GeForce® GTS 250 760MHz, 512MB GDDR3 2300MHz, PCIe 2.0 x16 SLI, DVI /2, Retail
# SEAGATE, 1TB Barracuda 7200.11, SATA 3 Gb/s NCQ, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache
# RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
# LITE-ON, iHAS324 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner w/ Smart Erase, SATA, Retail
# SABRENT, CRW-UINB Black 65-in-1 Card Reader/Writer Drive, 3.5" Bay, Internal USB
# NONE, No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)
# WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)

No monitor but I can get that cheap on ebay so it should be around the same price

 

[Nihongo-ookami]

Steal someone else's.

 

[Superstar]

You can get a decent monitor for a good price. Mine was about 120 bucks on TigerDirect. Best to get one locally, I remember there that they had like 100 monitors all set up so you can look at them. Get one with a refresh rate of 5 milliseconds or less, and just "looks good". 1000:1 is a good contrast ratio but apparently companies can mess with the number with some stuff.

I'd recommend only getting one of those GFX cards though. It'll run you everything, and in the future you can buy a second card once the price goes down.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

Yeah in that case I could get a better card and just add another one when it is cheaper it could save me a hundred a dollars or so

 

[Amon Amarth]

I am going to build a PC

I am buying it from Ibuypower
the specs are

PSI ArmorX Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply
[= Gaming Edition =] 1000 Watt Extreme Power Supply
Intel® Core™ i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooling Fan System
MSI X58-PRO Intel X58 CrossFire and SLI Supported Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, Triple-Channel DDR3, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Triple PCI-E MB
3 GB [1 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module
3 Nvidea 9800 gtx
1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
[Lightscribe Technology] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Monitor 20-28 on ebay
maintance from ibuypower
1500$

The purpose of this gaming pc is to play games like bioshock and call of duty at the high settings. I haven't gotten a new pc for a long time. So I was just wondering is this a good set up or should I change somethings. My budget is up to 1000 no more.

If you're going to spend money on a triple SLI you may as well get the newer GTX 2XX cards. 9800's are good cards, but a GTX 280 or higher will out perform most 8xxx and 9xxx SLI's.

Also, the i7 is ridiculously priced. You can get the same performance with the newer Phenom Black Editions, and save a lot of money. The only sacrifice though, is there doesn't seem to be any AM2+ or AM3 motherboards with both SLI and DDR3 capabilities in one.

 

[Mr.Bazerkus]

bump

That is all