First Build In a while, Need some advice....

[waparson]

First off I'd like so say Hi to everyone. Been researching on building a new pc for the past couple of months. Last time I built one was about 3 to 4 years ago, and I must say from looking at all the new technology, things have changed quite a bit. So I found this forum in hopes of finding some knowledgeable people to help with the decisions.

I guess first off will be Budget. I'm Looking at about $3,000 to spend. I will be needing keyboard, mouse, and monitor as well. Not to worried about those in the main budget though. So $3,000 into the tower itself.

My uses for the rig are going to be the mainstream games crysis, cod4, etc. along with a lot of multitasking, and room for storage for movies, music, and pics.

Overclocking wont be my main concern. First off I've only done it a few times before. And not too sure how different the methods of going about it are. And with the speeds of technology now, If I don't overclock would I even know what I'm missing?

Ok, now on to what I'm planning....The only thing I'm unsure of is the power supply, case, and mobo. Which I will show the diff products I'm between.

Mobo- I was thinking between the evga790i pwm (dont want to get into the
fuss over pwm or the ultra, just my preference there) or one of the
higher end asus boards (rampage, striker II).

CPU- Intel Q9650 3.0GHZ

PSU- The corsair 1000watt or the Thermaltake 1200watt. (Considering the
corsair because of a few bad reviews on the Thermaltake) Let me know
what you think on each...

Video- Dual GTX-280's, Dont think I'll really ever go tri.

HDD- Two WD 300GB Velociraptor's in RAID-0, Two WD 1TB's in RAID-1.

Keyboard and Mouse- Logitech g15 and g5.

Drives- LG blu-ray burner and LG blu-ray drive/dvd burner.

Case- Now on this I'm really unsure, as there are many choices. And with
the setup I want I was thinking watercooling. And dont know whether
I will need a full or mid tower with the dual sli. I looked at the
thermaltake armor series, the coolermaster cosmos, lian. But just
can't make a decision. So please post up some models and links of pics
with your suggestions if you dont mind.

Cooling- If I watercool what cooling setup would you reccommend. I've
looked at thermaltakes 3bay setup, but worried about the slots I'll
have left if i use that. Suggestions on cooling will be appreciated...

Memory- Corsair 4GB, DDR3 1800. This was the middle grade memory
suggested on corsair's website for the ultra board, figured it would
work equally as well for the pwm. Plan on going to 8GB later.

OS- Vista 64bit

Monitor- The samsung TOC series either the 22" or 24". Only thing here is
deciding on the HD model which has 5ms RT, or the non-HD with the
2ms RT. Is it worth the 3ms to get the HD res.?

Well I think that about sums up the most of it. If I've left off something important please let me know. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated greatly.

Thanks in advance....

Allan

[George Hallam]

welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

that would be a nice rig you biult yourself there, but the new intel CPU's are MOBO are out i7 (socket 1366) and X58 if you have a look here someone with a similar budget budget wanted the same but you have about $1000 more so you could get SLI GTX 280 or even 2 x 4870 X2 in CF

http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=67103

have a look on newegg and see what you like ;) with $3k you can get yourself a nice rig there.

evga790i pwm

They own ;)

Video- Dual GTX-280's, Dont think I'll really ever go tri.

On the new X58 MOBO you also a 25-35% increase on performance with SLI :eek:

Cooling- If I watercool what cooling setup would you reccommend. I've
looked at thermaltakes 3bay setup, but worried about the slots I'll
have left if i use that. Suggestions on cooling will be appreciated...

:D water cooling, that's a whole new kettle of fish, i would deffonatly recommend water cooling your CPU, but it can get very expensive i spent $900 on W/C alone (http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll221/jiggyghallam/?action=view&current=SDC10660smaller.png) :rolleyes: but a good CPU loop can still be low cost > $250

PSU- The corsair 1000watt

i have had two corsair one 620w and the other the 1000w and i can not praise them enough fantastic PSU's

Case... well its all down to personal preference i would recommend a full tower and with towers the more you pay the better quality you get ;)

monitor... i would say 24" but 22" are sill nice, HD gaming at 1920 x 1200 is amazing :D you just need the GPU power ;)

~George

[jlreich]

I definitely agree on going with the Core i7. With a good budget like yours there is absolutely no reason to go with yesterdays technology. ;) With Intel's QPI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_QuickPath_Interconnect)and support for tri-channel DDR3 it is a much better pick over the now older s775 Core chips.

[waparson]

ok, I think you guys have convinced me. I wasnt too thrilled about the price tag on the i7. But after a little more research on it im with you.

So the i7 965 it is, I will probably do without one of the storage drives or one of the gpu's for now.

the motherboard....I looked at the rampage II and there's some reviews about the size or the size of the case needing to be used with it if you ever go tri sli. Any knowledge of this?

As I said before i've been away from all this for a while. Whats the biggest benefit of the tri ddr3?

Thanks for all the input so far...

[George Hallam]

Whats the biggest benefit of the tri ddr3?

its only just been released im not 100% sure on what the benefits of it are (maybe someone else can give him facts) but im guessing it can pass data from 1, 2 and 3 sticks more effective than Dual DDr3. Also its newer so its better ;)

I am 95% sure you can sue Dual DDr3 on the X58 MOBO so if you dont have the budget you can always go back to Dual ;)

So the i7 965 it is, I will probably do without one of the storage drives or one of the gpu's for now.

oooo dont go and get the 965 :eek: save your money and get a 940 or 920 ;) and overclock the rest. You don't want to loose a GTX 280 due to gaining 600Mhz in CPU power :D

[jlreich]

I agree don't get any extreme edition of any Intel CPU. It is entirely a waste of money in my opinion. If I were extremely rich I still wouldn't get it out of principle. ;)

Dual channel is the ability to read and write to two sticks of ram concurrently. Tri channel is likewise but with three sticks.

My only issue with an i7 system is the cost of DDR3 is still pretty high. But you have the budget for it so you should definitely go for the i7. Just stay away from the extreme edition. You will be quite happy with the 940, or even the 920, at stock speeds.

[waparson]

Ok, I'll go with the i7 940.

Still have a decision to make with the motherboard. The asus or the EVGA and why one over the other?

Also any suggestions on getting a watercooling kit or peicing a kit together?

Thanks alot guys.....

[George Hallam]

what asus are you thinking of?

water cooling

well have you got a budget?

i have these parts in mind

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ekwaekres250.html <- res (choose any you like really) that one has to be mounted inside the case really so will require you drilling the case

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swiftechmcp355.html <- Pump MCP355

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/xsladdctop.html <- Pump top better flow rate and works with and G1/4 barb

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/unde3gunpubr.html <- bracket to hold pump (optional but pumps can overheat [unlikely])

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/dfuv2expecpu.html <- CPU block the best block you can get for a CPU loop

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/scsf63cfms12.html <- fans to cool the rad, i chose these as they are ok speed but silent obviously the cooler you want the faster fans you need therefore more noise (i choose performance over sound :D) you need two of these alos you can go with any 120mm fan

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/fetfcxtrash1.html <- get more from your fans *these are optional and not really required

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ty201id3odul1.html <- tubing, tygon tubing "is" the best money can buy, personally i wouldnt have it, i like masterkleer but this site doesn't have it (i use UK sites) but tubing can come in two "main" sizes Thick (1/2" ID - 3/4"OD) and thinner (3/8" ID - 1/2" OD) i like the thicker its more flow and looks nicer, but its all down to personal preference. Also you can get UV tubing look at www.feser-one.com for examples of more colors

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/kwssststtucu.html <- something to cute the tubing with (i use scissors :p)

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/feonef1coflu.html <- aaaa coolant, you can get all different types of coolants all colors and different makes. The best you can get is having distilled water running in your loops and that it. But it can be more exciting adding colors such as dyes or ready mixed.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ekhiflfig14t.html <- Barbs to attach tubing to res, rad, CPU block etc.. you can get compression fitting but they are double the price. You will need 8 of them, the tubing just slips over them and needs to be secured, you can use jubilee clips, clamps anything in fact so long as it created a seal, i used small cable ties as they look neat. But you must check for leaks first ;)

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcqupo2x.html <- Rad, something to cool it all ;) You will need to mount it somewhere...


There are so many things you have to know and so many things to tell about W/C, You ask i will answer :p


Edit : Here is the price of all the above, sidewinders i think is an expensive W/C shop and you could get a few cheaper parts (such as different tubing, different res, non of those fancy things for the fans... etc)

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll221/jiggyghallam/Wcprices.jpg

[waparson]

GH, wow, thanks for that great info and parts listing there. That really helps a lot. Im going to look over that list even more so when i get home from work.

I was thinking bout the rampage II, I noticed theres only about 10 or so boards out right now that accept this processor. So there may not be too many people that have any reviews about it.

Thanks again

[waparson]

One more question, I looked over the 24" TOC series monitors from Samsung. They both Have HD resolution.

Seems the only difference in their HD version is that it comes with a built in digital tuner to act as a standalone tv as well. Also the NON-HD has a 20,000:1 contrast ratio while the HD has 10,000:1 ratio. Would you go with the high ratio and do without the digital tuner part or sacrifice the ratio to have a built in tuner?

[George Hallam]

I was thinking bout the rampage II

hands down that is the best X58 MOBO out there

With the monitor i would go with a "pure" monitor and leave a TV to do TV things :p. But it depends on if you have another TV or if you want to watch TV on your monitor...

The larger the contrast ratio the better, also look at the response time (2 ~ 5ms), the panel type (if listed), The bigger the viewing angle the better ;), also look for inputs the new good monitors should have DVI and HDMI and the brightness (~400 you want) LED back lighting gives a more natural look aswell

[waparson]

Ok, Im getting closer to getting a final parts list together.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001275

Thats the monitor I'm going to go with.

Only thing on the CPU block, maybe I over looked it, but it looks like there isnt one for the 1336. If im wrong please correct me. Looks like there may be an adapter plate on that site.

Thank for the help so far... cant wait to get all this ordered and start building this rig.

[George Hallam]

there is an adapter for 1366 somewhere but not on that site, you probably just be better off with the EK supreme (like me) its just as good ;)

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=199&products_id=22873

http://ekwaterblocks.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21_30&products_id=229

http://ekwaterblocks.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=320&osCsid=c1747051f7c96077f87feb4826924d5e

[waparson]

Ok guys, I know its been a while, but with all the christmas shopping and everything going on I havent had time to post. But I did finally order and build my new system.

i7 940
Corsair tri channel 6gb kit
corsair 1000watt PS
Xasier VI Case
300GB Velociraptor
Asus Rampage II Extreme MOBO
GTX 280
1TB WD Storage HD
Samsung TOC T240

I was originally planning on the dual 280's and dual velociraptors in raid, but with all the money spent on christmas I had to settle for 1 (for now).

Everything went great with the build, except for a few POST problems I had at first, after doing a little more research it seems others have had the same problem. And actually I dont know what I did to fix it, it just started working.
It wouldnt POST and gave a cmos err on the lcd poster, and wouldnt show any video.

But after that was working and installed windows and my other programs I noticed that after a few days when I went to start the system or do a restart it wouldnt POST yet again. This time it would get stuck on the INIT ROM on the lcd poster. Only way I have found to get it to boot is to hit the clear CMOS button on the back, and redo my BIOS settings, this has happened to me about 6 or 8 times now and is very annoying, anyone have any suggestions?

Also one other problem I'm having is the BSOD, it will come up showing a Dxgkrnl.sys error and dumps my memory and restarts. Ive looked up this problem and tried a few things but still does it randomly no matter what Im doing on the pc. Any suggestions on getting this pin pointed down to the hard drive or software or anything?

Of course the whole thing was purchased from Newegg!

Thanks ahead of time for your guys help....

[david eaton]

This time it would get stuck on the INIT ROM on the lcd poster. Only way I have found to get it to boot is to hit the clear CMOS button on the back, and redo my BIOS settings, this has happened to me about 6 or 8 times now and is very annoying, anyone have any suggestions?

Yes, Change the cmos battery! even new boards can have dead batteries.