Christmas Build-Noob

[AceTacic]

I am new at this and i am building a PC at CyberPower PC, now i want to make sure that everything is ok and will work because i dont want it to come to my house defective. I just need help and suggestions, basically if u can tell me anything thats wrong.

CD: Sony 20X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive [+2] (BLACK COLOR)

CAS: CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Mid-Tower Gaming Case [+38] (Original Color)

CS_FAN: Default case fans

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366

FAN: Asetek LCLC 120 Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Extreme
Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) [+20]

HDD: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives [-8] (1TB (500GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+23])

MULTIVIEW: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor

MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA [+126]

MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+24] (Corsair Dominator [+44])

NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

OVERCLOCK: Extreme OC (Extreme Overclock 20% or more) [+49]

OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Power Supplies [+36] (850 Watts CMPSU-850TX -
Quad SLI Ready [+47])

VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [-110] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+408] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

[123456]

Get at least a 1000W PSU, 2x500GB 32mb cache hds instead of 16mb, and maybe bump up your RAM a little.

[saphalline]

If you can drop down to a lesser CPU, you may be able to save a bundle. An i7 950 or 940 is not that much slower (especially if you are paying for an OC). Also, the QPI is still 4.8 for the non-Extremes. At least the 965 Extreme has a 6.4 QPI.

A liquid cooling system will require a fair bit of maintenance, and you will never want to leave it running while you are away at work or whatnot. Air cooling is less glamourous but more reliable. Something to keep in mind.

RAID 0 is fast but has no reliability. If one of your hard drives dies, you lose EVERYTHING! At the very least, I would recommend a tertiary storage hard drive for backups.

Personally, I think 6GB of RAM is fine for now, but I agree that 850W is a bit light for a beast like this. Best to give yourself room to grow. The 6-core CPU's are coming in Q1 2010, after all.

As an alternative, consider the Radeon HD 5870. Good vid card, and you picked a mobo with CFX support, so...

[dothackking]

Don't build on Cyberpower PC, they rip you off, hard. AND (at least when you buy their pre-made pc's) they forget some of the parts often. I saw a really cheap one that was like 200$ cheaper than my build and a bit BETTER, so I said "wtf?" cuz I know that brand to be expensive, I looked at the reviews, people said the company left out their fans, and all sort of things.

[bunnyla]

That's strange... maybe CyberPower has gone down the tubes since I ordered my PC from them but I had nothing but a great experience with them. Then again, this was almost 5 years ago, but I was completely satisfied with the way they built the system, cord tied and fan placement. The price is definitely high compared to building your own, but if you can't or don't know anyone who can it's still a viable option.

[AceTacic]

If you can drop down to a lesser CPU, you may be able to save a bundle. An i7 950 or 940 is not that much slower (especially if you are paying for an OC). Also, the QPI is still 4.8 for the non-Extremes. At least the 965 Extreme has a 6.4 QPI.

A liquid cooling system will require a fair bit of maintenance, and you will never want to leave it running while you are away at work or whatnot. Air cooling is less glamourous but more reliable. Something to keep in mind.

RAID 0 is fast but has no reliability. If one of your hard drives dies, you lose EVERYTHING! At the very least, I would recommend a tertiary storage hard drive for backups.

Personally, I think 6GB of RAM is fine for now, but I agree that 850W is a bit light for a beast like this. Best to give yourself room to grow. The 6-core CPU's are coming in Q1 2010, after all.

As an alternative, consider the Radeon HD 5870. Good vid card, and you picked a mobo with CFX support, so...

Well i changed somethings, i changed the CPU and i took off the liquid cooling, i also changed from the 285s to the ATI 5850s, someone said they were better, however i cant go to 5870 because i dont have those funds unless i downgrade somewhere else. IF ur saying that Cyberpower is bad what do u recommend, i cant build it myself im like brand new to this. heres the new build. Tell me what you think. Thank you for the help.

CD: Sony 20X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive [+2]

CAS: CoolerMaster Storm Sniper Mid-Tower Gaming Case [+98] (Original Color)

CASUPGRADE: 12in (Red Color) Cold Cathode Neon Light [+10]

CS_FAN: Default case fans

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-940 2.93 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366 [+160]

FAN: Ultra ChillTec Thermo Electric CPU Cooler (Venom Boost Extreme OC
Certified) [+100]

HDD: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives [-8] (1TB (500GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+23])

MULTIVIEW: Xtreme Performance in SLI/CrossFireX Gaming Mode Supports Single Monitor

MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) EVGA X58 SLI Classified Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX DDR3 Mainboard w/GbLAN [+2

MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+24] (Corsair Dominator [+44])

OVERCLOCK: Pro OC (Performance Overclock 10% or more) [+19]

OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Power Supplies [+36] (950 Watts CMPSU-950TX - Quad SLI Ready [+56])

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card [DirectX 11 Support] [+122] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

VIDEO2: ATI Radeon HD 5850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card [DirectX 11 Support] [+312] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

[AceTacic]

Also i upgraded the motherboard..dont no if that matters to much ur thoughts on that would be nice. And i upgraded to 950 Watt Crosair. And i made it overclocking by 10 percent because my friend said something that made me wonder when i told him about extreme over clocking he said that they didn't have that when he bought it from cyberpower and when he asked them they said that they cant do it because it would make alot of computers crash so i got a little hesitant and made it only pro overclock.

[saphalline]

Woah, OK, hold on for a second. Do you know what OC'ing does? Do you know that it voids the hardware manufacturers' warranties, can cause system instability in all forms, and in worst-case scenarios can cause system damage? These caveats apply to all levels of OC'ing, not just above 10%. A 0.0001% overclock has the potential to crash your system and void warranties, which also means that a fried component or two would not be covered.

If you do not know about the dangers of OC'ing, I would say that it would be foolish to pay extra money for it! Will CyberPower replace your entire system if it gets damaged by their own OC'ing? And if so (which I would expect if they sell it that way), are you willing to deal with such a circumstance should it occur? An LGA 1366 CPU is as good as it gets right now. The i7 940 is in the top 10 for most powerful CPU's ever created for a PC. Do you honestly need it to go faster?

[123456]

Yeah I agree with saph here... Be happy with what you got, that's like trying to trick out a Rolls Royce...