Can Someone help me build a computer?

[Merc1138]

DO NOT install ANY OEM OS if you can avoid it. Retail or VL only. OEM will make it a ***** to fix if your mobo dies and it has to be replaced... I learned that with XP pro OEM on a machine...

As for 800W PSU, well, hmmm. Yeah I dunno about that. That is a bit overkill. I think you can cut costs a bit by dropping that down to about a 600w DECENT brand for around $110-$150. As for RAM, No need to go past 4GB since MOST computers only use about 3 GB max anyways. Now if you are gonna make a RAM disk out of the extra 8-12GB then go for it, that would be GREAT then but otherwise I think if you read decent webpages out there that are not edited and created by 24yr old young dumb and full of cum morons that think bigger and more is always better, then you will find that most folks never really use more than 3GB of RAM. I only have 4 GB + graphics in my game system and I rarely see more than 2 being used. Funny though how I have at least 768MB of DDR3 on my graphics card and Quake 4 at ULTRA res (must have a card with 500MB of ram!) had some missing textures...


Anyways, that is my 2 centavos worth... Did I make the blue list yet?

Umm... what does an OEM version of windows have to do with a motherboard failuire? I've never seen it be an issue, unless you mean an OEM version like one for Dell or something. The generic OEM windows license is identical to the retail.

[yellowsulphur]

THIS is very interesting. I HAD not thought of that before. How do you eject the drives, what is the 2.5" drive holder called? Is it some sort of Hot-swappable 2.5" drive bay?

This is nice. I would prefer to keep my existing OS intact though and add a dual boot with Windows 7. Anyone know if it plays nice with XP yet?

Rather then waste a full SSD on a c: I think it would be cool to get a single 100MB ssd and partition it into 2 drives, then place my existing OS on one and then install Win 7 on the other one. That could be nice for gaming. Finally I can see what Crysis and Farcry 2 will look like along with Skyrim... :\

Good info here.

The first unit is an Icy Dock MB971SP-B. It accepts both 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inch drives and operates with a SATA 3 throughput. Kinda reminds me of the eight track my dad had in his El Camino back in the day, lol. I think cost was $39.

The second unit is a Kingwin KF-1000-BK which only takes a 3 1/2 inch drive and operates with a SATA 2 throughput. Cost was $17.95.

http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-KF-1000-BK-Single-Internal-SATA/dp/B00126U0VA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345624585&sr=8-1&keywords=kingwin+kf-1000-bk

I found this setup to work really well for making backup images of hard drives.

Here is a demo of the ICY Dock by some guy on Youtube:

[the86d]

DO NOT install ANY OEM OS if you can avoid it. Retail or VL only. OEM will make it a ***** to fix if your mobo dies and it has to be replaced... I learned that with XP pro OEM on a machine...

Non-issue.

I've rarely had a problem with over 100 replaced boards. You MAY need to call to activate, but this is not as bad as it once was.

[Mr.Caketown]

ok im a bit confused on this stuff. I know I have to pair a CPU to a MOBO and thats not what im quite sure of and how to select that stuff. Someone told me to try a AMD Bulldozer Fx8150 with a Sabertooth 990fx because something about running 16pic together instead of 8 seperately as well as supporting USB 3.0 So im considering going that route since I dont know better. I found a Corsair 850 & 700 power supplies for around $100 or so.

I guess now im trying to figure out how to pair my Mobo to CPU and how do i determine the RAM from there? i see there are different numbers like diff megahertz , PCI and Pins

This is what I am currently looking to due with a diff dif hard drive selection and my own copy of windows 7

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/step--step_guide_how_build_gaming_pc_amds_bulldozer_cpu

^what do u guys think of this

[Mr.Caketown]

whats ur take on the bulldozer vs the intel i7 2600?

[blazeaglory]

whats ur take on the bulldozer vs the intel i7 2600?

It depends on what your going to use it for. Youll always get the AMD guys and the intel guys. Personally I am an intel guy. They say intel for engineering stuff and high load programs and AMD for gaming and graphics. Personally I like intel. The i5 2500 will work just as well as any i7. New intels are LGA 1155 AND z68-z77 chipset with a 22mm CPU. Basically most of your motherboards will work with what you get because they are so up to date on technology. I use an older (by old I mean about less than a year) Z68 MOBO with an i3 and it is good for what I need (I think it is super fast) BUT I am limited to 16 MB of RAM (currently running 8MB). Dont get too over whelmed with details. Start with your processor and then find a MOBO to match and the rest is history.

If you can find a micro center they will walk you through all of your purchases. Start with what processor you want and then select a mobo. Remember, more expensive is not always better. Sometimes you will just be wasting the potential of your system because most programs dont need a super duper fast computer to run. If your a gamer worry about RAM, Motherboard and video card.

[Horton Fenty]

Start with what processor you want and then select a mobo.

I kind of go the other way around, not saying your way is wrong or anything. I'm also one of those AMD guys like you mentioned. Been a couple years since I put together a pc, which is forever in pc terms I know, but here's my two cents.

Pick what mobo you want by the cpu's it supports, the chipset you want and the features you want. Then pick your cpu, your memory, and your video card. Don't skimp on power supply or case, a killer case like a Lian-Li will last the rest of your lifetime. In my opinion liquid cooling is not something you should be looking at. A fancy fan controller is also not really something you need with today's mobo's.

Link's.

http://www.anandtech.com/

http://www.hardocp.com/

http://www.frostytech.com/

http://www.guru3d.com/

http://www.tomshardware.com/

http://www.rage3d.com/

http://www.overclock.net/

http://www.overclockersclub.com/

http://www.xigmatek.com/

http://www.lian-li.com

[Mr.Caketown]

ok so here are my thoughts so far

MOBO : ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe Intel 7 Series Motherboard

CPU : Intel i7 3700k

Case : Aero Syclone II or Corsair CC600 Mid tower

Power : OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance

Ram : 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum or Vengeance

Cooling : Corsair H100 or H80 , but leaning towards the H100 so i can top mount it with two 120 fans that pull air out of the top of the case throw the rad

Hard drive : Not sure , just want 1 TB dont really care about boot times

GPU : Still unsure but I would like something with 2 HDMI ports or 2 DVIs and an HDMI , something that can do both gaming if needed and photoshop. Kicking around the idea of a Radeon XFX HD 6970 2 GB Graphics Card , Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2 GB DDR5 , or GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 Ti

What do u guys think so far?

[blazeaglory]

I kind of go the other way around, not saying your way is wrong or anything. I'm also one of those AMD guys like you mentioned. Been a couple years since I put together a pc, which is forever in pc terms I know, but here's my two cents.

Pick what mobo you want by the cpu's it supports, the chipset you want and the features you want. Then pick your cpu, your memory, and your video card. Don't skimp on power supply or case, a killer case like a Lian-Li will last the rest of your lifetime. In my opinion liquid cooling is not something you should be looking at. A fancy fan controller is also not really something you need with today's mobo's.

No Im the same way. Start with the MOBO and go from there. But the OP didnt know what processor to get and for the people who dont know how to build, I think all the info on the MOBO box will scare them...lol I mean, I know what Im doing but have not built a comp in 10 years. I went to build one a couple months ago and was looking at all the different MOBO's with new technology and I got dizzy..lol

[blazeaglory]

ok so here are my thoughts so far

MOBO : ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe Intel 7 Series Motherboard

CPU : Intel i7 3700k

Case : Aero Syclone II or Corsair CC600 Mid tower

Power : OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance

Ram : 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum or Vengeance

Cooling : Corsair H100 or H80 , but leaning towards the H100 so i can top mount it with two 120 fans that pull air out of the top of the case throw the rad

Hard drive : Not sure , just want 1 TB dont really care about boot times

GPU : Still unsure but I would like something with 2 HDMI ports or 2 DVIs and an HDMI , something that can do both gaming if needed and photoshop. Kicking around the idea of a Radeon XFX HD 6970 2 GB Graphics Card , Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2 GB DDR5 , or GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 Ti

What do u guys think so far?

My opinion is the i7 is overkill. The i5 2500 does the same thing as the i7. Compare the two and you will see that there is not much difference. Either way, if you got the cash, Its your money...heheh. Compare the two and read customer reviews and you will see that many people return the i7 for the i5 2500. Good set up though

I like your MOBO, lots of good things are said about ASUS. I have the same thing but mine is Z68. I mean, the difference is so minor only a real pro can tell the difference. The only thing that changes really is your benchmark score and bragging rights.

People have told me that ASUS runs ATI video cards alot better, especially if you are using the Virtu Lucid technology and GPU boost. That MOBO has ALOT of nice little options. Youll be reading about them for a loooong time...lol Become very familiar with your MOBO user guide.

[RichWT]

My opinion is the i7 is overkill. The i5 2500 does the same thing as the i7. Compare the two and you will see that there is not much difference. Either way, if you got the cash, Its your money...heheh. Compare the two and read customer reviews and you will see that many people return the i7 for the i5 2500. Good set up though

I like your MOBO, lots of good things are said about ASUS. I have the same thing but mine is Z68. I mean, the difference is so minor only a real pro can tell the difference. The only thing that changes really is your benchmark score and bragging rights.

People have told me that ASUS runs ATI video cards alot better, especially if you are using the Virtu Lucid technology and GPU boost. That MOBO has ALOT of nice little options. Youll be reading about them for a loooong time...lol Become very familiar with your MOBO user guide.

+1. I just built up an i5 2500k on an asrock mobo. Over clocked to 4.3ghz easy with an h100. Also +1 on micro center. They have the 2500 for 150 dollars with 50 bucks off any mobo u pick up with it, some steals on ssd's as well

[blazeaglory]

+1. I just built up an i5 2500k on an asrock mobo. Over clocked to 4.3ghz easy with an h100. Also +1 on micro center. They have the 2500 for 150 dollars with 50 bucks off any mobo u pick up with it, some steals on ssd's as well

Yeah. I did alot of research before I bought my components and I wanted an i7 but after all the reviews I found that the i5 2500 is the best bet and bang for the buck even if you have tons of cash. I settled for the i3 for now because all I do is surf the net and watch movies/listen to music. The OP is on the right path though but I think for the price the i5 is the best. With the bargain you mentioned, the OP can score an awesome combo for under $400 or less. Save the difference and get some cool speakers or something.

Also that z77 mobo has a cool feature for SSD's and regular hard drives. The mobo actually functions as a SSD drive for up to 14GB cache (I think) and if you have BOTH SSD and reg HD, it has a feature that syncs them to work better together or something.

OP what are you going to use your comp for anyways?

I scored this for $70 from Micro Center with a $15 mail in rebate (total $55)

http://www.outletpc.com/ta9945.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=20206522684&utm_content=pla&gclid=CMHUhezu-7ECFYaDQgodTxcA3A

They had the mobo the OP is referring to on clearance for $199

[bigbearbear]

My opinion is the i7 is overkill. The i5 2500 does the same thing as the i7. Compare the two and you will see that there is not much difference. Either way, if you got the cash, Its your money...heheh. Compare the two and read customer reviews and you will see that many people return the i7 for the i5 2500. Good set up though

The OP mentioned using Photoshop, I think the Hyper-threading support is worth paying for. It is one of the few available software capable of taking advantage of multi-threading, assuming he's going to use the latest version of Photoshop that is.

[blazeaglory]

The OP mentioned using Photoshop, I think the Hyper-threading support is worth paying for. It is one of the few available software capable of taking advantage of multi-threading, assuming he's going to use the latest version of Photoshop that is.

I really wish intel would use hyper threading on all their processors. Its to good of a technology not to.

Thats funny because my i3 2100 has hyper-threading, only 2 cores though but those 2 cores run very smooth due to the hyper threading, it basically doubles the work of each core(not doubling the core numbers) and for $89 I couldnt beat it...lol Im sayin these Pentiums are pretty fast...

In that case the i5 2510 uses hyper threading. If the OP isnt worried about cash then I wouldnt worry about it then. Just get the i7

[five.five-six]

Honestly, velociraptors are overpriced considering their limited storage capacity. SSDs are finally under $1/GB. You can pick up a 128GB SSD to install the OS for around $100, then toss any 2TB disk in there for bulk storage if you need it. You'll have better response times for the OS and applications that velociraptors in RAID 0 and more storage than velociraptors will provide.

^THAT

Storage is a huge bottleneck. rapter drives are expensive and run hot, and I have heard mixed reviews on their MTBF. I would rather have a SCSI 15k drive than a rapter, SSD +2tb whatever dive is a cost effective alternative and faster, much faster than a rapter.

For some added speed, and a 2nd 32-64 GB SSD as a dedicated swapdrive for caching

Also, If you don't already have a small UPS, budget one it. they are the best surge protector you can get to protect your investment.