Help me build a new computer!

[h-man]

So I'm a computer engineering major with a dell inspiron i bought in 2001. While i still use it a ton (i'm on it right now) and it runs better than a lot of computers from then, i'm too much of a techie and it doesn't cut it for me anymore.

i'm looking at a core i7 920 and shit like that because i can. i definitely want to go with the x58 chipset because it's probably good for a few years. memory isn't an issue either, there's few solid options and i'll pick one.

i'm not going to game a shitload or intensively, but there's always the chance i get bored over the holidays or something and buy a game to fuck around with. i don't really care about SLI or crossfire, but i want to be able to watch shit in HD on my computer. i do some design work to make money on the side.

Reccomend me parts, mainly:

which mobo? i can't choose for the life of me right now. i'm leaning towards a gigabyte board, but an evga board sounds tempting.

HDD? i'm looking at just a western digital caviar green drive, 1tb or so, maybe get two of them and put them in a raid 0 because i can. plus it's green!

case? i was looking at just an nzxt tempest because it comes with 6 fans and is only 100 bucks. open to suggestions

graphics? a 1gb ati or nvidia card or something close to that.

sound i don't really give a fuck about for the time being, on board audio is fine with me.


basically.... i just want suggestions / input. i don't care about visual looks of shit. i just want a tight computer, basically as low cost and efficient as i can get using the x58. preferably keep the package under 2 G's.



fake edit: OS-wise, can i just boot up windows 7 and play with it until it's actually released, or should i spend money on vista ultimate (i heard something about free upgrades to 7 being offered when it comes out?)


fake edit 2: cooling solutions. those too. i will overclock one day (i'm getting a 920 for a reason lol), but i don't mind something that runs cool in the mean time.

[Midwestern Stylings]

If you're college isn't crappy I bet you can get Vista for free through your major.

Case wise the Antec P180 or P182 is sweet.

[Mr. Machine]

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/computer-systems/gaming-pc/500/

I Stumbled this yesterday.

[deviantfan23]

def go with that i7 920, i overclocked mine to 3.4 ghz, its running stable and fast as fuck, also id recommend the asus rampage II extreme motherboard,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4303010&Sku=A455-2856

i fucken love this motherboard, comes with SupremeFX X-FI sound card, lots of room to expand and add shit later on if u want.

Also, DDR3 ram is required for these mobos, so take that into account, u can get 6 GB of DDR3 OCZ ram for 90 bucks.

EDIT: forgot to mention, i built my buddys new system last week, and we used this case:
http://images.tigerdirect.com/itemDetails/I131-1003/I131-1003-out02-jl.jpg
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4435062&Sku=I131-1003

its got fans up the ass, and a motorized front!, u can get it for 100 bucks @mwave.com

[Midwestern Stylings]

^That case looks stupid as hell lol.

[dafoo21]

First thing i thought of was Transformers when i saw that case.

[h-man]

hahahaha if i bought that case i'd probably laugh my ass off every time i turned on my computer. i've already got the ram down, and i'm definitely getting 6gb of something because soon enough the 4gb sticks will come out and instead of tossing out 6 sticks i'll just toss out 3 and upgrade to 24 fat, fat, fat gbs of ram.

that mobo is sexy

[deviantfan23]

First thing i thought of was Transformers when i saw that case.

haha thats the reason my buddy picked it, cause he likes that movie alot.

[Streaker]

I'm building a custom gaming pc this summer because my old laptop (which played WoW flawlessly) broke. Dell sent me a newer $3,000 laptop, with way better components, for free and it doesn't run WoW well at all. At medium settings I get 10-20 fps. I've been researching a lot and I don't know if I should get the ATI 4850/4870 or if I should get the Nvidia 280. I want to be able to play WoW on MAX settings and get 60-80 FPS at all times like I used to. I'm concerned because I've heard people with both of these cards and excellent systems getting 20-40 fps (Blizzard fucked a bunch of shit up with WOTLK). My budget is $700 and I need a monitor, speaker, and keyboard too.

Any advice?

[Midwestern Stylings]

hahahaha if i bought that case i'd probably laugh my ass off every time i turned on my computer. i've already got the ram down, and i'm definitely getting 6gb of something because soon enough the 4gb sticks will come out and instead of tossing out 6 sticks i'll just toss out 3 and upgrade to 24 fat, fat, fat gbs of ram.

that mobo is sexy

http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/1/175//ANTECP180.jpg

[deviantfan23]

http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/1/175//ANTECP180.jpg

sexy,

in related news im buying this case when i get my check...

Antec Skeleton (i have microatx).
http://www.antec.com/images/400/Skeleton_front_400.jpg
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzA0

[Midwestern Stylings]

To be honest, I think that looks fugly lol.

[deviantfan23]

To be honest, I think that looks fugly lol.

yeah some people ive showed it to have said the same thing, to each his own i guess =/, the only thing im worried about is if something fucks up my pc, cause the case is completely open, i might go with another antec.

[h-man]

totally got vista x64 for 10 bucks. my school has a software store and theres a giant list of cheap shit. word to that.

[deviantfan23]

totally got vista x64 for 10 bucks. my school has a software store and theres a giant list of cheap shit. word to that.

dude, if i paypal u 10 bucks can u get me one? kinda tired of being on this pirated one :X

[Eamonn]

Lian Li cases are probaly the nicest ones out on the market, besides the P182. Most PC cases (with all the blue led shit) look awful.

Yeah I'm aware cases serve more functions than aesthetics.

[h-man]

i bought the thermaltake element S case and a toughpower 750w psu today. i decided i needed to start eventually or it would never happen.

[deviantfan23]

i bought the thermaltake element S case and a toughpower 750w psu today. i decided i needed to start eventually or it would never happen.

I just ordered the last stuff for my pc, got a ElementS case for 99 bucks, and a OCZ powersupply.

[h-man]

bought the 920, 6gb of ocz ram, a gigabyte board, the thermaltake v1 heatsink.

probably getting one of the new ati 4770 cards on the count of they're only 100 bucks, i only have one monitor running at 1680x1050, and if i wanted to upgrade i could easily crossfire for probably less than that because of future prices.

for hdd's probably a velociraptor 300gb for the OS and programs and a 1tb caviar green for storage cause i gotta respect the environment/am trying to be as power concious as can be with a core i7 (+1 for the 4770 again)

[oldbrian]

Woo. Just got all the parts to build a computer. The shitty one I bought then rebuilt 5 years ago finally died. I went mostly cheap.

Case:
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuimages/large/A406-1054-main.jpg
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 700W
Processor: Phenom X4 9850
ASUS board
8 GB Crucial Ballistix RAM (4x 2gb)
2x Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 512 mb (Crossfire)
WD 80 gig for OS

Salvaging my DVDRW, DVD Rom, wireless card, two hard drives from my old computer.

EDIT: Don't listen to the ad on this page. My old computer was from iBuyPower and I had to send it back a couple times and finally rebuild most of it. That place blows.

[h-man]

posting from my new computer! i don't think i put the heat sink on good enough, it's cool to the touch, but oh well my cpu is still only around 32-34 C.

[dafoo21]

I think thats a pretty good temp actually... I thought i read somewhere that getting in the 60-70 temp is where u need to worry right?

[oldbrian]

Hell yeah. My computer is finally up and running. It's awesome building it and finally being able to use it. For some reason, installing an OS was almost impossible.

[hph6203]

Ok, so I'm thinking about building a new desktop. I'm not building it for use as a PC, but rather as a PC I hook up to my PC. I'm also trying to do it as cheap as possible, because I don't foresee wanting to play any major video games in the near future and if I ever do I'll just build a legit gaming PC (unlikely).

Anyway, is AMD or Intel cheaper? I cannot remember, as it's been forever since I've ever looked into building a PC, but I thought AMD was, but perhaps Intel is? I know Intel has a better reputation, but as I said I'm not at all worried about how well the hardware runs, just that it's capable of sitting in my living room hooked up to my TV. I actually have a PC built that I'm willing to use for this, but I'm not sure how much/if any I can use (I assume I can use a lot if I can find a graphics card/sound card that will work with it).


Here's what I have:
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128226

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144305

Graphics:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102344

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103483

Tower (as if it really matters other than the 400W power supply)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147001


I want to upgrade, and this is what I'm thinking:
graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102818
hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072
motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131329
sound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829126005


Any suggestions on what I should change? I'm not very computer hardware smart.

I also don't know what kind of card I need to get this desktop set up wireless. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

I'm thinking this is what I need in terms of a wireless adapter?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124115

[deviantfan23]

is the sound card really necessary? considering the motherboard u want already has onboard sound..

[hph6203]

I need the optical plug, that's really the only reason I'm getting it.

Other than that, does it look alright?

[deviantfan23]

ahh ic, i have an optical plug connected my home theatre too.

[hph6203]

Does anyone know anything about capture cards?

That's really the last thing I need for my TVPC so that I can record shows/games off my cable box.

[ryan]

if you're trying save money, why not just get a wireless USB adapter