New computer build

Punisher Bass · October 29th, 2009, 10:03 PM

After almost 4 years, I'm finally building a new computer for myself. My current system (named 5150) is an AMD 64 3700+, XFX 6800GS, and 2 gigs of ram. I built it at the start of 06 and it's served me well since then, but it just can't cut it anymore. It can still play stuff like Bioshock and Fallout 3, but not very well. My goal is to build a rig that will hold down and rape Bioshock 2.

To save money I'll be reusing parts of 5150 to create GSX. This includes...

Case: Antec TX1050B.

Fan controller: Zalman ZM-MCF1 with custom faceplate.

Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000.

Mouse: Microsoft Trackball Optical. Very old mouse, but it's the best I've ever used. I wish Microsoft was still making them so I could buy a new one.

Speakers: Logitech X-350.

Now for the new bits.

CPU: Intel Core i7-920.

Motherboard: EVGA E758-TR.

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600. Exactly the same as the Dominator stuff, only without the fancy heatsinks.

GFX: XFX Radeon HD 5850.

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache.

Power Supply: Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W.

Disc Drive: SAMSUNG Black 22X

Monitor: ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms. This replaces my 17 inch Acer.

OS: OEM system builders copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

Heatsink: Since I plan to overclock, I've been looking at a lot of aftermarket coolers. I haven't made my final choice but I'm thinking it will be a TRUE Extreme 120 revision C.

snoro · October 29th, 2009, 10:11 PM

look very nice, only one thing, good luck getting a xfx 5850, well about every 5850 are hard to buy or maybe its just that when i have the money to buy, they are never in stock.

Punisher Bass · October 29th, 2009, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snoro

look very nice, only one thing, good luck getting a xfx 5850, well about every 5850 are hard to buy or maybe its just that when i have the money to buy, they are never in stock.

Oh believe me, I've noticed. I have one on order from Amazon, while they currently have shipment listed at 2-5 weeks, they're charging $30 less than everyone else and have free shipping. I have yet to order any other parts, so I can wait.

Buba · October 29th, 2009, 10:51 PM

^ why not go for a core i7-860.
Save some money on the mobo, triple channel isn't of much use anyway and the cpu costs the same as a 920... Also you're only getting one GPU... With the money saved, forget the raid, get a SSD as system drive, get a cheap 1 TB unit for data...

Also: How much is the Thermalright?
Usually people are raving about stuff like the Prolimatech megahalem, scythe mugen 2, noctua NH-U12P or Thermolab Baram...

Punisher Bass · October 29th, 2009, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buba

^ why not go for a core i7-860.
Save some money on the mobo, triple channel isn't of much use anyway and the cpu costs the same as a 920... Also you're only getting one GPU... With the money saved, forget the raid, get a SSD as system drive, get a cheap 1 TB unit for data...

Also: How much is the Thermalright?
Usually people are raving about stuff like the Prolimatech megahalem, scythe mugen 2, noctua NH-U12P or Thermolab Baram...

The first system I configured was an 860, and the 920 version I put together was only $70 more, I might do crossfire in the future, I wasn't going to setup a RAID.

CrazyPC has the Thermalright with a fan for $64, and I've looked at all the other coolers you've mentioned. The Prolimatech is $62 but it doesn't include a fan.

CD82 · October 29th, 2009, 11:34 PM

I don't know about the overclocking. I planned to do that with my 955 and it just didn't make any difference, 3.2 or 3.7 ghz was the same 3dmark score and no difference whatsoever in the games. Haven't seen my cpu beyond 50 to 60% load when gaming, and even that is rare, usually it's around 30% and an i7 is even faster than a Phenom II...

Quiky · October 29th, 2009, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CD82

I don't know about the overclocking. I planned to do that with my 955 and it just didn't make any difference, 3.2 or 3.7 ghz was the same 3dmark score and no difference whatsoever in the games. Haven't seen my cpu beyond 50 to 60% load when gaming, and even that is rare, usually it's around 30% and an i7 is even faster than a Phenom II...

Then you are doing something a bit wrong if you notice no change with 500mhz in increased clock speed..

NecroJoe · October 30th, 2009, 3:05 AM

I bought the fan controller, but I've found that since I bought very low db per cf/m fans, that it's quiet enough using the motherboard control the fans...although my case has 4x120mm fans plus a 120 on the coolermaster V8 on the i7 920... I don't even have the fan controller plugged in. Some of the fans are only at 50% anyways, so if I decide to overclock, I can just put the last two fans at 100% and I'm sure I'll be fine...

CD82 · October 30th, 2009, 8:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quiky

Then you are doing something a bit wrong if you notice no change with 500mhz in increased clock speed..

SiSoft Cpu benchmark of course shows an increase but it makes no difference for gaming, so there's no point. Perhaps with an uber-fast graphics card I might notice some change, but for now the whole system is limited by its graphics card, not the cpu (overclocking the gpu by 100 mhz increases 3dmark 06 points by 1000, overclocking the cpu by 500 mhz increases it by 200 points since raw cpu contributes only very little to the overall score).

NooDle · October 30th, 2009, 12:30 PM

all I can say is : they still sell those smallish HDs with 640 GB? All I can find nowadays is 1 Tb and up.

thevictor390 · October 30th, 2009, 4:22 PM

Go to newegg and sort by price.... plenty of 80/160/250/320/500 to choose from.

NooDle · October 30th, 2009, 5:16 PM

80???? What is this, 2003?

thevictor390 · October 30th, 2009, 5:25 PM

My parents' PC is from 2001 and came with a 120

leviathan · October 30th, 2009, 6:28 PM

Why are you having an SLI enabled mainboard and a Radeon card (which would use Crossfire)?

I've recently built a similar setup for my new PC (see in the New Toys thread), but using a Core i7 860 as proposed above. I can see the advantage of the 920 having triple-channel RAM; however, the DDR controller in the 860 supports DDR3-1333, the stock clock rate is higher (2.8 GHz vs. 2.6 on the 920), and then there's the Turbo Mode, which automatically overclocks up to 3.6 GHz or more when cooling is sufficient and performance is required. I compared the two possibilities a lot and decided myself for the 860 - a choice I haven't yet regretted.

Punisher Bass · October 30th, 2009, 7:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leviathan

Why are you having an SLI enabled mainboard and a Radeon card (which would use Crossfire)?

It does SLI and Crossfire. The days of mobos doing only one or the other are long gone.

Quote:

I've recently built a similar setup for my new PC (see in the New Toys thread), but using a Core i7 860 as proposed above. I can see the advantage of the 920 having triple-channel RAM; however, the DDR controller in the 860 supports DDR3-1333, the stock clock rate is higher (2.8 GHz vs. 2.6 on the 920), and then there's the Turbo Mode, which automatically overclocks up to 3.6 GHz or more when cooling is sufficient and performance is required. I compared the two possibilities a lot and decided myself for the 860 - a choice I haven't yet regretted.

The 920 has turbo mode as well, but the new 860 version is a bit more aggressive in how much it will do. The 920 will easily do 3.8 or more without much trouble.

Cold Fussion · October 30th, 2009, 9:16 PM

Can i just say; A gaming computer with a trackball mouse? lunacy!

Punisher Bass · October 30th, 2009, 10:07 PM

As you can see I don't really have the space for a normal mouse, besides I've used this kind of MS mouse for about 9 years now, this is the second one I've owned. I wish MS still produced it, if so I'd buy a bunch of them and just keep them in cold storage.

MadCow809 · October 30th, 2009, 10:18 PM

sounds decent, I would change the hdds though.

sounds like you want to go with a RAID 0 setup, my advise is don't.

Punisher Bass · October 30th, 2009, 10:27 PM

I wasn't going to setup any RAID at all, just have two separate HD's.

snoro · October 30th, 2009, 10:29 PM

seriously, if you have the money, go the i7/x58 instead of the i7/p55. with the x58, you wont have alot of trouble getting usb 3.0 sata III which is sata 6gb/s, PCIe x16 3.0 is not needed before maybe 2 or 3 year so we dont give a damm about that for the moment. Also, ssd idea that buba gave is a good one if you can afford it.

Damm it, i am now a geek who know way too much stuff about computer than i need

October 29th, 2009, 10:03 PM	#1
Punisher Bass He who drives a Buick Joined: Feb 25th, 2007 Last Online: 3:21 PM Location: St Louis, MO Age: 25 Posts: 1,676 Car: 98 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Rep Power: 64	New computer build After almost 4 years, I'm finally building a new computer for myself. My current system (named 5150) is an AMD 64 3700+, XFX 6800GS, and 2 gigs of ram. I built it at the start of 06 and it's served me well since then, but it just can't cut it anymore. It can still play stuff like Bioshock and Fallout 3, but not very well. My goal is to build a rig that will hold down and rape Bioshock 2. To save money I'll be reusing parts of 5150 to create GSX. This includes... Case: Antec TX1050B. Fan controller: Zalman ZM-MCF1 with custom faceplate. Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000. Mouse: Microsoft Trackball Optical. Very old mouse, but it's the best I've ever used. I wish Microsoft was still making them so I could buy a new one. Speakers: Logitech X-350. Now for the new bits. CPU: Intel Core i7-920. Motherboard: EVGA E758-TR. RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600. Exactly the same as the Dominator stuff, only without the fancy heatsinks. GFX: XFX Radeon HD 5850. Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache. Power Supply: Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W. Disc Drive: SAMSUNG Black 22X Monitor: ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms. This replaces my 17 inch Acer. OS: OEM system builders copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. Heatsink: Since I plan to overclock, I've been looking at a lot of aftermarket coolers. I haven't made my final choice but I'm thinking it will be a TRUE Extreme 120 revision C. __________________ The Mighty Buick Of Destruction

October 29th, 2009, 10:11 PM	#2
snoro Joined: Jun 28th, 2009 Last Online: 2:54 PM Location: Québec,Québec,Canada Posts: 225 Car: mazda 3 2008(dad's car)/2009 intense bmx Rep Power: 8	look very nice, only one thing, good luck getting a xfx 5850, well about every 5850 are hard to buy or maybe its just that when i have the money to buy, they are never in stock. __________________ Founder of the Muse Fan group of Final Gear '' Every time ferrai formula one team is going badly, their road car are brillant'' Jeremy clarckson Why does McLAREN always have to copy what Ferrari is doing ?? finally i know alot use it but anyway «Like smearing honey into Keira Knightley» Jeremy Clarckson

October 29th, 2009, 10:51 PM	#4
Buba Wants Rick Astley's Babies Joined: Nov 12th, 2004 Last Online: 5:53 PM Location: Regensburg, Bavaria Age: 28 Posts: 6,383 Car: Golf V GTi DSG LFS Status: Rep Power: 51	^ why not go for a core i7-860. Save some money on the mobo, triple channel isn't of much use anyway and the cpu costs the same as a 920... Also you're only getting one GPU... With the money saved, forget the raid, get a SSD as system drive, get a cheap 1 TB unit for data... Also: How much is the Thermalright? Usually people are raving about stuff like the Prolimatech megahalem, scythe mugen 2, noctua NH-U12P or Thermolab Baram... __________________ [18:11] MXM: it means buba is better than you now [18:12] sam-l: In what way? [18:12] Slycer: longer penis Last edited by Buba; October 29th, 2009 at 10:52 PM.

October 29th, 2009, 11:34 PM	#6
CD82 Joined: May 3rd, 2007 Last Online: 11:25 AM Age: 27 Posts: 279 Car: Peugeot 206 Rep Power: 32	I don't know about the overclocking. I planned to do that with my 955 and it just didn't make any difference, 3.2 or 3.7 ghz was the same 3dmark score and no difference whatsoever in the games. Haven't seen my cpu beyond 50 to 60% load when gaming, and even that is rare, usually it's around 30% and an i7 is even faster than a Phenom II... __________________

October 30th, 2009, 3:05 AM	#8
NecroJoe Joined: Apr 12th, 2005 Last Online: 7:13 AM Location: San Francisco area, CA, USA Age: 30 Posts: 4,887 Car: 2001 Mercury Cougar V6 Rep Power: 226	I bought the fan controller, but I've found that since I bought very low db per cf/m fans, that it's quiet enough using the motherboard control the fans...although my case has 4x120mm fans plus a 120 on the coolermaster V8 on the i7 920... I don't even have the fan controller plugged in. Some of the fans are only at 50% anyways, so if I decide to overclock, I can just put the last two fans at 100% and I'm sure I'll be fine... __________________ There is no such thing as a stupid question.* *but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.

October 30th, 2009, 4:22 PM	#11
thevictor390 Joined: Mar 9th, 2007 Last Online: 3:57 PM Location: Massachusetts Age: 19 Posts: 1,999 Car: 2006 RX-8 Rep Power: 65	Go to newegg and sort by price.... plenty of 80/160/250/320/500 to choose from.

October 30th, 2009, 5:25 PM	#13
thevictor390 Joined: Mar 9th, 2007 Last Online: 3:57 PM Location: Massachusetts Age: 19 Posts: 1,999 Car: 2006 RX-8 Rep Power: 65	My parents' PC is from 2001 and came with a 120

October 30th, 2009, 6:28 PM	#14
leviathan Joined: Oct 7th, 2007 Last Online: 2:38 AM Location: Darmstadt, Germany Age: 20 Posts: 258 Car: '01 Audi A6 2.4 Rep Power: 20	Why are you having an SLI enabled mainboard and a Radeon card (which would use Crossfire)? I've recently built a similar setup for my new PC (see in the New Toys thread), but using a Core i7 860 as proposed above. I can see the advantage of the 920 having triple-channel RAM; however, the DDR controller in the 860 supports DDR3-1333, the stock clock rate is higher (2.8 GHz vs. 2.6 on the 920), and then there's the Turbo Mode, which automatically overclocks up to 3.6 GHz or more when cooling is sufficient and performance is required. I compared the two possibilities a lot and decided myself for the 860 - a choice I haven't yet regretted. __________________

October 30th, 2009, 9:16 PM	#16
Cold Fussion Joined: Dec 19th, 2007 Last Online: 1:43 PM Location: A small island off the coast of New Zealand Age: 17 Posts: 833 Car: 1988 Ford Laser Ghia Rep Power: 19	Can i just say; A gaming computer with a trackball mouse? lunacy!

October 30th, 2009, 10:07 PM	#17
Punisher Bass He who drives a Buick Joined: Feb 25th, 2007 Last Online: 3:21 PM Location: St Louis, MO Age: 25 Posts: 1,676 Car: 98 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Rep Power: 64	As you can see I don't really have the space for a normal mouse, besides I've used this kind of MS mouse for about 9 years now, this is the second one I've owned. I wish MS still produced it, if so I'd buy a bunch of them and just keep them in cold storage. __________________ The Mighty Buick Of Destruction Last edited by Punisher Bass; October 30th, 2009 at 10:08 PM.

October 30th, 2009, 10:18 PM	#18
MadCow809 Joined: Feb 23rd, 2006 Last Online: 7:43 AM Location: Durban, South Africa & Los Angeles, CA Age: 24 Posts: 5,048 Car: 2007 E87 BMW 130i & 2008 VW MKV GTI 2.0T DSG LFS Status: Rep Power: 71	sounds decent, I would change the hdds though. sounds like you want to go with a RAID 0 setup, my advise is don't. __________________ Supporting : Kimi Räikkönen \| Jenson Button \| Robert Kubica \| Sebastian Vettel \| Petter Solberg \| Mikko Hirvonen \| Andy Priaulx \| Jason Plato \| Mat Jackson Nokia N95 8Gb Nokia N97 32Gb RM-505 Unlocked v11.0.21 -> v12.0.024 -> v20.0.019 09 VW MKV Golf GTI 2.0T DSG \| APR Stage 1 \| LHD 08 Honda Civic Coupé \| LHD 06 BMW 130i \| RHD ~~05 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS \| RHD~~ 05 Ford Bantam 1.3i \| RHD ~~95 Mercedes Benz E320 Sportline \| RHD~~

October 30th, 2009, 10:27 PM	#19
Punisher Bass He who drives a Buick Joined: Feb 25th, 2007 Last Online: 3:21 PM Location: St Louis, MO Age: 25 Posts: 1,676 Car: 98 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Rep Power: 64	I wasn't going to setup any RAID at all, just have two separate HD's. __________________ The Mighty Buick Of Destruction

October 30th, 2009, 10:29 PM	#20
snoro Joined: Jun 28th, 2009 Last Online: 2:54 PM Location: Québec,Québec,Canada Posts: 225 Car: mazda 3 2008(dad's car)/2009 intense bmx Rep Power: 8	seriously, if you have the money, go the i7/x58 instead of the i7/p55. with the x58, you wont have alot of trouble getting usb 3.0 sata III which is sata 6gb/s, PCIe x16 3.0 is not needed before maybe 2 or 3 year so we dont give a damm about that for the moment. Also, ssd idea that buba gave is a good one if you can afford it. Damm it, i am now a geek who know way too much stuff about computer than i need __________________ Founder of the Muse Fan group of Final Gear '' Every time ferrai formula one team is going badly, their road car are brillant'' Jeremy clarckson Why does McLAREN always have to copy what Ferrari is doing ?? finally i know alot use it but anyway «Like smearing honey into Keira Knightley» Jeremy Clarckson

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