Thread: Building New Rig

Currently in the process of mapping out all the hardware I will need. I haven't kept up with the hardware aspect in many many years and I am novice when this area as well. My new computer will be used for gaming, that is my main focus when building this computer. I will also be doing some Graphic and Video editing. I would like for the overall pricing to be some what mid budget but I still want a powerful PC.

Also, due to my lack of knowledge on new hardware.. I am unsure of the direction I should take. But here is what I am currently thinking.

MOBO
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

CASE
Newegg.com - Xigmatek MIDGARD-W Black 0.7mm SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

STORAGE
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive



I figured I would spend most of my budget on the mobo/cpu so I wont have to upgrade these as much in the future. 1TB is enough for me at the moment as I can upgrade later when needed. Also does that mobo fit the case?

As for my GPU I am blind on what I should do. I currently have a 25.5" monitor, but I can easily run games at lower resolution if need be. But would prefer otherwise.

RAM: I was thinking 4-6?

PS / Cooling: ???


Thanks for any input and suggestions.

It would be helpful to know your budget on this project. From what you have chosen thus far I say it's all good expect I am not a fan of xigmatek cases. Well for that matter I am not a fan of a lot of mid towers.

However this is your built but depending on your budget I would be more incline to pick either

Antec 600 $79.95
Newegg.com - Antec Six Hundred Black / Silver ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Cooler Master Haf922 $89.99
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I am a fan of both companies. Currently I am using the Cooler Master HAF 932. Prior to this I had the Antec 900. Both very good cases when it came to airflow.

As far as PSU is concerned it depends on your graphics card and whther or not you plan on going SLI of crossfire at some point.

Graphic wise I am partial to Nvidia. Again depending on your budget and your need for a powerful card I would say go with something in the GTX 400 series. Although the cheapest I have seen thus far is around $280.00
I would also wait til someone who is more of a gamer to weigh in on this as they would know better than I as i don't game. I know a lot of people seem to like ATI Radeon 5000 series.

RAM depends on the OS. Obviously 4 is the most a 32bit OS can recognize however you could not use triple channel on a 4GB configuration but you could use a dual channel mode instead. If you plan on using a 64bit OS 6 would be find as I would think it best to use triple channel over dual channel. I myself have 6GB in triple channel.

I would consider the i7 930 as it's only $10 more than the i7 920 you've selected.
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Also look at the Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced case. Like Enigma78, I'm partial to Coolermaster and Antec cases. I'm not as familiar with Xigmatek.
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GPU would depend on what sort of games you play.
A 1GB ATI Radeon HD5850 is solid but look at the HD5870, 2GB HD5970 and Crossfire configurations if needed.
I'm not as familiar with Nvidia cards.

Antec Truepower New 750W should meet all power needs
Newegg.com - Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

I have CM690 II Advanced and i can say is the best for the money can buy.

i7 930 is the same price as 920 and has 1+ multiplayer so better overclock performance.

For gpu i will recommend 5870 from radeon because it is cheaper than nvidia solution and it powerfull enough.

If you don't want to give too much money for cooling, the best solution is CoolerMaster hyper 212+

Originally Posted by dusanR

For gpu i will recommend 5870 from radeon because it is cheaper than nvidia solution and it powerfull enough.

If you don't want to give too much money for cooling, the best solution is CoolerMaster hyper 212+

I agree with the cooler master hyper 212+ for cooling purposes.

However I would disagree with the choice of the Radeon 5870. As they run around the same price as Nvidia's newest cards the GTX 480 (Fermi). Of course this depends on whether there is enough of a budget for this.

Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more!

if you have live near a microcenter you can buy an i7 930 for 199.99. Its a great deal, I just bought one.

I also have that motherboard, it is great, I just built a new rig myself.

You might want to consider a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint HDD for storage, these are fast drives.

Also consider an SSD for a boot drive, only need 30-40GB to hold your OS and some programs.

As for my budget I would like to try and keep it below 1000. I was thinking of running 64 windows 7. 6 gigs of RAM for triple channeling was the route i was thinking of taking. Also what would you all suggest for full/taller towers. Even though I listed a mid tower i would like other options.

The Antec nine hundred two and twelve hundred are very good larger cases with excellent air cooling pretty reasonable prices too.

Whenever I'm about to do a new build one of the first places I check is the "System Builder Marathon" on Tom's Hardware. Each month they try to maximize performance at three different price points ($500, $1000, $2000). The articles include the components selected, why they selected them, and then the actual performance achieved via a bunch of gaming & application benchmarks. The articles themselves are a good starting point and then there's usually some more good tips in the comments section (spread out among a lot of the usual junk as well.)

Here's the link to this month's:
System Builder Marathon, June 2010: System Value Compared : Covering Our Bases