New Build Advice

[jasper1605]

Hey all, I'm helping a friend out with building a new PC to replace his now 7-8ish year old monster. He's a gamer so that's the primary use of this and he'll be using a 24" 1920x1200 monitor for it. Here's what we've come up with: (keep in mind he needs a case. Open to suggestions, preferably with good air flow, front usb ports, and nothing too flashy or expensive)

[cheesy999]

downgrade the psu to a 650w and use the money somewhere else

[jasper1605]

keepin the 750 for future stuffs in case he wants to xfire. and I've always been a firm believer in get much more psu than needed lol. Where would you put the money in the rig if he did get a touch back on downgrading it though?

[cheesy999]

not sure about where i'd put the money

one thing i'm certain about is that you should replace that hard drive with a samsung f3

[jasper1605]

would the 3gb/s affect the speed of it at all? That was why I went towards the WD because it had 6gb/s interface instead of the 3gb/s

[cheesy999]

very small increse in cache speed but the samsung 500gb/platter config means its much faster in data throughput and only lightly slower in access times

[jasper1605]

K, the HDD is now changed to the Samsung F3 1tb

[Fourstaff]

Get moar ramz, especially when its $30 per pair.

[cheesy999]

this is a much better 6950 - ASUS EAH6950 DCII/2DI4S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6950 1GB 25...

however if your planning crossfire make sure you have a big case as this takes up 3 slots so you will either have to have a wide gap between pci-slots on the mobo- or put it in the end slot and hope the case has enough expansion ports - the cards extra slot dosn't have to be near the mobo- just needs to have a hole in the case to fit in - egut it in the bottom slot and let it overhang

[Zen_]

Hyper 212 is a good choice for SB but personally I would get it from a site cheaper than newegg and throw out the stock fan for a Kama Flex or mid-RPM regular fan. The box fan in my experience was noisy at all RPMs and didn't seem to have very good static pressure (but you can't expect too much at this price since the heatsink is so good).

[Rowsol]

Once You Know, You Newegg

The 5850 is the best bang/buck at the moment so I'd build around that.

[Evolved]

I would ditch Corsair and go PC Power & Cooling for the PSU.
You can get a 950W for 139.99 and it's 80+ Silver.

And I would get Mushkin Redlines or Blacklines for the RAM.
And a Sapphire HD6950.

And wow! your choice of motherboard is silly!

Get a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3 -or- UD4-B3
As for the CASE, I strongly recommend the CoolerMaster HAF series!

I just saved your friend a shitload of $$$
But these are just my personal preferences.

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by Evolved

I would ditch Corsair and go PC Power & Cooling for the PSU.
You can get a 950W for 139.99 and it's 80+ Silver.

And I would get Mushkin Redlines or Blacklines for the RAM.
And a Sapphire HD6950.

And wow! your choice of motherboard is silly!

Get a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3 -or- UD4-B3
As for the CASE, I strongly recommend the CoolerMaster HAF series!

I just saved your friend a shitload of $$$
But these are just my personal preferences.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/...w_psu_review/9

I assume that is the PC P&C you are referring to, review is not that nice sounding.

Don't see a problem with ram, its damn cheap for what you get, the 6950's brand should not be much of an issue, and I think XFX's double lifetime should be at least on par or better than Sapphire. Motherboard is a bit overkill, I agree with you on that. Open box sabertooth instead? Open Box: ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 I.... Or perhaps something a bit more budget like P67 pro or ASRock's P67 Extreme4?

[Evolved]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

I assume that is the PC P&C you are referring to, review is not that nice sounding.

Oh, haha! was just on that website earlier.

I've read many mixed reviews on the Silencer MK II.
But TPU has a review on the 760W version.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/P...er_760W/8.html

[jasper1605]

Originally Posted by Fourstaff

Don't see a problem with ram, its damn cheap for what you get, the 6950's brand should not be much of an issue, and I think XFX's double lifetime should be at least on par or better than Sapphire. Motherboard is a bit overkill, I agree with you on that. Open box sabertooth instead? Open Box: ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 I.... Or perhaps something a bit more budget like P67 pro or ASRock's P67 Extreme4?

I figured the motherboard was overkill, but I wasn't sure on it. I'm thinking we'll go with either the p67 pro or the p67 ud4 instead (as mentioned earlier).

Also, quick question. Will the Win7 pro upgrade kit work w/ a windows xp copy that he has already? Or will he need to get a full install. Something in my mind is telling me that the upgrade discs only work with vista, but idk why.

edit: here's the new wishlist layout:




To address the things mentioned in the thread:
PSU: we'll stick w/ corsair as it has more consistent good reviews and is slightly cheaper while still providing wiggle room on an upgrade
RAM: I'll leave it up to him if he wants a second set of it though the 30 buck MIR is only 1 per household. The price is going to continue to drop on it and knowing him he'll prolly just stick with 4 gigs until it's not enough and pick up another set later.
Vid Card: While the Sapphire shown has better cooling on it it's only 1 gb and he's pretty sold on the 2 gb cards especially since it's at the same price.

Thanks a bundle for all of your critiques guys. They were and still are quite helpful so please feel free to offer additional suggestions.