Building a new desktop.

[Franklinwallbrown]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Soon (next few weeks)

BUDGET RANGE: cheap (I don't really have a set budget, but I would like to keep it cheap. I'm trying to save money and graduate debt free, but I still want a nice computer that I won't want to hit every two seconds).

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Web, copy/move DVDs/BluRays, listen to music, do homework (mathematica), watch HD movies, play BF:2142, play SCII, WoW, F@H, SETI,...

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I have a crappy case, 2x36gb raptors, 1x2tb (SataII, I believe) hdd, 19" Niko monitor(900x1440), 3850.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: None.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US of A

PARTS PREFERENCES: None.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (probably eventually)

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe (whichever is cheaper [non-CF/SLI or CF/SLI] and more powerful, which I would assume would be crossfire/SLI)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 900x1440

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'm thinking intel i7 on a mobo w/ usb 3.0 & sataIII, raid0 raptors,...nothing is really out, but I have to be able to justify it for myself.

Short Version: I need to build a new desktop. I have a crappy case, 2x36gb raptors, 1x2tb (SataII, I believe) hdd, 19" Niko monitor(900x1440), 3850. I play games, surf the net, watch movies (720p), copy DVDs/BluRays (well, I wanna copy BluRays), listen to music. I usually play BattleField:2142, but I just bought StarCraft II, and occasionally dabble on my friend's WoW account. I have a great surround sound system (z5500), and some nice 5.1 surround head phones from turtlebeach. I wanna use mathematic 7 too. Approx Purchase date: ASAP (next couple of weeks). Approx Budget: flexiable, but cheap.

Long Version: I'm building a new desktop so I can sell my laptop (Gateway p-7811fx) to my friend. I want to be able to play my games and for them to look nice, but I'm really thinking that I don't care as much about gaming anymore because I don't have a lot of time because of school, but I do watch a ton (and by a ton I mean a lot for me, which probably not a lot for other people) of 720p movies. Basically, I'm getting rid of my 10lb gaming laptop that I never use for gaming and that's really heavy to carry around, and I'm replacing it with a more powerful desktop that I will occasionally play games on, copy movies on, listen to music on, surf the web on, use mathematcia on...
I would like the computer to be fast, but within a cheap sort of budget. I'd like it to copy movies fast, be able to play games well, and copy files fast, convert video fast, zip and unzip things fast, move files fast, have fast usb porst for usb 3.0 flash drives and I'm rambling...I'm trying to save money because I'm in college and I would like to graduate debt free, but I still want a nice computer that I won't want to hit every two seconds. I've been out of the computer building game for a while and the truth is I wasn't fully in it in the first place. All I've done before was take a friend's computer and taken some parts from it and some parts from mine put them together to get a new computer, then I dabbled in OverClocking and then I didn't use it for a long time, then it quit working. So...

 

[Reventon]

Well, what kind of budget do you have? Also how many parts do you need? Everything?

 

[Cja123]

I would go a SSD drive for O.S. and some 1TB-2TB drives for games/storage. That's my current setup right now and I really like it. My 1TB is 6GB/s and you can definitely tell the difference.. not much to say about the SSD that hasn't already been said.. Runs windows 7 and smaller apps I use so damn fast. AHCI was kind of pain.. but once that is taken care of they are awesome!

 

[Reventon]

I would go a SSD drive for O.S. and some 1TB-2TB drives for games/storage. That's my current setup right now and I really like it. My 1TB is 6GB/s and you can definitely tell the difference.. not much to say about the SSD that hasn't already been said.. Runs windows 7 and smaller apps I use so damn fast. AHCI was kind of pain.. but once that is taken care of they are awesome!

Like the difference between a drive like mine and a 6GB/s like your's how much of a difference can you tell?

If I build a new rig, I will most likely get the WD Black 1TB 6GB/s like you have.

 

[Franklinwallbrown]

I've been out of the game a while and I was never really fully in the PC building game to befit with. So, I'm starting off pretty bad here.

But, I'm wondering how fast a SSD is compared to raided hard drives. I mean I'm all for SSDs, but they are so damned expensive and I already have 2x36gb raptors that I could raid0 together.

Revention: I've already posted what I have.

 

[mjkmike]

You're budget for this build would be nice to know, also is the cpu or the gpu more important? If you don't plan on changing monitors the I7 build is the way to go. I went with a gigabyte x58a-ud3r for a cruncher and has ran five months 24/7 clocked at 4.gz on air no problem.

 

[surfingerman]

help us help you

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ?

BUDGET RANGE: ?

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: I play games, surf the net, watch movies (720p), copy DVDs/BluRays (well, I wanna copy BluRays), listen to music. I usually play BattleField:2142, but I just bought StarCraft II, and occasionally dabble on my friend's WoW account.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I have a crappy case, 2x36gb raptors, 1x2tb (SataII, I believe) hdd, 19" Niko monitor(900x1440), 3850.?

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: ?

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: new zealand?

PARTS PREFERENCES: ?

OVERCLOCKING: Yes / No / Maybe?

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes / No / Maybe?

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 900x1440 ?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'm thinking intel i7 on a mobo w/ usb 3.0 & sataIII, raid0 raptors,..

 

[Franklinwallbrown]

So, I've been thinking about the raptors and I think the best way to go would be 1 raptor or OS and 1 raptor for games and my 2tb for storage. That way I could change OS when I wanted. I'm thinking about having more than 1 OS, but for now I'm just going to use XP, I think.

I'm also wondering if the 3850 will be enough and if it would be a problem if I was wanting to use win7/DX11 (whatever there on now).

 

[Dent1]

So, I've been thinking about the raptors and I think the best way to go would be 1 raptor or OS and 1 raptor for games and my 2tb for storage. That way I could change OS when I wanted. I'm thinking about having more than 1 OS, but for now I'm just going to use XP, I think.

Remember that if you install a game on another hard disk drive, it still copies "some" of the data on the main HD that shares the operating system.

Windows XP is dead.

I'm also wondering if the 3850 will be enough and if it would be a problem if I was wanting to use win7/DX11 (whatever there on now).

It has nothing to do with windows 7 or DX11, the 3850 is just slow in any situation because its old. At your resolution 1440x900 most games should be fine at medium settings, some of the newer games will make is cry though.

But, I'm wondering how fast a SSD is compared to raided hard drives. I mean I'm all for SSDs, but they are so damned expensive and I already have 2x36gb raptors that I could raid0 together.

For the tasks that you said neither a raptor or SSD will make a little difference. Being objective about the situation raptors are loud and your 36GB is tiny, windows Vista/7 will use almost half off that storage alone. Put 4x1TB Samsung spinpoint in raid and you'd get faster than SSD read/write for $250 and get upto 32x the storage as well.

 

[Franklinwallbrown]

I hadn't thought about the fact that games did that. Good point. Why is XP dead?

I think that the 3850 will get me where I need to go and I can always upgrade later, if I really want to.

The spinpoint idea is great, but I already have those hard drives for free and they will be pretty fast. I think I'll raid0 them together and then I'll have double the space and I won't be putting much else on them anyway. And, I can always upgrade later.

I have all these awsome ideas, but I need to keep in mind what I'm going to be doing with the computer. I'm not going to be playing games heavily and the noise can be suppressed with a Cosmos case, but I would try them first. I guess if I could sell the Raptors for a decent amount of money, I would just do the multiHDD raid idea.

Speaking of RAID. Which raid is it that you can put like 4xhdds together and if one fails, you can buy a new one, pop it back in and then it fills the data back in? That would be awesome!

I think all I'm going to worry about is getting a good motherboard, CPU, PSU, RAM, and maybe a BluRay drive. I have a DVD drive already, maybe two.

I'm starting to wonder if I should mess with other RAIDs. I've been reading and I'm thinking that the chanses of my disks failing is slim.

I'm wondering if I will need SATAIII...I mean 6.0gb of throughput is awsome, but I can't put that into context of 3.0 or 1.5. I don't have a very good perception of how fast drives are and how fast they need to be and what I can stand.

I'm thinking that an Intel i7 (quad) or an AMD (hex) would be good, but I think that the speed and overlockability of the i7 would be better for me than the additional multitasking I would get from the AMD.

So, this is probably a dumb question, but...triple channel is faster than dual channel, right? But, how much of a difference is it and is it worth spending more money on?

How are 3850s and HD video? I would assume vastly better than my 9800m GTS!

Okay, please feel free to tell me that I am stupid. I will not be offended. I love discussions. Here is a build I think might work with the stuff I have.

1 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231311 169.99

1 COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W ATX12V v2.3 EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified / CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817159072 $30.00 Mail-in Rebate $99.99 $69.99 (after rebate)

1 Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7870
Item #: N82E16819115213 $289.99

1 Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design
Item #: N82E16824009255 $199.99

1 MSI P55A-GD55 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813130298 $149.99

I've always heard that backlit was the way to go for monitors, but how much difference does it really make?

 

[Fourstaff]

I fail to see how an i7 system can be classified as "cheap". If you want a cheap system, my advice would to go for an AMD 965BE based system, unless you really need all those 8 threads.

Why is XP dead? Because it doesn't support DX11 and it should die when Win 7 was born. And its about 10 years old. Only people who are almost computer illiterate would still use XP if they are given the choice between XP and win 7.

3850's are also not worth your time anymore, you can easily get a 5770 which will completely demolish the 3850.

 

[Dent1]

I hadn't thought about the fact that games did that. Good point. Why is XP dead??

No DX10 or DX11 support, decade old operating system, software developers have stopped supporting it near enough, try to find up-to date XP drivers for your hardware and you'll struggle, even Microsoft have near enough abandoned support.

I think that the 3850 will get me where I need to go and I can always upgrade later, if I really want to.

Unless you've got a spare 3850 already I wouldn’t buy one now, its old, slow and there are better alternatives on a shoe string budget i.e. 5670.

I'm wondering if I will need SATAIII...I mean 6.0gb of throughput is awesome, but I can't put that into context of 3.0 or 1.5. I don't have a very good perception of how fast drives are and how fast they need to be and what I can stand.

The throughput is theoretical and marketing, unless hard disks become faster it isn’t going to make a difference.

I'm thinking that an Intel i7 (quad) or an AMD (hex) would be good, but I think that the speed and overlockability of the i7 would be better for me than the additional multitasking I would get from the AMD.

Personal preference

So, this is probably a dumb question, but...triple channel is faster than dual channel, right? But, how much of a difference is it and is it worth spending more money on?

Memory bandwidth isn’t a bottleneck in a modern computer, triple channel memory will not make a difference outside of specific work related applications. In gaming triple channel will not help much, if at all.

How are 3850s and HD video? I would assume vastly better than my 9800m GTS!

I would think the 9800m GTS would be better (at least in the non mobile variant)

1 COOLMAX CUG-950B 950W ATX12V v2.3 EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified / CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC and Compatible with Core i3/i5/i7 Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817159072 $30.00 Mail-in Rebate $99.99 $69.99 (after rebate)

Not sure about the PSU choice.