Help me decide what to purchase next!

[f22a4bandit]

I just recently purchased an i7 960 for an awesome price thanks to the IRE program.

I'm having difficulty deciding on what to purchase next. My sister gave me a $100 Newegg gift card, so I'm trying to decide between purchasing the motherboard for the system, or instead purchasing RAM so I don't necessarily have to put up any of my own money (having to pay off student loans beginning in January).

As you can see, I'm in sort of a bind. I'd really appreciate your advice on what to purchase first, and if possible, any brands/models I need to take a look at. I'm aiming to finish this build within the next two months, so I'll keep you all updated.

Thanks again for your help. I know there are a million threads like this, but I like to have input from actual users before pulling the trigger on products. It took me about six months to finally decide on what to put in my current rig, so trust me, I'm patient.

 

[mlee49]

Motherboard first, buy some ram next then use the 960.

After that you'll have room for a gpu(or two ) upgrade.

 

[AsRock]

None untill you have the rest of the money to make a working system as prices will drop over that time.

 

[f22a4bandit]

None untill you have the rest of the money to make a working system as prices will drop over that time.

I've thought about this option as it's really great advice. Keep the suggestions coming though!

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I say get the RAM now. DDR3 is still on sale because of the holidays. You can get RAM at roughly $30 below standard retail right now. It would be a good way to get some rather high quality stuff for a decent price.

Patriot Viper II Sector 7 Edition 6GB (3 x 2GB) 24...

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ...

Mobo's will drop in price when Sandy Bridge drops, so you can wait a while on that to get.

 

[f22a4bandit]

Update:

Only progress made so far is purchasing a Sapphire 6870 today from Newegg. I plan on purchasing a second 6870 once I have enough money saved up for the rest of the build, and use the one I just purchased in my current rig to satisfy a bit of the upgrade itch until I can pull the trigger.

Here's a look at what I'm currently looking to purchase. Let me know your opinions, and if there's anything you can recommend I change. Thanks!

 

[TheLaughingMan]

I think there are almost a dozen cases available from Newegg that are better designs, better cooling, and most are cheaper to boot. Needless to say, I think you can do much better with the case. Most of the usual suspects, Nzxt Phantom, H2, Fractal R3, Storm Scout, Storm Sniper, Corsair 600T, etc. are designed to accept SSD's without the need for a bay converter or come with 1.

I also do not know how you plan to divide up your system related to what is on the SSD and what is on the 500 GB Black. I do know a Sammy F3 1 TB would give you the same performance as the 500 GB Black with twice the space for about the same money.

And the Cosair CH50 is ok, but you can get better cooling from cheaper or similarly prices air coolers such as the SuperMega, Sythe Mugen 2, Thermalright 120, The True, etc, etc.

I think the mobo is the same way. I think you can get the same or better for cheaper like a Asus Rampage III, Gigabyte anything, but I can't say for sure because I don't have the figures on that. I would suggest checking review roundups that directly compare a lot of boards.

 

[BraveSoul]

I would recommend returning the 6870, and buying 6950 instead. For myself however, would get nothing less then GTX570 over 2 6870.

 

[f22a4bandit]

If nothing else, I'll just keep the 6870 I just ordered in my current rig and go with a different graphics card. I'd much rather have something to upgrade right now than wait another three to six months before finally building the new rig.

I would have ordered the 6950, but I'd bottleneck it a lot more than the 6870 with my current processor (at least that's what I'm telling myself ). Like I said, I'm still exploring options for this build, and any advice is well noted. I'm usually a generation (or two) behind the current technology anyway.

 

[Hayder_Master]

it should be the motherboard but how can u switch the mobo without change anything else, so that's mean mobo+ram.

 

[xenocide]

Case: You can find cases for half the price of that thing that will walk circles around it in terms of quality and cooling. There are a number of Full Towers around $100 that are better than that. Almost all of the NZXT offerings in said price range trump that.

Motherboard: Not a huge fan of Intel-brand Mobo's and I am certain you could get a comparable if not better mobo for the same price and probably cheaper. E.G.

GPU: Take the money you saved for the previous 2 areas and jump up to a HD6950. Considering switching to a slightly cheaper but equally capable motherboard covers the cost almost by itself, it seems pretty logical to do such.

HS[F]: Heard nothing but bad things about the H50 in terms of cost\performance ratio, just get a 212 or mugen2 and save yourself $25-30 and get better cooling.

 

[brandonwh64]

buy motherboard first then you could search the local PC shops for a single stick of generic ram for probly VERY cheap until you get enough money for a tri kit

 

[f22a4bandit]

So general consensus is keep researching! I will keep doing that, I just put that list up for an idea, and I'm getting great responses.

I'll probably go with an air cooler in the end. Motherboard I'll probably go Gigabyte or Asus (Sabertooth maybe?), heck maybe even an AsRock board as I don't intend to really overclock much. The case I can definitely see myself changing.