Computer Build Advice

PerfectCreature

Dont have to worry about overheating with that. ha.
Yeah, I will wait for the SSD when I make a much better build.

Sherardp

Lasareath wrote: »

I just put the new PC together Today, Loading Win7 Ultimate x64 right now on the 80GB SSD

I did not buy the 600GB Raptor yet.

Here's a Video:

http://www.4u2me.com/Lasareath's-new-pc.avi

And some Pics below & I changed the case, no more Sonata

Sal

That's a sweet build there Las. How do you like that 80gb SSD? Windows probably loaded at less than 7 minutes on that thing, I was in shock at how fast these drives are.

PerfectCreature

They are fast, my uncle has one I asked him about it, he said hands down they are worth the cost and he has been building and testing computers for over 15 years...
I guess if I had more money haha.

maximillian

Not sure if it's best to open a new thread or simply to reply here. Basically I have the same request at the original parent.

I have a 7 (?) year old computer and never really had the urge to upgrade until now. The computer is an AMD Athlon 1.6 GHz computer with mid ATX style case that I modded with some custom LED lighting. Almost none of it can be used for upgrading. I assembled this computer and used to assemble computers for many people so I am comfortable assembling my own PC. I have been more confined to using laptops lately. Therfore I am out-of-touch with modern hardware. Recently I decided to revamp my PC to use it for vid encloding and some gaming.

My needs:
- Video encoding/converting
- playing some games. Not a huge PC gamer but I would like to try Portal 2 and Diablo 3. I like FPS games but can't stand COD and Battlefiled games.
- I want it to be somewhat future proof, i.e. 5 years.


Here's what I am going for:

CPU: Intel i3 LGA1155 (not sure if this is unlocked for OC'ing or not). I could go to an i5, but they are around $200 and I want to spend a little less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077

MB: ASUS P8P67-M (meant for overclocking)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131708R

CPU cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139


Items to be bought at local Bestbuy (need to limit online purchase to around $300 for an undisclosed reason :cheesygrin:)
- Memory 8GB (probably 2x4GB sticks)
- inexpensive vid card (~$50)
- 1 TB Seagate SATA HD
- might go for SSD later on.

I plan to use the PATA DVD burner that I currently have. I'm not sure about the case. It is an older mid ATX case. Definelty the power supply would have to be changed for modern motherboards (need 500W). However, can the rest of the case be used (preserving my lighting)? I'm sure the front USB port connector is old so I won't be able to use that. Using my old case would save some money and demonstrate that I only upgraded (not changed) my old computer :cheesygrin:. However, if this is more of a pain then I would buy something from Newegg.

Any criticisms and recommendations are appreciated.

John in MA

My thoughts on that:

4GB is a good amount of memory, and that's the first place I'd scale back if you're looking to economize

If you're going to play games you'll probably want more than a $50 video card

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB hard drive is excellent and can be had on sale for around $50

The case will probably work fine with the new guts, including your USB port. Just make sure it's actually a decent case with good airflow and access. Details in cases have improved a lot in the last 7 years. I'd personally skip the "custom lighting" since it's a computer and not a teenager's ricer car, but that's just me.

maximillian

I agree on the memory, it's a good place to start. I could probably put the money into the vid card then.

My biggest concern is the CPU and MB combo. Is this good enough for my needs? Is the LGA1155 socket modern enough or is it going to be obsolete soon?

Lighting is tactful. You can't really see inside the case although there is a window. I frosted the glass so it would glow with color changing LED's. It's a nice case for its day and cooling has never been an issue. I guess the concern here is fitting the MB in the case. Did mounting post locations change? Will the rear MB connectors all fit in the space alotted in this older case?

Thanks for the advise.

mrbiron

AMD's Bulldozer gets released next week....or rumors are saying next week.
I'd wait to see what they are capable of before dropping any coin on an Intel. (I'm an AMD fanboy so i am biased )

Pricing for the lower end will be below $200. Don't know the exact numbers yet. 8 core....8 CORES!!!

maximillian

I used to be an AMD fan (7 years ago LOL), but for this build I really want to stay with Intel, specifically the i3 or i5. However, as mentioned already, I am not sure if the i3 would be good enough or if I need the i5. The i7 would be too costly.

drselect

maximillian wrote: »

s
My needs:
- Video encoding/converting

Here's what I am going for:

CPU: Intel i3 LGA1155 (not sure if this is unlocked for OC'ing or not). I could go to an i5, but they are around $200 and I want to spend a little less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077

MB: ASUS P8P67-M (meant for overclocking)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131708R

CPU cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139

Any criticisms and recommendations are appreciated.

What video encoding program are you using?

Realize you are trying to save money but are also trying to future prof. How far of a stretch is an i7?

drselect

Sorry just saw your reply about the i7.

maximillian

drselect wrote: »

What video encoding program are you using?

AutoGK and Handbrake.

i7 would be about $150 more than an i3. Would rather not spend half my budget on a CPU alone. Future proofing could also mean just having a MB that can easily take a better processor in 2-3 years. Again, not a big gamer and currently I use the 1.6 GHz Athlon for video.

MacLeod

The i3 is one badass proc! That little thing beats the Phenom 6 core in pretty much all gaming benchmarks and puts up a good fight in productivity benchmarks. Its easily the best dollar for dollar CPU on the market right now. It will be more than capable of handling anything you throw at it. Yeah an i5 would be a little faster but in most tkhings, you'll never notice a difference.

As for Bulldozer, I'm not holding my breath. Even if it does come out on this rumored release date, I wouldn't want one of the first batch. They had so many problems with yields and performance and they're on their 3rd revision and that makes me nervous. I'm gonna wait a while and see how things shape up with them before buying or recommending buying them.

maximillian

I decided to buy the MB and CPU cooler above and the "INTEL I5 2320 3.0G" processor. I also picked up two 2GB sticks of DDR3 RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

I'm thinking about getting the following from BB:

"Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 5670 2GB" video card:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/VisionTek+-+ATI+Radeon+HD+5670+2GB+DDR3+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/2286104.p?id=1218318855420&skuId=2286104&st=ATI Radeon HD 5670&cp=1&lp=2

"Corsair - Gaming Series 600-Watt ATX CPU" Power Supply:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+Gaming+Series+600-Watt+ATX+CPU+Power+Supply/1073679.p?id=1218217268656&skuId=1073679

"Seagate - Barracuda 1TB SATA" Hard Drive:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+Barracuda+1TB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive/8490625.p?id=1186003683968&skuId=8490625


Can you guys comment on this combination? I checked some reviews online (not just BB's or Newegg's) out and they seem OK. Not going for ultra gaming with this system. Hopefully it's decent enough for Diablo 3 and Portal 2.

EndersShadow

maximillian wrote: »

I decided to buy the MB and CPU cooler above and the "INTEL I5 2320 3.0G" processor. I also picked up two 2GB sticks of DDR3 RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

I'm thinking about getting the following from BB:

"Visiontek ATI Radeon HD 5670 2GB" video card:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/VisionTek+-+ATI+Radeon+HD+5670+2GB+DDR3+PCI+Express+Graphics+Card/2286104.p?id=1218318855420&skuId=2286104&st=ATI Radeon HD 5670&cp=1&lp=2

"Corsair - Gaming Series 600-Watt ATX CPU" Power Supply:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+Gaming+Series+600-Watt+ATX+CPU+Power+Supply/1073679.p?id=1218217268656&skuId=1073679

"Seagate - Barracuda 1TB SATA" Hard Drive:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+Barracuda+1TB+Internal+Serial+ATA+Hard+Drive/8490625.p?id=1186003683968&skuId=8490625


Can you guys comment on this combination? I checked some reviews online (not just BB's or Newegg's) out and they seem OK. Not going for ultra gaming with this system. Hopefully it's decent enough for Diablo 3 and Portal 2.

Thats a good combo. I am running the 5450 passive GPU in my rig and it works good. Not doing tons of video games, but it handles HD video and anything else I throw at it. Processor is a good choice, and I am running a Corsair 450 power supply so your fine. The HDD is a good choice as well. I will say that you should be looking at 4 gig of memory or more, more memory is never a bad thing. I have 8 gigs of DDR2 1066 w/ a Quad core overclocked Q9650 and love having enough memory to run multiple apps at the same time.

mrbiron

Everything looks good.
One suggestion is to swap out the Seagate for a Samsung Spinpoint F3 that was already mentioned by John in MA. It's a better drive in all areas and can be had for less. :cheesygrin:

Are you going to recycle the case and disc drive?

maximillian

Thanks for the feedback. I'm excited to have some good gear again. Perhaps in a few months I'll even buy a SSD. That would be cool. Too much for my budget at this point.

mrbiron, yes, I am recycling the case and DVD burner. I have no need for blue-ray. Yes, it's a waste to dissassemble a machine to keep just these two components. Yet, there's no need to keep a second machine around. Wife has a laptop that the kids use. I will also have a work laptop. So the 3 computers are enough for now. When the kids need their own PC's I'll just buy them laptops as well. Not sure what I will do with the old stuff yet. Thoughts? It does have a regular CD burner and a 3.5" floppy!

mrbiron

3.5" Floppy!!....

How was the cooling in that old case?, if it has space on the top/bottom/back, i'd throw in another exhaust fan noticing that tech has gotten faster and hotter. When you get the MB in, check and verify the screw holes are all the same. They should be as ATX MBs, as far as i know, all have the same screw holes.

And last, check your clearance for your graphics card. Old cases are notorious for having short bodies and the newer, bigger cards would extend all the way to the harddrive bays and not fit. Or they would be within a C-hair and you wouldn't be able to plug in the power cord on the end.

BeefJerky

mrbiron wrote: »

Everything looks good.
One suggestion is to swap out the Seagate for a Samsung Spinpoint F3 that was already mentioned by John in MA. It's a better drive in all areas and can be had for less. :cheesygrin:

Are you going to recycle the case and disc drive?

I somewhat agree with this as I do not trust Seagate drives anymore. I used to recommend them highly, but their quality control has seriously gone downhill over the years. On the other hand, I used to never recommend Western Digital drives, but their quality control has improved significantly in recent times. I have also had good luck with Hitachi, as I use their 1TB and 2TB 7200RPM SATA drives in my server and for my media backups. I have very limited experience with Samsung drives, so I can't really give a good opinion of them. I have a 1TB 2.5" Samsung drive in my laptop, but that is only one drive, and I've only had it for around 9 months. So far, so good, but that's not much of a statistic.

To sum it up, I suggest looking at Western Digital and Hitachi.

doctorcilantro

SSD for the win.

maximillian wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. I'm excited to have some good gear again. Perhaps in a few months I'll even buy a SSD. That would be cool. Too much for my budget at this point.

mrbiron, yes, I am recycling the case and DVD burner. I have no need for blue-ray. Yes, it's a waste to dissassemble a machine to keep just these two components. Yet, there's no need to keep a second machine around. Wife has a laptop that the kids use. I will also have a work laptop. So the 3 computers are enough for now. When the kids need their own PC's I'll just buy them laptops as well. Not sure what I will do with the old stuff yet. Thoughts? It does have a regular CD burner and a 3.5" floppy!

BeefJerky

doctorcilantro wrote: »

SSD for the win.

SSD's are great; I have one in my laptop and love it! However, if you value reliability and your data, please note Intel is the only brand that should even be considered.

maximillian

BeefJerky wrote: »

To sum it up, I suggest looking at Western Digital and Hitachi.

I used to think the exact opposite of WD as well. That is why I was picking Seagate. Have they really come full-circle? I guess I don't care if it's either WD or Seagate, but want the one that makes consistently reliable drives.

If I go SSD now I could only get a 64GB version. Is that enough for a Windows and other crucial software install? I would then install the other HD for games and other files. Does a SSD drive get treated any differently than a regular HD?

mrbiron, my old case has provisions to mount a 80mm fan to the front and also just above the MB connectors. The power supply also has a fan. It seems like MB cases are not that different these days. I also have a couple spare 80mm fans but want to limit putting them in since I don't want this system to be too loud. I won't be OC'ing initially anyway. I'll make sure to check for mounting stud locations to make sure they line up as well as ensure that the MB connectors have reasonable clearances. I may not be able to completely close off the space for the MB connectors since the MB I am getting has a ton more connectors on it. I may have problems with the case so may have to buy one anyway. I'll see next week when I put this thing together. If they aren't compatible then I wish they would have changed the "ATX" name to show the incompatabilities.

I have a bunch of PC cables, fans, hardware, and junk when I used to assemble PC's more (just for friends and family). I wonder if any of this old stuff is any good any longer.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

BeefJerky

maximillian wrote: »

I used to think the exact opposite of WD as well. That is why I was picking Seagate. Have they really come full-circle? I guess I don't care if it's either WD or Seagate, but want the one that makes consistently reliable drives.

Yes, they have come full circle. I have 3 different WD 7200RPM laptop drives, and they all work fine (2x 320GB and 1x 500GB). I have friends who use recent WD 3.5" models and they have had no problems either.

If I go SSD now I could only get a 64GB version. Is that enough for a Windows and other crucial software install? I would then install the other HD for games and other files. Does a SSD drive get treated any differently than a regular HD?

That's the best way to do it, IMO. I have a 120GB Intel SSD in my laptop, and a secondary 1TB Samsung 5400RPM drive in the optical drive bay. For reference, I am running Windows 7 Ultimate, have the full MS Office suite installed, many other programs and some video files laying around on the SSD and I still have 59.7GB free. I put most of my data/audio/video on the 1TB drive, so the smaller size of the SSD isn't too big of a deal.

mrbiron, my old case has provisions to mount a 80mm fan to the front and also just above the MB connectors. The power supply also has a fan. It seems like MB cases are not that different these days. I also have a couple spare 80mm fans but want to limit putting them in since I don't want this system to be too loud. I won't be OC'ing initially anyway. I'll make sure to check for mounting stud locations to make sure they line up as well as ensure that the MB connectors have reasonable clearances. I may not be able to completely close off the space for the MB connectors since the MB I am getting has a ton more connectors on it. I may have problems with the case so may have to buy one anyway. I'll see next week when I put this thing together. If they aren't compatible then I wish they would have changed the "ATX" name to show the incompatabilities.

If you want a quiet system, I would recommend looking at another case that has room for lots of fans. The key here is to have multiple (large) quiet fans installed. This will give you plenty of airflow without being noisy. As a point of reference, I have a file/media server running in this room, and I don't hear it unless the room is dead quiet. The ceiling fan is louder, and it is a quiet ceiling fan.

I am using this Coolermaster case: http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2709
It has lots of cooling options, and even has a built-in 120mm intake fan on the front if you use the built-in drive cages (I didn't). The built-in fan is okay, but there are better and quieter fans. Here are the ones that I used: http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/002/sflex_detail.html
I specifically used the SFF21E model. They are bit more expensive than a standard fan, but worth every penny. The use a fluid bearing (S-FDB), so they are extremely quiet, especially for the airflow they can put out. I have 2 for exhaust on top and 1 on the rear. The PSU that I use has a 120mm as well for intake on the bottom of the case. I also recommend using rubber mounts for the fans rather than screws; that helps to isolate the vibration even more. The case also has a tube to get fresh air direct onto the CPU's heatsink, which I like. I also put foam in some places in the case to help absorb vibration. This is a very cheap and easy mod.

The cage the case comes with has isolation for drive's vibration, but I used these: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0266839
I suspect that is overkill for you, but I wanted hotswap capability. They are also very good at isolating the drive noise.

I'm running a dual-core celeron with 5 3.5" 7200RPM drives plus 2 2.5" 7200RPM drives, and they all stay plenty cool without being noisy.

At any rate, I'm sure all this is overkill for your situation, but the point I'm hoping you will take away from this is to use multiple quiet fans. This will keep the components plenty cool while being very quiet.

I have a bunch of PC cables, fans, hardware, and junk when I used to assemble PC's more (just for friends and family). I wonder if any of this old stuff is any good any longer.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Maybe...

jflail2

Here's a thread that I was going to use to track my new HTPC build that I've just completed:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1636821

And then I got engrossed in the build and totally forgot to track any progress from that point on.

So the build is complete, and I have that HTPC hooked up in my living room. I did everything by hand with 1 other friend, so I can answer questions along those lines if it would help.

MacLeod

Im not sold on SSD's just yet. Yes they are much faster than standard 7200RPM's platters but damn theyre expensive. What is it like 6 GB for $200 or something? When you can get 2TB of a standard drive for well under $100, I dont see a point in spending twice that for a fraction of that.

Dont get me wrong, if youve got the cash, by all means cause MOAR performance is always a good thing but if youre building on a budget, a SSD is the last thing you should be looking at.

Splif

64G SSD for $106 at the egg. I don't think ssd is meant as a storage system atm in time. But has a boot drive I would love to have one, just haven't done it.

You could easily run windows and a plethora of commonly used apps off of 64g.

John in MA

SSDs are great as a boot/program drive but I wouldn't trust them for data. I'm running an old OCZ 32GB SSD as my boot drive, and it's faaaaast. You can open a dozen programs and they'll launch simultaneously.

WD Black/Blue and Samsung are the most recommended drives these days. Seagate has adsorbed the stink of Maxtor and Quantum and I'm not so high on them now. Don't have much personal experience with modern Hitachi drives, but I did get a lot of failures in the past.

You'll want a fan in front and a fan in black, plus the power supply. Modern cases will use 120mm or larger that can be nearly silent. 80mm fans are pretty noisy.

As someone who used to have a Coolermaster full-tower, I'd recommend a case that doesn't have lots of open mesh or snap-in parts. Too easy to hear the guts and every little bit vibrated like crazy.

Sherardp

SSD as boot drive with your mainstream apps is simply awesome. I have had two, an Intel and now a Crucial C300 and they are insanely fast. I would definitely try to go a tad larger, Intel makes an 80 gig drive, I have never filled it up. Heck I'm only using 40 gig on my 128 drive and that's including MS Office suite installed.

BeefJerky

MacLeod wrote: »

Im not sold on SSD's just yet. Yes they are much faster than standard 7200RPM's platters but damn theyre expensive. What is it like 6 GB for $200 or something? When you can get 2TB of a standard drive for well under $100, I dont see a point in spending twice that for a fraction of that.

Dont get me wrong, if youve got the cash, by all means cause MOAR performance is always a good thing but if youre building on a budget, a SSD is the last thing you should be looking at.

As others have mentioned, SSD's aren't even close to that expensive. I think I paid $170 for my 120GB Intel nearly a year ago; I wouldn't be surprised if they were even less expensive now. I personally only recommend Intels, as there are too many failures in other brands of SSD's. This comes from my friends extensive IT experience and many reviews around the Interwebs. My friend tried other brands of SSD's in computers he built for businesses, and right around 90% failed within a year. That failure rate is just pathetic. He now only uses Intel SSD drives, and hasn't experienced any failures with those.

maximillian

Are the Intel SSD's as reliable as a regular HD? I don't want it failing even in 3 years. If they aren't, then I will probably skip SSD for now.

maximillian

Another question. I just looked at the power supply inside my case. It is a 550W ATX 20+4 pin. I guess it isn't older than I thought. It also has one connection for a SATA drive which is all I need. I see 2 potential issues though. First, the CPU connector has only 4 pins and my MB has 8. Second, the +12V power is only 25 Amps. Are these going to be an issue with the new MB or should I buy a new one? Is there anything else I'm missing that would prevent me from using this supply with the new MB?

I know the power supply is old. However, I have barely used this PC in the past 4-5 years. Other than dust there isn't a lot of hours on the PS.