New Computer Build

[mastacox]

Well, I finally got sick of my old slow computer so I'm building a new kick-ass one. It will be used for gaming, HD video editing, and Photoshop predominantly... The game I'm most looking forward to kicking some butt in is GTA4, and probably Crysis... :lol:

Just got the last of the components in today, will be putting it together tonight:

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/NewComputerBuild1of4.jpg
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471)- 3.0 GHz Quad-Core processor of fury! Once I get my water-cooling setup finalized (just need some tubing and non-conductive fluid) I'll be overclocking it to 3.5 GHz.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/NewComputerBuild2of4.jpg
ASUS M4N72-E SLI Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131367)- Supports AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2, built-in SATA RAID and 7.1 audio.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/NewComputerBuild4of4.jpg
XFX GeForce GTX 260 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329)- 896MB on-board memory, 216 core processors of supreme kick-ass. Can't be beat for the price IMO, and I can go SLI in the near-future to double my graphics power. Also looking forward to CUDA/OpenCL support in the future for video re-encoding software and other stuff...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/NewComputerBuild3of4.jpg
OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227291)- To make sure I don't run out using Photoshop, video editing, or playing heavy-duty games. The next logical step would have been 16GB I guess, but it would have cost 5x as much because I'd have to get 4-gig dimm's. I didn't want to go with DDR3 because of the price.

[mastacox]

So I assembled the computer this evening, everything went <mostly> smoothly. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking very clearly, and the new motherboard has only one Parallel ATA hookup (PATA); the rest are Serial ATA- SATA. This means that I can only plug in two of my three Parallel ATA components right now; I have two hard drives that are PATA and the DVD burner is PATA :ban: So, I ordered a SATA DVD burner off of Newegg and until then I can only run one hard drive and the burner.

I also ended up having to reinstall Windows 7 RC because changing the mobo and CPU made it exprode, which I suspected might happen. Happily I have everything I need on my other hard drive (which is sitting unused in the case right now until I get the SATA burner). I will say that this thing is very fast, Windows rates the CPU and GPU very high. Drivers were easy to find and work beautifully (nVidia actually has Windows 7 drivers available on its website, interesting since it's still "unreleased"). I'm looking forward to trying out some video re-encoding on this thing to see how it goes!

I of course had to try GTA4 out, and it is silky smooth at about 50fps, which is pretty damn good for such a system hog of a game. Woo Hoo! :clap:

Pics:

The core of the system, ready to be clamped in:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/Phenom.jpg

The mobo. you can see the single PATA connection on the side, and the 6 SATA plugs on the board:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/Mobo.jpg

The graphics card is HUGE! It's 10.5" long, takes up two slots, and used two 6-pin power cables. What a beast :screwy:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/GTX_260.jpg

The assembled system in the case. I've got a significant number of fans in this case (4 120mm fans and a 90mm up top) so cooling won't be a problem. I'm using the CPU's stock heatsink until I piece together the water cooling for it. I also have a 700 watt power supply, enough for SLI graphics cards in the future. I have 8 USB ports total in back, and 2 up front too, helpful with as many pirepherals as I have. Thankfully I have a full tower case, otherwise that graphics card wouldn't have fit!:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/System.jpg

[Good Times]

I must say technology has changed a lot over the years! I remember building my own towers and it definitely remember the good times building em.

I'm curious as to why the amd and not an intel chip?

[mastacox]

I must say technology has changed a lot over the years! I remember building my own towers and it definitely remember the good times building em.


Yup, it's been a few years since I built a new box from scratch; too long IMO :smokin:



I'm curious as to why the amd and not an intel chip?


Well, there were a lot of considerations that went into the decision. I knew I wanted a quad-core processor, but I'd say the number one driver that let me down the path was that I wanted to use DDR2 RAM (since it's so cheap), instead of DDR3. This throws out Core i7's and leaves the Intel Core 2 Quads and the Phenom II X4. I wanted to spend around $200 on the processor, which left me with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057), or the AMD Phenom II X4 940 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471).

After a lot of reading, both processors are very well rated, and would have cost similar amounts to set up with a mobo and ram; but, the Phenom II keeps up with (and in many cases surpasses) more expensive Core 2 Quads. Additionally, the Phenom II has large overhead available for overclocking (it's possible to overclock up to about 4 GHz with water/TEC cooling) and performs well in challenging multimedia environments such as games or video encoding.

Some reviews that helped me decide:
MaximumPC rates the Phenom II X4 940 as their best-of-the-best $250 processor: http://www.maximumpc.com/best-of-the-best
MaximumPC Phenom II X4 940 Review: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/meet_phenom_again

Overall I could have gone with either processor and been very happy, the Phenom II just had enough "perks" and good reviews to push it into the winner's circle.

[Good Times]

cool! I remember back in the day amd chips were easier to overclock compared to the intel ones. I'm guessing that's still the same. I'm surprised you didn't post links from Tom's Hardware site ;)

[mastacox]

cool! I remember back in the day amd chips were easier to overclock compared to the intel ones. I'm guessing that's still the same. I'm surprised you didn't post links from Tom's Hardware site ;)


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114.html

The Tom's Hardware review is excellent, showing exactly where the AMD chip fits into a stack of Core 2 Quads and i7's. Overall, Core 2 Quads that can compete with the Phenom II X4 940 (at stock clock speeds) tend to be slightly more expensive, as much as $50-$75 depending on trim level.

The i7's are significantly faster there's no doubt, but that has less to do with the chip's speed and more to do with the fact that i7's use triple-channel DDR3 RAM, giving them a much higher available data bandwidth to work with. The new AMD chips that use socket AM3 (Phenom II X4 955 for example) are compatible with DDR3 ram, so I suspect the performance gap has closed some on that front.

[Good Times]

man all this computer talk is making me want to build a monster desktop too! Too bad I would never be home to enjoy it so I'll just stick to my mbp.

[mastacox]

Small update for those who care :D

The computer has been running like a beast since I put it together! I do lots of video re-encoding on it, and it&#39;s been perfect. I rarely use more than about 3GB of RAM, so the 8GB is perfect overkill for me :flipoff: I went ahead and bought Windows 7 Professional for the machine after the Release Candidate ran out, and it works great.

SO I went to NewEgg few days ago and decided to take it to the next level; so I bought:

An LG Blu-Ray burner (:smokin:). I went ahead and upgraded our Netflix subscription to include Blu-Rays too...
http://images.logicbuy.com/datastore/userdeals/634012229708000000lg-blu-ray-burner.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181

And a Samsung 1TB hard drive:
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/22-152-185-02.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Looking forward to being able to make backups on Blu-Rays :bowdown:

[Crinale]

bu-rays are what, 50gb each?

[Lee]

personally i'd rather pay more for ddr3 ram and have a quad core processor

Just a matter of opinion, but to me building a pc is to do 2 things:

1) guarantee the parts are good
2) get the most performance for the money

I'm not sure you're doing the latter. For what is in the end not so much more money, you could have more processor threads available in addition to faster ram.

Anyway, looking like a nice build so far man, hope she turns out good! More pics of the box itself are needed!

[mastacox]

bu-rays are what, 50gb each?


Dual layer ones are, but they&#39;re about $10/disc right now. Single layer ones are 25GB, and only about $1.00/disc.



personally i&#39;d rather pay more for ddr3 ram and have a quad core processor

Just a matter of opinion, but to me building a pc is to do 2 things:

1) guarantee the parts are good
2) get the most performance for the money

I&#39;m not sure you&#39;re doing the latter. For what is in the end not so much more money, you could have more processor threads available in addition to faster ram.


When I built the machine DDR3 ram was significantly more expensive (around triple), plus I would have had to get a Core i7 processor (more expensive), and Core i7 mobo (more expensive). All of that is more reasonable now, but at the time it would have been more than twice as much. In case you missed it, I built this box in Jun 2009 :flipoff: I ended spending about $800, which is not too shabby for what this thing can do.



Anyway, looking like a nice build so far man, hope she turns out good! More pics of the box itself are needed!


This it is where it sits right now, it&#39;s our media machine and my gaming machine.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/Mobile%20Uploads/cbc34fc9.jpg

[mastacox]

personally i'd rather pay more ... and have a quad core processor

...

For what is in the end not so much more money, you could have more processor threads available in addition to faster ram.

P.S.- The processor is quad core... It's a Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition (quad core, 3.0 GHz, etc.)

[Lee]

oh cool, sorry I missed the date of the original build. Makes much more sense now!

[fenrisx]

I missed it as well! lol

[MTL_4runner]

Reading this thread gives me flashbacks to the old college days of gaming and building your own monster towers.

[Crinale]

haha... been doing that since Junior High, with my old Athlon XP 1700+ (1.5ghz) OC'd to 2.2GHz stable! hahaha :D

[mastacox]

So I decided to upgrade my CPU heatsink so I could overclock and run cooler at 100% load. I went with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RR-B10-212P-G1-Universal-Heat-Pipe/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1283008378&sr=8-1), a monster of a heatsink that&#39;s rated a perfect 10 by MaximumPC (http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/cooler_master_hyper_212_plus) and only costs $30 :D

Comparison of the stock and new heatsinks. I&#39;m running the Hyper 212 with 2 120mm fans in a push-pull configuration, exhausting out the back of my case.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/IMG_20100827_115205.jpg

The new heatsink is a bit bigger than the old one. I&#39;m glad I have a full tower case because it barely fit!

Old:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Computer%20Build/System.jpg

New:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/IMG_20100827_122248.jpg

I&#39;m now running at 3.5GHz and still cooler than stock. I tried 3.6GHz but got a BSOD when I did the CPU stress test for a few minutes; I might be able to get it working at that frequency later with some tweaking of the CPU voltage. For right now, my temperatures are about 27-30C at idle, and 37-40C at 100% load; not too shabby for air cooling :thumbup: :wrenchin:

[Lee]

holy crap

looks good!

[mastacox]

Thanks! For comparison, with the stock cooler I was hitting about 65c at full load. So now I'm running 20-25 degrees cooler, and that's with a 500MHz overclock! I'm convinced I could hit 3.8 GHz with some tweaking, this thing is wicked!

[Crinale]

holy crap that heat sink is freaking huge! i have the same heat sink as ur old one (which is pretty good for a stock one) and i know its not all that small... i dont think my mid-tower could take that monster though >.<

[mastacox]

I've been re-encoding an entire queue of videos for my Droid for the last 4 hours. The CPU utilization has been 100% the entire time, and my CPU temp is sitting steady at 45C. Sweet!! :thumbup:

[mastacox]

Another update...

So I've started to collect enough data that needs to be saved that I decided to buy a second Samsung 1 TB drive and set it up with the other in a Raid 1 (mirrored) array. Got the drive and plugged it in, but couldn't set up the drive for the life of me in Windows 7. I suspect the problem is that if I turn on SATA RAID on the mobo, all SATA ports are changed to RAID mode (and my Blu-Ray drive is SATA too). So I got a cheapy PCI-Express SATA RAID controller to set up the array:

Syba SY-PEX40013 PCI Express SATA II 4x Ports RAID Controller Card (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OEBO78)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SBMrEjMqL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

SO, thinking my problems are fixed, I shut down the computer and plug in the card with the two drives... but then something weird happened- the computer wouldn't turn on again! A little blip of the fans and stuff when the power button was pressed, but no post and no boot :chair:

So it turns out that was the last straw and my power supply finally gave up the ghost. I suspected it might have been going bad for a while, some of my case fans had been running slower than normal, my overclock on my CPU had stopped working, and BIOS was randomly resetting (all symptoms of drooping voltages). To fix the problem, I just bought myself a sweet new Thermaltake Toughpower XT 775W Power Supply (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00387EA0S). Lots of power, and it's a modular power supply which means I only use the power cables I need. I'll take pictures when I install it.

Pic for you picture whores:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41bOCHK1TWL._AA300_.jpg

[fenrisx]

Nice. I want to build another tower just for sake of buying cool gear to put in it!

[mastacox]

Got the new power supply installed a couple of nights ago. It works perfectly! The cable routing's nothing exotic, but it is cleaner than before, and I've got less extra cables lying around in there...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Power%20Supply/IMG_1269.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Power%20Supply/IMG_1276.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Power%20Supply/IMG_1278.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Power%20Supply/IMG_1281.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/New%20Power%20Supply/IMG_1280.jpg

[YotaFun]

SO you built this in 09', did an update in 10' and 11'

How has this setup been for you so far?
Better now that you have it over clocked?

Looking to build my own pc in the next couple of months (got a itch to do if after my stepdad popped up with a bunch of parts to build his)

Would you change anything?
Anything out now that you wish you could put in?

Happy with the AMD?

sorry for the millions of questions, I am just asking a few that have built before I embark on my own endevor...

[mastacox]

Well there's a lot to cover, but here are a few bullets to get you started. It's all going to depend on your budget, and what you hope to do with the machine. I'm going to assume you want a gaming machine, but you can let me know differently.


Overall, this computer has been a great one and will last me a few more years before games start to outpace it enough to build another (same reason I built this in 2009).
Most of my decisions back in 2009 revolved around Intel or AMD. Bang for buck (at the time) AMD had a slight edge, and I didn't want to spring for DDR3 memory which was significantly more expensive. These days, you will have to make the same decision. My brother built a SICK machine about 3 months ago with an Intel Core i7-2600k, 12GB of RAM and a GeForce GTX 560Ti for about $1200; for about $800-$900 you could build a similar machine around the 6-core Phenom II's (but the Intel is a lot faster).
I would go DDR3 now obviously, it's cheap and available.
Graphics card (if you're a gamer) should be a GeForce in the $200-$250 range, like a 560Ti or maybe 570 depending on deals available. I'm personally not a big ATI/AMD graphics card fan.
Motherboards are difficult to choose, I would go with a Gigabyte personally based on some of the troubles I've had with the Asus board; choice is basically up to you based on the features you want. Newegg's advanced search is a must for this.
I'm very happy with the modular power supply I got last, highly recommended.
I would consider heavily a SSD for your boot drive if budget allows, they're REALLY fast these days. Maybe one that's under 100GB, just for windows and stuff, and then a 1TB drive like the one I've got for storage.


How's that for a start? One other thing, pay close attention to the MaximumPC best-of-the-best list; it won't steer you wrong! http://www.maximumpc.com/best-of-the-best

[YotaFun]

Thank for the info, I am thinking I will be using it mostly for video and picture editing I find myself taking pictures on the trails more then trekking them in my own truck.

Step-dad just built a pc with an
Asus Motherboard and Graphics card,
Intel i7,
8GB of RAM (max 16)
120GB SSD
In a Cooler Master case.
Windows 7 Professional

I am sure I am missing some details
but its a sick computer and is working very well for him so far.

I think I struck a deal if I pay half stepdad would help me build the same since his is built for the same purpose but I want to see if I could do anything a little different, don't want to be a complete copy cat lol

[Crinale]

honestly, i have always been an AMD guy, but Intel really got it right with the new Core Ix series.. i have an I5 laptop that is awesome, and i would love an i7 for a desktop. Motherboard choice will be different every computer builder you ask.. My grandpa (who got me into it) likes ASUS, I personally like Abit but have had really good luck with my current desktop that has a DFI board.

As far as a graphics card goes, get the highest one on this list you can afford http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

RAM same thing, DDR3 is a no brainer, but get the most/highest clock speed you can afford.

Case is entirely personal, and for a Power supply get a good brand one of 500w (absolute minumum) or higher. Modular is very nice, as you dont have to figure out where to put all the wires you arent using.

Do you have a good monitor? There is nothing quite like having a large clear screen when you are photo/video editing. My desktop is viewed on a 22" 1080p HDTV connected via HDMI cable, and I cant say enough awesome about the setup.

[YotaFun]

I will be using my 37" LED TV as my monitor for editing and a smaller 22" for surfing

[mastacox]

SO, what's your budget?

[mastacox]

I should mention also, you're going to need a lot more than 120GB if you plan to do picture and especially video editing. Plan to have a 1-2TB drive to use for mass storage, and the SSD will be the boot/software drive.

[Crinale]

I should mention also, you're going to need a lot more than 120GB if you plan to do picture and especially video editing. Plan to have a 1-2TB drive to use for mass storage, and the SSD will be the boot/software drive.
x2 with any kind of editing/authoring you can never have too much storage

[YotaFun]

Yeah that was my plan,
I am doing a little research into good fast HDD
I will probably have 2TB internally and I am still looking for a decent 1TB for and external one to use between my desktop and laptop or if I work on anyone else's pc and need to back up there stuff

[YotaFun]

So, I looked at the boxes of stuff that stepdad got for his pc a little more today.
(he has yet to clean up his mess in the kitchen from the build)

Motherboard - ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
Processor - INTEL CORE i7
Graphics Card - ASUS Matrix GTX580
HDD - Vertex 3 2.5" SSD
RAM - VengeanceLP DDR3 16GB
Case - Cooler Master HAF
Power Supply - Corsair AXI200
CPU cooler - Ninja3 CPU Cooler
Disk Drive - I/O Magic DVD +/- R/RW

Thoughts?

[mastacox]

ALrighty lets break down the build, looks like the total was about $2k not including some stuff...



Motherboard - ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z


That's a seriously pricey mobo at $334 from Newegg. If we're considering this a "pseudo-budget" build, I think there are mobos with better bang-for-your-buck...



Processor - INTEL CORE i7


Since it's a Sandy Bridge mobo (LGA 1155) I'm going to assume he got the Core i7-2600K. Good choice in processor for about $315 and super fast.



Graphics Card - ASUS Matrix GTX580


Way bad-ass graphics card, but seriously WAY overpowered unless you're a pretty hardcore gamer (is he?)... And about as expensive as they get at $530. For photo and video editing, this is seriously over the top giant overkill. It's probably one of the most powerful gaming video cards out there...



HDD - Vertex 3 2.5" SSD


You don't mention size, but if we assume its a 120GB its a very fast choice for a boot drive and photo/video editing machine. Probably one of the fastest drives out there, and not over-the-top expensive (but you will pay for it at about $240).



RAM - VengeanceLP DDR3 16GB


You don't mention speed, but you can get 16GB of DDR 3 1600 RAM for around $105, so why not! Probably too much RAM, but it's so cheap who cares...



Case - Cooler Master HAF


This could be a case that costs anywhere from $60 - $160, but you can get a pretty nice case for about $100. I would go screwless with plenty of fan mounts.



Power Supply - Corsair AXI200


Corsair AX1200 is a huge honkin power supply, and way more than needed for the hardware listed. It's expensive at $279, and you only need somewhere around an 800W PSU in my opinion.



CPU cooler - Ninja3 CPU Cooler


Nice CPU fan, and not too pricey at $50. It requires a big case to fit it though.



Disk Drive - I/O Magic DVD +/- R/RW


Meh it's a DVD burner for about $50.



Thoughts?


Where to start... You don't mention keyboard, mouse, or monitor, but you're looking at about a $2000 PC without those things which can be a pretty strong powerhouse in most anything (with monitor, Windows, and peripherals figure $2700), but is actually geared towards gaming especially with the graphics card. I think you could build a PC that would keep up in video and photo editing for about $800 less... I'll build my recommendations for Intel and AMD boxes and post soon.

[mastacox]

Ok here's my recommended Intel box:

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600k - $315 and super fast!
Mobo: EVGA P67 SLI - $200 and pretty nice with SATA 6Gb, USB 3.0, on-board audio, etc.
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) - $105
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $30 and excellent air cooler
Graphics Card: ZOTAC AMP! ZT-50402-10L GeForce GTX 550 Ti - $150 and way more than you'll need
Primary Drive: Vertex 3 120GB - $240 and the fastest SSD drive out there
Second Drive: Samsung F4 Ecogreen 2TB - Lot's o' storage and $80
Optical Drive: ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA - $90 and a Blu-ray burner for HD authoring!
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 922 - $90 and seems nice.
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-875M 875W - $170, this would be plenty.

Total box: $1450, not including monitor(s), mouse/keyboard, Windows

[mastacox]

Well if you use all the same hardware but an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (3.7 GHz) and a Gigabyte Mobo for AMD, figure about $200 cheaper.

You can go cheaper from there by getting for example a somewhat cheaper SSD, save some money on the case, power supply, etc. You'll have to decide on your budget but I think you can build a pretty good AMD box for around $800-$1000, and a very good Intel box with 2600k for about $1300.