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Thread: New Computer Build

  1. #1

    New Computer Build

    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...

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


    AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition- 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.


    ASUS M4N72-E SLI Motherboard- Supports AMD Socket AM3/AM2+/AM2, built-in SATA RAID and 7.1 audio.


    XFX GeForce GTX 260- 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...


    OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM- 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.
    Brian
    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4
    Supercharged, URD'd, Lifted, etc. etc.
    Quote Originally Posted by GoodTimes
    I for one will say that I am the superb ultimate cream of the crop web wheeler and will not take anything less than that as my moniker.

  2. #2

    Re: New Computer Build

    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 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!

    Pics:

    The core of the system, ready to be clamped in:


    The mobo. you can see the single PATA connection on the side, and the 6 SATA plugs on the board:


    The graphics card is HUGE! It's 10.5" long, takes up two slots, and used two 6-pin power cables. What a beast


    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!:


    Brian
    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4
    Supercharged, URD'd, Lifted, etc. etc.
    Quote Originally Posted by GoodTimes
    I for one will say that I am the superb ultimate cream of the crop web wheeler and will not take anything less than that as my moniker.

  3. #3

    Re: New Computer Build

    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?
    Lance
    TLCA Member

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  4. #4

    Re: New Computer Build

    Quote Originally Posted by 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.
    Yup, it's been a few years since I built a new box from scratch; too long IMO

    Quote Originally Posted by Good Times
    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, or the AMD Phenom II X4 940.

    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/fea...t_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.
    Brian
    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4
    Supercharged, URD'd, Lifted, etc. etc.
    Quote Originally Posted by GoodTimes
    I for one will say that I am the superb ultimate cream of the crop web wheeler and will not take anything less than that as my moniker.

  5. #5

    Re: New Computer Build

    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
    Lance
    TLCA Member

    2003 4Runner SR5 4x4 Chaos Edition
    2000 Toyota Landcruiser
    19xx M416 Trailer

    Chaos Edition Profile
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  6. #6

    Re: New Computer Build

    Quote Originally Posted by 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
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-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.
    Brian
    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4
    Supercharged, URD'd, Lifted, etc. etc.
    Quote Originally Posted by GoodTimes
    I for one will say that I am the superb ultimate cream of the crop web wheeler and will not take anything less than that as my moniker.

  7. #7

    Re: New Computer Build

    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.
    Lance
    TLCA Member

    2003 4Runner SR5 4x4 Chaos Edition
    2000 Toyota Landcruiser
    19xx M416 Trailer

    Chaos Edition Profile
    Operation Rebuilding Chaos Edition
    01001001001001110110110100100000011000010010000001 11011101100101011000100111011101101000011001010110 010101101100011001010111001000100001

  8. #8

    Re: New Computer Build

    Small update for those who care

    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 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 (). I went ahead and upgraded our Netflix subscription to include Blu-Rays too...

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136181

    And a Samsung 1TB hard drive:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

    Looking forward to being able to make backups on Blu-Rays
    Brian
    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4
    Supercharged, URD'd, Lifted, etc. etc.
    Quote Originally Posted by GoodTimes
    I for one will say that I am the superb ultimate cream of the crop web wheeler and will not take anything less than that as my moniker.

  9. #9
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    Re: New Computer Build

    bu-rays are what, 50gb each?
    - Kevin

    2018 Taco TRD Pro - 2.5" lift, 33" tires, everything else stock.
    2012 Triumph Tiger XC - Stock

  10. #10

    Re: New Computer Build

    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!
    -Lee
    2013 BMW X6 50i

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