Building a New Computer

I’ve never done this before, so I’m sure I’m missing stuff but here’s what I have so far:

Tower: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133089
Suggested Tower: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077&cm_re=Cooler_Master--11-119-077--Product
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Third Tower Option: https://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&source=hp&q=Coolermaster&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12827585629191848947&ei=ZeBxS82MF4WusgOgqKirCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CBwQ8gIwAg#

Motherboard: https://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=AMD+790GX&show=dd&cid=6343388042116060339&sa=title#p
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Suggested Motherboard: https://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=YhNWZrOT1OWycIgo

Graphics Card: https://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5970/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5970-overview.aspx
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Lower Graphics Card: https://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5770/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5770-overview.aspx

Processor: https://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=AMD+Phenom+II&oe=utf-8&ved=0CDoQrQQwAw&cid=12760556412845612699&sa=title#p
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Suggested Processor: https://www.intel.com/consumer/products/processors/corei5.htm

[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Memory: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Corsair-XMS3-4GB-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Module/12518897?sourceid=1500000000000003142050&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=12518897

Hard-Drive: https://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/desktops/barracuda_hard_drives/barracuda_xt/
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Suggested Hard-Drive: https://hitachigst.pgpartner.com/search_getprod.php/vcode=HIT/partnum=0A34193/

Power Supply: https://www.antec.com/Detail.bok?no=567
Other Power Supply: https://www.corsair.com/products/hx1000/default.aspx
Power Supply recommended as an “Upgrade” to my current one according to google searches: https://www.atxpowersupplies.com/1200-watt-atx-power-supply-Magna-1200.php?psu=Magna1200-NPS-750AB-1B

[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]OS: Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

What I already own:
250gb hard-drive
750watt Power Supply
Power Strip
DVD-RW
2 DDR3 Memory Sticks (Possibly 2GB each I think)

[COLOR=‘Red’]Estimated Cost: $3855.97
[COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Update: I recalculated the price. If I use the cheaper items people suggested and do not use CrossFireX: [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]$1716
If I do 2 cards and a new Power Supply it’s: [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]$2603

Obviously wasn’t going for cost effective. It’s still cheaper than anything Alienware will sell you, so it can’t be a complete rip-off. I’ll probably worry about making it more cost effective once I figure out that I have all the parts and understand what I need and how it all works.

Update: Just checked, my current computer cost $3,871.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Note: As long as my new computer doesn’t jump too much higher than this price, the cost is irrelevant.

Anyway, mostly wondering what I’m missing and if there’s anything there that won’t work.

Other Questions:

  1. If I plan on using DDR3 Memory Sticks each 4GB, and I already own 2 DDR3 1GB ones, can I use them together to get 10GB as long as they are all DDR3 even though the sizes are different? [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Answered

  2. I was looking at AMD processors because I was looking at the ATI Graphics cards and have heard mixed things about using Intel and Nvidia mixed with ATI and AMD. Are there any issues with getting AMD instead of the standard Intel? [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Answered

  3. I can’t find a sound-card in my current computer, if I plan on just using a generic 2 speaker set-up and a headset, do I need to purchase a fancy sound card? [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Answered

  4. Do I need to worry about any cooling system or will whatever comes in the tower I buy be sufficient? [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Answered

  5. Should I worry at all about what Overclocking is? [COLOR=‘SeaGreen’]Answered

Better case for MUCH less cash:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077&cm_re=Cooler_Master--11-119-077--Product

And I cannot imagine a single situation in which your current PSU isn’t more than enough.

Oh, and as for the sound card, most, if not all mobos come with sound jacks for onboard sound. My onboard supports 5.1 surround.

Oh, right, for the power supply I was possibly considering doing CrossFireX with graphics cards, which would be why I threw in the larger power supply. (The estimated cost already takes this into account)

You could still go to around 850w-900w and save yourself some money.

An $800+ case is just a stupid idea, tbh. Especially if you can get better for a tiny fraction as much.

I wasn’t sure about the case, so I just went with something that came across as being large enough to fit everything and looked good.

This is my first attempt at building my own PC and I have a week before my dad returns from a business trip to finish it so it’s going to be kinda sloppy and imperfect for now.

For the power supply: but if the cards themselves take up 850w don’t I still need extra power for everything else? Or does that just mean the power supply has to be capable of outputting that much but the cards don’t use it all?

Those cards DO NOT take 850W to run. Not even close.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5970,2474-15.html

476W at full load, not sure if that’s just the card or the full system.

You might want to go up to an i5 for $20 or $30 more for better performance. Right now I think that you’ll be limited by your CPU. Not that you’ll probably ever notice your limited CPU, but if you’re buying an absolutely fucking monstrous GPU, you might consider upping your CPU.

I’m not sure my current Power Supply has all those necessary 6 and 8 pin connectors, I might still have to purchase one. (Although smaller and cheaper).

If I’m changing the processor to an Intel, will everything else still work?

Does that power graph only show for 1 card, because I was considering going with 2 and using a CrossFireX.

1.) Yes, you can use different RAM capacities on the same motherboard. Just keep them paired on the proper channels.

2.) Mixing Intel processors and ATI graphics cards doesn’t really affect the performace.

3.) You won’t need a fancy sound card for a simple speaker setup, but if you’re planning on going all out with a gaming system and cost isn’t an issue, you’d might as well get a new 5.1 speaker setup with a new sound card. My suggestion would be to get a cheaper tower and spend part of the savings on a z5500/X-fi setup or something similar.

Other notes…

Hard drive: Last I heard, Seagate has recently been having some quality control issues with their higher capacity drives, so keep that in mind. Personally, I’ve been using Western Digital and Hitachi for years and have had few reliability problems.

Motherboard: ASRock is an alright brand, but keep in mind there are other great manufacturers out there, like ASUS, Gigabyte, EVGA, or Biostar.

Graphics: Don’t bother with Crossfire. The processor would give you a severe bottleneck.

You don’t have to plug the 8pin connector for the computer to work, most of the time it should work with just 4.

Don’t try to plug the 6pin molex into it, that’s for your GPU.

It’ll work just fine. I haven’t heard of anyone having problems mixing Intel and ati.

When MTL gets back he can give you some PSU advice, he does this stuff for a living :smiley:

edit: yeah go for Western Digital and maybe a better mobo. You’ll be fine with two cards in crossfire with an i5, don’t go for 3 though.

You should go for Corsair for the PSU.

Ok, good, I should have plenty of 4 pin connectors (assuming I’m fully understanding what that means).

For the Hard-Drive: Seagate is what my current Hard-Drive was and that worked well for me, then again it was only a 250gb so I’ll look into the other ones.

Ok, so don’t do CrossFireX because I won’t be able to get a processor to handle it. Got it.

You can look for the 6-pin and 8-pin (PCI-e) connectors. They’re easy to spot. If your power supply doesn’t have them, you can use molex adapters. Link

Most AMD and Intel based chipsets follow the ATX standard, so as long as the power supply follows that specification, you won’t have any issues.

I’m not positive if that’s the case with all processors, since it mainly depends on the game and how it handles your resources, but it’s definitely overkill for the one you’ve chosen.

Ah, now that I go back and look I do have at least 1 6-pin and 1 8-pin. I might have another 6-pin, but I think a converter is plugged into one of the cords so I’m not completely sure.

Would going farther than an i5 and getting an i7 be overkill?

That graphics card is overkill. In fact the whole thing seems overkill, you could get a way better system for that price. Look at https://www.avadirect.com/ 's high-end consumer stuff.

I bought this configuration last week:

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0 BOX, Quad Core, 2.66 GHz, LGA 1366
CHF 333.-

MOTHERBOARD Asus P6TD Deluxe, Intel X58, LGA1366, SLI, CFX
CHF 309.-

HARDDRIVE: Samsung HD103SJ, F3, 7200rpm, 32MB, 1TB, SATA-II
CHF 99.-

MEMORY: Mushkin Redline 2x2GB, DDR3-1600, CL6-8-6-24@1.65V
CHF 179.-

POWER: Thermaltake Toughpower 750 Watt Cable Managment, ATX, EPS
CHF 161.-

GRAPHICS: Gainward GTX-260 GS 896MB DDR3, 216SP, 55nm, HDMI
CHF 229.-

TOWER: Cooler Master HAF 932 schwarz, ohne Netzteil,
5x5.25’’, 5x3.5’’, 1x3.5’’/5.25’’ shared
CHF 169.-

Total Order: CHF 1492.20 / USD 1402.05

I wanted to have a gamer computer with:

  • a good base configuration
    (to be able to upgrade in the future with better cpu, graphics card and additional memory sticks)
  • minimal costs
  • performance

I think it’s very important to have a good and maybe also expensive motherboard,
allowing to overclock without problems and to connect alot of things to it
and have a stable system.

I took the cheapest core i7 cpu 2.66 GHz, the one with 3.2 GHz is double the price,
but in the tests you wont see much difference. In a year or so you can buy
a faster cpu for about the same price as the slower one I bought.

Always be careful with power supplies, once I bought a new graphics card,
GeForce 8800 GTS 512, my computer always has shut off immediatly when
an explosion directly in front me occured. I had a long time until I realized
that it was the power supply that was too small.

sound card is good to have, but not a must. I only have onboard sound now,
it’s ok, the thing that I realized is that with my soundblaster on another
computer I can put the volume (of the headphones) much higher than on
the onboard sound.

My chase has 4 very big fans that cool the parts perfectly, I have never
seen the temperature of the cores go over 40°C. In standby -> 30°C :wink:

General Tip for good Performance and Price, look at alot of tests that are around
on the internet and take some time to overthink everything. Sometimes you
will see that a much more cheaper part will bring you about the same results.

And if you have a lot of money I would recommend to throw away those
slow HardDisks and install an SSD (Solid State Disk) or 4 of them with Raid 0
This will load your BlackMesaSource in a second or so! :wink:

That case is cool but I think way over priced. And with my experience with thermal take is that their cases are HEAVY. My last case with all of the components had to weigh at least 55lbs. AT LEAST.

https://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&source=hp&q=Coolermaster&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=12827585629191848947&ei=ZeBxS82MF4WusgOgqKirCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CBwQ8gIwAg#

This case is the case I have now and it is splendid. I have had no over heating issues at all. It’s light and very quiet. And has been modified from the factory for liquid cooling if you want to go that rout.

Also I have an Enermax Power Supply that I bought back in 2002 that maxes out at 600w and it’s still running strong. Granted next time I upgrade my computer I will have to buy a bigger one but this guy lasted me 8 stinkin years. That’s pretty good.

And I’m running two 8800GT’s in SLI, AMD Athlon 64 2ghz 6400+, (I had a sound card but threw it in the garbage because on board audio runs better.), a beefy heat sink for my cpu, two western digital raptor hard drives, a couple of dvd/r drives and I think that just about covers it. My power supply hasn’t even shown signs of stressing.

And the cooler master case is designed so that the psu is at the bottom of the case instead of the top. Lower center of gravity I guess for easier transport or whatever.

I built this computer in late 2007 and the price for the parts got up there over 1000 dollars. Today if you took the same parts and built my computer you would spend half of what I spent total (Not including a monitor. I already had one) maybe less even. And my computer still runs the newest games on High settings. 

So if you took the money you wanted to spend on that thermal take case and invest in parts and a good case around a 100 bucks you could have a rig that runs games on ultra high setting.

I dropped 350 bucks on each video card and now they have the 9800 pci-e cards for half that price. And over double the power.

I guess food for thought. Sorry my post has sporadic facts. Hope this helps a bit.

Edit If you want me to send/post my specific hardware components so you can compare let me know. I agree a 100% with Mattemuse, your selection is quite overkill. If there is one thing you don’t want to do it’s dropping an exuberant amount of money on hardware when it’s just going to drop in price allot in the next couple years and the performance wouldn’t even be noticeable because most games can’t even use that amount of hardware. (correct me if I’m wrong)

i7 is overkill unless you’re running apps that can take advantage of 8 threads or you’re using 3+ graphics cards in Crossfire or SLI. i5 can run 2 gpus in Crossfire/SLI just fine, 3 isn’t recommended, you’ll probably end up with worse performance than just running 2.

Phenom II X4 965 is faster and cheaper than a Core i5

You should have only one.

It’s shaped like this:

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.