Building a new i7 build on a budget [Pics]

[sassan]

Thanks everyone who helped me pick my parts, I appreciate it.

The cable management took me a while, I had to hide all of the fan wires and pins on the other side of the case. The case is surprisingly not loud, my Xbox 360 is louder then this.

Only problem that I had was my onboard sound was bad, so I tried to use my old Creative Audigy ZS and it seems to have problems with Vista 64bit and my 5.1 speaker system, so I'm planning on getting a new sound card. But overall the system is fast! And plays all of my games on a 22inch monitor in Ultra high or Very High.

I'm also considering buying an aftermarket cooler possibly Noctua Se1366 to overclock the CPU to 3.2 or 3.8 or so, but I don't need to do that now.

Here is the original thread with the list of parts that I purchased:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262398-31-building-build-budget-give-advice

Gallery

Guts of the PC:

http://img21.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img1387etm.jpg

Outside of the PC:

http://img24.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img1392k.jpg

 

[kubes]

Looks like a pretty nice setup.

Thanks for posting the picks!! best way you can say ty

 

[xthekidx]

Nice.

 

[aevm]

The older Creative cards have trouble on Vista, true, it's a known fact. I'd recommend an HT Omega Striker ($90), those are known to work well on Vista.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

There are other HT Omega cards too but they cost more and they're probably overkill. Do check them out if you're producing music or you have high-end speakers.

 

[nickhoff]

Then Antec 1200 makes cable management a breeze, i'd kick myself if I chose something else.

 

[sassan]

The older Creative cards have trouble on Vista, true, it's a known fact. I'd recommend an HT Omega Striker ($90), those are known to work well on Vista.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

There are other HT Omega cards too but they cost more and they're probably overkill. Do check them out if you're producing music or you have high-end speakers.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm looking at getting one that will go into the PCI-Express slot, I need to empty the PCI slot.

I want one for EAX and 5.1 and possibly 32bit now. But I don't know which sound card to get.

Then Antec 1200 makes cable management a breeze, i'd kick myself if I chose something else.

Well the Tempest had great cable management specially for the price I got it at. I wanted to get the Antec 1200 but it was expensive for a new case, but that case is awesome to. I don't mind my case I actually like it a lot now Was fun to build it.

Remember I had a budget

 

[aevm]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I'm looking at getting one that will go into the PCI-Express slot, I need to empty the PCI slot.

I want one for EAX and 5.1 and possibly 32bit now. But I don't know which sound card to get.

Tricky. You can see what's available here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

The AuzenTech AZT-FORTE X-Fi Forte 7.1 is probably your best bet.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156010

More user reviews here:
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35596&vpn=AZT-FORTE&manufacture=AuzenTech

Then there's the X-Fi Titanium, but that one is still plagued by buggy drivers on Vista, according to user reviews.

 

[sassan]

Tricky. You can see what's available here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

The AuzenTech AZT-FORTE X-Fi Forte 7.1 is probably your best bet.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156010

More user reviews here:
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35596&vpn=AZT-FORTE&manufacture=AuzenTech

Then there's the X-Fi Titanium, but that one is still plagued by buggy drivers on Vista, according to user reviews.

The azuentech looks like to be a great card, I might grab that one, have you tried it before?