$1300 gaming pc (1st build)

Try formatting it as shown here
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ild-advice

And stick with regular sized drives because the cheapest slim drive is more expensive than the most expensive regular sized one and wont perform as well.

Thats a lot of power for that build, and will accept the 2nd 4870 n/p.

Just fyi, the 1tb version of the drive is on sale for 99...just something to consider.

That case makes cable management pretty easy. It 'll look nice and clean if you put some time into the build

Finally I'm done editing. I got so mad when I clicked on the wrong damn thing.

Now, to answer your questions. First, I don't have a monitor, I want a 22 or 24 inch one. second, I might overclock but don't want to if I don't need to. I want to play Call of duty, and if this PC can handle it fine w/o overclocking, then I won't. third, I don't know what you're talking about XP, I'm new, that's why I'm asking you pros. hehe

Well it's a good thing I asked then, which mobo do you recommend?

I do want to stick to Intel, I am planing to keep this build for some time. But if you guys think I should go with i7, and it stays within my budget, then maybe I will. But again, I need you guys' help.

hum... The core i7 Should be better (if it's overclocked) compared to an i5, which (supposedly) is more oriented towards "mainstream". But it all depends on what you do (you probably won't see much of a change in gaming). But we can't know for sure.

You will probably have to spend less money thought.

Mc_coy

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO and finally no...you dont want LGA775 sockets in your system get LGA1366. For that money you can get an excellent LGA1366 i7 920 nehalem, 6GB of tri-channel memory and have enough money for everything else you want. If you get your 775 socket, you wont be able to upgrade later becuase they are fading it out now.

Correct, you need an LGA1366 socket type motherboard to support your i7, you need 6GB of triple channel memory meaning 3 sticks of 2GB each to use the full bandwidth and power of your i7. Also your memory has to be at least 1066mhz of speed because of your socket. I recommend getting 1333mhz of 6GB with your system.

-Of course you can use dual channel but your processor will be heavily bottlenecked by your ram and you dont want that.

Hmm, there are so many good mobo's out there, for manufactures I recommend Asus and Gigabyte, both are really good, for you, an Asus P6t Deluxe should do the job.

NP man, I've updated the list, I might pull the trigger sooner then I thought. I can't wait to build it, I just wish there was somebody I knew from the bay area who can give me a hand. I don't want to mess up anything.

Thanks for all your help black hawk.

This guy's selling the Antec PSU to me for $100, that's why I'm thinking of buying it. But do you guys think 850W is overkill for this build? Keep in mind that I do plan to crossfire down the road though.

Are you sure 650W is enough? If so, then I will get this instead. And yeah, I am aware of that. It's just something I think might be neat to have on my PC.

Oh yeah, and you linked me to the Canadian Newegg, here's the US one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005

So you're saying it's enough for one 4870 right? but how about two?

Then I'm adding it to the list, list updated. Anything else I should change?

Regarding your previous mention of the Digistor Combo Kit for Dual Slimline: I used this product in a recent build and it worked great as a solution to integrate 2 slot load optical drives in a desktop size media player.

We needed a slot-load for this project since it gives the system a more eloquent, stylish look (who wants to deal with tray load drives in a media center, high end customers think they look tacky.) however there are *no* manufacturers who product a slot-load DVD or Desktop Slot load Blu-ray drive (believe it or not). Since there are many manufacturers who product slot load optical drives for notebook - it is easy to obtain a notebook slot load drive.

Here's a really good pic of the product for those who aren't familiar. Basically, this product let's you mount two 12.7mm notebook size drives into a single 5.25" drive bay - you can choose any 12.7mm notebook drive to mount inside. Then just slide it into your drive bay and connect:



(*note: this company also offers a single bezel solution which allows you to mount one notebook size drive in your desktop PC or server rack, since we were working with a media center - we needed something with a little bit more custom feel.)

Here's a picture of the drives and chassis installed in a system, looked great and I couldn't find another solution quite like it:



This item is from SLI, they specialize in Optical Storage Solutions (www.slidirect.com - they sell the notebook size drives for this too).

Yes, the slim Blu-ray drives are a bit expensive right now (in comparison to the desktop size) since the technology is so new.

If you are trying to balance functionality with price, I'd recommend a slot load Blu-ray combo drive (like this) - with this drive you can read/write CD and DVD, additionally you can also playback (but not write) Blu-ray. I'd recommend model UJ-135 from Panasonic - pricing is at $199 each at SLI

Click here to view the product link on SLI's homepage. For $199, it's a pretty great buy and it allows you to playback Blu-ray - highly recommended I used this model drive to upgrade my MacBook Pro 17" to allow me to playback Blu-ray.

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