Help with building first computer

[max1171]

I am planning on building my first computer...want it to play some high games and need to run things like autocad very smoothly and stuff like that and was thinking of trying to overclock it somewhat but i've never done that either...so here is what i have so far:

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor ------------------- $279.99

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ------------- $349.99

ASUS ENGTX280 OC/HTDI/1G GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -- $315.00

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8 G -------- $139.99

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD R 8X DVD RW 12X DVD R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - OEM -$30.99

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $99.99

Rosewill Xtreme Series RX950-D-B 950W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire Ready, Active PFC Power Supply ------------- $129.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM -------------- $89.99

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler ---------------------------- $71.99

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express Interface Sound Card -$127.49

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail ----$199.99

i'm not really on a budget or anything but i don't want to go too crazy...if you have any ideas of how i can get better performace with cheaper price tho please tell me

everything on the list had good reviews to the most part but if any of the items are not too good then please tell me also i think all of the items work together, but because this is my first rig i can't tell too much

if you guys can help thank you so much

 

[obsidian86]

seagate has been troublesome of late so a wd or samsung would work better an rosswell is a bit shifty on a high end system get something like a corsair ocz pc power an cooling for a power supplyy

 

[max1171]

what about this one instead of rosewill: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ---$119.99

 

[jtmoney528]

I am planning on building my first computer...want it to play some high games and need to run things like autocad very smoothly and stuff like that and was thinking of trying to overclock it somewhat but i've never done that either...so here is what i have so far:

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor ------------------- $279.99

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ------------- $349.99

If your going asus I would suggest the Rampage Extreme over that one if your going to spend that much money:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131352

ASUS ENGTX280 OC/HTDI/1G GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -- $315.00

I would get two 260's and SLI them personally, you will get better performance then one 280

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8 G -------- $139.99

I would go OCZ Platinum 1600:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD R 8X DVD RW 12X DVD R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - OEM -$30.99

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $99.99

I would go with Antec 1200 Full Tower:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

Rosewill Xtreme Series RX950-D-B 950W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire Ready, Active PFC Power Supply ------------- $129.99

Not a huge fan of Rosewill's power supplies, I like Corsair more (Coirsair 750W)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
-------------- $89.99

The last two Seagate drives we have gotten at work have failed 3 months in, go with WD Black

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler ---------------------------- $71.99

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express Interface Sound Card -$127.49

Sound cards are really not needed now days.

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail ----$199.99

i'm not really on a budget or anything but i don't want to go too crazy...if you have any ideas of how i can get better performace with cheaper price tho please tell me

everything on the list had good reviews to the most part but if any of the items are not too good then please tell me also i think all of the items work together, but because this is my first rig i can't tell too much

if you guys can help thank you so much

 

[jtmoney528]

what about this one instead of rosewill: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ---$119.99

Also do not forget about checking out combo's

 

[max1171]

yeah i've been looking at combos that's why i was gonna get the rosewill

 

[Anonymous486]

that computer sounds really great. but if you really want to push your games to the limit I would reccomend using 2 ATI raedon 4870s.

also you didn't say what OS you were going to get but if I were you I would get a 64 bit version of windows vista.

 

[max1171]

i was actually gonna put windows 7 (64 bit) on it and i would prefer nvidia if i could...i've had a few problems with ati lately

 

[obsidian86]

this is as good as corsair http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011 bit cheaper then the corsair or this corsair combo with the haf 932 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.236865

 

[max1171]

so if i don't need a sound card...what do you do? nothing? lol

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Most current motherboards come with pretty good onboard sound. I would just try the onboard sound. You can always add a sound card later, but I doubt you'll decide you need it.

 

[obsidian86]

most mother boards come with on board sound cards only time worth getting an extra one is if you running a music studio

 

[max1171]

ok yeah i guess i'll just do that...the best thing about building your own is that you can just upgrade everything easily

 

[max1171]

ok so i guess my only question left would be should i spend $200 more and get the i7 950 or stay with the 920?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Buying the i7 950 is like lighting fire to $200 since you mentioned you would like to overclock in the future. Both CPU's have about the same overclocking ceiling, so the 950 is a waste of money.

I hope you've been talked out of the Rosewill PSU. The motherboards you're looking at are pretty overpriced, too. I would have a look at these combos.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.238326 (i7 920 + Asus P6T Deluxe V2)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.235893.14-130-475 (Evga GTX 275 + 64-bit OS) The GTX 280 you picked is ridiculously overpriced. The GTX 275 offers similar performance for a much more reasonable price.

A lot of people have suggested the Corsair 750TX, but I would step it up to the 850TX if you think you'll ever want to add another GTX 275 in SLI down the road.

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $139.99 - $30 MIR

 

[jtmoney528]

920 and OC it

 

[max1171]

ok yeah i'll stick with the 920 then i didn't know much about the 950

ok so what i have now...it's getting much better i'm gonna look at shortstuff's links but just so you know what i have on my list now:

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor ----------------------- $279.99 (deal with board)

ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ------------- $359.99 (deal with i7)

ASUS ENGTX260 TOP/HTDI/896M GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card --- $194.99 (x2)

OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK --- $124.99

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - OEM ------------------------------$30.99

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $149.99 (deal with below\/)

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply ---$119.99 (deal with above /\)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives ----------------------------- $94.99

Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler ---------------------------- $71.99

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail ---- $199.99

tell me what you think

 

[max1171]

ok looking at what shortstuff said...i like the motherboard he lists much better but i think i'd rather go with the two 260s instead of a 275 so do i need the bigger power supply still?

 

[jtmoney528]

ASUS ENGTX260 TOP/HTDI/896M GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card --- $194.99 (x2)

Go with that setup

 

[nun]

920

 

[hunter315]

You should keep the bigger PSU just to be safe, it might be cutting it a bit close to use 2 GTX260s on a 650 watt PSU especially if you are overclocking in the future. It is always best to have some headroom on your PSU selections.

 

[max1171]

ok so is asus a good card brand then...better than evga?

 

[max1171]

but i'm getting a 750w it says it above...

 

[hunter315]

If those ASUS cards are $195 a piece then they are super overpriced. They cost so much more because they are OC'ed from 576 to 650MHz. For $46 more total you can get 2 GTX275's which will greatly out perform the GTX 260's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150387
Or you can save $50 and get stocked clocked ones from XFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329
Or for $10 more you can get 2 4890s which will perform on par with the GTX275s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

Really i would suggest just get 1 GTX 275 or 1 4890 for now, if you need a second then get it, but the asus GTX 260s are way more expensive than they should be.

You will notice an XFX trend in my links because they provide a double lifetime warranty(for you and the person you may sell the card to)

 

[jtmoney528]

I use EVGA for my motherboards and video cards, I just have had great luck with them!