It's been five years since I built PCs for me and my wife and they are showing their age. This is the third set I am building for each other. I usually build towards the top end and run them into the ground. I'm not into replacing parts unless they die. When I want to upgrade it's usually everything. The differences between the builds with be [1] mine [2] hers.
I am currently upgrading two machines with the following specs:
Cases/PS: Tsunami VA3000 w/450w PS
Motherboards: Asus K8N-E Delux
CPUs: AMD Athlon 64 3.4G
Graphics Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6800s
Memory [1]2G, [2]1.5G
The rest is pretty basic with WD hard drives (7200 RPM, 16MB), dvd writer optical drives, etc.
Basically we both are going to spend around 2K each. I am going over because of the graphics card and my wife asked where she can "cut" corners. So both systems will not be identical. Basically this is where I will be asking advice. I don't mind cutting corners for her since this is the first time she is actually helping to pay for the systems! But I want to make it smart choices when "cutting" corners. I told her anything I build will be an extreme upgrade from our current systems.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Can build both machines now. At least hoping too!
BUDGET RANGE: [1] Over $2000, [2] Under $2000
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: [1] gaming (EQ, EQII and now WoW, but want to get back into regular PC games), photo editing/graphic design with Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., watching videos, programming/developing, music, surfing, email, im, ect. [2] Photo editing is her number one thing now with Photoshop Elements. The rest she mostly does it surf, LiveJournal, Facebook, and plays WoW erratically (around a third or less of what I play). We keep talking about getting something more that an Flip video camera, so I would be the one to edit videos. Probably next year.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I'm pretty open, but Amazon with Preferred shipping and no tax! Newegg.com or any reputable site that comes up in Google. I've built my last two sets of PCs from a local shop in San Diego, which has great prices if using your debit card at Chips and Memory
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES:
CPU: [1]Core i7 950 [2]Core i7 920 I figure downgrading her shouldn't hurt too much with performance and can save around $270.
Graphics [1] I'm pretty much set on Radeon HD 5970 and truthfully will want to crossfire another one in a year or so. I program during the day and gaming is my outlet now (when the kids go to bed. [2]Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 I've been reading this is the best value for a budget. She only plays WoW for a month then stops for two or so. The rest she is editing photos. Thought this would be a good card to start with and if she want to upgrade or get another and crossfire in a year or so she can.
Memory: I'm biased towards Kingston, but open to suggestions: Kingston HyperX 6GB DDR3-2000 For myself I was thinking about getting two kits for a total of 12G, but starting to thing that is overkill and can always add more later.
Motherboard: This has been the hardest to decide. I've had mostly ASUS mobos, but had others and open to suggestions. I've been leaning towards the Asus P6T series, but having trouble deciding. For myself I am thinking about the ASUS P6X58D Premium, which is supposed to have USB 3.0 support. I was originally thinking of the ASUS PST Deluxe for both of us. I've been going back and forth on this for a few weeks now.
Hard drives: [1]Western Digital 300GB Veloci-Raptor for boot and apps (For gaming). For my data and her drives: Two Western Digital 1 TB. 7200 RPM, Black Edition in a Raid 0 config.
PSU: Open for this: I know I need at least something like the Thermaltake 1000w TR2. Not sure if it could handle two HD 5970s. For her basically the same if she want to crossfire another card in a year.
Cases Again open to suggestion. It just needs to fit two monster graphic cards! Chips and Memory have some nice "gaming" style cases. But as long as it fits my hardware, has many fans, and is either black or silver, its good by me. LED light is nice, but not mandatory.
OVERCLOCKING: Yes... Was maybe, but this tread convinced me it's safer to overclock now. *Guide to Choosing Parts*
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 Both are HD compatable
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Just thanks in advance for taking the time in reading this. The mobos are the biggest bottle neck in deciding a final build. All my friends went Mac, but with Windows 7, I decided to try one more PC build again! As in the beginning, I usually try to build systems that will last for a couple of years until everything is outdated. Usually more that two years.
FYI... I have some Logitech Z Cinema speakers that sound awesome, but the USB type connection and driver/software are not the best. If you have a suggestion on a good speaker system (Usually I look for 2.1 since 5.1 does not make sense when you get get the "rear/side" speakers in the right place on a desk.) Before I bought these, I was seriously thinking of getting the Bose 2.1, but for the price?
I am currently upgrading two machines with the following specs:
Cases/PS: Tsunami VA3000 w/450w PS
Motherboards: Asus K8N-E Delux
CPUs: AMD Athlon 64 3.4G
Graphics Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6800s
Memory [1]2G, [2]1.5G
The rest is pretty basic with WD hard drives (7200 RPM, 16MB), dvd writer optical drives, etc.
Basically we both are going to spend around 2K each. I am going over because of the graphics card and my wife asked where she can "cut" corners. So both systems will not be identical. Basically this is where I will be asking advice. I don't mind cutting corners for her since this is the first time she is actually helping to pay for the systems! But I want to make it smart choices when "cutting" corners. I told her anything I build will be an extreme upgrade from our current systems.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Can build both machines now. At least hoping too!
BUDGET RANGE: [1] Over $2000, [2] Under $2000
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: [1] gaming (EQ, EQII and now WoW, but want to get back into regular PC games), photo editing/graphic design with Photoshop, Illustrator, etc., watching videos, programming/developing, music, surfing, email, im, ect. [2] Photo editing is her number one thing now with Photoshop Elements. The rest she mostly does it surf, LiveJournal, Facebook, and plays WoW erratically (around a third or less of what I play). We keep talking about getting something more that an Flip video camera, so I would be the one to edit videos. Probably next year.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I'm pretty open, but Amazon with Preferred shipping and no tax! Newegg.com or any reputable site that comes up in Google. I've built my last two sets of PCs from a local shop in San Diego, which has great prices if using your debit card at Chips and Memory
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES:
CPU: [1]Core i7 950 [2]Core i7 920 I figure downgrading her shouldn't hurt too much with performance and can save around $270.
Graphics [1] I'm pretty much set on Radeon HD 5970 and truthfully will want to crossfire another one in a year or so. I program during the day and gaming is my outlet now (when the kids go to bed. [2]Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 I've been reading this is the best value for a budget. She only plays WoW for a month then stops for two or so. The rest she is editing photos. Thought this would be a good card to start with and if she want to upgrade or get another and crossfire in a year or so she can.
Memory: I'm biased towards Kingston, but open to suggestions: Kingston HyperX 6GB DDR3-2000 For myself I was thinking about getting two kits for a total of 12G, but starting to thing that is overkill and can always add more later.
Motherboard: This has been the hardest to decide. I've had mostly ASUS mobos, but had others and open to suggestions. I've been leaning towards the Asus P6T series, but having trouble deciding. For myself I am thinking about the ASUS P6X58D Premium, which is supposed to have USB 3.0 support. I was originally thinking of the ASUS PST Deluxe for both of us. I've been going back and forth on this for a few weeks now.
Hard drives: [1]Western Digital 300GB Veloci-Raptor for boot and apps (For gaming). For my data and her drives: Two Western Digital 1 TB. 7200 RPM, Black Edition in a Raid 0 config.
PSU: Open for this: I know I need at least something like the Thermaltake 1000w TR2. Not sure if it could handle two HD 5970s. For her basically the same if she want to crossfire another card in a year.
Cases Again open to suggestion. It just needs to fit two monster graphic cards! Chips and Memory have some nice "gaming" style cases. But as long as it fits my hardware, has many fans, and is either black or silver, its good by me. LED light is nice, but not mandatory.
OVERCLOCKING: Yes... Was maybe, but this tread convinced me it's safer to overclock now. *Guide to Choosing Parts*
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 Both are HD compatable
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Just thanks in advance for taking the time in reading this. The mobos are the biggest bottle neck in deciding a final build. All my friends went Mac, but with Windows 7, I decided to try one more PC build again! As in the beginning, I usually try to build systems that will last for a couple of years until everything is outdated. Usually more that two years.
FYI... I have some Logitech Z Cinema speakers that sound awesome, but the USB type connection and driver/software are not the best. If you have a suggestion on a good speaker system (Usually I look for 2.1 since 5.1 does not make sense when you get get the "rear/side" speakers in the right place on a desk.) Before I bought these, I was seriously thinking of getting the Bose 2.1, but for the price?