Father/son computer-build project-double check us (please)

[ubie]

Hey Guys,

I need to run this by the experts here to see if I'm good to go-it's a father/son summer project and I just want to make sure we're squared away before we get going on it.

Any & all comments/suggestions will be greatly appreciated-just dumb it down as neither of us are techies (we just wear sunglasses and look cool.)

Sincerely,

ubie

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130549

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046

Thermal Compound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

 

[Kramer0526]

Looks good, but get this CPU/Mobo Combo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.369319&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3899435&SID=skim1402X558040

You may also want to invest in a solid state drive (to load OS and games on) and/or triple channel memory.

Good Luck!

 

[ubie]

Good suggestion concerning the combo.

What do you suggest as far as the solid state drive goes?

One difference my son and I have concerns the case-I posted his choice, this is mine;

http://store.nvidia.com/store/nvidia/en_US/pd/productID.58708300?resid=S-htIQoBAkgAAGI8xJsAAAA4&rests=1274572064358#

Any thoughts? Price-wise they're about the same. Performance?

Again, thanks for your imput.

ubie

 

[Kramer0526]

That's the corsair 800d right? I'm actually in the middle of building a PC in one of those right now. I can't testify for the longevity of the construction, however it appears to be very solidly constructed and has some great features like the hot swappable bays, plenty of space and room for fans, dust filter, tool-less entry, great cable management, etc. Really though, either one of those will work, I'm sure they're both fantastic cases. If you're going with air cooling you mostly want to focus on a solid CPU cooler (see below) and moving plenty of air through the case. You'll acheive that by having plenty of case fans positioned correctly and neat cable routing.

For SSD I'm using an OCZ Vertex Series 100Gb. If that's too much, look for a smaller capacity version, and also look at other drives as well.

For CPU cooling and the i7 I would recommend something along the lines of the Noctua NH-D14 or Prolimatech Megahalems (what I'm using with dual fan setup) off the top of my head. Of course, you can do research and see how those stack up against some of there competitors, but they are both very high end CPU coolers and should give you a great cooling.

 

[fastx21]

Someone before complained about airflow (management) in the corsair 800d, as such it's a liquid cooling case. So if that's what you were planning to do I suggest you spend less then half the amount and get something else.

Why not just get an i7 930. It's a few bucks more.

I'm more of an ati fan but if you like then 470 is good.

Don't get the WD Black, get a spinpoint F3 or seagate 7200.12

The ram is not compatible. Get the G.skill PI seies 6gb, cas7 no less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231335&cm_re=g.skill_pi_series-_-20-231-335-_-Product

As recommended the Notctua NH-D14 will work better. And as far as lubes go I prefer Artic MX-2 but it's up to you. Artic silver 5 is a bit dated and there are alot more options out there.


edit:

btw you guys might want a Dvd drive. Just a suggestion .

 

[ashergill]

I'm trying to put together my first system as well, and will just throw in a couple of recs from my research:

For the case, CM ATCS 840 has great reviews; if you haven't considered it, perhaps you might do some research on it.

Samsung Spinpoint 7200rpm 1 TB HDDs are currently on sale ($20 off) at Newegg - will come out cheaper than what you've picked.

+1 for Noctua NH-D14 - reviewed very well all over the place, but it is huge. Another plus is that it comes with fans as well as thermal paste.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your build.

 

[brennon7]

+1 for the combo...

Why spend soo much on the case? I would go with a Haf 922 it's $90 and FREE shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf_922-_-11-119-197-_-Product

that saves you $200

As stated you need triple channel RAM. ie 6gb at 3x2 or 3gb at 3x1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225&cm_re=g_skill_1600_ddr3-_-20-231-225-_-Product

As stated get the 7200.12 seagate hard drives 500gb or 1tb

with the money you saved on a case you could upgrade to the GTX 480 or 5870

get a cheap dvd-rw

 

[builderbobftw]

I would get a HAF-922 and upgraqde the GPU to a GTX 480.

 

[ubie]

Thanks guys-we appreciate your input. The consensus seems to downgrade the case, huh? I don't know-my feelings is that it would be great to save the bucks but it would also be nice to showcase your computer in a cool case too. Also, nobody seems to back me on the Nvidia case-how come?

 

[builderbobftw]

^ Cuase the HAF-922 is a better idea. And a cheaper one.

And deffniataly upgrade GPU to a 480.

Also, if you have a microcenter near you, the i7-930 is 200$ there.

 

[brennon7]

Case preference is a personal choice here is how mine looks Haf 922

I take performance over looks and that case you have selected is HUGE!!!

 

[samdsox]

gota agree with builderbobftw(damn you stole all my suggestions except for one) look into a 5870. I am not saying switch to it. but it is cheaper, uses less power, and i am ati fan like fast.

 

[blu3flannel]

Like others have said, downgrade the case to a HAF 922 or something and go with a GTX 480. Since it's newer, it has been more refined to perform much better in tessellation and general DX11 technologies than the 5870 and its younger brother, the GTX 470. That's just my two cents, but I think it's worth looking into.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You'll want 3 x 2Gb RAM

AS5 takes 200 hours (equivalent of up to one year of normal use to cure.

In future, plz list component names not just links.

Otherwise here's some performance / money saving alternatives. And I just did the father / son thing w/ my 19 year old in October ...was rewarding:

Case / PSU - Antec 1200 w/ CP-850 $260
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.387490

Why ? - For the money you can't match the CP-850 with anything. The HX850 from Corsair and XFX Black Edition are as good electrically, but the CP is quieter and almost half the price.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article971-page7.html
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=142

MoBo / CPU - Asus P6X58D-E w/ i7-930 $514
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.378938

Why ? - Same board w/o the dual LAN, faster current generation CPU (930 essentially replaced 920) and $60 cheaper

RAM - You want low profile (no tall heat spreaders) DDR3-1600 at lowest CAS you can afford
$239 CAS 6 (6-8-6-24) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226121
$199 CAS 7 (7-8-7-20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030
$199 CAS 7 (7-8-7-20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286

There are cheaper CAS 7's but either have tall heat spreaders or slower timings

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The 2 TB WD Black and XT from Seagate are good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

Look at the tests that reflect your usage and choose accordingly.

Monitor - ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" 1920 x 1200 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor $279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236047

Why ? - Once you play at 1920 x 1080 and have those extra 120 pixels at bottom for access to the rest of your programs / system ya won't give it up.

GFX Card - ASUS ENGTX470/2DI/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) w/ Free ASUS DVD burner $350
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121372

Why - well you wanted it to begin and it does beat the 5850 in 8 outta 9 DX11 benches (1920 x 1200 his settings) and has lower dollars per frame ..... w/ but two reasons for the Asus:

1. It comes w/ free DVD burner saving $25
2. Let MoBo tech support try and tell you it's a video card problem of visa versa

Note: W/ current drivers, the 5850 performs better under Dx10

If you get a 2nd 470, grab two of these to provide some aux. cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209011

CPU Cooler - Prolimatech Megahalems ($65) w/ IC Diamond 7 karat Thermal Compound ($7) & PWM fan ($11)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8807/cpu-pro-01/Prolimatech_Megahalems_Rev_B_Intel_CPU_Heatsink_LGA_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3_Hot_Item.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7038/thr-41/Innovation_Cooling_Diamond_7_Carat_Thermal_Compound_-_15_Grams.html?id=BZWnrfIC
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10026/fan-639/Scythe_Slip_Stream_120mm_x_25mm_PWM_Fan_-_SY1225SL12LM-P.html?tl=g36c365s936

If you are gonna do some serious overclocking (yeah this is the father / son fun part) , get a 2nd PWM fan and one of these so you can plug both into the MoBo.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8418/cab-150/FrozenCPU_PMW_Y_Splitter_Cable.html

Why - ?

1. It's just so easy to install.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=432&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=23

Using the best mounting system I've ever tested, this cooler delivers extraordinary contact surface pressure between the processor and polished finish on the heatsink base.

2. It kicks butt:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=492&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

Intel-LGA1366 CPU Cooler - Thermal Difference - Advantage

ProlimaTech Megahalems 24.29°C over ambient -4°C
Thermalright Venomous-X 24.47°C over ambient -4°C
Scythe Mugen-2 SCMG-2000 26.03°C over ambient -3°C
Cogage Arrow 26.53°C over ambient -3°C
Titan FENRIR TTC-NK85TZ 27.92°C over ambient -1°C
Zalman CNPS10X-Performa 28.08°C over ambient -1°C
Coolink Corator-DS 28.38°C over ambient -1°C
Cogage TRUE Spirit 28.39°C over ambient -1°C
Noctual NH-D14 (2x 140) 29.10°C over ambient
ProlimaTech Armageddon 29.26°C over ambient
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 29.40°C over ambient
CyberPowerPC XtremeGear HP-1216B 29.42°C over ambient
3R-System IceAge Prima Boss-II IA-120B2 29.46°C over ambient
Tuniq Tower-120 Extreme 29.52°C over ambient
Intel DBX-B ATS (Performance) 29.65°C over ambient
Xigmatek Balder SD1283 CAC-SXHH3-U06 30.00°C over ambient +1°C
Xigmatek Thor's Hammer S126384 30.76°C over ambient +1°C
Noctua NH-U12P 31.68°C over ambient +2°C
Thermaltake Contac-29 CLP0568 32.60°C over ambient +3°C

 

[builderbobftw]

^ Jack, the build realy realy needs a GTX 480 at that budget/

 

[ubie]

Best answer selected by ubie.

 

[ubie]

Thanks guys for all the input-that's why I love this place..........great advice/suggestions, etc.
JacknaylorPE-WOW!
Again, thanks all!