Computer build advice

[lavitz1125]

Well my first part came! The li lan lancool dark armour K-62 case, looks awesome! But i have some questions before i buy other parts

1.Motherboard
A- Asrock 870 Extreme3 motherboard http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_p...oducts_id=16045 Only has 2 PCI-E slots.
B- Or Asrock 890gx Extreme4 motherboard http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_p...oducts_id=15919 Has 3 PCI-E Slots. Which should i get?
C- Also ive looked at the case and it looks to have a little heat sink on the board near the end of the PCI-E slot, will that be a problem?

2.Graphics- Will a 6950 fit in my case?

I've ordered some other parts ,western digital cavair black One Terabyte hardive and lite on disc drive and 2 Led lamp ice cubes (lol?)

Anyway thanks for any help.

 

[g048989h]

Two different chip sets but both good boards. Comes down to if you'll ever run 3 cards, most people do not, few even run two. A 6950 will fit no problem. If you were looking at a 6950 I would tell you to measure BC those are longer cards but the 6850 is shorter, usually under 9.5".
Most MB's have a HS on the chip sets, some are taller than others, but usually the NB is the larger HS and I havent run into issues with the SB heatsink getting in the way of the VC. Have never run two. Sometimes a second card (Or long 1st card) will block access to SATA but unless HS is very tall on SB chip you should be OK

 

[drewtech]

I have the same case myself and it I love it for its looks/quality/excellent tool-less features
The motherboard is entirely up to you and based on whether you want 2 or 3-way crossfire.
The case can handle a 12" card and the 6950 and 6970 are 10.5"

 

[lavitz1125]

g04, you're post i didn't quiet understand

Drewtech though, i understand completly, i measured it wrong also, so that didn't help. Thanks for the help, I know i sound like a utter noob, but i want to make sure i get the right parts before i go spend 1000$ Drew another question, Will any power supply fit in there, i was thinking of a corsair 750W model, so not a 1000W or anything.

EDIT: also one other thing im really confused about, monitors, i want a really good one, eying an AOC model Contrast Ratio: 50,000,000:1 (DCR). Now they have two models im looking at a 20' and 21.5' now are these good for gaming? I like big monitors but im ok if there not gigantic.
20' http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1094&products_id=16242

21.5' http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1094&products_id=16292

 

[drewtech]

Yes, any ATX power supply will fit. I actually have the Corsair 750TX myself...

I think g04 was saying that you can block SATA ports with long video cards. To remedy this, some motherboards have angled SATA ports. The 870 Extreme3 you are looking at has angled SATA ports, and the Extreme4 has moved the SATA ports so they don't get blocked so both boards will not block any SATA ports.

As far as monitors I'm no expert, but you will definitely want at least 1920x1080. I've never used an LED monitor so I can't comment on it.

 

[batuchka]

6950CF is far from a power hogger despite being near the top of the food chain as far as dual GPU set ups are concerned so a quality 700-750W 80+ PSU and it's all good In fact i am thinking 650W would be fine

 

[drewtech]

Agreed with batuchka. This XFX 650W is the what I would get from that site.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_979&products_id=13160

 

[lavitz1125]

Thanks for the help, any adivice on monitor's?
Also, which is better XFX or Corsair, heard good about both brands.

EDIT: Considering not getting the XFX power supply because of its limited 4 pin cables, reviews say it has 4, while the corsair im looking at has 8x and 12x sata alot more then the XFX.

The XFX looks awesome, and would be cool to get it, but i dont want to get it for the looks whats you're opinion? I'll check my case too see how many fans i have, there all 4pins i think.

Checked the case, it has 4 fans all molex/4pins or what ever its called. So XFX is still in the cards, but Corsair im leaning towards, adivce?

Argh this is annoying, just check a review for the 650W, was looking at a 750W before, and it says it has six, can some one give me a 100% sure answer on how many there are on the 750W model? It seems odd they would put less, also how many 6pins/6+8pins there are? Im quite confused.

More edits: My case requires four, 4pin peripheral cables, i have four fans, one at the back, one at the front, and two up the top. Are LED fans a problem?

 

[drewtech]

Here is an in depth review of that XFX unit. It has (6) SATA, (6) Molex, (3) 6+2 pin, (1) 6 pin.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=181

All the case fans for my PC-K62 came with 3-pin connectors for the motherboard. There was (1) 3-pin to molex adapter that came with the case to connect a case fan to the psu. The rest of the fans had to connect to my motherboard.

Both units will serve your purposes just fine.

Edit: BTW, I would get the Extreme3 mobo. The video card slots have a bigger gap between them on the Extreme3, and the 3rd video card slot on the Extreme4 is only a 4x lane so It wouldn't give very good performance with crossfire.

Are you sure they are 4pin molex? I have the same case as you and they were all 3-pin pwm fans.

 

[lavitz1125]

Here is an in depth review of that XFX unit. It has (6) SATA, (6) Molex, (3) 6+2 pin, (1) 6 pin.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=181

All the case fans for my PC-K62 came with 3-pin connectors for the motherboard. There was (1) 3-pin to molex adapter that came with the case to connect a case fan to the psu. The rest of the fans had to connect to my motherboard.

Both units will serve your purposes just fine.

Edit: BTW, I would get the Extreme3 mobo. The video card slots have a bigger gap between them on the Extreme3, and the 3rd video card slot on the Extreme4 is only a 4x lane so It wouldn't give very good performance with crossfire.

Odd, are you sure about the case?
Also i do want the 750W for future upgrades.

Pictures, direct links because of the size of the pictures, also camera for what ever reason that day wasnt focusing right.
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii319/lavitz_1125/Computer%20Building/?action=view&current=DSCN0017.jpg
http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii319/lavitz_1125/Computer%20Building/?action=view&current=DSCN0016.jpg
Forgot this photo http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii319/lavitz_1125/Computer%20Building/?action=view&current=DSCN0009.jpg
Why can't this be simple

 

[drewtech]

Hmmm... I guess our fans our different then lol. Anyways go ahead and get the 750w if you want a little extra headroom. You can connect more than 1 molex to a single plug. So you might have four fans, but only use 2 molex plugs. Your fans will run at 100% but it shouldn't be a problem because they fairly quiet.

I'm guessing you plan on getting a single 6950 now and another sometime later?

 

[lavitz1125]

Yeah sometime in the far future, when the card starts loosing its..greatness, i had a thought though, my fans are pluged into the molex's maybe i can detach them?

 

[drewtech]

Some of the fans looked like they had molex adapters on them. You could see if they unplug.

 

[lavitz1125]

I'll give that a go. Anyway i have no other items that need molex.

Well lets go down the check list

Case Lancool dark armour k62-check-Bought-arived
motherboard Ascool Extreme3 -Check-Not bought
CPU-Unsure- most likely AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Ram-Unsure- Not sure, thinking of corsair.
Hardrive-Western Digital cavair black 1TB- ordered
Disc drive- Liteon 24X DVD drive- Ordered
Power supply- Most likely XFX 750W
Monitor- thinking of the AOC White Razor E2243FW 21.5 Inch Widescreen LED Monitor Contrast Ratio: 50,000,000:1 (DCR)
Keyboard- Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard
Mouse-Logitech MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse bought it before how cool i relised razers MMO mouse is.
Speakers Logitech suround sound kit, not sure of name
I think thats all i need, anyone care to comment?

 

[evongugg]

This one has HDCP if you want to look at Blu Ray.

Acer G225HQBD 21.5in Widescreen LCD Monitor $149

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1094&products_id=13936

 

[lavitz1125]

This one has HDCP if you want to look at Blu Ray.

Acer G225HQBD 21.5in Widescreen LCD Monitor $149

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1094&products_id=13936

No, i will not be watching blu ray on my computer, and the monitor does not have the same Contrase Ratio, so il be going with the AOC model.

This is pretty much my last question, Cheap, but reliable ram?

Oh and also is the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T good CPU for gaming? What it to be X6 for the future.

 

[drewtech]

4 gigs of ram is sufficient for gaming. ddr3 1600 cas9 from either corsair, gskill, or mushkin. I've heard that tall heatspreaders on the ram don't really help with overclocking, but they can get in the way of the cpu hsf if you decide to get an aftermarket one.

The Phenom II X6 generally perform the same in gaming as the Phenom II X4 if they are clocked the same.

 

[lavitz1125]

4 gigs of ram is sufficient for gaming. ddr3 1600 cas9 from either corsair, gskill, or mushkin. I've heard that tall heatspreaders on the ram don't really help with overclocking, but they can get in the way of the cpu hsf if you decide to get an aftermarket one.

The Phenom II X6 generally perform the same in gaming as the Phenom II X4 if they are clocked the same.

I'm not into overclocking, and an aftermarket cooler i wont be getting since its cold down here, and i dont overclock.

 

[drewtech]

I would get the X4 965 if you weren't doing any overclocking. It will be better than the 1055t at gaming since it is 600Mhz faster

 

[lavitz1125]

K what about future proofness? Which will last longer as a good processer?

 

[drewtech]

It depends on what you intend to do with your computer. If gaming is your main concern then their useful lifespan will be about equal. If you do video editing or other things that can already make use of the 6 cores the 1055t might be worth it.

Basically, by the time the 965 is considered too outdated, the 1055 will be too. If you are willing to wait a few weeks, I believe Intel's new Sandybridge line is debuting and it is supposed to be pretty good.

 

[g048989h]

BUT, if you stay with AMD you might benifit from the fact that AMD has a long history of brining out new sockets that are backwards compatible meaning you can run newer or brand new cpu's in an older motherboard. That is one reason I have been an AMD guy for a while now. IMO that makes an AMD platform pretty freakin future proof. Although you can not ignor the INTEL performance advantages.
Any I cn clearly see that your case fans have molex adapter plugged into three pin leads so as long as you have enough MB fan connectors, or don't mind using Y adapters you could run your fans off the motherboard. I typically stick with molex though. I prefer to run fans off PSU and lighten the load off the MB power. Thats just a personal thing

 

[lavitz1125]

Hmm ok, thanks. I think im really done now. I know what i need/want, im gunna go with the 4core processer, because of its ghz's (LOL). its only 10$ more but meh. Thanks again!

I will post pictures when im done.

 

[lavitz1125]

Best answer selected by lavitz1125.