Future-resistant PC Build?

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Valkrinos

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Here's the current specs of my computer:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0ghz)
Asus A7N8X-E (I believe)
1gig ram (DDR-333...I believe...but I'm not 100% sure at the moment, if it matters, I can find the exact.)
200gig harddrive (probably a Maxtor or something)
1 TB Harddrive (Seagate)
DVD-ROM Drive
DVD-RW Drive
HIS Radeon 2600XT AGP w/ IceQ Turbo
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Limited Edition
LC-B350ATX 350W power supply


This computer has lasted me since late 2002 (with a few things upgraded here and there, naturally), and I know it's not really possible to "future proof" a PC, but, like how mine lasted me for so many years, I'm hoping I can build a computer soon that can last me a lot of years as well, if possible. (Thus, future-"resistant"). I've figured out some parts, but I have others I'm not sure about. I'm also not sure if I should trade the i7 out for an i7 Sandy Bridge (I had heard they were going to be better, but then I believe there was a recall of sorts, like something was wrong with them. However, I saw them in some builds lately, so maybe it got worked out?)


New Build form:

Approximate Purchase Date: Not sure at all. Within the next few months, hopefully. If some awesome hardware is coming out though, I could wait.


Budget Range: $1300-$1500, I suppose (not a fixed budget, however. I could go up, if need be.) (After Rebates)


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Warcraft III (So, yeah, not too intensive at the moment, but I could look into other games like Starcraft II and, when it comes out, Diablo III, for example)


Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD Drive, DVD Burner


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg (but I could buy from elsewhere, if the price is right)


Country of Origin: United States


Parts Preferences: None. Whichever works best.


Overclocking: Maybe some day. I don't want my build to focus on overclocking being necessary, but the possibility would be nice.


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe


Monitor Resolution: Not sure yet, seeing as I'll need a new monitor, and not sure of which one yet.


Additional Comments: Not absolutely necessary, but a quiet PC would be nice. Have lived with a very loud one for many years, so it would be a nice change.)

As for a video card, I wasn't sure if I should go the route of maybe getting a card that is able to be used in a dual-card manner, and just get 1 of them now, but get a 2nd one later, if I need more video card power, or if that is not a very good idea.

Sound Card, Case, Power Supply, and maybe even advanced cooling, possibly, are the other things that I can think of that could need upgrading. (Not sure if there is a lot of point to upgrading my sound card, but feel free to let me know if there is reason)

Feel free to upgrade any parts that you feel could be improved in some way. I'm just looking to make a PC that will last me a long while, like this one has.
 
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batuchka

batuchka

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HPrometheus

HPrometheus

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Sounds like you're pretty savvy, if for any reason you wanted some on-site support or some options, you can actually do ok over at HP. Take a look at the high performance PCs, they can be upgraded over time as well...http://goo.gl/7LALQ
 
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Valkrinos

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Ah, okay. Yeah, if the problem is fixed, Sandy Bridge definitely seems to be the way to go. I'm thinking I might go with a 2600K though.










Heh, yeah, the only thing is that it seems like parts keep getting better and better (naturally), so, it seems like if I wait til then, there'll probably be something even better on the horizon that I should wait for, and so on, and so on. I'm just getting tired of my comp going slow during some things and overheating though, so, it'd be really nice to get one soonish (unless I know exactly what build to wait for, and once it comes out, by it right away or something)
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/100?vs=288 <----- i7 950 vs i5 2500K

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ALI5KC/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER $109.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Antec Mid-Tower Gaming Case Nine Hundred Two V3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67X4B3&title=ASRock-P67-EXTREME4-B3-LGA1155-Intel-P67-B3-DDR3-Quad-SLI-Quad-CrossFireX-SATA3-USB3-0-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard $153.99
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 B3 LGA1155/ Intel P67 B3/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.618217 Combo Discount: -$8.00 Combo Price: $246.98
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604446 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $329.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 $17.99 Free shipping w/ promo code EMCKGJE65, ends 3/21
ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591429 ombo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $159.98 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009261 $139.99 FREE SHIPPING $10 off w/ promo code EMCKGJC46, ends 3/23
Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)

Total: $1,248.89 *not including shipping, rebates, promo codes, etc..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097 <---- more pics, specs, and customer reviews of that Antec Nine Hundred Two V3

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000116#axzz1EqpvWFEN <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1098/pg2/asrock-extreme4-p67-and-fatal1ty-professional-p67-vs-x58-with-core-i7-950-review-asrock-p67-extreme4.html <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4080/welcome-to-sandy-bridge-with-the-asrock-p67-extreme4 <--- Review before the latest bios...and it still smoked the Asus and Gigabyte boards :)

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Extreme4 <----- ASRock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard
 
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Valkrinos

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So it definitely seems best to get a Sandy Bridge processor, but I'm thinking of going for the i7-2600k. I have a feeling that people might say that you only need the i5 because you could overclock it enough to overshadow the i7, but I have not overclocked before, and if I do, I would want it to be something I could do on top of it already, not have it be something I'm required to do, basically. (I know I'm not required to, but you get what I mean, heh.) Plus, I found it for around $260 I believe, so it's not too much more than the i5 at Newegg.

Someone else had posted to wait for the new motherboards (Z68), and would you think I should as well? I'm not sure what the prices are going to be, but I could probably stand to wait a few more months if it is worth it.

Oh, and sorry about not being fully updated in my specs. I copy/pasted it from another thread on this website and had not fully updated things. Like I changed in my first post, I do have a 200gb and 1TB harddrives, and am looking into getting an SSD as my main in my next build. Do you (or anyone else) have recommendations for one? I've been possibly thinking about this one ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348 ), but I do wish I had even just a little more space, just in case, heh.

And also, I am good to go with DVD and DVD burner drives, which I forget to mention that I was good to go on those. Maybe a Blu Ray drive one day, but I'm okay at the moment.

Also, since I'm still using a CRT for my computer at the moment, is there a huge difference between 5ms and 2ms LCDs?
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288 <----- 2600K vs 2500K

For gaming, the 2500K would be the way to go imo.

The Z28 boards are only helpful if you plan on using the on board graphics.

For an SSD... OCZ, G.SKill, Corsair, or Mushkin are all good brands.
 
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nd_hunter

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Unless you do video encoding or use applications that take advantage of more than four threads the hyper-threading of the 2600k will go unused, effectively making your $330 CPU an overpriced 2500k. That $100+ savings could have a huge impact on a different component in your build.

Does your current DVD drive/burner use a SATA interface?

Why_me's suggestions are very solid. The only thing I would change is to delete the DVD drive and change the GTX 560Ti to a 2GB HD 6950...it has a similar price but is a bit more powerful. But then again, I also prefer AMD over nVIDIA, so take my suggestion with a grain of salt.

As far as response times go, I will tell you my experience. I had a Hanns-G 1680x1050 monitor with a 5ms response time. I recently bought an ASUS 1920x1080 LED monitor with a 2ms response time. The only thing noticeable is a better picture quality (crispness, richer colors). The only games I have played on both are Homefront and Crysis 2, but both are fast-paced FPS.
 
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Valkrinos

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Well, there's some place nearby that I can buy it from (and, not counting shipping, if I didn't pick it up in store) is $279.99, I believe, so, compared to the i5 at Newegg, it's only $55 more, so, I still figure it's worth it. It does appear faster, naturally, and I don't necessarily have a "strict" budget. Like I said, I've had this same computer now for about 8.5 years, so I definitely want to try to get something really fast that can hopefully last me til then. If I'm going to possibly have this for a long, long time, I think I can handle the extra $55 to get the top-of-the-line here. (Since I've heard this one can even out-game the super fast ones, at least at sometimes I suppose)

I'm gonna doubt, since it's been around a while, that it has an SATA interface, but I suppose I couldn't be 100% sure at the moment, but, I'm really betting it does not. Why do you ask?

Well, I currently have ATI (oh yeah, I guess it's just AMD now that they own them, huh?), but have had nVIDIA before, so I could go to whichever would be better. Do you think it's better to get one fast card (or dual cards for a comparable price), or, if I was looking to make this last, buy a really fast single card that can be used in a dual-card manner, and if I need more power a few years later, add another one like that? Or, would you figure in those few years I might wait, it would be terribly obsolete so much so that it'd be better off to just get an entirely new one?

It seems like it can't hurt if I go for the 2ms ones then. If I'm going to have it for a long time, might as well make it worth it. Heck, I'd probably keep this 17" CRT if only I could do higher than 1024x768 without it flickering at all. Which Asus monitor is that, and would you recommend it to others?





Yeah, like I previously said, I figure the extra $55 (or a little more if I had it shipped instead) is worth having the, top-of-the-line one here (or at least fairly close to top-of-the-line), as I don't have a strict budget persay or anything.

I've seen some SSDs from Crucial that seemed pretty good. What about them?
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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Crucial makes some good ones imo. Best way is to look at the "read times" and not so much the "write times" and then look at size and prices.
 
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nd_hunter

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Yeah, I would spring for it too in this case.




Because not all socket 1155 motherboards support legacy IDE drives. An OEM SATA DVD Burner is $20 shipped. You will have plenty of SATA cables bundled with your motherboard so don't worry about getting a retail boxed version.



Unless you plan on running 3 monitors, I would hold off on dual cards or a dual-gpu card. Just get one powerful single gpu card for now. I would recommend an HD 6950 ($250ish after rebate), HD 6970 ($315-$340 after rebate), a GTX 570 ($350ish after rebate), or if you want the best of the best, a GTX 580 ($500). Keep in mind, most current generation HD 6950s can be flashed to a 6970, or you can use a modified 6950 BIOS that will unlock the dormant shaders. Then, with a slight overclock it is essentially a 6970. An HD 6970 has comparible performance to a GTX 570. I would stay away from an HD 6990 or GTX 590 unless you want to water cool it.

I wouldn't go with an HD 5xxx series or GTX 4xx series card. They are soooo last year. Haha, seriously though...you are building a rig based on a very powerful, yet very efficient processor. Use a current generation GPU that is the same.



You are going to kick yourself for not going to a flat panel monitor sooner. Get this one and wear a helmet ('cause it'll blow your mind :ouch: ).


 
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Valkrinos

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Oh, okay, yeah, I might need to get a new DVD burner then. Probably a new DVD Drive as well? (Though, chances are I'd probably just get one drive that did both obviously, lol. I assume I bought this DVD Drive first, then found out I wanted a DVD burner later)

Yeah, gotta figure out the video card thing for sure. I don't think I need the super high end yet, but, definitely want something worthwhile to buy, you know?

Well I was actually looking at that one, or the standard LCD one. I've seen people talking about things like uneven lighting and such in the LED one, and, that you'd figure the LED one would be better, but then some ppl say "well it's just cheaper to make than LCDs, so that's why everything is shifting to it, but it's not better" or something, so I wasn't sure which to get, the LCD or the LED (or just get something else entirely). Looks nice though. I've just been getting by on this CRT and really want to make the monitor upgrade worth it. That's the monitor you have though? Do you sit pretty far from it? Haven't really used big monitors too much.
 
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