1. #1
    Deleted

    Building my first comp, your thoughts..

    Hi,

    I've decided to build my first computer as my laptop is nearly four years old. This build would be used primarily for gaming, tell me your thoughts on it.

    1 x case (Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Chassis )
    1 x processor (Intel i7-950 Quad-Core Processor (3.06 GHz, 8MB Cache, Socket 1366)
    1 x processor cooling (Corsair CWCH70 Water Cooler)
    1 x memory (Corsair GT 6GB [2GB x 3] Dominator DDR3, 1866MHz)
    2 x video card (XFX Radeon HD 5870 - 1GB, 850Mhz)
    1 x Mobo (ASUS Rampage III Extreme ROG - X58 - Socket 1366 - DDR3)
    1 x Power Supply (Corsair 750W power supply)
    1 x HDD (Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Disk Drive)

  2. #2
    I guess i'll start with the usual, go sandy bridge CPU instead of first gen. i5 2500K is best price/performance chip on the market.
    Not too sure about the water cooling and the GPU.
    And are you building it, or getting it built for you? Also need a price of it all, to know whether your getting ripped off or not (and also so we can make recommendations on other parts that still fit your budget).

  3. #3
    Grunt
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    Yes get a sandy bridge board, 1155 socket, I think you would be much happier with it, if you do that you should get some dual channel ram as well

  4. #4
    Get a 550 watt Power Supply such as this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371020

    750 watts is overkill for this particular build.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    for the parts i've listed price is £1,338.63, but my budget is £1500, and yes im building it myself. thanks for your comments also

  6. #6
    Grunt
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    Id Say keep the 750w for future upgrades or in case you want to add a second video card, might as well do a little future proofing

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by aaranu View Post
    Id Say keep the 750w for future upgrades or in case you want to add a second video card, might as well do a little future proofing
    But that's just the problem, isn't it? "Buy it for future headroom in case of a second graphics card", sure, you all say it, but how many people actually do that? Very few, and why? Because they just don't get around to it. It's smarter to get a power supply that fits your build now rather than for something that -might- happen 3 or 4 years later. 550 watts can power any single GPU solution out there as well as some SLI/Crossfire setups with room to spare. Also, the OP never specified going crossfire or anything like that, so I find it somewhat pointless to consider it an option unless they absolutely plan to do so.
    Last edited by Nejji; 2011-04-05 at 04:22 AM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Nejji View Post
    But that's just the problem, isn't it? "Buy it for future headroom in case of a second graphics card", sure, you all say it, but how many people actually do that? Very few, and why? Because they just don't get around to it. It's smarter to get a power supply that fits your build now rather than for something that -might- happen 3 or 4 years later. 550 watts can power any single GPU solution out there as well as some SLI/Crossfire setups with room to spare. Also, the OP never specified going crossfire or anything like that, so I find it somewhat pointless to consider it an option unless they absolutely plan to do so.
    PSUs degrade over time, buying an overkill PSU is always better in the long run no matter how you look at it.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Stefy View Post
    PSUs degrade over time, buying an overkill PSU is always better in the long run no matter how you look at it.
    This is irrelevant with quality power supplies. The capacitors used in them will outlive the life of the PSU as they are rated for far higher amperage and temperatures than they ever see during use.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Nejji View Post
    This is irrelevant with quality power supplies. The capacitors used in them will outlive the life of the PSU as they are rated for far higher amperage and temperatures than they ever see during use.
    It's not irrelevant. You will put more stress on a 650w PSU if your system is using 550+ than if you had a 750w unit. Less heat and longer life. My opinion though, I know a lot of people disagree. Each to their own

  11. #11
    Grunt
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    Well, the OP said he is under budget atm and he is asking for advice, we are suggesting that he should perhaps get a 750w, just some friendly feedback, and how much more expensive is a quality 750w over a quality 550w.

  12. #12
    Indeed, however you must realize that quality PSU's are built to run their maximum rated wattage continuously over their lifetime. It will not hurt the unit any more than if you ran it at lower capacity, they're not toys. :P

  13. #13
    I am Murloc! Xuvial's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nejji View Post
    But that's just the problem, isn't it? "Buy it for future headroom in case of a second graphics card", sure, you all say it, but how many people actually do that? Very few, and why? Because they just don't get around to it. It's smarter to get a power supply that fits your build now rather than for something that -might- happen 3 or 4 years later. 550 watts can power any single GPU solution out there as well as some SLI/Crossfire setups with room to spare. Also, the OP never specified going crossfire or anything like that, so I find it somewhat pointless to consider it an option unless they absolutely plan to do so.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ruction View Post
    2 x video card (XFX Radeon HD 5870 - 1GB, 850Mhz)
    Interesting how so many people missed this :P

    Alright, Ruction. That build is honestly something you would go with a year ago, not today
    1) HAF 922 is a massive dust magnet. I would personally go with a CM 690 II Advanced, but if you like the HAF's looks then up to you
    2) i7 950 is old news now, step onboard the Sandy Bridge train and get yourself an i5 2500k.
    3) No need for expensive/risky watercooling setups with Sandy Bridge CPU's, you should be able to get a top-notch overclock with a decent air cooler.
    4) Since Sandy Bridge is dual-channel, you can go with 4gb or 8gb RAM.
    5) Here's where things get tricky...dual 5870's aren't really a good option today due to emperatures/power and scaling. Now HD6870....although it gets beaten by a 5870 in single-gpu configurations, it scoots ahead in crossfire due to their insane scaling.
    But STARTING your build with a multi-gpu setup isn't the best idea either since later down the road you'll have to throw away both cards when you upgrade. It's better to get an excellent single card now (and avoid any potential hassles of multi-gpu setups), and then think about getting a second card later.
    Personally I would purchase a single HD6970 or GTX580 now, equip myself with a 850w+ PSU for SLI/Crossfire and go from there :P
    6) Do you really need a super-expensive motherboard? An Asus P8P67 PRO should be more than enough...or you could go for a Deluxe if you really wanted.
    7) PSU - this ties in with your graphics setup.
    8) Good HDD

    offtopic: I bought an HD5770 last year (back when 58xx and GTX4xx series were out) due to being limited by my tiny budget and having a 450w PSU :P. Sadly my faithful 5770 will be seeing it's last days, for it has no place in my *proper* upcoming gaming rig.
    Today I realize that if I had more money back then and gone with a HD4890, GTX460 1gb, or HD5870, or something more expensive...I would've definitely carried it into my next build instead of bothering to buy a new card, then I could've waited for the HD7000 or GTX600 series instead. So today now that I do have the money, I'm not going to cheap-out on graphics and just go right away for a GTX580 :P
    Last edited by Xuvial; 2011-04-05 at 04:59 AM.
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  14. #14
    Alright, I can't read, I just skimmed it looking for the name of the card itself. Dual 5870's would do well on a good 650 watt PSU such as the Seasonic X650. My mistake =/

  15. #15
    On the PSU issue, I've been the kind to buy a PSU that "fits" my machine. Problem I've found is, when upgrading to new hardware(like new video cards), I've found that I've also had to upgrade my PSU as well. Years ago I had a 8800GT so I bought a 520w PSU. I ended up upgrading the video card a year and a half later and got a 4870HD. My 520w was a cheap one, so I also bought a 600w PSU to make sure my computer would be fine as I added extra fans and HDs after that. Problem with that was, a year and a half later I just upgraded to a GTX 570, and while my current PSU runs it, it's just slightly under the recommended PSU requirements for the 12v rail. I can't overclock the card at all without getting restarts, and my PSU is running hotter than I've ever seen it.

    I just bought a 1,000w PSU, 80 Certified, that was on sale on Newegg for $150(Modular too!) to finally stop this nonsense. I probably wouldn't have had to buy a new one now if I had went a little overkill after my cheap 520w. Instead of just buying a good quality 600w, I should have bought an excellent quality 750w+ with a lot of juice on the 12v rails, which would have probably saved me money(and not had to order extra parts).

    I'm not saying go all out on your PSU, but I'd buy one that could handle some future upgrades, like new video cards.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Nejji View Post
    Get a 550 watt Power Supply such as this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371020

    750 watts is overkill for this particular build.
    Overkill powersupply? You be trolling!

    Thats like saying I don't want to overkill on cake, or I don't want to get a girl friend thats too pretty, WTF you on?

    But in all seriousness the PSU isn't really about the wattage its about quality, I would say the best ones are OCZ.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Knightsun View Post
    On the PSU issue, I've been the kind to buy a PSU that "fits" my machine. Problem I've found is, when upgrading to new hardware(like new video cards), I've found that I've also had to upgrade my PSU as well. Years ago I had a 8800GT so I bought a 520w PSU. I ended up upgrading the video card a year and a half later and got a 4870HD. My 520w was a cheap one, so I also bought a 600w PSU to make sure my computer would be fine as I added extra fans and HDs after that. Problem with that was, a year and a half later I just upgraded to a GTX 570, and while my current PSU runs it, it's just slightly under the recommended PSU requirements for the 12v rail. I can't overclock the card at all without getting restarts, and my PSU is running hotter than I've ever seen it.

    I just bought a 1,000w PSU, 80 Certified, that was on sale on Newegg for $150(Modular too!) to finally stop this nonsense. I probably wouldn't have had to buy a new one now if I had went a little overkill after my cheap 520w. Instead of just buying a good quality 600w, I should have bought an excellent quality 750w+ with a lot of juice on the 12v rails, which would have probably saved me money(and not had to order extra parts).

    I'm not saying go all out on your PSU, but I'd buy one that could handle some future upgrades, like new video cards.
    It sounds to me like both of the previous units were solidly mediocre. Any single GPU setup can be power easily (with overclocking) on a good 550 watt PSU. 600 watts should easily have been enough to power an overclocked GTX 570, but as I've said the PSU likely lacked in quality and couldn't deliver near its rated wattage. The fact that it got very hot also suggests it had poor efficiency and/or was near its limit. Nothing that I will recommend will be insufficient in neither quality or power for the proposed builds in these threads. Unfortunately it's experiences with cheap power supplies like this that turn consumers away from sensible solutions and instead think they need "moar powah!" because their last PSU either blew up on them or just couldn't handle what they were given.

  18. #18
    I am Murloc! Xuvial's Avatar
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    Years ago I had a 8800GT so I bought a 520w PSU. I ended up upgrading the video card a year and a half later and got a 4870HD. My 520w was a cheap one, so I also bought a 600w PSU to make sure my computer would be fine as I added extra fans and HDs after that. Problem with that was, a year and a half later I just upgraded to a GTX 570, and while my current PSU runs it, it's just slightly under the recommended PSU requirements for the 12v rail. I can't overclock the card at all without getting restarts, and my PSU is running hotter than I've ever seen it.

    I just bought a 1,000w PSU, 80 Certified, that was on sale on Newegg for $150(Modular too!) to finally stop this nonsense.
    This is exactly what I'm talking about! I realized I was about to go down a similar road and just said "ENOUGH, I'm buying a goddamn gold-certified 1000w."

    On the topic of PSU's, it's really not that hard to do some homework before you buy (but if EVERYONE did their homework then the cheap-quality PSU's would never sell lol).
    1) Check the certification. 80+ Bronze atleast, if not Silver or Gold.
    2) Total wattage and amps on the rails, etc. Find out what they mean and if it's enough for you, don't forget to futureproof!
    3) Modular or non-modular? If you're the type who hates cable-spaghetti, get the modular one. Modular PSU's also tend to be more expensive and higher-quality than non-modulars (generally speaking).
    4) Newegg.com feedback! I can't stress this enough. Not only will this show you the popularity and quality of an item, but also give you a rough idea of it's reliability/support/etc. When I see that part that's recieved 90%+ 5-star feedback by hundreds of people who have bought it and used it, I know it's a product worth mentioning. Yes there's a lot of idiots on there...but most importantly, everyone there has BOUGHT the product and is telling you how things went. Such a large collection of personal feedback is priceless.
    5) Reviews. Although most reviews are quick to "approve" of the PSU, make sure that it atleast has a decent review

    ^ oh and repeat steps 4 & 5 with all computer parts :P
    Last edited by Xuvial; 2011-04-05 at 05:11 AM.
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