New Computer!

[Suicidal009]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a new computer in the next week or so, and was looking for some advice for the more experienced people around here. I've spent some time on ibuypower.com and newegg.com looking around for awhile now. I have around 1400 $ to spend and was wondering if anyone could help. A few things I was specifically looking for was an i7, a 60-80gb SSD, and a HAF 922 case.

Thanks

[Nixia]

Are you going to use the SS for your OS or are you going to save everything on it?

[Suicidal009]

Are you going to use the SS for your OS or are you going to save everything on it?

I'd be using the SSD for my OS/WoW/CoD

[nwo]

For the CPU I would probably recommend an i7 860 or i7 920. The 860 uses dual channel memory and 920 uses triple channel. Not sure if there is any performance difference between the two. Also, 920 has more PCI-e pipelines if you ever wanted to go SLI/Crossfire which is completely pointless for WoW and most other games.

Motherboard: Gigabyte or Asus with USB 3.0

Memory: 4GB min, I would recommend 6 if you're doing triple channel or 8 for dual channel but that's just me... I'm a hardcore multi-tasker so I need more than 4GB but most other users don't.

PSU: Corsair 650TX or 750TX, 750 is only ~$10 more so I would definitely recommend it over the 650 because it gives you plenty of room for future upgrades.

SSD: If all you're going to put on it is the OS and those 2 games, then 60GB will be plenty. But I would recommend 80 in case you become a fan of some other new game(s).

Are you looking to buy it yourself or buy it prebuilt? Also, are you going to use any old parts from your current PC? Do you need to buy an operating system as well?

[Cilraaz]

For the CPU I would probably recommend an i7 860 or i7 920. The 860 uses dual channel memory and 920 uses triple channel. Not sure if there is any performance difference between the two. Also, 920 has more PCI-e pipelines if you ever wanted to go SLI/Crossfire which is completely pointless for WoW and most other games.

If you don't plan on overclocking, the i7 860 will outperform the i7 920 due to better turbo boost capabilities. The 920 is the better option if you plan to go SLI/Crossfire or a manual overclock, though.

Motherboard: Gigabyte or Asus with USB 3.0

Memory: 4GB min, I would recommend 6 if you're doing triple channel or 8 for dual channel but that's just me... I'm a hardcore multi-tasker so I need more than 4GB but most other users don't.

PSU: Corsair 650TX or 750TX, 750 is only ~$10 more so I would definitely recommend it over the 650 because it gives you plenty of room for future upgrades.

SSD: If all you're going to put on it is the OS and those 2 games, then 60GB will be plenty. But I would recommend 80 in case you become a fan of some other new game(s).

I agree with all of this, so just a +1 from me.

Are you looking to buy it yourself or buy it prebuilt? Also, are you going to use any old parts from your current PC? Do you need to buy an operating system as well?

If you're capable, OP, I'd suggest building it yourself. You can usually get more computer for less money doing so.

[Suicidal009]

I don't plan on over clocking as I have no idea how to. And I doubt I'd be getting multiple GPU's anyways with my budget for now. I'd also need an OS, Windows 7 64 Bit those are usually 100$ right? And how easy is it to build a PC from scratch? I've never done it before so I really wouldn't wanna mess anything up in the process. I know building a PC yourself can save cash/and have better quality parts in them, but would there be any special things I should worry about while building my computer once I get situated on the stuff I'm buying?

[Murkuri]

The actualy 'building' process isn't very hard at all. Anyone who put Legos together as a kid can put together the parts when they show up at your door (for the most part). The hard and time consuming part is making sure you get the parts you want, and the parts that go together optimally. The bonus is that you do get to choose exactly the parts you want (as ibuypower doesn't necessarily allow this) and you save between $100-200 by putting it together yourself.

Find a techie friend you have and have them help you out. Just make sure you do all the research before you hit the 'submit order' button.

[Suicidal009]

I have a couple of more questions;

Would I need to ground myself to the floor while keeping a hand on my computer at all times? And I need thermal grease right?
What about using RAID HDD's instead of a SSD? Which is better performing?

Also, would anyone recommend Liquid Cooling?

[ComputerNerd]

As you say your experience is lacking, then I would not recommend liquid cooling.
Raid is a means of having two drives operating together to perform the storage.
Various numbers which indicate exactly what it is, but basically are either mirroring or duplicating either other, or alternating the storage between them, a process known as striping.
The striping will give better performance, but does have issues with recovery should one drive fail.
The SSD should be perfectly fine performance wise, and again from lack of experience would be the safer option.

[nwo]

You could go to a local pc shop and pick up an anti-static wristband or just ground yourself by touching the inside of your case (the non-painted part).

You do not need thermal paste if you buy a retail version of the processor. Those come with a heatsink and fan which already have thermal paste applied so all you need to do is slap it on top of the CPU.

Performance wise, SSD is the clear winner. It will most definitely out perform two hard drives in RAID.

[Iokau]

If you are interested in building a new computer, I would suggest reading http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/27...guide-building. It's a pretty detailed step by step guild to build a computer. It also has quite a few links to other helpful guides.

[Cynadra]

I have a couple of more questions;

Would I need to ground myself to the floor while keeping a hand on my computer at all times? And I need thermal grease right?
What about using RAID HDD's instead of a SSD? Which is better performing?

Also, would anyone recommend Liquid Cooling?

No, you don't need to ground yourself to the floor, just don't put it together on a carpet. lol

Yes you need thermal paste, I suggest OCZ freeze or Arctic Silver.

As for the SSD vs Raid setup, you get about the same performance if you run 4 WD Caviar Blacks 500gig 32mb/cache as you would running 1 SSD (for WD, anything over 500gig starts to become garbage for some reason), the only difference is SSD is 60-120ish gigs (for around 200-300 bucks) while the 4 HDD's in raid is 2+ TB's (for about the same price). You actually get faster write speeds in raid than with SSD and a little bit slower read times than SDD, but gain so much more space and it's about the same money.

Liquid cooling is a WHOLE nother ball park. And, if you are not over clocking, not worth the risk or leaks and ruining your system. Plus it costs a hell of a lot more.

[Suicidal009]

Alright, I think I got most of it covered in how to assemble it. I'm gunna post links of what I am purchasing to double check that I'm not getting wrong components :

Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-197-_-Product

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131386

CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115202

GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102878

RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231225

HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284

PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

I also grabbed a DVD Drive and Windows 7 64 Bit
Thanks for all the help btw ;D

[Iokau]

Case:Good Choice, I plan on getting this case myself.
Mobo: I'm still iffy on mobos...so I can't really comment on it.
CPU:I <3 the i7-920
GPU:Look below
RAM:Look below
HDD:Not bad, but look below
PSU:[b]Very good choice, lots of headroom for later.

I highly suggest not getting the 5830. I would suggest getting a 5850 for only a little more and a lot better performance, or a 5770 for similar performance and a little cheaper.
Click here to see what I mean(benchmarks)

Also, if you plan on gaming, I would suggest getting faster RAM, such as the G.Skill Ripjaw series

As for the HDD, as far as I know the Samsung Spinpoint F3 series runs faster and cooler than the WD black series.

edit: Cleaned up the quotes.

[nwo]

I would also highly recommend that you get a 5770 or 5850 instead of a 5830. A 5830 is hardly any faster than a 5770 but it costs almost 50% more. Therefore it is a complete waste of money. A 5770 is plenty for any game out there right now. I would highly recommend picking that up and saving the money for a future upgrade in a year or two.

[kythless]

Alright, I think I got most of it covered in how to assemble it. I'm gunna post links of what I am purchasing to double check that I'm not getting wrong components :

Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-197-_-Product

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131386

CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115202

GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102878

RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231225

HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284

PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

I also grabbed a DVD Drive and Windows 7 64 Bit
Thanks for all the help btw ;D

For a few bucks more you can get the new intel core I7 930 CPU (slightly faster than the 920). As everyone else has said the 5830 is an absolutely horrible buy when you compare its performance to cost. I would highly suggest the 5850 (which easily outperforms nvidias gtx285). As for your hard drive choice its a really good choice, I have 2 WD black in raid 0 and love them.

[Suicidal009]

I wanted to ask 1 more question before I was done researching parts and waiting for my money to come in. Is and i7 worth it for what I do? I usually just play WoW and Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield, I'll have to replace the Motherboard too ofc, but I was curious about the i5's. Think this CPU would be a better option or should I just stick with the i7?

[ComputerNerd]

Modern Warfare might see the benefit from the graphics card, but since it is my impression that wow is heavily dependant on the CPU, then that will see the most benefit from an i7 over an i5.
Judging from the rest of it then an i5 is hardly going to be a bottleneck, just should offer you the better performance in wow, just by how much I do not know.

[Cilraaz]

Modern Warfare might see the benefit from the graphics card, but since it is my impression that wow is heavily dependant on the CPU, then that will see the most benefit from an i7 over an i5.
Judging from the rest of it then an i5 is hardly going to be a bottleneck, just should offer you the better performance in wow, just by how much I do not know.

If manually overclocked, the i7 920 generally outperforms the i5 750.

If not overclocked, the i5 750 generally outperforms the i7 920 due to the i5 750 having a better turbo boost mode than the i7 920.