Building new PC - need advice

[starkey817]

can anyone shed some light on motherboards and what I should be looking for?

[Frederf]

Investing in a quality motherboard is never foolish. Gigabyte, Asus, MSI are among some good names. Get the largest form factor that fits your case when able. Northbridge and southbridge models are the primary things to look for. A good MB will cost around 100-150 USD. Any less be suspicious and any more make sure you really need any extra features it has. New Egg reviews are a life saver!

[DarkGriffon]

Look for reviews AND testimonials and try to balance both. In my experience you can't completly depend on either. Look for longevity perks like Japanese solid polymer caps and multi-phase power. It's always good to have an established, well-used chipset as well, like the X58, but you have to be willing to accept that you may not be getting the latest-and-greatest with this approach.

 

As for price, it's up to you. I haven't spent less than $300 for a MB in a long time, but I haven't had any problems in a long time either. They always survive to be given/sold to friends. Bells-and-whistles are important too. Try to get what you want to avoid feeling rooked later. :thumbup: The last 4 MB's I've owned were ASUS.

[Pyroflash]

ASUS Crosshair, Maximus, Sabertooth, and Rampage series boards are probably the best boards on the market, you cannot go wrong with any of these.

[DarkGriffon]

Pyroflash, if I may ask, what do you think of your X-65f?

[starkey817]

Thanks for some direction y'all. DarkGriffon, what do you mean by bells and whistles, I was looking at the ASUS Crosshair IV and someone had mentioned bells and whistle as well. Also, if I plan on getting an Intel CPU is that still going to run well because I kept reading about how this mobo is apparently really good for AMD over-clocking? If I get intel will over-clocking be necessary? When it comes to that stuff I'm usually pretty bad about doing it, I'm always afraid I'm going to break something when I tweak around with it.

[DarkGriffon]

Thanks for some direction y'all. DarkGriffon, what do you mean by bells and whistles, I was looking at the ASUS Crosshair IV and someone had mentioned bells and whistle as well. Also, if I plan on getting an Intel CPU is that still going to run well because I kept reading about how this mobo is apparently really good for AMD over-clocking? If I get intel will over-clocking be necessary? When it comes to that stuff I'm usually pretty bad about doing it, I'm always afraid I'm going to break something when I tweak around with it.

 

I mean features, aspects of the MB that you find useful/interesting. Things like SATA 3 support, multiple x16 slots if you want to try SLI+, non-OC support for different RAM speeds, etc. I'm not saying that you HAVE to go with these things, only that as you research there WILL be things that interest you more than others. OCing is only necessary if you want it to be, regardless of the CPU brand you have. BTW, I suck at it too. Too many variables to take into account. :huh:

[starkey817]

Ahhh ok I see what you mean then, thanks for all your help! After reading everything from other users I figured I might as well go ahead and bite the bullet and increase by budget to at least $1,000. After buying TrackIR and a new windows 7 I'm probably looking at like $1,200 to $1,300. I was hoping to get a new copy of windows for discount price, being a student and all, however it seems they only do it for the Professional version instead of the Home Premium. I even had my sister check with her university and its the same story. =(

[DarkGriffon]

Good luck then, starkey. I hope you get what you want, and welcome to the world of high-performance computer building. :smartass:

Edited May 8, 2011 by DarkGriffon

[Duke]

Just wrote a similar reply in another thread here:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=73434

Intel, Nvidia, Win7 64 :)

[starkey817]

Is the difference between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional worth worrying about? I am a student so I can get the Professional version for very cheap from my university. However, if its going to make a big performance difference then I'll go with whatever one is better...

[Kuky]

The Professional version has some extra features which most people (me included) will never need. There are also differences between different versions as to how much system RAM they can support and this is where the most basic version of Windows 7 is not good, here's this how much each version can support

• Windows 7 64bit Starter 2 GB
  
• Windows 7 64bit Home Basic 8 GB
  
• Windows 7 64bit Home Premium 16 GB
  
• Windows 7 64bit Professional 192 GB
  
• Windows 7 64bit Enterprise 192 GB
  
• Windows 7 64bit Ultimate 192 GB
  

Edited May 9, 2011 by Kuky

[starkey817]

Thanks for that info Kuky! So I guess its not gonna hurt to just go ahead and get the professional version...

[Cali]

I have Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and I don't need it, I could of used Home Premium and been just fine. But I got it for a very good price :D.

[Kuky]

No it won't hurt to have the extra things, but if you really don't need them don't know why bother... I guess if the price difference between two is minimal you might as well get the Professional one... who knows... maybe one day you will get more then 16 GB of system RAM :)

[starkey817]

No it won't hurt to have the extra things, but if you really don't need them don't know why bother... I guess if the price difference between two is minimal you might as well get the Professional one... who knows... maybe one day you will get more then 16 GB of system RAM :)

 

haha yea maybe someday

[starkey817]

So Im still having trouble deciding on hard drives... I took EtherealN's advice and decided to go for a 1TB 7200rpm hdd but I can't quite figure out which ones are good quality.

 

I was looking at SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

Is that a good one or should aim for something better? Im getting a second job to come up with more dough for this build so I won't mind a whole lot spending a little more... I can tell you I pretty much dont wanna do a SSD, just seems like too much money

[RSharpe]

So Im still having trouble deciding on hard drives... I took EtherealN's advice and decided to go for a 1TB 7200rpm hdd but I can't quite figure out which ones are good quality.

 

The Western Digital Caviar Black drives are quite good.

[cichlidfan]

The Western Digital Caviar Black drives are quite good.

 

I like them as well (long, long time WD user). Amazon US has them for about $90 (the price floats a little from week to week).

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[EtherealN]

Aye, the Caviar Blacks get my approval as well. Used them on my last two computers and haven't had any issues.

[cichlidfan]

Aye, the Caviar Blacks get my approval as well. Used them on my last two computers and haven't had any issues.

 

Regarding your approval, ;)

 

I noticed you are using the Vengeance instead of Dominator memory. I am guessing that, under standard conditions, yours run a bit cooler due to the lower voltage but beyond that I am curious to your reasons.

 

Lately, they seem to be about the same price so if you don't mind my asking you to elaborate...?

[EtherealN]

Regarding your approval, ;)

 

I noticed you are using the Vengeance instead of Dominator memory. I am guessing that, under standard conditions, yours run a bit cooler due to the lower voltage but beyond that I am curious to your reasons.

 

Lately, they seem to be about the same price so if you don't mind my asking you to elaborate...?

 

The lower voltage really was the main reason. I overclock my CPU (though I don't always use the OC) and since the memory controller runs through the CPU I liked the 1.5v rating of these. Also, obviously, it gives a larger margin if I at some point want to OC the sticks, since I can overvolt without getting too close to the memory controller's tolerance limits.

 

And of course, "Vengeance" is a cool name. "Dominator" is so... pre-teen. :P

[cichlidfan]

The lower voltage really was the main reason. I overclock my CPU (though I don't always use the OC) and since the memory controller runs through the CPU I liked the 1.5v rating of these. Also, obviously, it gives a larger margin if I at some point want to OC the sticks, since I can overvolt without getting too close to the memory controller's tolerance limits.

 

And of course, "Vengeance" is a cool name. "Dominator" is so... pre-teen. :P

 

Ah, much as I suspected, except the last part.:thumbup:

 

I doubt I will be overclocking...did that stuff before now I like plug-and-pray and I also figured the lower voltage means I am less likely to want that little fan that comes with the dominator.

 

Thanks, one more decision down. Excellent PS choice BTW.

[RSharpe]

Ah, much as I suspected, except the last part.:thumbup:

 

I doubt I will be overclocking...did that stuff before now I like plug-and-pray and I also figured the lower voltage means I am less likely to want that little fan that comes with the dominator.

 

Thanks, one more decision down. Excellent PS choice BTW.

 

You'll be losing out. Unlike the marginal performance gains from previous generations of CPUs, the last couple CPU lines from Intel were built with serious overclocking potential.

[cichlidfan]

You'll be losing out. Unlike the marginal performance gains from previous generations of CPUs, the last couple CPU lines from Intel were built with serious overclocking potential.

 

I do get you although I think my first overclock, well over ten years ago, of a 300MHz Celeron to 450MHz (stable for over one year) is right up there in performance increase. My thing is that unless the performance in inadequate I have other things to do with my time. Now if I do want some extra performance the option is still there!;) The tools are certainly better now days.

 

There was a time when friends thought I was not happy unless one of my computers was apart, they were right. I am older and more complacent now.