Planning to build a new computer? Read Here first! (Page 2 of 4)

I've had a computer sitting in my newegg shopping cart for a while, hopefully will be buying it today. (having a paypal issue that should be resolved today, at least in theory)

Here is what I have in it.  I am looking at that mobo you just posted and it looks pretty decent, but I am trying to see why it is more expensive than the one currently in my cart.  Is it basically that it just overclocks easier?  Skimming over the specs I didn't see any differences, other than mine has an extra PCI Express slot, yours has room for two more SATAs and USBs, and mine has WIFI onboard.  (I want my computer to be wireless capable)

EDIT: Upon reading more User Reviews from NewEgg, I am getting more convinced.  The rest of my build has tons of OC potential, and that board seems to be built for just that.  Very tempted.  Gonna think about it.  Only thing that I worry about is according to the reviews I am going to have to manually set up BIOS settings, but thats not too hard really.

Sorry for no direct links to newegg, I am banking that you already know what I am talking about...

Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320613AS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

EVGA 896-P3-1266-AR GeForce GTX 260 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series 70SB088600007 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Retail (I get tired of having to pull out my tower to swap in headphones and mic for my 5.1 speakers, what can I say, its a pain in the ass.  Its a questionable addition especially with how shitty Creative's driver support is, I know.  If it doesn't work I will send this fucker back.  I just wanted good sound to go with my speakers, and I want a front panel for ease of use since I frequently get on Vent)

Thermaltake W0131RU 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified NVIDIA QUAD-SLI APPROVED 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS34G1333LLK - Retail

ASUS P5E3 PREMIUM/WIFI-AP @n LGA 775 DDR3 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail  (the mobo I was talking about)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail

Tuniq Tower 120 Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Cooling Fan and Fan Controller/Heatsink - Retail

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-08 - Retail

I did have one question though - how are Rosewill power supplies?  I can get a similar 850w one for a huge discount in a package deal with my CPU, but I have never heard of the brand before and a couple user reviews talked about them breaking.  This one to be specific:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817182070

As you can see I ended up getting a lot of the parts you suggested, and its not blind either.  Me and my friend who helped me put this build together just agreed with your assessment on many counts. 

Also, I wanted the two hard drives because I plan to put windows and game installs on one, and to use the bigger one for storage and backup.  Makes it easier to reformat my Windows install when the need arises.  Like I said, I am lazy I guess.

Last edited by Legal_My_Deagle (2008-09-25 15:39)

Buy this

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415

instead of GTX 260 Core 216.

Bigger frame buffer also means more room for AA and AF.

I am perplexed by your decision to go with a non-SLI board and then an Nvidia card that performs worse than something cheaper from ATI.

You can find games that aren't supported by either crossfire or SLI. That's the risk you take for going multi-card. With the existing games and the immediate future, and with a mainstream sized monitor, you should not be concerned with performance with a single card solution.

The 4870 has been beating 260 GTX consistently before. The 260 GTX has just recently dropped to the $300 level, but the 4870 has been below $300 since launch. The 4870 512MB can be had for as low as $250 now. The new 1GB model is expected to go down to the mid-high range of the old 512 cards, which is still $20-30 under $300, while the Core 216 is still above $300. A $30 difference is not trivial, it's a 10% difference. When you get 10% difference in performance, you don't shrug it off, why would you when it comes to price? Even if the Core 216 drops to the exact same price as 4870 1GB, the latter still performs better, as benchmarked in the new articles. Of course, if you can get a factory overclocked card for either one, the picture changes, but again, the prices change too.

ATI has been rolling out drivers much faster than before. When it comes to drivers, you'll find a few games that have problem with a particular driver no matter what the driver is. If you are looking to play a specific game and you are investing in the computer largely for that, then it's worthwhile to check beforehand if there's any big issues. Otherwise, the drivers all have strong and weak points, and those that claim otherwise are just cherry picking.

I can understand your apprehension for ATi drivers and I really can't emphasize enough that no matter how much people try to convince you otherwise it's hard to shrug off those preconceptions.
That being said I still think a 4870 x2 will be the better option for now and the long run. While the single 4870 will save you a good amount and provide you with good high end performance.

But if you MUST go with an nVidia card than that's fine as well.

The clock difference is really small. Nothing you can't OC on your own. I mean the coolers are identical, how much easier do you want it to be.
Also I believe EVGA is very lax when it comes to OCing and that OCing does not void your warranty (I'd have to look into it to make sure thought).

Clock speeds can be increased by an end user, stream processors can't.

Last edited by Taknarosh (2008-09-26 07:07)

We've been through this before about PSU. Total wattage is almost entirely meaningless. Efficiency (at your operating wattage range), amperage on your 12V rails, make, noise levels and connection features are all much more important than total wattage. Some new PSUs with very low peak wattage on their labels can in fact support much higher load at very good efficiency. PSU is one of those computer parts where you really have to look at the fine details on an individual basis, and spend the time on your research.

Also, PSU is one part where you don't want to "save money" on. We've been through this on this forum over and over in the past too. I'd gladly spend $100 on a PSU in a $700 computer, and not feel I've wasted money.

Last edited by Errrrrrr (2008-09-26 14:29)

If you're really going to spend that kind of money on a PSU, buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817379007

Don't go with those shitty ones you listed. They're shitty brands and their specs suck.

Last edited by Errrrrrr (2008-09-26 15:23)

The PSU Errrrrrr linked is really a steal for the price. Don't think of the $50 extra only for the modular aspect but remember that this will allow better cable management and better airflow for your other critical components.

Last edited by Taknarosh (2008-09-26 18:00)

I can totally understand your apprehension.
Another thing I have to mention is that if you still going with an nVidia card and don't plan to overclock you might want to think about downgrading your mobo to a P45 chipset. The main advantage the X48 has over the P45 chipset is the fact the PCI-Express slots on the X48 are full 16x slots while on the P45 if there are 2 slots these split the bandwidth in two, basically two 8x PCI-Express slots.

But since you are strongly considering an nVidia solution then there isn't really a need since SLI won't work with the X48 chipset. So a solid single card solution with the P45 motherboard based chipset should be considered.

Some sound cards have the front panel connector, some don't. To tell if it has one, you can look at the card itself. It's a 5 pin connector that is usually located at the front end of the card (opposite the back panel stuff). Note that the S/DPIF connector looks similar, but sometimes differently oriented.

Last edited by Errrrrrr (2008-09-28 22:12)

I don't get your question. You want to hook the sound card to the case's front panel outlets, but you're buying the super expensive sound card that already has its own front panel to do that? I thought the whole point of your question was if you could avoid buying that sound card so you can use the case's front panel.

Last edited by Errrrrrr (2008-09-29 00:53)

I think I can see the connector from picture 1 and 3. It doesn't say it has S/DPIF out in the specs, and from the picture it looks like the location where there's usually the S/DPIF out doesn't have a connector soldered on. So I'm going to go ahead and say the one facing right (in those two pictures) is in fact the front panel connector.