Buying A New Computer

[InfernoBG]

I am going to build a computer from Ecollegepc, because many people over at Gamefaqs recommended it to me and they are more knowledgeable than I am. (I Do not have the time to build one myself, and frankly I do not want to do it myself, I know I would save a bunch of money if I built it myself though, I am willing to drop the extra cash) I have a few questions though, I will post the build below. First, I want to buy a Mid Tower not Full Tower case, there are a few Mid Tower Cases, but I want to know which one would you guys recommend for my build. Also is a 1000W PSU too much for this build as well as the stock heatsink? I was also wondering is a temperature display a waste of money, I like to monitor my Computer's performance but I dont know if it seems like a waste of money or not, as well as I am wondering whether to get an extended warranty. Price comes out to $2120, I am shooting for $2000-$2300. Thanks Guys!

2.80Ghz Intel Core i7-930 8MB Cache Quad-Core
Stock Intel LGA1156 Heatsink and Fan
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5 (Intel X58, 3xPCI-E, 8xSATA2, 6xDDR3, 1394)
6GB (2GBx3) OCZ PC3 12800 DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
2.0TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Major Brand)
10X LG WH10LS30K Blu-ray Disc Burner SATA Model Lightscribe w/Nero
1GB ATI Radeon HD5870 GDDR5 PCI-E DVI/HDMI (Major Brand)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
Apevia Black X-Dreamer 3 (4 5.25, 5 3.5) 3 Fans, Front Audio/USB/eSATA
1000watt Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000
Onboard LAN included
Wireless B/G/N PCI Adapter
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-Ex
Internal All in 1 Card Reader
NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen Fan Control & Temperature Display
Wires and Cables ran behind case and tied up for maximum airflow
Standard 1 year parts and labor

 

[Fat.Clown]

Stock Intel LGA1156 Heatsink and Fan --- won't fit your motherboard/processor.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit --- you want 64 bit, with 32 bit half of your RAM will not be utilized.

1000watt Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000 ---- you can go with ~600 watt power supply and it will still be plenty. (~700 watt if you plan on adding another HD 5870 down the road)

 

[farinha]

I would buy a smaller HD for the OS and get a WD Green for the data.
You don't need a temperature display. There are a lot of software that gives you the temps of your system like Hardware Monitor.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Go with the X58A-UD3R motherboard, it's similar but cheaper and still amazing. The main difference is the cooling on the Gigabyte boards and the UD3R is fine even overclocked to 4.1GHz (and the board can do more, my CPU/RAM can't at the voltages I want).

I really don't see why you need wireless in a desktop, desktops are usually better off plugged in. If you must use wireless then go for it, but usually you can get by without it. Sometimes you can use an old router (flashed with custom firmware) to act as a wireless bridge, saving you the wireless card.

You really don't need a fan controller unless you just want it for looks, the board can hook up plenty of fans. It may be nice to control them but it can also just be a waste of money. You can read temps from the system sensors using many programs.

You also don't really need a sound card anymore, the integrated cards are good enough for most people. The onboard chip will run stereo or surround speakers (analog) or it can connect digitally with optical or coaxial connections to a surround sound receiver for high quality home theater audio.

The 5870 is a great card, I'd definitely keep that one in, so is the OCZ RAM. You really don't need 1000W of power for that system, mine is about the same and I only have a 650W, runs great even overclocked. If you plan on overclocking (which you should as the i7 is a great overclocking chip) you may want more than the stock cooler. To get the stock cooler running acceptably even at stock speeds I had to undervolt my chip, otherwise it would get hot (auto voltage, auto fan speed, stock clock settings) and make the red 70C+ temperature light come on while gaming or doing anything CPU intensive.

Again, you'll want a 64 Bit OS because 32 bit OS'es are limited to 4GB of total memory (including memory mapped devices, graphics RAM, system RAM, etc, so you're limited to around 3.2GB of your main RAM after the other devices). You also want 64 bit to take full advantage of your CPU. If you need to run older apps you can set up a virtual machine of XP 32 or something, VirtualBox runs very well on my 930 build.

Just FYI, my build (which is pretty similar to yours with a 930, Gigabyte X58A, OCZ 6GB, 5870, 650W PSU, Antec 900) cost $1400. The difference is the 640GB HDD I have but that is only maybe $70-80 difference. You're not just paying them a small bit of cash to build your system, you're paying a pretty good chunk of cash for it. I always recommend building yourself. It doesn't require a lot of time or effort and it's fairly fool-proof if you get compatible parts. I will never understand why people think it's so hard or takes so much time because it doesn't, certainly isn't worth $500 to build a PC.

 

[patonb]

Calc..... thats very simular to the Cvyberpower build thread, and newegg priced out within 50 bucks.

Thre biggest thing on the above build and yours aqre things like the 1000W psu, and the small parts addons...

Its getting pretty amazing that these companies can build for around the same price as parts, and you get a warrentee.