Serias new PC build YAY!

[Seria]

Hey guys! Im at it again! But this time.... im finally building a new computer for me! ^_^ its kind of an emotional decision cuz I've worked with my current machine every day for nearly 7 years! But its time to move on. *sniff*

Last year I built a fairly basic and inexpensive computer for my mom (thanks again for the help ^_^), AND NOW.... ITS TIME TO HAVE SOME FUN ^_^!!!!

*****So, to get things started, I need a few updates about the computer world.*****
​

OS:
Im planning on getting (Windows 7 Ultimate 64). Words? Comments? Snide Remarks?

CPU:
Has AMD caught up to Intel's dual & quad cores yet?

GPU:
Is (PCI Express 2.0 x 16) still the way to go?

RAM:
A) What are some good things to look out for with RAM now days?
B) Are G.SKILL & CORSAIR the 2 best choices? Even though I've always been a Kingston-girl m'self, I put G.SKILL in my moms computer, I've got no problems with it but are there any pros/cons from one VS the other?
C) What are the pros/cons of DDR2 vs DDR3? It looks like I will need to make sure that I have a mobo that works with DDR3. Does Windows 7 64 have any preference on which it uses?

HARD DRIVES
I want 2 HD's. OS & DATA. I have found that there are over a dozen choices all within a $15 difference, so why not just get 2 of these:
(WD SATA 640GB 7200RPM 32MB $75) Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

I'm excited, this is going to be fun! ^_^
​

EDIT: HERE IS MY WISH LIST:
Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

​

 

[Trotter]

Im planning on getting (Windows 7 Ultimate 64). Words? Comments? Snide Remarks?

Best way to go, period.

Has AMD caught up to Intel's dual & quad cores yet?

Not to the i5 and i7 lines, but they are still a great bang for the buck ($99 quad, anyone?).

Is (PCI Express 2.0 x 16) still the way to go?

But of course.

A) What are some good things to look out for with RAM now days?

Make sure the voltages match up with your motherboard. The timings for DDR3 are still pretty loose, though.

B) Are G.SKILL & CORSAIR the 2 best choices? Even though I've always been a Kingston-girl m'self, I put G.SKILL in my moms computer, I've got no problems with it but are there any pros/cons from one VS the other?

I recommend G/Skill first and foremost. OCZ, Crucial, and Kingston are all still good, but you can't go wrong with G.Skill... and their new Ripjaw line looks to be awesome.

C) What are the pros/cons of DDR2 vs DDR3? It looks like I will need to make sure that I have a mobo that works with DDR3. Does Windows 7 64 have any preference on which it uses?

The prices are pretty close on the two. AMD board's allow you to use DDR2 on an AM2+ board (but can still run AM3 chips), but going DDR3 would be the better way to go in my opinion.

I want 2 HD's. OS & DATA. I have found that there are over a dozen choices all within a $15 difference, so why not just get 2 of these:
(WD SATA 640GB 7200RPM 32MB $75) Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Good choice. Fast and reliable.

 

[Seria]

Thanks Trotter! *HUG* *^_^*

ok so,

OS:
k good ^_^ I've heard a lot of sweet things about W7. I was just worried about getting a microsoft product without available service packs

CPU:
I've always been an AMD-girl, but the Intel I put in my moms computer has been just fine. However, what would be best for me knowing that AMD's have improved since last year and knowing that im planning on doing a lot of this kind of stuff:
• a lot of WOW
• a ton of SCII once it comes out... grrr.... (im taking a week of vacation from work when it comes out btw lol ^_^ )
• I have Adobe CS4 Master Collection (which is pretty much my biggest reason for getting a new computer. Premier wont run on what I've got now, & even illustrator and photoshop are struggling. )

GPU:
so if I wanted 2 GPU's SLI'd, what would be a good rout to go? That is.... if SLI'ing GPU's is still the thing to do.

RAM:
ok, Trotter has spoken!. G.SKILL it is! ^_^
I am hoping to get either 6GB or 8GB
Please remind me what the numbers mean in ram speeds. For example [DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)] what is the “2000"? And what is the “pc3 16000"?

KEYBOARD:
I found this, and im in love with it! Cool looking, Illuminated keyboards are difficult to find. Any words? or comments on this?
Saitek Eclipse II Illuminated Keyboard (PK02U) at Xoxide!

NOTE: I'll add my newegg wishlist as soon as it becomes shared... I dunno why newegg is so slow at this.

 

[dirkpitt45]

What's your budget? If its higher ($1000+) probably best to go with an i7 920 before they're gone. As for the GPU, ATI's 5870 is king now, DX11 an all.

I love my logitech illuminated keyboard Logitech > Keyboards > Keyboards > Illuminated Keyboard

 

[Seria]

What's your budget?

excellent question ^_^
$1000 I've dedicated at least $1000 to this new system. I do not need monitors or speakers, but all other components must be replaced inc. OS and other software.
$1300 If I can get what I want and not exceed $1300, I would be so happy I would kiss everybody *^_^*
$1600 I would still be pretty happy to build this machine for under $1600... but it would have to be freaking amazing!
$2000 considering I built the computer I'm using right now for under $800 and its lasted nearly 7 years... if I go past $1600 this machine had better be able to land people on the moon. however... the maximum amount I am prepared to spend on this machine is $2000

probably best to go with an i7 920

This one here?: Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
so tell me about this CPU. (Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor)
A) is the 2.66GHz talking about all (4) processors? so its really (2.66GHz X 4)?
B) what is L2 vs L3
C) what is the LGA 1366?

As for the GPU, ATI's 5870 is king now

Unless I did my search wrong, all of neweggs 5870's are out of stock.
They're also nearly $400 each and if im going to get 2 of them, that may be a lil pricey.

I love my logitech illuminated keyboard

oooooo I like that too ^_^

 

[dirkpitt45]

Ok so here's what I'd get:

CPU/OS
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Mobo/Ram
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

HDD
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

PSU
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Case
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases Your choice really, although everyone seems to love their HAFs

Total = $1,118.93 USD without the GPU added in. Personally I'd wait and try to get a 5850/5870 if you plan on doing some nice gaming for a while. Otherwise the 5770 or 4890 would be good choices. I also assumed you'd be re-using a DVD drive, otherwise just add another $40, they're all pretty much the same.

 

[Muffin Man]

if you dont mind getting the gpu elsewhere.

NCIXUS.com - Buy Radeon HD 5870 850MHZ 1GB GDDR5 4.8GHZ PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI Display Port - AMD-ATI-RADEON-5870-1GB.
Visiontek Radeon HD5870 Video Card - 1GB, DDR5, PCIe, Dual DVI at TigerDirect.com

 

[Fat.Clown]

so tell me about this CPU. (Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor)
A) is the 2.66GHz talking about all (4) processors? so its really (2.66GHz X 4)?
B) what is L2 vs L3
C) what is the LGA 1366?


Unless I did my search wrong, all of neweggs 5870's are out of stock.
They're also nearly $400 each and if im going to get 2 of them, that may be a lil pricey.

yes, and the i7 920 even have hyper threading so you see it as 8 threads in the operating system!

L2 vs L3? I remember reading about that...... but can't recall any info

LGA 1366 is the socket that replaced lga 775

HD 5870's are pretty powerful, almost as good as the 2-gpu-on-1-board card nvidia has to offer

 

[Seria]

Thanks for your help guys ^_^ and hey clown! *hug* ^_^ long time no see ^_^

1) Thanks for the suggestion with the mobo/ram combo dirkpitt45. But im going to stick with G.SKILL ram.
I have however, never had an EVGA mobo, what makes you suggest one?

2) About the CPU, the majority of things I've read suggest that I might as well go with an i5 for cost vs performance reasons. However, the only thing I read that made the i7 seem like a worthwhile purchase was because I am interested in SLI'ing GPU's. but, I'd like to hear what you guys think. (source for i5 vs i7: I7... or i5 ? )

3) Thanks for those links muffin. So clown, you're saying that the 5870's are almost as good as getting 2 SLI'd GPU's. but won't having only one GPU be slower than having 2 SLI'd ones? especially if an i7 is what I may get?

4) So.... would I be correct in saying that “LGA (x)” is to CPU's & MOBO's, as “ATX” is to MOBO's & Cases? Basically.... the... fitting?

5) Still not sure about the numbers with RAM.
DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600/10666)
DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000)
DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)
The “1600" seems to be pretty standard, but what do those numbers mean?

6) why cant I find sound cards on newegg? am I retarded? or are they just so not important they dont get a link?

 

[Fat.Clown]

2) you might need i7 if you want to max out multi-gpu's potential

3) well, the current single card king is still the GTX 295. which is basically 2 GTX 275s crammed into one board. making it as one card physically.
and the HD 5870 performs nearly as good as the GTX 295

if you have the cash to throw around, SLi'd GTX 285s are probably still faster

4) yes

5) just how fast they are, higher number = more bandwidth

6) Newegg figured you'd be happy with integrated sound

but here is the link anyway Newegg.com - Sound Cards, Sound Blaster Cards, Creative Sound Cards, Computer Sound Cards, Audigy Sound Cards, M Audio Sound Cards

BTW I am still anti ultimate edition (OS-wise)