I'm building a new computer

I consider my self a geek but I haven't been in the PC game in a while. I usually like to upgrade my PC when they have about doubled performance. Since the CPU game has been stuck in the 3ghz range for a while I thought it might be time to stop waiting and upgrade anyway.

Since I've been out of the game for a long time there is a lot of new stuff I need to learn about. Such as dual core, atx12v/eps12v, PCIe 16x4x1x?, and new memory types. For the most part I understand most of it but when I'm not sure on things I like to have people check my work so I don't miss anything.

To start off I decided I needed a new keyboard monitor and mouse. I ended up selecting a 24" Acer AL2416WBsd monitor. LINK It had a true HD native resolution, very quick response time, would fit on my desk, had good reviews, and was cheap. I'm a HUGE CRT fan because of the color, refresh rate, great for gaming, and price so this is a big leap for me. I hope this LCD will perform as good as my CRTs. I'm currently running two 19" monitors at 1600x1200.

I selected the Logitech G15 keyboard. LINK Yeah its expensive and does more than I need but I like it.

For the mouse I selected the Logitech G9. LINK This is still on order because I don't thinks it has been released yet. Yeah its expensive but it looks like it has everything I want in a mouse. All the other mice seem to be crap compared to my original Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer USB.

I already have a good HUGE aluminum Lian Li case that I will be using. I will also be reusing my Sound Blaster Audigy with bay drive.

Here is a link to my wish list on newegg.com WISH LIST

First thing I selected was the CPU. I was a BIG AMD fan because they flat out beat the Intel CPU at gaming, they was cheaper, and they ran cooler. But when I looked at the benchmarks it looks like my best bang for the buck was an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz CPU. Sorry AMD.

Next was the mobo. I was leaning toward Gigabyte because I love their boards but after searching I come up with one of Intels boards. I ended up with the Intel BOXD975XBX2KR. Looks like it has everything I need including raid 5!

[EDIT]
Next came the memory. First I was a Kingston man and then I switched to Corsair But now I just want the best bang for the buck. <strike>I ended up selecting two 1gb A-DATA sticks. The reviews were good as well as the price.</strike> I decided to go with Corsair again since it was not much more. I selected the CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800.

Next came the video card. I was an nvidia fan then I switched to ATI but now I think I will go back to nvidia. I hate the new 2 PCI slot designs of these huge things. Too big and too hot but what are you going to do. I selected the EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 card. This looked to me to be the best bang for the buck. One heck of an upgrade from my ATI radion 9800 Pro 256mb card.

For storage I selected five (YES FIVE 5) Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives. I will be putting them into a raid 5 array for performance and redundancy.

For an upgraded DVD burner I selected the do it all PLEXTOR PX-800.

Now how am I going to power all this stuff? Well I think I will go with the ENERMAX INFINITI EIN720AWT ATX12V/ EPS12V 720W Power Supply. Back when I bult my current PC Enermax was the best of the best. Both of my Enermax power supplies are still going strong. I don't know if Enermax is still the best today but that is what I selected. This is where I may need some suggestions on what to get. Does anyone know if this would be the right power supply for the job?

The last thing on my list is to get a WinTV-HVR-1600. Looks like newegg does not have this item yet so thats why its not on my wish list.

Looks like when finished its going to run me about $2300

What do you all think? Any comments or suggestions? Does it look like everything will work together?

 

Well I've been doing some reading and it looks like with the Intel board I picked I can only use 4 drives in the raid. So I'm going to only pick 4 drives but I upped the storage to 250gb. This will give me more storage for the same price

I have also decided to buy my stuff from zipzoomfly.com because everything is a little cheaper plus everything has free shipping. In total I look to save about $100.

I have also decided to upgrade my sound card to the new Sound Blaster X-fi with the drive bay.

Thanks for the tip Earthling. I always thought those SATA connectors were not very good and this looks like a good solution. I think I will stay with the regular cables for now and see how things work out.

As for backup power a generator would be nice but I currently have a HUGE UPS. Its made by TripLite, its old, and it does not have a model number on it. It takes a "car" sized sealed lead acid battery and the whole thing weighs about 75lbs. It keeps my current PC and my main 19" up and running for about 45 minutes. Oh and I have two of these UPSs. One for my main computer and one for my server.

The only thing I'm concerned about for this new build is the power supply. I'm pretty sure it will work for this setup but I'm not that confidant about it. I'm not sure if it has all the new power connectors I will need for everything.

I'm still researching and modifying my parts as I type this. I hope to have a final list by Wednesday.

 

Yes I will be getting the Fatal1ty version of the Sound Blaster card.

I was using newegg.com to find my parts as their search feature is more detailed. zipzoomfly.com will save me about $100 over the newegg prices. zipzoomfly also has all the rebates newegg has. I have dealt with both company's over the years and they both are great in all areas.

I selected a do it all PIONEER DVR-112DSV as my DVD burner because it was cheaper.

Looks like the rest of the stuff I selected is going to stay the same.

After reading about the power supply, motherboard, and video card requirements It looks like I have every thing I need.

Man computer have gotten complicated in the past 5 years. :angry: Three different PCIe slots? x16 x4 x1 and they have different sizes? :huh: All kinds of new power connectors! 2x12, 2x2,2x4,2x6 and special PCIe power connectors! What happened to the basic simple ATX connector with 4 pin molex and floppy drive connectors? I would hate to be a first timer dealing with all of this crap.

I will place my order sometime Sunday so it will give me some time to sleep on it. If anyone has any suggestions please fell free to post.

 

Well after reading more reviews on the products listed and all of them had great reviews I decided to place my order with zipzoomfly.com. Total came to $1666.44. Now I sit and wait for the call from my credit card company's fraud department.

I wish we could go back to the old BBS days. I enjoyed it much better back then when it took me 3 weeks to download win98 beta from my local BBS using a 9600? baud modem. The BBS systems I had access to back then were a lot more fun to play with than todays internet. I could actually get one BBS back up and running if I wanted to. I know the owner and she still has the wildcat?? BBS loaded on her win98 machine ready to fire up with the click of the mouse. It was called "Kitty City BBS". She at one point had the largest cd-rom drive bay in the area. She had more drives than drive letters, lots of software and lots of games all of which was shareware of course. I lost contact with the owner of the other better BBS. It was called "Jurassic Park BBS" It had better games you could play online plus it of course had the pirate section.

 

I just got my monitor today and all I can say is WOW!

I'm impressed with this LCD. Its bright ( almost too bright ) I can play games with out any ghosting and there are no dead pixels. Dead pixels is what I'm always worried about with LCDs. I hate them even if there is only one of them.

I'm currently running at 1920x1200 and everything looks great. I cant wait to get my new PC up and running so I can see what true HD video looks like. My current ATI Radeon 9800 pro 256mb card just wont display HD video. It can barely put out 1 frame a second.

 

Wow good catch on the FSB chinalfr2. I canceled my order and I'm currently looking for a board that matches the specs of the Intel board.

 

OK it looks like I may have found a winner.

I found the Asus P5K Premium Black Pearl Edition

From what I understand it looks like this on can do a 6 SATA raid. Now I just have to think about getting 6 hard drives and go for a whole TB of storage.

No sli for me. I'm happy if games will run at 1920x1200 and 60fps with little to no AA or AF or whatever else there is in post processing.

 

The only thing missing from the mobo that I really needed was a serial port. But I guess I can just buy a USB serial port to make up for the loss.

From the reviews of the CPU it looks like the stock heat sink will work just fine for me. I wont be overclocking at all.

I'm a big fan of the sound blaster cards plus I like the drive bay that comes with it. The only thing missing is the front firewire port on this new version.

I'm reusing my HUGE Lian Li case. I don't remember the model number but I do remember it cost a lot.