Smart Computer people.. please help!

@steria

@steria

Dalayan Beginner
I posted this in my Guild's forum but then i realized that they wipe on Guardian of the Sun Shrine and because of that i cant trust them for answers since they are obviously terribad at life. So without further a-do:


So i ended up getting a decent bonus at the end of year from my work for being so awesome at stopping terrorism in its tracks so i had to figure out what to do with it. Ive never had a decent computer before in my life so it is my goal to get one that can actually play current games. So i know that some of yall know computers better than me so maybe you can tell me if what i have here is decent or should be changed. So here is my current build of what i want to do:

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Model #:Three Hundred Illusi
Item #:N82E16811129066
Price: $69.99

Power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188
Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous@40°C, 80Plus Bronze Certified,Modular Cable Design,Active PFC"Compatible.
Price: $129.99
Note: Part of a combo deal with video card.. takes a instant $80 off.. another $30 for combo deal and comes with a $15 mail in rebate card.

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Model #:M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
Item #:N82E16813131631
Price: $149.99

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX
Model #:HDT90ZFBGRBOX
Item #:N82E16819103849
Price: $229.99
Note: 6 cores.. clocks lower than the biggest i7 cores but for the price i dont think anything comes close to the performance. Also comes with a $10 gift card to new egg which i would use on another part to lower the overall price.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
Model #:F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
Item #:N82E16820231311
Price: $89.99
Note: I think 8 gigs is more than enough ram right?

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:ST31500341AS
Item #:N82E16822148337
Price: $79.99

Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support
Model #:iHAS424-98
Item #:N82E16827106335
Price: $25.99

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Price: $179.99
Note: There is so many card out there that i have no clue what differences there are between a gtx470 and a hd 6850.. i doubt somebody like me would even notice a difference at all actually. Also like i said before.. part of the combo deal with the power supply.


Price: All together with mail in rebates and giftcards i receive and the fact that this is all free shipping it comes to: $895.92 which to me seems like a good price for the computer im getting. Is there any huge problem that any of you see? Is 8 gigs enough? Also i have never built a computer before.. is the actual construction pretty easy? I have a basic understanding of how to install windows from selecting the cd-rom drive as primary boot drive in the BIOS but is there any other things i need to know? Also i noticed for $40 more i can get the ($269.99 total) i can get the upgraded AMD Phenom 2 x6 1100T processor that is obviously better.. but how much better.. enough to offset the cost?

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor ($10 gift card bonus)

or

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor ($15 gift card bonus)
 
You have good components, you'll be pleased when you have it all together.

The case is small for my tastes, but I have a friend who builds 3-5 systems a year for one reason or another, and he absolutely swears by those Antec cases.

If you are looking more for file space, then the drive you selected will be adequate. But if it's performance you're after, I'd go with 2 of these in a RAID 0.

As far as the difference between the two video cards; if it's an AMD based system I'd go with an ATI card. AMD\ATI platform and all.

You didn't list a display. You already have a monitor? I'd want one (or two) of these. Depends on the cash, I guess.
 
for performance you can't beat solid state drives. I can't speak from experience though, because the solid state drive I used would randomly freeze and unfreeze the game client on SoD. Otherwise, my zone times and loading times were ridiculously fast. When I switched eq to my 1tb HDD, i stopped getting the freezes.
 
Im trying to keep the price under $1000 if at all possible, so i think a solid state hard drive is out of the question when 60gig ones are coming up at 100+ dollars. I just think i wouldnt even notice the difference to justify loosing that much storage. I will how ever look into the 2 smaller hard drives.. even though i have no idea what Raid 0 even is! :D

As for monitor i have a spare 26' insignia 1080p hd tv i was going to use ( http://insigniaproducts.com/products/televisions/NS-26L450A11.html ) as it would save me from buying a new monitor. Would i really notice a difference by using a flat screen 1080p tv as apposed to a actual computer monitor?

Also, does the extra $35 in upgrading to the newest phenom 2 procesor be a good idea or again.. is it so close that the chances of me noticing any difference between the 2 are pretty much slim to none?
 
RAID 0 - two hard drives working in tandem to increase the speed at which data is written/read from them. This is a performance increase, but it is also somewhat risky as it doesn't actually provide any redundancy. Since you said this was your first build, I suggest you do a little research on RAID before you attempt to set one up - if you choose that route.

One thing you haven't mentioned is the OS. To take advantage of the 8GB of RAM, you'll need to install a 64bit operating system. You'll probably be OK with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754 if you want to go the Windows7 route.

I've built a few PCs for myself and family/friends. My advice as far as the processor goes, if you are going to be doing a lot of compiling/DVD authoring/3D rendering you'll want to get the fastest processor you can afford. If you are going to be gaming, it's not as necessary. Personally, I'd pony up the 35 bucks.

While I'm at it, a 1000 Watt PSU is overkill for what you have listed here, however getting it won't hurt and also leaves you the option of adding whatever you want down the road. But If you are looking to shave off some $$ that is a good place to do so.
I calculated your power requirements here: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
With 2 hard drives and the upgraded processor it came to 426 Watts (no overclocking).

You won't go wrong with a PSU rated higher than you need.

I agree with jules, a good case is so much more pleasant to work on. Lian Li cases are so nice to work on, but carry a price premium.
 
Solid State is def the wave of the future, I am just not completely sold on their reliability yet. I will prolly mess around with one on my next build.

I'd spend the money on the CPU as well. I don't think you'll see a huge difference overall, but better to have and not need it, then need it and not have it, amirite?

You'll prolly be good with that display. Hell, fullscreen notepad and tan with it!
 
The large power source is because there is a combo deal on new egg which gives you the power supply and the radeon 6850 for $269 for both which i thought was a pretty nice deal.

And ya i was going with the 64 bit windows 7 oem for the AMD phenom processor.

Also i will look into a full size case since all of them on newegg were all 70 - 100 bucks each.
 
You'll be happier with a larger case, imo. Easier to get into and build. Antec makes that same case in a bigger size, so if you dig the aesthetics of it, you can still get the look. This case comes to mind.

I get that the PS and VC were a combo deal, and a good one at that. You may have read a little reluctance on our part about the PS because they, more than other components, are really one of those "you get what you pay for" items. I have seen several systems get burned up because someone got a bunch of really hot gear but decided to save some bread on the PS (whaddaya mean my ACME 10 kilowatt PS burned up?). Not to speak disparagingly about Rosewill though. They are Newegg's house brand, and I've bought smaller Rosewill stuff in the past like case fans, wireless adapters, headsets, etc, and been quite pleased with those purchases, never anything over $20 US. But when it comes to power supplies, most folks that have been building rigs for a while aren't going to get away from brands that they KNOW are solid. For me it's Antec and Cooler Master. Either way, Newegg friggin rocks my socks off and even if it does burn up on you, Newegg will take care of you. If you think different of it and go with another PS, the modular cables are the way to go, don't get away from that. They are really nice.

Anyone else reading this had good experiences with the larger Rosewill items? Namely power supplies? Please share.
 
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So i got all the parts ordered and ended up splurging on the bigger processor.. but lowered the cost by dropping to a smaller PSU and a lower end graphics card (radeon HD 5770). I read a little more about my motherboard and found out it had a intergrated radeon HD 4450 chip on it so i will be able to use them both at the same time with the crossfireX thing that radeon has. R.I.P targeting rings i guess :(

Thanks for all your help and insight into this. Helped a ton. Hopefully i dont screw up the actual construction of this thing since like i said before.. this is my first time.
 
I am fairly certain that you cant use onboard graphics AND a graphics card. Unless the new-fangled boards can do this, I'd love to be proven wrong :)

Take your time, and don't rush. It's a fairly straightforward process, make sure everything is connected - heh, If I had a nickle for everytime I forgot to plug something back in....

Closing the case after you put it all together is a guarantee that it won't work (superstiton) - turn it on and make sure everythign is working before closing it up or you'll be fiddling with thumbscrews (or regular screws {{shudder}}).
 
copy and pasted straight from the motherboards description! I got the integrated number wrong.. and maybe im reading it wrong but i think they will both work in loving harmony!

ATI HYBRID GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT
Based on ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU technology, ATI Hybrid Graphics allows you to combine the performance of the HD4290 integrated GPU with an applicable ATI Radeon graphics card to bring enhanced gaming performance, productivity and power efficiency.

The radeon 5770 has the crossfireX feature so im assuming it will work. If not, oh well i guess.
 
It is a feature unique to ATI (read: suck it Nvidia fan-boys) that you can cross-fire dissimilar cards, even on board chips.

Gratz on blowing your bonus check! let us know how it goes.
 
@steria said:
Nvidia has pretty much the same thing called SLI!
Click to expand...

Yes, and they did it BEFORE ATI come out with Crossfire iirc. But to my knowledge they cant combine an on-board video chipset with a PCIx card. I'm not sure you can even use dissimilar cards, unless you're doing one of of those PhysX deals. Admittedly, that kinda intrigues me.
 
jules4099 said:
Anyone else reading this had good experiences with the larger Rosewill items? Namely power supplies? Please share.
Click to expand...

I know the system has been purchased, but I thought I'd let you know I have a Rosewill Green series 630w psu from newegg (<$50), going strong for over a year now, no complaints, just like all of the other Rosewill trinkets I have accumulated.
 
Man its really amazing how cheap you can buy a good desktop for now. When I built my PC spending 900$ would have gotten me crap :(

Also Coolermaster PSU are really good!
 
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