My PC build

[Hitman]

 

Meant to tell you that as well. Not sure if it's why IE is bugging out when you switch users, but yes...using fast user switching uses more system resources and any progs you have running on one account remain running in the background once you switch users. Like H8 said, LOGOFF. And you can always disable the fast user switching if you want....but it can be handy and a little faster I guess when you are setting up things on multiple accounts, like you were today.

Edited September 28, 2006 by Hitman

[Chief Dick]

You guys are:

 

 

 

I have no clue what you are talking about. Now ask me to rewire your house, I can do that. Ask me to replumb your house, I can do that. Ask me to remodel your kitchen, I can do that. Ask me to build a computer, I do this:

 

Edited September 28, 2006 by Chief Dick

[rajncajn]

You guys are:

I have no clue what you are talking about. Now ask me to rewire your house, I can do that. Ask me to replumb your house, I can do that. Ask me to remodel your kitchen, I can do that. Ask me to build a computer, I do this:

 

OK, can you come remodel my kitchen?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No....seriously

[Chief Dick]

OK, can you come remodel my kitchen?

No....seriously

 

 

Hmmm...

[rajncajn]

Well, pretty much what I figured to get out of it. 4 years down the road I am ready to begin a new build starting with this case which arrives today. Unfortunately this time around I will have to take my time buying my parts here & there. I've decided to stick with what I know & go with Intel products, but this time I'm going to play it a little smarter & go 3x SLi. I'll start with only one card and upgrade as I go along when I can. I think the only thing I will be re-using out of the old setup is the power supply at first, but of course upgrade that before I start trying to put new GPU's in. I'd love to hear some suggestions and/or money saving tips. While this will be a significant upgrade from the last model, I'll still be trying to do the initial build without breaking the bank.

Edited November 9, 2010 by rajncajn

[redrumjuice]

play it a little smarter & go 3x SLi... I'd love to hear some suggestions

 

SLI is a gimmick.

[rajncajn]

SLI is a gimmick.

Well, that doesn't help... do you think I'm better off buying a single high-grade GPU and therefore get away with a cheaper motherboard with less slots?

[redrumjuice]

IMO, SLI is like putting an airscoop on a honda.

 

You will not get much benefit, and incredibly higher costs for mainboard, power supply and vid cards.

 

Get a strong CPU, (the sweet spot is $100-200, and a single, strong vid card. (I like to spend about $125-150 here) I would go ahead and get a new PS, things have changed a lot in 4 years, and it's always good to have a spare.

 

There is not much return on the dollar when you buy parts in the upper price ranges, it becomes just a bragging thing, like the whoop whoop ricers.

[smithkt]

Well, pretty much what I figured to get out of it. 4 years down the road I am ready to begin a new build starting with this case which arrives today. Unfortunately this time around I will have to take my time buying my parts here & there. I've decided to stick with what I know & go with Intel products, but this time I'm going to play it a little smarter & go 3x SLi. I'll start with only one card and upgrade as I go along when I can. I think the only thing I will be re-using out of the old setup is the power supply at first, but of course upgrade that before I start trying to put new GPU's in. I'd love to hear some suggestions and/or money saving tips. While this will be a significant upgrade from the last model, I'll still be trying to do the initial build without breaking the bank.

 

Great case. Built my latest system in that case.

 

I don't believe SLI is a gimmick and both AMD and Nvidia have really improved scaling recently. That being said, there are still problems with Crossfire and SLI such as microstutter and inconsistent performance. I still steer away from it but I would not rule it out entirely.

 

It would help when making recommendations if you could give an idea of the intended use. Gaming? Media editing? Sounds like you intend to do more than simple web browsing.

 

Both AMD and Nvidia are rolling out new video cards right now. AMD recently released their midrange 6800 series and are a few weeks away from their high end 6900 series boards. Nvidia just released a new board yesterday, but it's list is $499 and it seems to be going for $520 to $550 as etailers price gouge the early adopters. But they have a great value board in the GTX460. Really depends on what you are hoping to use it for.

 

What resolution monitor do you run?

 

The i5-750 or i5-760 overclock very easily if you are willing to do it. Both can be had around $200 and can easily be clocked up to 3.4 to 3.8Ghz. Higher if you want to push it.

 

If you have a Microcenter nearby you can usually find these on sale as loss leaders. They also frequently have the i7-930 for $200, but now we are looking at a slightly more expensive motherboard.

 

Lot's of options.

[rajncajn]

Great case. Built my latest system in that case.

 

I don't believe SLI is a gimmick and both AMD and Nvidia have really improved scaling recently. That being said, there are still problems with Crossfire and SLI such as microstutter and inconsistent performance. I still steer away from it but I would not rule it out entirely.

 

It would help when making recommendations if you could give an idea of the intended use. Gaming? Media editing? Sounds like you intend to do more than simple web browsing.

 

Both AMD and Nvidia are rolling out new video cards right now. AMD recently released their midrange 6800 series and are a few weeks away from their high end 6900 series boards. Nvidia just released a new board yesterday, but it's list is $499 and it seems to be going for $520 to $550 as etailers price gouge the early adopters. But they have a great value board in the GTX460. Really depends on what you are hoping to use it for.

 

What resolution monitor do you run?

 

The i5-750 or i5-760 overclock very easily if you are willing to do it. Both can be had around $200 and can easily be clocked up to 3.4 to 3.8Ghz. Higher if you want to push it.

 

If you have a Microcenter nearby you can usually find these on sale as loss leaders. They also frequently have the i7-930 for $200, but now we are looking at a slightly more expensive motherboard.

 

Lot's of options.

It'll definitely need to handle the rigors of the latest games and I'll have to purchase a new monitor as well since my Viewsonic crapped out on me earlier this year. For graphics price I was planning to stay around the $250 range. I do however want to get a motherboard that allows a lot of room for GPU upgrade and good for overclocking.

[smithkt]

Have you picked a monitor yet, or at least have an idea of the size and resolution you are targeting? More pixels requires more GPU power, so it would help to have a general idea of what the goal is.

 

If you are talking 24-26 inches and something like 1920 x 1200, the best options in your price bracket are probably the Nvidia GTX460, 1GB or one of the AMD Radeon 6850 or 6870.

 

If you want to move up to a 30" screen you should probably just get the 6870.

 

Newegg is running a promo right now with 10% off most of the video cards. Ends Friday.

[redrumjuice]

... and so it goes.

[rajncajn]

I guess 5 years out of this thing is not bad... I could probably squeeze out another year or so, but it's beginning to have hardware that just are easy to pinpoint. I'd rather start over than buy parts to try to fix this one.

 

I've already got my case and I'm looking to start with a motherboard. I'll likely be running a core i7. There's a pretty good deal on this one right now. So, with that in mind I'll be looking for a LGA 1366 motherboard. So far I've got 3 in mind.

 

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

SLi is not a must and I'll likely be going with just a single graphics card off the bat unless I can find a deal I can't pass up.

[matt770]

I guess 5 years out of this thing is not bad... I could probably squeeze out another year or so, but it's beginning to have hardware that just are easy to pinpoint. I'd rather start over than buy parts to try to fix this one.

 

I've already got my case and I'm looking to start with a motherboard. I'll likely be running a core i7. There's a pretty good deal on this one right now. So, with that in mind I'll be looking for a LGA 1366 motherboard. So far I've got 3 in mind.

 

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

SLi is not a must and I'll likely be going with just a single graphics card off the bat unless I can find a deal I can't pass up.

This is making me think about rebuilding my system again too, and taking the plunge with windows 7.

[rajncajn]

This is making me think about rebuilding my system again too, and taking the plunge with windows 7.

I'm really liking that Sabertooth, but I've seen a lot of folks recommending the UD3R and I have a Gigabyte motherboard now, so I'm already a bit familiar with their BIOS. Not that it would be that much different, but it helps. The other ASUS looks nice as well, but I'm a bit stuck on that price.

[lennykravitz2004]

This is making me think about rebuilding my system again too, and taking the plunge with windows 7.

 

FWIW... I have been pretty impressed with Win 7 Pro and Ultimate. All are 64bit. I'm only running AMD Athlon x2 and 2GB RAM (was 8GB, but that's another story. FU ADATA) for Ultimate. Boot time is literally about 45 seconds from pressing the button to "doing something" i.e. web browser, open an app, etc. My laptop is running Pro and specs are about the same (actually running 8GB RAM), just no bitlocker. I also have Win 7 Pro running on an older machine, with a P4HT3.2Ghz and 4GB. Runs very well on that too.

Edited April 2, 2011 by lennykravitz2004

[rajncajn]

FWIW... I have been pretty impressed with Win 7 Pro and Ultimate. All are 64bit. I'm only running AMD Athlon x2 and 2GB RAM (was 8GB, but that's another story. FU ADATA) for Ultimate. Boot time is literally about 45 seconds from pressing the button to "doing something" i.e. web browser, open an app, etc. My laptop is running Pro and specs are about the same (actually running 8GB RAM), just no bitlocker. I also have Win 7 Pro running on an older machine, with a P4HT3.2Ghz and 4GB. Runs very well on that too.

I have a copy of 32 bit XP Pro. If I want to go 64 bit Win 7 Pro, can I just buy the upgrade or do I have to buy the full deal?

[The Irish Doggy]

I have a copy of 32 bit XP Pro. If I want to go 64 bit Win 7 Pro, can I just buy the upgrade or do I have to buy the full deal?

 

 

IIRC, you can only upgrade from Vista. Xp users have to buy the whole thing. Or at least that's the way it was 9 months ago or so when I got my new comp.

[lennykravitz2004]

I have a copy of 32 bit XP Pro. If I want to go 64 bit Win 7 Pro, can I just buy the upgrade or do I have to buy the full deal?

 

 

Unsupported Upgrade Scenarios

 

Upgrades to Windows 7 from the following operating systems are not supported:

 

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP, Windows Vista® RTM, Windows Vista Starter, Windows 7 M3, Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, or Windows 7 IDS

 

Windows NT® Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server® 2003, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2

 

Cross-architecture in-place upgrades (for example, x86 to x64) are not supported.

 

Cross-language in-place upgrades (for example, en-us to de-de) are not supported.

 

Cross-SKU upgrades (for example, Windows 7 N to Windows 7 K) are not supported.

 

Upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows N, Windows K, Windows KN, or Windows E are not supported.

 

Cross-build type in-place upgrades (for example, fre to chk) are not supported.

 

Pre-release in-place upgrades across milestones (for example, Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM) are not supported.

 

Personally, I prefer a clean install as opposed to using their upgrade anyway. And if you have not done so (not sure of your IT skill set, and I don't want to insult you), consider adding a second HDD for data only, keeping the OS on it's own drive as well.

[rajncajn]

Personally, I prefer a clean install as opposed to using their upgrade anyway. And if you have not done so (not sure of your IT skill set, and I don't want to insult you), consider adding a second HDD for data only, keeping the OS on it's own drive as well.

That blows, I was hoping to help keep the cost down going this route. Oh well...

 

I haven't decided on how I'm going to run my HDD setup yet. I've got a decent one in my current setup, but I'd like to upgrade a little so I'd need to make sure they would both be compatible.

[rajncajn]

Well, I've bit the bullet & went with the Sabertooth X58 board. Came very close to buying the Gigabyte UD3R, which initially had great reviews, but I've seen lately that the new ver 2 is having a lot of issues with memory. The Sabertooth is not really the best board for overclocking from what I've read, but I'm not going to be OCing this rig anytime soon as it's gotta last for quite a while. I added the Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D to put in it, which were on sale.

 

Next up is the GPU and I'm looking at several of the GTX 400 series cards which, on the low end, are running about $160 after rebates. It's going to be a tough choice trying to decide which one will be the best bang for my buck & given the prices I'm going to try to stay around $170 on this. Cheaper would most certainly be better, but again, buying a single card for right now so I don't want to sacrifice too much.

 

Still ticked about the windows 7 purchase. Really wasn't factoring that in.

Edited April 6, 2011 by rajncajn

[Shaman]

Well, I've bit the bullet & went with the Sabertooth X58 board. Came very close to buying the Gigabyte UD3R, which initially had great reviews, but I've seen lately that the new ver 2 is having a lot of issues with memory. The Sabertooth is not really the best board for overclocking from what I've read, but I'm not going to be OCing this rig anytime soon as it's gotta last for quite a while. I added the Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D to put in it, which were on sale.

 

Next up is the GPU and I'm looking at several of the GTX 400 series cards which, on the low end, are running about $160 after rebates. It's going to be a tough choice trying to decide which one will be the best bang for my buck & given the prices I'm going to try to stay around $170 on this. Cheaper would most certainly be better, but again, buying a single card for right now so I don't want to sacrifice too much.

 

Still ticked about the windows 7 purchase. Really wasn't factoring that in.

 

Good Bang for your buck at $125: ASUS ENGTS450

[rajncajn]

Good Bang for your buck at $125: ASUS ENGTS450

I was looking at this one. Quite a jump, but about $60 more with the rebates included. Still, getting a $200+ card for $160 is a pretty good deal as well.

Edited April 6, 2011 by rajncajn

[Shaman]

I was looking at this one. Quite a jump, but about $60 more with the rebates included. Still, getting a $200+ card for $160 is a pretty good deal as well.

 

Good find! Didn't see it when I looked. Hey I was saving you $35 for your 2nd HDD

[rajncajn]

Speaking of hard drives... I'm trying to decide what is the best route for storage/performance/failsafe. In my current machine I have this:

 

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer

 

Backup is a big deal to me since we have a ton of family photos, videos etc on there. Right now my backup is an external hard drive, but it's too small to do a snapshot. I've also had folks recommend I run dual hard drives with one that holds my data & one with just the programs. Although I'm basically familiar with how RAID works, I'm a noob at getting it right and hesitant that I'll waste money on overkill and/or incompatible HDDs. If I can still get some use out of my old HDD, even as just as storage/backup that would be great. But I don't think it's a decent drive for my new system. The mobo had two 6Gb/s ports and SATA drive prices are definitely within the budget.