impur Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I know we have some techies here and i'm building a new computer so I thought i'd get some ideas from yous guys. Here is what i've got: Antec skeleton case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129056 SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102822 DYNAPOWER USA ADW-50063 Peak: 500W ATX Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817162010 I have the optical drives as well. For my next purchase i'm looking to buy a CPU/Motherboard combo to save some money. Seems you can get the combo for about 10-20 less than doing it separately. So i've been an AMD guy for the last 5 years or so. I don't necessarily prefer AMD over Intel but AMD seems to be the best bang for the buck. I'll be using this computer for gaming, some video editing very rarely, and as a HTPC. I'll be going with a seagate 1tb SATA HD as well as picking up a few SATA/IDE adapters so I can still use the 3 HDs i have now, which are IDE. I think i've narrowed it down to this CPU/MB combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.265477 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard I'd like to keep the CPU/MB combo under $300, and I plan to purchase a 2nd video card and run them in CrossFire. What do you think? Decent combo? Any suggestions? Dos or don'ts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Do you realize this board has video integrated on the board. In my experience your better off getting one that doesn't if your going to use a separate card and especially so if you run 2 of them. Also this is a DDR3 board. If you planned to use some memory you already have be sure it is DD3 (Might be if it was bought in the last year but doubtful if not). I haven't checked memory prices recently but last time I did DD3 was still quite a bit more than DDR2. Either way I don't see memory in your list. If you don't need the ide drives hooked up on a permanent basis you can get a single adapter that will work for any SATA, 3.5 IDE, and 2.5 (notebook) ide as well. I have one that will plug into any of them and comes with a power supply as well. (You can get them for either SATA or USB, get the SATA for the faster speed if you go this route) If I go for an aftermarket board then I look at Gigabyte first. I've used Intel for the last couple of boards which I had never done in the past and have been very happy with how reliable they are. If your not going to tweak the board then it's hard to beat the reliability of an Intel board. (Not sure if a true Intel board will have crossfire support though) If your planning to tweak it and perhaps overclock the CPU then Gigabyte would be my first choice (Asus was but their quality has slipped in recent years). BTW, Personally I always spend the extra for Intel processors as they have always been very reliable for me and I can't afford to have my developing system go down if I can help it. I think the AMD processors are more reliable now than they use to be though so other than personal preference I have no really good reason to suggest one over the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Yes i'm aware it has onboard video. That isn't a concern for me unless the price difference is significant. This seems to be a great overall board. Its nice to have the onboard video to fall back on if the vid card takes a crap, like on the last computer I built back in 05. The ASUS video card took a dump a few months ago and it allows me to still use the computer without buying another card. I do have DDR3 memory, no worries. Good to know on the adapters, perhaps i'll just get some sort of docking station to mount the IDE drives and connect them via USB or eSATA. I do plan to play with OCing the chip a bit. I also considered the AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz dual core and seeing if i could unlock the other 2 cores, but its kinda hit or miss and i think the quad core would perform better than the dual core if it cannot be unlocked. I like the new Intel chips, but they are just a bit more $$ than I want to spend currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I've been with AMD for years and love it. I almost switched on this last build I just did but I couldn't do it. Never heard of an AMD chip failing from anyone I personally know and known a few Intels to fail so I just saved a little cash for the same speed. I got some stuff from the daily deals like my 23.5" ASUS 1080p HDMI LCD for $169!!! Most others I just did the combo deals... This is the AMD I went with and I love it! (Yes Eric:p, I LOVE IT!!!) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674 Their are some good combo deals to be had with it also to save you a little more money on top. I paired it with this MSI MB and got $25 off with a combo deal. It has plenty of USB, SATA, PCI, and PCIe ports for most anything your doing. Will work with very high DDR3 ram, looks great, and has control panel buttons biult right onto the board which would work great for your case. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130223 And in true fish lovers fashion I paired it with this case just because I could and although very tight it all fits in(even the huge video card) and works well... Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811166042 Video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102841 all this with 4 gigs of OZ DDR3 2000 (pc3 16000) ram, a light scribe DL DVD burner, 1TB WD hard drive, and a 700W dual rail power supply, I couldn't be happier(rock2)(rock2)(rock2)(rock2)(rock2)(rock2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Nice i almost got that case. Any pics of it running with all the fan lights on?? Thats a sweet deal on the LCD wow nice score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Here is one of the ones I recently put together. The specs are not necessarily that impressive until you consider that the case is the size of a shoebox. (8.7"x 5.1"x 11.8") It is my primary developing machine and packs enough power for both heavy graphics editing and program compiling. Also done a bit of video editing with it as well. Intel DG45FC (MiniITx with support for Intel® Core™2 Quad Desktop Processors) 2.5 Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor (When I built this quad cores were about $700) 4 Gigs of Kingston Hyper X Ram (DDR2 PC8500 @ 1066 Mhz) 3/4 TB via 3.5" Internal Seagate Barracuda SATA Drive 1/2 TB via Drive Bay which holds 2 Hot Swap 7200 RPM SATA Laptop Drives. Gigabit Ethernet Onboard 7.1 Channel HD Audio Intel GMA X4500HD onboard graphics (Blu Ray Compatible, Dual display HDMI & DVI-I) The Case is an Apex MI-008 that I modded to add the side window and 2 UV Cold Cathode Tubes and to add the stainless handles on top. The extra blue LED inside is from the southbridge heatsink and fan which I added as the southbridge chip tends to run hot on these boards without it. Note: I could use the full length PCIe slot for a video card but instead I run a Hauppauge HVR-1250 TV Card (ATSC High Definition Compatible), this system also doubles as a PVR on occasion. I also occasionally run my Blu-Ray drive on this system as well via an eSata cable. At one point I had this board in an Evercase E0528i-AZ4 Mini-ITX Case which is even smaller (3.47 x 10 x 8.61). It didn't have room for all of the hard drives or a full size optical drive though. It now has an Intel D945GCLF2 Mini-ITX Board (w/Dual Core Atom 330 Hyperthreaded CPU) and is set up to run off a 12 volt Automotive PSU. It includes a 10" touchscreen monitor. I eventually plan to install it in my rock crawler to run GPS and 3 rock cameras. (Cameras similar to rearview cameras at the corners for seeing the rocks and tires) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Thats cool Rick i was really looking for something exactly like that case originally. But the skeleton was too cool and the price was too right to pass up. How do you like that TV tuner card? I haven't even started researching those yet, but will need to very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Thats cool Rick i was really looking for something exactly like that case originally. But the skeleton was too cool and the price was too right to pass up. How do you like that TV tuner card? I haven't even started researching those yet, but will need to very soon. It's a decent card. I prefer a dual tuner card where ATSC and NTCS are separate rather than the Hybrid but for $50 it does a great job. I do have 2 of the Hauppauge 1600's which are dual tuners and an Avermedia NTSC tuner in my HTPC. (5 tuners with about 2 TB of storage so I can record 4 and watch one) I prefer them however they require a PCI slot which this board doesn't have. (Barely enough room for the one PCIe slot it has) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciao Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 If your still looking for a processor, I have a friend that works at Intel that can get processors for almost 50% off if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 You should try this: http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 If your still looking for a processor' date=' I have a friend that works at Intel that can get processors for almost 50% off if I remember correctly.[/quote'] I may be interested in the Q9500 or the Q9550 when I have a bit more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 You should try this: http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php :-) I looked at some of the mineral oil cooled systems people were putting together awhile back. I tend to tinker with my systems too much though so I think it would be a lot of trouble to deal with. Also thought about building a water cooled pc/reef system but it would just be novel and not really too practical. The next unique build I do will probably be a silent fanless air cooled htpc system. (The one with the Atom 330 is almost fanless but isn't up to the task of an htpc) The one I posted above was fanless for a short time using a mini kamikaze heatsink on the processor but the southbridge was getting too hot so I switched back to the regular heatsink and fan and put the extra southbridge cooler on it. It's pretty quiet but not quite silent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwcoralfarm Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 I know we have some techies here and i'm building a new computer so I thought i'd get some ideas from yous guys. Here is what i've got: Antec skeleton case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129056 SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102822 DYNAPOWER USA ADW-50063 Peak: 500W ATX Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817162010 I have the optical drives as well. For my next purchase i'm looking to buy a CPU/Motherboard combo to save some money. Seems you can get the combo for about 10-20 less than doing it separately. So i've been an AMD guy for the last 5 years or so. I don't necessarily prefer AMD over Intel but AMD seems to be the best bang for the buck. I'll be using this computer for gaming, some video editing very rarely, and as a HTPC. I'll be going with a seagate 1tb SATA HD as well as picking up a few SATA/IDE adapters so I can still use the 3 HDs i have now, which are IDE. I think i've narrowed it down to this CPU/MB combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.265477 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard I'd like to keep the CPU/MB combo under $300, and I plan to purchase a 2nd video card and run them in CrossFire. What do you think? Decent combo? Any suggestions? Dos or don'ts? Your into reefs and you didn't decide to go with a home made mineral oil cooled pc in a fish tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwcoralfarm Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Oops, looks like I am late on that one. They really are more of a novelty then anything though anyway. The cooling isn't much more effective at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted October 30, 2009 Author Share Posted October 30, 2009 If your still looking for a processor' date=' I have a friend that works at Intel that can get processors for almost 50% off if I remember correctly.[/quote'] pm sent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 Ok i got a smoking deal on a i7-920 i'm super stoked!! Need a mobo now....... the asus p6t and the gigabyte x58 u3d both look great...... so many choices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 IME Asus quality has fallen off in the last few years (They use to be the only board I would buy). If the features are similar I would go for the Gigabyte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 IME Gigabyte has always sucked. IMO I would go with the Asus and if the board sux don't worry their customer support is phenomenal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I would also entertain an MSI board or Intel...depending on CPU. But either Intel or Asus would be at the top of my list. Anything less would be uncivilized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I used to swear by Gigabyte, then I had one replaced twice for the same issue. I ended up having to switch to some crap to get by. Now I am running MSI and it is a truly great board so far. I would check them out before you buy for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 EVGA boards are getting good review too. Its tough cuz every board seems to have its share of troubles. The Asus and Gigabyte boards i'm looking at have awesome OCing along with pretty much all the other goodies i'll need. I guess i just need to pick one and pull the trigger. I was considering an Intel board, but they don't offer much in the way of crossfire and if they have crossfire it seems they don't have a few other things i'm wanting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Intel boards are great (My programming system is an Intel) but as mentioned crossfire is an issue and you mentioned OCing which basically eliminates Intel. I avoid overclocking my systems though as they have to be rock solid reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 althought they aren't crossfire friendly they are SLI friendly...if you haven't already purchased your VC's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Yah i already have an ATI card. Its pretty much the reason i am building this. I bought it on accident after my card went out and the ATI card is PCIe 2.0 which my current board doesn't have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 I went with the GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R. Found it for 175 and a $15 mail in rebate so i jumped on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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