Hi, Building my 2nd Computer But???

Hi,

I'm really feeling a little guilty about this. Lets just say that I can put it together but picking out all the hardware and such confuses me so bad that I become a studdering idiot. When I built the one I have now I had a buddy to assist me in picking everything out so it would do the job I wanted it to do. Now I don't even know how fast I want to go. I'm no gamer. I do a lot of research and business. I love to watch music videos but the picture is not that good and I have trouble with the stream. Its not near fast as I want it. (Don't really need it but I still want it) I want it to be around for another 5 or 6 years and hopefully upgrade at that time rather than build another. This one also seems to hang a lot and gets quite slow. When I finish it I want it to be fast with fantastic audio and Video and I want it to be pretty. And you know what I want more than anything besides the money to pull it off? I want it to kick the crap out of my son-in-laws cheap Dell that he's so proud of...lol... I have a 500 watt power supply if that will surfice.I have a new key board and mouse and monitor and a working floppy drive. I need to replace the tower, the Cd-rom and the Cd-Rw.. I sent an attachment with some of the specs about this one. I like all the brands I used in this one and if at all possible based on performance and price I'd like to stay pretty close. I hope this is not asking to much of you. I'm just really lost as far as getting the right components to get it to do what I want it to.

Thanks,
mike

 

Alright, reading what you've written there, you need a new machine, not an upgrade.

First of all, whats your budget?

Secondly, whats the model of your son-in-laws PC?

And thirdly, this here

Is also an unrealistic requirement.

Lastly, give the Floppy Drive to a museum, you wont be needing it anymore. :-D

 

Hi Drizzles,
Thanks for your reply. For sure a new machine is what I'm going for. As far as a budget goes I don't know what would be realistic. It will be getting components a piece here and there when I can. I would hope it would be in the neighborhood of $8oo. to $1000.. I'll find out the model of my son-in-laws dell asap. The thought of just upgrading the new machine in 5 or 6 years is pretty lame as I found out when I looked into upgrading the one I have now. I can be very flexable. There are no requirments. I'm not looking for a super computer as much as I'm looking for a modern one. Some frills would be nice but they would hindge on cost. I'm in no way claiming I'm the exspert here and am open to any suggestions. Any help will be extremely appreciated.

mike

 

As Drizzles says we need yuor Budget, firstly I would start thinking about the case, heres an idea for you to get the drift, I have an older version ''Tsunami Dream'' which is a good budget case/Plenty of airflow/filters/easy to clean.


ThermalTake SopranoRS 101 VG7000BWS Chassis Below is link for specs

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1314&ID=1452

Of course shop around for the best deal as prices can vary considerably for the same item.

 

Good morning Toke,
Love the look and cooling ability of the Thermaltake. I got excited looking at it. I hope that's the way things will go. Fun, exciting and a learning experience.
Thanks,
mike

 

With a budget like that you can build a real power house, just one more Q do you need to buy a new OS, if so then the budget is dramatically reduced to around $600 to $800????

That still leaves a healthy amount to build with and i am sure we can deliver the goods for you.

 

About the case, just throwing something out there ...

Anyone heard of NZXT?

I love some of these cases;

http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/classic_series/lexa_blackline
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/crafted_series/guardian_921
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/crafted_series/zero_2

Sorry just had to throw that in there

Ok now, Bills question is definitely a deciding factor in our budget, do you wanna upgrade from the old XP and if you don't do you have a Disk for your version of XP?

And the model of yours son's PC is also going to be a deciding factor, as we're aiming to beat it.

Also, you may be wanting to throw in a little extra cash for a new monitor too, as your 5-6 year old monitor isn't going to be a Full HD LCD, so to get the best Picture quality your going to want to upgrade that too.

 

With that budget I'd go with an Intel i7 930 CPU ($200 at your local Microcenter). This is almost top end but within your budget, but probably overkill for you though I'd stay with the i range of Intel CPU's. If this is too rich for your blood then grab an i5 instead.

I specced a decent graphics card for you but as you don't game, this is good enough. I also chose a power supply as I wouldn't use or trust a 6 year old power supply for a $700 new build, never! So for $520 for the main guts, you have plenty of room to choose a nice looking case and decent monitor too. You can reuse your hard drive but I'd get a new one, $100 or less for a one TB drive and maybe $30 for an excellent DVD player/writer, I like LG.

Good luck!:major

MicroATX, 2-way SLI & Crossfire, DDR3 1600MHz+ $200

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM$ $110

EVGA 512-P3-1240-LR GeForce GT 240 $40(after MIR)

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 $70

 

You mentioned you do work on your machine, then I would definitely get an external hard drive to backup your internal one in case something goes horribly wrong like a virus or mechanical failure and you can't recover the data.

BTW, the specs I posted would most likely smoke your son-in-law's machine except for the video card on which getting the best would set you back $500 plus a beefier power supply. You don't seem like the vindictive type. :-D

 

Where the hell do you guys get these prices!?

All my prices are almost double yours?

Are the prices that different between the States and Australia?? ... or is it just me cuz I pick the best of the best :-D

 

Antec makes a nice case. I have one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 and the Thermaltake Soprano. Both are good. Personally, I like the Antec 300 a little more.

I would not buy many components over time. Just save your money, prices get lower and sped goes up over time. Of course, if you find a good deal on a case, you might start there.

This looks like a nice Hard drive to look into. I am thinking about getting one myself...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6280178&CatId=5300

Never used a hybrid type drive, looks interesting. New computers are always fun. Might build me another one this spring.

 

Only double? :-D Seriously, the exchange rate is almost the same so it must be your extra burden of health care and social services. That's something I gladly pay for in Canada but our dollars compared to the US are about the same, wasn't the Oz dollar some 0.53 US cents last year?

I really don't know what's going on. I do know that lots of Aussies did quit folding as the electricity rates went nuts and the good boys couldn't afford it anymore!

 

They still are going nuts :banghead

Last year it was shockin but now that we're goin up and you guys are still goin down its gettin pretty equal ... but I mean


American
Intel Core i7 950 = 279.99

Australian
Intel Core i7 950 = $386.10

0.o

American
SAMSUNG P2770FH = $299.99

Australian
SAMSUNG P2770FH = $570.99

Hows that for a price difference

I think I might let you boys build this one as you guys have probably got a better idea of prices lol ... I'll be watching but so I may input here and there

 

I ordered me one of those hybrid type drives. Will post back with results if the OP is interested. As far as the healthcare and such I think that :-D should be so we get :cool!!!

 

Same problem here, we can not compete with US/Canadian prices.

As for the electricity our prices have gone up 30% in a year.

 

Five years is not unreasonable for a machine by any stretch either, its very do able if you purchase good components and take care of it. My old gaming box is sitting next to this rig and its at least 5 years old, running linux and works great for web browsing and media use. Was running xp but now has opensuse because im using to it backup some of my files off this machine. Five years isn't unreasonable, even for a pc

 

It is if you want it to be running on par with other high end machines at that time.

Yeah ours has gone up some 30 45% depending on the State you live in.

 

Crap man %30-%45?!:eek We only went up %3 last year I believe, so small that I don't even remember the rate hike, but then we have hydro power and not fossil fuel burning plants. As to folding, I don't think I could afford a %30 increase either so I'd forget about GPU folding, OC the i7 to 3.8GHz or better and have -bigadv flag set but it has to run 24/7 to get the bonus.

I paid $311+ tax for my 930 and a 950 is currently $350 CDN at my favourite online store + %5 tax. We're not that far off from you Aussies at all.

 

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for so many responces. I want you to know that I have not been ignoring you. I've been very sick with a cold and A fever and have barely had the energy to get out of bed where I'll be returning shortly. I honestly have not even been able to read your posts but did want you to know that I have not lost interest and as soon as I shake this thing I will read all your posts and get involved again.

Thanks
mike

 

Would this be a suitable substitute for the power supply? $20.00 cheaper.

Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Lifetime Warranty w/ Registration

Thanks

 

Well, since you've already spent some $800-$1000 why try and skimp on a very important part of your new machine? I'm not saying the Ultra PSU sucks(I've never had one) but I have had a quality PSU die on me. It didn't spark or put out funny odours or take out my machine, it just quietly died as it was designed to.

I had an Ultra UPS for four years and it worked great! Just do your homework on the quality of the PSU and not concentrate on a measly $20 'savings'. Your machine depends on this.

 

Much in agreement with Augie, never, ever skimp on your PSU.

 

I have to agree, the PSU is the heart of the PC and just like your body if the heart is weak the rest of the performance suffers.

 

Hi,
You know what? I think I'll stay with the Cosair...lol...
Thanks guys,

 

No, not vindictive. My son-in-law is my fishing buddy and best friend. We just have an ongoing discussion about the advantages and disavantages of building your own or buying a new Dell. I think Dell is a throw away. You can't mess with it and $ for $ I think I can build a better machine. Besides, its a hell of a lot more fun. I'm really excited about it and I don't have to spend near what I thought I did which means I can come up with the cash faster.

 

I'll stay with my version of windows at least for now. I do have the disk. I also have a brand new HD LCD wide screen monitor.

 

I only said that in jest.

You are correct about Dell etc., their stuff is 'just good enough' with little room to upgrade.

I'm glad you're excited! I'm like a kid Christmas morning when I get the parts for my builds.(and I'm 57:-D).

Here's a couple of cases that I like and happen to own too. Easy cable management with these boxes

CoolerMaster 690
CoolerMaster Sniper(this may be overkill for you)

 

@ augiedoggie
I hope I don't say something extremely stupid here but I need a little more help.
I've deceided to go with the i7 930 cpu but could you help me out with finding a decent fan/heatsink. Also I've got brain lock after looking at so many 1tb hard drives. Could you spec one out for me? And lastly, I've been looking at cdrw/dvd rom players and it seems there are combo models that do everything and more. If this is true can you spec one of those out? Oh, just one more...lol... To me it doesn't look like there is going to be much in this machine. Do I need a full sized case?
Thanks,
mike

 

Hi,

Can you help me out with my last post. Did I do or say something to offend someone If so it wasn't intentional. I'm still a bit confused by all the choices. (mike bangs head on desk)

 

Hi

I can't recommend a fan/heatsink as I don't have an i7 yet. As to 1TB HDDs, I would recommend this one.

As to CD/DVD combo drive, this one looks good.

As to computer cases, a mid sized tower would be best for you. Cases aren't just about size, but cooling the hardware with air flow.

 

Thank you very much. It looks like now all I need is the money...lol...

 

The stock heatsink/fan that Intel supplies with the retail box is an excellent choice for stock CPU speeds

As to HDD's, I like the Western Digital black Caviars as a boot drive.

CD/DVD-R/W. I like LG drives.

Nah, a mid-tower case is enough for you like i specced, some 18" tall.

No, it's nothing you said at all. It's due to the fact that I never log out so a post that comes in before the server kicks one out gets lost in the new posts. I'll change my habits from now on.

 

Not to disagree with you, but the hard drive I linked in my above post is an A/V system drive, DESIGNED to operate under load and heat for long periods. I've heard great things about these drives. It also has a 64MB cache versus 32MB in the Caviar. Yes, it's a little more, but should be a more reliable drive.

 

You can get a 64mb cache in the blacks but you've gotta bump up the size a little, and I personally would also be going the Blacks (having a 2TB black myself with a 64mb cache) they have more advanced data safety and fail-safes built in than the greens and feature a dual-processor on the 64mb versions. Also if it was for purely AV purposes, I would be recommending the black in PATA format, this is probably the best A/V drive you can get from WD.

 

Hmm, well thanks for that bit of useful information! I always thought the A/V drive I linked to would be best for the reasons I stated, but the blacks sound better, especially with the dual processor and fail safes.

Good to know, since I will be getting a new drive or two in the next few months.