I'm planning on building a desktop...

S

SourPower

New Member
And I have been out of the computer game for awhile. I bought a top of the line Core 2 laptop when the architecture first came out, so I've just been using that. Time has come to upgrade now, with the i7/i9 coming out and the memory advantages. However, I am probably going to go desktop at this point, as Intel's new CPU's, DX11 GPU's, and other technologies coming out are going to make my laptop go obsolete even faster, and seeing as how they are new, cost even more.

I am trying to decide between two cases. A Antec Nine Hundred or a Raidmax Smilodon Extreme. Which one would be better? Quiter? Easier to work with? I understand the PSU positioning is a problem, but the fan blowing right on it should really eliminate any issues imo.

I play guitar in a band, and I listen to quite a bit of music as well, so I am looking for a nicer sound card. I don't know too much about recent soundcards as I have been out of the desktop loop for quite awhile... Any suggestions there appreciated.

As far as harddrives, I plan on buying a smaller harddrive now to save money, and just plopping in a new hard drive later and using the bigger harddrive that I installed later as my main one. I am probably going to be doing the same with DDR3. Two sticks of 2gb DDR3 1333 should be enough for now, upgrade down the road if I need to.

At this point, I don't know too much about the CPU compatibility down the line, if i7/i9 will use the same sockets, or even if I should go for a Phenom II or something along those lines either. Any suggestions for a CPU and a Mobo that would last would be greatly appreciated. I was planning on waiting for the Big Bang Fuzion, but it looks like Nvidia is going to try and make that not happen.

Also, desktop GPU's. What should I do there? Need something pretty powerful while still keeping it on the cheaper side.


Looking to get a fairly nice desktop that can be upgraded to last awhile at a fairly decent price. Thanks!
 
Or would I be better off going with the i7 due to DDR3 support?...

I basically would like the fast computer possible at the lowest cost, while retaining quite a bit of upgrade ability.
 
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Stoic Sentinel said:
I know, lol, but I thought you're going to be building a new desktop...?


***EDIT***
Care to share your budget? :)
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I feel I could get away with $1000.00ish for the system itself with a Phenom II and DX11 ATI's, especially considering I can get 10% off of everything. Mobo and processor are ~$300.00, case is going to be about $100.00, graphics card is going to be a bit, and I can skimp on easily replaceable things like the RAM and harddrive for now.


Is the Phenom II going to be upgradeable to something better down the road with the mobo I chose? How is it going to be, performance wise? I hope 4ghz quad core with the 30ish bandwidth is going to be fast enough :D
 
SourPower said:
I feel I could get away with $1000.00ish for the system itself with a Phenom II and DX11 ATI's, especially considering I can get 10% off.


Is the Phenom II going to be upgradeable to something better down the road with the mobo I chose? How is it going to be, performance wise? I hope 4ghz quad core with the 30ish bandwidth is going to be fast enough :D
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4ghz?! You're going to OC it? Then you might want to invest in a CPU cooler as well. And yeah, AMD usually don't change sockets, Intel's the one you have to watch out for :P
 
Stoic Sentinel said:
4ghz?! You're going to OC it? Then you might want to invest in a CPU cooler as well. And yeah, AMD usually don't change sockets, Intel's the one you have to watch out for :P
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What kind of a question is that :P


The Dirktooth has some pretty major airflow going on in there. I've read quite a few times of people easily and stably(sp?) overclocking it to 4ghz with air cooling.

But yea, do you think a setup like this should be doable with a $1000.00 budget and the 10% off?
 
SourPower said:
What kind of a question is that :P


The Dirktooth has some pretty major airflow going on in there. I've read quite a few times of people easily and stably(sp?) overclocking it to 4ghz with air cooling.

But yea, do you think a setup like this should be doable with a $1000.00 budget and the 10% off?
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Yeah, it is. One more question before I put together a build-- do you have like the Operating System, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc?
 
Stoic Sentinel said:
Yeah, it is. One more question before I put together a build-- do you have like the Operating System, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc?
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I have keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. I do need a OS, and am willing to go up a little bit more due to that. This isn't going to be an all at once thing. Monitor and OS might be a little bit before I can afford it.

Anyways, which case do you think would work best? I haven't worked on a computer since Pentium 4. It'd be sitting directly on a stained wooden desk, not on the ground, so the contact point between the desktop and the desk are important as well. Don't want dents or finish marring.
 
Do you think the Phenom II should be fine with that mobo? Worth investing in DDR3 at this point, or will I not see a difference due to the processor?

What graphics card should I look into? Power supply unit? Etc? Really, anything I should look into, send it my way. I would need firewire support for recording guitar bass and synth through a mixer into it.
 
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SourPower said:
I have keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. I do need a OS, and am willing to go up a little bit more due to that. This isn't going to be an all at once thing. Monitor and OS might be a little bit before I can afford it.

Anyways, which case do you think would work best? I haven't worked on a computer since Pentium 4. It'd be sitting directly on a stained wooden desk, not on the ground, so the contact point between the desktop and the desk are important as well. Don't want dents or finish marring.
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I think an Antec 300, 900, or HAF 922 will do. And what do you mean, could you um... clarify that a little?
 
Stoic Sentinel said:
I think an Antec 300, 900, or HAF 922 will do. And what do you mean, could you um... clarify that a little?
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I'm sorta... Broke. The computer is going to be on my dresser, and my dresser is stained. The last case I had on it reacted with the finish and left big indents. Rubber contact points would be nice. Also, the more room for airflow and routing the better. Like I said, I used to be into building systems, haven't done it for years.

You think the Antec 900 would be good? Is there anyway to control the fanspeed externally other than a module in one of the bays?
 
SourPower said:
I'm sorta... Broke. The computer is going to be on my dresser, and my dresser is stained. The last case I had on it reacted with the finish and left big indents. Rubber contact points would be nice. Also, the more room for airflow and routing the better. Like I said, I used to be into building systems, haven't done it for years.

You think the Antec 900 would be good? Is there anyway to control the fanspeed externally other than a module in one of the bays?
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I'm not sure about the external fan controller thing, perhaps someone else will come along and help.
 
That looks like a decent enough setup. That is actually the harddrive I have to put it in as well lol

I was also looking at the Coolermaster, but at the same time, I feel like I'd miss the window into my computer.

I'd also like a little more power in the graphics car. Other than that, looks great. That's basically the setup I had in mind, minus the GPU
 
And that's not including a network card or a cd drive either...

Is the 5770 a decent graphics card? I could get that for $15ish more and Crossfire it down the road?


I am looking at about $1080ish with the 5770, a Bluray Drive and a LG 1080 monitor.
 
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SourPower said:
And that's not including a network card or a cd drive either...

Is the 5770 a decent graphics card? I could get that for $15ish more and Crossfire it down the road?


I am looking at about $1080ish with the 5770, a Bluray Drive and a LG 1080 monitor.
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5750 is a lot more worth the money than a 5770.
 
Would a 5870 be worth saving up for? Or... ???


I am probably going to go 965 instead of 940 too... .4ghz more stock clock for not much more.
 
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