I've Built My Dream Computer... Well, Kinda..

[peteyboy22]

all of this stuff will work together right?

http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Phenom-Th...lectronics&pf_rd_p=1286055462&pf_rd_s=center-

4&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000527731&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12SE6BVGA00YAREZ2G56

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-PCI-...dp/B004GTWHAM/ref=br_lf_m_1000527731_1_2_img?

ie=UTF8&s=electronics&pf_rd_p=1286055462&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000527731&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12SE6BVGA00YAREZ2G56

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Power-Q...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1295327706&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Crosshair-IV-Formula-Motherboard/dp/B003G40Z66/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_b

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Venge...GX3M4A1600C9/dp/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_2

http://www.amazon.com/Aspire-X-Plor...0C/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1295328449&sr=8-12

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technolog...5JCE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1295328792&sr=8-3

Total Cost: $1586

I know how to build a computer, I have before, I'm just not good at seeing if stuff will work with other stuff..

I also don't know what heat-sink i need, or does it come with the processor?.. I've never ordered separate computer parts before, so idk how all this works.

 

[SslagleZ28]

A heatsink will come with the processor and its good for stock speed but if you plan to overclock, which it seems like because of the Black Edition CPU then you should look at a better one. Also theres no need to spend the extra $90 on a HD6970 gpu. You can buy the HD 6950 and flash the 6970 bios onto it. I did it 3 days ago it worked like a charm with my XFX HD 6950. With the rebate and the card on sale I saved $100 over if I would have bought the 6970. You might also want to grab a decent regular hard drive as well maybe a Seagate Barracuda or a Western Digital Caviar Black, because that 60gb SSD is gonna fill up fast. I also dont think you need a 1200watt PSU thats really overkill for what you have listed. Save a few dollars and tone it down to about 850w, that still give you the ability to crossfire if you plan to down the line. Now ont he heatsink you dont have to go extreme high end, but dont go really cheap either. I use the Xigmatek Dark Knight, it cools nicely, also the Noctua NH-D14 is a cooling beast its pretty high end for aircooling and costs a bit more. What I did was found something that looked the way I wanted and then youtubed and googled some user reviews. I can vouch for the Dark Knight though, im overclocked from 3.2 to 4.2ghz and i might hit 60 deg Celsius under full load. Right now im sitting at 34 degrees Celsius but granted in not doing much lol.

 

[Drenlin]

Is this a gaming computer? Or some sort of workstation?

I'll be honest, that's a very, very off-balance rig for gaming.

Also, you'll get better prices and customer support from Newegg, and pay less for shipping as well.

 

[peteyboy22]

@sslaglez28: Thanks, I will try the 6950 instead.. and yeah, i'm gonna try overclocking, i haven't ever done it before, i'm only 16 and haven't done much with overclocking yet.. and i already have plenty of storage, 160, 500, 100, 20 gig hard drives, i actually don't use that much space anyway, i always keep it clean, but i don't have a solid state drive yet...

i knew the 1200 watt psu, was large, but i didn't want to put it all together and find out that i didn't have enough power... but, thanks, i will go with a 850 watt

and i looked at both of the heat sinks you suggested and bookmarked them both, well see how much money i feel like spending when i order it all..

@Drenlin: It's kinda both.. The reason for the 16 gig of ram is just to say i have 16 gigs O_O.. i'd thought it'd be cool.. and i'm not just gamming on it either, i like to do 3-d modeling and stuff two, so it's kinda also for that.. i'm also going to eventually do something in graphic design, and i need to be able to have a super large canvas with many layers... and 2 gigs of ram and a crappy gpu like what i have don't really cut it... 2500x2500 is the largest res i can get with my painting programs..

but what else if off balance??

and i'll try to find the stuff on newegg, though i was on there and i couldn't find the graphics card or processor i wanted..

 

[Drenlin]

Well if you think you can utilize 16GB, then go for it, but otherwise it's really not worth it. That's a lot of money to put down for something you won't use.


Honestly, for the price difference, you'd be a lot better off going with a Sandy Bridge build. A build using an i5 2500K wouldn't be much more expensive, but you can get a lot more power out of it.

The PSU is way too big unless you're going to be putting three of those GPU's in there eventually. There are better 1KW+ units on the market anyway. (Not that the TPQ-1200 is bad)

The case is, honestly, awful. Bad airflow, no cable management, low build quality, and it will probably be a tight squeeze getting your GPU in there.

Do keep in mind that unlocking the 6850 to a 6870 is not a sure thing, though the success rate is very high. You also have to overclock it to 6970 speeds.

Definitely get a normal hard drive as well. Or two. The most common ones for builds in this price range are Western Digital's Caviar Black line and Samsung's Spinpoint F3 line. The Caviar blacks have a 5 year warranty, while the F3's have a 3 year but are significantly cheaper. Speed is as near as makes no difference between them.

The motherboard is really overkill unless you're going to be using three or more graphics cards simultaneously.

For the heat sink, have a look at Frostytech's top 10 lists:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

And definitely use Newegg. It should be cheaper (if only because of shipping), and their customer support is a lot better than you'll get from Amazon. They ship a lot faster as well.

 

[jgoff14]

I second the vote for quick shipping from the egg, i always pay extra to have it rushed the same day which is a big deal to me. As far as customer service I have no use for newegg there. I am completely disgusted with them (not enough not to shop) and wouldn't hold my breath for anything from them. I have always had better luck with amazon customer service but thats my $.02.

 

[myPCrocks]

Amazon is far better! Better CS and gotta love the Free 2day shipping with Prime. And College Students can get Prime for FREE for one year.

 

[peteyboy22]

what cases would you reccomend??.. i didn't really think the case mattered so much.. so i picked a cheap one that i though looked cool... i found a good one that got awesome reviews, but it wasn't atx sized

..hmm, even though the risk of the flash with the gpu might not work... i still think i'm going to go with the 6970... maybe more, but, i don't like risks

and, i was trying to build this computer for the future, i finally want to be ahead of what's needed for average games... in 5 years, i want to just do a few upgrades to my pc to play the latest games... not build a whole new one... and eventually i may want to have 3 video cards.. depends how much money i can make... because i'd also need to buy 2 more tv's.. so i think i will stick with the larger psu.. even though it's extreme overkill for what i have now, in the future, i may be able to utilize it all..

also, virtual environments are fun to play around with.. so that'd take up some of my ram..

 

[Drenlin]

Just so you know, if it doesn't work, you've still only payed for a 6850, and resetting the BIOS is as easy as flipping a switch. You're right though, paying for the 6970 is the only assured way to get one, and it has better overclocking potential as well.

How much are you looking to spend on a case?