About to build my first PC - thoughts on parts Ive selected?

[J T]

PC Gamer just released an issue solely dedicated to building your own PC gaming rig. You should check it out. It's on store shelves right now.

[coastercrazy10]

^Will do.

an update for all the suggestions throughout this thread:
Z68 board - despite the extra features, I feel like the only real main draw is the integrated graphics which isn't an issue since I want an independent GPU
Radeon 6850 GPU - Requires PCIe 2.1, which my motherboard doesn't support.
Power supply issue: Newegg's price for the coolermaster is by far the lowest online, with most retailers offering it for $125 upwards. Reviews everywhere are solid. I'm going to go with it and test it upon receiving it before plugging any components into it. Also comes with a 5 year warranty so if any components are damaged I will pursue that route, but that's what I would do with any PSU.

Thanks for the advice all. I'll be sure to post some pictures and specs when I get this bad boy built!

-Ben

[isiolia]

The access that the Z68 allows for the integrated GPU can also be leveraged for software enabled Quick Sync - right now it's only via third-party software, and not all that much supports Quick Sync anyway (mostly video encoding/transcoding software). Long-term, that might change...or not. The small price premium is just a measure of future proofing.


Basically no motherboards ship with PCIe 2.1. The card supporting 2.1 just means it could use the (basically superfluous) additional features of 2.1 if the slot were compliant (it doesn't offer additional bandwidth). PCIe, in general, has backwards compatibility. You could use it in a PCIe 1.0 slot, it just wouldn't have as much bandwidth.

[coastercrazy10]

Still not too interested in the Z68. I'll keep looking around but i'm fairly set on my motherboard - it's one hell of a deal considering the features.

However now that you bring the PCIe compatibility to mind I've done a bit of looking into the 6580 HD. Found a card that looks to be pretty universally liked and well supported by XFX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150515

The things that really sold me on this particular card was the lower power consumption, stereoscopic 3D support (not a dealbreaker but will be nice if I can get a good deal on a smaller LCD 3D monitor), a single power cable (which will allow me to crossfire in the future), the dual fan design and the very low volume. Plus I know XFX is great brand, and above all newegg has a 5-egg average rating. Thoughts on this card? I really don't require the performance at this level but for all the features I figured it would be worth it in the long run not having to upgrade my GPU for a while.

-Ben

[isiolia]

Card seems fine - I don't have hands-on experience with it, but I've been pretty happy with my 6870. Generally speaking, the 6800 series are priced pretty competitively right now, both with slight price drops and rebates...so I think it's worth it.

[coastercrazy10]

A bit of an update.

Purchased my case and sleeved the Front Panel cables in red to contrast the black tubing on the USB, eSata, mic and headphone cables. I've also placed an order at newegg for my RAM (was a Shell Shocker today for $70 for 8GB at 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24 timings) and my power supply. I ended up purchasing a corsair HX650W semi-modular supply for the same price as the 700W coolermaster. I knocked down the wattage a bit in favor of more stable power and a 7-year warranty. Also picked up a fan controller and an extra fan for the inside of my case. Will post pictures when I get the fan controller all set up and the cables sleeved.

Will be purchasing the following in a few weeks as a big order from Newegg:
i5-2500K
Biostar P67 B3 Motherboard
1 TB WD Caviar Black HD (unless I find a better deal on fatwallet in the meantime...)
XFX Radeon 6850 HD Dual Fan edition

And at that point I'll be able to put everything together and get this bad boy up and running! Trying to save as many pennies as I can from work, only spending for gas and a little bit of games here and there until I get everything purchased.

-Ben

[Niode]

I'd avoid the WD hard drive unless you love the sound of high pitched squealing.

PCI-E2.1 as stated isn't required. I have a HD6950 2GB in my rig and that's on a ASUS P5Q Deluxe motherboard which has dual PCI-E2.0 slots.

If you can stretch to it I'd go for the HD6950 as they will BIOS mod to the HD6970 gaining you an extra 100 shaders for free.

Corsair make very good PSU the TX series won a hell of a lot of awards. I personally have a TX750 in my rig and it's solid as a rock and whisper quiet. Very subdued colour scheme, no frills and as such a very competitive price.

Stick with 4GB RAM, upgrade later if you need it.

Just to clarify, if you are wanting to have more than one ATi card in your rig, you're going to need a motherboard that supports Crossfire. SLi won't work. They aren't cross compatible at all. SLi is for nVidia cards and Crossfire is for ATi cards. You need to choose your motherboard accordingly.

Make sure you don't skimp on your case. Make sure the tower is big enough to fit all your components in and then some. The bigger your case the better your airflow will be, the more stable your system will be when overclocked. Try and get one with a removable motherboard tray. Makes your life so much easier on your first build. Trust me.

[isiolia]

Is the WD noise a common issue? I've got several and haven't had problems with them. I had an older one that made some weird noises, but nothing that I've bought in the past couple years has done that.

AFAIK, Crossfire is supported by everything (with multiple slots anyway). SLI support isn't 100%, but it's getting more common now that AMD is building support into their chipsets.

[Niode]

Is the WD noise a common issue? I've got several and haven't had problems with them. I had an older one that made some weird noises, but nothing that I've bought in the past couple years has done that.

AFAIK, Crossfire is supported by everything (with multiple slots anyway). SLI support isn't 100%, but it's getting more common now that AMD is building support into their chipsets.

Unless things have changed in the last 18 months you don't see both on the same board though. It's either one or the other. That's my point. An SLI board will not support Crossfire and vice versa.

[isiolia]

Is the WD noise a common issue? I've got several and haven't had problems with them. I had an older one that made some weird noises, but nothing that I've bought in the past couple years has done that.

AFAIK, Crossfire is supported by everything (with multiple slots anyway). SLI support isn't 100%, but it's getting more common now that AMD is building support into their chipsets.

Unless things have changed in the last 18 months you don't see both on the same board though. It's either one or the other. That's my point. An SLI board will not support Crossfire and vice versa.

Supporting both is pretty common. The board he mentioned does. My motherboard does.

The biggest divide has been with AMD chipsets and SLI - but on the Intel side it's typical to see support for both if SLI is supported. AMD is now willing/able to put SLI in their chipsets again - but for several years there it was only really on the Intel side.

It's not a complete given, and I agree, worth checking - but it's not quite that divided these days.