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Topic: The 'Build Me A PC' Thread (Read 866302 times)
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Oh, good idea.
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SnakeCharmer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3807
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Hell, some proper cable management would do wonders for airflow. That picture gives the neatfreak in me the heebie jeebies and would keep me up at night.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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IT'S NOT THAT BAD. It just doesn't photograph well!
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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Yeah, its not that bad. Some people really :)
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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SnakeCharmer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3807
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Yeah, I'm one of those people when it comes to stuff like that. It took me three days of planning/building/rebuilding/routing/rerouting my PC until I was done. And that doesn't include the freaking near week it took me to cable management behind my desk before I was happy.
Clutter is the one thing that puts me in the nuthouse - even if I don't see it, I know it's there and my eye twitches.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I honestly do not have enough time in the day to worry about clutter. I'm jealous!
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MisterNoisy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1892
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I dunno - you don't have to take three days to plan out the wiring to avoid clutter in the case (to be honest, I can't imagine it ever taking that long unless you're going bananas and re-sleeving all the wires while you're at it), but a case that has provisions for cable management and/or a modular PSU goes a long way towards making it easier.
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XBL GT: Mister Noisy PSN: MisterNoisy Steam UID: MisterNoisy
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SnakeCharmer
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3807
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It's not like I put 72 hours into it. An hour or two, possibly three, a day messing with it, mocking it up, sleeving up wires, etc. Some of it was 'research' into how others did it, that sort of thing. The result was an exceptionally clean install with no wires stretched over my motherboard that includes SLI, XiFi sound card, Corsair H50 with dual fans for push pull with a shroud from the top front fan of my Antec 902. Did some additional rewiring of the case fans to elminate plugs and excess wire. The painted the clear side black and added sound deadener to the sides.
I'm a detail oriented guy that believes if you're going to do something, do it right. I ended up with a PC that's exceptionally quiet, stays remarkably cool even when overclocked, and is a breeze to clean when I need to dump a can of compressed air into it.
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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My cable management guide:
Cables fit (shove as necessary) and side panel closes. Computer boots. No weird noises. Temps OK.
Yep? GAME ON.
The only temp increases I've seen since install (and minor at that) is when it got pretty dusty and I had to clean the filter and when it stopped being winter in Arizona. I installed in a historically cold time in the state.
If I really had the time to blow on optimizing the setup, I might. I don't like fiddling with the computer's innards and unplugging shit once everything's working fine, however.
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-Rasix
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Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737
the opportunity for evil is just delicious
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for a new system is there any reason not to invest in a full tower?
also, any drawbacks with investing in an i7 2600k?
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23625
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Size/space, weight?
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MisterNoisy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1892
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XBL GT: Mister Noisy PSN: MisterNoisy Steam UID: MisterNoisy
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Soln
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4737
the opportunity for evil is just delicious
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Size/space, weight?
thanks. Just thinking blank canvas. thanks. I'll think about the 2500k only.
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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My cable management guide:
Cables fit (shove as necessary) and side panel closes. Computer boots. No weird noises. Temps OK.
Yep? GAME ON.
This. There is an argument that for airflow reasons, you should tuck everything neatly away. Sure, you don't want a beaver damn of muck obstructing airflow, but Sky's set up is not particularly obstructing and by normal standards is positively neat. As for aesthetics, the case is closed :P
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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As I said, the cabling is mostly tight up against the case walls. The tangle at the bottom of the top chamber isn't really in the airflow (and can't really be helped, anyway). In my last line of defense, the middle cage is gone, so the power and sata are now both in the lower chamber. That's actually my current concern, 2hdds and the psu with just a 12cm and the psu fan. But when the cage was in there, the gpu was exhausting externally (albeit noisily), so that mitigated the airflow issues of having the hdd and cabling in the intake stream.
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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I know what you mean because I own a P180 myself, but I think that's difficult to translate unless folks know about its construction. For what its worth, I too have had cooling issues with the P180. Its a case built for silence, not thermals, and it has always been a struggle. I finally gave it to the GF who never runs anything above 1280x1024 so heat's not a problem.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Ugh, I've put off building a computer for the past 2 years. I've put up with my 4850 whirring like a helicopter when I play games, but now the HDD is going and the motherboard has given up on 4 of its 6 USB ports and occasionally doesn't even get past posting.
Budget is $1000
Don't need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers or DVD Drive.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23625
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Do you need a case and power supply or are you going to be reusing those?
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Case and power supply. Preferably a quieter case too, this Antec 300 doesn't stop anything.
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I've put up with my 4850 whirring like a helicopter when I play games
Other than that, get an i5-2500k, load it up with some RAM on an ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe.
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Hoax
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8110
l33t kiddie
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At $1,000 does he really need the Z68?
Its pretty easy to build a machine right now since there are such consensus cpu's on the market. From there go with your brand loyalties and the stuff you trust and if there is anything you aren't sure about post it and people can chime in. I mean your biggest question will probably end up being ram v gpu where to spend the $$$ and on what exactly and that may come down to what's on sale that day.
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A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual's morals are situational, then that individual is without morals. If a nation's laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn't a nation. -William Gibson
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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At $1,000 does he really need the Z68?
Its pretty easy to build a machine right now since there are such consensus cpu's on the market. From there go with your brand loyalties and the stuff you trust and if there is anything you aren't sure about post it and people can chime in. I mean your biggest question will probably end up being ram v gpu where to spend the $$$ and on what exactly and that may come down to what's on sale that day.
I don't have any loyalties nor do I recall most of what's in my current computer, which is why I came here. I found this build, but I'm not so sure I need a honking aftermarket cooler or that kind of PSU. I was always under the assumption that 500W should be enough unless you're using SLI/Crossfire or overclocking.
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MisterNoisy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1892
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I don't have any loyalties nor do I recall most of what's in my current computer, which is why I came here. I found this build, but I'm not so sure I need a honking aftermarket cooler or that kind of PSU. I was always under the assumption that 500W should be enough unless you're using SLI/Crossfire or overclocking. Nice build, though I think I'd probably replace the HDD with the Samsung F3, a Caviar Black or an SSD if you're feeling really spendy. The XFX 'Core Edition' power supplies are quite good and a decently priced alternative to the one in that wishlist. 650W unit for $90 ($70 after MiR). Not modular, though. Newegg charges too much for the Hyper 212 - you can get it on Amazon for $30. The Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 is a great direct replacement if you'd like to avoid splitting up your order. At $30, a good CPU cooler is worth the extra cash just for the reduction in noise, and both of those coolers will comfortably let you drive a 2500K well past 4GHz.
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« Last Edit: July 19, 2011, 07:18:35 AM by MisterNoisy »
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XBL GT: Mister Noisy PSN: MisterNoisy Steam UID: MisterNoisy
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Awesome, thanks!
Ignore that the wishlist is on Newegg, that's just what they had it setup with. I'll probably be buying from NCIX.com or CanadaComputers.com.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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The cooler is worth it, even if you don't overclock. (I have one of the Xigmatechs.) A cool CPU means a happy CPU.
Absolutely get a backing plate for it though. Pushpins are the devil's work.
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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At $1,000 does he really need the Z68?
I was just looking at components over the weekend and the Z68 seems to have fixed some of the problems with the first gen 1155 boards. The P67 boards I have in the list are ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) and ASRock P67 EXTREME6 (B3). I'm still considering the ASUS P67, but I really like the features on the Z68 deluxe. I also need enough room for (hopefully) SLI and my X-Fi. I would also use the Hyper 212 for the CPU. I'm pretty happy with my gtx460 + aftermarket cooling, which would run like $100 less than the frozr, but I'm not one to say spend less on the gpu. Almost always pays off. I'd still say put the aftermarket cooler on the 570, you'll get better performance at lower temps with almost no noise. 4GB might be a bit light for a new system, I've got 8GB specced for my rebuild ( 8GB of Corsair PC3 12800 for $80). Also wondering about the green hdd, aren't those rated for less power usage at the cost of some performance? About the PSU: the gtx 570 draws 38A off the 12V rail, the Corsair has 62A and the XFX has 53A. The i5-2500K pulls 98W and the 570 pulls 330W (under gaming load). So the XFX should be good enough, but I like to build in plenty of headroom.
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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At $1,000 does he really need the Z68?
Its pretty easy to build a machine right now since there are such consensus cpu's on the market. From there go with your brand loyalties and the stuff you trust and if there is anything you aren't sure about post it and people can chime in. I mean your biggest question will probably end up being ram v gpu where to spend the $$$ and on what exactly and that may come down to what's on sale that day.
I don't have any loyalties nor do I recall most of what's in my current computer, which is why I came here. I found this build, but I'm not so sure I need a honking aftermarket cooler or that kind of PSU. I was always under the assumption that 500W should be enough unless you're using SLI/Crossfire or overclocking. Couple observations on that list: -The hyper 212 was easy to install for me and has been running great with my current setup. Looks big, but fit pretty easy inside my Antec 300 M. -Why limit yourself to 4GB on a new install. Go with 8, imo. -I love Corsair PSUs. Hard to go wrong there. Not sure you need one that nice, however, and you could save some money. -You could save money on the GPU. My 470 Twin Frozr was just a touch about 200. I'm not really sure what the sweet spot is now on GPUs but that seems high. If you find what you want, have a little flexibility, and watch sales: you can save a decent amount on your total build price.
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-Rasix
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MisterNoisy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1892
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I'm pretty happy with my gtx460 + aftermarket cooling, which would run like $100 less than the frozr, but I'm not one to say spend less on the gpu. Almost always pays off. I'd still say put the aftermarket cooler on the 570, you'll get better performance at lower temps with almost no noise.
The MSI in the wishlist should be fine - both the MSI Twin Frozr II and the new ASUS DirectCu2 non-reference coolers are pretty comparable to a decent aftermarket solution unless you're going bananas overclocking the GPU, where the 3-fan Accelero will pull ahead.
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XBL GT: Mister Noisy PSN: MisterNoisy Steam UID: MisterNoisy
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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Couple observations on that list: -The hyper 212 was easy to install for me and has been running great with my current setup. Looks big, but fit pretty easy inside my Antec 300 M. -Why limit yourself to 4GB on a new install. Go with 8, imo. -I love Corsair PSUs. Hard to go wrong there. Not sure you need one that nice, however, and you could save some money. -You could save money on the GPU. My 470 Twin Frozr was just a touch about 200. I'm not really sure what the sweet spot is now on GPUs but that seems high.
If you find what you want, have a little flexibility, and watch sales: you can save a decent amount on your total build price.
I went to price out the build with the suggested adjustments and it turns out they don't have the 4GB kit selected and I decided it would be better to have 2x4GB instead of 2x2GB, but thanks for confirming. I figured the Corsair model given was a bit much and might be using the assumption of future use of two cards, which would make sense. I don't think I'd ever do that. The GPU has been a sticking point for me. If the price difference is justified with the 560 with some assurance it'll last a lot longer with the added performance, I'm ok with it.
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Strazos
Greetings from the Slave Coast
Posts: 15542
The World's Worst Game: Curry or Covid
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Absolutely get a backing plate for it though. Pushpins are the devil's work.
This. When I built my system 2 years ago or so, I didn't consider this...took close to an hour to ensure that all 4 stupid pins were engaged.
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Fear the Backstab! "Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion "Hell is other people." -Sartre
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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In addition to the time, I scraped the skin off two knuckles trying to push the damn things in, and then it popped off while running a few months later. Which led to me having pull the entire system apart to put a bracket on anyways, and nearly breaking my motherboard because one of the pushpins broke in such a fashion it never wanted to release.
The. Devil's. Work.
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770
Locomotive Pandamonium
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I've never seen plates sold separately. Or is this a suggestion to get a case that comes with one?
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MisterNoisy
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1892
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I've never seen plates sold separately. Or is this a suggestion to get a case that comes with one?
No. They generally come with your CPU cooler (very few good coolers come without them). I think it's a suggestion to get a decent aftermarket cooler more than anything else. :)
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XBL GT: Mister Noisy PSN: MisterNoisy Steam UID: MisterNoisy
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I just checked the Hyper 212 and it does come with the backplate. The scissor bracket looks a bit odd, though.
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