My first build ever........soon...

[Jonesdawg]

Howdy folks! Just joined Rog today! I figure I might as well since I come to these forums a bit for info on specific components. I am excited for the opportunity to finally build my first PC in about a month or two. I have done a ton of research on many aspects of what I am looking for in a build and am looking for some friendly critiquing of what I have in mind. I have been doing alot of research since around last September, especially since I have changed my major in school to more of the Comptia A+/Hardware side of my education for some IT work. So here is my list of parts and why I am choosing them. Keep in mind I am not a fan-boy of either AMD or Intel, and have used them both before. Both have served their purposes well and I have enjoyed them both. Since I am on a budget however, some of my choices will be going to AMD for my first build. Maybe when I become more "established" later in life I can afford some components of Intel as well...;)

So my build is intended for quite a few things. I am going to learn how to do some AutoCad, possibly some 3D/Rendering, and I also want it to not break the bank in components for having a great gaming machine as well (probably alittle more of the last..;)). I figure having a six core would be sufficient. So I am going for the FX 6200. I like the idea of having a higher clock rate than the 6100 with the possibility of doing some overclocking when I learn how to do it with this new build. Also, I have also taken into consideration that the FX line still hasn't done really well in Win7 with its new architecture. I do hear however that it is sufficient for a "all the above" system and the price fits in the budget as well.

Now for the motherboard. I have decided the Sabertooth 990FX. I have seen many reviews on this and am pretty pleased. The warrantee is pretty nice too. In the future I want the ability to have dual x16 pci-e slots for Crossfire/SLi as well. And you cant beat keeping the price of the motherboard under $200 too...

Power Supply will probably be the 80 plus silver XFX 750/850 XXX. Their warranty seems good and the reviews for this product has gotten high remarks. I wont be running any super power hungry video cards either.

Speaking of power hungry, I will be getting at first one Asus 7850 DirectCU card (knowing it is not power hungry) and then maybe later in the year getting another for crossfire if my finances permit it. I like the idea of a good powerful card that only requires one 6pin. I have also heard great things about its overclock ability if I decide to play with it even more.

My case will be the Corsair 500R. I like the idea of having plenty of air circulation in my box. It will also be housed with two 140m Noctua fans for the top exhaust, two Noctau NF-F120 fans for the Corsair H80 (because I dont want to hear a vacuum when I am at the computer). I like the cases design and the amount of room it has without having to go for a full tower.

For my memory, I have chosen from the QVL list for the Sabertooth board and am going with either 8 or 16 gigs of G.Skill Snipers at 1866 speed. I have not decided yet whether I am going to start out with 8 or just go with a full 16. Might just stick with 8 to appease the wife with the total cost of the build.

I dont do anything with BlueRay, so with keeping the cost down I am going with a LiteOn 24X DVD/CD Writer combo.

I have not decided yet to either stick with the stock thermal paste the H80 has or to get rid of it and do some Arctic Silver 5 compound. Any of you experiment with both???

For the sake of cost (and with Win8 around the corner) I will be sticking with Win7 Home Premium. I dont see a purpose for ultimate when Win8 is launching at the end of the year.

For the cooler, I have already mentioned the H80. What are your guy's thoughts on the product...? I am a fan of having a quiet form of cooling. Hence why I am getting the NF-F120 fans to go with it.

And lastly, I dont know which one I am getting yet (it is a gift!) and because I am told the new storage drive will be a SSD I am still trying to decide what to help them get. For the sake of helping along the decision of this gift I would like your opinion on what you all like with specific SSDs. I read earlier that some of you like Intel/Crucial compared to the Kingston HyperX/Corsair drive mainly because of their controllers. What is the reliability/benefit of either? Just curious. Saw a 180 Corsair Force GT SSD for around $230 on Newegg and had some interest in it.

So there you have it! After all this ranting here is my plan with about a budget of 1300 bucks to start with maybe some finishing upgrades at the end of this year. My computer as of now has been a AMD Turion 2 laptop. It took over as my main computer as of 9-10 months ago when my main desktop gave up the ghost. So I am sure this is still quite the upgrade from what I am use to.

For the 750/850 PSU, on extreme PSU calculator its says with two video cards in Xfire, maybe overclocked alittle in cpu and gpu, the fans/cooling, ram maxed at 4dimms of ddr3, extra SSDs and HDDs in the future; I should be okay with a power supply at around 650 watts. So I started with thinking the 750 XFX would be great also with it being semi modular. Some other websites tell me I should be getting something around 850 watts. What would your advise be on which power supply?

List:
Sabertooth 990FX
FX 6200
8/16 gigs memory at 1866
one Asus 7850 DirectCU (maybe another around my birthday or christmas)
XFX 750/850 XXX 80 Plus Silver
H80 cooling (with 2 Noctua NF-F120s)
Corasir 500R with an extra 2 140m Noctua fans for the top...
Arctic Silver for Thermal
(maybe) Corsair Force GT 180gig

Anyways, thanks for letting me rant on about this build. I'm pretty excited to finally build my first PC! And thank you for any advise on the build as well!!!:D

[HiVizMan]

Nice solid system set up you have there. I am sure many of the ROG members will share their build ideas with you. I will add only one cautionary bit of advice.

PSU - if you are going to possibly go multi card then you might fine 750 is a bit light.

[Zka17]

Man, I like this: "(because I dont want to hear a vacuum when I am at the computer)"! ;););) How the "vacuum" sounds like? As far as I know, the human ear detects noise/sound transmitted by at least air (or other, more dense materials). The noise/sound (anything we can hear) propagate from their source in all directions by vibration of small particles/molecules and ultimately is captured by our ears. "Vacuum" means nothing, cited from Wiki "vacuum is space that is empty of matter". If is nothing there, no particles/molecules, the sound can not propagate - i.e. we can't hear anything. Maybe, you were meaning "vacuum cleaner"? cool: (I am just teasing you, I know very well what you meant - just really liked your phrase)

Getting serious, I have two comments regarding your plans. First is about memory: if you want to use AutoCad and do 3D renderings, I would suggest you to go with as many memory (RAM) as you can! Second is about Windows 8 - based on what I read about it, i would not rush to use it on a desktop... It is specially designed for touch monitor systems (tablets), practically contains a lot of features completely useless for a conventional desktop. On the other hand, Windows 7 is a proven good OS - let's say, with the Professional over the Home Premium version.

[Jonesdawg]

Yeah, I should have put "vacuum cleaner" in it instead...;) The AutoCad would be happening til maybe late this year or next when I can take classes at school to get me started. Plus the added memory would probably come later in the year too to help with the initial cost of the system at first to help appease the wife more. And for Win8. I wouldn't be doing that for a while after its first launch because I like my OSs to be a little more bug free than what they kind of are at first.

Seeing the sale price for the 850 XFX Silver on NCIX I would still ok to stay in my budget for this system. And knowing it is 80 plus silver, it would still be efficient enough to not make my electric bill skyrocket. Plus, knowing that I still have headroom with the 850 instead of the 750 makes me a little more cautious about the 750 and a little more comfortable about the 850.

Thank you guys for the input so far. Anyone have any thoughts on the thermal paste switching it to Arctic Silver than the stock paste that comes with the H80? Also, the opinions for specific SSDs over others? Just curious with those too...

[HiVizMan]

TIM is like wine you use what you like best. Me I use one of the oldist kinds of TIM Ceramique for all my 24/7 systems. Or Artic MX2 if I can not find my tube of he white stuff. But honestly you do not need to worry about TIM too much. Just do not use to much of the stuff. Less is more.

SSD - busy RMA'ing another SSD and once more it is a Sandforce controller that has gone down. Get the Crucial M4 or either Intel or Samsung. Leave the Sandforce types alone. Others will disagree of course and that is how it should be.

Enjoy

[Zka17]

Got your point with the cost of the system and wife... I feel your pain! :D

If you want to go with lower amount of memory and upgrade later, it's fine - just be aware that upgrading is meaning to completely change your set, not just trow in some more sticks. I agree with the fact to use SSD as system disk and HDD for storage - however, don't have too much experience with SSD... I have both Sandforce-based and other ones, never had any problem with them.

Just an idea about psu - with those hardwares you listed above, a 1500W psu would produce the same electric bill as the 750W/850W one... The wattage of your psu is meaning how much it can support, not how much actually consumes. The electric bill will be determined by other components. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to get the 1500W one - just pointed out that you don't have to worry about the electric bill.

The Arctic Silver MX2 proved to be a good choice for me - for couple years now. I would leave the stock paste on H80 though, until the first disassembly at least (you will have a comparison basis).

[Jonesdawg]

Sweet. I had a thought today (and yes it hurt) on whether I should get the retail versions or the OEM versions of Win7. I already know quite a bit of Win7, and I know I would get really no support for my windows problems with the OEMs, and that you can really only use the OEM version once (I think); however, its about 100 bones cheaper. Gosh, decisions decisions...

[Claviger]

Sweet. I had a thought today (and yes it hurt) on whether I should get the retail versions or the OEM versions of Win7. I already know quite a bit of Win7, and I know I would get really no support for my windows problems with the OEMs, and that you can really only use the OEM version once (I think); however, its about 100 bones cheaper. Gosh, decisions decisions...

Nope, OEM version is identical to retail, I have activated my key probably 30 times doing builds. No reason ever to buy MS retail for a personal build.

[Jonesdawg]

Really...? So the rumors are false then! That would be awesome!!! That right there would save me an extra hundred bucks! Then it looks like the only con would be no support if something went crazy with Win7. Of course there really isn't anything that goes super crazy with Win7 is there? I dont thinks so anyways. Thank you for that info about the OS!

That also gives me more confidence if some storage goes bust a year or more from when I build that the key can be used more than once for a different HDD or SSD...

[Jonesdawg]

And she is built! Here is a updated parts list:
Corsair 500R
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
FX 6200
Corsair H80 with NF-F120 Noctua fans in push pull
Sapphire OC 7850 (the Asus card I wanted hasn't been in stock for quite a while now)
16 gigs of G.Skill Sniper 1866 (bios has them in 1600 for now. Once I learn how to navigate the UEFI and not screw up any of the settings, then I will set the timings right. I also got a great deal for all 16 instead of just doing 8.)
XFX 850 80 plus silver (for multi-gpus in the future)
Lite-On blazing fast DVD writer combo optical drive
Corsair 240 gig Forces series 3 SSD with the newer firmware already in it...

Compared to what I was use to with my old laptop and desktop, this machine is a beast! I have a WEI I have all 7.9s except for the CPU, which is 7.4 or 7.5 depending on my settings of the EZ mode overclock. I really want to get the speed of the ran up to 1866 for a natural boost without having to mess with any of the other overclock settings. But that can wait for now. At normal room temps the CPU runs at a chilly 30c and at load with prime95, 40c-43c. No hiccups in the build either. Everything worked great out of the box and also tested the memory with memtest just to make sure they were ok. I also decided on the Win7 OEM version and saved more money as well. In a period of two and a half weeks I kept an eye out for prices and ended up saving almost 200 dollars on all the components. I even stayed about 75 buck under budget (which made the mrs very happy as well). I am very happy with my first build. Thanks to everyone who gave me some pointers and tips. I'll try and post something up with pictures or video...

[Zka17]

Looking forward for pictures (or videos)... :D