New PC time! Suggestions needed

[AVC]

It's upgrade time!

Gonna start the weeks of research necessary to choose components.

Does anyone have suggestions? i7? 32 bit vs 64? W7? XP pro? One bigass VC? Dual cards? SSD?

Requirements:
Box only. It will need to run a bigass 26" monitor at 1600 x 1200.

I will most likely run a dual boot system. One HD for "admin", one for gaming. At the moment I run a RAID 0+1 for the admin and a single HDD for the gaming boot. Not sure whether I will go with RAID this time, I may go with an off-machine redundancy (like a NAS).

This thread is more about CPU, RAM, mobo, video card/s, and OS.
I will be using a Lian-li case (the bigger, full size V-cards wont fit in my current case)

Budget - unlimited (without going too far overboard, lol)

 

[Sodalover]

I7 extreme 32 bit. 64 is very unstable for te moment, but in the future ppl will use it more. A

 

[WaLLy]

i7, i7, i7.

nVidia GPU, go big or go home!! You'll love it. I'd probably say to look at my build thread and go from there. You won't regret it!

SSD, I personally love it. But others may think that it's a waste at the moment because theyre still expensive. I wish I could of gotten a 128gb minimum. Oh well. I'll wait another year and upgrade.

I'm away from a PC but definitely wanted to say that!

 

[Cent0]

You already have like a fking 10384723 dollar comp

 

[felon]

Go to www.alienware.com and customize one of them.

 

[AVC]

My machine runs fine. problem is my wife is using a hand-me-down laptop. So instead of building her a new PC, I build me a kick ass and she gets my old one.

 

[BluBirD78]

Idk why Soda says 64 bit is very unstable, I use Windows 7 64 bit and everything works just fine on it, plus it's very fast too. It would be much faster on an SSD, which I "might" be getting one soon not sure yet. The video card I now have is an ATI 6870 and it kicks ass, I would also suggest that if you get a video card that uses the traditional blower fan set up to get an aftermarket heatsink and fan too. It was crazy loud even with the fan speed on 35% only, but the biggest reason of course is lower temps. The older GTX 260 I had ran pretty hot, with COD MW2 I would easily run temps in the lower 80's (C), but now with this card and heatsink I can run MW2 and I don't even know if I've seen the temps get over 55C.

The heatsink and fan I use on my video card is the Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo Pro, found here... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186046 It will fit many types of video cards, easy to install and even at 100% fan speed you can barely hear it running, not to mention the awesome cooling performance it does.

On the processor, if it was me I would be getting the AMD 6 core black edition with about 8 gigs of RAM. The main reason for AMD is you get more for your money, and both are kick ass cpu's just that AMD is cheaper for what you get. I'll wait to see what the other guys suggest but the reason for the long post about the video card cooler is because I was VERY impressed (still am) with the results I got, and I also believe that is the reason my GTX 260 died was because it was over heated so many times.

 

[DamageINC]

I would go AMD as well. I would never use Alienware. I think 8 Gigs of ram is way overkill and not needed.

What games will you be playing? If it's just COD4, you won't need a top of the line Video Card. I would go with Western Digital hard drives. I have three of them and they all work great. For the mobo, i use Gigabyte with dual bios and it's run great to this point. I've never used any other in a custom build so i can't comment on those. I have a GTX 200 series GPU and it peaks around 73 or 74 during long sessions in BFBC2, so not too bad. I would get an after market CPU cooler.

 

[Goss400]

Mac. That is all.

 

[felon]

fuck off goss... rofl

i have W7 64 bit, and it is perfectly stable, no problems at all.

 

[No Mercy]

Windows 7, IDK what the diff. of 32 and 64 bit is. QUAD CORE FTW or try invest in a octi-core (?)

 

[stevo]

I would go AMD as well. I would never use Alienware. I think 8 Gigs of ram is way overkill and not needed.

What games will you be playing? If it's just COD4, you won't need a top of the line Video Card. I would go with Western Digital hard drives. I have three of them and they all work great. For the mobo, i use Gigabyte with dual bios and it's run great to this point. I've never used any other in a custom build so i can't comment on those. I have a GTX 200 series GPU and it peaks around 73 or 74 during long sessions in BFBC2, so not too bad. I would get an after market CPU cooler.

please explain why 8gigs is overkill? In my book you never have enough ram plus the price is so cheap on ram right now, they sell 4 gigs sticks ddr3 for like 40-60$ a stick online, and the way things are going you probably will need that much if not more. I do alot of multitasking and use over 4 gigs most of the times. CPU like blu said if you are looking for something fast and cheap 6 core amd is the way to go, but if you got the money and want better performance I would go for an i7 any day. I would get a newer motherboard that supports all the new stuff like usb 3.0, sata6... Video card AMD has some nice ones out like the one blu bought, also the GTX 460 are super cheap right now actually thinking about buying one.

 

[AVC]

Looks like I may go i7. I have been checking out mobos (all day,a long day at work).
I really want rear AND front USB 3.0, RAID support, SATA 3 and crossfire, all the AMD ASUS and Gigabyte mobos don't come up with the goods.
Might go the 6970 VC (sorry Blu, got 1 up on you) they are reasonably priced now that the 6990 is out.
8 gigs of RAM then Stevo?
Might try out W7 I guess. 64 bit? Why not...

 

[stevo]

yea I would go 8 gig plus considering the price on ram is low right now, Windows 7 64bit is nice as well been using it for a while now also. It wont be long until more 64bit software comes out.

 

[AVC]

So you can obviously run 32 bit stuff on 64 (but not the other way around)

 

[stevo]

So you can obviously run 32 bit stuff on 64 (but not the other way around)

exactly

 

[PwnSauce]

it's as easy as this to build a new PC.

Get the best, most expensive, newest parts you can afford (motherboard, CPU, SSD drive, memory) and get a good Silverstone Aluminum computer case.
Just replace the guts every few years.

 

[DamageINC]

i7 is way overpriced. AMD offers similar, if not equal performance for a lot less money. 8 GB of RAM is simply not needed. I doubt your system will ever utilize that much. Six perhaps if you do heavy video edits and a ton of multitasking. You can get an AMD 6 core for almost 100 bux less than the i7 quad core. No brainier IMO. Just because RAM is more affordable than it was in the past isnt a valid reason to buy it IMO. Even if its 10 bux a stick, if you don't need it, it's a waste.

 

[stevo]

STFU damage ,you make no sen better do some research on six core amd vs i7, i7 always come on top, its a no brainer thinking that you will never need 8 gigs because that is totaly false if I can use almost 6 gigs now think about a year from now, and if you havent notice older ram always cost more so it would be a no brainer to buy the ram while its cheap instead of wasting ur money later on the same stuff but for double the price. If ram was 10$ everyone would buy some except for you, I think ur just tight with ur money. Dont forget you get what you pay for.

 

[DamageINC]

Why are you getting all pissy and throwing out insults? All i did was offer my opinion. If you took the time to read what i said you would see that i stated AMD can offer SIMILAR performance, meaning almost as good. I never said AMD is hands down better, it's just less money and gives you very good performance.

I also stated that 8 gb of ram would most likely be overkill UNLESS he does intensive programs that would require it. I don't think he does. Just because you use 6gb at certain times doesnt mean someone else will. My machine almost never uses over three at any given time. The reason "older" ram is still priced the way it is, is because a lot of people still use and buy DDR2. There is still a viable market for it. To the millions of users who still buy it and use it, it's not "older". Even if he did utlilize six, whats the point of eight? None. I don't see how a user will all of sudden need more ram in the future if they continue to use their PC for the same purposes as they do currently.

Another word for people who are tight with money are people who are smart with money and have it. It's utterly pointless to buy something just because it's a "good deal" or "cheap" if you don't really need it or have a genuine use for the item. You know who the biggest coupon clippers in the world are? Millionaries because they know the value of money and use it wisely.


They may not buy the 99-cent paper towels, but millionaires know what it is to be frugal. About 84% say they spend with a middle-class mindset, according to the AmEx/Harrison survey. That means buying luxury items on sale, hunting for bargains – and even clipping coupons. In fact, affluent households, including those with income above $100,000, tend to be heavier coupon users than those with lower incomes, according to a 2009 study by Nielsen and market research firm Inmar. Why is this you ask? Because they know the value of money, and just because it's here one day, doesnt mean it will be here the next.

The spending the money because i have it attitude is moronic and most prevalent in the lower class.

No insults meant to anyone, just expressing my opinions.