Building My Own PC

[naut]

I'm finally looking into building a new PC after much procrastination. This is my current thoughts so far (monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers not needed):

Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H Motherboard $129.00
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T $199.00
Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler $76.00
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM (2x2GB) DDR3 $99.00
PowerColor Radeon HD5870 PCS+ 1GB $339.00
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB WD10EALS $69.00
ASUS PCI-G31 54Mbps 802.11b/g Wireless PCI Adapter $21.00
CoolerMaster GX 750W PSU $119.00
Antec Three Hundred Case $59.00

Total: $1110.00

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80616I5650

Fan/Heat-Sink: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler

[Seems I'll be able to overclock the CPU with that heat-sink, to get some extra juice.]

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

[I have some older drives that I can also use for back-up purposes, the mobo I picked will be able to handle them as well I assume?]

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL x2

CD/DVD: I'll have to check my parts box, I think I have a spare old one, if not I'll pick up an Asus or Sony one locally for $20~

Case: NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

OS: Win7 Pro, for the XP compatibility mode, I'll have to shop around, no doubt there'll be student deals here somewhere.

Total Price: US$950.9 + cost of Win7 + import tax and shipping

So is this any good? Can anyone point me in a good direction sound card wise?

[pevergreen]

Woah, why buying from overseas? Plus newegg don't ship direct do they?

This is from a local place near me in Brisbane, they ship via Toll IPEC

Basically the same


What you could do with the money saved from import etc


All AUD obviously

You going to put it together yourself?

edit2: as i remembered:

Does Newegg.com ship internationally?

Newegg.com does not currently ship internationally; we only deliver to locations within the United States and to Puerto Rico.

Plus its going to cost a looot of money to ship, and its gotta go via someone else. I could drive in and buy that stuff tomorrow.

[miotas]

www.itsnotcheating.com.au has win 7 cheap for students.

[naut]

Woah, why buying from overseas? Plus newegg don't ship direct do they?

This is from a local place near me in Brisbane, they ship via Toll IPEC

You going to put it together yourself?

edit2: as i remembered:

Does Newegg.com ship internationally?

Newegg.com does not currently ship internationally; we only deliver to locations within the United States and to Puerto Rico.

Plus its going to cost a looot of money to ship, and its gotta go via someone else. I could drive in and buy that stuff tomorrow.

I usually buy stuff from overseas regardless because it is usually ALWAYS cheaper even after shipping+import tax, which is crazy. Especially considering that the exchange rate is good currently. My headphones are a perfect example, I got them for AUS$100 imported via Amazon + AUS$15 shipping compared to AUS$150 locally. That's AUS$35 in savings, or 7 beers in layman's terms.

Yes, I'll be assembling it.

Looks like I'll have to shop around here, and use that as a comparison. Get my haggling hat on. I hate being held for ransom over prices simply because retailers here think they can.

Perfect example:

The case I listed is AUS$76.97 on NewEgg, but AUS$99.99 here. Why the $25 mark up? They'd be shipped in bulk so shipping wouldn't be excessive? They most likely come from Asia as well so shipping and import tax would be less than it would be for NewEgg.

And pever the shop you quoted from the same PSU after factoring in the exchange rate it is $30 dollars more expensive than NewEgg sells them for. When you do that across a range of items and ship them in bulk the shipping+import tax ends up less than that mark-up. So it is still cheaper to find somewhere in Hong Kong/Europe/US than buy locally.

www.itsnotcheating.com.au has win 7 cheap for students.

Ah yes. I remember that, we covered it in Market Research.

Edit - That's Office 2010. I already have that, given to me from Microsoft as a prize for the aforementioned Market Research.

Edit2 - Comparing prices locally and overseas:

Case = +25
Mobo = +20
CPU = +30
HDD = +31.50
GPU = +39
RAM = +24
PSU = +37
Fan/Heatsink = -22

The only thing that is cheaper for me to buy locally is the fan+heatsink. Shipping+import tax spread across 7 items will be less than $206.5 more it costs to buy locally.

Edit3 - Some shopping around and I'm able to get what I want for $120 more than US prices (irritating). I can pick up 5 of the items locally. The other 2 are listed much cheaper in Melbourne, from the same outlet, so shipping can be split across the two items. One is a toss up, depending on the shipping cost, which I've emailed them about.

Edit4 - More shopping around. I can get 6 items from Melbourne plus shipping and 3 pick-up locally for $95 more than US prices.

[Tellos Athenaios]

A comment on that case: it looks rather a lot like a HP case I've seen. That means you need to be careful with the front plastic, the top plastic and also your fingers. Any combination of those 3 could end up severely scratched (those metal edges are nasty, and the plastic protrudes from the case in such a way that the case actually rests on it so pivoting/rotating it while the plastic is still attached is not a good idea).

[Furunculus]

If I were buying around now I would be highly tempted by the upcoming AMD 1045T hex-core clocked at 2.7-3.2 GHz, they should be available for somewhat less than the 1055T which Newegg lists as $200 currently.

Likewise a gigabyte 890GX board for $139 such as this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-435-_-Product

For the graphics card, there is little to beat a Nvidia 460 GTX at the moment.

[jabarto]

Looks really good. All I'd say is forget sound cards. Onboard sound is good enough these days to handle everything you can throw at it.

[pevergreen]

For the graphics card, there is little to beat a Nvidia 460 GTX at the moment.

Really? I thought the 400 series from nvidia was below the ATI equivilent.

[Xiahou]

You should take a serious look at comparable AMD processors. You can save significant money for an almost negligible performance hit.

A comment on that case: it looks rather a lot like a HP case I've seen. That means you need to be careful with the front plastic, the top plastic and also your fingers. Any combination of those 3 could end up severely scratched (those metal edges are nasty, and the plastic protrudes from the case in such a way that the case actually rests on it so pivoting/rotating it while the plastic is still attached is not a good idea).

If you're not married to that case, I can recommend the Antec 300 Illusion. I used one on my last build back in Feb. It's a well-made case that has massive airflow.

[jabarto]

You should take a serious look at comparable AMD processors. You can save significant money for an almost negligible performance hit.

If you're not married to that case, I can recommend the Antec 300 Illusion. I used one on my last build back in Feb. It's a well-made case that has massive airflow.

I was actually thinking of posting this, myself. You can get a triple-core AMD processor for like $80 on Newegg.

[naut]

Really? I thought the 400 series from nvidia was below the ATI equivilent.

The 460 is better than the 5770. But, the advantage of the 5770 is that I can upgrade with a second one for a CrossFire setup, boosting performance considerably. So, it's a matter of preference really.

You should take a serious look at comparable AMD processors. You can save significant money for an almost negligible performance hit.

My preference is Intel, but I'll look at comparible prices and technology certainly. One thing I'm thinking about is whether to shellout the extra for a quad. Most programs are only just optimised for dual, but quad will stand me in good stead, and reduce the need to upgrade for longer.

I was actually thinking of posting this, myself. You can get a triple-core AMD processor for like $80 on Newegg.

Hmm. Seems I can get a Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, 3.4Ghz, Quad Core for less than the i5-650 3.2 Dual Core. Anybody care to explain why the epic price disparity?

Edit - Ah ok, Intel has market share (obviously), the better technology, more product awareness. And thus can charge more for their products. Seems unless I go i5-750 or higher there is no point getting Intel. Also CPU Performance/Price. Cool.

And cases. Says there are 6 HDD slots? I need at least 4, so that's a plus. Regardless it looks nice, very simple and to the point. How large is it though? I'd prefer a case that sits nicely under/next to my desk.

[pevergreen]

Get an Antec 1200. Sure it costs over $250, but its worth it.

[Husar]

Hmm. Seems I can get a Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, 3.4Ghz, Quad Core for less than the i5-650 3.2 Dual Core. Anybody care to explain why the epic price disparity?

Edit - Ah ok, Intel has market share (obviously), the better technology, more product awareness. And thus can charge more for their products. Seems unless I go i5-750 or higher there is no point getting Intel. Also CPU Performance/Price. Cool.

Yes yes, better technology, maybe a bit, but they also like to cheat and rip their customers off, they've been sentenced here because they made illegal deals with a lot of big retailers who only sold Intel systems, since that sentencing, AMD systems have slowly shown up at those big retail stores. Intel also charge more for their Atom CPU thatn for their Atom CPU + their Chipset, which is one reason why Ion Notebooks are so expensive.
I think it's time the market share goes more towards AMD in terms of CPUs, still an NVidiot when it comes to graphics cards but apart from the 460 which seems to do well in it's segment, their current lineup isn't very impressive.

Got a Phenom II QuadCore myself on a cheap ASRock mainboard, saved me a lot of money and works just fine, Intel maybe nice but it's not worth the additional cost(including supporting their almost-monopoly) IMO.

[Furunculus]

Hmm. Seems I can get a Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, 3.4Ghz, Quad Core for less than the i5-650 3.2 Dual Core. Anybody care to explain why the epic price disparity?

there is no point going for an AMD Phenom quad when you can get a Phenom hex-core with better thermals, better performance, and only slightly higher cost (when the 1045T comes out).

Really? I thought the 400 series from nvidia was below the ATI equivilent.

At the high end yes, when I built mine a month or so ago it made more sense to get a 5870 2GB then to get a 480GTX, and the midrange 5770 was good value too, but now Nvidia has come back with the midrange 460 which is only slightly more expensive but a lot more powerful.

[al Roumi]

The 460 is better than the 5770. But, the advantage of the 5770 is that I can upgrade with a second one for a CrossFire setup, boosting performance considerably. So, it's a matter of preference really.

Assuming your Mobbo also supports X-fire. I haven't checked, but I hope you have!

Looks really good. All I'd say is forget sound cards. Onboard sound is good enough these days to handle everything you can throw at it.

Although it does depend on what headphones you have. If they are simple stereo headphones (however good quality), jabarto's right - onboard is good enough. You'd only need to bother with a dedicated card if you had some really fancy surround sound headphones. If you have Logitech G35's, then there's no need at all for a sound card as they use their own software driver.

[Furunculus]

Any Intel P55 chipset should support X-fire provided it has the physical slots to accomodate two cards.

I have an Asus Xonar PCI sound card which I use through my funktastic 5.1 headphones, positional audio in games sounds amazing.

But i'm not much of an audiophile so possibly its wasted on me, i just like tech-bling, and boy is my PC bling-tastic! :D

[al Roumi]

But i'm not much of an audiophile so possibly its wasted on me

I think audiophiles would be concerned about shielding and interference of audio signals in a noisy PC case, never mind digital processing of sound.

i just like tech-bling, and boy is my PC bling-tastic! :D

Good point! Psyconaut, you have forgotten one essential element of any 'rig': where are Teh Neons?

[naut]

there is no point going for an AMD Phenom quad when you can get a Phenom hex-core with better thermals, better performance, and only slightly higher cost (when the 1045T comes out).

Yes six cores are pretty. But, most apps are barely optimised for two cores, let alone 4 or even 6. I'd rather not shell out an additional $100 for overkill. I'll have to upgrade in 2-3 (4-5 if I'm a cheapskate) years regardless.

At the high end yes, when I built mine a month or so ago it made more sense to get a 5870 2GB then to get a 480GTX, and the midrange 5770 was good value too, but now Nvidia has come back with the midrange 460 which is only slightly more expensive but a lot more powerful.

It's more than $100 price difference here. I currently don't have any games that'd demand more than what a single 5770 can produce, so again, I'd rather not go overkill. I'm looking for best bang for buck. I am a student after all. I have the money to do so, but I'd rather not and have it for a rainy day/future purchases. When the time comes to upgrade the prices on the 5770 will have dropped and I can get a significant boost for a small outlay.

Assuming your Mobbo also supports X-fire. I haven't checked, but I hope you have!

Yep.

[Furunculus]

I think audiophiles would be concerned about shielding and interference of audio signals in a noisy PC case, never mind digital processing of sound.

it is a shielded card.

Yes six cores are pretty. But, most apps are barely optimised for two cores, let alone 4 or even 6. I'd rather not shell out an additional $100 for overkill. I'll have to upgrade in 2-3 (4-5 if I'm a cheapskate) years regardless.

It's more than $100 price difference here. I currently don't have any games that'd demand more than what a single 5770 can produce, so again, I'd rather not go overkill. I'm looking for best bang for buck. I am a student after all. I have the money to do so, but I'd rather not and have it for a rainy day/future purchases. When the time comes to upgrade the prices on the 5770 will have dropped and I can get a significant boost for a small outlay.

fair enough, but the difference between 965 and the 1055T is less than twenty percent, a factor that will shrink further with the arrival of the 1045T, and with its Turbo mode it will still run nearly as fast as the 965 on poorly threaded workloads. not to mention awesome overclockability, mine runs at 3.6GHz normal (4GHz Turbo) without ever getting over 43c, and that is without any bios tweaking.

makes sense i guess.

[Tellos Athenaios]

@Furunculus: most of us are like that I suppose. Dedicated audio cards make sense (especially those which tout high Signal to Noise ratios, even more so when you intend to record or do VoIP calls) but if you are an audio-phile your money is probably better spent on having a decent speaker/headphone setup first before buying audio cards.

@Psychonaut: I would choose the hexa-core CPU now and be a cheapskate a little longer, especially if you do not need to pay for a new socket type in addition. Most common type of load (many processes doing almost nothing) will be less burdensome to a hexa-core CPU than to a quad core CPU. And apps that manage to hog a CPU core tend to do that to any CPU core no matter its speed. Plus as Furunculus said the CPU lends itself well to overclocking so that would be having the best of both.

[Xiahou]

Edit[/I] - Ah ok, Intel has market share (obviously), the better technology, more product awareness. And thus can charge more for their products. Seems unless I go i5-750 or higher there is no point getting Intel. Also CPU Performance/Price. Cool.

Yes. Cool.

And cases. Says there are 6 HDD slots? I need at least 4, so that's a plus. Regardless it looks nice, very simple and to the point. How large is it though? I'd prefer a case that sits nicely under/next to my desk.

The Antec 300 is 18 inches high. That shouldn't have any trouble fitting under a desk. Be sure to go with the Illusion variant since it has glowy blue LEDs.

[naut]

but the difference between 965 and the 1055T is less than twenty percent, a factor that will shrink further with the arrival of the 1045T, and with its Turbo mode it will still run nearly as fast as the 965 on poorly threaded workloads. not to mention awesome overclockability, mine runs at 3.6GHz normal (4GHz Turbo) without ever getting over 43c, and that is without any bios tweaking.

makes sense i guess.

They say it comes out Q3 of 2010, and since it is August already, I'll take your advice and play the waiting game. Seems it's not that much more than the Quad currently. I'm not sure how their pricing fluctuates upon a the entry of new models, since this'll be my first AMD powered machine, but no doubt it'll drop $20 at least? I'm just not sure that the pricing will be affected here for even longer than that. Australia is somewhat price resistant as it is a smaller market, with smaller margins.

[Furunculus]

it should be soon. makes even more sense if you fancy ati for the GPU. and having sata 600 is always nice if you go ssd.

[Beskar]

Wouldn't AMD and ATI combination work better than Intel-Nvadia or AMD-Nvadia or Intel-ATI ?

Since AMD and ATI are within the same company, thus should be able to compliment eachother without any conflicts?

[Furunculus]

shouldn't really be a problem, certainly not enough for it to represent a quantifiable difference in reliability or performance.

[Tellos Athenaios]

How well graphics & processor work together matters (most if not) only when you intend to use multiple graphics cards and usually depends more on the motherboard rather than on the specific make of CPU and GPU.

[naut]

Bump.

Seems that the shop (down in Melbourne) that I'm going to be buying from. Is running a sale: PowerColor Radeon HD5870 PCS+ 1GB for the same price (AU$339) as the MSI Radeon HD6870 1GB Twin Frozr II I was looking at. They're still selling their other HD5870s for AU$399. Is there something significantly wrong with the PowerColor Radeon HD5870 PCS+ 1GB that I should be wary of?

[Furunculus]

nope, there is a model of 5870 selling in scan for £189 too, fantastic deal resulting from the imminent arrival of the 6950/6970, which will be much more expensive.

if you can get a 5870 that cheap then go for it.

[naut]

Looks like it's finally happening!

Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H Motherboard $129.00
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T $199.00
Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler $76.00
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM (2x2GB) DDR3 $99.00
PowerColor Radeon HD5870 PCS+ 1GB $339.00
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB WD10EALS $69.00
ASUS PCI-G31 54Mbps 802.11b/g Wireless PCI Adapter $21.00
CoolerMaster GX 750W PSU $119.00
Antec Three Hundred Case $59.00

Total: $1110.00

[Furunculus]

why have you ordered a triple channel set of memory?
that is for Intel s1366 rigs............

other than that, sounds awesome!