First time poster, first time builder...

[Robes]

Hi guys!

Relatively new to the forums – first post – though I’ve been lurking around for a few months doing some research and getting a sense of what designing and building a custom PC is all about. Looks to be a lot of helpful people kicking around the PureOC forums, and there’s certainly no shortage of information to pillage through.

Quick background on myself – I grew up as a gamer from a young age, consoles, pcs, arcades; you name it. Spent a ton of my time enjoying the video game world up until I graduated university, then reality kicked in and my gaming time has been scaled back severely ever since. That said, I still like to keep the tools of the trade up-to-date for when I do have time to play and am now at a point financially where I can afford all the awesome toys I always wanted when I was younger. I am an engineer by trade and a hands-on person by nature, so naturally I am very interested in customizing my own build to my personal wants and needs.

Unfortunately, fall and winter are the busiest seasons for my line of work (I’m talking like 70+ hours a week), so my gameplan is to reel in the various components I need over the next several months (whenever I can find a good deal) and look to get the build up and running in the early spring. What am I looking for? I don’t really need the super-duper-latest-greatest-top-of-the-line-ultimate-best-awesomesauce everything (honestly I’m most excited about being able to play Diablo 3 at max settings with ease next year, and knowing Blizzard you’ll probably be able to get close with an old 486…), but that said my budget is fairly flexible and I don’t want to have to do much upgrading for the first couple of years if at all possible. I’m looking to build from the ground up. For the sake of argument, lets say I want to get this thing built for somewhere between $1,500 - $2,000, cheaper if reasonable, more if necessary.

I haven’t got very far into the details yet. So far I’m leaning towards a CoolerMaster HAF 922 case, a Corsair PSU (possibly the 750TX, looks like there’s a good sale at Newegg right now?), some form of intel multi-core processor, an SSD hard drive for the OS, an HDD hard drive for storage, and the motherboard, graphics card, RAM, optical drive, fans etc. are all TBD at the moment.

Anyways, wanted to get a thread up and running to get some inputs from you guys. Sorry for the wall of text, let me know if I left anything out!

Cheers,
- Robes

[Bob2701]

Welcome to PureOC ROBES. I'm sure you will everything you need here.

[Steve]

Welcome Robes to PureOC.

[smduff]

Welcome to PureOC Robes. Sounds like you have a good idea on what you want to do here, is there any reason you prefer Intel over AMD? There is better gaming value in AMD procs over Intel is why I'm asking.

[Robes]

Thanks for the welcoming messages - hopefully down the road I'll be able to contribute more than just questions to these forums.

Duff - preference is more based on familiarity than anything else, I've always used Intel chips so I figured I'd stick with it. But that's why I'm here - I didn't know AMD had better gaming processors. When it comes down to it I'm more or less indifferent, I just want a solid, reliable rig that can play most games at high settings without too much difficulty.

I should also mention that I'm planning on going the dual monitor route (mostly for work purposes) in case that impacts anything. Though I'm fairly certain most decent quality cards these days support at least two monitors and it shouldn't be an issue?

- Robes

[smduff]

There not necessarily better for gaming there are just a better value, because there less expensive. As for video cards there are some great cards from both camps, but I would wait until the 69XX series come out in Dec to see what they can do.

[smduff]

Here is a great read take a look

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article794.html

[Earthmonger]

If your strategy allows for several months, only buy the staple components first; those parts that will not drop in price dramatically, ever. That includes the case, PSU, ram, HDD(s), optical drives, fans and any additional mods you'd like. Do not buy the CPU, GPU, motherboard, or SSD until you're ready to build the machine. Keep your plans loose until crunch time.

How do your tastes run brand-wise?

[KIPPER]

Great game plan and Earthmonger is giving you some great strategy to pull the game plan off.

[Doctor_Death]

Nvidia already has shown what they can do with the GTX580 and they have new plans for 2011, I managed to get a GTX580 sample for Pure OC, so we will be publishing our own review shortly.

You also have Intel's new Sandy Bridge chips coming out within the next couple of months, we may have a " First Look " preview into one or two of the new motherboards very soon.

I think your on the right track by going with Intel, but like Duff said, AMD does offer decent performancefor less money, but Intel will always comes out on top.

[Robes]

Interesting read Duff, thanks for that. Since budget isn't my #1 concern and I will be using this computer partially as a workstation as well as a gaming rig, I think I'm still leaning towards Intel. I'm also a complete noob when it comes to overclocking, and while I may or may not find the time to get into at least the basics, it looks as though Intel generally has better stock performance which is a plus for me.

Thanks for the advice Earthmonger, that's sort of the way I was going. At the moment I'm looking into cases and PSUs as I'm excited to get the process kicked off. As for brands, I really have no allegiances other than the Intel preference. I used to be big on nVidia until I blew through a couple of old GeForce cards and decided to give ATI a try, haven't had any problems with the old Radeon my current computer is still running (other than it's old enough that it won't even run SC2...). For PSUs all of the Corsair reviews I've read have been pretty good so that's where I've been focusing my attention. Ram, motherboards, harddrives, optical drives, monitors, etc I haven't got around to reviewing much so I really don't know who the leaders of each pack are. Suggestions always welcome.

I've read a bunch of the PureOC reviews on graphics cards D_D, as it looks like that's the area where you can really blow a lot of cash if you so choose. I don't particularly want to be spending thousands on multiple high-end graphics cards if it's not really necessary, so finding the sweetspot for graphics will probably be one of the tougher choices come crunch time.

Anyways, I'm thinking about just diving in and ordering a case and PSU over the next few days/weeks. Right now I'm torn between these two versions of the same case:

CoolerMaster HAF 922

CoolerMaster HAF 922 Windowed

I'm indifferent about the color, but I do like the window simply for dust and noise management (I'm not really about having a blinged out case, a solid side would be even better in my opinion) but I don't know how much of an impact it will have on the cooling and airflow. On top of that it looks like the windowed version ships out of the US only (an older model perhaps?), whereas the standard case ships domestically and I can avoid any duty and brokerage fees I may have to pay on the windowed version. Anyone have any advice or insight about the differences between these two options? I think the all-in delivered cost difference would end up roughly $50 more for the windowed version - worth it?

Finally, been taking a bit of a closer look at PSUs and I think I've narrowed it down to an 850W Corsair (I'm leaning towards 850W over 750W now just to give me a little more long-term flexibility since the price increment isn't huge by any means, though maybe it's just overkill?). That essentially means I'm looking at either the AX850 or the HX850. Haven't really gotten into the nitty-gritty details yet, but looks like the AX series is just a bit more efficient, smaller, and quieter?

Anyways, thanks again for all the help so far - appreciate all the input.

Cheers,
- Robes

[smduff]

The 922 is a great case, if your not going to be adding any bling then there really isn't any reason to go for the window, what it boils down to really is do you want to see the inner workings of the computer? Is it worth the 50bucks probably not. As for the PSU IMO, the bigger the better it simply just a smart route to go, if you ever decide to add to the computer (multiple GPU's) even if your saying to yourself now that you won't.

If Intel is your preference the I would recommend going with an X6 CPU like the 970 or 980X it will last for some time there a bit pricey but you do get what you pay for in the end. I would also look at getting a 12gig set of ram if your using cad programs or similar.

[Drdeath]

Welcome to PureOC Robes. Sounds like you have a good idea on what you want to do here, is there any reason you prefer Intel over AMD? There is better gaming value in AMD procs over Intel is why I'm asking.

Cause Intel Pwns AMD........

[TitaniumLotus]

Welcome to PureOC lad.

[Robes]

I think I may end up ordering the windowed 922 - though I'm not really bothered one way or another about seeing the internal workings (although I'm sure it can look pretty sweet), I do think it may make a noticeable difference from a noise perspective and that's one thing I am concerned about. My other half has a desktop that sounds like a freakin' aircraft carrier and it annoys the hell outta me. The quieter the better.

Is there really a noticeable difference between 6-core and quad-core processors for the average gamer? Though I'm not planning on ordering a CPU until the spring, I took a quick look at the prices and the 970s and 980s are like 3 - 6 times the price of their quad-core counterparts. Seems pretty steep. Can I expect the prices on most/all/any of the pre-existing chipsets to drop once Intel releases their new product line this winter?

Anyways, I'm still having a real tough time trying to decide between the AX850 and the HX850 PSUs. I've gone through most of the finer details now and it looks like the AX is physically smaller, 100% modular, and more efficient (80+ Gold), while the HX is partially modular, has 2 more PCI-E slots, an 80+ Silver rating, but a larger fan (140mm vs. 120mm) which probably means quieter cooling. I don't really think I can go wrong with either, but I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing. The HX has a cooler paint job too.... :P

Is having 6 PCI-E slots over 4 a substantial advantage for a lot of setups? I'm assuming 4 is more than enough to run 2 GPUs in SLI or Crossfire (1 per card?) and I can't really imagine ever running more than 2 for my needs...

Decisions, decisions.

- Robes

[smduff]

If your looking for silence then you should consider a case that has a insulated interior to help dampen the noise, we just did a review on the fractal R3 which seemed to be decent enough. The CM Sniper is a stellar case and runs pretty quite due to the larger fans in it that is also an option. If your looking for as quiet as you can go then water cooling may be a good idea as well.

Either PSU are good choices it really boils down to preference there IMO.

With the PCI slots going the way of the dodo PCI-e is obviously the replacement for it, so when manufactures release peripherals they will need the slots to be used so, basically the more PCI-e slots the merrier.