semisonic9
Member
Hey guys, posting here to nail down a few of the final "question marks" for my next build.
First, to satisfy the sticky requirements:
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1) My PC will be used for everything. Short-term, I'll use it mainly for gaming, productivity stuff (MS office, browsing web, etc), and minor editing tasks. Within a year or so I may be doing more serious multimedia editing and coding. I game at 1900x1200 or so, and play games such as WoW, WAR, Team Fortress 2, etc. I'm planning ahead for games like Farcry 2, SC2, Fallout III, Diablo III, etc.
2) My budget is limited less by a total $$ figure than by what I can be convinced = a good value. (ahhh...it's nice to finally be able to say that!)
3) I'm buying my parts mainly from the US
4) I'm not a huge fan of NV lately, but will consider anything if it represents enough bang/buck. I like Visiontek for their lifetime warranties, but would probably void them by watercooling anyways... *shrug*
5) The only "carryover" parts are the external keyboard and mouse that I use with my laptop atm.
6-7) Yes, I've read similar threads. And yes, I plan on overclocking.
8) I'm ordering shortly after the 20th of September
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The parts-list can be found on my public wishlist on the 'Egg. I have a few duplicates on there for items I'm not really sure about yet, such as GPU and case. I may also ditch the webcam, depending on how expensive my speaker setup ends up being.
And now the questions!
[*]Mobo. I like the Biostar TPower I45 , but it's popularity and solid reviews are driving up the price too much. For the money, imo, it's hard-pressed to compare well against the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R (P45) and Asus P5Q Pro (P45). Part of me wants to go with the P5Q for the Linux features, but the rest of me wants to take advantage of some of the deals out there on the DS3R and walk away with the spare change.
[*] HardOCP shows the 4870x2 drawing 500w at load. What will the rest of my system draw? Figure an OC'd Q6600, 2-3 hard drives and possibly a watercooling loop in the near future. I'm still on the fence about water. I will decide when I check OC/temps on air. Is 750w cutting it too close? Should I reach for a little more club here and go with 850w? If so, which would you recommend?
[*]Case: Still on the fence between the A70 and A7110 series. I like them both with the doors and without. I wish the A7110s came in silver, too, honestly. I saw the Lian Li cases they put on Velocity Micros at Best Buy, and, except for the bolted on window piece, I thought they were damned sexy!
Any personal experiences with either of these? The new Coolermaster HAF is in a distant 3rd place atm.
It's worth noting that, while I've established a parts list on Newegg, I don't intend to buy everything there. For cases and PSUs, they haven't really been the best for quite some time, imo. I'll also be hunting around for the best deal ont he 4870x2 and Doublesight 26" monitor.
-S
First, to satisfy the sticky requirements:
---------------------------------------------------------------
1) My PC will be used for everything. Short-term, I'll use it mainly for gaming, productivity stuff (MS office, browsing web, etc), and minor editing tasks. Within a year or so I may be doing more serious multimedia editing and coding. I game at 1900x1200 or so, and play games such as WoW, WAR, Team Fortress 2, etc. I'm planning ahead for games like Farcry 2, SC2, Fallout III, Diablo III, etc.
2) My budget is limited less by a total $$ figure than by what I can be convinced = a good value. (ahhh...it's nice to finally be able to say that!)
3) I'm buying my parts mainly from the US
4) I'm not a huge fan of NV lately, but will consider anything if it represents enough bang/buck. I like Visiontek for their lifetime warranties, but would probably void them by watercooling anyways... *shrug*
5) The only "carryover" parts are the external keyboard and mouse that I use with my laptop atm.
6-7) Yes, I've read similar threads. And yes, I plan on overclocking.
8) I'm ordering shortly after the 20th of September
---------------------------------------------------------------
The parts-list can be found on my public wishlist on the 'Egg. I have a few duplicates on there for items I'm not really sure about yet, such as GPU and case. I may also ditch the webcam, depending on how expensive my speaker setup ends up being.
And now the questions!
[*]Mobo. I like the Biostar TPower I45 , but it's popularity and solid reviews are driving up the price too much. For the money, imo, it's hard-pressed to compare well against the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R (P45) and Asus P5Q Pro (P45). Part of me wants to go with the P5Q for the Linux features, but the rest of me wants to take advantage of some of the deals out there on the DS3R and walk away with the spare change.
[*] HardOCP shows the 4870x2 drawing 500w at load. What will the rest of my system draw? Figure an OC'd Q6600, 2-3 hard drives and possibly a watercooling loop in the near future. I'm still on the fence about water. I will decide when I check OC/temps on air. Is 750w cutting it too close? Should I reach for a little more club here and go with 850w? If so, which would you recommend?
[*]Case: Still on the fence between the A70 and A7110 series. I like them both with the doors and without. I wish the A7110s came in silver, too, honestly. I saw the Lian Li cases they put on Velocity Micros at Best Buy, and, except for the bolted on window piece, I thought they were damned sexy!
Any personal experiences with either of these? The new Coolermaster HAF is in a distant 3rd place atm.
It's worth noting that, while I've established a parts list on Newegg, I don't intend to buy everything there. For cases and PSUs, they haven't really been the best for quite some time, imo. I'll also be hunting around for the best deal ont he 4870x2 and Doublesight 26" monitor.
-S
