# Thinking of building myself a Desktop



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Hello ^.^

I'm thinking of building a powerful dektop computer, because all my old computer's are years outdated ...

So .. :normal:

I don't know where to start. I've got a budget of about 1000-1500 dollars (Can go over that too ofcourse).

I'd need a good processor, that's for sure. And i got an old tower for an old dektop of mine, if that's possible to use..









Suggestions to components, anyone? ^.^

Thanks, Eric.


----------



## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Have a look in our build thread for parts
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f25...evised-2010-and-updated-regularly-448272.html

Then compare with websites in your area


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Ok, so i'm wondering which of these got the best and fastest CPU. I'll probably be using it for gaming, and video editing (It's quite the heavy duty video encoding program, so ima need a good CPU).

$1200 AMD System


Motherboard: GA-890FXA-UD5 $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128441


CPU: Phenom II 965 Deneb Quad Core 3,4 Ghz $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727


Video Card: Sapphire HD 6870 $249.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-909-_-Product


Ram: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 1600 $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-103-_-Product


Case: Cooler Master HAF932 Full Tower ATX $139.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-160-_-Product


Power Supply: Corsair 850-TX $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9009&Tpk=850tx


DVD Rom Drive: LG Black 24X DVD & CD Burner @ $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136177


CPU Cooler: Zalman 9700 $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118223


Hard Drive: WD 640Gig Black $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-319-_-Product 


OR



$1200.00 Intel Spec


Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro @ $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...P7P55D-E Pro


CPU: Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz $279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-213-_-Product


Video Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 @ $249.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-909-_-Product


Ram: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 @ $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-103-_-Product


Case: Coolermaster RC-692 Mid Tower ATX spec @ $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-216-_-Product


Power Supply: XFX Black Edition 750 Watt @ $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...rsair 750-TX


DVD Rom Drive: LG Black 24X DVD & CD Burner @ $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136177


CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520 @ $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20Hyper N520


Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 32MB Cache @ $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136284


Subtotal: $1139.91


----------



## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Both very capable builds, what video editing program do you use?

The amd phenom has a higher clock speed, But the intel has an 8m L3 cache and a little less power usage 

But both still very capable


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

the intels is very nice

not sure about the processor as the i5 760 isn't much weaker than this one and its 90$ less, and if you add some overclocking it would work better than this i7.. 

but if you choose a 1366 socket you would have a triple channel memory and you could have 6gb which would be quite awesome for your video editing needs

see the prices as I'm not familiar with all of them and decide, it's your money after all


----------



## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

AMD for me.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

The video editing program im going to use is called XviD4PSP5
It takes ALOT of CPU. My laptop with 1,5GHZ dual core AMD CPU would crash trying to run it  And the time i got it running it'd take 5-6 hours to encode a 20 minuted video ...
A friend of mine though, who's got a better computer encodes the same video with the same program in 15 minutes, in addition to having Firefox, and lots of other programs running...

As for the money, not really a problem, as long as we stay in this price range ... '

So you guys suggest the AMD is best? Im going to "safely" overclock too, which would be best then? And would i need a bigger PSU?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

the 2000$ intel build is actually exactly 1500$ and its the most awesome possible build for that money

you can even save some money buying a cheaper case, not buying a cpu cooler and the dvd drive


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Well, i don't know if it's $1500 here in Norway ... The Norwegian stores tend to add on an extra few 100%s, because they got it in their imagination that Norwegians are rich ..

Also, i haven't completely figured out that thing with the Case .. Can i just ANY case? Or does it have to be a specific one?

And by not buying a CPU cooler, you mean sticking to the one that comes with the CPU? 
Would that be enough? Even if i overclock the CPU?


And, yes, i was right, the price on things here in Norway is doubled. The motherboard on the 2000$ intel spec costs ~416$ here in norway, vs. the 290$ it costs on newegg.

If i were to purchase from Newegg, would shipping to Norway be free?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

ah yes didn't realize you're in norway

then the 1500$ is probably gonna be around 2300$, at least it's like that here in croatia :laugh:

its best you have a case which has fans on the front and the back, top fans are also ok

if you overclock, then you need a better cooler, though there is no need to overclock the 1366 socket cpus


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Any mid tower ATX case will work, if your not gaming you can knock the Video card and Power supply down on the $2000 build, the difference between the i5 760 and i7 860 or 900 series is hyper-threading, which depending on the software you use may or may not be of value.

Here's a chart for video encoding using premiere pro the lower the number (time to encode) the better> http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...ideo-Editing-Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CS5,2428.html


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

OK ... Newegg says they have Free Shipping, is that internationally too? Because as ****tily expensive as it is here in Norway, i don't wanna buy here ^.^


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

unfortunately no, I thought about getting the parts from them too but they ship only to usa, canada and one more that I can't remember of :sigh:


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

No in fact they can't ship internationally, if they did you would still have to pay the duties/vat and whatever other taxes the local government can dream up


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Well, the duties and taxes can't compare to the extra 110$ i gotta pay for each part here in Norway, can they? 
And aren't there any other stores that'll ship internationally? There's only 1 store here in Norway that sells such computer components, they've got monopoly, and can set the prices to whatever the hell they want >.>


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Try Scan UK or overclockers UK?


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

On the Intel 2000$ specs, it said
Motherboard: Asus P6 X58D @ $284.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131614

Is that 
ASUS P6X58D Premium, X58, Socket-1366
or 
ASUS P6X58D-E, X58, Socket-1366


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

That's the Premium board but the -E will work just as well the feature set is a little different.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Motherboard
ASUS P6X58D Premium, X58, Socket-1366
320,76 $

CPU
Intel I7 950 3,06GHz
372,960 $

GPU
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
251,052 $

RAM
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline (3 x 2gb) DDR3-1600
137,796 $

Case
Coolermaster HAF-932
150,38 $

PSU
Corsair Pro-Series AX-850
188,13 $

CD DVD ROM
LG Black 24X DVD & CD Burner
Doesn't seem to be in Norway, any suggestions for replacement? Don't really need a SUPERB one, just enough to install a game, or watch a movie, or burn a movie onto a CD. Blu-Ray isn't necessary. Something cheap ^.^

CPU Cooler
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B
62,29 $

HDD
WD Caviar® Black 2TB
162,96 $

This is how it'd end up here in Norway if i were to buy it here ... 
Subtotal of: ~1646$ excluded the CD/DVD Drive


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Are you gaming at all? If not or if your playing online games drop the video card down.

Give me a link to the site your looking at.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

The site's Norwegian, i doubt you can read it ^.^ 
Here's the site for the GPU
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...,-HDMI,-2xmini-DisplayPort,-900MHz-44459.aspx

Also, im not really gaming, nothing heavier than CSS or Team Fortress 2


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Google Translate

DVD drive> http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...enner-AD-7260S-SATA-RAM,-sort-bulk-43038.aspx

mainstream video card> http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...-Express-20,-DVI-I,-HDMI,-DisplayP-40796.aspx

Or a less expensive top tier card> http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...2xDVI-I,-HDMI,-DisplayPort,-775MHz-44460.aspx

There is another site I've seen before starts with a K like Krunner or Koenner may be Swedish?


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

I don't really like Sweden .. You know, here in Norden (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) we make jokes about the 2 other countries ..
Norwegian version:
_A swede, a danish person and a norwegien person stands on a cliff.
The swede says "I do this for sweden", and jumps off
The Norwegian person says "I do this for Norway" and throws the Danish person off_

And it'd be vice-versa depending on if it was in Sweden or Denmark.


So, no, i don't know any Swedish webshops xD

So, then, with the new stuff, the old stuff, and Windows7 Professional, it ends up at

Motherboard
ASUS P6X58D Premium, X58, Socket-1366
320,76 $

CPU
Intel I7 950 3,06GHz
372,960 $

GPU
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
195,03 $

RAM
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline (3 x 2gb) DDR3-1600
137,796 $

Case
Coolermaster HAF-932
150,38 $

PSU
Corsair Pro-Series AX-850
188,13 $

CD DVD ROM
Sony DVD-brenner AD-7260S
24,53$

CPU Cooler
Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B
62,29 $

HDD
WD Caviar® Black 2TB
162,96 $

Win7 Pro
138,425 $

SUBTOTAL: 1753$
Shipping would be, i dunno, 100$ maybe?

I just now relized how expensive this is gonna be .. I can already feel myself go hungry a few months xD


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

1 more thing, im not an expert or anything, so feel free to look funnily at me if this is a stupid question:
Would this GPU be a good alternative to Sapphire HD 6870?

Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 1GB GDDR3,
PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDMI/HDCP, Lite-R ?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

It indeed is a stupid question :laugh:

an alternative for the 6870 is the 6850 

those 2 are the new series cards and they have a few features none other amd cards have


but as in performance similarity the 6870 is much like 5850 and 5870.. the extra features the 68xx series have will become noticeable in the following years when more games get adapted to tesselation and directx11.. currenty the 58xx and 59xx cards are even better than the new 6xxx but soon they won't be

there will be the new 69xx series coming out soon which will definitely be the most powerful cards so far

best bang for buck is definitely the 5770 which is a bit older but plays a lot of games on high settings


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Well, my GPU doesn't need to be good, right? It's not like im going to play WoW or Aion, just CSS and TF2. And video encoding doesn't need a good GPU, only a good CPU and RAM, righty? ^.^

The reason i asked is because i'm right now looking at a used one for like 62$


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

the 5770 would be enough then

dunno the price for it but it will be enough for everything you do


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Alrighty, thanks. I'll have a look after i get to the city. Got a 2hour long boatride ahead of me now ... So, well, Thanks for the help, ima check back in when i get back home ^.^


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Say, which of the "5770"s do you mean? I see:
ASUS Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5
ASUS Radeon HD 5770 512MB DDR5
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5
PowerColor Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 <-- That's the one you meant, righty?
XFX Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR5
XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 "XXX"


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

sapphire and powercolor are the best brands for amd cards 

though I always prefer sapphire cause its a cool name :laugh:


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Is either of them better or worse than the other? 
PowerColor Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
PCI-Express 2.0, VGA, DVI-I, HDMI 
Cost 1095 Norwegian Kroner

Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5
PCI-E 2.0, 2xDVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, 
Cost 1145 Norwegian Kroner

Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
PCI-Express 2.0,"VAPOR-X", 2xDVI-I, HDMI 
Cost 1240 Norwegian Kroner

I might end up using more than 1 screen if it's possible through VGA. And i don't have a screen up-hookable via HDMI ...


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

the vapor-x has some slight advantages but nothing significant

the first sapphire card has 2 dvi ports while the powercolor has a vga, which is a sapphire advantage

for such card the dvi connection(digital signal) is much better and gives a clearer display

I seriously recommend you forget about vga, analog is not "in" anymore :laugh:


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> There is another site I've seen before starts with a K like Krunner or Koenner may be Swedish?


Could it be you mean komplett.no? That's the site that's pretty much got monopoly here in Norway.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Niram said:


> the vapor-x has some slight advantages but nothing significant
> 
> the first sapphire card has 2 dvi ports while the powercolor has a vga, which is a sapphire advantage
> 
> ...


What's "in" doesn't matter if i can't hook it up to my monitor xD
Or maybe it does have a DVI port .. Dunno, haven't checked .. It's using VGA now, and i think it's got quite a nice clear display.


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

the monitor must be old if it doesn't have a dvi connection

if using these better graphic card you can see the difference in the picture when you compare dvi and vga connections

the dvi to vga adapters are everywhere so thats not a problem but I'm just saying whats better


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

komplett is the one.

The cards will come with a DVI to VGA adapter, your monitor will have one or the other.

The 5770 is still a gaming card, the vaporx is overclocked and has better cooling, I'm thinking you don't need either of those features, the HD5650 or 5670 will do just fine.
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...-Express-20,-DVI-I,-HDMI,-DisplayP-40796.aspx

With the 5600 series cards you can also knock the power supply down.
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...,-TX650W-120mm-vifte,-faste-kabler-34132.aspx


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Also, if im going to buy Windows, Window 7 that is, to install on the computer, where should i buy it? 
Microsoft.com? Do they sell OSs there?
Or a store? Im guessing they take a piece of the cake too when i gotta buy it though them.

And for this computer i should buy Windows 7 64bit, righty?

Is there a bit difference between Windows7 Professional and Windows7 Ultimate/Enterprise?

I got Win7 Enterprise on a computer, and i love it, but it's twice as expensive as Win7 Pro ...


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Win 7 64 is what you should buy, if you don't need to connect to a corporate domain or need bitlocker disc encryption Home Premium should do fine.

http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...bit-Home-Premium-Engelsk,-OEM,-DVD-39368.aspx


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> komplett is the one.
> 
> The cards will come with a DVI to VGA adapter, your monitor will have one or the other.
> 
> ...


Ok, so if i go down another GPU notch, will i still be able to play CSS and TF2 on good graphics?
And how long untill this will be outdated? Like will it be a good 2 years, and then it'll be outdated, not being able to play CSS or TF2 on any settings?

And if i go down a notch in PSU too, will it be able to handle my computer if i overclock the CPU and RAM, and whatever else overclockable? ^.^


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

What would the difference between these be?
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=495617#extra

Western Digital 1,5 TB Green 3,5", SATA
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...,-SATA-64MB-Cache,-7200RPM,-3-GB-s-40412.aspx

I mean, one is 500GB bigger than the other, but the price difference is almost double just for those extra 500GB, is there some other difference?

And do i really need such a big HDD? I've never even used up a 80GB HDD before >.>. Or does the size help on the speed of the computer?


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

size matters only if you need space(obvious)

though the speed is important for the system 


the black drive has 64 MB cache which is really fast and what I would recommend

though not 2TB, 1TB is enough, then you split it on 3 partitions, and keep one partition for system and program files while you stack other partitions with movies/games/other data you buy or download


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

The 1,5TB has 64MB cache too


----------



## Niram (Jun 20, 2009)

ah yes, the bigger green drive has 64MB also.. only the black drive has 1TB at 64MB cache and I believe that is all you need

I think all other drives with 1TB and less have 32MB


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

So i should go for a 1TB with 64MB cache?
But, uhh ... The smaller one is expensiver ...
1,5TB 64MB cache
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...,-SATA-64MB-Cache,-7200RPM,-3-GB-s-40412.aspx
575 Norwegian Kroner

1TB 64MB cache
http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...5-64MB-Cache,-SATA-6-Gb-s,-7200RPM-41084.aspx
685 Norwegian Kroner

Oh, i see .. The 1TB is "SATA 6 gb/s", while the 1,5TB is "3 gb/s" whatever that means 

^Is that very good? Should i spend those extra ~100 Norwegian Kroner to get that?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The green drive is energy saving and will spin down to slower speeds when not needed, I avoid them they are over all slower, if you don't need 1t of space look for the 500gig or 640gig wd black drive.

As for the video card, CSS and TF2 are a internet games correct?
If so go with the HD5770 and the 750TX power supply it'll be good for as long as the 6850/6870 cards.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

So, then, everything ends up at

1 "Western Digital 1 TB Black 3,5""
...
685,-

1 "Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium"
...
849,-

1 "Sony DVD-brenner AD-7260S"
...
195,-

1 "ASUS P6X58D Premium, X58, Socket-1366"
...
2 295,-

1 "Cooler Master HAF 932, Fulltower, sort"
...
1 195,-

1 "Mushkin DDR3 6GB Blackline Black FB"
...
1 095,-

1 "Intel Core i7 950 Quad 3,06Ghz"
...
2 240,-

1 "Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5"
...
795,-

1 "Corsair PSU, TX650W"
...
695,-

1 "Prolimatech Megahalems"
...
495,-

SUBTOTAL:
10 539,- (NOK) = 1 753,690$


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Are you looking to overclock? 
If not use the stock cooler that comes with the CPU and drop the Prolimatech Megahalems


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Yes, im going to overclock. Can never get a fast enough computer. And there's not really any problem as long as i overclock safely..

I probably won't buy this untill after christmas, but if i see a part or two at finn.no (Norwegian website where private persons sell things like computer components to others) i might buy it to save money ^.^


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Don't know if they sales or specials there but keep your eyes on the prices, it's not unusual around here to see specials after xmass.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Alrighty, i'll keep my eyes open o.o

Thanks for the help ^.^


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Would i be able to use this MoBo instead of the one listed a few posts above?
And what would the pros/cons be?

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Yes the GA-X58A-UD3R is a decent board also.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

What would be the difference between them? I see the UD3R board is about 80$ cheaper ..


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The Lan chip sets are different, the Asus board has dual lan ports where the Gigabyte has a single.
The Asus board has 2 PCI slots where the GB has one but has an extra PCIe slot.
Compare the 2 side by side

There is not a lot of difference between the 2 the second lan slot sure isn't that big a difference.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

So i should go for the GB one?

Also, i saw a pack offer:
Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-950 Quad Core, 3,06Ghz, Socket 1366, 8MB, 130W, Boxed w/fan

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R, X58, Socket-1366, DDR3, ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16, Revision 2.

Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 6GB CL9 Kit w/3x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, for Core i7

Antistatic Armchain 180cm

That's about the same price the MoBo and the CPU would cost alone. Are the Corsair RAM as good/better than the Mushkin RAM that i was thinking about buying?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Corsair is good ram they are about equal.
The GB is a good I've used a couple now no issues.
If the price is right push the buy button.


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

Alright. Thanks. Gonna have a look around mid-day tomorrow, maybe ima order it all then. Became midnight here now 
Also, there weren't any particular special offers now after christmas, only like 50$ off on a few whole laptops >.>


----------



## lool123 (Oct 20, 2009)

But, this setup, will i need a 750W PSU, or will the 650W PSU be able to handle it, even if i overclock?


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If your looking to overclock, or even for future upgrade insurance the 750 would be a better choice.


----------

