Building new PC

King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
Hey All,

Unfortunately my PC decided to blow up last night, and due to the fact that it's about 3 years old and almost at that point of replacement. I've decided to construct a new one rather than invest in running repairs.

Hardware not being my forte' I was hoping I could get some decent opinions from those of you here that are experts on the subject. I only need the core pieces as I'll be re-using some of the staples from my old box.

Also note: Ignore prices, they're in $AUD and probably wouldn't mean much to you :p Budget if I was buying a full PC would be around 2k (AUS). The total of the bits I put together is $1362 which I think is about right considering what I'm leaving out.

Motherboard - ASUS P6X58D-E Motherboard
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_775&products_id=14230

CPU - Intel Core i7 950
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_930&products_id=15316

RAM - Corsair Vengeance CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_218_1125&products_id=16305

Case - Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Case
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14608

PSU - Antec TruePower TP-750 750W
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11005

Also on my mind, to SLI or not to SLI. I have a friend who swears by it, but he's one of those overly obsessed PC gamer kinda guys who have to have the superest of the super. The card I'm looking at isn't bad by any means, and I figure it'll do what I need, but my friend says otherwise and I'm not entirely inclined to believe him, so eager for other opinions.

Thanks in advance!
Rocky
 
Judge. Jury. Executioner
๐Ÿ‘ฎ Moderator
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,241
Best answers
1
Location
San Francisco
Don't wanna wait for the fixed Sandy Bridges to roll out? Much more efficient, and cheaper to boot.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
The issue with the Intel boards applies to the Socket 1155 boards. I saw that and decided to skip them completely and looked into the 1366's which appear to be unaffected.
 
~Gurbir~
๐ŸŒˆ Beta Tester
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
Joined
Jan 24, 2003
Messages
389
Best answers
0
Location
Burnaby,British Columbia,Canada
If your willing to go for a Intel Core i7 950, I would wait til they get the new motherboards out for Sandy Bridge and get the, Intel Core i7 2600 or a Intel Core i7 2600k instead. These are faster and more power efficient.

Looks like they have already started shipping them out so maybe mid to late March you'll be able to pick it up, If you can wait that is.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
The hard part about waiting is I'm currently without any kind of computer to use at home, and I have a severe addiction to WoW which must be satisfied every day. I'm hoping to be bought and built by end of next week so waiting till end of March really doesn't suit well with me :p

But the suggestions are most welcome!
 
~Gurbir~
๐ŸŒˆ Beta Tester
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
Joined
Jan 24, 2003
Messages
389
Best answers
0
Location
Burnaby,British Columbia,Canada
Do you have any idea what might be wrong with your computer? What if anything happens?

Maybe try to figure it out and keep yourself busy instead of craving WoW :p PLUS maybe you'll learn something about hardware since it's not your forte :) If you get it running, great use it for as long as it can run or a month or two which ever comes first then you can decide if you still wanna upgrade.

But if you really need it ASAP then ya like DiebytheSword said.

Also maybe list the part your going to be using from your old system.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
Update!

Broken part was the gfx cards. I was running an SLI configuration and somehow not one but both cards blew! Did try them separately, one of them would POST, but during the windows loading screen the display would pixelate, persisting through boot would see the pixelation continue. The other card wouldn't even POST, just one short sharp beep of despair then nothing.

I managed to secure a replacement card (albeit one that is far and away inferior to my previous setup) and I'm able to boot and function normally. So with that in mind I think I'll be taking the advice in the thread and waiting for the Sandy Bridge boards to be shipped back out.

Thanks to everyone!
 
Judge. Jury. Executioner
๐Ÿ‘ฎ Moderator
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,241
Best answers
1
Location
San Francisco
Congrats.

Hopefully both of us will be able to get new rigs soon.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
/bump

Temp replacement is not quite holding up as well as I'd like so going ahead with this. However am switching to the sandy bridge board, have spoken in-depth with a tonne of people and the general consensus is the fault is pretty minor and easily avoidable if you don't actually use the two faulty SATA ports. With that in mind, I'm looking at getting:

ASUS P8P67 Motherboard
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16414

Intel Core i7 2600
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16404

Also decided to pick up a....
OCZ Vertex 2 3.5" 120GB E Series SSD
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15487

The rest is same as above.

Decision with the board was simple enough, ASUS has a tonne of different "versions" of the same board all with minor additions for things that I'll never use. The chip was out of that one or the 2600K, but the only thing the higher version had was the ability to OC, and in my years as a PC owner I've never felt the need or urge to OC and somehow believe that this PC will be no different.

The SSD is new and something I figured I'd treat myself to, was originally just going for a 60gb one to use as a boot disk, but got convinced that it might just barely be too low, so decided with the 120, should be plenty for OS and a couple of key games/applications that will take full advantage of the speed.

Any comments welcome! :)
 
New Member
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
1,572
Best answers
0
Location
Norge
Just remember to never throw out your SSD if you have any kind of important information on it. You can't really "wipe" an SSD.
 
Judge. Jury. Executioner
๐Ÿ‘ฎ Moderator
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,241
Best answers
1
Location
San Francisco
/bump

Temp replacement is not quite holding up as well as I'd like so going ahead with this. However am switching to the sandy bridge board, have spoken in-depth with a tonne of people and the general consensus is the fault is pretty minor and easily avoidable if you don't actually use the two faulty SATA ports. With that in mind, I'm looking at getting:

ASUS P8P67 Motherboard
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16414

Intel Core i7 2600
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16404

Also decided to pick up a....
OCZ Vertex 2 3.5" 120GB E Series SSD
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15487

The rest is same as above.

Decision with the board was simple enough, ASUS has a tonne of different "versions" of the same board all with minor additions for things that I'll never use. The chip was out of that one or the 2600K, but the only thing the higher version had was the ability to OC, and in my years as a PC owner I've never felt the need or urge to OC and somehow believe that this PC will be no different.

The SSD is new and something I figured I'd treat myself to, was originally just going for a 60gb one to use as a boot disk, but got convinced that it might just barely be too low, so decided with the 120, should be plenty for OS and a couple of key games/applications that will take full advantage of the speed.

Any comments welcome! :)
The fixed ones should be out in a couple more days, so if you can, do hold out for it, it'll end up future proofing your rig, incase you forget about the glitch in an year and end up using the SATA ports. Also, You do have a Hard Disk as a secondary storage, right?

Anyway, have fun with your awesome system. :)
 
New Member
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Mar 29, 2003
Messages
4,765
Best answers
0
Location
The Netherlands
Just remember to never throw out your SSD if you have any kind of important information on it. You can't really "wipe" an SSD.
Nothing a couple of hammers, a flamethrower and a toothpick can't fix.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
The fixed ones should be out in a couple more days, so if you can, do hold out for it, it'll end up future proofing your rig, incase you forget about the glitch in an year and end up using the SATA ports. Also, You do have a Hard Disk as a secondary storage, right?

Anyway, have fun with your awesome system. :)
Unfortunately I live in Australia, land of the 2 months behind and so far no ETA on when the fixed mobo's are out, and yes, I have a large capacity hdd from my old box that I was gonna transfer over. The SSD will be purely for OS and a couple of select applications. I have another 500gb HDD in my old box which I'm undecided if I want to move over. The only reason to keep it in the old machine would be to keep that box functional, whereas to move it over means I can have a drive for OS, a drive for apps (not the bastardised Macintosh definition of app >_<) and the high cap for media. I realise partitioning can achieve the same thing but this idea appeals to me more.
 
New Member
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
241
Best answers
0
Someone mind explaining what mobo bug are you guys talking about? :D
 
Judge. Jury. Executioner
๐Ÿ‘ฎ Moderator
โ˜… Black Lounger โ˜…
โœ”๏ธ HL Verified
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
2,241
Best answers
1
Location
San Francisco
Someone mind explaining what mobo bug are you guys talking about? :D
Here and here you can read about it.

Basically there were faults with the New Sandy Bridge Processors that would affect the Intel motherboards. The Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives.
 
King of the Hello Kitty Fanclub
๐Ÿ’ป Oldtimer
Joined
Sep 6, 2004
Messages
1,675
Best answers
0
Location
Australia
What ^he^ said.

Basically two of the SATA2.0 ports on *all* the latest Intel mobos are defective and may fail over time. The issue is relatively minor if you have the existing faulty boards (easily rectified by simply not using those particular ports), but major enough for Intel to rush out a fix.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom