Topic: new PC build

[Canceler]

recently i rebooted my computer. i was going to go into the safemode administrator account to set ownership properties on a folder from an old XP install on another drive. when i booted up the computer, though, it started giving me errors like DCMI Service Initializer Terminated Unexpectedly, or something like that. looked it up (whatever it actually was), found a bunch of "how to remove rootkits" tutorials. on top of that, my CMOS had gone bad and reset itself, and the connection from the power switch to the motherboard was going out slowly.

so i decided to replace the mobo and cpu. then i had to replace the RAM because the sticks i had weren't the right kind. and since i have to start a new install of windows, purchased Windows 7 Pro Upgrade for $45 on student discount. in order to install windows 7 i need to have a DVD drive. i have that but... both my HDDs and optical drives are IDE, and my mobo only has 1 IDE slot, but 4 SATA slots... so I had to order a new SATA DVD-RW drive in order to install win7 when it comes in the mail. found out that my gpu isn't compatible with windows 7, so requested a new one for my birthday this weekend. found out the gpu i want recommends a psu of 500+, so i had to find a replacement (i'll order it when i know my bday package has been ordered). and after all this i think i'll switch out the case, too.

anyway, the hardware (as it is in the process of becoming) will be:
($60) GIGABYTE MA78LMT-S2 mATX AM3 1xPCIe 2.0x16, 1xPCIe2.0, 2xPCI
($90) AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz AM3 4x512MB L2
($40) G.Skill Ripjaw 1x4GB DDR3 1333 240-pin
($20) ASUS SATA 24xDVD+R 12xDVD+RW
($45) Windows 7 x64 Professional Upgrade (download) + DVD
(***) XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit PCIe2.1x16 2-slot
($60) Corsair CX600 ATX12v v2.3
(?$40?) Cooler Master Elite black ATX Mid Case

all i have put together right now is the mobo, cpu and ram (along with all the old components) and no operating system. the HDDs and optical drives are currently unconnected. i would hook up the HDDs but i'm not ready to do anything with them yet without the new SATA DVD drive or windows 7 disc. old gpu, soundcard and psu. here is a picture of the mobo/cpu/ram (pic is on my phone and i'm too lazy to reupload):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=508833&l=ed519a8053&id=100001151486859

[Matthew]

Get rootkit/CMOS battery dies... Replace mobo? Wut?

Other than that, meh. Hardware looks good. I would've gone with a better PSU for all that though. And I would've gone with Nvidia, and a 965 or 970 instead of an 840, but that's all really preference.

[Hunter]

PSU might fall short when powering that card.

[Crash]

Excellent sounding machine. Bravo to you for staying clear of the Intel/Nvidia monopolising crooks. With those two it's always advertising first, product second.

[-<WillyP>-]

Sounds good, any updates? What psu did you end up with?

I split off the off topic posts. Any off topic posts in this thread will be deleted.

[karx-elf-erx]

Your CPU is a crippled one with less on-die cache. I'd go for a 955 BE which you can overclock insanely w/o even overvolting it (I've got mine running at 3.6 GHz).

The PSU is more than powerful enough imo. You could even drive a Crossfire setup with it.

You may also want to look at a Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X instead. In many cases the Radeon 6XXX line isn't more powerful than the 5XXX line.

[Matthew]

At that point you might as well get a 965 or a 970 since it's only a little bit more expensive.

[Crash]

Karx is right about the GPUs. Strangely a 5870 is faster than a 6870. The 5000s are supposed to be more power-efficient too.
I reckon that you could get a good bargain on a 5000 seeing as most people just equate "higher-number" to "much better product".

The 6000s are good and they have a lot of features, it's just that ATI have been stupid with the numbering so really the 6970 is the replacement to the 5870.
The reason that the numbers got screwed up is that they're being much slower about bringing out dual-gpu cards this time around.
The dual-gpu 5970 has been around forever but last time I checked (which was a few months ago) no dual-core 6000 had been released. Things might have changed but that still seems to be the reason.

It makes no sense because the previous numbering system made perfect sense to me and this one has created nothing but confusion and basically made the whole effort a laughing-stock.

[Hunter]

Seeing as the PSU is Corsair your good to go. If it was an unknown brand I'd take it out right away - I've had way too many bad experiences with unknown/cheap brands.

God I love my Corsair. Even the box it comes in is a work of art. 

[Crash]

Are they generally quiet? I know they have a really good reputation for reliability and performance (and that goes for their CPU cooling systems as well) but are they normally pretty ... hush these days?
I only ask because I could fancy a new one for my desktop.

[Matthew]

Generally the PSU fan isn't going to be a very contributor to noise. The GPU and CPU fans will contribute far more to noise than a PSU fan.

[karx-elf-erx]

The Antec 300 is a very nice budget case, too.

[Crash]

Generally the PSU fan isn't going to be a very contributor to noise. The GPU and CPU fans will contribute far more to noise than a PSU fan.

I was a little surprised how right that was. I recently replaced some fans on my desktop (it was becoming insanely noisy). After 8 years the bearings were maybe shot. If you unplugged certain fans and turned it on for a second you could tell what things were making more noise than others and I was surprised how little noise the terrible, old, unbranded PSU actually contributed (you're right it was really nothing).

The Antec looks nice too. It's smart and serious without being ... ridiculous. What's that German word, Karx? "uebertrieben"? I'm not sure we have a perfect translation for that.

[karx-elf-erx]

uebertrieben = exaggerated.

I am using the Antec 300 myself, and have built several computers for friends and relatives using it. I really like its clean, simple design. It's a great case with very good cooling. Despite its small dimensions I could even fit a Geforce GTX 570 in it.

Btw, Antec PSUs have a very good price/performance ratio.

[Hunter]

I don't even notice my PSU fan. In fact, the only noise out of my system is the chasis fan - everything else is relatively quiet. Still, it's better than having all that heat linger in there.