The Official Unofficial Frau Kaleun Destroys The World* Thread
 

--UPDATED 8/10/2011--

*Actually, I'm just building my own computer. But then I ask myself: what's the worst that could happen?

So here's where I will be listing what I have and what I'm looking at getting, and taking suggestions and advice and - once all the parts are in my possession and Pinky and I begin putting the plan into action - begging for qualified, semi-qualified and/or any available assistance. :O:


Acquired/On Order

Motherboard: Asus M4A79XTD Evo
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A79XTD_EVO/

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black
http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskto...&f11=&f12=True

Case: Rosewill Challenger ATX Mid-Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147153

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-850HX 850-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-...3027696&sr=1-1

2 x Kingston Technology HyperX 8 GB Kit (2x4 GB Modules) 8 Dual Channel Kit 1600 (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Techn...2754140&sr=8-1
Wow, looks like I ordered this at the right time. They were $65-70 a kit when I initially picked them out, then dropped to $54.99 each so I went ahead and ordered. Today they're back up to over $65 again. :o

2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0347356
Wanted one for music, one for games. Size is not overkill for music given the collection I've already got. Could be for games, but the sale price was too good to pass up even if it did take 2 months and an irritated email from me to get them shipped. Plus my multi-installs of heavily modded SH3 are eating up the games drive I've already got, and I haven't even put my other games on it yet.

GPU: Sapphire Tech ATI Radeon HD5770 Vapor-X
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presenta...&pid=305&lid=1
Already have one, decided to see what Crossfire is like.

SONY Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 8X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 8MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner BD-5300S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118050

Surge Protector: Tripplite TMC-6
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-TMC.../dp/B0000AKA90

Allsop Metal Art Monitor Stand (Black)
http://www.amazon.com/Allsop-Metal-M...2753786&sr=1-2


Migrating from the current rig:

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, will probably remain the boot drive
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0347355

AcomData PureDrive 1 TB USB 2.0/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive, for some storage and all backups
http://www.amazon.com/AcomData-PureD...2755264&sr=1-1

Sound card: ASUS Xonar DX
http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_DX/

Speakers: Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System with Subwoofer
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Surro.../dp/B000JJM8XE

Plus a basic 56K Voice/Fax Modem PCI card (LSI SV92PP Soft Modem) as a back-up in case my DSL service goes down and I need to use the dial-up connection to get on line.


Still need to order:

Keyboard and Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natu...2755755&sr=1-1
Had the MS Natural Ergonomics wireless stuff before and loved it, except for some drop-out problems which I know I solved as far as a mouse is concerned. Still wondering about whether or not to risk getting the combo or getting the wireless mouse and wired version of the kb separately.

UPS
Don't know if I'm going to get one of these or not. Probably a good idea, but not critical ATM. The local computer shop has some decent used/refurbished ones for sale so I may look there first when the time comes. Recommendations on wattage I should look for would be helpful. :DL


Cost of new stuff to date:
Mobo - $89.99 (after $10 Asus rebate), TigerDirect
CPU - $119.99 (after $20 promo code discount), Newegg, free shipping
Case - $49.99, Newegg, free shipping
Surge Protecter - $29.99, Amazon, free shipping w/ Amazon Prime (and I had a $25 gift certificate :yeah:
HDDs - $239.98, Microcenter online store
GPU - $147.99, Amazon
RAM - $90.17, Amazon (after rewards points discount)
Blu-ray burner - $99.99, Newegg
Monitor stand - $22.97, Amazon
PSU - $164.99, Amazon

wow, you have such huge storage...

for the 2 new drives i would recommend sata 6gb, its so much better

link them up using RAID 0, your games would literally start in 1 second

I'm pretty sure I checked and the mobo only supports Sata 3Gb. I'm okay with it. *shrugs*

1 second wouldn't give me time to go powder my nose and refill my glass, lol.

I got all the storage because I wanted to move all my music onto an internal drive, now that I'll have room for more internal disks. It's currently on the external drive, but taking up more than half of it and the collection is only get to get bigger... not to mention the fact that all my pics and most of my documents are on there as well. I started out just intending to stick with 1TB drives, but the bigger ones were on sale over the holiday.

Going from 'SATA2' to 'SATA3' makes nearly 0 difference for a mechanical drive. They can't even saturate bandwith on SATA2, so doubling it won't do any good. It's for SSD.


Right, I have to ask: at this point in time, and while considering technology will move forward quite a bit in the time it takes to build this system, is it really wise to buy into such an old CPU?

AMD's Bulldozer architecture will be available Q3 this year, a few months from now. You're buying into tech that's about to be phased out. Phenom was the Core2-killer: Core2 has come and gone, replaced by i5 and i7, which in turn are on the brink of a new generation.

I have Core2 myself, but I bought it 3 years ago. Not a chance I would pick up a Core2 CPU nowadays.

Nice,stuff :yeah:

Let me know what it ends up costing, minus the speakers as I only use headphones. I'm still considering having iBuyPower build me one through Amazon, but your experiment looks tempting.

It's cheap, fast and with good overclocking potential. And it's cheap! :yeah:
Have by now used it in quite a few gamers rigs for young lads on limited budgets - runs everything especially when paired with a decent graphics board.

Die Frau won't be disappointed.

You might also save the soundboard.
As an old hi-fi freak with some amazing gear behind me, I'm still surprised just how good onboard soundchips are these days.

Should you somehow not be happy with it, a soundboard may always be purchased at a later state.


Didn't catch this one first time:
If you're thinking of buying two at this stage, I must recommend getting a 5870 instead! Again... :ping:

Exactly, the price was right. Especially for something I'm going to be building myself and might very well screw up. :O:

I have a running list of what I intend to put in there, always checking to make sure the mobo has the connections for it. Since I'll probably get another PSU (I intend to leave the one in the current rig where it is) I'll just have to make sure it has everything I need as well with regard to power connectors... but so far with everything I've looked at, this doesn't seem like it will be much of an issue. What I'm wondering about with that right now is, modular or non-modular? the modular models sure look nice but IIRC generally cost more.

Can I Crossfire that with the 5770? For some reason I had it in my head that the two cards had to match. It's entirely possible I misunderstood something I read somewhere.

But again the price may be the clincher, the 5870 was quite a bit higher when I looked before. It's a decision that may still be down the road a-ways, but I'm keeping a regular lookout for sales and specials. And also having the case on hand will help, since I'll know exactly how much space I'll have to work with. One reason I went ahead and got it now.

Updating the first post with prices. What I paid, not current listings, so YMMV.

First the compatibility chart: http://sites.amd.com/PublishingImage...hart_1618W.jpg

And sadly no, you can't CrossFire a 57-serie with a 58-serie.
If a 5870 is still too expensive, even as second-hand card, have a look at the 5850 then...
Should be cheaper and only marginally more expensive than the 5750, and it has the potential of OC'ing to near 5870 performance.
And can of course be CrossFire'd with a 5850/5870 later on.

I would still argue though, that the "minor" price difference up to a 5870 is well spent...

Especially when you mention wanting a modular PSU - way better to use the extra dollars on performance.


Of course personally I shall never own a non-modular again :D love the way you can manage the cables.
But it comes with an extra pricetag and have no other meaning than pure aesthetics...

I would get the 5870 now, wait with a new PSU until the money is in and then of course get a *cough* Fractal *cough* modular one.


Looking forward to follow "The End of The World" - series! http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...nching_out.gif

If you could set up a webcam, you could charge people for following you live as you build! http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...lies/dopey.gif

Well, it's hardly a minor price difference... all the normal places I go to compare prices, it's either out of stock (if the price listed is under $300) or it's at least $200-300 more than the 5770. Googling turns up the same results. So for now I will stick with the 57 series even if I get a second card.

The one constant complaint I've seen so far with the modular cables is a problem with length in the mobo power connectors, especially with a bottom-mounted PSU. It seems to come up even with the highly rated brands. But I do like the idea of not having a bunch of cables floating around in there serving no purpose. I suppose if length is an issue, extender cables are available. Another thing to check on before making any decisions, I guess.

I have searched and searched and come to the conclusion that they are not available in the US. The Fractal Design website lists only two North American distributors for Fractal Design products, and they only carry cases. Google Product Search for "Fractal Design" turns up nothing but cases as well. So I'm pretty sure I will have to go with a different brand.

Did I miss it, or are you not going to purchase memory?

You didn't miss it, I just haven't gotten to it yet. :O:

The new board takes DDR3 of which I have precisely none, so I will be buying some. But it's not a purchase that's gonna keep me up nights trying to make a decision.

Good luck,Frau with all!

Tack så mycket! :DL

Fine Swedish as (google) has delivered to me from you,tack så mycket, det var snällt :)