Thread: New computer build.

You might want to consider a different motherboard if you are planning on ever going with two graphics cards. The motherboard you listed will support the first slot at 16x and the 2nd slot at 4x when running SLI.

Try to find a board that will run either 16x or 8x in both slots. No graphics card on the market will take up 8 PCI-E lanes, but you don't want to bottleneck your 2nd card at 4 lanes. The link below shows real results of this comparison. The 16x + 4x performed approx 5% below the 16x + 16x.

16x/16x vs 16x/4x GTX 470 SLI Comparison - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Here is another article showing some test results comparing 16x + 16x and 8x + 8x. Basically, the results confirmed that there is no difference in performance between the two up to 2560x1600 resolution. The only time they noticed a difference was when using ATI Eyefinity/NV Surround at 5760x1200 resolution or higher.

Sorry to babble on, but I did my research about this stuff when I purchased my own motherboard.

Get RAM that has a DDR3 1333 PC3 10666 speed instead. The Phenom II processors memory controller performs best with it.

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Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL

That is what bust is getting on his. From everything I have seen, G.Skill is a pretty reliable brand, and their customer service is good too.
You also want to buy the entire 8 gigs as a kit, because sometimes if you buy two kits of the exact same thing and put em together they can have issues. Happened to me on a rig. Both kits were fine on their own, exactly the same, but would not work with each other.

Also, you want to get a Hard Drive that will take advantage of that 6.0 GB/s SATA connection on the mobo.

I have never had a problem with Western Digital hard drives myself. I still have one of their old Maxxtor HDs from 2003 sitting around here somewhere (ah, back when 300 GB for $100 was an amazing deal).
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Unfortunately Seagate doesn't have anything under 2 TB with the 6.0 GB/s speed. But I have had two Seagate drives die on me after a week of usage (on two different computers), and haven't used them since.

The GPU you are getting will be a tight fit in that Antec 900. You will probably have to remove a Hard Drive cage inside the case to get it to fit. Choose a Full ATX Tower instead of a Mid ATX if you want the case to stay as cool as possible, because air flow will be a little constricted from the front of the case as a result.

The Antec 1200 is a very good choice.
Newegg.com - Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

I'm a fan of the Cooler Master High Air Flow (HAF) series myself, and I have this case. One of the things I love about this case is that the power supply is mounted upside down, so the fan from the PSU doesn't blow its own hot air into the case, but dumps it right out the bottom. It's also one the best suited cases for water cooling if you upgrade to that in the future. You can put the reservoir right at the top and under that rubber mat up there (next to the power buttons) you can get quick access to it for filling it up.
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Alright, going go take your recommendations on the hard drive, the RAM, and I'm going to get the Cooler Master case because of the big price difference :P $20 more for a full tower seems well worth the extra heat it will get rid of. Just one more question, should I get some Arctic Silver 5 for the CPU? let me know. Thanks a ton for the assistance I appreciate it.

EDIT: also should I get some more fans or anything like that I know those are cheap
EDIT#2: Don't know why I didn't think of getting 2 4gb sticks instead since its going be $15 cheaper and i won't have to re-buy any memory if i decide to go up to 16gb at one point :P

Originally Posted by Tyy

Alright, going go take your recommendations on the hard drive, the RAM, and I'm going to get the Cooler Master case because of the big price difference :P $20 more for a full tower seems well worth the extra heat it will get rid of. Just one more question, should I get some Arctic Silver 5 for the CPU? let me know. Thanks a ton for the assistance I appreciate it.

EDIT: also should I get some more fans or anything like that I know those are cheap
EDIT#2: Don't know why I didn't think of getting 2 4gb sticks instead since its going be $15 cheaper and i won't have to re-buy any memory if i decide to go up to 16gb at one point :P

I found the thermal paste pre-applied to my AMD X6s Stock heatsink to be sufficient (I have the same processor you're getting, the 1090T). Haven't had a problem with it at all, the stock heatsink performs really well for a small guy, the temp has never gone above 40 degrees C. If you ever feel it isn't doing its job well enough you could just hop over to a local Radio Shack and they should have Arctic Silver 5.

Now, if you were getting an aftermarket HeatSink, you will want to get some paste. But I recommend sticking with the stock heatsink for at least the first couple of months to make sure nothing is wrong with the CPU, because with AMD processors it voids the warranty to use anything but the heatsink provided with the processor.