new system

[WoodPeckr]

Thanks Woodpecker... SSD sounds like a good idea and its in my list for future decisions.

No problem.
Adding a SSD is easy to add in the future and just as easy as adding more RAM.

You are building a very fast PC and will find your mechanical HDD is the bottleneck in the system. Those that have added a SSD have reported a significant increase in their WEI scores for Win7 over a traditional HDD.

 

[Danolo]

No problem.
Adding a SSD is easy to add in the future and just as easy as adding more RAM.

You are building a very fast PC and will find your mechanical HDD is the bottleneck in the system. Those that have added a SSD have reported a significant increase in their WEI scores for Win7 over a traditional HDD.

The idea is to install Win7 in the SSD, so it boots faster, right? So installing one later would involve a re-install of Win7 right?

 

[WoodPeckr]

The idea is to install Win7 in the SSD, so it boots faster, right? So installing one later would involve a re-install of Win7 right?

Correct and W7 will install far quicker on a SSD than it did on the HDD.
Then you can use your HDD for storage, using the SSD as boot drive as some of these reviews point out.

 

[Danolo]

Well after looking at a LOT of different Video Cards... I've almost narrowed it down to one:

GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

A Newegg its $178.99 - Not available from Canada Computers

It seems to have pretty good reviews with very few "cons"

Any of you folks have experience with this one?

 

[bassnut]

Never had any experience with GIGABYTE video cards and only used 1 of thier Mother Boards. Allot of people swear by them. I took a quick pick and the card looks interesting and like all the rest of the 5770 series it is pretty much inline with them all. This one is overclocked a bit right out of the box and has a better stock cooler (pro) uses a tiny 3 pin connector(con) ..... if you should decide to upgrade cooling this could be an issue but then if you do not try to overclock it this is a none issue. Overclocking a video card does not gain you much and can be very tricky. You are better off to buy a second one and run a crossfire or SLI setup or a bigger card for the little gains you will get. This is a 2 slot deep card (con) but with the Asus Mother Board you have chosen again is a non issue as there is lots of room ..... should you decide to go with an AMD board a little care will be needed in choosing if you plan on doing a corossfire with a second card. If not then again it is a non issue.

All 4 of the cards mentioned so far will work fine with the Mother Board and i7 you chose or an AMD 965 system. You just need to make sure the board you choose is a crossfire board (ATI / AMD) not an ALI (NVIDEA) based board.

 

[Danolo]

Thanks again bassnut

I spent a bit of time reading reviews on newegg and many other review boards and the GIGABYTE card had the fewest negative remarks (cons). That's why i chose it.

As for the motherboard, I haven't finalized that, nor the processor yet, but I guess I'm gonna have to soon, huh?

Thanks very much for your ongoing help

 

[Danolo]

Ok I'm getting there... here's final decisions so far:

Case
Cooler Master Elite 430 Black Mid Tower Case (RC-430-KWN1)

Power Supply
Coolermaster Silent ProM 850

Video
GIGABYTE GV-R577SO-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - subject to motherboard compatablity.

 

[Danolo]

Ok, its time now to settle the motherboard/processor combination:

Back on Page one of this thread I thought I had made a final decision on this combo:

INTEL CPU CORE I7-870 2.93GHZ 8MB LGA1156 RETAIL
ASUS SKT.1156 INTEL P55 ATX P7P55-LX

After reading bassnut's warning about chip compatability, I checked and this motherboard does support CrossfireX and therefore I assume is compatable with the ATI chipset.

Lemme go put this together a bit...

 

[bassnut]

Yes your mother board is fine as earlier stated ........

INTEL CPU CORE I7-870 2.93GHZ 8MB LGA1156 RETAIL
ASUS SKT.1156 INTEL P55 ATX P7P55-LX


Last big decision is RAM ....... there is a link to the Qualified vendors list for ram Garunteed to work as specified for your mother board ...... go pick your flavour. That motherboard can support ..... DDR3 1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory so it shouldn't be too expensive. I recomend Corsair or Kingston ram.

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=2UYSq8dAHOj0k84O&templete=2

Enough computers for now I am off for some relaxation.

 

[Danolo]

Yes your mother board is fine as earlier stated ........

INTEL CPU CORE I7-870 2.93GHZ 8MB LGA1156 RETAIL
ASUS SKT.1156 INTEL P55 ATX P7P55-LX


Last big decision is RAM ....... there is a link to the Qualified vendors list for ram Garunteed to work as specified for your mother board ...... go pick your flavour. That motherboard can support ..... DDR3 1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory so it shouldn't be too expensive. I recomend Corsair or Kingston ram.

htthttp://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=2UYSq8dAHOj0k84O&templete=2

Enough computers for now I am off for some relaxation.

Relaxation???!!! What!!!!???? Yeah, I know.. my head hurts as well...

I just did some extensive searching of Newegg and the reviews of various motherboards... They all get bad reviews... many cons...
So, for an Intel type board, I'm gonna go with your recommendation on the Asus one above.

Enough for tonight,,

Thanks

 

[AnimalMagnetism]

Relaxation???!!! What!!!!???? Yeah, I know.. my head hurts as well...

I just did some extensive searching of Newegg and the reviews of various motherboards... They all get bad reviews... many cons...
So, for an Intel type board, I'm gonna go with your recommendation on the Asus one above.

Enough for tonight,,

Thanks

the Asus is a solid board, nothing to fear there

 

[Danolo]

the Asus is a solid board, nothing to fear there

Thanks AM...

 

[Danolo]

Ram..

How about these?

4GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_611&item_id=033058
8GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_611&item_id=032949

Or one or two of these...
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_611&item_id=029249

If I have found the right RAM, looks like the Corsair is a winner at 8GB.

 

[bassnut]

Looks like there are a couple boards very similar and I had the wrong board earlier the Asus P7P55 LX is capable of handling ram up to DDR3 2000 ...... I checked the Corsair configurator and found these ...... since you seem set on the 8 GIGs

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_612&item_id=025356

feel free to check as there are allot of chips listed ...... Just run the Memory Configurator for your board

http://www.corsair.com/

 

[Danolo]

Looks like there are a couple boards very similar and I had the wrong board earlier the Asus P7P55 LX is capable of handling ram up to DDR3 2000 ...... I checked the Corsair configurator and found these ...... since you seem set on the 8 GIGs

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_612&item_id=025356

feel free to check as there are allot of chips listed ...... Just run the Memory Configurator for your board

http://www.corsair.com/

I'm actually NOT stuck on 8GB... if I'm putting together a really expensive system, and it seems like I am, I may decide to delay getting an extra 4GB of ram until needed, and just start with 4GB. I haven't even started to add up to totals. But in the total cost the extra 4GB isn't gonna make or break me. I think the decision is gonne be either I7 or AMD.... sigh...

In any event, tomorrow I'm gonna get out a spreadsheet and start putting it together both ways and then I'll decide which way to go. As far as I can see it now, I want to stay with the I7, and for the extra $300 or so.. I just might let it sit on the credit card for a few days, or weeks.

I'm not entirely sure how that memory configuator works, but tomorrow with fresh eyes, i'll go back at it again.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Danolo]

I'm not entirely sure how that memory configuator works, but tomorrow with fresh eyes, i'll go back at it again.

Thanks for all your help.

Well that memory configurator has me stymied.. There are so many different specs and I'm not sure which ones match for me.

bassnut, can you please pick me out a 4 GB and 8GB package from both Newegg and Canada Computers? And I'll just plug in the numbers to my spreadsheet.

Waittaminit...

4GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_612&item_id=025353

8GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_612&item_id=025356

Is that right?


That's odd... the 8GB is 189.99 and the 4 GB is 79.99... I should just double the 4GB order and save $30!

Thanks

 

[bassnut]

Canada Computers ....

8GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=CMX8GX3M4A1600C9

4GB
http://www.canadacomputers.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=CMX4GX3M2A1600C9


New Egg

8GB
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145261&Tpk=CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 - Same ram as above.

4GB
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260&Tpk=CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145263&Tpk=CMX4GX3M2A1600C8 - Slightly faster ...... not sure if you would really notice a difference though
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145285&Tpk=CMX4GX3M2A1600C7 - Slightly faster with a 7 8 7 timing...... Might notice a slight difference
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145287&Tpk=CMT4GX3M2A1600C7 - Thier top of the line ram .... fastest of the bunch and most expensive comes with thier own cooling fan ...... should notice a difference but not sure if you will have enough room in the case for the cooling fan they send
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145296&Tpk=CMP4GX3M2A1600C9 - Dominator supposed to be faster than the XMS3 above CL9 XMS3........ not sure if you would notice a difference
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145297&Tpk=CMP4GX3M2A1600C8 - Dominator CL8 ...... Supposed to be faster but agin not sure how much you would notice it.

as you can see there are more 4 GB kits that is because people do not ussually need 8 GB of ram ...... I don't even use all my ram when running BD REBUILDER and processing a BLU-RAY disk. Now you have some choices.

These ram seem to be the same ..... one has 4 sticks and the other 2 sticks per kit. Loks like the 4 GB kit has an extra $20 mail in rebate.

 

[AnimalMagnetism]

lol Danolo unless you're planning on becoming a SERIOUS gamer you're going overboard here. differences are going to be minimal at this level. you may get a few extra frames per sec in a game or milliseconds faster opening a window or starting an App. Don't over analyse your decisions stick with trusted product and vendors and enjoy your new experience.
quality products and latest tech will ensure enjoyment and help future proof you for easy upgrades to keep your experience going for awhile

 

[Danolo]

Yup, makes sense... thanks

 

[Danolo]

Well, just the hard drive to choose.

If you folks have any opinions, I'd be happy to hear from you.

I spoke to my favorite computer store guy today and he will probably end up getting me the parts and assembling them. I could probably do it, but I think I know enough to know that I could easily miss something. So for the extra few bucks he's gonna charge me, I think its worth it to have his support.

We didn't have a lot of time to talk, but he suggested the WD hard drives to be the best from his experience. So I did a Newegg search and came up with the choices in the link below. Can you folks guide me to the right one for my system? I believe they are all SATA 3.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...36-533^22-136-533-TS,22-136-313^22-136-313-TS

Thanks for your ongoing help.

As soon as I have that selected, I'll make a list and post it here. It looks like its gonna break my budget pretty thoroughly, but I'll have good fast future-proof system.