Building a new desktop. Recommendations?

[Virgil0211]

I apologize for my rather extended absence. I was extremely busy over spring break helping my handicapped Uncle re-organize his computer/gaming room, which hadn't been touched in about a year (his condition developed about a year ago) and contained enough electronics to fill a couple of Uhauls. On top of that, after I got back, my girlfriend's dog knocked water onto my laptop. Tried letting it dry for several days, using a blow-dryer on it on the lowest setting. Tried turning it on this morning, nothing. So, I'm now stuck deciding how to go about replacing my computer. About a year ago, my last desktop broke (either the motherboard or the power supply, as it wouldn't turn on), and I've given thought to simply replacing the desktop, since you don't have to pay as much to get good performance, I was primarily using my laptop as if it were a desktop anyway, and I want to be able to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. The amount of money I'd be able to spend is somewhere in the $900-$1000. Since it's a desktop, I want to get a really good CPU and a motherboard that would allow me to at least gradually upgrade it/add better components later. I did some browsing on Newegg and came up with the following build. It's been a while since I built my last desktop with my Uncle, and I may not be remembering everything I need to. If there's something I've overlooked (incompatible components, for example), or if you have a suggestion to increase performance or maintain performance while maintaining/decreasing the cost, I'd like to hear it. You could also share your own stories in the world of computers.

1. CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
2. Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO AM3
3. Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB x 1 (Will buy the other three as I save up for them.)
4. Hard Drive: HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 (0F10381) 500GB
5. Optical Drive: LITE-ON SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Reader Model iHOS104-06 - OEM (Plus the DVD burner from my old desktop. The thing should still work.)
6. Wireless card: Salvaged from old desktop.
Case:
7a. AZZA Solano 1000R ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
7b. Apevia X-QPACK2 Red mATX Computer Case (I'm thinking about possibly getting this one for now, and eventually saving up for the former case later. I wouldn't be using the extra drive bays right away, and it's possible I could simply move the components into the newer case later. The latter option also comes packaged with a 500W power source, which would eliminate the need for me to buy it separately.)
Power Supply:
8a. Antec Basiq BP500U 500W Continuous Power
8b. See above
Graphics/Video Card:
9a. SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD
9b. XFX - ATI RADEON HD 4650
(I had first decided upon the former option, but I came across the latter while I was futzing around on the Best Buy web site. It appears to have greater capacity at a slightly lower price point, but I'm not quite sure yet. There may be something I'm not accounting for due to ignorance. The only thing that's caught my eye so far has been the fact that the former is fitted for PCI Express 2.0 while the latter seems to apparently utilize just PCI Express. I honestly don't know what affect that will have. I know the motherboard I selected has two PCI Express 2.0 16x expansion slot, 1 PCI Express 4x expansion slot, and 1 PCI Express 1x expansion slot. How would this affect the card's ability to produce/render high-level graphics like in the game Crysis?)

Any recommendations for the OS? Is Windows 7 worth the extra cash, or should I scrounge around for an old copy of XP? I would try Linux, but I have almost no experience with programming or software in general. Make that no experience.

Edit: Also, I'm posting this on a school computer. My research was mainly done on my iphone using a pencil and paper. I may not be able to post replies very often.

[MrBogosity]

I haven't seen any real advantages with 7 over XP, unless of course you have software that requires it. If the copy of XP you have is 32-bit, it's definitely worth the money to get a 64-bit OS.

As for Linux, you can download the ISO for the 64-bit Ubuntu and just boot it from the CD you create with it and see how it runs. It's also easy to set up a dual-boot system. Although if you go that route, I'd recommend installing Ubuntu as your main OS and download VMWare for free; you can then create your Windows system as a virtual machine. That seems to be much more stable than a native Windows install.

As for the computer, last year I built a computer with the same processor as yours, 8GB of memory, 1TB of drive storage, and a BD-ROM/DVD recorder with LightScribe for about $1000 (not including OS) at CPUSolutions.com. You might just want to see what you can get there for the same price and compare.

[Virgil0211]

I haven't seen any real advantages with 7 over XP, unless of course you have software that requires it. If the copy of XP you have is 32-bit, it's definitely worth the money to get a 64-bit OS.

As for Linux, you can download the ISO for the 64-bit Ubuntu and just boot it from the CD you create with it and see how it runs. It's also easy to set up a dual-boot system. Although if you go that route, I'd recommend installing Ubuntu as your main OS and download VMWare for free; you can then create your Windows system as a virtual machine. That seems to be much more stable than a native Windows install.

Alright. I'll try that. I haven't heard of that being done before, although I'm an incredible n00b when it comes to software and the various OS's. If I can't find a version of XP 64-bit, I think I can nab an old copy from eBay (I might have considered using a less inscrutable kind of Bay *cough*Pir*hack*ate*cough*, but I don't think that's wise whenever Microsoft's involved.).

As for the computer, last year I built a computer with the same processor as yours, 8GB of memory, 1TB of drive storage, and a BD-ROM/DVD recorder with LightScribe for about $1000 (not including OS) at CPUSolutions.com. You might just want to see what you can get there for the same price and compare.

Thanks for the web site recommendation. I think the main things pushing up the price point on mine are the kind of memory stick (I went with a single top-of-the-line 4 gig stick instead of the usual two sticks of 2 gigs route) and the motherboard. I went with the former because I would eventually like to increase the memory to 16 GB, so I'd need to purchase 4 of those anyway. The latter, I picked because I wanted to have plenty of room to upgrade in the future.

What about the graphics card? Can you make a recommendation between the two I'm looking at, or know of one that would work better? I'd like to be able to play games on this one, so it needs to have some graphics support. I'd like for it to be able to run Crysis at mid-level graphics settings if possible. That way, I don't have to worry about upgrading it for a while.

EDIT: I forgot to post the cost. (Utilizing Newegg's prices, excluding shipping and the OS).

Option 1(7/8a, 9a):$878.20
Option 2(7/8a, 9b):$873.20
Option 3(7/8b, 9a):$808.93
Option 4 (7/8b, 9b):$803.93

[MrBogosity]

Thanks for the web site recommendation. I think the main things pushing up the price point on mine are the kind of memory stick (I went with a single top-of-the-line 4 gig stick instead of the usual two sticks of 2 gigs route) and the motherboard. I went with the former because I would eventually like to increase the memory to 16 GB, so I'd need to purchase 4 of those anyway. The latter, I picked because I wanted to have plenty of room to upgrade in the future.

Probably true; I went with the 2GB sticks because at the time (sounds like it's still that way now) two 2GB sticks were cheaper than one 4GB stick. Obviously, that'll change at some point.

What about the graphics card? Can you make a recommendation between the two I'm looking at, or know of one that would work better? I'd like to be able to play games on this one, so it needs to have some graphics support. I'd like for it to be able to run Crysis at mid-level graphics settings if possible. That way, I don't have to worry about upgrading it for a while.

Not much of a gamer, so I couldn't tell you.

[Virgil0211]

Not much of a gamer, so I couldn't tell you.

Aw, dammit. Oh well. I shoulda known there wouldn't be room for a gaming habit with a job and your pro Bono work in applied bogonomics.

Also, how do you dual boot a system? Is there anything you would recommend I look out for or anything?

[FSBlueApocalypse]

Personally, I would go with the card that you found at Best Buy. The 512 MB of RAM on the first card is going to really limit what you can do in the future. Games now are already requiring 1 GB of dedicated RAM for "Recommended" settings and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the "Minimum."

Only thing is the memory on the Best Buy card GDDR3 as well or not?

[Virgil0211]

Personally, I would go with the card that you found at Best Buy. The 512 MB of RAM on the first card is going to really limit what you can do in the future. Games now are already requiring 1 GB of dedicated RAM for "Recommended" settings and it's only a matter of time before it becomes the "Minimum."

Only thing is the memory on the Best Buy card GDDR3 as well or not?

it doesn't look like it. Will that affect the compatability of the card? I'm using DDR3 RAM.

[Gumba Masta]

Just make sure your frame wont block the RAM slots.
I can't put in the 2 Gigs I bought today because apparently HP thought it would be cool to put the HDD and a frame strut right ontop of them.

[MrBogosity]

And, just as apparently, you thought it was smart to buy HP.

[FSBlueApocalypse]

it doesn't look like it. Will that affect the compatability of the card? I'm using DDR3 RAM.

Not really, but if you want to get a card that'll get you the best bang for your buck look for DDR3.

Personally, I look for cards I won't need to worry about for a few years. If I were in your position, look for a card that has 1 GB dedicated DDR3 and go from there.

[Virgil0211]

Thread NECROMANCY!!!!!!

Actually, I'm going to be building a desktop after finals are over, so I thought I'd just post it here instead of starting a new topic. I'm more or less building it out of some parts from my old computer, a few used parts online, and a couple of new ones I nabbed in sales. The former two categories greatly outweigh the last one, so I guess I'm performing a bit of computer necromancy as well.



CPU: linky (I know, it's only a quad core when there are 6 and 8 core processors out there, but this was definitely within my price range, and it'll certainly do the jobs I want it to do (play games at an adequate to above average level) fine. Also, I remember reading that programs which would really benefit from having the extra cores need to be programmed to make use of them and that most are now pretty much optimized for four. With that in mind, I decided to just go for the four-core one.)
Motherboard: linky
Memory: linky
Video Card: linky
Case: linky
Power supply: 450 W power supply from old PC
HDD: Hard drive salvaged from Western Digital 1TB MyBook with a worn USB input (barely reads anymore, though the drive is still good).
Media Drive: DVD burner, CD burner, and floppy drive salvaged from old PC.
Monitor: Either the one from my old PC, borrow the one from my parents PC (which is just as old and unused as my old PC, and I can trade them the monitor from my old one until they replace it as it would do the same jobs), or stalk eBay until one manages to slip by the hordes of snipers and sell for $5. :-P
Mouse & keyboard: Probably reuse the ones from my old PC, though I'm currently bidding on used versions of a gaming keyboard and mouse to use for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I'd love to be able to get my hands on the proprietary ones Razer is coming out with for SWTOR, but they're way too far out of my price range and haven't been released yet so you can't find them used on eBay (I doubt they'd sell for a very reasonable price even then).
Operating System: I've read that the keys for Windows 7 systems are version agnostic between 32 and 64 bit, so I'll use the one on the bottom of my laptop case and either install Windows 7 64 bit then Ubuntu, or install Ubuntu first and run Windows 7 in VirtualBox. The only problem I'd see is that I may not be able to dedicate as much memory as I'd like to the various games, at least at first. Eventually I'd like to fill out the other two memory slots and, at some point, either install Windows 8 or run that in VirtualBox. I guess I'll have to wait and see. If I need to (in order to avoid legal crap), I'll uninstall Windows 7 from my laptop and run it with Ubuntu.

I also grabbed a 100' length of ethernet cable so that I'd be able to run it from the router at the apartment into my room. :-P

I decided to do this when I was worried about being able to play Star Wars The Old Republic very well on my laptop. It ran, but not very well and couldn't handle the space missions. My parents' laptop was able to handle it a bit better, but it was still a bit sluggish. Then a facebook friend pointed me to various places where I could get the necessary parts within my budget (so long as I used a few parts from my old PC). I've had a bit of a rough semester, so this is definitely something I could use over the winter break.

All that aside, though, this will be my first time assembling a PC on my own. I'm worried about static electricity. The top floor of the house (and the stairs) are carpeted, whereas the first floor is a mix of tile and wood flooring (much of which is covered by rugs). I can assemble it using a plastic-top metal leg card table or the glass breakfast table. I don't currently have any anti-static materials that I could use, though I've read that one should get some anti-static wristbands and mats to make sure one doesn't damage the components. On the other hand, I don't quite know how to use them.

Would the computer people here give me some advice/suggestions/tips on how to avoid damaging my components through SED?

[Virgil0211]

Well, I've been using my new computer for about a month and a half now without any significant problems (which is interesting, as I was worried that the HDD I put in would start having problems after a bit, though I haven't run into any difficulties as of yet). It plays SWtOR fine, the games I get off of steam play just fine and are even able to beat my other gaming options on similar or higher graphics settings (Mass Effect 2, for example, is almost double the frame rate). I also cobbled together a pretty decent sound system out of some old parts that were laying around the house (an old Bose 3.1 Subwoofer + a pair of old Sony speakers + Optimus amplifier, though I had to put together some of my own wiring). Although, I have one day wanted to try and build a gaming desktop that would utilize four video cards (SLI or crossfire, I'm not too picky) and such. I came across digitalstormonline.com and was playing around with their various options to see about how much that would run me (apparently between 15,000-20,000 for all the bells and whistles), and a few other searches later brought me to this-

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Granted, it looks like it might be easy to screw up, I don't know the details of it, and it doesn't seem quite as impressive as the Digital Storm Cryo-Tec's claimed ability to keep its overclocked Intel i7 Extreme Edition operating below 0°C, but it's a cool idea nonetheless. I've heard of some computers that utilized immersion in various cooling mediums, though I'd heard that this was primarily undertaken by universities setting benchmark records or something. Any of the other computer people around here have any experience with this sort of thing?