New Computer Build Question

[Whoaru99]

Didn't catch it if there were later changes but if you're going to be doing video I'd be cautious about getting any sort of "green" or economy HDD for that aspect of it.

[MuleShack]

I just picked out my "ultimate" PC on PCpartspicker and it was a hair over $2000.

I suppose I'll take this list down to the place in Minneapolis and have them tell me where I can shave some corners to get down to $15-1600 but still have a fast unit.

CPU Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core $329.98

Motherboard ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 $148.49

Memory Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 $94.65

Hard Drive Seagate Constellation ES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM $226.99

Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" SSD $189.99

Video Card Asus Radeon HD 7870 2GB $304.98

Case Corsair 600T (Black) ATX Mid Tower $146.71

Power Supply Corsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V $152.99

Optical Drive Sony BWU-500S Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $109.99

Monitor Dell S2330MX 23.0" $180.00

Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit) $130.20

Keyboard Logitech MK710 w/Optical Mouse $69.99

Yea, I got a little more on the case, but those fans are cool

I ended up sticking close to this list.

Only went with a 1tb hard drive, figured I could add another later.

Changed up to 32 Gig Ram

Down graded the video card to a 1 gig.

Had to change out the mother board to be compatible with the an intel recommended one that goes with the processor.

Had to change out the case cause the motherboard wouldn't fit in the one listed above.

Went with a 650w power supply.

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.99 @ Microcenter)

Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 EATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($289.99 @ Amazon)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($209.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($138.01 @ Mwave)

Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.95 @ Mac Connection)

Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Video Card ($236.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced ATX Full Tower Case ($159.98 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Plextor PX-LB950SA Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($149.98 @ Newegg)

Monitor: Asus VH238H 23.0" Monitor ($168.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit) ($130.20 @ Amazon)

Keyboard: Logitech MK710 Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($69.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $2034.06

I splurged a little but it is a business deduction, I learned a lot and it should be solid for another 9-10 years. Dont have to pay for a warranty from Dell because I can just replace the parts myself. Going upstairs to start putting it together now.

[Whoaru99]

I think 32gb is a lot of RAM. I have an i7 with 8GB and a 1GB video card. Don't do video but I have some big files open and multiple programs and no trouble.

[MuleShack]

Is there such a thing as too much Ram?

[MuleShack]

Ok, i'm having my first issue.

I have the HX650W power supply from Corsair and it only has 2 leads coming out.

The 24 pin which goes on the mother board and the 8 pin auxiliary which goes on the top of the motherboard.

Some videos I watched show 3 leads coming out of the power supply, 3rd goes to the video card.

Do I need to send this back to get the correct one or can I split the auxiliary with a connectory and power both with the same wire?

Another conundrum I'm having is figuring out how to power the BD, SSD and HDD drives...They all end in these 5 pin connectors but no where to plug in.

[MuleShack]

Never mind, I found all of the modular plug ins on the power supply...

[upnorth]

I would order the right power supply. That being said you can order splitters and adapters, but you if need to split power too many times you overdraw the power supply.

[Whoaru99]

Is there such a thing as too much Ram?

Yeah, actually I think there is...buying more than serves a useful purpose. Knee of the curve type of thing. At some point the gain you get is clearly disproportional to the amount you add. Admittedly I'm not so much up to speed in the inner workings of W7, but I know for XP that adding RAM over 2GB did very little for improving performance.

[upnorth]

Can you have too much RAM. Not really, but you could just be wasting it.

From Microsoft. Unless you are on Ultimate or Professional anything past 16 Gig is a waste as the OS can't utilize it.

Physical Memory Limits: Windows 7

The following table specifies the limits on physical memory for Windows 7.

Version Limit on X86 Limit on X64

Windows 7 Ultimate 4 GB 192 GB

Windows 7 Enterprise 4 GB 192 GB

Windows 7 Professional 4 GB 192 GB

Windows 7 Home Premium 4 GB 16 GB

Windows 7 Home Basic 4 GB 8 GB

Windows 7 Starter 2 GB N/A

[MuleShack]

Its a good thing I got the professional then, so now it isn't a waste.

I can always pull it and use on another computer in the future...

[MuleShack]

I got everything put together and formatted, partitioned and activated the drives and got windows installed. Gone thru all the updates, installed my security system with ESET, firefox and a few other programs so far. The part that got me stuck the longest was figuring out that I had to use the disk part command because windows wouldn't recognize my drives using the straight format command.

I removed the video card because the digital numbers on the mother board kept flashing 15 and 19 and I couldn't get the windows disk to boot when the card was in. I removed it and then I could do the actual install. The board says A0 right now.

I suppose I'll try it again now that I have the computer loaded and it will boot from the hard drive.

They didn't send any documentation with the video card, so how do you know if you need to plug in power on the back side of it? It has a 6 and 8 pin set which match what the power plugs look like. However when I had it in previous, the fan on the card would spin with out any power to the back side. Any ideas? or how do you tell? The instructions said some cards may need power and others don't.

[Elybound]

A GTX 560 TI requires about 100 watts at idle and under moderate to heavy load over 300 watt.

The power coming from the motherboard pci slot is not even close (somewhere around 75 watt) so definitely use the cables from the power supply.

[Nick Kuhn]

Plug in both power connectors on the video card. They are designed that way to pull power from multiple 12V rails so you don't cause voltage sag leading to instability of the system.

[MuleShack]

Thanks guys,

I'll try that tomorrow.

wow, 300 watts...I guess this is not a "Green" computer...lol

[Jim43]

My Zotac GTX 580 3gb draws close to 400watts. Good thing my Dell XPS 730X

came with a 1kw PSU.

[Whoaru99]

All that to check email and surf the web?

[Jim43]

All that to check email and surf the web?

LOL, Why not, it also helps run X-Plane 10, ARMA2, Rise of Flight Iron Cross Edition. Plus all kinds of video editing software.

[MuleShack]

Ok, one more question for you folks.

The new box is up and running and is working fine.

As stated before, I have windows 7 64 bit operating system and have installed programs and drivers for the 64 bit systems.

With Office 2010, I installed the copy that I had which was from my laptop running 32 bit. It seems to work fine and all and being you can use the same license on 2 PC's it was free.

Is there going to be any affects of the 32 bit program on a 64 bit system? I'm sure it wont be much faster running a 64 bit program so no need to spend $$ to get the correct version? Or should I download the 64 bit and just use the license that I have?

[Whoaru99]

32 bit Office 2010 works fine on my W7-64 laptop. I wouldn't spend the license just to get 64, unless, perhaps, it's basically going to go to waste if you don't use it.

As a side note, even though there is a two PC clause, it's still intended those two PCs are for use of the one licensed user, not for other people to be using the second license. May not be the best way to explain it, but you see what I'm getting at, right?

[upnorth]

I have been using 32 bit Office on win7 64 at home and at work. I don't see any kind of performance issues.

Microsoft Licensing can be a wily confusing beast.

[MuleShack]

As a side note, even though there is a two PC clause, it's still intended those two PCs are for use of the one licensed user, not for other people to be using the second license. May not be the best way to explain it, but you see what I'm getting at, right?

Yup, I can only use one machine at a time and not using it in an office environment where multiple people are using them. Just home use. The laptop is the downstairs toy and the PC is my business/office computer upstairs.