New Build Suggestions

**kovan** · September 20th, 2011, 03:49 PM

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I been out here...umm actually close to six years

I have this really smoking rig:
AMD Athalon dual core
ATI Diamond x1900xtx
DFI Lan Party n64 MB
800 gb sata HD
2gb of corsair high speed memory (complete with scrolling dashboards)
Creative X-fi platinum with breakout box
OCZ 550W ps
BD player
dvd player
Acrylic case with plenty of bling
and of course 37" dell monitor

Well...<cracks knuckles> it's time for a new build.
All that was hot 6 years ago but aint doing it n'more.
I have to admit I have been out of the loop recently brushing up on silly things like
C#, VB.NET, Ruby on rails and other time consuming piffle.
Not really sure what constitutes a smoking rig these days so I am open to suggestions.

I am looking for something that will keep me kicking for another 6 years
needs to be forward thinking but not fad driven such as I remember dual SLI was the newest/hottest thing during my previous build but no one had written any software to utilize it and I don't know if they ever did.

I do not really have a budget but do not want to be "a fool and his money"
What would you all consider a dream rig these days?
Is it even still viable to build your own rig or have it built?
Is New-Egg still the place to go or is it now Tiger?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and seriously considered.
Oh btw: must include at least one SSD

Thanks
Kovan

**ShyguyXPC** · September 20th, 2011, 04:40 PM

Wow, you really have been out of it for a LONG time with the comment on SLI... Its been implemented fairly widely amongst the most popular games for at least that long. (Still doesn't ALWAYS get a 100% boost, in some occasions it can, but the scaling of performance for higher resolutions is much much better now days than it was years ago, though even with 4 Way SLI now days, you start to see diminishing returns after 2 way SLI, adding a 3rd card you don't get as much a boost as you do from adding the 2nd to the 1st, even less with 4 Way, though 4 Way is only supported with 2x Dual GPU Cards anyways, so its 2 way or 4 Way with those)

Started with Geforce 6 series, and really started to progress with 7 series, and then came the 8 series, which had a substantial boost in performance with the entirely new GPU Architecture and programmable Shaders, etc. A lower end Geforce 8800GTS (320 or 640MB Model) could easily take on a single Geforce 7950GX2 (Dual GPU 7900's in SLI on a single card), and in some cases even best a Dual 7950GX2 setup (Quad SLI).

Then with the Geforce 8 series, they had incremental progressions in performance and what not with the 2nd revision of the 8 series, then the 9 series (for all intents and purposes a refreshing of the 2nd 8 series), and then came the GT 200 series, which saw a Noticeable bump in performance (mainly double the amount of Stream processors per GPU core, etc).

Then there were revisions of the GT 200 series card, and then came out the next New GPU Architecture "Fermi", which saw an even bigger boost in some instances, though the first Fermi's were very hot running, and power consuming, and the top end card was never running at its full potential due to Nvidia having manufacturing issues with it.

there was a revision of that first Fermi design, that spawned the Geforce GT 430/440/520, GTS 450, GTX 460 (all 3 variants), then/now we gave the GTX 500 series out.

Which is another revision/refresh of the 2nd Revision of the Fermi cards, GTX 550 Ti, GTX 560, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 570 & GTX 580 (latter of which is the first fully functions Fermi card with all 512 Shaders running, where as before this, the GTX 480 was top and only had 480 running), The GTX 590 is a Dual GPU GTX 580, with reduced clock speeds, so 2 580's in SLI will actually outperform it usually, by a tad.

ATI (Now owned by AMD for the last few years), has had the same progressive advancements in their cards as well over that same time frame. The X1800/1900 that you have was sort of a first step in that direction with the programmable shaders, though it was the Radeon HD 2000 series that started it, then on to the 3000 series (not much of a boost over the 2000's), then the 4000 Series (which Really put ATI/AMD back on the map for performance, and easily able to compare, and in some cases best Nvidia's cards, until the 2nd revision of the GT 200 cards came out). ATI also had the Dual GPU Radeon 4850x2 (measured 11 or 13 inches in length at the time), and Radeon 4870x2 (both were Dual GPU cards running Crossfire on the card). There was also a 4670x2 card that one company made, but this was geared towards businesses and multi display environments, though did prove useful for gaming, but was not officially supported by ATI/AMD themselves, as this was a custom built card by a 3rd party (just like Sapphires Dual GPU X1950 Card they made, shortly after the Radeon HD 2000 Series came out)

Anyways, right now AMD will be releasing their new Radeon HD 7000 Series in the coming months (top end cards for that series won't be out till beginning of next year), AND...

AMD should be releasing their new "Bulldozer" CPU's Very soon in the next month or so as well.

Bulldozer is AMD's newest CPU architecture since the original Athlon 64's came out.

Latest gen of AMD CPU's is the Socket AM3 Athlon II/Phenom II Series (Single core/Sempron, Dual Cores, Triple Cores, Quad Cores, Six Cores.... Yes, I said 6 Core... and 8 Cores for the Opteron Series CPU's)

Bulldozer from what I understand will also have 8 cores available for Consumers as well and not just server markets.

AMD also has their Fusion platform, the Desktop Variants are known as Llanos, they are low powered high performing Dual & Quad core CPU's... With embedded Radeon 6300, 6400 and 6500 Series GPU's on the CPU as well.

AMD Fusion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

for an all in one, small size, low powered System they pack a HUGE punch, that even Intel's similar systems can't match for the price.

Though CPU computational performance is greater on some of Intels newer Dual cores than the AMD Llanos Quad cores, but when you start factoring in 3D performance (Games and other software, the Quad cores are plenty for that stuff, and the GPU's on them are more than capable of providing a more satisfactory experience)

Basically the AMD's are more Balanced in CPU and GPU performance, than Intel's CPU's with GPU's in them, add to that the intel GPU's don't have a prayer when compared to AMD's even comparing GPU to GPU.

For the Money right now, Intel still is the BEST CPU's and performance you can buy. but AMD's new CPU's are supposed to make a dent, if all the hype is believed, but no one knows for sure until the dang things are released, reviewed and people start reporting back their real world experience with them.

Intel also will be releasing their newer "Ivy Bridge" CPU's in the coming months/Beginning of the year as well, which will introduce PCI Express 3.0 Spec (2.0 is still far from being fully saturated but its getting there with some of the GPU's coming out these days)

I think AMD's Bulldozers should be supporting PCIE 3.0 as well down the road.

You also have to realize we now have USB 3.0, SATA 3rd Gen (6.0Gbps, or sometimes inaccurately displayed as SATA III, though I prefer the latter, is more simplified and people don't have to stare at another number to convert/quantify into something comprehensible)

Most Rotational Hard drives currently can not even max out SATA II, let alone III. The only way for them to do so, is through forms of RAID (RAID 0 for example). SATA III Really benefits SSD drives, but even with most of these on the market they barely peak SATA II's spec.

With the SSD comments, you also have PCI Express Slot SSD's, basically a Card with a ton of chips on it, that can actually saturate and exceed SATA II/III Bandwidths... but these use the PCI Express bus, so not a problem. When you factor in even a meager x4 slots (2.0 spec) Bandwidth, at over 2GB per second peak. Though these cards are so insanely expensive, its not really worth it IMO, unless your a millionaire or just won the lottery.

Yes, Newegg is still the preferred place to shop, though doesn't hurt to shop around for an occasional deal at other sites, Tigerdirect, Directron, Geeks, NCIX, and others.

Yes, Building your own rig is the preferred route to get the most for your money.

For sub $400 range, its usually easier just to buy a prebuilt or one of those net top units (mini ITX or smaller all in one little unit for basic PC usage, or Home Theater PC.

**KarmaKiller** · September 20th, 2011, 05:01 PM

Wow, that rig is well overdue on retirement.

You said dream rig, and also said not be a fool with his money. Your better specify.. lol

If I had to build a rig from scratch right now, this would be my system of choice.

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

Motherboard: Newegg.com - MSI Z68A-GD55 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

RAM: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996995

Power Supply: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

GPU: Newegg.com - ASUS ENGTX560 DC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

HDD: Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
+
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (for storage)

Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

That's a pretty high end rig. You could go with a faster GPU if you really need it, but you didn't really mention gaming at all, so I'm unsure if you need it. Still, the 560 would handle most any game you wanted to play with high setting. (except something like BF3 or Crysis)

**ShyguyXPC** · September 20th, 2011, 05:06 PM

Thumbs up on the case

(same one I have, and again have to Thank KK for steering me towards it

)

Have to add one other thing to that list, Windows 7 64-bit

**JPMiller** · September 20th, 2011, 05:29 PM

Newegg is still the goto...
SandyBridge CPU's are the only game in town at the moment...
Z68 chipset is the board to be looking at...
and your budget is likely to be at least $1000 if your serious about a "dream" rig...

Heres a preliminary list to start with just for a base to start from...
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
You could go up to the i72600K, but for the money I would just go with this untill the next generation of CPU's come out...
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7
best bang for buck cooler for overclocking...
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TZ68A+ LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Z68 allows you to use a "small" SSD for caching of commonly used files and allows the standard disk drive to house less used storage files, with nearly full SSD speeds across the board.
Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
You can find cheaper SSD's but not faster...
Newegg.com - HITACHI Deskstar H3IK30003272SW (0S03208) 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Fastest biggest disk drive
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
8 Gb is more than enough to start with and you'll still have room to double it later.
I don't see a reason to not reuse your optical drives, and even the sound card if you think that's necessary for what you do...
The video card will be determined by budget and usage, and the PSU will be determined by the video card.

----------------
Wow guess I took too long to reply...

**ShyguyXPC** · September 20th, 2011, 05:58 PM

Don't mean to thread crap, but JP, could use a 2nd opinion on this thread: Geforce 9800 GTX+ not recognised/no output. It worked fine before I took it apart!

I'm willing to bet its the PSU they have that may be the problem, if the rest of the system hasn't been hosed by it already, but after reading through it I'm pretty sure you'd agree. Still could use a 2nd pair of eyes, and a bit more knowledgeable with the PSU info, on it though.

**kovan** · September 20th, 2011, 07:36 PM

Thanks for the suggestions and thanks for the GPU history lesson Shy I found it instructive and fascinating as to how many series have come and gone since my last build.
Ahh the gaming rig - Nothing becomes obsolete faster

I suppose there are a few items I should mention in regards to it as it is hard to suggest parts if you don't know what they are being used for.

In a nutshell, High end Gaming rig that I can occasionally do some coding on.
My budget is somewhere in the 3k range if needed.

JP suggested a cooler, is that an air cooler?
Is that better than the liquid cooling?
I even saw one machine that had a total submersion cooling system???

**KarmaKiller** · September 20th, 2011, 07:37 PM

I like JP's list also. I tend to stick to brands I've used in the past. I really like MSI boards. I've had no problems with the several I've used for customer builds. I tend to side with certain SSD brands. I've used several of the brands I recommended and had little to no issues. Also make sure you research the RMA process and see how long each company takes just in case the worst does happen.

EDIT:
With what you said in mind, I'd make these changes:

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 012-P3-1571-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
That's a EVGA card, and they are pretty much the best in the game for customer support. Plus you get a free game.

I'll stick with the SSD choice. On the case that's really personal preference. There are LOTS of cases out there that offer plenty of room and cool well. The 690 is a feature packed case for the price IMO, that's why I suggest that.

For cooling, I think it really depends on the performance you want out of the CPU. Sandy's can overclock VERY well, but you have to cool them properly. If you think your going to leave it at stock clocks, I'd say get a 212+ and call it a day. It's quiet, and cools very well.
If you want to be clocking the CPU, I'd say go for a all in one water cooling setup. There are lots of choices out on the market, Corsair having the most popular ones.
If you going for insane clocks 24/7 (which can be stable) you would need a custom water loop. The installation can be tricky sometimes, but if your a "do it yourself" kind of guy, they are a fun project. So really depends on what kind of performance your looking to get.

**kovan** · September 20th, 2011, 08:46 PM

one thing I noticed...Shy spoke earlier of how far the SLI experience has gone and how much software is now coded to utilize it. Yet all recommendations seem to point to a single card.
Is there a bang for the buck with dual and will I need a bigger boat for one? (PSU)

**stroyal** · September 20th, 2011, 09:11 PM

SLI should be thought of as an up grade, unless there is no single card that fills your target performance.

For an extreme example, if you needed the performance, of 2-580s, there is no single card that is that fast.

In the lower performance range, many dual card setup, are not as fast as, a single more expensive card.

**stroyal** · September 20th, 2011, 09:56 PM

And yes you need a bigger power supply for duals, not double though.
ie, ATI recommends a a 500watt for the 6870, and a 600watt for 2.

Keep in mind manufacturer recommendations are slightly inflated, because, people still buy crappy power supplies.

AMD Radeonâ„¢ HD 6870 graphics

**kovan** · September 22nd, 2011, 01:06 AM

Ok, here are my build specs
Please feel free to poke holes in them

HITACHI Deskstar H3IK30003272SW (0S03208) 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Rosewill RHB-500 10-Port High Speed USB 2.0 Hub

EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Interface Sound Card
I intend to cannibalize the old X-Fi platinum and replace it with the above as I am not hammering the stake into my old rig just retiring it from field work and giving it a desk job

CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular ...

RAZER Imperator Black USB Wired Laser Ergonomic Gaming Mouse

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
I am thinking about going with the 16 now as 51.99 is a great price (Is that over the edge and into the abyss?)

BIOSTAR TZ68A+ LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...

ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS - OEM

OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
This was hard I wanted a larger one but man once you hit the 200's the price goes exponential

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
I spent alot of time with this one too...what can I say I am attracted by bling....are all cooler master cases made the same, like if I got one with more bling like the lan boy, lan baby, whatever it's called, would it still have the ease of use features that this one has? Also, any benefit to full vs. mid tower?

Well I figure that should do for my gaming, coding and general tom foolery.

I figure for my audio/video editing and guitar recording I'll get a:
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
8GB memory
500GB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6630M
OS X Lion
Mac Mini
with 27" Thunderbolt Apple Monitor

Thoughts, comments, admonishments, all welcome

Thanks
Kovan

**ShyguyXPC** · September 22nd, 2011, 02:26 AM

The Mobo is good, but its Crossfire only (Radeon cards), and the 2nd x16 slot is only at x4. I'd at least get a board that is SLI compatible and a x8 bandwidth x16 slot for the 2nd slot. (keep in mind this is 2.0 spec, where x4 is the same as x8 on 1.0/1.1 spec, and once 3.0 comes out it will be the same as an x2 bandwidth, even though they don't have that size slot available).

x4 on 2.0 spec currently would be suitable for lower to upper mid range cards currently (Radeon 6850 or so, beyond that you'd really want x8)

The board will work fine for a single GPU setup no matter the camp you go with, but for Dual GPU operations thats where your limiting yourself with the crossfire only board. ( I did the same thing with Socket 1366 2+ years ago), and always kind of regretted it and just recently got myself a SLI/Crossfire capable board.

no reason not to get one if your spending this much, doesn't cost that much more really, and keeps options open down the road.

GTX 580 is a GOOD card, the best single GPU card on the market currently.

But if your planning on a 6 year life span, or even half of that, you'll want to keep your options open down the road, say if you got a 2nd one for SLI (hopefully for half the cost of what this one is).

The PSU Should easily handle a pair of 580's if needed. rig as is, definitely more than enough.

Currently 8GB RAM is more than enough for gaming, even 4GB would be fine, but 16GB, unless your doing workstation like tasks/software on it, no need really.

With the case, CM's HAF series is about as Bling Bling as they get. which is fine by me.

If your looking at the Bling then Thermaltake might be better suited, with similar functionality to CM's, but gawdy-er looks.

Not exactly sure what you mean by bling, if its lights or windows on it, then CM makes a Windowed panel for the 690 II above, otherwise here's some other cases:

Newegg.com - Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition Gaming Chassis Mid Tower Steel Computer Case BlacX Top Mounted Dual HDD Docking Stations VM400M1W2Z

If you were going with an AMD GPU Build, and AMD CPU, this would be a good matched themed case:

Newegg.com - Thermaltake Armor A60 AMD LEO Edition VM200P1W2Z Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ Side Swap HDD tray & front USB 3.0 port

Newegg.com - Thermaltake V9 BlacX Flex Edition VN500M1W2N Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Thermaltake Element G VL10001W2Z Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Some fairly functional, and still snazzy bling like cases:

Newegg.com - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Newegg Exclusive Black Finish w/Orange Trim Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Bit of Nvidia/TRON Theme with the green trim: Newegg.com - NZXT Crafted Series Phantom Black / Green Trim Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

some others: Newegg.com - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001RD Red White Finish w/Red Trim Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001RD Red Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE Precision Series PS06B-W Black Plastic & mesh front panel and 0.7mm steel body ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Bit high in price, but has one of the best heat venting design layouts of all cases out there, since the Motherboard is rotated 90 Degrees to vent straight out the top, also due to this design it can support the longest possible GPU's on the market as well with ease.

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE RAVEN Series RV03B-W Matte Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Some of Corsairs Cases are a fine balance between form, function and flashy "Bling": Newegg.com - Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Corsair Carbide Series 500R Black Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

One of my personal favorites, though its price is beyond what I would like to pay, if I was able to snag it on a sale it'd be fine: Newegg.com - Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower Gaming Case

Newegg.com - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

This is about as "bling" as Lian Li gets:

Newegg.com - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K63 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series PC-K59W Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K59 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

If you can find some of the BitFenix Colossus Cases online in stock anywhere those would be another choice, though at a higher price point of near $150.

BitFenix Colossus Venom Green LED Lighting Full Tower Gaming Case w/ Window - Black (BFC-CLS-500-KKWG1-RP) - FrozenCPU.com

BitFenix Colossus Blue LED Lighting Full Tower Gaming Case w/ Window - White (BFC-CLS-500-WWWB1-RP) - FrozenCPU.com

BitFenix Colossus Red LED Lighting Full Tower Gaming Case w/ Window - Black (BFC-CLS-500-KKWR1-RP) - FrozenCPU.com

but these are out of stock on a lot of sites right now and in high demand.

Some other cases also from FrozenCPU.com

Antec Six Hundred Mid-Tower Gaming Case - Black - FrozenCPU.com

Didn't see that one on newegg, though might of missed it.

Another BitFenix that is hard to find, BitFenix Survivor Red LED Lighting Mid Tower Gaming Case - Black (BFC-SRV-300-KKX1-RP) - FrozenCPU.com

It can support longer GPU's easily, but you have to remove the middle drive cage, so if you only plan on running 2 or 3 or 4 HDD's its not a big deal, just install in bottom cage.

Aero cool was one of the first companies to really go overboard with the jumbo sized fans that we see in a lot of cases today... and they've stepped it up a notch with this one... practically a low RPM floor fan installed in the side panel.

Aero Cool S9 Pro Mid-Tower Case w/ 400mm Side Fan - Black (EN52344) - FrozenCPU.com

though the rest of the case is BLAH and isn't all that spectacular inside either.

I'd say with that $120 price tag, your paying about $70 at least for that oversized Side fan, since you can get a similarly interior and even superior case for $50 with out that side fan.

Here's CM's HAF 922 case (also on newegg): Cooler Master HAF-922 High Air Flow Mid Tower Case (HAF-922) - FrozenCPU.com

And a Revision of the Armor case I have, keep in mind like the original this is pretty heavy also: Thermaltake Armor+ MX / Mid Tower Case / Side Panel Window / Black (VH8000BWS) - FrozenCPU.com

even on this site the BitFenix Colossus is sold out: BitFenix Cases : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

The white and Blue LED model is all that is in stock.

but they do have the Survivor case in stock.

Check out the Antec DarkFleet Series cases here (Newegg only had a couple of them): Antec Cases : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

If price wasn't an issue this is by far one of the coolest looking cases, with out being stupidly designed, and is quite functional.

Lian Li PC-U6 Special Edition Midi Tower - Black Products Model: PC-U6-B [PC-U6-B] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

HDD support is a bit limited, only 3x 3.5 & 2x 2.5, and not sure on CPU Heatsink mounting height, but otherwise its still a functional, and cool looking case. though if it were any other brand, $250 price tag would be hard to stomach, but since its Lian Li, its easier to understand the price.

**KarmaKiller** · September 22nd, 2011, 09:25 AM

Personally I'd change up some stuff on your list. I'd at least make these changes.

For GPU's, I'd be looking for one that doesn't have the reference cooler. Fermi's are known to run warm (my 480 tops 90c while gaming) and the coolers are a bit loud. That said, the 5xx revisions of the cards are much better about heat, but I think the coolers are still louder then what they should be.
You can get a similar EVGA card for $10 more with a MUCH better cooler:
Amazon.com: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DoubleShot Superclocked 1536 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Limited Lifetime Warranty Graphics Card, 015-P3-1587-AR: Electronics
Or you can pick up one of the best 580's out on the market for just slightly more:
Amazon.com: MSI nVidia GeForce GTX580 1536 MB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card N580GTX LIGHTNING: Electronics

For sound, I would honestly change the Creative card over to this:
Newegg.com - ASUS Xonar DS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 24 bit 44.10 kHz Playback
24 bit 48 kHz Playback
24 bit 96 kHz Playback
24 bit 192 kHz Playback
24 bit 96 kHz Recording Sound Card
The main reason why is drivers. Creative cards are notorious for having horrible drivers. They have improved as of late, but Asus still blows them out of the water on that front, without sacrificing sound quality.

For a mouse, I'd say switch to a death adder instead. It has a more precise sensor, that really does make all the difference in gaming.
Newegg.com - RAZER DeathAdder Precision Optical Gaming Mouse - 3.5G Infrared Sensor
Myself, I quit buying Razer mice mainly because I was going through 1 per year. (and I'm not rough with them at all)
I'm currently using a Roccat Kone +, and absolutely LOVE it. It is by far the best mouse I've ever used, and I've used just about everything popular in the Razer and Logitech line up.
Newegg.com - ROCCAT Kone[+] ROC-11-801 Black 8 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser 6000 dpi Gaming Mouse
If your curious to know more about this, check out this video:
Roccat Kone [+] Plus Gaming Mouse Full Review - YouTube

The motherboard I'd agree with Shy, get something that supports SLI just in case the upgrade bug gets you down the road. I'll stick with the MSI board I suggested earlier. That is a very stable and solid board. I've used 3 of them in builds for customers, all of which have had 0 problems, and all the systems are overclocked.

The next suggestion I would make is changing out the SSD. I've heard some really bad things about OCZ SSD's lately on another forum I'm a member of. I've read about them dieing, people going through 2-3 RMA"s before getting a working drive back, and in general just lack of GOOD customer support.
For SSD's, I'm a big fan of Intel drives. (Highest quality, fastest read/writes, also the most $ though)
If you are looking for a different brand, I then would suggest Crucial drives, or even corsair. They are both known for having really good customer service, and there aren't very many horror stories about them that I've seen.

And on top of all the cases that Shy linked you too, I feel he left out a very solid contender, Fractal Design cases. They don't offer "Bling" so if that's what your looking for you probably won't like these, but they do offer great build quality and great features. I believe this will probably be my next case:
Newegg.com - Fractal Design Define XL Black ATX Full Tower Silent PC Computer Case
But I'll stick by the CM690II, that case is amazing for the price.

Just suggestions from my own experience and experience of similar geeks I know.

EDIT:
For your hackintosh build you might check out this link:
HCL 10.7.0 - OSx86

**ShyguyXPC** · September 22nd, 2011, 02:18 PM

And on top of all the cases that Shy linked you too, I feel he left out a very solid contender, Fractal Design cases. They don't offer "Bling" so if that's what your looking for you probably won't like these, but they do offer great build quality and great features.

Exactly why I left them out, otherwise I would of included them in the lists.

also why I added the BitFenix cases, as they were still "Conservative" and classy looking but had a little bit of "bling" added to them.

for years now I've been less attracted to cases with Bling on them, and more to more stylish yet classy looking to a degree.

it was actually the Thermaltake Xaser Series cases that ruined it for me, with the stupid gawdy colors and lame fascia looks to it, and then more manufacturers got onboard and did the same.

Thermaltake redeemed themselves after that, but they seem to be heading down that path again. Even Antec has gotten onboard with their latest DarkFleet Series cases, which just look stupid now IMO.

Their latest LANBOY case is not even a real LANBOY case, not like the original was which was light weight and smaller in design, this thing is just in name only.

I like that Corsair I listed above, and I have grown my tastes to include some of the Lian Li cases, that have always been kind of BLAH squared off chunks of aluminum, but Coolermaster, Corsair, and a couple others still do it for me, Some of Silverstones cases (Raven series is my current favorite, along with their MicroATX and Mini ITX cases), and even the NZXT Vulcan I think it is, or something like that, the MicroATX case that can use full length video cards, with a carry handle, its just on the borderline of looks for me, like Coolermasters HAF series cases.

Currently with Thermaltake I think one of their best designed cases, and its been around for several years now is the SFF MicroATX Lanbox series cases, or the variation with the built in handle. Also one of their T or S Series cases, was a pretty good one too, but no longer made from what I understand.

Element S is what it was: Thermaltakeusa*Â»*Chassis*Â»*Element Series*Â»*Element S : Element S VK60001N2Z

no, but I agree Fractals cases, at least the one you linked to is a good option, but does lack the Bling effect.

**ShyguyXPC** · September 22nd, 2011, 02:34 PM

with the gaming peripherals these are what I have:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GM-M8000X Rubber Black 7 Buttons USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse

Probably not as great as the Roccat or Razer mice but definitely a good gaming mouse, replaces my Logitech G5 that I currently use with my main rig, waiting till the upgrades are done before using it.

as to keyboard this is what I have now,

Newegg.com - Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard

and I LOVE this board, took a bit of use to get used to, slightly smaller keys, not by much, and a tad different feel than I was used to, but the back lit keys are almost entirely even, each key is lit and has 3 different lighting levels, plus off as well.

the Anti Ghosting Key support works really well for my uses.

I rarely use the macro keys, just bought it for the anti ghosting, and back lit keys, and was on sale.

LOL, I still haven't peeled off the plastic film protecting the surface around the keys, since it is a gloss finish, and easy to smudge, so waiting till that will start peeling off itself before I do.

these damn keyboards, ALL of them, still have that asinine Windows Key, but fixed that problem easy enough, just pried the key off like every board I use, no biggie, the LED for the key is in the base on the board, so I just have a bright red dot where it is, but not a problem.

I had a problem where I'd hit that key and minimize games to windows unable to get that back. Or if I did, every time I hit the "D" key for movement in game, it would drop to Desktop, I tried Sticky keys on & off, I tried disabling that Short Cut Key Function, nothing would work. I would have to shut down the game and start back up again. And the key combo would still drop me to desktop, I tried to log out of windows, log back in... still nothing. Only thing that would fix it was a reboot of the PC, so after 2 or 3 times of that I said F*ck it, and just popped the Windows key off and problem solved. (I use the Left ALT key for jumping in most games, Space Bar for Activation or whatever and Left Shift for Running/Walking/Sneaking, and Left Control Key for Push To Talk in Voice Chat, so with that damned Windows Key there, its easy to accidentally hit it while moving with the D key (Used to Strafe Right, as I use a W,S,Q,E combo for movement in games, old school Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II control scheme that was easier for me to use than the defacto WSAD setup, I use A & D for leaning left/right or selection of weapons/Items or other functions, with various games)

**kovan** · September 23rd, 2011, 01:59 AM

Well I decided to take your advice.
Changed up the following:

Motherboard
M452-6222 ::MSI Z68A-GD55 (B3) Intel Z68 Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z68 Express, 2133MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA 6.0 Gb/s, RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, SuperSpeed USB 3.0(3.35 lbs)

GPU
MSI N580GTX Lightning GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Soundcard
YYD1-XONARDS ::ASUS Xonar DS - Sound card - 24-bit - 192 kHz - 107 dB SNR - 7.1 - PCI - ASUS AV66(0.85 lbs)
Karma, were you suggesting this should replace the X-fi platinum in my old rig or simply be the new card for my new rig?

Mouse
RAZER DeathAdder Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Precision Optical Gaming Mouse - 3.5G Infrared Sensor

SSD
Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SATAII or SATAIII am I looking at a major difference here in speed and can the board handle it?

Case
Still undecided but narrowed down to 2 very close
Bitfenix - Colossus Window Case - White
or
Bitfenix - Colossus White Case
The Lian Li final case was wild but that was definitely over the edge and into the abyss...especially with that sticker price.
I found all the bitfenix's in stock at Xoxide which is great as that is the same place I bought my current clear acrylic 6 yrs ago.

Also had to change up one other thing unfortunately.
Seems if you are ordering from Newegg there are just three places in the country you dont wanna be....lucky me.

So I had to split it up with tiger and get many big ticket items there as I don need no stinkin tax.

Still haven't placed the order yet in case somebody comes back and says "Nooo if you get that piece the world will implode."

But the finger is definitely on the trigger.

Kovan

**ShyguyXPC** · September 23rd, 2011, 05:22 AM

yeah, but Xoxide went bankrupt and out of business, and they are now owned and operated by a new owner/company. still sort of the same old Xoxide site, but not the same as it once was. Also in the last year or two, CrazyPC.com went out of business too, picked up some deals on some small stuff, along with one or two CrazyPC.com T-Shirts when they were liquidating their stuff.

But ever since their new management/restructuring, Xoxide, I haven't bought anything from them, so no idea how the "NEW" Xoxide is compared to the old establishment.

With the sound cards, Asus probably has the best options to compete against Creatives cards, and the best selection of PCI Express sound cards.

Another option, and geared more towards Audiophiles as well as gamers, is HT Omega's Claro series cards, though they're all $100+ in price, and I think only one is PCIe, all the rest are regular PCI slots.

With the Cases, I like the non windowed cases looks, but the windowed one has 2 side vents for fans if you needed more cooling.

**KarmaKiller** · September 23rd, 2011, 11:27 AM

On the SSD, your board handles Sata 6.0, so your speeds should be roughly READ: 450MB/s and Writes 210MB/s, which is pretty damn fast!

And the sound card I linked to I was just suggesting that over the Creative card you had linked too. I'm not sure if you were talking about putting this in your new rig, or transfering the old card out of your current rig. Regardless, if your buying a sound card for either, you probably would have better luck with the Asus card in either of the rigs.

And I'm sure the rig won't implode till you get to overclocking, or at least that's how it works for me.. lol

**kovan** · September 23rd, 2011, 02:10 PM

This probably does not belong here but....

I have a LAN consisting 7 nodes
Whenever I do a new build the nodes walk down the gangplank in accordance to age.
Looks like a couple HP Vectra's and CRT monitors will be falling off the end this time (WooHoo!!)
However, with all remaining nodes I like to do a full OS reinstall, troubleshoot all errors and repair as many issues as possible (Registry, memory, disk, etc, etc)
Any recommendations on a good full diagnostic tool set?
Naturally Free is always the desired option but am willing to pay for a quality suite.

Thanks
Chris