I'm building a computer, any suggestions?

Post by **DNR** » 14 Aug 2009, 14:46

yea what everyone wants,

a badass cellphone

to match their

badass PC..

DNR

Post by **ph0bYx** » 14 Aug 2009, 14:57

*drool*
<3

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 14 Aug 2009, 15:37

Dude, you're drooling on my head.

That's what I'm talking about DNR. Those are so nice I lack the appropriate words to tell you.

DrVirus · Post by **DrVirus** » 14 Aug 2009, 22:52

Oh man !!! Holy Mary mother of god !! I want those !!!! Man I want those !!!

Pong18 · Post by **Pong18** » 15 Aug 2009, 00:11

slurp

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 28 Aug 2009, 17:09

I want a liquid cooled system but dont know what to buy because i've never owned one before. Here is what i have so far for my computer maybe you guys can recommend one for me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103696

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 813128377R

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129021

Can i also get some opinions on a comparison. a 10,000rpm 80gig HDD vs. an solid state HDD say around the same capacity. I want it to only load windows. heres the specs for the SS HDD http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/ssd/datas ... 771325.pdf

Post by **bad_brain** » 28 Aug 2009, 17:31

phenom2.....YUMMY!

but man, don't get watercooling....it's something for overclocking weirdos or extreme gaming junkies imo, but nothing for a productive system. why? because it's too expensive, too insecure (1 drop of water at the wrong place == system dead), and even if you challenge your system a lot because you like to play the newest games a regular cooling is good enough and can also be very silent.

if you want a powerful but very silent system cooling I highyl recommend the Noctua NH-C12P CPU cooler, I use it too. I have to add that I am totally anal about my system fans and cooling, I have spent weeks with reading reviews until I decided to buy the Noctua one, and I have tried at least 50 different case fans until I found the ones that satisfy me...no joke...

here is the CPU cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608001
surely not a bargain, but it's worth every cent....real good cooling performance and absolutely silent. the only one better is another Noctua model, but it's a tower cooler and needs pretty wide cases, but the one I recommended makes sure it'll fit in your case (mainboard is also supported, I checked it).

look here for case fans:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ame=Noctua

you'll not be disappointed, Noctua is the best on the market at the moment....

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 28 Aug 2009, 18:16

seeing how much i trust and value your opinion B_B i am going with the fan you recommend. Thanks.

Post by **DNR** » 29 Aug 2009, 08:06

kirk, save your money on the SSD, you can get a HDD with dual processors, 32mb of RAM, 500mb on it for WAAAaay cheap
I listed the Western Digital Caviar Black on another thread.

Skip the water cooling too. Spend the money on two graphics processor cards and SLI.

Max out the RAM?

DNR

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 31 Aug 2009, 03:17

Here is my final design: I'm including everything that I'm buying even the accessories. @DNR I'm going with HDD instead. I'll include a small picture and link you to each of the items in case you want to read the spec's.

First the Motherboared: Gigabyte (sata)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128377

The processor: AMD Phenom II x4 3.0 gig

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103696

The HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136320

Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231193

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829102006

Video Card: MSI Cyclone

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127439

CD/DVD: Plextor w/ lightscribe (x2)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827249054

Fan/Heatsink: Noctua NH-C12P 120mm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608001

PSU: Raidmax 730w SLI ready

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817152036

Case: Raidmax Sirius

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811156060

Card Reader: Nippon Labs

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820816001

Mouse: Logitech G7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826104203

Keyboard: Logitech Wave

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6823126048

Speackers: Logitech G51 155w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6836121012

USB Hub: Belkin 4 port

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817394039

Surge Protector: Cyberpower

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6812120404

HDD: Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000rpm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136296

Post by **bad_brain** » 31 Aug 2009, 04:06

looks nice....

but I highly recommend to use these RAM modules (1x):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231193
the mainboard supports up to 1666MHz, but the ones you chose only have 1333MHz. additionally the modules I recommend are listed on the manufacturer's (Gigabyte) compatibility list for the mainboard:
http://www.gigabyte.de/FileList/MemoryS ... t-ud5p.pdf

and hmm....do you really need SLI? the drawbacks are high noise and heat levels, imo it's better to use 1 really good card instead of 2 middle-rate ones.
if you can spend 20 bucks more have a look at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127439
the performance should be even better than with 2x 9800GT, and it's definitely more silent...

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 31 Aug 2009, 04:30

Thanks B_B I changed them to what you suggested.

One last thing for this thread. I'm looking for some security- hardware wise. I remember seeing in a computer mag. a few years ago about this device that attached to your computer that generated a random number every 10sec or so. There was a second one that you carried on you that was in sync with it. In order to turn on the computer you had to enter the correct number. I'm looking for something like that or similar. Anybody have any suggestions for me?

Thanks guys.

Post by **bad_brain** » 31 Aug 2009, 04:41

hm, the easiest way would be to use the "user password" feature of the mainboard, you can set a password in BIOS so the system will only boot when the proper password is entered.

or you can use something like this:
http://www.speedapps.com/usbpclock.htm
locks the computer when you pull the USB stick

or a fingerprint scanner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817142003

Kirk · Post by **Kirk** » 31 Aug 2009, 04:47

A BIOS password is super easy to get around though. I think the USB lock one would be good to use. I dont know much about it. How difficult would it be to get around this? What if I lose the USB or it somehow get erased? Still, I think it may work.

Post by **bad_brain** » 31 Aug 2009, 05:16

well, those are the drawbacks:
- when you lose the stick or the software crashes you're locked out
- by booting a Linux live distro the protection can be evaded

so the BIOS password would be the safest method ("safest" like "the lowest risk of locking yourself out").
if you want to use the USB stick method you could create a backup USB stick and give it to someone you trust, in case you lost yours or you had to destroy it. my sister for example has my backup USB stick with the key to my encrypted partiton.

I don't know how failsafe such fingerprint scanners work, never have used one....but well, whenever software is involved there is also the risk of bugs or malfunction.