Preparing for First Build, would love some feedback

[jakethesnake27]

Hey everyone. I just signed up today, and perused the postings. Site looks great, and I collected some info on opinions of some of these parts, but still want to put it out there.

The computer serves as my multimedia hub as well as some gaming, such as Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Freecell.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Processor – Intel i7 875k

Mobo – Asus p7p55 LX LGA 1156

Cooler – Cooler Master Hyper n520

Video Card - EVGA GeForce Gts450 fpb 1 gb

Case – Cooler Master HAF 932

Hard Drive – WD 2gb Caviar Green

Light Scribe dvd rw drive

power supply - ?

Ram - ?

I am still open on the power supply and ram because i'm reading more about whats good and I also need to find out how large a power supply I need for this build. I am also considering haf 922 instead, since I don't really need the full tower. If I go with it, it will be for the flexibility in future builds or customization.

Once again, thanks for the help.

Also, just for conversation's sake, how much do you think pricing of these processors with be affects by the premier of sandy bridge? I doubt much, but I curious about everyone elses feedback.

Thanks,

Jake

**Edit - I failed to mention, I am on a budget of about $1000.00. I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse... If you have value suggestions, such as spend a little more for greater marginal benefit I will gladly hear them.

[RickyTick]

For the same price, this motherboard has more to offer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425

The HAF 922 seems really nice and saves a few dollars too.

Can you step up that video card to the 460? It's worth it.

A 650 watt psu is plenty.

4gb of ram is also plenty.

[jakethesnake27]

I noticed from reading others build posts, that the i7 950 processor is one that comes up in convo quite a bit. It seems like the price is similar to that of the 875k that I was looking at. What do you think?

[jakethesnake27]

Also, what do you think about this Diablotek Power Supply?

http://www.amazon.com/Diablotek-650-Watt-Power-Supply-PHD650/dp/B001L0N1PE/ref=lh_ni_t_

[RickyTick]

Also, what do you think about this Diablotek Power Supply?

http://www.amazon.com/Diablotek-650-Watt-Power-Supply-PHD650/dp/B001L0N1PE/ref=lh_ni_t_

This is much better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

[RickyTick]

I noticed from reading others build posts, that the i7 950 processor is one that comes up in convo quite a bit. It seems like the price is similar to that of the 875k that I was looking at. What do you think?

The 875k is getting hard to find. The only problem with the 950 is that is usually requires a more expensive motherboard and ram. Otherwise, I think it's a great choice.

[jakethesnake27]

So if I go with the 875k, which I was able to find, does that mean that a little bit down the road when I begin upgradin g this build that I will probably have to pull the motherboard, processor, and ram all together?

[RickyTick]

That's going to be the case whether you choose the 875k or the 950. Neither of these will work with Intel's latest chipset called Sandy Bridge.

[jakethesnake27]

Indeed, thanks for the help Ricky

[jakethesnake27]

Hmmm...so now i'm seeing that the sandy bridge processors are only 299.99, basically what I was pricing the i7-875k for. Newegg of course has a combo that includes this intel mobo and civ 5 for 379.99

Intel BOXDH67BL LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

It seems like its best to go in this direction, but still collecting feedback. I received the case today and its sweet, 2nd hard drive tomorrow, and the rest I waited on to decide on this.

[meg]

Jake,
If you have a Microcenter near you it is worth looking at the prices of their Sandy Bridge Processors. I just saved @$55 on a i5 2500K, their savings less tax. Deals are good through the 14th. see microcenter (http://www.microcenter.com/storefronts/powerspec/index.html)

Best of luck...

[jakethesnake27]

None close, thanks though.

[jakethesnake27]

So what do you guys think of Fan Controllers, like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999198

Are they necessary or greatly beneficial?

**Edit, hit post too soon.

I have the rest of my parts coming in by wednesday. I'll post an update after I complete.

[RickyTick]

I've never had a fan controller, but I kinda like it. I prefer for the fans to be automatic so I don't have to worry about it.

[jakethesnake27]

I decided to wait on the Fan controller, but i'll probably pick it up in a month or two.

So I received all my parts and I have put everything together. I pulled my hard drive form my computer to serve as my boot drive, and im starting to run in to an issue. It says no drives present, but bios shows both hard drives. When windows attempts to start, it requires repair and cannot complete repair. Before I load an old save I figured I would ask if there is anything that could do to work it out without doing so.

Thanks again for all the help, this is a great site.

[RickyTick]

You can't swap a hard drive from one computer to another without re-installing Windows. Your Windows license is only valid for the first computer it was installed in and is tied to the bios of that motherboard. You will have to purchase another Windows license. That's just the way it is. Sorry.

[jakethesnake27]

Sounds about right, such is life. I was planning on using my old PC as a media center. I'm picking up a tv tuner card and planned to install ubuntu (I've wanted to try it, but didnt feel like running it inside windows. Maybe i'll try it for a few with this build before I switch to another copy of 7 pro...

Thanks again Ricky