Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

A Couple Build Questions

by Kyle4321 Mar 27, 2010 3:51AM PDT

I am building a desktop for gaming and photo editing. Here's the parts:

Motherboard: ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...el%20X58%20ATX

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000CSRTL 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136334

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory w/ Red & Green LEDs Model BL2KIT25664TN1337 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148327
I would like to go with 6GB or 8GB of RAM, but will probably settle with 4GB for now.

CPU: Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115224

GPU: PNY VCGGTX285XPB GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...12-bit%20GDDR3

Sound: I will not be getting a sound card for the short-term, but will sometime in the future as $$$ allows. I will just be using some normal desktop speakers in the mean time.

Optical Drive: HP Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 24X Multiformat DVD Writer - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

My biggest questions are:
Is all of this compatible with each other?
What do I need for cooling? (heatsinks, # of fans,...)
What case do I need?

Thanks,
Kyle

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Looks good for the most part...
by Brechan Mar 27, 2010 12:01PM PDT

CPU, motherboard, RAM, optical drive, so far so good.

Questions:
1) If this is for gaming, photo editing; then why settle for a slower HDD, when you might be better off with a WD Caviar Black (fast) or WD VelociRaptor (faster)?
2) For the moment ATI is king of the hill; for the price you're looking at for the NVidia card, you could get 2 x HD5770 and run them in crossfire.
3) You have left out one small detail...PSU?

I myself have an older (18 months old) gaming computer, I got myself a full tower case. You want your current build (and future builds) to go as smooth as possible; getting the wrong size case (eg: too small)
could turn this into a nightmare-trying to cram stuff in...but the choice is strictly up to you.
Here are a few examples of (tasteful) full-size cases.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163135

- Collapse -
Edited Parts
by Kyle4321 Mar 27, 2010 4:16PM PDT

Thank you for the feedback, everybody! I have taken your feedback into consideration. I have made the following changes to my computer:

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD10000LSRTL 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...L%201TB%207200

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R585D5-1GD-B Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125300

RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail Intel X58 chipset core i7 6GB kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-365-_-Product

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341018


I am going to stick with the ASUS P6T Deluxe with the i7-960. I do not know much about overclocking, and don't mind spending the extra money.

Still trying to decide on a case. Will full size be better than mid size since I am using the ATI 5850?

Kyle

- Collapse -
Definitely !
by Brechan Mar 27, 2010 5:25PM PDT

"You want your current build (and future builds) to go as smooth as possible; getting the wrong size case (eg: too small)
could turn this into a nightmare-trying to cram stuff in...but the choice is strictly up to you."

If you compare the specs of a mid-tower compared to a full tower; it may be only a matter of a few inches, but these mere inches could make your build go so much better.

B.

- Collapse -
Midsize, a full tower is quite large and unnecessary
by damasta55r Mar 28, 2010 3:34AM PDT

i have a full tower, it is quite LARGE. Even midsize towers are larger than most mini towers that are ubiquitous at bestbuy.

Back to Desktops forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info