Another Nerd Thread

R

rainjacktx

Six-man fan
I'm a Skyrim addict. I've played that game pretty much exclusively since last Christmas. At least twice a week I will put it in the Xbox and geek out for a couple of hours. The Xbox, or even the PS3 for that matter, doesn't allow you to modify (mod) the game in any way.

But the PC version is a completely different universe. You can add all kinds of mods to the game. Not just Skyrim, but all the shooter games, action games - if there is a game on the PC., it can be modded seemingly quite easy. I want to use some of the mods and possibly even learn how to code my own.

SO -
Anyone on here like Smokey or Granger (I know you are a mac dude at heart but maybe...) etc., that know anything about building super charged performance PC's? Price is not all that important - but I do want to get the best bang for the buck. Heck - even if you don't have any advice - just join the thread and geek out for a little bit.

My wish list so far:

Monitor: I have a Sharp 70" LED HD TV. I shall be using it as my monitor because it will be awesome.

Case:
At some point before I die I will, all in the same box, put the PS3, the Xbox 360, a Blu Ray Disc player, a DVR, on demand TV/movies, all the family's music, and a screaming fast PC. This case must be big and tough enough to house my dream all-in-one everything plan.

CPU:
Pentium i5 3550. The i7's are not any faster when it comes to gaming. Plus they are almost twice the price, currently.

M/B: No mini or micro atx form factors. I would like it to be big enough to allow everything to run cool. No on board video, maybe on board sound. usb 3.0 and 6gb/sec SATA architecture is a must.

RAM:
32gb DDR3 - More is better. If I'm using a 64bit OS, why not take advantage of it? Plus, ram is stupid cheap since the last time I bought any.

HDD -
primary: Samsung 512gb SSD - for obviously uber-geek reasons
secondary: Not brand specific, but 1-3TB 7200RPM SATA. Not sure how important the hdd cache is, but bigger is always better so I'm looking at the 64MB cache hdds.

GPU:
AMD Radeon HD 7870. Not the absolute top of the line but, on the cost/benefit scale, by far the best bang for the buck. Only downside to this might be cooling and the fan noise - from what I've read.

OS:
For gaming purposes, I have been told that Win7 Ultimate will be the most capable at handling 32gb of ram. I know I'm not going to be using Win8. Maybe put in a partition on the HDD so I can also play with linux distributions, or ChromeOS.

I would also like to have this computer double as a Home Theater PC if I can find an ISP fast enough to make it worth the trouble. Being able to get rid of Dish/DirecTV would absolutely make my day.
 
You might consider an AMD Chip. I think they out perform the Intel Chips in regard to graphics and they clock truer. As for
Mainboards, Asus, Abit come to mind. I really like Antec cases for a well built case.
I'm not into gaming but it sounds like you are on the way to a really nice system. I would go with a add on sound card.. some of the USB cards perform really well. We use one at our church......
 
smokeyjoe53":3o6wc90y said:
You might consider an AMD Chip. I think they out perform the Intel Chips in regard to graphics and they clock truer. As for
Mainboards, Asus, Abit come to mind. I really like Antec cases for a well built case.
I'm not into gaming but it sounds like you are on the way to a really nice system. I would go with a add on sound card.. some of the USB cards perform really well. We use one at our church......
Click to expand...

Back when I built PC's, I only used AMD chips and still have a soft spot for them if it were any normal type of build. But - I'm reading on the interwebs that the i5 is the best chip for gaming, and the gamer geeks at the computer store in Amarillo say that AMD is terrible for gaming. So I'm crossing the line.

But then again, those same gamer geeks told me not to mess with liquid cooling, and I'm betting I totally ignore that piece of advice.
 
I always wanted to build a liquid cooled system..............I may have to start building a few systems again.....between tablets,AIO's and smart phones, the PC Desktop market is pretty slow.....
As for the AMD chip. I have been told that Dreamworks uses them quite a bit. My only issue with them is heat... I don't like 'em in laptops.................
 
Check out these benchmarks:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

I recently did a major upgrade to my personal system. I went with the AMD FX-6300 Six-Core. I choose this one as it was the best value for what I needed. I am an AMD man myself and have always been partial to them. If money was not a factor I might go with the Intel chips.

I am using a Cooler Master case as I really like them. They are not the prettiest and they are heavy, it fits what I need.

I am using a Gigabyte Motherboard. The one I ended up going with has 4 memory slots and 6 SATA slots. This is needed for me for future upgrades.

I am only running 3 GBs of ram as I have to go 32 bit on my OS. I do like and use Windows 7 Ultimate. I had to stay 32 bit as the 64 bit will not allow me to run 16 bit software. I still have to use 16 bit at times when I am recovering data from an older system.

There are a lot of good video cards out there. This is my one weak spot on my system as I have not sprung for a great video card yet. I have a cheap 1 GB one that supports two monitors.

I have not gone with the SSD drives yet as I can not personally justify the cost difference for what I feel is only a small increase in speed. There are a ton of people that will argue this point with me.

Check out my CPU fan I use. I love it and it does all the cooling I feel I need when I am overclocking:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... =C283-1202

I do not trust the fans and heat sinks from Intel or AMD as I feel that do not do the cooling I want. I do a lot of overclocking and want to make sure I am not going to burn anything up...I did on a quad core CPU once using the fan and heat sink that came with the CPU from AMD.

I did recently build a system almost exactly like this for a church. They wanted a good system for the secretary as she runs QuickBooks and it is a very demanding program. Without the video card and including the 64 bit version of Windows 7 you are only looking at about 500. This would leave a ton for the video card.

People will argue keeping yourself open for future upgrades and I agree to a point. I am using the AM3+ motherboard and there are upgrade is can do today. If they switch to a new form factor then to upgrade I would have to switch the motherboard but they are a small cost in the overall scheme of the system.

If I can be of more help or give greater details on any item please feel free to message me or post it on here. Cowboy, text me if anyone needs me back here...he just sent me a text about this thread. LOL

Andy
 
Andy, can you salvage data from a hosed HDD? I've used a clean room in Temple in the past but they have gotten too expensive................
 
smokeyjoe53":149b2yyh said:
Andy, can you salvage data from a hosed HDD? I've used a clean room in Temple in the past but they have gotten too expensive................
Click to expand...

I usually have pretty good luck getting the data off. If the drive is 100% dead not much I can do then.
 
I froze this one for a few days and got a little off before it heated up. after that I could see the drive but couldnt access any data........
 
My issues with windows 8 are partially alleviated. After setting up a new system today I downloaded and installed a free program that restores my beloved "Start" button.
 
smokeyjoe53":109wjcc6 said:
My issues with windows 8 are partially alleviated. After setting up a new system today I downloaded and installed a free program that restores my beloved "Start" button.
Click to expand...

I had to download TweekUI to get the start menu back. I hate Win8.

Update on my little project:

Took apart an old xbox 360 we had here at the house. No way I'm smart enough to re-route start buttons, dvd slots, and still get the machine to run right.

In light of my new-found ineptness, I'm looking at more of a massive case mod where I take two ATX mid-tower cases, and combine them into one double-wide case. Reasoning behind it is that I can fit an xbox in a 10.5" slot - which is (if I've done my math correctly) roughly two 5.25" inch external bays sitting side by side.

Anybody out there know how to shape metal and form plastic?
 
Sat down a couple of nights ago and ordered all the guts for this thing.

CPU - intel i5 3570k
m/b - AsRock Z77 pro 4
ram - 16gb ddr3 1600
SSD - Samsung 840 series 250gb
HDD - seagate barracuda 1tb 7200rpm
video - GeForce GTX 660Ti 2mb gddr5
o/s Win 7 home premium

I went ahead and bought a case to put this stuff in because building a scratch case is going to take longer than I thought...a lot longer.
 
smokeyjoe53":3l60urb2 said:
What case did you go with?
Click to expand...

The cheapest one I could find on Amazon that would hold an ATX board, a 10.5 inch graphics card, and PSU mounting space at the bottom of the case.

http://www.amazon.com/GAMMA-Classic-Int ... 160&sr=1-2

Made by NTXZ, or something like that. 34 bucks. $39 after taxes and next day shipping.

Used to didn't care for Amazon too much. Now I find myself checking amazon for everything from computer parts to movies to hair removal products.
 
Sittin here lookin at three pretty good sized boxes of parts.

After 45 minutes of staring at the case like a calf staring at a new gate, I realized that I need a couple of case fans.

I also figured out that going cheap on the power supply was kind of a bad idea.

So I'm going puter part hunting tomorrow. I will be playing skyrim by Saturday afternoon hell or high water.
 
smokeyjoe53":ao9e9mbb said:
I think "Rainjacktx" etched into a brushed stainless steel cast would look really nice.
Maybe you can market this monster that way.....
Click to expand...

I gotta get the first one built before I start trying to sell the second one. I mean unless you're looking for some supplemental income....
 
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