I need help changing my current computer build

Baku

Baseband Member
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I am going to be purchasing a custom computer from ibuypower.com since the price is great and very much similar when compared product to product with newegg.com. The thing is, they way I have it configured is a bit too costly for a computer... around 3000 dollars. I am looking for a computer that will last some 3+ years of ON time with the ability to keep up with upcoming games. I am looking for something that can multi-task GREATLY, without much if any lag time.

Things I will be using the computer for:
For everyday internet use and downloading content.
Computer programs such as C++ and Adobe Photoshop CS2
Games such as Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft, also upcoming games Diablo 3 Starcraft 2 and Alan Wake, APB, things of this nature (basically keeping up with new games and requirements running at optimal levels at full resolution)
Multimedia center for hook up to a HDTV(Will most likely use an already owned external hard drive), and possibly the playing of blu ray movies. but not necessary since I currently play blu ray on my ps3 with an external HD hook up.
Will eventually run two lcd (HD)monitors to be able to game and watch a movie or run programs such as cs2 or IE or dual game at same time.

I can upgrade at a later time to something that will run future software more smooth (video card)

So basically need something that will last me, and being able to upgrade (easily, pop out the old and pop in the new) with playing world of warcraft, counterstrike, and half life 2/portal type games VERY SMOOTHLY, at an optimal FPS and switching back and forth from programs FAST. with of course the above mentioned uses of the computer in the last paragraph in mind :) With obviously a good cool running system. NO OVERCLOCKING whatsoever and keeping it air cooled to avoid any unwanted maintenance.


These are the current specifications for my computer build:

Case ( Coolermaster HAF 932 Full Tower Gaming Case - Black )
Processor ( Intel® Core™ i7 950 Processor (4x 3.06GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module - Corsair XMS3 Dominator w/DHX technology )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 PCI-Express x16 - 1792MB - Single Card )
Case Lighting ( Cold Cathode Neon Light - Blue )
Power Supply ( 1000 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-1000HX Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready )
Processor Cooling ( Coolermaster V10 Hybrid TEC CPU Cooling Fan System - Full cover of DRAM & CPU cooling for best cooling performance )
Hard Drive ( 80 GB Intel X25-M SATA MLC Solid State Disk - Gaming SSD Drive )
2nd Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE - [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
Optical Drive ( None )
2nd Optical Drive ( [6X Blu-Ray] LG GGC-H20L BLU-RAY Reader & DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive - Black )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard with 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys - Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse - Black )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) - 64-Bit )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service - Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )
Advanced Build Options ( iBUYPOWER Specialized Advanced Packaging System - Protect your investment during transportation! )
Advanced Build Options ( Tuniq TX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound - The best interface between your CPU and the heatsinks )
Advanced Build Options ( Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower - Achieve exceptional airflow in your chassis )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Video Camera ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Meter Display ( Thermal Temperature LCD Display - Black )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black )
Software/Game ( [Free Game] - Halo 2 - Free with purchase of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system )
Software/Game ( [Free Game] - H.A.W.X - Free with purchase of Intel Core i7 )
MP3/MP4 Player ( None )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
2nd Monitor ( None )
Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon ( [*** Free Upgrade Coupon ***] Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit Edition - $29 -$29(mail-in-rebate) = $0 )


What should I be changing??? Thanks for the input:eek:
 
All that is WAY overkill if you only want to play counter strike and HL2

You can get a totally l33t computer for about 1000
 
if i were you, i wouldnt buy the computer frm ibuypower.com, you never kno what brand parts your getting because they only say "some major brand" who knows what brand those are, and that really counts in the long run, + your payin for labor charges when you can do it yourself. jus buy the parts and build from there, that way you kno what parts are goin to it and kno whats goin on, so you can upgrade it yourself later on.
 
Why not build a great AMD gaming rig for FAR less then that and get amazing performance? The i7 950 is REALLY expensive, where the Phenom II X4 955 is under 300 and performs GREATLY in gaming!

Besides, if your playing CS and HL2 then the machine you have sugg is far too much over kill as Holysky mentioned.

I also agree with Sedah that you wont know what brand items you get. If you get a rig via Newegg, you pick the items, you know the quality!

Just wait around for Atomic Rooster to link you to a great build ;)
 
Well..it was a quick post however long it seemed. But I should have been a little more detailed and focused on the games I want to play once the rigg is purchased rather think of games I cant play due to my current computer.

World of Warcraft, Call of Duty 4, new wolfenstein,

and able to run Crysis smoothly on high res. that should be better :p

I want it to run an intel i7 processor, not amd. so the motherboard will be the asus p6t deluxe v2. and either the 920 or 950 i7 core processor

btw, ibuypower doesnt give random items. if you want to know brand names and specs they will let you know. so you DO know what youre getting. I wouldnt go in blindly, that would just be stupid, i agree. With their new live chat support I found out what the hard drives were as well as ram.


I think I can not get a SSD drive for now and upgrade it later on. but what would a good starter HD be? the velociraptor? for the 10k rpm? What is a good solid GPU that can run crysis well?
 
A good starter hard drive would be a regular hard drive... Velociraptors and SSD's are nice, but they are overkill in regular situations. Any average person is well suited with a regular hard drive.

You are clearly overpaying by a huge margin just to play some games. It seems to me that you aren't a hardcore gamer, just a gamer that plays for entertainment. Spending this much on a PC for Photoshop and Counterstrike Source isn't needed. You can get over 200 FPS in CS:S with a 9800gt; even with a decently sized monitor. I run it over 250 at most times with my 4850.

Unless you have money to blow in these times, I would say rethink your intentions. Maybe take a couple girls out with that extra money. :p Unless someone else is paying for this computer for you. Thats a different story.
 
Well, i have quite a bit to blow. no bills and I have a lot of cash in the bank. lot of it..just im cheap and dont wanna go tooo crazy on a computer. its not a budget...well i guess it is..but its more of me being a cheap skate.

I guess I can go regular hitachi hard drive. but keep the mobo and processor. get a not so expensive geforce memory card and i dont need the blu ray player drive...hmmm 1 sec. Ill reconfigure and see what i come up with. Should I go with 850 watt PSU or 1k watt PSU, (for later upgrading to a gtx 295 GPU) or will a 850 watt be ok for the later upgrading?



Should I go with the 920 or 950 i7 processor? I dont want to have to change processors anytime in the next few years. ALSO, should I go with a FULL tower over a mid tower for the motherboard I will have and possible later dual geforce 295 GTX??? single geforce 295 GTX would fit in a mid tower? Also would like to get more RAM later.


The following set up will cost roughly 2000. Changed, from full to mid size case, 950 processor down to a 920, geforce 295 gtx to a gts 250, and well you can see the rest, my hands they tire :p. what do you think?



Case ( CoolerMaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Gaming Case - Black )
Processor ( Intel® Core™ i7 920 Processor (4x 2.66GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
Motherboard ( Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Intel X58 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Triple-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1333 Triple Memory Module - Corsair XMS3 Dominator w/DHX technology )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 PCI-Express x16 – 1GB - Single Card )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 850 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-850TX Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready )
Processor Cooling ( Coolermaster V10 Hybrid TEC CPU Cooling Fan System - Full cover of DRAM & CPU cooling for best cooling performance )
Hard Drive ( 1 TB HITACHI HARD DRIVE - [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
Optical Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
External Wireless Network Adapter ( Zonet ZEW2545 802.11n 130Mbps Wireless USB Adapter )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard with 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys - Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse - Black )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) - 64-Bit )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service - Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )
Advanced Build Options ( iBUYPOWER Specialized Advanced Packaging System - Protect your investment during transportation! )
Advanced Build Options ( Tuniq TX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound - The best interface between your CPU and the heatsinks )
Advanced Build Options ( Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower - Achieve exceptional airflow in your chassis )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Video Camera ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Meter Display ( Thermal Temperature LCD Display - Black )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( None )
Windows 7 Upgrade Coupon ( [*** Free Upgrade Coupon ***] Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit Edition - $29 -$29(mail-in-rebate) = $0 )

BTW, this is the monitor I use now and will be using for the computer I am building
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
 
My suggestion is to get a full tower, just to be future proof if you want to upgrade anything. Its much more of a pleasure to work with. I say keep the 920, and overclock it. Maybe don't go overkill with the overclock, but maybe overclock it to the 950's speeds. Its the same thing as buying the more expensive 950 but without buying the 950. -.- Not sure how the clock speeds match up, but you probably won't see a difference in performance.

Maybe go for the HAF 932 or the Antec 1200. Go with what you like, there are a lot of good full tower cases out there.

To be honest, I don't think that the CM V10 is worth it for the CPU cooler, get a Xigmatek or even a TRUE if you are going to spend that much on a cooler. V10 is cool, but I don't think its worth the premium.

Whats your monitors resolution? You might be better off with a GTX 260, 275 or 285. But that solely depends on your monitor and future upgrades of the monitor. That 250 will be fine but that again depends on your monitor.
 
going from the coolermaster v10 fan to the xigmatek dark knight will save me 83$.

My monitor runs 1920 x 1080

I dont want to overclock, :/ Id rather have it normal. This is because I have no experience with overclocking and dont want to kill my computer. or reduce lifespan, run a hot computer, etc. I would probably leave it on for maybe 24 hours max. rebooting when needed.
 
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