Looking for Advice on a PC New Build (Updated Dec 11) - Page 3

Looks pretty good there. But in terms of the operating system software, it's currently a no-win situation: Legitimately, you'd either going to have to spend a lot of money just for an OS or get no support. OEM and system-builder copies of Windows and Office are, technically, intended for people who are going to resell the systems they've just built; they are not intended for people who build their own systems for their own personal use. And Microsoft provides no direct-to-end-user technical support aside from providing software updates for its own OEM/system builder software; the Microsoft-provided technical support other than software updates is limited to the original system builder(s) who do(es) not use that software for his/her/their own personal use. Therefore, that system builder copy of Windows is the right one--if you intend to resell that system (including software) to someone else right after you finish building it. Thereafter, you would serve as the "technical support" for the system you just resold, and you'd also have to register yourself as a "system builder" in order to legally provide such technical support to the owner of the new system (this is part of Microsoft's "Get Genuine" program for system builders). The chief difference between the OEM and system-builder copies is the volume (or how many complete systems a person typically builds and sells): If you are a small-time shop who is building a system for resale every now and then, then you'd get the System Builder copy. OEM copies are like System Builder copies, but are intended for larger, higher-volume system builders who build and sell several to many systems in a typical day.

In other words, the only editions of Windows which can be legitimately used by a hobbyist who builds computer systems for his/her own personal use would be one of the retail boxed copies, which are more expensive than their OEM/system builder counterparts due to their use of fancier packaging.

If you are planning to drive those three monitors with eyefinity you deffinately need a 5870 as a 5850, even though is the best value out there right now, is not sufficient for a fullhd 3x eyefinity rig with all of the new games. If you are NOT planning an eyefinity setup I would seriously ask you to reconsider & check out the reviews at hardocp.com for eyefinity. My media center rig is a samsung series 8 42" lcd tv in center & 2 32" sony bravias on the sidesat 35 degree angle in eyefinity & a touchscreen 17" montior driven by the onboard VGA card which I use as remote,jukebox control,browsing etc while gaming or watching movies.
Also I'd suggest getting the 32gb ocz ssd for C drive as it doesnt really cost much. You can hold off on the soundcard for the time being if you are short on budget. I use the onboard spdif to convert my audio to analog & find it sufficient for movies/games.
Oh & you will need an active displayport to hdmi/vga/dvi(depending on your monitor) if you are planning an eyefinity setup.

u have almost the same comp im building for myself

i7 920
asus p6t
5850 sapphire radeon
gskill 1600 ripjaw 8-8-8-24 1.6v 6gb ram
1.5 TB seagate 7200rpm 32b buffer
corsair 850W tx psu
coolermaster haf 922 case
noctua nh u12p
win 7 premium

[and im getting wintv pvr pci-e x1 card too]

i plan to run 2 to 3 hd monitors at some point soon [2 monitors, 1 tv, and am not getting any SSDs cause too expensive for their capacity

Looks pretty good, only a couple things that I would possibly change.
First I would personally stay away from ATI cards. in the past I have had trouble with quality of the cards which they have improved on a lot, but I also had a problem with there drivers and that still seems to be the case for me. The nvidia utilities are also much more in depth then the ati ones. One example of ATI getting in the way is that I built a computer for my dad and my brother and they were identical except for the gpu. Well I tried to install Neverwinter Nights on both of them and it just won't run with the ATI system. YMMV though, but just something to keep in mind. Next I would encourage you to get a modular PSU...it is really nice for cable clutter and first time builders. They are generally of better quality than the non-modular ones as well. For cooling I would suggest looking at scythe fans instead of noctua and this corsair cooler for the cpu Newegg.com - CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks.
As for a monitor, see if you can find an old 24" Dell 2407wfp Revision A04...it's a fantastic display.

Good luck

The biggest problem with this is that PC game authors still write primarily for NVIDIA cards - especially the top-end cards. These latest PC games would not run as well as they are capable of on any lower-end graphics card - NVIDIA or ATi.

This is not always the case. In fact, the very best power supplies have non-removable cables which are permanently soldered, strain-relieved and welded onto the power supply cases. And some of the modular power supplies have extremely poor-quality connectors for the modular connections themselves (some would never make a reliable connection at all even when plugged in for less than one second, while some other modular connections fail in a matter of minutes or hours).

If one chooses the Corsair CPU cooler, he would have to choose his case very carefully. Some cases cannot properly accomodate the Corsair cooler, which requires a system exhaust fan in addition to the intake fans (since the CPU cooler itself requires one 120mm rear case fan mount). On some of those cases, the installation of such a CPU cooler would have resulted in the fan in the power supply unit itself being the only exhaust fan in the entire system. And PSU fans as a rule are designed to barely cool the PSUs themselves - and the addition of heat from within the system's case would have presented a much bigger load to the PSU's cooling system than it was designed to do. In fact, Intel recommends at least one system exhaust fan in addition to any intake fans and PSU fans.

In addition, with that particular Lian Li case, due to the location of the PSU a PSU with a push-pull design with an 80mm rear-mounted fan may be required since PSUs with a bottom-mounted 120mm fan might end up in a position (on top of the PSU's case) where it would have failed to do its job properly. Remember, heat always travels upwards - and with the PSU's 120mm fan always blowing into the PSU, that heat would have been sucked back into the PSU, causing a significantly shortened useful lifespan of the unit. (In fact, with my current Antec Nine Hundred case I had to replace the PSU because my previous PSU had a single 120mm fan located at the bottom of it, and the bottom of the PSU hits the bottom panel of the system case itself resulting in a complete lack of clearance for the fan - and that would have forced me to turn the PSU so that the fan faces the top, which is bad for the PSU.)

As for the Noctua coolers themselves, the CPU cooler is about as good as air cooling can perform. However, the case fans from that company could have been a little quieter than they currently are (at least for the performance that they deliver).