So, my old system died a spectacular death. I don't know if it was the motherboard or PSU, but the secondary hard drive (I have no idea what happened to it, but the BIOS won't even see it) and CPU cooler are totally wrecked (stupid push-pins), and the motherboard and primary hard drive show signs of progressive failure and must be replaced. I also lean toward replacing the PSU (which I simply don't trust at this point) and case.
So I either need to do repairs (a new case, PSU, hard drive, and motherboard at a minimum) or just recore the entire system. I'm kind of leaning toward that because spending a $400 on making a e6600 work again seems less compelling than spending $1000-$1500 or so on a major upgrade.
Assuming I do recore, what should the new system build be? Components I will be keeping:
8800 GTS 640 mb
X-fi fatality
Monitor, mouse, keyboard
DVD burner
So what I need seems to be:
CPU
motherboard
RAM
Case
PSU
New hard drive(s)
Components I can use in the build if I want:
e6600 (with a replacement CPU cooler)
2x2g DDR2, 800 ghz 4-4-4-12, 2x1g DDR2, 800 ghz 4-4-4-12
Usage will be fairly heavy gaming, mostly at 1900x1200. Overclockability is good.
Other things I want to keep in mind in this build:
I won't ever use SLI or crossfire.
No components from MSI (not after the wretched, buggy 975x), and I generally don't really like gigabyte either.
Working in Linux is good, but not totally 100% mandatory
So, here's what I'm considering so far:
CPU - i7 920. I can't really see any other logical choice here, anything better is far over budget, anything less barely qualifies as an upgrade. I'm hoping on getting a fairly solid overclock out of it. Oh, and any good suggestions on a cooler for it?
RAM - OCZ 6gb platinum kit is looking good - seems to have good timings (7-7-7-24) and sufficient speed (1600). But I don't know much about RAM so any suggestings are welcome.
Motherboard - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard. Seems to look good, but I wonder if I couldn't get away with anything cheaper since as I mentioned I won't ever use SLI or Crossfire. I do want 6 ram slots in case of future upgrade, which rules out the cheapest board, and I want something solid, not buggy, and overclockability.
Power Supply - I really have no idea what to get here. I have the Corsair CMPSU-750TX down as a good choice so far, but I don't know enough to really choose. This is one of the areas I'm really hoping for help in.
Case - Another area in which I'm at a complete loss. I generally want a mid tower, and decent quality, while being relatively cheap. I really hate external lights too.
Hard drive - This is a real area of contention. I generally preferred Seagate in the past, but with all of their problems lately, I just don't know. The 7200.11 1.5 tb is cheap, and I could just flash the firmware right away... but does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm just gonna get one hard drive, not try RAID or anything.
Thanks for any help! I'm hoping to send off the order soon so I can get a new hard drive in to back this one up on before it totally goes.
So I either need to do repairs (a new case, PSU, hard drive, and motherboard at a minimum) or just recore the entire system. I'm kind of leaning toward that because spending a $400 on making a e6600 work again seems less compelling than spending $1000-$1500 or so on a major upgrade.
Assuming I do recore, what should the new system build be? Components I will be keeping:
8800 GTS 640 mb
X-fi fatality
Monitor, mouse, keyboard
DVD burner
So what I need seems to be:
CPU
motherboard
RAM
Case
PSU
New hard drive(s)
Components I can use in the build if I want:
e6600 (with a replacement CPU cooler)
2x2g DDR2, 800 ghz 4-4-4-12, 2x1g DDR2, 800 ghz 4-4-4-12
Usage will be fairly heavy gaming, mostly at 1900x1200. Overclockability is good.
Other things I want to keep in mind in this build:
I won't ever use SLI or crossfire.
No components from MSI (not after the wretched, buggy 975x), and I generally don't really like gigabyte either.
Working in Linux is good, but not totally 100% mandatory
So, here's what I'm considering so far:
CPU - i7 920. I can't really see any other logical choice here, anything better is far over budget, anything less barely qualifies as an upgrade. I'm hoping on getting a fairly solid overclock out of it. Oh, and any good suggestions on a cooler for it?
RAM - OCZ 6gb platinum kit is looking good - seems to have good timings (7-7-7-24) and sufficient speed (1600). But I don't know much about RAM so any suggestings are welcome.
Motherboard - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard. Seems to look good, but I wonder if I couldn't get away with anything cheaper since as I mentioned I won't ever use SLI or Crossfire. I do want 6 ram slots in case of future upgrade, which rules out the cheapest board, and I want something solid, not buggy, and overclockability.
Power Supply - I really have no idea what to get here. I have the Corsair CMPSU-750TX down as a good choice so far, but I don't know enough to really choose. This is one of the areas I'm really hoping for help in.
Case - Another area in which I'm at a complete loss. I generally want a mid tower, and decent quality, while being relatively cheap. I really hate external lights too.
Hard drive - This is a real area of contention. I generally preferred Seagate in the past, but with all of their problems lately, I just don't know. The 7200.11 1.5 tb is cheap, and I could just flash the firmware right away... but does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm just gonna get one hard drive, not try RAID or anything.
Thanks for any help! I'm hoping to send off the order soon so I can get a new hard drive in to back this one up on before it totally goes.