I am custom building my own computer for the first time. I would like to get suggestions/feedback for motherboards, processors, and video cards. I'm planning to build a gaming desktop with an Intel i5 750 processor and an nVidia GeForce GTX 460. I'm stuck deciding on a motherboard though. If anyone can link their motherboard of choice from the Newegg.com or Tigerdirect.com websites, I would appreciate it. I'd also like to get some feedback on the CPU and GPU mentioned. As for the video card, is there a big difference between the 768MB vs the 1 GB version? I don't want to spend more than $200 per component. Thanks for the help.|||GTX 460 is a good card to opt for now. The difference in memory wont make much of a difference unless you play at really large resolutions.
As for the motherboard, I'm thinking of this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct…
I use the non-USB 3.0 version of it and IMO, its a pretty solid mobo|||the only difference between 768mb and 1gb is the memory obviously nothing more.its the same processor same clock ,same chip-set.since most games now asking for 512mb they ll now ask for 1gb and later even more( even 1TB ain't enough for these developers:-| ).so better go for 1GB.but the more clock frequency the more powerful your card than just having high memory.so focus first on core clock then memory.i restrict myself to GPU.|||for mother board i suggest asus maximus III gene its a very good baord specially for overclocking
the rest its ur choice!
visit this sites and ask them
tomshardware.com
overclock.net|||I think your asking the right question but you've left out some more specific questions. Do you want an SLI or non SLI system? If this is a gaming rig, then I would assume you want an SLI enabled motherboard for adding more video card in future. There are also triple SLI slot and this is for the NVIDIA card that supports triple configuration. However, triple is kinda over kill at this point. If you do some reading on SLI, after third card, you don't get the full benefit of adding additional card. In fact, third card will probably give your about 50% more performance boost. That's really sucks since your spending a price on full card and only geting 50% performace.
As for processor, getting i5 means your will have to get DDR3 rams. For the money/performance, I'd really like to recommend socket 755 Q9450 with water kit and DDR2 - 8gb setup. Two reason this is best over i5 is that i5 doesn't give you much in terms of future upgrade since i7 will most likely be released with another set of pins so your not gonna get the most upgrade capability on i5. Socket 755 is still around and even though intel will most likely never release another quad core processor on socket 755 other than the existing die but your still getting a lot of processing power than i5 at the half the cost for gaming rig.
As for DDR2 vs. DDR3, DDR3 will give you up to 12gb or 16gb depending on your motherboard, but about 99.99% of games don't even use up to 2gb of ram. DDR2 will get you up to 8gb and with 32bit OS, you can only utilize 3.5gb of that. So getting 8gb with 64bit OS will be the best choice.
As for the video card, that is purely depend on the monitor size and number of monitors, if your like me only runs it in 24 inch 1920x1200 then 768MB video card will run it 30fps on that resolution. The higher ram cards can run 2650x1600 mode for 30+ inch monitor. Also, do you plan on running this on multiple monitor? If so then you'll have to get the double ram size like 1.5gb to 2gb video cards for multiple monitor support.
In the past, I've had some success with barebone kit from tiger direct that sold the CPU/motherboard/ram in combo.|||Both AMD and intel make good cpu's. AMD cpu's are often a bit cheaper but intel cpu's in this class may use less power and also generate less heat. For instance i just built a system using an intel i7 K 875 cpu, that's a tiny bit more expensive then the AMD phenom II 9050T that performs about the same, but the intel cpu only uses 95 watt max, and the amd cpu 125 watt max. Not strange because the intel prcocessor has less cores then the amd cpu, in this case. so when looking for cpu, look at price performance and powerconsumption. Here is a handy comparison table:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpu…
I think ur cpu choice is good, buy a cheap, low featured/gadget, but high quality (preferably all solid capasitators, or in any case a board presented as an overclocking or military style board) socket 1156 mainboard with with a intel p55 chipset. Make sure though the board u buy has a bios that supports ur cpu. I had to look very good to find a board that supported the i7 k 875 cpu because it's a relatively new variant, and shops mostly sell boards that have old bioses. Luckily i found a good, newly released board from MSI (model p55a-g55) whose first release bios supports all intel socket 1156 cpu's, so i knew for sure it would support my cpu. Be warned though. The i5 may give a bit less problems but i'd check. Having said that it may be that an unsupported cpu wil work normally, but i wasn't prepared to take the risk.
Im not the overclocking type, im more of a keep it cool then it lasts longer guy. That's why i like to buy overclockable stuff and then not overclock it ;-). As a cooler i chose the mother of all coolers: the scythe mugen 2 rev B. It's huge, but not very expensive. The bigger the coolingblok the more effective the coolingfan wil be, the more coolness u'll get for ur money. When u buy this monster be carefull it fits though, but it should, just, fit in a casing with a normal width. Here is an assembly vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSGr-7NqU…
The person in this vid doesn't follow the exact assembly guidelines but it'll give u an idea on how it's done, or could be done. I did the assembly with the cooler on top. In any case make sure u mount it in the right orientation, or u can unscrew it again, like i had to do when placing it on my cpu ;-)
For memory just take 4 GB of a descent brand of ram, unless u plan to go 64bit, then take 6 or 8Gb, and always make sure it's compatible with ur mainboard. A lot of ram seems to be optimized for p55 and socket 1156 so that should be no problem.
If u can get an nvidia gtx 460 for around $200 then go for it. In a bit higher priceclass the radeon 8570 might be a good choice, but for that price the 460 is the best in it's class. Here is a review:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/07/1…
(it reviews both variants simultaniously)
Take also a look at this performance table to see where this card is standing:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_e…
Last but not least get a good 80plus effectiveness certified powersupply a bit stronger then recommended for the card.
Tip: before buying components read reviews, visit the manufacturer site etc.
Another tip: when putting a computer together it's normal not everything goes as planned. I've put together quite a few comps already and i always had some problems varying from serious (rare) like a non working mainboard to problems that in hindsight seem trivial but may look daunting when u first assemble it, because u stand with all that expensive stuff in ur hands and wonder if it'll work. Always start wel prepared and wel rested with a big workspace and never use force when u don't know a solution. Just take a step back and think about it first.
The "problems" i encountered building my new comp were:
1: i forced open a frontdoor of the casing while it was actually locked. The door survived, but that was sheer luck
2: I mounted the cooler in the wrong direction, getting it very close to the board components, making me worry i might have damaged them, and also spilling some heath conducting paste on the board that got me kinda nervous also. in hindsight it was all very trivial.
3: i had what i thought were 2 pci-e x 16 slots so i put the vga card in the easiest slot but then i read in the manual the 2nd slot was actually 8x (although also refered to as 16x) so i had to move the vga card to the 1st pci slot wich led to some very tight manouvering. In the end it fell into place though.
4: the only available spot i had to mount a 2.5" hdd proved to small to connect the sata cable without bending it to much. After making a partition image i noticed datacorruption wich was very likely caused by an overly bend and pressured sata cable. So i had to figure out a solution that in the end was quite simple by just screwing some mainboard distanceholders into the hdd and then mount it.
In the end i can say it went quite smoothly although i made some stupid mistakes....
U wil definately encounter similar things so be prepared ;-)
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