Laptop dies for the 3rd time, I'm going to desktops - Hardware & Software

Core i7-960 – 8mb cache, 3.4GHz, quad core, 1366pin $310 Asus Sabretooth – SATA3, i7 – 1366pin, 24GB RAM, 2xPCIe 2.0, 6x DDR3 $205 Patriot Viper2-Sector7 12GB kit (3x4GB) DDR3-2000 $125 ASUS 1280MB GTX570 $389 Kingston 64GB SSD $104 24inch ASUS PA246Q 6ms $559 Power supply $50? Total: $1750 I inherited my dad’s old work laptop; he payed 4.5k for it so when I got it 3 years later is was still a pretty good computer. However, over that time the graphics card died 2 times, thankfully the laptop was under extended warranty so I got it fixed for free. Now though the graphics card has died once again, and it turns out it will cost $700 to replace. Fuck that. So I’m going back to desktops after using a laptop for 5 years. I don’t need a case, hard drives, OS, mouse or keyboard. I’m using my very old computer case from many years ago, I’m going to use the two 320GB hard drives from my laptop until I have a little bit more cash, and I already have Windows 7 Home Premium from my laptop. So can anyone see any major problems? I know I’m paying a lot for the monitor but it got some amazing reviews, and I intend to get a second identical one down the track. I will get a second GPU later as well. I’m in Australia so Newegg is kinda useless. I will be buying everything from MSY ([url]http://www.msy.com.au/[/url]), they have some pretty good prices. Depending on how much I get for my birthday next week I might extend the price up to 2k and get 2 WD Green 1TB HDDs for $100 each. So does everything check out? Any suggestions?

The motherboard you chose doesn't support 2000mhz ram. And if you plan on overclocking your CPU i recommend you get DDR3 1600, because with overclocking your CPU will come overclocking the RAM, the last thing you wanna do is go past the motherboards limits. If you don't plan on overclocking then just get the 1866. Also it will be nearly impossible to find a worthy PSU to run this machine for 50 dollars. You will need to spend about 80-120. I recommend the Corsair series, as I'm sure everyone else does too.

Uhh. Why an i7? You do not need it. Get a i5 2500k and a P67 or Z68 MoBo. No need for 2000MHz RAM, get 1600MHz. Overpaying for monitor, there are cheaper and better ones. Your old PC case might not fit these. Laptop HDD-s are 2.5", Normal ones, 3.5", there might be a small problem. Get a Spinpoint F3, better. WD Green drives are not for normal use, only for storage. They are really slow.

[QUOTE=BabyEater;33021819]The motherboard you chose doesn't support 2000mhz ram. And if you plan on overclocking your CPU i recommend you get DDR3 1600, because with overclocking your CPU will come overclocking the RAM, the last thing you wanna do is go past the motherboards limits. If you don't plan on overclocking then just get the 1866. Also it will be nearly impossible to find a worthy PSU to run this machine for 50 dollars. You will need to spend about 80-120. I recommend the Corsair series, as I'm sure everyone else does too.[/QUOTE] 1866 isn't available, MSY only stock 1600 and 2000, and apparently the 2000 ram will just be downclocked by the motherboard to its maximum. Its only $15 more than the 1600 anyway I don't plan to overclock. Revised my PSU, going to get a Corsair 750watt modular thingy. [QUOTE=tratzzz;33021856]Uhh. Why an i7? You do not need it. Get a i5 2500k and a P67 or Z68 MoBo. No need for 2000MHz RAM, get 1600MHz. Overpaying for monitor, there are cheaper and better ones. Your old PC case might not fit these. Laptop HDD-s are 2.5", Normal ones, 3.5", there might be a small problem. Get a Spinpoint F3, better. WD Green drives are not for normal use, only for storage. They are really slow.[/QUOTE] A quick Google tells me that the i5-2500K only supports 1333 RAM. Seems rather slow compared to the 1866, so no. Once again, the 2000 is only $15 more. When you just say "there are cheaper and better ones" it helps to suggest some. Anyway, this monitor is going to last me a long time and it gets excellent reviews. Unless the have changed from ATX form factor in the last few years then it will fit fine. I know they are 2.5", can be solved very cheaply with a bracket thingy, the connectors are the same thankfuly. The Spinpoint F3 is not stocked by MSY, I have a slight attachment to WD anyway. Green drives are for constant long term use and thus more reliable, apparently quieter too, I have had HDDs die in the past and don't want it to happen again. While slower I intend to run them in RAID 0 (I think that is the right one, parrellel?) so speed should not be a problem. I'm booting from an SSD anyway.

You're chosen past-generation CPU/Mobo, you just get either Sandy Bridge or wait for Sandy Bridge-E.

[QUOTE=SataniX;33022525]You're chosen past-generation CPU/Mobo, you just get either Sandy Bridge or wait for Sandy Bridge-E.[/QUOTE] Its only 12 months old....

[QUOTE=ksenior;33022663]Its only 12 months old....[/QUOTE] After 12 months a baby has gone from a useless pile of meat in someone's stomach to something that communicates and walks. The LGA-1366's some old stuff you don't want in todays gaming PC, seeing as RAM speed won't differ to you and the i5-2500k almost raped the i7 extreme (The 1366's fastest CPU iirc) costing over 5 times as much.

a i5-2500k/i7-2600k will perform better and will overclock more than any i7 from 1336

i5 2500k supports your 2000MHz ram too.. Just get 1600, no need for bigger. It will boost you maximum 1FPS, unless you get an AMD Llano build. And that would be dumb, as Llano is for small budgets.

As everyone else said, you don't need the extra 400 Mhz on the RAM and the CPU is basically shit. Get some 1600 mhz RAM and a 25/2600k.

Alright I look at the CPU, but I'm getting the 2000 ram, its only $15 more than the 1600

1366 is a dead socket. Go for 1155. [editline]30th October 2011[/editline] Also, don't ever cheap out on the PSU.

I'm going to wait a couple of weeks for the next line of i7s

That 15$ could get you maybe a better GPU or a bigger HDD or a better case. Save the money from the unneeded 2000mhz ram and get 1600MHz. Seriously. It is not like you couldn't somehow OC the 1600MHz RAM higher.

[QUOTE=ksenior;33031799]I'm going to wait a couple of weeks for the next line of i7s[/QUOTE] What are you talking about? Ivy bridge is Q1 2012, that's not exactly a "couple of weeks". [editline]30th October 2011[/editline] If you're thinking of Sandy Bridge-E I'd like to point out that they're not meant for gaming and will not substantially increase performance. [editline]30th October 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=tratzzz;33021856] Overpaying for monitor, there are cheaper and better ones. [/QUOTE] Uh not really. It's a 30bit P-IPS monitor with a resolution of 1920x1200. Show me one that is cheaper and also better.

[QUOTE=ksenior;33031799]I'm going to wait a couple of weeks for the next line of i7s[/QUOTE] Why did you even bother making this thread if you're going to ignore the advice of everyone in the thread? You're just wasting our time.

I haven't completely ignored your advice, for one I’m getting a better PSU, and I’m getting a more modern CPU. I just don’t agree that $15 less for something slower is good, nor do I think I should dump my 12 month old CPU for a 9 month old CPU. Could you tell me why Sandy Bridge E is a poor choice?

[QUOTE=ksenior;33048486]I haven't completely ignored your advice, for one I’m getting a better PSU, and I’m getting a more modern CPU. I just don’t agree that $15 less for something slower is good, nor do I think I should dump my 12 month old CPU for a 9 month old CPU. Could you tell me why Sandy Bridge E is a poor choice?[/QUOTE] You once again just proved that you're ignoring what we say. I'll quote myself because clearly you just ignored it. [quote] they're not meant for gaming and will not substantially increase performance.[/quote] LGA 2011 will be the current gen version of LGA 1366. Expensive and geared towards power users doing work with enterprise level software. So unless you're working with some high level software like Maya there's no point. Also that i7-960 you selected came out in Q4 2009. It's not 12 months old, it's [b]24 months old.[/b]It's also much slower and less efficient than Sandy Bridge based chips. I seriously don't get why you keep trying to justify paying more money for old inferior hardware. It just makes you look stupid.

[QUOTE=garrynohome;33048733]You once again just proved that you're ignoring what we say. I'll quote myself because clearly you just ignored it. LGA 2011 will be the current gen version of LGA 1366. Expensive and geared towards power users doing work with enterprise level software. So unless you're working with some high level software like Maya there's no point. Also that i7-960 you selected came out in Q4 2009. It's not 12 months old, it's [b]24 months old.[/b]It's also much slower and less efficient than Sandy Bridge based chips. I seriously don't get why you keep trying to justify paying more money for old inferior hardware. It just makes you look stupid.[/QUOTE] I already told you I'm not getting the 960. And I don't see how running games does not fit that description

[QUOTE=ksenior;33048486]I just don’t agree that $15 less for something slower is good[/QUOTE] Because any sandy Bridge chip currently available can't take advantage of DDR3 faster than 1333 MHz. I have DDR3-1600 and my SB chip has issues being overclocked to run with 1600MHz memory. DDR3-2000 is even faster, and the chances of it not working properly at that speed are high, so you're basically paying for something you can't fully utilize, which makes no sense. [QUOTE=ksenior;33048486]Could you tell me why Sandy Bridge E is a poor choice?[/QUOTE] Because LGA2011 doesn't exist yet, and won't exist for several more months (at least 2, more likely 4-6). And you're also forgetting that with sparkly new technology, comes the growing pains of it. Remember that nasty problem all LGA1155 boards had with the SATA controller? there's no guarantee that something equally as nasty won't pop up after the new stuff is released to retail.

[QUOTE=bohb;33052875]Because any sandy Bridge chip currently available can't take advantage of DDR3 faster than 1333 MHz. I have DDR3-1600 and my SB chip has issues being overclocked to run with 1600MHz memory. DDR3-2000 is even faster, and the chances of it not working properly at that speed are high, so you're basically paying for something you can't fully utilize, which makes no sense. Because LGA2011 doesn't exist yet, and won't exist for several more months (at least 2, more likely 4-6). And you're also forgetting that with sparkly new technology, comes the growing pains of it. Remember that nasty problem all LGA1155 boards had with the SATA controller? there's no guarantee that something equally as nasty won't pop up after the new stuff is released to retail.[/QUOTE] What are you talking about? Sandy Bridge E is launching in two weeks. The launch date isn't even relevant. If he's using a build for gaming buying Sandy Bridge E is a huge waste.