Fenny's Next Build

[Doctor Destiny 41]

My current rig, while great, is out of date and I know it. Instead of going right for the expensive one I have planned, I've decided to go for a more intermediate level. Not super high-end but high enough to play more games.

 

Hence, I have decided to devise something better, and a bit more affordable. It's about $1700, which ain't bad for a real gaming rig.

 

The case. Very important. I decided on a LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62. Ignore the LED fans though, they're getting replaced.

 

Next, the motherboard. I changed to an ASUS board for this build instead. I went with the ASUS P7P55D Intel ATX motherboard.

 

And of course, you have to pair that motherboard with the right processor. Like I've suggested to other people, I decided on the Core i5 Lynnfield @ 2.66 as my CPU.

 

Then the memory. All important of course. I've decided on GSkill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 as my memory modules. I'll buy 4 modules @ 2GB each.

 

And then the hard drive space. I can never seem to have too much, and it's never enough, which sucks but that's okay. I get SATA this time. Anyhow, I've chosen a 60GB OCZ Vertex as the boot drive for storing Windows 7 and my core applications.

 

Then I'll mount three traditional hard disk drives to act as storage for games, media and backups. I'm putting in 2 x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blacks and 1 x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black.

 

Since I have SATA hard drives, I'll need a SATA DVD drive. Nothing fancy here, just an LG Electronics 22X CD/DVD Combo Drive.

 

I like audio. In fact, I love audio so I want crisp sounding music and sound. I don't need an Auzen for this rig so something else works. I decided on the ASUS Xonar D1 PCI audio device. Really good stuff.

 

I already have a video card, and I don't want to spend a lot on one. I decided to just SLI two of the card I have already so I'm adding a second PNY Technology 9600GT @ 512MB. Better performance, a quarter of the cost of a high end card.

 

Since I said the LIAN LI fans would be replaced, I stand by that. I have a 120mm to replace so it's getting swapped out with an LED-less Scythe S-FLEX.

 

There are also a pair of 140mm fans that act as top exhaust. As such, I'm replacing the stock ones with a pair of Yate Loon D14SM fans.

 

I like controlling things. And it will just look bad ass on the front of my case so I'm adding a Lamptron FC-5 fan controller. I intend to purchase the dark blue variety.

 

Naturally, I need to provide power to the whole system and my non-modular 550W won't cut it since it doesn't have multiple PCI connections. I've decided on the Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU. It's not modular but I have a large enough case.

 

And, as my OS of choice, it will definitely Windows 7 Pro x64. Oh yes.

 

However, my old rig isn't going to waste. Not a chance. I'm just converting it into an all-purpose server.

 

Spec Sheets:

- LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Case

- ASUS P7P55D PRO ATX Motherboard

- Core i5 Lynnfield CPU

- GSkill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 RAM Modules

- 60GB OCZ Vertex SATAII MLC SSD

- 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM HDD

- 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM HDD

- LG 22X DVD/CD Burner Combo with LightScribe

- ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card

- PNY Technology GeForce 9600GT 512MB

- Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Case Fan

- Yate Loon D14SM 140mm Case Fan

- Lamptron FC-5 Fan Controller

- Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU

- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM

[Inferno 22]

$1700 is already leaning towards high-end tbh

 

But yeah, looks great

[Nmenth 291]

Fenny's build, huh? Not Doctor Destiny's?

[Luk3us 63]

You should probably get a slightly better video card than that one. It'll last longer that way.

 

As for the sound card, what kind of speakers do you have? Cause with out decent ones, you probably won't be able to hear much difference between onboard and a sound card.

 

 

Awh, I want a fancy solid hard drive. Someday.

[Fiesta 0]

You should probably get a slightly better video card than that one. It'll last longer that way.

 

9600GTs actually scale VERY well in SLI, with 2 of them not too far behind a single Radeon 5750. It'll be fine.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Fiesta

[Luk3us 63]

lol, my bad. Didn't see the bit about SLI.

[Malevolence 6]

Spec Sheets:

- LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Case

- MSI P55-GD65 ATX Motherboard

- Core i5 Lynnfield CPU

- GSkill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 RAM Modules

- 60GB OCZ Vertex SATAII MLC SSD

- 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM HDD

- 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM HDD

- LG 22X DVD/CD Burner Combo with LightScribe

- ASUS Xonar D1 PCI Sound Card

- PNY Technology GeForce 9600GT 512MB

- Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Case Fan

- Yate Loon D14SM 140mm Case Fan

- Lamptron FC-5 Fan Controller

- Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU

- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM

 

Looks good. The casing is definitely a good choice, cheap, and has the features, except that its not in aluminum, but its still an excellent choice! And the overall cost seems high end to me, especially with the part on SSD. Damn maybe I should get a SSD.

 

I already have a video card, and I don't want to spend a lot on one. I decided to just SLI two of the card I have already so I'm adding a second PNY Technology 9600GT @ 512MB. Better performance, a quarter of the cost of a high end card.

 

Why not get a GTX 260, and turn the old 9600GT into a dedicated PhysX card instead of SLI two old cards?

Edited October 26, 2009 by Malevolence

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Because my way is cheaper.

 

After some additional research, I changed to an ASUS board instead of MSI. Same features, a few bucks cheaper.

[Sonic 296]

Which ASUS board? Some of the ASUS boards have the main ATX 24 pin plug in the dumbest location.

 

This is where mine is located...

 

 

Why ASUS designed it thay way I'll never know.

[Malevolence 6]

Which ASUS board? Some of the ASUS boards have the main ATX 24 pin plug in the dumbest location.

 

This is where mine is located...

 

 

Why ASUS designed it thay way I'll never know.

 

Lol seriously why the hell did they design it there?!

 

I still recommend EVGA or Gigabyte brands. They are pretty good.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Which ASUS board? Some of the ASUS boards have the main ATX 24 pin plug in the dumbest location.

Check my opening post. It's not in that location.

[Hans5849 0]

I'd go with a Intel SSD, there have been problems with others. The competitiveness is getting close though.

http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667

 

Also I have some Nexus Real Silent Case fans and they are awesome.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

[TheBlackOut 7]

I also second the Intel SSD thing. I've been following SSDs closely on anandtech and other tech sites (because for some reason, they interest me) and Hans got a good point. Though Intel just corrupted data with some new firmware updates, but that just shows you don't be the first one to upgrade your firmware.

 

MSI? I've had bad, bad experiences with them.. but that was a few years ago. I'd still go ASUS or Gigabye.

[Mighty BOB! 5]

SSDs still don't have a price/capacity ratio that I like, even if I'd just keep the OS and programs on them.

[Malevolence 6]

SSDs still don't have a price/capacity ratio that I like, even if I'd just keep the OS and programs on them.

 

Yea that is true at this point of time. But don't expect any price drops of the SSDs for a long while.

[TheBlackOut 7]

Yea that is true at this point of time. But don't expect any price drops of the SSDs for a long while.

What's a long time? I see SSDs coming down to a reasonable price (where you'd buy a 250GB SSD over a 250GB HDD) by this time next year, if not sooner.

[Fiesta 0]

Also I have some Nexus Real Silent Case fans and they are awesome.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

 

Well of course they're awesome, they're rebranded Yate Loons.