New Computer Build

I finally broke down and sold my old computer and built a new one. You can see my old setup here

I purchased the parts for my new computer from my favorite retailer, Newegg.com. They’ve always got great prices and you can usually save an addition $50-75 by looking for sales and combo deals. Here’s what I ended up with:

CPU: Intel i7 2600K  @ 3.4GHz
I would have loved to get one of the new Sandy Bridge E chips, but couldn’t justify the $600 price tag. Not to worry, this will meet all my needs – passmark rates it as 3 times better than my previous chip – Intel QX6700 @ 2.66GHz.

CPU Cooler: Zalman CSPS9700 LED 110mm
I’ve used Zalman coolers on half a dozen builds now and have yet to be disappointed. They’re quiet, push plenty of air, have simple fan controller, and look cool to boot.

Motherboard: ASUS P8z68-V Pro/Gen3
I followed MaximumPC’s recommendation on this one. It’s got SATA 3.0, USB 3.0, and the better Z68 chipset. Everything I need.

RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600
When G.Skill first showed up in a big way on the RAM market I was skeptical. They hadn’t proven themselves yet. Well, they have certainly done that now, racking up thousands of positive reviews on newegg. I found the cheapest, best reviewed DDR3 1600 RAM I could. Obviously it isn’t the fastest stuff out there, but that’s fine.  I paid $35 with a promo code for it. Can’t beat that.

GPU: HIS IceQ Radeon HD 6950
On my previous build I’d bought Nvidia’s 8800GTX, the top of the line in mid-2007. This time I was on a little tighter budget and the 6950 was scoring only a little below cards twice it’s price on passmark. It’s 3 times more powerful than my 8800GTX  and it blows me away. This particular model also has 2GB of memory. My 8800 was having a tough time with Battlefield 3 (just meeting the minimum system requirements) while the 6950 makes the game look absolutely gorgeous. I feel sorry for all the Xbox 360 and PS3 owners who don’t get to play the game this way.

PSU: Thermaltake 750W Modular
Corsair power supplies seem to have emerged as being one of the premium power supply manufacturers since my last build. However, at $89 the price of this Thermaltake PSU is hard to beet.

HDD: An old 500GB Samsung drive I had laying around. I’d like to upgrade to an OCZ Vertex 3 SSD drive sometime in the next 6 months.

Optical Drive: ASUS DVD Burner
I hardly ever use my DVD drive anymore so I found this one for those rare occasions.

Case: NZXT Phantom
I bought this case about a year ago, soon after it had been released as a temporary case. My wife likes it and one day it will be used for her computer, but for now it means I didn’t have to buy a case It’s not quite as nice as my old Antec 1200 – doesn’t allow E-ATX boards, the fans are a little cheaper. It does have better cable management options though.

All in all I am very satisfied with this new build which cost less than a grand and has triple the power of my old system.

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