Help me put together an i7 box

[ToddR]

My current computer is feeling its age, and I'm looking for a replacement. Based on a lot of heavy reading around here, I've come up with these haphazard options. I humbly ask your input.

Needs/uses:
Dual monitor. (I got a Dell 2209WA just the other day. Will use old LCD in secondary position for now.)
No gaming. Not really concerned about Crossfire/SLI, though I suppose I'll want the motherboard to be capable.
Minimal interest in overclocking.
High performance RAW conversion and other DPP photo processing work. Potentially acquiring Lightroom/Photoshop down the road.
Occasional DVD rendering from camcorder stuff.
Connectivity for eSATA and/or FireWire external hard drive for backup.
Might want to occasionally fire up an ancient IDE hard drive internally.

I've changed a card here and a power supply and hard drive there, but I've never done a full from-scratch build. I'm not so much worried about assembly as I am getting components that will play nicely with each other.


Processor
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202): $288.99

Motherboard
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365): $279.99
That seems to be popular, but certainly more expensive. Others considered:
ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359): $249.99
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375): $199.99
MSI X58 Pro LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130221): $184.99

Case
I don't need anything too fancy here.
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042): $58.95
Others considered:
NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146041): $59.99
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021): $109.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152): $59.99

Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005): $99.99
Others considered:
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001): $119.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002): $149.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004): $99.99
Should I be looking at the modular ones with multiple +12V power rails?

Memory
I'm confused about to how to select suitable memory.
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381): $94.99
Others considered:
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227366): $124.99
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365):$139.99
OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB 3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227388): $98.99

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488): $99.99
Not thrilled about Vista yet, but I guess I have to jump sometime. Any gotchas involved in using an OEM version?

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284): $99.99
I'd partition that up to begin with, and probably add a second drive later on.

Graphics
Great. More massive confusion here. I need good photo editing and everyday use performance, not gaming performance. Will the Sapphire suffice? I am also confused about the various power cable requirements for the graphics card vs. what the power supply offers.
SAPPHIRE 100256L Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 1GB Graphics DDR3 memory, HDMI adapter included (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102804): $79.99
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339): $129.99
EVGA 512-P3-1150-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130468): $129.99

Optical
Either one, I suppose.
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136147): $23.99
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173): $26.99

Card Reader
Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223073): $12.99
Will this be a problem given that the Antec 300 case doesn't have an external 3.5" bay?

Heatsink
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029): $39.99
Do I need anything like this or will the CPU be adequately cooled with stock hardware?

Fan
XIGMATEK XSF-F1251 120mm Case Fan - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233009): $6.49
I suppose it can't hurt to add one or two of these to the case.

Aside from mouse & keyboard, did I miss anything?

[tim]

Asus and Gigabyte are both good brands, i'd probably get the cheapest one unless one had a feature you wanted. More memory slots or something. My Asus P5Q doesn't seem to support hot swappable eSata without extra software.

Re case get a decent one, some have a good PS built in.

Card reader - yes it will matter. Just get an external USB Sandisk reader, they're quick and work well.

Can't help with anything else. Looks like a good standard PC. Check the other similar threads, there've been a few recently :)

[Faolan]

Add to your complications the Radeon 4770 and 4850 should be on your list. The Radeon 4770 is probably one of the best sub-£100 cards available.

Over countless builds I've had more success and reliability with Gigabyte mobo's than any other.

As to PSU I've just had to send back a faulty PSU to Antec and turn around was 7 days, plus the support was helpful in sorting it out. The PSU was 2 years old so out of retailer warranty support. Definitely go for modular PSUs as that makes life easier when setting up airflow in the case.

[In2Photos]

I made comments throughout that you can see in bold and selected items as well, by deleting the other links.

My current computer is feeling its age, and I'm looking for a replacement. Based on a lot of heavy reading around here, I've come up with these haphazard options. I humbly ask your input.

Needs/uses:
Dual monitor. (I got a Dell 2209WA just the other day. Will use old LCD in secondary position for now.)
No gaming. Not really concerned about Crossfire/SLI, though I suppose I'll want the motherboard to be capable.
Minimal interest in overclocking.
High performance RAW conversion and other DPP photo processing work. Potentially acquiring Lightroom/Photoshop down the road.
Occasional DVD rendering from camcorder stuff.
Connectivity for eSATA and/or FireWire external hard drive for backup.
Might want to occasionally fire up an ancient IDE hard drive internally.

I've changed a card here and a power supply and hard drive there, but I've never done a full from-scratch build. I'm not so much worried about assembly as I am getting components that will play nicely with each other.


Processor
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202): $288.99

Motherboard
ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359): $249.99

Case
Personal choice, but decide where the tower will reside, then decide if you want any ports to be at the top or bottom of the machine. I went with the RC 590 for the location of the ports, and the ability to place any drive anywhere, plus the removable HDD bay. Any of the $60 models will be fine.

I don't need anything too fancy here.
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042): $58.95
Others considered:
NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146041): $59.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152): $59.99

Power Supply
Go with one of the following. If you would like to have less wires in the case than get the 620 as it is modular. Either one will have enough power for the machine you are considering.

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005): $99.99
Others considered:
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002): $149.99


Memory
Check with the mobo manufacturer to make sure the kit is comaptible, but stick with the cheaper models. In fact you should be able to find some DDR3 1066 even cheaper. You don't need more than that unless you plan to overclock.
I'm confused about to how to select suitable memory.
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381): $94.99

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488): $99.99
Not thrilled about Vista yet, but I guess I have to jump sometime. Any gotchas involved in using an OEM version?

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284): $99.99
I'd partition that up to begin with, and probably add a second drive later on.

Graphics
Go cheap here if you do not plan to game. No need to spend massive amounts on a video card for LR and basic PS work. Any 512 card should be fine.

Optical
Either one, I suppose.
Go with the SATA drive, not IDE anymore.
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173): $26.99

Card Reader

STAY AWAY! Mine lasted all of two weeks! Instead, if you want internal spend the money on the AFT Pro 35u (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820176015&Tpk=aft%20pro%2035u). It reads SDHC cards and is way better than the Rosewill. Or as Tim suggested, use an external SanDisk or Other. I have always liked my SanDisk external, and have recently also picked up a multi reader from Kingston that is nice.

Will this be a problem given that the Antec 300 case doesn't have an external 3.5" bay?

Heatsink
The stock heatsink will work fine, but if you want to run a little cooler the Xigmatek works great. My CPU runs at 25C at idle.

XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029): $39.99
Do I need anything like this or will the CPU be adequately cooled with stock hardware?

Fan
An extra fan or two is nice. I went with two, although only using one extra right now.

XIGMATEK XSF-F1251 120mm Case Fan - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233009): $6.49
I suppose it can't hurt to add one or two of these to the case.

Aside from mouse & keyboard, did I miss anything?

[ToddR]

Ended up ordering this today. Thanks for the comments above!

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202): $288.99
Staying with stock cooling for now; not expecting to overclock at this point.

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365): $279.99
Probably could have gotten by with the P6T V2 instead, but I saw some others using this one.

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042): $58.95

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001): $119.99
The video card specs indicated that 400 watts would suffice, so I opted for 520 watts with modular cabling.

OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227388): $93.99
The Platinum memory shot up about $45 just since yesterday, so I went with another OCZ model that seems to have good marks. Not a whole lot more than 1033 stuff.
While not specifically listed in the mobo user guide, hopefully I won't have problems at non-overclocked speeds.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488): $99.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284): $99.99

SAPPHIRE 100256L Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail 1GB Graphics DDR3 memory, HDMI adapter included (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102804): $79.99"
The Sapphire Radeon 4770 was out of stock and a little more expensive.

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136153): $23.99
Yes, I meant to do SATA here earlier.

COOLER MASTER R4-L2S-122B-GP 120mm 4 BLUE LED LED Case Fan - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103022): $9.99
Picked up a couple of fans.

Logitech Deluxe 250 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Standard Keyboard - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126013): $8.99

Didn't do an internal card reader. I need a 5.25" one due to my case. I can get by for now with my flash drive-sized USB card reader.

All this with shipping, some bundled LightScribe DVD media, bundled mouse, and CPU/memory bundle was $1187, which is still subject to about $50 of mail-in rebate crap.

Hopefully I don't end up kicking myself for not getting the Dell Studio for about the same price, albeit with a few differences. :p

[In2Photos]

Hopefully I don't end up kicking myself for not getting the Dell Studio for about the same price, albeit with a few differences. :p
Looks good! Don't forget to share your pics when you get it built. I think you will be much happier with this than the Dell. You will have the personal satisfaction that YOU built it. At least that is what I keep telling myself. :lol:

[slappy sam]

Nice setup, looks like what I want.

Let me know how you like all the components, how setup went etc. Good luck :D

[ToddR]

So much for my holiday weekend project. Newegg managed to kill 2.5 days after my Monday lunchtime order before anything left California.

However, my case will be here tomorrow. It's the only part they shipped from Tennessee. Yeah, that'll keep me busy. :rolleyes:

[In2Photos]

So much for my holiday weekend project. Newegg managed to kill 2.5 days after my Monday lunchtime order before anything left California.

However, my case will be here tomorrow. It's the only part they shipped from Tennessee. Yeah, that'll keep me busy. :rolleyes:
Did you ask them why? That is unlike them.

[ToddR]

Nah. It stayed in "processing" for just over two days, and then went to "charged" yesterday afternoon. I never saw the "packaging" phase. Then it said "shipped."

This morning, I got tracking numbers and the package with everything but the Antec case left Sylmar, CA early this morning, and the Antec left Memphis early this morning, with expected delivery of 5/26 and 5/22, respectively. With "three day select" UPS and those tracking estimates, I made my earlier post about my weekend project being shot.

Weird! I just looked again while composing this message. Now the package that left California this morning shows as already being in Des Moines since midday, yet scheduled delivery still shows as Tuesday. Meanwhile the Antec has made it from Memphis to outside St. Louis. :confused:

Maybe I'll get all this stuff tomorrow after all. Did they really put a 19 lb. package on an aircraft when I haven't paid for that type of shipping? I guess the 26 lb. case really is on a truck.

(crosses fingers)

[slappy sam]

Nah. It stayed in "processing" for just over two days, and then went to "charged" yesterday afternoon. I never saw the "packaging" phase. Then it said "shipped."

This morning, I got tracking numbers and the package with everything but the Antec case left Sylmar, CA early this morning, and the Antec left Memphis early this morning, with expected delivery of 5/26 and 5/22, respectively. With "three day select" UPS and those tracking estimates, I made my earlier post about my weekend project being shot.

Weird! I just looked again while composing this message. Now the package that left California this morning shows as already being in Des Moines since midday, yet scheduled delivery still shows as Tuesday. Meanwhile the Antec has made it from Memphis to outside St. Louis. :confused:

Maybe I'll get all this stuff tomorrow after all. Did they really put a 19 lb. package on an aircraft when I haven't paid for that type of shipping? I guess the 26 lb. case really is on a truck.

(crosses fingers)
It could have either been:
a) Slow to update, already was there and just didn't update
b) They put it on a plane cause they messed up and didn't get it out same day. Newegg is a great company when it comes to customer satisfaction, I'd almost expect this out of them

Edit: I'd say there is a very good chance you get it all tomorrow :D

[ToddR]

It could have either been:
a) Slow to update, already was there and just didn't update
b) They put it on a plane cause they messed up and didn't get it out same day. Newegg is a great company when it comes to customer satisfaction, I'd almost expect this out of them

Edit: I'd say there is a very good chance you get it all tomorrow :D

Hard to say. I know those things can be slow to update, but I at least expect the dates to be correct when they do. Based on that, it was over 48 hours after ordering before Newegg indicated "shipped" status.

Only the case arrived today. I'm annoyed that, based on tracking information, the rest of my stuff was in Des Moines 20 hours before this morning's normal 9am-ish delivery time yet was not included, while something else with much less in-town lead time was included.

I tried to inquire of the driver how the UPS 3 Day Select thing works, but he was way too grumpy to be of help. I had to rather sternly get his attention (after failing three times while he was apparently quite engrossed in his electronic clipboard thingie and/or ignoring me) by asking him if he was really walking out of here while I was trying to talk to him, so he wasn't too chatty. :p He made some curt remark about the receptionist calling me up there before he could leave. (He always goes down the hall to deliver to another customer, then exits again through our entrance.)

[HyperYagami]

Only the case arrived today. I'm annoyed that, based on tracking information, the rest of my stuff was in Des Moines 20 hours before this morning's normal 9am-ish delivery time yet was not included, while something else with much less in-town lead time was included.

what's the *estimated* delivery date though?

you shouldn't look at "where it is". there are always higher priority items that they need to take care of 1st, and they'll let the lower priority items sit at the warehouse in order to do that.

[ToddR]

what's the *estimated* delivery date though?

you shouldn't look at "where it is". there are always higher priority items that they need to take care of 1st, and they'll let the lower priority items sit at the warehouse in order to do that.

A holiday-delayed Tuesday. I'm just annoyed that it flew half way across the country in five hours only to sit for nearly five days a few miles away from me.

[tim]

You could've paid for express shipping I bet...

[ToddR]

You could've paid for express shipping I bet...

Yeah, if I wanted pay from 7 to 15 times as much.

The shipping option I used was UPS Guaranteed 3 [business] Day, which was $15. It's still on pace for that, though the weekend is involved now. The other shipping options were outrageously unreasonable in comparison: $110, 121, 134, 198, or 237. $237!

There was nothing wrong with my expectation of ordering on a Monday with guaranteed three-day and expecting it here by the weekend. They'd ship Monday or Tuesday and I'd have it. Or so I thought. Newegg still sat on it for almost two days, and the two packages finally started moving in the UPS tracking system Thursday morning. That would have killed the fun of an expensive upgrade to expedited shipping. And once it shipped, the case took only 50 hours or so to reach me by truck. The other parts came by air yet are sitting somewhere.

When I decided to get my 580 EX II, I updated that to overnight shipping because of a weekend shoot that had come up and I needed it. At those weights, I didn't mind the premium, which was probably no more than $15 over slower options. But the flash doesn't weight 40 lbs. or so, either.

[Tony-S]

There was nothing wrong with my expectation of ordering on a Monday with guaranteed three-day and expecting it here by the weekend. They'd ship Monday or Tuesday and I'd have it. Or so I thought. Newegg still sat on it for almost two days, and the two packages finally started moving in the UPS tracking system Thursday morning. That would have killed the fun of an expensive upgrade to expedited shipping.

I think if your order gets into the queue then you're at the mercy of their processing. If I want something shipped that day (orders placed before 2 pm MST, I think) I always choose rush order option that costs a couple of bucks extra.

[ToddR]

I think if your order gets into the queue then you're at the mercy of their processing. If I want something shipped that day (orders placed before 2 pm MST, I think) I always choose rush order option that costs a couple of bucks extra.
I was going to do that, but they only allow that when it is being shipped to the billing address. I always have toys like this shipped to my office where I know there is someone on hand to sign for it.

[Tony-S]

That's strange - I've had many things shipped to my business address using that option.

[ToddR]

That's strange - I've had many things shipped to my business address using that option.
Figures they wouldn't be consistent about this. Your experience obviously disproves what they say. I wish I would have checked it anyway! I was ordering it around 10:30am Pacific time.

Here's what it says if you click the "what's this?" popup link next to the check box that adds the rush processing charge:

RUSH ORDER PROCESSING INFO
Newegg.com offers Rush Processing for order placed before 12PM PST for a small additional fee. The billing and shipping address must be the same. [emphasis mine] Newegg.com will put forth its best efforts, however, we cannot guarantee that your order will ship the same day. If we fail to ship your order on the same day, we will refund the Rush Processing fee.

Sounds specious to me!

[ToddR]

Got the rest of the parts today.

Anything weird I need to know about the OEM/system builders version of Vista? Does it install like a retail version or are there extra installation hoops to jump through?

[In2Photos]

Got the rest of the parts today.

Anything weird I need to know about the OEM/system builders version of Vista? Does it install like a retail version or are there extra installation hoops to jump through?
Nope, should load just like any other OS.

[nphsbuckeye]

Unless I can't read, I don't see a sound card. Is one needed? Or is sound already accounted for?

[ToddR]

Unless I can't read, I don't see a sound card. Is one needed? Or is sound already accounted for?

It's on the motherboard.

[nphsbuckeye]

Ok, thanks.

[mzondeki]

FYI,
Just finished building similar spec comp yesterday for $770..it rocks now
I did shop locally (to avoid hassle of retuning parts if any problem appears).

Core -I7 : $200 -- MicroCenter
GA-EX58 UD4P Motherboard $250 (-$20 MIR if it comes) -- Microcenter
Corsair XMS3 1600MHz 6GB DDR3 Trichannel : $100 (-$20 MIR) from Frys
Seagate 1TB 7200RPM Harddisk : $90 -- Frys
ATI Radeon HD4850 Graphicscard : $120 (-$20 MIR) -- Frys
Windows 7 RC1 64bit OS : Free (till NEXT April)
Fedora Core-10 Linux OS : Free
(Reused case, power supply, DVDRW, Keyboard/Mouse from previous comp)

Total cost : $760 + $70 tax = $830 (-$60 MIR if this comes)

[nphsbuckeye]

FYI,
Just finished building similar spec comp yesterday for $770..it rocks now
I did shop locally (to avoid hassle of retuning parts if any problem appears).

Core -I7 : $200 -- MicroCenter
GA-EX58 UD4P Motherboard $250 (-$20 MIR if it comes) -- Microcenter
Corsair XMS3 1600MHz 6GB DDR3 Trichannel : $100 (-$20 MIR) from Frys
Seagate 1TB 7200RPM Harddisk : $90 -- Frys
ATI Radeon HD4850 Graphicscard : $120 (-$20 MIR) -- Frys
Windows 7 RC1 64bit OS : Free (till NEXT April)
Fedora Core-10 Linux OS : Free
(Reused case, power supply, DVDRW, Keyboard/Mouse from previous comp)

Total cost : $760 + $70 tax = $830 (-$60 MIR if this comes)
How did you get that deal?

[mzondeki]

The deal with microcenter is you CAN buy online , however MUST pickup locally for $199 price. Usually they sell for $229, sometimes they reduce price to $199.

Also Frys was having anniverasry sale , so got RAM and Graphics Card at good price.

[nphsbuckeye]

Ah.

[ToddR]

Somehow I managed to apparently plug everything in right and it worked when I turned it on!

I was able to get Vista installed though it sure takes a while to get through the first cycle of windows patches. Vista also offered me three "solutions" to "problems" that it found, which involved it taking me to Intel's site for some chipset drivers and a power management profile driver.

Even when it wasn't officially downloading or installing patches, it seemed like the hard drive was awfully busy. I'm wondering if I do have the proper drivers in place for the most efficient use. I think the hard drive is on the sixth SATA motherboard socket, in case that somehow matters. I believe that is what it said when I glanced at the installed devices as reported in the BIOS.

I made no changes to anything in the BIOS, except for the date/time, and I turned off Express Gate.

I found that my Vista DVD was chafed a little bit, but the drive read it okay. Have you ever had a little "Netflix rash" on a movie disc? That type of thing. Even though it didn't interfere, I'm having Newegg replace it, and they seem to be treating it as a UPS damage claim. For $100, a disc sealed up like that one was shouldn't have any marks on its surface.

I'm treating the current install as a throwaway. I'll probably use it to experiment and make sure I'm finding the right drivers and such, not putting any real data on it, and then do a fresh install soon.

[Moppie]

Even when it wasn't officially downloading or installing patches, it seemed like the hard drive was awfully busy.



This is just Vista doing it search indexing.
Very normal, and it only does it during down time.
It also does a weekly defrag, also normal, and only happens during down time :)

[basroil]

This is just Vista doing it search indexing.
Very normal, and it only does it during down time.
It also does a weekly defrag, also normal, and only happens during down time :)

Search indexing pretty much dies out on an i7 rig with raid after a day or two (if you carried over externals or swamped the local drives with old files, few minutes if new, clean install)

And on the subject of defrag, change that time right away, it generally goes on in the middle of the day monday for some reason

[Moppie]

Search indexing pretty much dies out on an i7 rig with raid after a day or two (if you carried over externals or swamped the local drives with old files, few minutes if new, clean install)

And on the subject of defrag, change that time right away, it generally goes on in the middle of the day monday for some reason


Search indexing keeps going, as it keeps looking for new things to index :cool:

The defrag is set to run on a Wednesday night by default.
If it can't, (i.e the computer is turned off, or being used) it will run at the next available time.

[basroil]

Search indexing keeps going, as it keeps looking for new things to index :cool:

The defrag is set to run on a Wednesday night by default.
If it can't, (i.e the computer is turned off, or being used) it will run at the next available time.

Odd, all three of my vista machines had monday 2pm... guess i got the runts of the vista litter.

And Search eventually indexes everything, then only needs to reindex modified files or new files. Helps a lot of you exclude your photos from indexing though, especially on external drives (even more so if you have raw with xmp sidecars)