codemonkey
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The majority of the tips and all the original parts were compiled by Kc102. This thread is an up-to-date remake of it and was approved by Kc102.
This thread's purpose is to people figure out what parts they should get for high end computer builds.
Rules of Rig Building
AMD Processor Socket types:
Intel Processor Socket types:
Extra Information
CPU (Central Processing Unit, Processor)
For a list of all the high end processors listed in order click here.
Intel
AMD
Motherboards
Intel
AMD
RAM
Video Cards
For up-to-date video card rankings click here or here.
NVIDIA cards support 3D with some accessories required.
Hard Drives
Standard
For a list of the fastest 7200RPM harddrives, click here.
The read and write speeds are the maximum possible. SSDs wear down over time and get slower speeds. All of the listed SSDs have TRIM support.
Power Supplies
For a list of tiered power supply models, click here.
Operating Systems
Windows
With Windows you have two types of operating systems: OEM and Retail. OEM is significantly cheaper than Retail. The downside? You can only install OEM on one computer and do not get any support with OEM. All of these are 64 bit.
To see the different features of the different versions of Windows 7 click here.
Linux
Linux comes with a wide range of distributions. Here are some of the popular free Linux distros. Make sure you get the 64 bit versions so you can fully utilize all of your RAM.
If there's anything you'd like to add to the list, feel free to post.
This thread's purpose is to people figure out what parts they should get for high end computer builds.
Rules of Rig Building
- Do not skimp on the power supply.
- DO NOT SKIMP ON THE POWER SUPPLY.
- Just because it looks good, doesn't mean it's any good.
- When building a rig, dirt cheap is generally too good to be true.
- Make sure your site is a good one, don't buy from a crappy one.
- If your processor says Intel, you need an Intel motherboard.
- If your motherboard says AMD, you need an AMD processor.
- UPS is known for terrible shipping, all boxes are subject to a six foot drop. Go with Fedex for fragile parts (harddrive, motherboard).
AMD Processor Socket types:
- AM2 - Supports single core, and most dual core processors. Does not support any quad core.
- AM2+ - Supports all AM2 processors, as well as quad core processors. AM2+ supports AM3 processors.
- AM3 - AMDs latest generation of cores, improved over AM2+. Supports dual, triple, quad and six cores.
Intel Processor Socket types:
- LGA 775 - Duals to quads.
- LGA 1156 (i3, i5, i7) - The newest generation of Intel processors. Some have multi-threading.
- LGA 1366 (i7) - All quad/six cores with multi-threading.
Extra Information
- Multi Threading - When a single processor core can process two threads at once, adding 1 virtual processor per physical core. Also known as hyper threading.
- Why does Intel cost so much more then AMD? - As far as I can tell, because they can.
- What is PCI-E? - PCI-E, or PCI Express, is the current standard for video cards and other super fast devices. You need two to run a dual video card setup, and so on.
- What are all those numbers after the RAM? 5-5-5-15? - Those are the RAM timings. Generally, the lower the better. Higher RAM speeds are better though, which is what makes DDR3 worthwhile.
- ATI or nVidia? - It's more a matter of personal preference. Both have amazing video cards, but generally nVidia has the strongest single GPU cards on the market while ATI is for the budget builder and recently has had the best GPUs overall.
- How many watts do I need? What Power Supply? - Wattage Calculator or Read Me.
- 32 or 64 bit? 64 hands down. 32 bit does not support more than 4GB of memory. (with a few exceptions)
- What's a Solid State Drive? A solid state drive (or SSD) is a type of hard drive which is incredibly fast and has no moving parts. Unfortunately they're also incredibly costly. SSDs are a type of Flash Drive. Solid State Drives are mostly 2.5" (laptop sized) instead of regular desktop harddrives which are 3.5" - however they will still work with desktops.
CPU (Central Processing Unit, Processor)
For a list of all the high end processors listed in order click here.
Intel
- Intel Core i5 750 - 4 Cores @ 2.66GHz
- Intel Core i5 760 - 4 Cores @ 2.8GHz
- Intel Core i7 875K - 4 Cores @ 2.93GHz with multi-threading (Highly Overclockable)
- Intel Core i7 950 - 4 Cores with multi-threading @ 3.06GHz
- Intel Core i7 960 - 4 Cores with multi-threading @ 3.2GHz
- Intel Core i7 970 - 6 Cores with multi-threading @ 3.2GHz
- Intel Core i7-980X Extreme - 6 Cores with multi-threading @ 3.33GHz (Highly Overclockable)
AMD
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - 4 Cores @ 3.2GHz (Highly Overclockable)
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - 4 Cores @ 3.4GHz (Highly Overclockable)
- AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition - 4 Cores @ 3.5GHz (Highly Overclockable)
- AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition - 6 Cores @ 3.2GHz (Highly Overclockable)
Motherboards
Intel
- GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5 2 PCI-E Slots - LGA 775
- GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R - 2 PCI-E Slots - LGA 1366
- EVGA E758-A1 - 3 PCI-E Slots - LGA 1366
- ASUS P7H57D-V EVO - 2 PCI-E Slots - LGA 1156 [SATA 6Gbps / USB 3.0 Support]
- ASUS Maximus III - 2 PCI-E Slots - LGA 1156
- ASUS P7F7-E WS SuperComputer - 4 PCI-E Slots - LGA 1156 [SATA 6Gbps Support]
AMD
- AsRock A780GMH - 1 PCI-E Slot
- GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H - 2 PCI-E Slots
- ASUS Crosshair IV Formula - 3 PCI-E Slots
- ASUS M4A79 Deluxe - 4 PCI-E Slots
RAM
- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600 4 GB (2x2GB) - 9-9-9-24
- Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600 6 GB (3x2GB) - 8-8-8-25
- Corsair XMS DDR3 2000 6 GB (3x2GB) - 9-9-9-24
- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600 8 GB (2x4GB) - 9-9-9-24
Video Cards
For up-to-date video card rankings click here or here.
NVIDIA cards support 3D with some accessories required.
- AMD Radeon HD 6850
- ATI Radeon HD 5850 - 1GB
- AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5870 - 2GB [1GB Version]
- ATI Radeon HD 5970 - 4GB [2GB Version]
- nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked - 768MB [Normal Clock]
- nVidia GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked - 1GB [Normal Clock]
- nVidia GeForce GTX 470 - 1280MB
- nVidia GeForce GTX 480 - 1536MB
- nVidia GeForce GTX 580 - 1536MB (Best Single GPU Card in the world*)
Hard Drives
Standard
For a list of the fastest 7200RPM harddrives, click here.
- SAMSUNG 500GB 7200RPM
- Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM [SATA 6Gbps Support]
- SAMSUNG 1TB 7200RPM (Fastest 7200RPM HD)
- Western Digital 1.5TB 7200RPM
- Western Digital 2TB 7200RPM
- Western Digital 150GB 10000RPM
- Western Digital 300GB 10000RPM
- Western Digital 600GB 10000RPM [SATA 6Gbps Support]
- SeaGate 300GB 15000RPM
The read and write speeds are the maximum possible. SSDs wear down over time and get slower speeds. All of the listed SSDs have TRIM support.
- Intel 40GB 170MB/s Read, 35MB/s Write
- OCZ 60GB 285MB/s Read, 275MB/s Write [Extra Long Life]
- Intel 80GB 250MB/s Read, 70MB/s Write
- CORSAIR 120GB 285MB/s Read, 275MB/s Write
- Intel 160GB 250MB/s Read, 100MB/s Write
- CORSAIR 256GB 250MB/s Read, 195MB/s Write
- Kingston 512GB 230MB/s Read, 180MB/s Write
Power Supplies
For a list of tiered power supply models, click here.
Operating Systems
Windows
With Windows you have two types of operating systems: OEM and Retail. OEM is significantly cheaper than Retail. The downside? You can only install OEM on one computer and do not get any support with OEM. All of these are 64 bit.
To see the different features of the different versions of Windows 7 click here.
- Home Premium OEM
- Professional OEM
- Ultimate OEM
- Home Premium Retail
- Professional Retail
- Ultimate Retail
Linux
Linux comes with a wide range of distributions. Here are some of the popular free Linux distros. Make sure you get the 64 bit versions so you can fully utilize all of your RAM.
- Ubuntu
- Linux Mint
- openSUSE
- Fedora
- Arch Linux
- Gentoo [Pros Only]
If there's anything you'd like to add to the list, feel free to post.