Building PC: What would you change?

[natejj]

Heres a proposed machine I put together online, what would you change, and why. Thanks.


EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GTS 500MHZ 320MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card
In Stock 22688 $349.99 $349.99

Mushkin HP-550 550W ATX 12V 24PIN SLI Ready ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan
In Stock 19508 $100.25 $100.25

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Windsor 2.6GHZ 2000FSB 2X1MB 90NM Retail Box
In Stock 18453 $216.60 $216.60

ASUS M2N-E ATX AM2 Nforce 570 Ultra PCI-E16 PCI-E4 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard
In Stock 18885 $118.45 $118.45

OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
In Stock 18495 $134.99 $134.99

Maxtor DiamondMax 20 160GB SATA2 7200RPM 8MB NCQ Hard Drive 3YR MFR Warranty
In Stock 23803 $75.53 $75.53

Samsung SyncMaster 225BW HAS 22IN Widescreen LCD Black 1680X1050 700:1 5MS VGA DVI HDCP W/ DVI Cable
In Stock 20881 $343.90 $343.90

Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse 2000DPI USB Bilingual
In Stock 16284 $76.11 $76.11

Antec P180 ATX Advanced Mid Tower Aluminum Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS W/ USB & Audio Ports
In Stock 15126 $139.98 $139.98

YOUR TOTAL $1,555.80

I'm not necessarily stuck on AMD, but I have always used them in the past and they have been good to me.

[suen17]

I'm not a big fan of the mushkin PSU. It's really loud for my tastes and 550W well, just isn't nearly enough. You can't go wrong with a 650W+ OCZ, Silverstone, or Enermax. A little pricier though.

[Mibz]

Spend the extra little bit and go from a 120GB HDD to 500GB or so.

[natejj]

Both good pieces of advice. Switched out the old HD and PSU for

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
In Stock 18413 $153.98 $153.98


OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
In Stock 18185 $166.89 $166.89

Figure you can never have enough power...

[Xaroxantu Zero]

OEM Depot is selling the Superclocked version of the 8800 GTS for $329.99.

There's no reason to get a power supply over 500W unless you're planning to go SLI.

[sabad66]

I would go with Core 2 Duo based system instead.

[natejj]

Originally posted by sabad66
I would go with Core 2 Duo based system instead.

Any reason? I've been out of the whole gaming/hardware scene for about a year now, and have noticed AMD chips are suuuper cheap, compared to Intel. I mean an intel for the same price is clocked around 1.8-2.0 ghz, while my AMD is 2.6 ghz.

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by sabad66
I would go with Core 2 Duo based system instead.

:werd: I'd even take a E4300 over that processor... you can get a faster intel system for the same money..

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by natejj


Any reason? I've been out of the whole gaming/hardware scene for about a year now, and have noticed AMD chips are suuuper cheap, compared to Intel. I mean an intel for the same price is clocked around 1.8-2.0 ghz, while my AMD is 2.6 ghz.

You can't go off clock speed any more, Core 2 Duo is the best processor money can buy right now.

[natejj]

Alright, I'll look into Intel some more. Lets say I'm budgeting $400 for CPU/Mobo... what combo would you guys pick? I am going off of www.ncix.com

These are the two I picked, thoughts?


Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail
In Stock 19144 $279.99 $279.99

ASUS P5B ATX LGA775 Conroe 965P DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard
In Stock 19355 $136.85 $136.85

[sabad66]

Those two would be exactly what I would go with for $400.

[natejj]

Awesome. The bill is $17xx right now, so hopefully when I build this, in September, I can get some nicer Ram, and only pay $14xx maybe? Thanks for the advice.

[suen17]

Originally posted by Xaroxantu Zero
OEM Depot is selling the Superclocked version of the 8800 GTS for $329.99.

There's no reason to get a power supply over 500W unless you're planning to go SLI.

While that's true, I always like having more power b/c of the possibility of adding more HDs - putting together a raid setup; or even when running two optical drives in tandem to copy discss, it's nice to know that you've that little extra "just in case"

[cityhunter2501]

hey nate, this is the rig im building up the coming week for myself

Processor :Intel Core™2 Duo Processor E6420 2.13GHz w/ 4MB Cache
CPU Heatsink/Fan :Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler for Socket 775
Motherboards :Asus P5B-E w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
Memory :Kingston HyperX 2GB PC2-6400 Low Latency Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (2 x 1GB, NVIDIA SLI-Ready)
Case :Antec Sonata III Quiet Super Mini Tower w/ EarthWatts 500W, eSATA
Hard Drives :Western Digital 250GB WD Caviar SE16 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache
Optical Drive :LG Super Multi DVD Writer 18x18x10 DVD +/-RW Dual-Layer, SATA, Black
Video Cards :eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out

all for total price(gst included) of $1308.68

my cpu+mobo+ram I should be able to get my rig running at 3.0Ghz easily.

even the Intel Core™2 Duo Processor E4300 1.8GHz w/ 2MB Cache which cost only $139.99 is pretty good for overclocking as it can get to 2.6 to 3.0Ghz on air.

[whoatemyling]

You may want to step away from the P5B series as Intel will be phasing out the 965/975 chipset. Instead the P35 chipset will the the defacto standard.

Secondly, if you ever intend to upgrade the processor, the P35 chipset will be supporting 1333/1066 FSB and 65nm based intel processors (ie: Gen 2 Core 2 Duo's.)

Thus, a better motherboard within the same price range:
Asus P5K.

The only problem with this setup, is the inability to go SLI if you ever decide to do so, as you're using a 8800GTS.

[zieg]

Ah, I say stick with the AMD.. I had no idea they were that cheap though.. Where are those prices from?

[mekeni]

don't forget to get a sound card... SB XFi

and a decent pair of speakers, Logitech Z 2300 at least.

[cityhunter2501]

Originally posted by whoatemyling
You may want to step away from the P5B series as Intel will be phasing out the 965/975 chipset. Instead the P35 chipset will the the defacto standard.

Secondly, if you ever intend to upgrade the processor, the P35 chipset will be supporting 1333/1066 FSB and 65nm based intel processors (ie: Gen 2 Core 2 Duo's.)

Thus, a better motherboard within the same price range:
Asus P5K.

The only problem with this setup, is the inability to go SLI if you ever decide to do so, as you're using a 8800GTS.
thanks for the headup
I wouldnt even bother going SLi anyway, 8800GTX ftw instead :bigpimp:

I didnt see an SLI version of the P5K only crossfire edition
Asus P5K w/ DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, PCI-E x16 CrossFire

so might go with the
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R w/ DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E x16

instead which was my choice anyway if I were going P35 chipset anyway. do you know how well they perform btw? and if they overclock well?
main reason I was staying with the 965 was because its a well solid mobo for current c2d builds.
pls back then was reading alot of problem with ICH9R (P35) over ICH8R (965/975)

but thanks for the tip, ill spend the next 2 days more about the P35 chipset and the gigabyte motherboard in particular, then hopefully start building my new rig wednesday :thumbsup:

[beecue]

sorry to hijack .. just wondering if this would be a decent pc .. currently using AMD 1800 and its been freezing a lot lately .. no viruses or anything .. maybe heating issue ... looking to spend about $500 .. is this ok?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE w/ 2x512K Cache (Socket AM2) $99.95
Asus M2A-VM HDMI w/ AMD 690G, DualDDR2 800, Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, PCI-E x16, HDMI, DVI-HDCP $109.95
Kingston 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM $44.95
Antec Sonata II w/ 450W SmartPower 2.0 $119.95
Cooler Master 120mm Neon LED Fan, Blue $12.95
Seagate 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache $89.95

Total Cost: $548.76 with memory express assembly

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by beecue
sorry to hijack .. just wondering if this would be a decent pc .. currently using AMD 1800 and its been freezing a lot lately .. no viruses or anything .. maybe heating issue ... looking to spend about $500 .. is this ok?

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE w/ 2x512K Cache (Socket AM2) $99.95
Asus M2A-VM HDMI w/ AMD 690G, DualDDR2 800, Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, PCI-E x16, HDMI, DVI-HDCP $109.95
Kingston 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM $44.95
Antec Sonata II w/ 450W SmartPower 2.0 $119.95
Cooler Master 120mm Neon LED Fan, Blue $12.95
Seagate 320GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache $89.95

Total Cost: $548.76 with memory express assembly

Depends on what you want to use it for - seeing as how there's no video card on there, I'm guessing you won't play games or do anything graphically intensive so for basic computing that should be fine.

Natejj, people have basically said everything that I would've, so go with the larger HD, better PSU and yes, Intel Core 2 Duo. Clockspeed is not a good measure of CPU power anymore and right now it's just a fact that Intel > AMD.

[beecue]

Correct no gaming but will the integrated video play 720p video files? I'm going to be using it for basic computing and watching tv shows.

[HyperZell]

Originally posted by beecue
Correct no gaming but will the integrated video play 720p video files? I'm going to be using it for basic computing and watching tv shows.

Okay, now you're talking video card. You could pick up a midrange card but then your processor would be your bottleneck...either you give up the 720p idea or save up a little more, because you're look at spending an extra ~$200 right there. Is 720p THAT important?

[beecue]

I don't really need it, was just wondering if it would run it. Anyways I think that PC will be good enough for me. Thanks

[whoatemyling]

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2118&page=6
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/cpu_mainboard/asus_p5k_p35_socket_775_motherboard/1

Review above

[FiveFreshFish]

Don't forget to add a UPS.

I bought all of my UPSs off eBay.

[natejj]

What the heck is a UPS?

[civic_epidemic]

UPS is an un-interuptable power supply, i think that`s what he`s talking about, but if you are to get one, get one that has surge protection built in as well. As for the processor, just skimmed over the thread, and I would get a Intel, they`re easier to work with, overall, they also use a little bit less power and run a hella lot cooler.... Just my two cents though, and personally have had better performance and just a better overall experience using the intel chips

[FiveFreshFish]

^^^ Yup, it keeps me going when the power goes out. I have UPSs on all my TVs too.

[redline]

I just picked up a e6700 extreme quad core and it is crazy fast w/ 8800gtx....

[zhulander]

Should buy your ram now because it's apparently going up again. Kingston value ram just shot up $35 today, was $80 for 2x1gb yesterday at memory express.

OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
In Stock 18495 $134.99 $134.99

Is $95 after rebates at memory express right now BTW.

[cityhunter2501]

when i went to buy my comp parts at memexpress today.
they dont have the gigabyte P35-DS3R mobo for another 3 week, and they ran out of Kingston low latency 6400, 4-4-4-12 so went with the crucial 4-4-4-12 instead and the asus p5k mobo.

currently have it running at 2.93Ghz, need to see first how hot the cpu is getting though as asus bios is reading temp wrong.... -7C possible on air? :rofl:

[GQBalla]

lol -7 damn - air coolin at its best eh earl?

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
^^^ Yup, it keeps me going when the power goes out. I have UPSs on all my TVs too.

I see no load on that baby.... :D

[coolme]

instead which was my choice anyway if I were going P35 chipset anyway. do you know how well they perform btw? and if they overclock well?

P35 has better DDR2 memory performance.

[cityhunter2501]

Originally posted by GQBalla
lol -7 damn - air coolin at its best eh earl?

haha I wish man. fixed it and now its reading [0]55 [1]51 while Im installing Office 2007 and transfering network files in Vista64


Originally posted by coolme

P35 has better DDR2 memory performance.
I was going for the gigabyte p35-ds3 but memexpress wasnt gonna have one for another 3 weeks so went with an Asus P5K.
my 2GB Corsair 2GB XMS2-6400C4 TWIN2X 4-4-4-12 is running at 2.1V. 333x8=2.6Ghz.
I tried running 380x8 for 3.0Ghz, left Orthos running for 4hours but it seemed it had some problems sometimes in between.