How is this mid-range rig?

Q

Quellex

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Feb 9, 2006
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I had posted earlier about being out of the loop and in need of some updates about what's hot and what's not. I read some of the replies and recommendations and appreciated it. Unfortanately I couldnt re-find the thread. So I made this one. After about a week, heres my final Semi-Final parts list (Open to revision pending response assesement) for a new mid-range PC. Any bad choices?

LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner - Retail

eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $20.00 Mail-in Rebate

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum 70SB035000003 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $100.00 Mail-in Rebate

COOLMAX "SLI" CXI-500B ATX v2.01 500W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Standard System Memory - Retail

ASUS P5B Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

$1,175.94 (-$120 Mail-in Rebates)
 
I'd go with a different psu. Check the PSU forum for their recommendations.
 
_Korruption_ said:
Coolmax is a poor choice. A rebranded PSU of unknown origins with a basis on the old ATX12V v1.3 specification (as shown by the heavy +5V). The PSU forum will likely recommend one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189012
Click to expand...

What about this one right here? What about the XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO? It was one of the recommended cheap but good powersupplies from the PSU forum.
 
That XClio should be fine. dB Telos said its made from Channel Well (CWT), which is also used by Antec... but he said XClio uses better cooling than Antec.

Also, you should be able to find that audigy2 zs for $60 AR somewhere... $80 for a zs is too much, esp since you have to wait for a $100 rebate. You don't really need a soundcard unless you're an audiophile. Try the onboard first, then when you see a deal on a zs or xfi, jump on it if you still don't like onboard.
 
The $50 XClio looks like a good choice. Personally I have never spent more than $50 on a PSU, and I don't ever plan to. While you can get some very good advice in the PSU forum, a lot of them go way overkill, especially considering nothing in your machine is going to draw a ton of power.

I disagree about onboard sound though. Onboard sound flat out sucks in my experience, but the ZS Platinum (with the breakout box) might be a bit overkill unless you plan on doing a lot of recording or need Midi connections that make the box and the extra options worth it. I'd personally opt for a X-Fi Extreme Music for the general user.
 
NulloModo said:
I disagree about onboard sound though. Onboard sound flat out sucks in my experience, but the ZS Platinum (with the breakout box) might be a bit overkill unless you plan on doing a lot of recording or need Midi connections that make the box and the extra options worth it. I'd personally opt for a X-Fi Extreme Music for the general user.
Click to expand...

I generally agree. I bought the ZS platinum for the remote that came with breakout box, but it only fully worked out of the box with creatives crappy media player. Volume control was fine but to use the remainder of the buttons with winamp required a for pay ($30?) plugin.
 
Thanks for all the help and suggestions folks. I'll be sticking with the $50 Xiclio, also, I understand there are better PSU's out there but I'm very adamant about keeping the price down to preference.

I'll also be taking up Nullomodo's suggestion that I dump the audigy for the Xi-Fi Xtreme music. II'll admit, the only reason I wanted the Audigy platinum was so I could have a headphone and mic jack on the front of the system, thinking about it a bit it's kind of stupid to give up newer audio core technologies for a few dongles, I guess I got used to my Extigy. (I have no plans to edit or produce music in any way) So, I did some researching online and I found the card for $99.99 with free shipping, on Zipzoomfly . Coolbeans.

I'll be adding the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive to the mix, It's probably consensus that it's a good HD. It has a 5 star review sum on Newegg and it's only $94.99. Legit.

Finally, I'll be switching the 7900GT for the SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card It's allmost a hundred dollars cheaper, with similar to better performance than the 7900GT and better performance than the 7900GS, the only other card in $200 dollar price range. I think the near $100 lower price is worth the switch.

I have never had an ATI card before (Nor a Intel CPU), I have had a 4200, 6800, 7600 (Current, will be giving this setup to family) but never any other brands, it's been a Nvidia train my entire PC life. So this ride will be something new. Thanks all.
 
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