OMG Another New Build!! (1st one in years)

D

DaConfusion

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
212
Processor Intel Q6600 G0 $288.00

Motherboard Asus P5k Premium $221.99

Video Card eVGA 8800GTX 768MB $519.99

Memory CORSAIR Dominator 2GB DDR2 1066 $201.90

Power Supply Corsair CMPSU-620HX $139.99

Hard-drive Western Digital Raptor X 150GB $192.66

Case Ammo 533 Chassis $62.99

CPU Fan ZALMAN CNPS9500 $59.99


TOTAL: $1687.51

Goals, I want to overclock the Q6600 to about 3.2 ghz, not sure if the CPU cooler is adequate.

I also will be running VISTA 32bit and am wondering if I can save money on maybe a lower model motherboard.

Anyone feel that the power supply is not enough?

What kinds of case fans can I get?

Lastly, I am not sure what memory to get, I just grabbed that link because I am not sure...

Thank you for your help.
 
First, ditch that mobo. It's a bit over the top and unless you feel that you need and will use all of its features, go with this mobo instead:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $130

or the Abit IP35 Pro.

Second, ditch that RAM. Domininator RAM is horribly overpriced and all you really need is any cheap pair of DDR2 800 RAM to overclock ANY C2D CPU. So I recommend getting this set instead:
A-Data ADQVE1A16K 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80

Third, ditch the Raptor. It's overkill and most likely won't have enough storage for your needs. Go with tthe Seagate 7200.10 320GB hard drive. It's cheaper than the Raptor and it's a pretty fast hard drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $80

Fourth, ditch that HSF. For that much money, a Tuniq Tower 120 performs much better and for cheaper too:
Tuniq Tower 120HSF - $47

A few more questions for you:

1) What are you planning to do with this PC?
2) What size monitor do you have?
 
In addition to what Danny said ( which I probably would've said in exactly the same way and linked to the exact same links :p ) I'll pick up a couple of the other questions:

Power supply is enough

Quick google for your case says you have one 120mm fan for the case and assuming the case doesn't already come with a fan, a Yate Loon 120mm would be a good alternative:

http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-Case-Fan-D12SL-12-pr-3009.html
 
Most of the stuff look good, but I would change the memory for some cheaper stuff, the Dominator is kinda stupid. I would also get a Tuniq Tower 120. Quite a few people recommend the S-Flex fans, though I can't tell you as I don't have any experience with them. Yate Loons are very good fans for the money, though there are slightly better fans if you are willing to spend a bit more. Personally I would go for a normal P5K or even get something really cheap like the Abit IP35-E, which is the cheapest P35 board on the market. They are all roughly the same and they all perform great. Hard drives, I would get a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, although the drive is cheaper and it isn't a 10000 rpm drive, it is very close in speed to the Raptor drives at it uses Perpendicular Recording. The case all depends on your budget, I would stretch to get the CM Stacker 830 series cases, they have the best air cooling on the market today. But good cheap cases like the Centurions are not bad, they are well built, and perform very well considering the price. The graphics card looks good, I would go down the EVGA route as they are my personal favourite brand, but that is really up to you. I would buy a stock clocked card and overclock it, it is quite a bit cheaper. If you only have a 20/22 inch screen or less, the GTX is overkill, you can easily play your games at full settings with an 8800GTS 640MB card. The GTX or Ultra is the card to buy if you are going to be playing on a 24 inch screen. the power supply is actually overkill IMO, I would buy something like a Corsair HX520 instead, though the extra wattage and the small price difference make the HX620 the choice here, so there will be plenty of upgrade space in the future. Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for your detail reply, as well as the fan recommendations for the case by the other user.

To answer your question, I need this computer to run Solidworks, AutoCAD, MathLab, and games. So basically engineering design applications (3D) and games if I have time ( :( )

I currently have a Centrino single core laptop with 1gb of ram and XP pro which isnt cutting iit for my JR/SR level courses aside from writing technical papers. I have not purchased a monitor but plan on maybe a 19inch Samsung LCD from best buy.

Danny Bui said:
First, ditch that mobo. It's a bit over the top and unless you feel that you need and will use all of its features, go with this mobo instead:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $130

or the Abit IP35 Pro.

Second, ditch that RAM. Domininator RAM is horribly overpriced and all you really need is any cheap pair of DDR2 800 RAM to overclock ANY C2D CPU. So I recommend getting this set instead:
A-Data ADQVE1A16K 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $80

Third, ditch the Raptor. It's overkill and most likely won't have enough storage for your needs. Go with tthe Seagate 7200.10 320GB hard drive. It's cheaper than the Raptor and it's a pretty fast hard drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $80

Fourth, ditch that HSF. For that much money, a Tuniq Tower 120 performs much better and for cheaper too:
Tuniq Tower 120HSF - $47

A few more questions for you:

1) What are you planning to do with this PC?
2) What size monitor do you have?
Click to expand...
 
If you don't need the features of the P5k Premium then don't get it. No reason to spend more money than you need to.

Dominator or any other 1066 memory is a complete waste of money for a Q6600. You will be lucky to OC a quad to anywhere past 400mhz. Any good PC6400 will do fine.

Not sure why you're getting a Raptor X when, you're not gonna be able to mount the disk in that case so you can see the window.

There are better, quieter and cheaper coolers than the 9500 on the market now. Research alittle more for yourself.
 
A G0 will get to 450mhz approx, but rarely past that. So PC6400 memory your best bet.
 
Processor Intel Q6600 G0 $288.00

Motherboard ABIT IP35 Pro $184.99

Video Card eVGA 8800GTX 768MB $519.99

Memory Searching...

Power Supply Corsair CMPSU-620HX $139.99

Hard-drive Barracuda 7200.10 500 GB $119.99

Case Ammo 533 Chassis $62.99

CPU Fan Tuniq Tower HS120 $47.99

Yate Loon fans for now until I see the prices/performance specs on better fans

Ok thanks for the comments so far, I will further research, but according to your reccomendations, that is what I will look into pending further replies
 
In the 19" arena, an 8800GTX is overkill. 8800GTS 320MB or 640MB can pull it off easy.
 
Yes I agree with gwai lo. Here's a breakdown of which card to get for a particular monitor size:

19" and below: 8800GTS 320MB
20" to 22": 8800GTS 640MB
24" and above: 8800GTX
30" and above: 8800 Ultra (I think)

So since you're just getting an 19", then the 8800GTS 320MB will be more than enough for your needs.
 
Just to save you some $$$ ;) :

CPU - Q6600 w/ Free shipping. People have been receiving back to back G0 so I think you will most likely receive a G0.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
Or you can pay the $4.99 shipping for guaranteed G0
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

Motherboard - Abit IP35 Pro $159.98AR Shipped
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

Video Card - If you want to go with an evga 8800gtx $496.97 AR Shipped
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A9602827

However, if you are using 19" for a resolution 1024x768 or 1280x1024 or even 1600x1200 I would recommend the 320mb version of the 8800gts. And this is the superclocked XXX version (gains about 10fps more than the normal 8800gts 320mb on average).
XFX 8800GTS 320MB XXX (580mhz core/ 1800mhz mem) $269.99AR Shipped
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321115

Power Supply - Corsair HX620 $126.90 AR Shipped
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373110

Good luck.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes I agree with gwai lo. Here's a breakdown of which card to get for a particular monitor size:

19" and below: 8800GTS 320MB
20" to 22": 8800GTS 640MB
24" and above: 8800GTX
30" and above: 8800 Ultra (I think)
Click to expand...

I agree with your assessment here except for one thing: I would think this only applies to current games. I'm sure there's a game around the corner that can still bring a 8800GTX to a crawl at 1650x1080. To me it just seems like you should always go for the best vid card your budget can afford (within reason). Am I goofy for thinking this? :)
 
Well, I guess it does also depend on the user and what games they play...

We all probably assume too much about people's upgrade cycles.

Yet at the sametime, the current situation looks rather abysmal for our cards. In addition to anandtech's article a while back about DX10 games and card, xbitlabs just did one.. I mean, these may be bad examples, but if the high end cards can barely run the games...maybe buying what you need for your resolution now and then buying another generation of video cards later is a better idea.
 
silentsammy said:
I agree with your assessment here except for one thing: I would think this only applies to current games. I'm sure there's a game around the corner that can still bring a 8800GTX to a crawl at 1650x1080. To me it just seems like you should always go for the best vid card your budget can afford (within reason). Am I goofy for thinking this? :)
Click to expand...

Yes actually, this only apply to current DX9 games.

No you're not goofy for thinking that but I can see how one can think that way. But here's the thing, just because you can spend that much money on a video doesn't mean that you should. You have to consider the resolution of your monitor and whether or not you'll be getting a new and bigger size monitor any time soon. Considering that video cards are the fastest depreciating item in a PC, it's sometimes smarter to just get the card that you need for gaming with current games at your resolution rather then get a card that may be overkill for you.

For example, I paid for a $140 7600GT in September of last year for my little brother's new PC. I was thinking of getting the 7900GS but it cost around $200 at that time. The max resolution of his monitor was 1024 x 768 and he was not planning to get a new monitor anytime soon. From the reviews I read, the 7600GT was more than enough for 1024 x 768 gaming at max settings. And so thats what I got him. Rather than spend $200 on a card that my bro couldn't take full advantage of, I just went with the 7600GT. Saved $60 that way.

See what I'm getting at here? Just get what you need for the games at that time and you'll save some money for future upgrades.
 
Here's why you don't need DDR2-1066 with a Q6600:

(CPU Multiplier) x [Base FSB speed] = CPU Clock speed
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed
4 x [Base FSB speed] = Effective FSB speed

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is useless. Keep it linked at 1:1:

Q6600: 9 * 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 * 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 * 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max on good air

Also, you won't really notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, so don't pay a huge price premium for the tighter timings. Of course, the definition of "huge" is all on you, lol.

I'd go for some $80 pre-rebate priced kit for 2GB, or a $225AR kit for 4GB (2x2GB).

Also, here are some performance numbers regarding HDDs:

78MB/s: WD Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD, $160AR
65MB/s: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS, $80
65MB/s: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 300GB ST3300620AS, $60

112MB/s: RAID0, 2x300GB 'cudas for 600GB total, $120

As you can see, the raptor isn't worth its price premium. If you want better transfer speeds, pickup two smaller drives and RAID0 them. Thoug, if you do, get a storage drive to keep backups of important files, lol.
 
Processor Intel Q6600 G0 $288.00

Motherboard ABIT IP35 Pro $184.99

Video Card eVGA 8800GTX 768MB $519.99 -$30.00 MIR

Memory G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 $229.99

Power Supply Corsair CMPSU-620HX $139.99 -$20.00

Hard-drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB $79.99

Case Cooler Master Mystique $75.00

CPU Fan Tuniq Tower HS120 $64.99


$1,582.94 BEFORE MIR (-50$)

Ok here is what I have put together using your comments and some more reading.
The memory is still in question to me, I could pay 229 for 2 sticks that equal 4 gigs and 5-5-5-15 timing or do 4 sticks of 1GB that come with tighter timings out of the box, and around the same price. What would be a better route?

I was thinking the crucial ballistix which are 109 with a -40 rebate. Only problem is, the rebate is one per household, so if I bought 2 sets which would mean 80 bucks off, I would only be eligible for 40. Either way, its still cheaper than a 2 2gb set.

I have decided to keep the GTX video card since my upgrade cycles are every few years. I feel that the eVGA has gotten better feedback but am willing to consider other brands.

I prob will do a raid 0 set up later on after I do some more research into the stability of that set up since another user mentioned always backing up to external. The primary use for this computer is school so I dont want to increase the chances of hdd failure.

The case has been changed to the mystique, I know maximumpc said the GTX does not fit, but I have seen a user post that it did work for him since maxpc only did a speculation using scaled pixels. I really like that case for the price and am willing to dremel that bitch!

Thanks for the input so far and keep it coming.
 
Here is the build with the fans, cd drive and everything I can possibly think of.

Intel Q6600 G0 $288.00
ABIT IP35 Pro $184.99
eVGA 8800GTX 768MB $519.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1gb x 2) DDR2 $109.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1gb x 2) DDR2 $109.99
Corsair CMPSU-620HX $139.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB $79.99
Cooler Master Mystique $75.00
Tuniq Tower HS120 $64.99
Samsung 18x DVD Burner $29.99
Thermaltake 80mm Case Fan $7.99
SILVERSTONE FM121 120mm $17.99
Artic Silver 5 Compound $5.99


Total 1634.89 Before MIR
$1504.89 After MIR IF I can some how get both 40$ rebates for the 2 sets of ram. I might have my parents order the second set and have it shipped to their house.

Or is it OK to mix brands of memory? What would you guys suggest for the other 2 GB?
 
In theory you can usually mix RAM, no biggie. Some motherboards don't play nice, but again, in theory it should work just fine.

As for RAID0's stability issues, it's not stability, it's just the fact that all your data is split in half and stored on two separate drives. If you look at it from a mathematical point of view, you have a greater chance of losing your data because you're depending on two hard drives ( as opposed to a single one ). That's mostly what the fuss about RAID0 is ( along with the extra cost )...performance is nothing noticeable on paper. Some people claim they see a difference, some people don't, some people have a massive attack of the placebo effect, some people are just really sensitive to everything apparently, etc..

The build looks okay, the only other thing I'd do is shop around.
 
4x1GB gets tricky when OC'ing, and some boards have problems powering that last stick. If you want to avoid such potential problems, stick with 2x2GB instead. You won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5 in everyday usage, only in benchmarks. So, don't bother paying a huge premium for it.

No point in mixing RAM if you're buying it all at once. Usually, people mix them because they cant get the same model they already have, when adding more memory.

RAID0 transfer speeds are great for tasks that do a lot of writing, such as video encoding. If you need the speed, go for it. Most avg people, however, don't need the speed. The 65MB/s of the 'cuda is fast enough.
 
DaConfusion said:
Here is the build with the fans, cd drive and everything I can possibly think of.

Intel Q6600 G0 $288.00
ABIT IP35 Pro $184.99
eVGA 8800GTX 768MB $519.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1gb x 2) DDR2 $109.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (1gb x 2) DDR2 $109.99
Corsair CMPSU-620HX $139.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB $79.99
Cooler Master Mystique $75.00
Tuniq Tower HS120 $64.99
Samsung 18x DVD Burner $29.99
Thermaltake 80mm Case Fan $7.99
SILVERSTONE FM121 120mm $17.99
Artic Silver 5 Compound $5.99


Total 1634.89 Before MIR
$1504.89 After MIR IF I can some how get both 40$ rebates for the 2 sets of ram. I might have my parents order the second set and have it shipped to their house.

Or is it OK to mix brands of memory? What would you guys suggest for the other 2 GB?
Click to expand...

Did you completely disregard my post?

Alik4041 said:
Just to save you some $$$ ;) :

CPU - Q6600 w/ Free shipping. People have been receiving back to back G0 so I think you will most likely receive a G0.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
Or you can pay the $4.99 shipping for guaranteed G0
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

Motherboard - Abit IP35 Pro $159.98AR Shipped
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452

Video Card - If you want to go with an evga 8800gtx $496.97 AR Shipped
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A9602827

However, if you are using 19" for a resolution 1024x768 or 1280x1024 or even 1600x1200 I would recommend the 320mb version of the 8800gts. And this is the superclocked XXX version (gains about 10fps more than the normal 8800gts 320mb on average).
XFX 8800GTS 320MB XXX (580mhz core/ 1800mhz mem) $269.99AR Shipped
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321115

Power Supply - Corsair HX620 $126.90 AR Shipped
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373110

Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
Oh no I didnt, it is using the prices you had posted, theres the total then the total after MIR. The only price I did not use was the motherboard because clubIT is sold out.

Thanks for looking out though!
 
If I were you, I would call clubIT tomorrow and ask them when their next shipment of the motherboard is. It really is a good deal which is at least $25 cheaper than any other place I've found.
 
With Danny Bui and eginurd around, you shouldn't need much other advice :)

Check my signature, I'm getting a GTS 320 OC mainly because even if I play Oblivion, I'm not going to run it at native res on my 24" Dell. I'm used to gaming at <gasp> 800x600 on a 16" CRT, 1024x768 IF I'm lucky, so anything higher is going to be, to quote a crappy 80's song, "beautiful in my eyes." Although nVidia's next gen may make me want to switch, my wife thinks saving money is more important. She's crazy.

Taking my signature build and upgrading a few points should give you an amazing PC.
 
Thanks for all your help guys, but the prices apparently are a little higher, I am going to keep an eye this week and order as soon as they drop or a good shipping deal pops up.

The main price that is bothering me is the video card, it should be 510 before rebate, not after. That is what my brother paid 2 weeks ago...
 
I tend to wait for Danny to post, which saves me some typing. :p hehe, j/k :D

wait as long as you can. buy when u cant wait any longer.
 
ClubIT's shipping charges suck! It costs me half of what they charge to ship a fricken mobo! so lame... </rant>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top