Another Build Critique...

X

xazraelx

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
77
Okay, well, I posted a while back on a "smaller" build, but I just got my insurance check, so it's time to start buying. This is what I'm currently looking at getting, I welcome any critique, constructive or to get your anger for today out, I'm just looking to improve my build:

I'm looking for the $900 dollar range, as a preface, though a little more wouldn't kill me, but I'd like to stay around $900. This computer will be used for mediocre gaming, (Ie, possibly Warhammer Online, Starcraft II, maybe WoW if I get back into it haha), light photoshop, and schoolwork. That's all.

Processor: E6750 - I've pretty much decided on the core 2 duo instead of the quad because I can't seem to believe that I will need the multi-processing powers of the quad. If someone disagrees, please tell me :)
Intel Core 2 Dua E6750 Conroe
Motherboard: I can't decide on this one, so I'll inform of what I need. I use an external 500 gig hdd, so I need a firewire connection, which I notice many are lacking. Other than that, it needs to be capable of stable overclocks and have at least 4 USB ports, and in addition have one IDE cable - for my old Plextor DVD burner I have :)
I was looking at the GA-P35-DS4, though it's a tad expensive.
GA-P35-DS4
My other "options" that I was looking at are:
MSI P6N Platinum
Another pricey EVGA board
Power Supply: OCZ 600W
RAM:
GSkill 2x1GB DDR2 800 RAM
Media Card Reader :) :
Simple Media Card Reader
HDD: In a toss-up:
Seagate 320GB Sata Cuda
Or
Western Digital Caviar
Dvd Writer: Never in my life used Lightscribe, so...
Simple Cheap Samsung

Yes, yes, I know, I'm missing the graphics card and the case. I think, unless someone advises against it, I'm going to settle with the 8800GT when it comes out.

As for cases, I haven't a clue - not too big on the blue lighting that comes on 90% of them (I prefer red), but I do enjoy "seeing" my computer. However, air efficiency comes above all.

In addition, I have to ask - should I wait until Cyber Monday to start ordering? Do companies such as Newegg have "cyber monday" sales on their products, or should I go ahead and order it after I'm done having the professionals tear it apart :D

Thanks,

Will
 
The IP35 is also a good choice since it's relatively cheaper than the mobos you've linked to so far and it OC's pretty well:
Abit IP35 Intel P35 Motherboard Motherboard - $124

Ditch the OCZ PSU. There are much better PSUs for the price that more efficient and of better build quality:
Corsair VX550 550W PSU - $91
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - $104

As for cases, check out any of the following cases that I think fit into your budget:
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $40
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $50
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $80
Antec P180 ATX Case - $110
Antec Nine Hundred ATX Case - $120
Antec P180B ATX Case - $125
Antec P182 ATX Case - $129

As for hard drives, I prefer more storage space so I would get the WD even though it's slower than the 'cudas. If you want speed though, than that 250GB 'cuda is a good choice.
 
^^ hey now, my (ancient) OCZ adjustable 420W is a freaking rock. I don't know about the newer ones, but I love mine :)

does BB still have the 500gig 7200.9s for 100$? if so, i'd get one of those. Also seconding the p182. IMO the centurions are ugly and fairly cheaply constructed (yes, I've used one) and the Antec 900s are the ugliest boxes known to man (second maybe to the super lanboy or the Tt armor)
 
So this is what I'm looking at so far: I also have some dilemma questions at the bottom of the page.

Processor: E6750 or Q6600
E6750
Q6600

Motherboard: Either the gigabyte or EVGA
GA-P35-DS4
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1

Power Supply: Either the 520W or 620W, pros/cons?
520W Corsair
620W Corsair

RAM:
Crucial 2x 1GB DDR2 800
Media Card Reader :) :
Simple Media Card Reader

HDD:
Seagate 320GB Cuda

Dvd Writer:
Simple Cheap Samsung

Case:
Case
I kind of prefer side panel windows, so this is extremely tentative...just picked one for now.

Graphics Card:
8800GT (when it comes out, release date is Oct 29th)

Here comes the inevitable questions. Dual core vs Quad core. No clue, it's such a toss up. The market seems to be going toward multiprocessing capabilities, so the quad is more appealing, but is it worth $100?
Motherboard: EVGA or Gigabyte? Pros/Cons of each?

Thanks,

William
 
if it were me building a new system right now i'd go with a 64xx or 4400 right now and just wait for a few months to see what the quadcore market does. but thats just my 2c
 
xazraelx said:
Processor: E6750 or Q6600
E6750
Q6600
Click to expand...

E6750. Unless you're doing heavy media encoding, creating or processing, then a quad-core isn't for you. If you go with a P35 based mobo, you can easily upgrade to a Yorkfied Quad Core CPU when it comes out sometime in Q1 2008.

As for mobo, I'd go with the Gigabyte board because the P35 chipset is a bit more stable than the 680i chipset, runs cooler and has confirmed support for Intel's new CPUs.

The 520W is fine for your system now but if you want a bit more headroom for future upgrades, I'd go with the 620W.
 
Yes, I've finally decided on the E6750. Thanks to all the advice.

So you're saying the Gigabyte board will be better for overclocking needs, reliability, cooling, and support?

I'm going to hit 3.0 then stop, if that matters at all for the mobo+psu selection?
 
Two things (since Danny's covered nearly everything else):

1) What features do you want on your motherboard (besides the ability to OC)? RAID? Extra SATA ports? Firewire? As Danny said, the P35 chipset is more stable... the chipset was developed and made by Intel. So if you don't need SLI, then get a P35-based board (and if you don't need all of the features in the Gigabyte DS4 board, then look around and find a cheaper board that has what you want).

2) I know that you :) that "simple card reader" you've linked to, but if you plan on using any SDHC (4GB or larger sized SD) memory card, either now or in the future, this drive is the only 3.5" drive (that I know of) that supports SDHC cards out of the box. Otherwise, you'll have to find a removable USB card reader, which defeats the purpose of even having the internal reader in the first place. It may not be a priority for you, but it is something that you may want to consider.
 
Motherboard, as stated in my original post, must have the following:

At least 4x USB ports.
At LEAST 1x Firewire
I prefer SLi capable - I don't think I'll be using it, but I might depending upon the 8800GT when it comes around.
Provide Stable OCs
Decent Cooling
IDE Cable

I've never set up RAID, and plan on having a SATA cuda, and 2x IDE hdd (I've had them for a while) and an external 500gig. Therefore, RAID, as I don't know the benefits with just having one SATA (although in the future I think I might have to install a raptor - again, like the SLi...not likely, but maybe).

As for the card reader, I'm ordering 2x 2gb sticks for my phone and my girlfriend's phone. That's all I use them for :)
 
Wait you never mentioned SLI as part of your original requirements. FYI, no P35 based mobo does SLI.

Also, you only need SLI if you're playing at a 1920x1200 resolution and if there's no single card out that can provide the performance you want. Also, there'll usually be a single card that can perform equal or better than two cards in SLI.

Now you're probably thinking "I'll just buy just one card now and another card (same model as the first) later. That'll give me a serious performance boost." That's a waste of money. At most you'll see a 20-30% increase when you buy that second card. Most likely by the time you buy that second card, it'll either be A) no longer be available for sale by most retail outlets, B) be outperformed by a newer card for the same or cheaper price, or C) all of the above.

With all that said, I still recommend the DS4 because it's a bit more stable, runs cooler, and can provide some serious overclocking ability. As for support, haven't dealt with Gigabyte's support so can't say much about them.
 
Thank you, one more question.

The 8800GT is PCI-E 2.0

Will the DS4 still run it to it's potential? Or should I be thinking about this differently?
 
Well unfortunately, there are no benchmarks showing if there is an actual performance difference between PCI-E 1.1 or PCI-E 2.0. Theoretically, the DS4 won't run the 8800GT at its full potential. But real-world benchmarks and results have sometimes proven such thoughts about potential speeds wrong.
 
I agree with Danny.

If you don't go SLI, get the Abit IP35. If you do go SLI, get the NF67-T1 or the NF68-A1 -- or wait for the 780i SLI boards.

Danny Bui said:
Now you're probably thinking "I'll just buy just one card now and another card (same model as the first) later. That'll give me a serious performance boost." That's a waste of money. At most you'll see a 20-325% increase when you buy that second card. Most likely by the time you buy that second card, it'll either be A) no longer be available for sale by most retail outlets, B) be outperformed by a newer card for the same or cheaper price, or C) all of the above.
Click to expand...

Wow... 325% from adding only 1 more videocard... amazing! :eek: :p

xazraelx said:
The 8800GT is PCI-E 2.0

Will the DS4 still run it to it's potential? Or should I be thinking about this differently?
Click to expand...

Since the 8800GT won't outperform the 8800Ultra, and the 8800Ultra still doesn't saturate the PCI-E 16x bandwidth, I don't think PCI-E2.0 will matter with this particular generation of cards.
 
enginurd said:
Wow... 325% from adding only 1 more videocard... amazing! :eek: :p
Click to expand...

Yup, 325%. Pretty amazing tech there.

And this is why I'll never be a writer/editor/anything to do with the written word.
 
Regarding the motherboard, I agree with Danny and enginurd. The Abit IP35 (which enginurd mentioned earlier) meets all of your non-SLI requirements.

xazraelx said:
tiraides said:
2) I know that you :) that "simple card reader" you've linked to, but if you plan on using any SDHC (4GB or larger sized SD) memory card, either now or in the future, this drive is the only 3.5" drive (that I know of) that supports SDHC cards out of the box. Otherwise, you'll have to find a removable USB card reader, which defeats the purpose of even having the internal reader in the first place. It may not be a priority for you, but it is something that you may want to consider.
Click to expand...

As for the card reader, I'm ordering 2x 2gb sticks for my phone and my girlfriend's phone. That's all I use them for :)
Click to expand...

If that's the case, then you're better off with just a portable USB card reader to read those cards. Unless they're in different formats (e.g., your phone uses microSD and your girlfriend's uses Memory Stick Micro), the internal card reader is just going to sit around and take up space. (And even then, I don't think that you're going to use your card reader EVERY TIME you're on the computer... are you?)
 
tiraides said:
If that's the case, then you're better off with just a portable USB card reader to read those cards. Unless they're in different formats (e.g., your phone uses microSD and your girlfriend's uses Memory Stick Micro), the internal card reader is just going to sit around and take up space. (And even then, I don't think that you're going to use your card reader EVERY TIME you're on the computer... are you?)
Click to expand...

Something like this?
 
xazraelx said:
Something like this?
Click to expand...

Yeah... I didn't list a specific one because you didn't mention which memory card types you and your girlfriend were using. But, my point still stands: if you're not going to be constantly using memory cards (say, at least three times a week), you're probably better off using a removable USB card reader.
 
What cpu cooler should I go with while having the E6750.

And is a PCI cooler for the video card worth it, or is it just overkill for people who want it to look good :) I'm more on function, not prettiness.
 
I recommend the Ultima90 + Panaflo. It performs as well as the Tuniq while being much smaller/lighter than it. Its also much easier to install.

My temps were identical with both the Tuniq and Ultima90+Panaflo:

E6750 @ 3.8Ghz (1.55v)
28°C idle
52°C load
22°C ambient

Case is a Centurion 532 for now... front and rear 120mm exhaust fans (front: stock; rear: Yate Loon), and I also added a sidepanel 80mm intake fan, since the HDD cage blocks much of the front intake.
 
At the moment, the quads are not needed at all, they don't offer any performance increase. Only dual core. But, in the future, quad will be more useful. By that time you may want to upgrade (probably in a year).

You would most likely be OK with the VX450 power supply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top