Another system build-comments please

C

c0re

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
210
Looking to purchase these items right after memorial day.Thanks very much ahead of time.

$39.99 (newegg) COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item N82E16811119115

$89.99 (newegg) GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item N82E16813128337

$104.99 (buy.com) CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Item N82E16817139006 / before $10 rebate, expires 5/31

$199.99 (frys) Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
Item 5101696 / Model #BX80562Q6600

$87.00 (frys) CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Item 5269577 / Model #TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX / before $20 rebate-expires 5/27

$149.99 (newegg) EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item N82E16814130334 / Model #512-P3-N861-AR / Before $10 rebate, expires 5/31

$14.99 (newegg) Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader - Retail
Item N82E16820223073

$26.99 (newegg) SAMSUNG Black DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
Item N82E16827151153 / Model #SH-S203B

$49.99 (newegg) ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler - Retail
Item N82E16835887011 / Before $10 rebate, expires 6/30

$5.99 (newegg) Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item N82E16835100007

Total: $769.91 - $50 rebates = $719.91

edit-changed cpu, dvd burner, dropped sound card, added cpu cooler
edit-prefer corsair ram, has heat-spreadders, patriot don't. OS=Dual boot Vista 32/XP Pro. Have hard drive.
 
Get a 9600gt at least, and a better psu. Go with a nice corsair hx520 or something that will last you the rest of your life (figuratively of course).
 
What's the most you could spend on this rig?
What are you going to use it for?
Do you plan on overclocking? (You don't need RAM faster than DDR2 800 with a Q6600.)
Which monitor/resolution are you using?
How long do you want this build to last? Will you be making any incremental upgrades during that time?
 
tiraides said:
What's the most you could spend on this rig? Under $1000
What are you going to use it for? Mainly to do video conversions, light gaming, watching dvds - needs to be mostly quiet & reliable. It's replacing a Dell E510 that i can hear the case humming in the other room all the time. The power supply whirls up like a jumbo jet whenever it's doing more than 1 thing at a time. It's going bye bye soon.
Do you plan on overclocking? (You don't need RAM faster than DDR2 800 with a Q6600.) Yes, Want to o/c to 3ghz, changed out the ram already.
Which monitor/resolution are you using? Dell 2005FPW @ 1600x1200
How long do you want this build to last? 3-years i hope
Will you be making any incremental upgrades during that time? Adding TV Tuner & Blue-Ray later on, not much else
Click to expand...

Already have a 750gig seagate sata drive. GT9600 cards too expensive.
 
I would switch to a corsair power supply, its even cheaper

http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

Also, the sound card might not make much of a difference, especially with cheaper speakers. I would think you would be better off dropping the sound card to get a 9600 graphics card.

Then if you want a sound card, you can spend 50 or so on it in the future.
Between saving 20 on the power supply, and dropping the sound card, you have already saved enough money to buy the 9600gt.

I think if money is tight, its best to cheap out on easy replaceable options, as opposed to major choices. If you buy a cheap graphics card now, its going to be expensive to get a new one later, as you will loose a ton of money on the original graphics card.

If you still don't have the budget for the 9600 gt, you could drop the 4 gigs of ram to two. It will be plenty for a while, and when you decide you want more, you can do it for 50.00 or so. If you aren't into serious overclocking and don't care about more than 4 gigs of ram, there really is no disadvanage.
 
c0re said:
Already have a 750gig seagate sata drive. GT9600 cards too expensive.
Click to expand...

How is the 9600GT too expensive? It's right under your $1000 budget even with your inefficient choice of parts. A 9600GT is only $150:
eVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $150

Drop the Corsair RAM, which is overpriced BTW, and go with this set:
Patriot PSD24G800K 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $78

I concur with tel0004 about the sound card. Onboard sound has improved a lot in the past few years. Try out the onboard audio first and then decide whether or not you need a sound card.

I also concur with tel0004 about the PSU. The Corsair 520HX is more than enough for your. However, the 750TX is about the same price as the 520HX and that Liberty PSU but offers substantially more power:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $105

And you can get that Q6600 for $20 cheaper:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $200
 
c0re,

I have just looked at your "updated" parts list. There is still a lot of room for improvement, even within your stated price limit. Even after rebates, the power supply that you have listed is still a bit too expensive for the performance that it delivers. And I would eliminate the sound card, as the X-Fi Xtreme Audio card is not much more than an Audigy SE with different software, and does not have much to offer over onboard (embedded on the motherboard) audio.

And I could not track down the exact model number of the Corsair memory since you gave the exact same item number for that part as the one for the XFX 8600GT graphics card. But that company's least expensive 4GB DDR2-800 memory kit still costs a bit more than comparable kits from some other brands. And the 8600GT card itself is a bit overpriced at its regular price of $95 (which you'd be paying up front to begin with), and I don't always trust mail-in rebates which you might never receive even after you have sent in the form.

And no system build is complete without mentioning which operating system that you'll be using. Keep in mind that 32-bit versions of Windows will see less than 4GB (in fact, somewhere between 2.5GB and 3.5GB, depending on configuration) of memory due to mapping and allocation issues.
 
Danny Bui said:
How is the 9600GT too expensive? It's right under your $1000 budget even with your inefficient choice of parts. A 9600GT is only $150:
eVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $150

Drop the Corsair RAM, which is overpriced BTW, and go with this set:
Patriot PSD24G800K 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $78

I concur with tel0004 about the sound card. Onboard sound has improved a lot in the past few years. Try out the onboard audio first and then decide whether or not you need a sound card.

I also concur with tel0004 about the PSU. The Corsair 520HX is more than enough for your. However, the 750TX is about the same price as the 520HX and that Liberty PSU but offers substantially more power:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $105

And you can get that Q6600 for $20 cheaper:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $200
Click to expand...

Quoted For Truth. I couldn't have said it better myself.

If you're OC'ing to 3Ghz, you definitely want an aftermarket cooler.
$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF ($5 Thermalright LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit)
$37 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
$50 - ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm CPU Cooler ($10 MIR)
$59 - Noctua NH-U12P Universal heatsink
$57 - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU HS + Scythe S-Flex Fan SFF21E ($15)

Oh, one other thing. If you want silent, get a Samsung SH-S203B or S203N instead. That Lite-On is LOUD when it spins up.
 
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