Build for an Engineering college student

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Logic Monster

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Nov 1, 2008
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alright, so I have a 4 year old laptop that just isn't performing up to standards and I'd really like to be able to build a desktop that I can replace it with. (seeing as the laptop battery is bad so it stays in the same place plugged in anyway)

A PC that handles 3-D modeling well is a MUST seeing as I'm a college student getting a degree in mechanical engineering and computer science so when it comes to computers, I'm definitely not a hardware guy.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
LOTS of gaming, web browsing and most importantly, 3-D rendering

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I'd like to keep it around $800 I know thats not much to work with, but I'm still a college student and well, we aren't known for having wads of cash everywhere ;)

3) Where do you live?
Arlington, TX

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
I need everything EXCEPT a case and power supply (and peripherals)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
PSU: Antec TruePower Trio 550w
Case: Antec P182 mid Tower

6) Will you be overclocking?
no.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I need a monitor, preferably 23-25in 1080p

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
by the end of June

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
eh...I don't know, your call I suppose

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I have Windows 7 Ultimate 32 and 64bit. (Thank you windows 7 party!)


I know its quite a stretch, but I'm sure if anyone can figure out something its you guys!
 
Well with a budget of only $800 i don't know if you can buy a good Quadro or FireGL vid card, but anyways a good ol' Geforce or Radeon will do just fine it Solidworks or Inventor :)
 
Logic Monster said:
I've had the PSU for about 8 months, and its in perfect working condition
Click to expand...

Did you get used or something? The Antec Trio 550W is a 4 year old PSU. At best, I say it has another year or so left before it hits the crapper.

Your call though if you want to replace it with this new build. Let us know your decision and we can get started on a build list.
 
haha, no, my brother gave the PSU to me and I've used it for about 2 months in a NAS system. But yeah I'd like to use it. If it craps out on me, I'll just have to buy another one.
 
Logic Monster said:
If it craps out on me, I'll just have to buy another one.
Click to expand...

And probably a new system as well

Well here's a prelim system anyway:
$275 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-8800GMA-UD2H AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
$265 - XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card + G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM Combo
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$20 - LG GH22NSS50 DVD Burner
$120 - Hanns·G HH201HPB Black 20" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
Total: $736 plus tax and shipping.
 
Logic Monster said:
Originally posted in thread: Build for an Engineering college student;

6) Will you be overclocking?
no.
Click to expand...

does not compute.

What Operating systems do you plan to use? I know for a fact Gentoo doesnt play so well with some of the new intel chipsets... but then gentoo never plays well with anything, or anyone for that matter.

You're also probably going to want to check out your schools MSDNAA status (gives you loads of free stuff), and dreamspark, which gives you more loads of free stuff.

If you are a comp sci student I'd suggest playing around with RAID if not for data security or speed than just for shit's n giggles. Sooner or later you're probably going to run into a raid array thats going to need some work done on it.

And uh, I hate to tell you, but I'm in a software engineering and first year I was doing "LOTS of gaming" too, these days I'm luckey if I can get 5 hrs a week in.

Anyways enough about software:

Dannyboi isn't inventing his speculative attitute toward the Antec Trio power supplies, they're known to be faulty (FSP?) units. When your AC/DC converter goes nobody really knows what its going to take with it. So to be safe I suggest you buy a new PSU. Also, as I was mentioning in a previous thread, the difference in initial investment of power supply with 80% efficiency against one with only 70% will pay itself off in 5 years tops. If you're going with a single GPU and (at maximum) a couple of hard drives you're not going to need any more than a 500W unit.

As for CPU's, if you're on a budget and you're not overclocking, go AMD, if you are overclocking... those 32nm hyper threaded dual cores from intel are pretty slick.

Also, the graphics card market kinda sucks right now. TSMC cant manufacture the chips in any kind of reasonable volume and the result is prices which are stuck at launch MSRP. I had a theory about the GTX 460 (due out in july) pushing prices down but it looks like it might turn into an under-performer which would mean continued MSRPs. Really stuff look's like its only going to get awesome again (read: member when ATI's flagship (or near-flagship) single GPU, the HD4870, was $199? thats the awesome I'm referring to here) when we push to the next 28nm node and thats... 2011. All of that said, that combo deal with ram and a 5770 makes it a pretty good one.
 
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MrWizard6600 said:
Dannyboi isn't inventing his speculative attitute toward the Antec Trio power supplies, they're known to be faulty (FSP?) units. When your AC/DC converter goes nobody really knows what its going to take with it. So to be safe I suggest you buy a new PSU. Also, as I was mentioning in a previous thread, the difference in initial investment of power supply with 80% efficiency against one with only 70% will pay itself off in 5 years tops. If you're going with a single GPU and (at maximum) a couple of hard drives you're not going to need any more than a 500W unit.
.
Click to expand...

The Trios are Seasonic made PSUs. But yeah they are relatively faulty/low quality PSUs, sad considering that they're Seasonic made.

PSU wise, I recommend this PSU:
$90 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
 
I'm going to go the Alienware M11X route with you and insist ( :rolleyes: ) you a get strong GPU and a middle class CPU.

Core i7 quad core (at least)
5850 (at least)
6gb of ram DDR 1333 (DDR 1600 would be a waste, since you won't be overclocking)
7200.12 1TB HDD (Two platters = higher data density = very fast, reasonably cheap HDD)

Wait, before I proceed, I need to know if you have access to a Microcenter. Yes will mean you can go with an i7 930 ($200 only at Microcenter). No will mean you're going to go with an AMD six core.
 
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IRSmurf, that does not compute...

Core i7 930 (from MC) - $200
GA-X58A-UD3R - $220 (before $20 MIR)
OCZ 3x2GB DDR3 1333 kit - $160 (assuming it's in stock at your local MC)
Diamond HD 5850 - $320

... and there goes the OP's $800 budget. While you could "save some money" with a Socket 1156-based Intel build, you'd still go over $800 once you factor in the costs of the rest of the parts needed and a monitor.

Logic Monster: Danny's build is a good starting point, as it gives you a six-core processor and a good mid-range video card, but he made a compromise in giving you a 20" monitor. If you were to, say, get a 23"-25" 1080p monitor like you want, that 5770 card won't perform as well as, say, the 5850. Before I say anything further, I'd be remiss if I didn't agree with Danny regarding his recommendation for a newer, better (quality) PSU.

Now, you have to make a compromise or two to keep everything within your $800 budget. Where are you willing to make that compromise?
 
yeah I kind of like Danny's initial setup, and I'll definitely stick to getting a new PSU as well.

I might be able to pull off some overtime at my work to kind of boost my budget a bit see if I can afford both the 5850 and better monitor. If I cant then well, I guess I'll stick to the original plan.

Thanks a lot for your help everyone, I really appreciate the advice!
 
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