Building a rig

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g354lyfe

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Apr 17, 2008
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I am going to build a rig this summer with a loose budget of about 1500 dollars. I already have two monitors that are 19 inches each that I want to have dual monitored. I also have two 250 GB HD's that are going to go into it so I do not need any HD space right now. I was wondering what the best bang for my buck would be and I was hoping you guys could help.

Some things I want:

I want to have an Intel Quad core cpu

I want to have the best Mobo that works with the cpu

I might wait a lil bit and get the new nvidia gtx 280 that is coming out...if so what would I need for that?

I want at least 4 gigs or ram and preferably OCZ

I am probably going to go with the Cooler Master Cosmos S unless you guys suggest something better


Now I said my budget is loose because I can go higher but I do not want to really go too much higher but just gimme what u come up with if it is higher


I hope to be hearing from you guys soon and if you guys have any questions for me dont hesitate to ask. Thank you very much for your time.
 
Did you check out other threads in GenHard? There's a bunch. To give you some parts to start with...

$150 or less - Abit IP35 Pro, DFI P35 (any), MSI Neo2-FR or Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L or DS3R
$220 or less - Q6600
$90 before $25 rebate - 4GB OCZ 2x2GB SLI Edition
$85 or more - Corsair 550W, or a modular one, 520W or 620W
$30 - Samsung DVDRW SATA
$40 - ZEROtherm Nirvana CPU HSF (hm... not sure if this fits in the Cosmos... someone else should know, I'm too lazy to look)

Are your drives IDE or SATA?
 
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@enginurd - My hard drives I have right now are SATA


This is actualy what I have so far. I know I said no hard drive...but I just wanted to see what it would cost if I bought one.

Also I put a 9800 gtx just to get a high end video card money range in there....although I know the 280 will be more I jsut wanted to get something in there to see what the price would be.

Any suggestions on better combinations or things to get?
 
Ditch the Zalman. Its underperforms for its price. These coolers are better, and the ZEROtherm and Xigmatek are as good as the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, and already come with fans for a much cheaper price:

$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF (optional: $5 - Thermalright LGA775 Universal Bolt-Thru-Kit)
$37 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler (optional: $7 - XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit)
$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)

I'd also ditch the Rampage. If you like all the extra features it comes with, then knock yourself out. But you obviously don't need Crossfire, so I wouldn't even bother with an X38/X48 chipset. I'd go for either a P35 or wait for the P45, which will be out in a few weeks. The Asus P5K-E is a good P35 board from Asus.

I think you're paying almost double the price for a mobo/cpu/ram combo thats about 15% faster than what I suggested.
 
Ok....can I ask for your reasoning? I know you prolly know wayy more bout this stuff than I but I would just like to know so when I go to upgrade in the future I can make better decisions myself.

And also I would like to gat an ASUS board if I could...I had one in my last computer and I liked it very much. Any other ASUS board you would go with?

/edit Ah didnt see the last part about you saying Im paying almost double. Thanx
 
I'm going to have to agree with Enginurd here. Probably less than a 15% gain, honestly.

In the case of the Zalman, it's actually a lesser cooler than the Zerotherm... and costs more.

Prices wherever you're getting this stuff are rather bad, too. Not terrible, but you can do better.
 
I edited my post with more explanation, sorry... I've been lazy lately, lol.

It looks like mwave.com, btw.
 
Well its off Mwave.com....and I was just doing it all on one website so I could give you guys something to look at and tell me whats good and what I need to change...

but anyways I will switch the Zalman to the Zerotherm....will it still fit in the CM Stacker 830 that I switched out the Cosmos for?

Also how much better performance is the Q9450 to the Q6600. If it is not much I will downgrade that also but if it is a good bit then I will keep it.

Also any ASUS mobos that you guys would request or no?

/edit Thank you very much for being more clearer enginurd :)
 
The Q6600 to Q9450 performance differential is ~10-15% per clock, so no, I don't personally feel it's worthwhile. It's more if you're using programs that make use of the SSE4 instruction set.. but other than encoding video, not much does, and even then, only a few apps.

I am not an ASUS fan -- their hardware is generally solid, but insanely overpriced. That, and they have some of the worst customer service and support in the industry. I've yet to have a pleasant experience with ASUS regarding support or RMA (I've dealt with their laptop division many times -- never ever buy an ASUS barebones laptop).
 
@silent and enginurd - Ok well what would be the board you two would suggest be the best to get for a Q6600? i.e. what would you pick?

Because I read the reviews for all the boards enginurd suggested and as with mostly everything they had some pretty good pros but some pretty bad cons
 
g354lyfe said:
@silent and enginurd - Ok well what would be the board you two would suggest be the best to get for a Q6600? i.e. what would you pick?

Because I read the reviews for all the boards enginurd suggested and as with mostly everything they had some pretty good pros but some pretty bad cons
Click to expand...

what are your concerns for each board you read about? 'cuz you can't go wrong with any of the boards I listed, IMO. I've used each one (except the DFI's), and all worked well for me.

What features do you need in a motherboard? (4 sata ports? 10 usb? legacy com/parallel ports? eSATA? 3x PCI?)
 
Well nothing is really of a concern too much....although I would like some eSATA ports on the mobo for my Mybook but that doesn't really bother me if it doesn't have it. Right now I am going between the Asus P5K-E and the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R...although I was thinking about it and if Im going to wait for the gtx 280 then I might as well wait for the P45 as you suggested before.

@silent - I know its not exactly reliable but I looked the boards up on newegg and read a bunch of the reviews for each
 
Don't rely on NewEgg reviews -- most of the reviewers don't know what they're talking about. Stick to hardware review sites and/or forums (starting with here, of course) to get better answers. (There's a good list of reviewers available in the GenHard FAQ.)

The GA-EP35-DS3R comes with a expansion port that converts two of your internal SATA ports into eSATA.
 
... and that type of expansion port is available on its own, too, if you need more. Newegg has them for under $10. You can use them on any internal SATA port with AHCI.

I've used both of those boards, and they're both good. I actually like the Gigabyte BIOS better, but I like the featureset of the P5K-E more (additional PCI-E 4.16x slot, better NB cooling). These are just personal nitpicks.
 
Ok so I have made some changes and this is what I have so far:

CM Stacker 830 w/PSU

ASUS P5K-E

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield

ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120

OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB OCZ2N800SR4GK

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR

Would all of this stuff work together really well or d I still need to make some changes?

Also I don't really know what the difference is between P35 and P45 except for that one isn't out yet. Can you guys tell me what is the difference so I can see if I should wait for that or not?
 
The difference isn't much. P45 is a die shrink, so it runs cooler and theoretically OC better. It also has PCI-E2.0 and better midrange crossfire support (dual 8x vs the P35's 16x+4x). Its not really worth waiting for, though, if you need a system right now.

However, the new vidcards... those are worth waiting a few weeks for. ;)
 
Ah ok...yea I prolly won't wait for that because I won't be doing crossfire (not really sure wut it is...SLI? ) but If I were to get the EVGA 9800 I would be able to do the step up program right?
 
g354lyfe said:
Ah ok...yea I prolly won't wait for that because I won't be doing crossfire (not really sure wut it is...SLI? ) but If I were to get the EVGA 9800 I would be able to do the step up program right?
Click to expand...

CrossFire is AMD/ATI's video card solution using two of their cards. SLI is nVidia video cards.

If you go with either eVGA or BFG Tech, you will be able to use their Step-Up Programs to purchase one of the new nVidia video cards. Just be sure to check when you purchase a card that it is on their list.
 
AndonSage said:
CrossFire is AMD/ATI's video card solution using two of their cards. SLI is nVidia video cards.

If you go with either eVGA or BFG Tech, you will be able to use their Step-Up Programs to purchase one of the new nVidia video cards. Just be sure to check when you purchase a card that it is on their list.
Click to expand...

Be careful about the BFG step up. Read their step up terms and make sure that you qualify as there is some language in the document about the card being purchased standalone and not part of a complete system to qualify for the step up.
 
heatlesssun said:
Be careful about the BFG step up. Read their step up terms and make sure that you qualify as there is some language in the document about the card being purchased standalone and not part of a complete system to qualify for the step up.
Click to expand...

That should only apply if he purchases a computer from a system vendor, like Dell, AVA Direct, or Velocity Micro. The OP said he was building his own.
 
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