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Help building a new computer

Z

zohair

n00b
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
49
Hey Guys!

So I was thinking of putting a new system together and needed some help/suggestions on parts.

I was wanting to put together a E6300/6400 system using this video card : SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 VIVO HDCP Video Card

Any suggestions on good deals for a mobo/ram/case/powersupply etc?

Obviously I'm looking for quality, but I'm also a poor med student so hopefully a balance between the two can be achieved.

Thanks!

PS - If this is in the wrong forum sorry! First time poster!
 
thanks for the quick responses!

I think my budget w/ out a monitor is somewhere b/w 1000-1300.

Thanks!
 
Ok lets try something like this

processor: $216 intel e6400
ram: $209 2gb G.skill DDR800
Motherboard: $109 Gigabyte S3
gfx card: $250 Sapphire x1950xt
Hard drive: $69 Samsung 250gb
Case: $70 Antec SLK3000B
DVD burner: $31 Samsung
Powersupply: $50 Xclio Goodpower 500w
OS: $110 Windows XP Home SP2

TOTAL: $1114

Note: The above prices are completely based off of memory but they should be fairly accurate.
 
Exactly as above, but get this psu instead. It > everything in the pricerange
 
schusterjo1 said:
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...?WishListNumber=3789454&WishListTitle=For+you

Swap out video card and leave out monitor.

eveything already has been matched for price/performance.
Click to expand...

tisb0b said:
your parts selections are crap
Click to expand...

LOL... I was thinking the same thing...

@schusterjo1: Go with a better case, like the CM Centurion 5 or 534. Stay away from Thermaltake PSUs for gaming systems, unless you're goin with a Toughpower series PSU. If you want cheap and reliable, go with an XClio 500W Goodpower. Theres some G.skill 1GBNQ sticks that are DDR2-800 and only a few bux more than those Kingston DDR2-667 sticks. Why do you want a retail WD drive (thats $0.37/GB nonetheless, lol)? Retail WD drives only have a 1yr warranty, as opposed to OEM drives that have 3+ year warranty. Also, the Seagate 250GB 7200.10 ($0.32/GB) drive would be alot faster and more worth its price. Theres also a Samsung 250GB drive that performs well, and for only $70.


@OP: I agree with tisb0b's build.
 
Guess that would depend on how much money you have to spend. For a system that is under $800. that's not that bad, Sure I could throw something else together for $1200 but didn't know what the poster was working with.
Lets see you do any better with $800 then come talk smack to me. not everybody has $1200 spend on a system and for $800 what I posted is just fine.
 
Theres some G.skill 1GBNQ sticks that are DDR2-800 and only a few bux more than those Kingston DDR2-667 sticks.
Click to expand...

Oh one more thing lets look at this, pls explain to me how is 800Mhz ram going to make the system any faster then 667Mhz when the CPU only runs at 1200Mhz? If the Cpu was a E6800 with 1600Mhz Then yes I would see the need for 800Mhz.
 
schusterjo1 said:
Guess that would depend on how much money you have to spend. For a system that is under $800. that's not that bad, Sure I could throw something else together for $1200 but didn't know what the poster was working with.
Lets see you do any better with $800 then come talk smack to me. not everybody has $1200 spend on a system and for $800 what I posted is just fine.
Click to expand...
Uhm, my suggestions make it a better build without adding much extra cost to the total. These are the replacement parts, which are much better than your choices:

$109 - Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express (+$4)
$110 - G.Skill 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-1GBNQ (-$3)
$53 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache (-$6)
$52 - XClio Goodpower 500W ATX 500W (+$12)
$40 - Cooler Master Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP ($50 - $10MIR) (-$10)
=======
-$3 ... better parts for less money.

The Gigabyte S3 could overclock a Core2Duo like its more expensive brother (DS3); while the P5N-SLI can't overclock at all. The G.Skill sticks are DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-667, and are cheaper! The WD1600JS (OEM) is six bux cheaper than the retail version, and it comes with a longer warranty. The XClio is a much better PSU than the Thermaltake, and its also on the list of recommended PSUs (from the PSU Subforum); while Thermaltake is on the list of PSUs to avoid (except the Toughpower line). The Centurion 534 has much better airflow than the Apevia case, is quieter because it has 120mm fans... and again, costs less. Also, it won't keep you up at night since its more quiet, it has no window, and no flashy LEDs... for a more sleek look. BTW, your build is missing an optical drive, hehe.


schusterjo1 said:
Oh one more thing lets look at this, pls explain to me how is 800Mhz ram going to make the system any faster then 667Mhz when the CPU only runs at 1200Mhz? If the Cpu was a E6800 with 1600Mhz Then yes I would see the need for 800Mhz.
Click to expand...
Wow... where do I begin? LOL!!! I'll let someone else explain this one, since you obviously have no clue. Well, I'll start it off... First of all, the E6400 runs at 8*266=2.13Ghz, and the effective FSB is 4*266, which is 1066Mhz. If you were to run the RAM at stock speeds, that puts it at 2*266=DDR2-533. Now, the thing with these core2duo chips is that they overclock VERY easily, and have alot of potential. So, if you have DDR2-800 ram, you can run the FSB at 400Mhz, yielding 8*400=3.2Ghz CPU clock speed. FYI, the E6400 doesnt even need an aftermarket HSF to run at 3.2Ghz.

Reading material:
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802&p=2
 
enginurd said:
Uhm, my suggestions make it a better build without adding much extra cost to the total. These are the replacement parts, which are much better than your choices:

$109 - Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express (+$4)
$110 - G.Skill 1GB (2x512MB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-1GBNQ (-$3)
$53 - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache (-$6)
$52 - XClio Goodpower 500W ATX 500W (+$12)
$40 - Cooler Master Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP ($50 - $10MIR) (-$10)
=======
-$3 ... better parts for less money.

The Gigabyte S3 could overclock a Core2Duo like its more expensive brother (DS3); while the P5N-SLI can't overclock at all. The G.Skill sticks are DDR2-800 instead of DDR2-667, and are cheaper! The WD1600JS (OEM) is six bux cheaper than the retail version, and it comes with a longer warranty. The XClio is a much better PSU than the Thermaltake, and its also on the list of recommended PSUs (from the PSU Subforum); while Thermaltake is on the list of PSUs to avoid (except the Toughpower line). The Centurion 534 has much better airflow than the Apevia case, is quieter because it has 120mm fans... and again, costs less. Also, it won't keep you up at night since its more quiet, it has no window, and no flashy LEDs... for a more sleek look. BTW, your build is missing an optical drive, hehe.



Wow... where do I begin? LOL!!! I'll let someone else explain this one, since you obviously have no clue. Well, I'll start it off... First of all, the E6400 runs at 8*266=2.13Ghz, and the effective FSB is 4*266, which is 1066Mhz. If you were to run the RAM at stock speeds, that puts it at 2*266=DDR2-533. Now, the thing with these core2duo chips is that they overclock VERY easily, and have a lot of potential. So, if you have DDR2-800 ram, you can run the FSB at 400Mhz, yielding 8*400=3.2Ghz CPU clock speed. FYI, the E6400 doesn't even need an aftermarket HSF to run at 3.2Ghz.

Reading material:
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802&p=2
Click to expand...

Well, you mostly speak of overclocking something not everybody wants or need to do on a budget PC. you also fail to mention running ram in dual channel that essential brings double the 667Mhz to 1334Mhz and 800Mhz to 1600Mhz to run with the E6800 1600Mhz. perhaps you don't know much as you think.

I see no real improvement in the parts you listed other then a power supply that is not name brand.
And
I notice that you are a G-skill supporter. I am not such a fan of their ram. It is good ram don't get me wrong but Corsairs, Crucial or Kingston have a better track record. one other thing I also have noticed is the ram you listed is not on the list provided from the motherboard manufacturers site. that can be a mistake because not all ram will work with all motherboards. Always should check that list as well the Ram manufacturers motherboard configured.

Now not knocking you build recommendations at all you do a fine job,

(And oh by the way that build was from over a month ago and the person did not need a drive because they just had purchased one before their computer dumped)
 
schusterjo1 said:
Well, you mostly speak of overclocking something not everybody wants or need to do on a budget PC. you also fail to mention running ram in dual channel that essential brings double the 667Mhz to 1334Mhz and 800Mhz to 1600Mhz to run with the E6800 1600Mhz. perhaps you don't know much as you think.

I see no real improvement in the parts you listed other then a power supply that is not name brand.
And
I notice that you are a G-skill supporter. I am not such a fan of their ram. It is good ram don't get me wrong but Corsairs, Crucial or Kingston have a better track record. one other thing I also have noticed is the ram you listed is not on the list provided from the motherboard manufacturers site. that can be a mistake because not all ram will work with all motherboards. Always should check that list as well the Ram manufacturers motherboard configured.

Now not knocking you build recommendations at all you do a fine job,

(And oh by the way that build was from over a month ago and the person did not need a drive because they just had purchased one before their computer dumped)
Click to expand...

Am I being punk'd? Ashton, where iz you? No really... wtf? :eek: :confused:

@OP: sorry for crowding your thread.
 
Well, you mostly speak of overclocking something not everybody wants or need to do on a budget PC. you also fail to mention running ram in dual channel that essential brings double the 667Mhz to 1334Mhz and 800Mhz to 1600Mhz to run with the E6800 1600Mhz. perhaps you don't know much as you think.

Dual channel has nothing to do with it a Memory divider determines the speed of the ram. DDR667 uses a divider of 4:5 and DDR800 uses a divider of 2:3 keeping the FSB at a constant 266 (quadpumped to 1066).

I see no real improvement in the parts you listed other then a power supply that is not name brand.
Name brand and being a quality power supply are 2 very different things


And
I notice that you are a G-skill supporter. I am not such a fan of their ram. It is good ram don't get me wrong but Corsairs, Crucial or Kingston have a better track record. one other thing I also have noticed is the ram you listed is not on the list provided from the motherboard manufacturers site. that can be a mistake because not all ram will work with all motherboards. Always should check that list as well the Ram manufacturers motherboard configured.

G.skill offers some good value ram there's no fanbo!ism in recommending it. If the motherboard is DDR2 and the ram is DDR2, nine times outta ten the board will support that ram.
 
The base FSB is 266Mhz at stock speeds, which means the stock ram speed is 2*266Mhz, which is DDR2-533. DDR2-667 is not 1334Mhz, nor is it 667Mhz... its 2*333Mhz. DDR2-800 is NOT 1600Mhz, its 2*400Mhz. I think you need to read up on PSUs. You can start at the PSU subforum, where there's a PSU buying guide. JonnyGuru.com is also a good resource, as well as http://psu.thetruck.net/ FYI, XClio uses CWT as their PSU supplier, which is also the same company Antec uses for their SmartPower line of PSUs (their NeoHE is supplied by Seasonic); but the XClio has better cooling. I'm a fan of any component that a wide variety of people are saying works well with their system. I haven't heard any issues with the 2GBNQ sticks, and I've used them in several builds already without issues. I'm also a fan of price/performance ratios. Why buy ddr2-667 if ddr2-800 is cheaper? You see "no real improvement"? Well, with posts like the ones I've seen from you here, its no wonder at all that you see no improvement.
 
@OP: here's pretty much tisb0b's build, with a few variations:

$222 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz
$109 - Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express
$210 - G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
$220 - Sapphire 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB ($250 - $30MIR)
$75 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620AS 250GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$52 - XClio Goodpower 500W ATX 500W
$40 - Cooler Master Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP ($50 - $10MIR)
$31 - Lite-On 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA SH-16A7S-05
$88 - Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack
============
$1087 + tax and shipping - $40MIR = ~$1165

Since you have a bit of room to spare, I'd go for a better PSU or upgrade the CPU HSF:
$60 - Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler
$55 - Thermalright Ultra-120
$47 - Zalman CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU HSF

Much Better PSU (oem for Corsair is Seasonic):
$90 - Corsair CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W ($100 - $10MIR)
 
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