Help Building New Computer

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lawlcraft

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Mar 25, 2008
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I plan on building a computer ideally costing around $700-$900 excluding the price for the monitor, case, and input devices. I plan to have a small 15K RPM harddrive, 4GB or more ram, and a quad core processor.

The components I'm consider are:

Hard drive =
Fujitsu MBA3073NC 73.5GB 15000 RPM 8MB Cache SCSI Ultra320 80pin Hard Drive

Motherboard =
ASRock P43Twins1600 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard

Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP

Power Supply:
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply

Memory:
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W

Any comments especially about compatability and performance vs price would be appreciated.
 
why the scsi drive? Is there a need for speed on your hdds? If so look into raptors from WD or sas drives
 
I wouldn't waste your money on a P43 chip, especially with that cpu. I would definably spend the the little extra to get a P45 board. Asrocks is Asus' cheap line if I remember correctly. Maybe something like the P5Q SE. This board will give you alot more control for tweaks or OC's.

Also, I would not recommend fujitsu HDs. If anything go with WD's Raptors. I've had those fujitsu's start to smoke with burning smell...loosing all my data...big headache...WD is a more trusted HD company as well...at least imho.

*update*
limxdul is right...why scsi drive??
That will not work with your board or most desktop M/B for that matter.
You want sata II: ...liek this
 
Do you have a SAS card already? You may find they are prohibitively expensive. Also, all a fast harddrive will do is reduce loadtimes if this is a gaming machine. It's really not worth the extra cost. I'd go with a ~$90 Western Digital AAKS6400, a 640GB 7200RPM drive that's actually faster than 1000RPM Raptor HDDs in sustained transfers. This is regardless of your intended usage, because your budget really doesn't have room for expensive harddrives.

The Radeon 3870 is a very poor choice at the $100 pricepoint anymore. You should be able to get a HD4850 for about $50 more that would destroy that card in every possible way, or at very least a Geforce 9800 GT which would be far, far faster, though not as fast as the Radeon 4850.

I'd recommend the Corsair 550 VX for ~$80 over your OCZ PSU. You should be able to find it for less if you shop around, too.

There's a G-Skill 4GB DDR2-1066 kit or $90 without rebates to bother with, if you'd rather go that route.

What's the intended usage for this machine? In most cases you could swap the Q9300 for a Q6600 and save $70+.... and never, ever notice a difference.

Probably wouldn't go with an ASRock board. MSI P43 Neo3-F, Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L, MSI P45 Neo-F. Lots of better options.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I have changed my potential setup to reflect them.

Power supply:
Corsair VX550W 550W ATX Power Supply

Hard drive:
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Memory:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600

Video card:
ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
 
DDR2-1066 is a waste of money with a Q6600... here's why:

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

Q6600: 9 × 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 × 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756 << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping

You won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, its negligible), so don't pay much of a price premium for lower latency.
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/

So... go for G.Skill DDR2-800 or DDR2-1000:
$60 - G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
$68 - G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1000 F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ

VRaptors are overpriced for little performance gain. They do about 98MB/s while the WD6400AAKS does 90MB/s -- nearly the same performance for much less price yet over double the space.
$75 - WD Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA300

P43 is fine if you're not intending to break OC'ing records. If you are, you chose the wrong chip/mobo and forgot an aftermarket HSF. :p
 
Grab an ASUS P5Q-Pro. It was in the Hot Deals section for $99. If that deal is still going on then grab it. I use it and love it.
 
limxdul said:
why the scsi drive? Is there a need for speed on your hdds? If so look into raptors from WD or sas drives
Click to expand...
Agree. And that 73.5GB is too small these days as well. You'll fill it up soon, and won't even know.
 
enginurd said:
DDR2-1066 is a waste of money with a Q6600... here's why:

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):
Click to expand...

I thought the base speed on the Q6600 was 1066MHz? Is that for something else?

Also, I plan on buying this case:
LIAN LI PC-61 USB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I would like the option of later on performing a modest OC with air-cooling. Is that going to be a reasonable possibility with the components and case I have selected?
 
lawlcraft said:
I thought the base speed on the Q6600 was 1066MHz? Is that for something else?
...
Click to expand...

The advertised FSB on Intel CPUs has been quad pumped for a long time now, and it is calculated with the formula above the paragraph you quoted. If a CPU advertises an FSB speed of 1066Mhz, its base FSB speed is 1066/4=266Mhz. The 1066Mhz number is QDR... quad data rate. The CPU multiplier on the Q6600 is 9x. Using that number, you can verify the clock speed of 9 x 266Mhz = 2.4Ghz. Lets add the FSB numbers to the chart above...

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

Q6600: 9 × 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533, 1066 FSB << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667, 1333 FSB << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 × 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756, 1512 FSB << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800, 1600 FSB << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping

You won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, its negligible), so don't pay much of a price premium for lower latency.
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/
 
Reference design cards w/ reference design coolers will run hotter than others that have improved cooling solutions. Visiontek has lifetime warranty and good support.
 
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