Help on more specific Selections

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Big10Fan

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
157
I hope to get this project finished by Christmas for myself, I am trying to keep costs under $700, but if there is a part worth the extra cash, I wont hesitate spending a little extra. Primarily a gaming PC, I hope to get into some of the new FPS games on the market and I hope this build to be upgradeable and I will probably take a dip into overclocking the CPU under stock cooling, nothing hardcore for this build.

Anyways I am going intel, specifically E8400

The mobo I was looking at a couple weeks ago seems to be disappearing from websites, it was the GigaByte GA-P35-DS3L which I got from recommendations of good stability compared to the newer chipsets. Since this board looks like it is discontinued, what options do I have?

I am looking at the EVGA 9800GTX, that is pretty much a final decision unless someone can object with good reason.

Ram I am confused on, Initially I want 2x2GB sticks, but PC8500 or other? How do you know what to buy for ram? what do you match?

As for a HD, this seagate seems like a no brainer at this price, am I wrong?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1c3grabb3r-_-Hard+Drives-_-Seagate-_-22148335


Case will most likely be the Antec 1200 unless there are any suggestions for something similar, I don't like doors on the front and prefer it to be black.

PSU I am still up in the air, when thinking of being able to upgrade I am going to need power in the future, but I'm not willing to drop $100+ on a PSU right now. The antec Basiq 500W is $30 at microcenter, and I figure by the time I need to get more wattage I could probably find a 750W for $30 2-3years from now. Smart decision says get the $30 antec, guy tells me get the 650W antec earthwatts for $65

Optical drives are irrelevant, too inexpensive to bother discussing, I'll just got for something popular on newegg.

Soundcard...Lil confused there, I only use headphones on my computer, $50 sennheisers, does it really matter? Will I notice a difference between a $25 soundblaster and a $50+?

OS...I have an old copy of XP Pro I never used and paid full retail for, I guess I'll use that, but it is only 32bit, will I be fine with that? I didn't plan on getting a new OS until windows 7 is released.

I believe that is about all, am I missing anything? Suggestions welcome with good reason (price/quality).
 
What size LCD monitor do you have? You can look at these 2 builds as a start

Build 1 - faster cpu but, slower GPU

CPU - Intel Core2 E8400(3.0ghz) + Asus P5QPro mobo combo for $250($15 MIR on mobo)
RAM - 4gig G. Skills DDR2 800 for $50 w/free shipping
Video - MSI N9800GT-T2D512-OC GeForce 9800 GT 512MB for $115($20 MIR)
HDD - WD 6400AAKS 640gig for $75 w/free shipping
Case - Antec 300case for $55 w/free shipping
PSU - Antec EA650 for $70 w/free shipping
Heatsink - Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm rifle for $32($10MIR) + Xigmatek ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket for $8.50
Optical drive - Samsung Black 22X DVD+R for $25 w/free shipping

Total: $680.50



Build 2 - slower cpu but, faster GPU

CPU/RAM(combo deal) - Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 (2.66ghz) + OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 for $165
Mobo - MSI P43 Neo3-F $85 ($10 MIR)
Video - Sapphire RAdeon HD4850 512MB for $160
HDD - WD 6400AAKS 640gig for $75 w/free shipping
Case - Antec 300case for $55 w/free shipping
PSU - Antec EA650 for $70 w/free shipping
Heatsink - Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm rifle for $32($10MIR) + Xigmatek ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket for $8.50
Optical drive - Samsung Black 22X DVD+R for $25 w/free shipping

Total - $675.50
 
I was looking more for answers to some of my questions rather than a list of parts to fit a budget. I appreciate your builds, but it is really more about finding quality and compatibility rather than meeting the budget.
 
Excuse me hehe I get trigger happy with the builds sometimes but, I think answering these questions first would be more appropriate:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Where do you live?
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
 
Yea that is what I figured (the trigger happy) :p

I pretty much answered all those questions without knowing there was a template. I live in MA, I have a 17" screen, but I know the vid card I am set on will be enough for me.
 
Dfferent objectives match different criteria, in this case asking questions is a good start into knowing what it is that you need it for.
wink.gif
 
Ok, to answer some of your questions, The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L is the older P35 mobo. They have now the GA-EP35-DS3L with Dynamic Energy Saver that replaced it. But, the P35 chipsets because it's older, only support PCI Express 1.x The newer P43/P45 chipsets support PCI express 2.0 which doubles the bus standard's bandwidth. Stick to getting either a P43 chipset mobo or P45 mobo. The P43 mobo are more basic with less features such as 1 x PCI-E slot and no onboard RAID if you care for that. These are for people who don’t care to Crossfire video cards or to have harddrives in a RAID configuration. Also, P43 have fewer SATA connectors and lack a IEE1394 firewire onboard.

The 9800GTX video card you specified will be enough for only a 17" (1280 x 1024) or (1440 x 900) res lcd monitor. But, if you plan to upgrade your LCD down the road, the Radeon HD4850 will benefit you more as you go higher in resolution and especially when enabling setting such as AA(Anti Aliasing) and AF(Anisotropic Filtering).

As far as RAM, PC6400 or DDR2 800mhz will do fine even for O/C. Th G. Skills DDR2 800 for $50 is a great deal. Or, for $5 more you can get the DDR2 1000 PC2 8000 for $55 for a faster RAM that will help push your O/C speeds a bit further. DDR2 667mhz, DDR2 800, DDR2 1000, DDR2 1066, any of these RAM speeds will work with a P35/43/45 chipset mobo. Just don't mix and match the RAM speeds with each other. On the HDD, majority of us here recommend the WD 6400AAKS model due to its performance and value. It's fast and quite and at a decent price of $75.

The Antec 1200 case is humongous. Unless you really need that much space, the Antec 900 case or even the cheaper Antec 300 case will do. The Antec 1200 is just a full tower version of the Antec 900 case.

On the PSU, DON’T get the Antec Basiq. They are just that Basic. I bought the Antec Basiq 350 because it was cheap. The internal fan is loud and the cooling is not soo good. I decided to mod the internal fan to run at 7V to make it quieter. But, it’s not enough to keep it cool and my PC rebooted as a result. It’s junk. Avoid these line of Antec PSU. Definitely get the Antec EA650 for $65 which is a really good deal. That’s cheaper than NewEggs price of $70. Its got very good power with 45A on the +12V rail. This is enough to support a Radeon HD 4870X2 and is certified by AMD/ATI.

As far as sound cards, stick with the onboard audio. It’s pretty good these days with 8 channel onboard audio and some mobo have onboard Optical/Coax out to connect to your audio system. Stick with this first and see how you like it before purchasing a sound card.
 
I really do appreciate going over my specific concerns, that reply really helped me out, thank you!
 
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