• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Help with a new build please

K

kainu7

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Messages
81
This will be my first build from nothing, normally I would just add new ram video card but this time I will be doing the whole thing.

so far i have picked out:
LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811112099
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131142
NX8800GT-T2D512E-OC
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Games/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=29&sku=A1348853
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817139001
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822152052

All that will cost around ~985 looking not to go over 1200. Anything i should change or add to? This will be mainly a gaming computer along with graphic works.
Thanks, kainu
 
Just to get the discussion going...why not drop some of your margin and go qx6600 and an x38 mobo...of course this would be more future proof...but I guess it depends on how long you will have the system for...
 
Sorry for the double reply...watching Battlestar Galactica here, ;)

I figure with an x38 you got PCIe 2.0 and could always go Yorkfield in a year rather than having to build an entire new system..so in the long run maybe you save..

-Dave
 
Why not go for the 8800gt instead for about the same price with a bit better performance? The MSI one from Dell right now is much cheaper at 208$.
 
If you do foxcon x38a you have ddr2 and ddr 3 compatibilty for possible move to ddr 3 down the road...otherwise go ASUS P5E x38, it is a few bucks...maybe there are less expensive x38 boards out there...I would definately go x38 rather than nforce though...and I am a big nvidia fan but the time is just not right...the new 780's have issues and anything older will not support future upgrades, fsb to 1600, etc...

-Dave
 
You will see in my sig that my media system has a 650 i..it is solid but truth is if I had it to do today I would build the same exact system but with an x38....as it is now it really is a dead end...which is fine...but if you are going to game your stats will be a moving target and need to be upgraded from time to time....see with the x38 next years or 2 years from now upgarde may be a 4ghz yorkfield, or maybe a new vid card...which will likely be PCIe 2.0, you can start with a 1333 fsb and go to 1600 with no problem at any time...

I completely agree with the 8800gt (The new build), rather than gts..

Back to the tele...anybody watching Battlesar Galactica?
 
schoenda said:
Just to get the discussion going...why not drop some of your margin and go qx6600 and an x38 mobo...of course this would be more future proof...but I guess it depends on how long you will have the system for...
Click to expand...

Why not? Because the P38/X48-based motherboards are not yet mature (P35 mobos still perform/OC better right now) and the Extreme Edition processors are way too overpriced (for most users' budgets) for their performance (an overclocked E6750 or Q6600 can provide similar performance gains, compared to the OP's old rig, at a much lower price). By the time you need all of the features they provide, you'll probably be looking for to build a new rig then.

kainu7 said:
So I should get the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and ASUS P5N-E motherboard right? that will put the total right at 1200. Should I drop anything down some or what? Also should I be worried about cooling?
Click to expand...

If you want a Q6600, get one with a G0 stepping (lower voltage, so it runs cooler and overclocks better) at ClubIT. Your other choice (if you're trying to stay under your $1200 budget) is an E6750. You'll have to spend some money on a cooler, especially if you plan on overclocking your processor:

Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja HSF - $36
Tuniq Tower 120 HSF - $45
Thermalright Ultima-90 HSF - $46 & Panaflo FBA09A12M 92mm Fan - $3
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme HSF - $57 & Scythe S-Flex SFF21E 120MM Case Fan - $14

Here's a list of recommended mobos, courtesy of Danny Bui:

Danny Bui said:
Here's a list of well recommended mobos here on the forums for you to look through. Find the one that best fits your needs. Note that links are to US sites but thats to help you look find out what features the mobo has:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $86
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P6N SLI-FI nForce 650i SLI Motherboard - $109
Abit IP35 Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $130
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $145
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $168
EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 NForce 680I LT SLI Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $175
EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 NForce 680I LT SLI Motherboard - $199

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports or legacy ports, then the IP35-E is a good choice. If you need legacy ports, than the DS3L. If you need firewire and RAID, than the IP35. If you don't need firewire but want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports, than the DS3R is a good choice.
Click to expand...

And here are a few suggestions for cases:

Danny Bui said:
Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $40
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $40
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $50
Antec NSK4480 ATX Case - $68
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $70
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $80
XClio Windtunnel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $100
Antec Sonata III ATX Case - $106
Gigabyte Aurora GZ-FSCA1-ATB ATX Case - $116
Antec P180 ATX Case - $120
Antec P182 ATX Case - $123
Antec P180B ATX Case - $130
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $137
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Thermaltake Armor VA8003BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $156
Lian-Li V1000A Plus II ATX Case - $180
Lian-Li PC-V1100A PLUS II ATX Case - $220
Lian Li PC-V1200B Plus II ATX Case - $240
Click to expand...

=====

chinspecial said:
Why not go for the 8800gt instead for about the same price with a bit better performance? The MSI one from Dell right now is much cheaper at 208$.
Click to expand...

He's right; the 8800GT performs better than the 8800GTS and cost less. The 8800GTS is supposed to be receiving a revision (to the same 65nm core that the 8800GT is using) sometime in Q1 2008, so you may want to hold out until either you find an 8800GT available or the revised 8800GTSes arrive.

=====

A few more suggestions:

Get the 64-bit version of Vista Home Premium; you need a 64-bit OS in order to use all 4GB of RAM. If you don't want to go that route, and/or you want to reduce your spending; drop down to a 2GB set of G.Skill RAM.

Unless you are gaming on a 27 inch or larger monitor (or multiple monitors), you do not need SLI or CrossFire. An 8800GT/GTS can provide excellent frame rates for a 22 inch widescreen monitor. On a 24 inch monitor, however, you may be better served by using an 8800GTX/Ultra card.

Also, shop around... getting all of your parts from two or three places can save you some money, especially if you can find some combo deals or stuff with free shipping.
 
Tiraides...My bad...typo...meant to suggest q6600...but I stand by my recommendation of an x38 mobo...rock solid in my experince in my game rig as below...I am not suggesting he needs a EE processor, but that it might be nice to have the option of upgrading to a much faster cpu in the future...just any x38 mobo instead of an nforce mobo..that is all.

Kain..I have just seen people frustrated by having new cpus that wont work in their old mobos etc...right now x38 it gives you the most future upgrade options. Tiraides is concerned the x38 is too new but I have pushed mine 10 ways from Sundaty and it is solid...I do agree with Tiraides that the x48 would be silly foy you at this point.


I would recommend:

MOBO Asus P5E x38 or Foxcon X38a (to have future options for ddr3)
CPU q6600
GPU 8800gt
MEM stick with ddr2 for now, 2gigs unless you need the four for graphics processing or other non game uses... pc2 6400 or 8500 will be your sweet spot
 
I wish i had a 22inch or a 27inch but at the moment I am only using a 19inch resolution at 1280x1024. I updated my original post to help keep things current on how i have it pieced.
Thank you for all the help! I greatly appreciate it!
 
Tiraides took the words right out of my keyboard. :) So I concur with Tiraides.

The X38 does not offer that much of a performance increase that warrants its significantly higher price. Also remember that the P35 chipset will also support the new Penryn CPUs. So the probability of any of the Intel Penryn CPUs, except for the Extreme Editions, being incompatible with the P35 mobos is pretty damn small.

Also, DDR3 is too prohibitively expensive now and only offers small performance gains over DDR2.

Anyway, OP, if you're planning on upgrading to a new Penryn CPU next year, do not go with the 650i or 680i mobo since those chipsets will not support the new Penryn CPUs. Also, since you have a 19" monitor, SLI is a total waste. Any of the mobos, except for the 680i mobos, listed in the list Tiraides provided are good alternatives.
 
I agree with Danny and tiraides. Heck, if you only have a 19", get the ATI HD 3850 instead and save some cash, lol.
 
I wont always be using this 19inch, the computer will be my Christmas present and then i plan on buying a new monitor, hopefully something like the dell 22 ultra sharp. As of now is there anything i should really change or add in my build like coolers or cables? Also as far as i can tell everything is compatible do y'all see anything wrong?
Thanks!
 
I am not blind to the cost savings of the p35, nor to the fact that it is "tried and true", but:

1) Aren't most p35 mobos NOT PCIe 2.0 compliant? (We could argue who cares, but likely any graphics card released after this year will support up to PCIe 2.0)

2) Aren't most p35 mobos limited to fsb 1333? It would be too bad when 1600 fsb is standard, to be limited.

I do not have personal experience with Yorkfield in a P35...I guess there is no issue, I am leary though because of knowing people who got screwed on the 680i/Yorkfield fiasco...I am pretty sure the 680i was listed as Yorkfield ready....

Of course neither of these mobo's, (x38 or p35) will run Nehalem, but when Nehalem is out the higher end Penryns will likey become cheaper and would be perfect to drop in an x38 as an upgrade.

Not really trying to be argumentative here...I wouldn't like to give bad advice either though.
 
1) No they're not. However, there are no video cards out there that fully saturates the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.1, let alone PCI-E 2.0. By the time a card comes out that does that, it'll be time for a total rebuild. Or the system is too old for a video upgrade to be worthwhile.

Also, remember that PCI-E 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.1.

2) Yes most P35 mobos are limited to a 1333Mhz FSB. However there are only two 1600Mhz FSB CPU coming out next year. And they're both Extreme Edition CPUs. And Extreme Edition CPU rarely drop down far enough in price for many people to buy them, even if their successor is out, cheaper, and significantly faster. I remember seeing a Pentium D 955 still at $1000 9 months after C2D CPUs were released. A quick search on Froogle today shows that the Pentium D has only dropped down to $736. So basically, why prepared for a CPU that you'll won't be able to afford?
 
Danny, Thank you.

Me personally, I am just about to go forward 3 yrs in time, buy of discount rack x49 with a 4.5ghz Nehalem and 3 9850 gtx's in TRI-SLI and 4 gigs of DDR3 2100mhz ram

If anyone would like me to pick one up for them too just pay pal me around a grand to be safe.

Working in the Air Force R&D Division has its perks. ;)

Kain, Good Luck, I am interested how thing work out, let us know when you have the new system spun up!

-Dave
 
schoenda said:
Danny, Thank you.

Me personally, I am just about to go forward 3 yrs in time, buy of discount rack x49 with a 4.5ghz Nehalem and 3 9850 gtx's in TRI-SLI and 4 gigs of DDR3 2100mhz ram
Click to expand...

LOL!
 
yea I'm interested in how it will turn out also. but as far as all the parts go i will be set right? I checked and didn't see anything that wouldn't work with each other but this is also my first complete build and it would suck to come Christmas and have the wrong ram or something hehe
 
Tell me again why you need RAID? Or chose a video card that's currently out of stock?
 
Do you have an updated list or are you sticking with your original list?
 
the first post is updated to what i planned on buying, i don't really know why i need raid or anything, do you have something else that you recommend? and as for the video card everywhere ive checked is out of it for the moment =/ know anywhere i can get one before Christmas?
 
Enermax liberty; Pass on it. Not exactly steller, and the amount of power..

Try the corsair hx 520.
 
I was going with the Enermax because i though i would need it to power that videocard but after reading the reviews for the Corsair they say its enough so ill get that one! not to mention its cheaper.
 
Better order that 8800GT now. I'm getting a 12/11/2007 ship date now.

Yes there is a huge demand for that card now. Trying to find it in stock is pretty much a part time job now.

And I concur with Bbq, you're better off with the Corsair 520HX.
 
kainu7 said:
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131142
Click to expand...

Ditch the SLI board since you don't need SLI. Go with a P35 board instead -- much more stable, especially if you're OC'ing a quadcore.

kainu7 said:
I wont always be using this 19inch, the computer will be my Christmas present and then i plan on buying a new monitor, hopefully something like the dell 22 ultra sharp.
Click to expand...

You won't need SLI for a 22" LCD. If the card you get now won't perform well on the 22", chances are, there will be a single card solution that will perform well -- so sell the old card and buy a new one instead of using two older cards in SLI.
 
Here's a new base, with everything covered (even fans) except for the operating system and the video card.

Lian-Li PC-7B plus II - $80
Two Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm case fans (for Lian-Li) - $7 (@ $3.50 each)
Yate Loon D80SL-12 80mm case fan (for Lian-Li) - $2
Corsair CMPSU-550VX - $91 (with $15 MIR)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L - $90
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 stepping - $277
Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound - $5
Thermalright Ultima 90 heatsink - $46
Panaflo 92mm M1A fan (for Ultima 90) - $3
G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800 RAM - $50
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA hard drive - $105
Lite-On LH-20A1S DVD±RW SATA burner - $27

Total for the above parts (not including shipping) - $783 (before mail-in rebates)

For the operating system, choose either 32-bit Windows XP Pro ($140) or 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium ($105).

If you can afford it, you can swap out the 2GB set for a 4GB (2x2GB) set of G.Skill RAM ($120, with a $40 mail-in rebate).

The problem now is that if you really want an 8800GT or an HD3870, you might not be able to find them before Christmas... and if you do find one, you might not be able to find it as cheap as it has been these past couple of weeks. If you want something that could power your rig now, a Radeon X1950 or a GeForce 8600GTS is enough for your 19 inch monitor. You may have to do some searching in order to find either a GeForce 8800GT or a Radeon HD 3870.
 
Are you planning on over clocking and/or using a water-cooling system? I wouldn't mind to do a little over clocking but i wouldn't be doing any water cooling (knowing me ill mess that up and there would be water in the computer or something :eek: )

What are you planning on using your rig for (e.g., gaming, heavy multitasking, video editing, VMware, Photoshop, Maya...)? I will mainly be using this rig for gaming although i am currently learning Maya.

What additional features do you want on your motherboard? RAID? Two Ethernet ports? More than four SATA ports? Leagacy ports (joystick, serial, printer)? Two IDE ports? More PCI ports? More PCI Express (x1/x4) ports? SLI/CrossFire (two graphics cards)? i don't really need any of that so.

What's your main priority for this rig? Features? Future upgrades? Speed? Price?
Price/Future.

Are you going to upgrade this rig frequently (at least every six months)? Or do you want this rig to last you a long time (at least two years, if not more)? I dont plan on upgrading this thing very much not for awhile. I don't have the money for that because i just bought laptop on credit.
 
kainu7 said:
Are you planning on over clocking and/or using a water-cooling system? I wouldn't mind to do a little over clocking but i wouldn't be doing any water cooling (knowing me ill mess that up and there would be water in the computer or something :eek: )

What are you planning on using your rig for (e.g., gaming, heavy multitasking, video editing, VMware, Photoshop, Maya...)? I will mainly be using this rig for gaming although i am currently learning Maya.

What additional features do you want on your motherboard? RAID? Two Ethernet ports? More than four SATA ports? Leagacy ports (joystick, serial, printer)? Two IDE ports? More PCI ports? More PCI Express (x1/x4) ports? SLI/CrossFire (two graphics cards)? i don't really need any of that so.

What's your main priority for this rig? Features? Future upgrades? Speed? Price?
Price/Future.

Are you going to upgrade this rig frequently (at least every six months)? Or do you want this rig to last you a long time (at least two years, if not more)? I dont plan on upgrading this thing very much not for awhile. I don't have the money for that because i just bought laptop on credit.
Click to expand...

Ok, that just looks like you're talking to yourself, lol. :confused:

Anyhow, tiraides build looks good for you.
 
I think Tiraides should be commended for the system outline....me, I gotta disagree on the p35 mobo and say go for an x38, the base ASUS P5E will cost you over $200 BUT YOU GET PCIe 2.0 (Hopefully but not definate longer life of the mobo when graphics cards start to utilize the extra bandwidth in 2 yrs) and YOU GET fsb up to 1600, which it has been pointed out right now make little difference unless you buy a super expensive cpu...but in 11-2yrs it is hard to believe 1600 wont be the standard....

ONLY LISTEN TO MY ADVICE IF a) You can spend the $$ on the more expensive mobo and b) You plan on keeping the basic system for 3 years and just upgrading components as needed.

Another thought, I dont remember this being a big oc system...normal gaming and some graphic design, right...I would suggest scrapping the Ultima 90 and using stock heat snk and fan for the cpu as i don't see a reason to overclock.
 
Don't bother with X38 since its price premium is so high. Take the money saved on a P35 and buy a new board in 3-4 years, along with a new CPU, when you upgrade to a card thats hindered by the PCI-E 1.1 port. I seriously doubt any card coming out within the next two years will be severely limited by the lower bandwidth of a PCI-E 1.1 port. Of course, this is all my opinion, and the choice, as always, is yours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top