Multimedia Graphics/Gameing Build...

M

Menasha-ashd

n00b
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
11
Budget- ~$2800 (CAD)

I'm planing to purchase a computer which would be mainly used for Multimedia type graphics... (Maya, Abobe Photoshop, Corel Painter X) A few games on the side, though at the time I do not play any haha!

Anyways to start off ill list the part's I already have.


15" Dell1501FTP (Small! But nice color quality on this old monitor even after 6 years of use)


Alright and these are the part's I am considering to order.

ABIT IP35 Pro
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=222261962&vpn=IP35 PRO&manufacture=ABIT

$188.16

Intel Q6600
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5101696

$199.99

2X OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 800 Kit (2 x 2GB)
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX19221(ME).aspx

$169.90

eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Dedicated to 30")
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX19670(ME).aspx

$219.95

Radeon X1550 256MB 64-bit (Dedicated to 2x 20" monitors)
# Model #: 100172-64L
# Item #: N82E16814102704
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102704

$29.99

Corsair Memory
750W TX750W ATX12V
http://www.provantage.com/corsair-cmpsu-750tx~7CSMC05E.htm

$98.61

ANTEC Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX14869(ME).aspx

$109.95

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
http://www.ncix.com/products/index....RO&manufacture=Arctic Cooling#CustomerReviews

$28.22


2x Western Digital 500GB Caviar SE16 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX18678(ME).aspx

$179.90

Vista 64-Bit Home Premium
Model #: 66I-01939
Item #: N82E16832116488
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

$99.99

Tower price at this time $1324.66

I think that's everything... thank you for reading haha.
 
Hopefully you haven't ordered yet because there are some major problems with your current build list.

First of all, don't bother with that Antec PSU. You do not need a 850W PSU. I recommend getting this PSU instead:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $99

Second, drop the E6750. It's an old CPU that has reached EOL. No reason to buy it unless you have an older P965 mobo or something. For your needs, I highly recommend getting a quad-core CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU - $200

Third, don't bother with DDR2 1066 RAM. You will NOT see a single ounce of performance increase with it over DDR2 667 RAM.. I recommend going with this DDR2 1000 set due to its great price:
G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000 RAM - $85

Fourth, drop the Ultra-120. There are cheaper HSF out there that perform on par with it but at a cheaper price:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37
Tuniq Tower 120 HSF - $50
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50
Thermalright Ultima-90 HSF - $46 & Panaflo FBA09A12M 92mm Fan - $3
Noctua NH-U12P HSF - $60

Fifth, unless you need the security and backup features of Vista Ultimate, I recommend sticking with Vista Home Premium 64bit.

Sixth, that video card you have will not work with this new system since it uses an older connector type, AGP. Most motherboards today only support PCI-E. So you will need to buy a new graphics card. Speaking of which, you'll need at least two graphics cards to run those three monitors. Now the bigger question is how demanding of a gamer are you?

I'll go a little bit more in depth later. Gonna eat dinner now :)
 
Thanks for the reply, no I have not ordered. I would not trust a few hours of randomly browsing the internet and my limited knowledge of hardware for anything really.

I'm not a demanding gamer at all for an example I somehow managed to play WoW for a few months with a FPS of around 3-10 in major citys. =S

I've just never felt the want or need to rebuild a new computer from the ground up.

Recently I've began venturing into the digital art mediums and I am enjoying them throughly. Just for the most part I have worked on the half decent computers at my school. Quite frankly I just can't on my rig.

So, for the added freedom I'm investing in a fairly new computer.

Alright, glad for some feed back I will begin to fix up the build. To be honest I just stuck the Vista Ulimate in there in hopes someone would say I don't need it, which now that I think about it, sounds very stupid hmm.

Alright, I would need two video cards for that set up hm... ill see what I can afford with the suggestions you gave me. My original idea was to buy a 30" monitor for now. But the 3007 WFP will be going down in price so maybe a better idea would be to purchase two 20" monitors for now.

Another question are multiple HDD's mainly used for partitions? For my perposes should I look into that and a RAID driver?
 
Well I'm back :)

Since you're not too demanding of a gamer, go with the 8800GTS 512MB instead. It's not that much slower than the 9800GTX. The 8800GTS is also cheaper:
MSI NX8800GTS 8800GTS 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $210

However ATI and Nvidia are both releasing new cards at the end of this month that can outperform the 8800GTS 512MB for close to the same price. I recommend waiting until then, see how the new cards stack up and how much they'll cost and then decide on which card to buy.

But if you have to buy now, the 8800GTS 512MB is a good choice. Then pick up a $30 video card like the 7300GT or X1550 to drive the other two monitors (assuming that you dedicate tha 8800GTS just to the 30".

Fans do come with the case. However I do recommend getting a better case. That Raidmax only uses 80mm fans which are loud and it is very poor in terms of construction. I recommend getting any of these significantly better cases instead:
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $55
Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $70
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $75
Antec Solo - $78
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $80
Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case - $90
AeroCool Masstige ATX Case - $100
Antec P180 ATX Case - $105
Gigabyte Aurora GZ-FSCA1-ATB ATX Case - $115
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $120
Antec P182 ATX Case - $130
Thermaltake Armor VA8003BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $155
Lian-Li V1000A Plus II ATX Case - $180
Cooler Master Stacker RC-832-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $192
Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $230
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Silver) - 180
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Black) - $214
Lian Li PC-V1200B Plus II ATX Case - $215
Lian-Li PC-V1100A PLUS II ATX Case - $220
Lian Li PC-A71B ATX Case - $220

If you have to buy fans though, pick up the Yate Loon D12SL-12 Case Fan from Petra's Techshop (online store).

As for DDR3 RAM setup, don't bother. DDR3 RAM is NOT worth it at this point in time. It does not offer any real world performance increase over current DDR2 RAM. So stick with an 8GB DDR2 RAM setup. Since DDR2 RAM is ridiculuosly cheap now, I recommend getting 8GB of RAM if you can afford it. It should provide a difference from 4GB of RAM with all of the apps you're currently using.

Also, I recommend ditching that sound card of yours. Onboard sound has gotten better over the last few years. My bro (a bit of an audiophile) has the exact same sound card as yours and used the Realtek onboard audio first on his setup for a few months. When he added in that sound card, he noticed a drop in quality. The only reason he kept the sound card was to play around with "Sound fonts" (no idea what they are) and some mic problems with BF2. So yeah, don't bother using that sound card.
 
Sweet, you answered all the questions I had nicely. So many cases... I may hold off till the end of the month unsure at this time. Either way I don't think a slightly better video card will make all the difference for my purposes, since I hear graphics cards amount to nothing on applications like Painter and Photoshop.

However they amount to something for 30" monitors =)

Quite surprised how realativly cheap the tower is turning out to be...
 
Menasha-ashd said:
Sweet, you answered all the questions I had nicely. So many cases... I may hold off till the end of the month unsure at this time. Either way I don't think a slightly better video card will make all the difference for my purposes, since I hear graphics cards amount to nothing on applications like Painter and Photoshop..
Click to expand...

Well actually I'm talking about gaming actually. The new graphics cards will make a difference in gaming though not with any of the apps you've mentioned. (maybe Maya?)
 
Maya, maybe not sure. Ah ok I was under the assumption I needed a good card for a 30" monitor. But maybe I'm partially right, I have a feeling with an integrated card the monitor would not function to its full potential.

Doesn't change my purchase though, since like the title says it's a gaming computer as well.\

Couple more questions that wasn't answered would I be able to play a 360 well on a 3007 WFP? As well what's the purpose for multiple hard drives other then more space? Multiple hard drives is what a RAID driver is for correct?
 
Don't have a 360 so don't know too much about it. More of a PC gamer :D

With that said, IIRC, the Xbox 360 only has a HDMI, component and composite connections. The Dell monitor only has DVI connections. So no, the Xbox 360 will not work with that Dell monitor.
 
Danny Bui said:
Don't have a 360 so don't know too much about it. More of a PC gamer :D

With that said, IIRC, the Xbox 360 only has a HDMI, component and composite connections. The Dell monitor only has DVI connections. So no, the Xbox 360 will not work with that Dell monitor.
Click to expand...

Thank you for all your help Danny it was much appreciated. Now if only I could help people this much with art related critiques. With more knowledge I'm sure the days will come.
 
Danny Bui said:
...However ATI and Nvidia are both releasing new cards at the end of this month that can outperform the 8800GTS 512MB for close to the same price. I recommend waiting until then, see how the new cards stack up and how much they'll cost and then decide on which card to buy.
...

Fans do come with the case. However I do recommend getting a better case. That Raidmax only uses 80mm fans which are loud and it is very poor in terms of construction. ...
Click to expand...

If you buy now, get an eVGA or BFG, since they have step up programs that you can take advantage of if a new card comes out within 3 months and performs MUCH better for little more money.

Now, regarding that Smilodon... the original revision had all 80mm fans. Though, I've seen several pictures on Newegg with distinctively larger fans for both intake/exhaust (aside from side fans). However, the Newegg site isn't very clear since it lists 120mm intake/exhaust, but the image shows 80mm. Then on another version of the Smilodon on Newegg, it says 80mm only, but the pic shows 120mm exhaust. So confusing... If the Smilodon had 120mm intake/exhaust, it would be great, because I love the way its removable mobo tray works, lol.

Menasha-ashd said:
...I have a feeling with an integrated card the monitor would not function to its full potential.
...
Couple more questions that wasn't answered would I be able to play a 360 well on a 3007 WFP? As well what's the purpose for multiple hard drives other then more space? Multiple hard drives is what a RAID driver is for correct?
Click to expand...

It depends on the integrated vidcard. ;) Some can (those that are capable of dual-link DVI), and most can't.

Multiple hard drives in RAID, with a hardware RAID controller card, can provide a huge boost of speed, protect against some mechanical failure and data loss, and minimize downtime, all depending on the RAID level you choose. Danny has some info on a Perc5/i card that you can get off eBay for around $150... pair it with a bunch of SATA drives for some fast data throughput for Maya/Photoshop/etc.

You can probably get an HDMI to DVI converter for the XBOX360/30".

You can also get 8GB of RAM, and use a RAMdisk utility to create a drive for your PS scratch disk -- which would be blazing fast.

Danny Bui said:
Second, drop the E6750. It's an old CPU that has reached EOL. No reason to buy it unless you have an older P965 mobo or something.
Click to expand...

Just for future reference, the P965 Express doesnt support 1333 FSB CPUs (E6750 is 1333FSB). ;)
 
Hm yes read about a few things about optimizing PS and what you said was one of them. Hehe it's very exciting to me! I will look further into the multiple HDD setup...
 
Is that set up ment for RAID5? Becauase I'm not all to interesting in reliablilty. A RAID 0 set up with 2 HDD seems like what I would be looking for.
 
Menasha-ashd said:
Is that set up ment for RAID5? Becauase I'm not all to interesting in reliablilty. A RAID 0 set up with 2 HDD seems like what I would be looking for.
Click to expand...

Yeah meant for RAID5. If a RAID0 setup is all that you want, the onboard RAID controller of many mobos out there is more than enough for a RAID0 setup.
 
I'd still go for the Perc card over onboard raid0, but thats if you have th cash for a few drives.
 
enginurd said:
I'd still go for the Perc card over onboard raid0, but thats if you have th cash for a few drives.
Click to expand...

Ill look into it, just that I'm looking for proformance and with a quick search it seems RAID 5 is ment for more realiabilty if lets say a HDD was to crash.

*Edit* On another forum some posters claiim that with a good quailty RAID controler RAID 5 would be noticablely faster then RAID 0, some claim this is not true haha. Just I would be spending between $600-1000 on a RAID 5 setup.
 
Danny Bui said:
Not for RAID0. The IP35 Pro motherboard does have an onboard RAID controller that's sufficient for RAID0.
Click to expand...

Alright so if I would need to purcahse a different model I should look for somethign that says something along the lines of this in the specs?

SATA RAID 6 x SATA 3Gb/s offer by Intel ICH9R support Intel Matrix Storage Tech(AHCI & RAID0/1/5/10)
2 x eSATA 3Gb/s through JMicron JMB363 support 0,1JBOD RAID function

How do I tell the quality of the controler? I'm sure my local computer shop will be able to help me out with the rest of this since they have excelent service.
 
Most P35 based motherboards uses the ICH9R controller. As long as the mobo has the ICH9R or the ICH10R(For the new P45 motherboards) the onboard RAID will be good.
 
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