Need help new build

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kenshin23

Weaksauce
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Dec 10, 2006
Messages
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New build GAMING/HTPC top of the line. Price range 1500-2000 max. I have a HTPC montiar so dont need that. I havnt been around with mother boards, and what not since p965 came out which isnt to long but im not familar with the 45nm chips, and new mobs what are the advantages ext.

MOTHERBOARD: I was going with the asus formulas, but im planing on getting a 45nm proccer the quad core 45nm's, and i want a really good ovrecloking motherboard. I hate gigybtyes so dont mention those they look so chinese

HARDRIVE:RAPTOR?

Case: Now here i want a nice classy looking case i hate the look of the stackers there so big, and bulkly i was thinking of the lian li v1000 or silverstone Tj09. Any case that looks classy as alot of places to add fans, and good airflow+sidewindow.

Proccer: Q9560 or Q950 which ever one is the replacment for the Q6600

VIDEOCARD: Im gona go with the 9800gtx but from what i hear the 4000 seris will be better, and the 3870x2s are better so i dont know what to choose.

BLUERAY:im spektical with the lite on blueray dvd cd burner/player that is for 150


COOLING: i wnat the best aircooling or watercooling for water cooling i dont want to speend much. Also fans to add to my case fast ones like in the antec900

Powersupply:no clue

thanks for your help.
 
Well from my perspective on some components I can recommend


Mobo - Asus P5E or Maximus Formula based on X38 chipset
HDD - I'd stick with a SATA 3.0gb/s like at least a 500gig WD or Seagate. The raptor 150 although 10K RPM is just too small. Games and Movies take up alot of space.
CPU - A Q9300 at 2.5ghz or Q9450 at 2.66ghz would replace the Q6600
Video - I like the ATI video quality over Nvidia based on my personal experience. Right now, I'd get a 3870X2 for $450.00
Optical Drive - Why are you skeptical on this drive? Is it because it is a Lite On brand?
PS - A Corsair HX620 would suit your needs.


If you don't mind waiting until the upcoming components are released, then you have a better idea based on price on what to get.
 
I'm going to ask some questions and we can go from there.
  • Which monitor do you have? What is the resolution you're using on that monitor?
  • What/Which HTPC-related tasks are you planning on using this computer for?
  • Are you planning on overclocking anything? Are you planning on using a water-cooling setup?
  • Do you live in Canada or Europe? (Where you live may limit the number of places we can find parts at.)
  • How soon do you need this computer?
  • How long do you want this setup to last? Are you going to make any periodic upgrades during that time frame?
 
* GATEWAY FPD19175W 1440x900
* MOVIES thats why i wanted the blueray drive
* YES my proccer i would want to use water cooling but not spend alot
* US
* i can wait even till june
* No upgrades probably last me a good 2 years
To the guy that asked about the blue ray drive im skeptical about it because i haven't seen a review or something i have no idea how good it is.
 
The Lite-On drive reads Blu Ray drives; it won't burn any Blu Ray discs. The Blu Ray writer drives that I was able to find all cost at least $400.

With the resolution of the monitor you are using, you won't need an 9800GTX. You don't even need a G92 8800GTS or an HD3870x2 for that setup; a 512MB 8800GT or an HD3870 would be enough.

The Q9300 and Q9450 are being marketed as the replacements for the Q6600. I still don't know when the Q9xxx processor are going to be released (besides the rather-vague "Q1 '08"), but it's a good idea to wait until they arrive. Having said that, the Q6600 is still a viable option (especially if you're considering overclocking), and will be less expensive than the Q9450 for the forseeable future. (The Q9300 is slated to cost around the same as the Q6600, but the price may increase based on the initial demand for the processor.)

WD Raptor drives, IMO, are no longer worth their price premium. Yes, they are still the fastest single drives around, but the newer hard drives can compete with them on certain benchmarks. Additionally, two hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration are faster (not to mention, possibly cheaper) than an single 150GB Raptor. (The catch with RAID 0 is that it doesn't protect your data, so if one drive fails, then all of your data is lost.)

I'm going to disagree with HardwareGuru on one point: X38 isn't worth the money right now. A motherboard with the X38 chipset, compared to the P35 chipset, offers CrossFire, DDR2/DDR3 support, and PCI Express 2.0. You don't need CrossFire (or SLI, either of which is beneficial at resolutions of 1920x1200 or greater, and only if you purchase all of the video cards at once); DDR3 RAM is very expensive, especially when you consider the fact that you could buy a 4GB kit of DDR2 RAM for under $100 nowadays; and PCI Express 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with PCI Express 1.0 (aka, x16) slots... and even then, there is no single card that fully saturates the bus provided by a PCI Express 1.0 slot. P35 is still a viable option, and it supports the 45nm Penryn processors (to include the Q9xxx series Quads).

I do agree, however, with the fact that it's better to wait for the new processors and graphics cards to arrive before making your final decision.
 
I was gonna say a P35 mobo but, looking at his spending budget of up to $2000. I figured what the hell X38 can. LoL
 
BURNING BLUE RAY there is no need for me on that just playing blue ray movies in full HD, and i want a good mobo so im gona with x38 for future proofing, for the graphics card the reason i wanted a 9800gtx for future proofing also because this 2grand im going to spend should last me for the 2 years meaning playing all the games that come out in that time spam on high to max settings.
 
What future proofing?

When Nehalem -- the newest processors from Intel -- arrive at the end of this year, they're going to require a new socket and a new northbridge... they'll eventually (if not immediately) make all LGA775 boards (including those with the P35 and X38 northbridge) obsolete.

The P35 based motherboards have many (if not most) of the same features as the X38 chipset. The only glaring omissions are the lack of native CrossFire and not PCI Express 2.0 slots. The performance levels of the P35 is around the same as the X38; its stability is somewhat better because it is the more mature technology.

Unless you're planning on getting a new monitor (e.g. a 20-24 inch widescreen LCD), getting one of the 9800 series cards would be a waste of money. If anything, it would be better to wait for the 9600 series to arrive, or wait for ATI/AMD's new graphics cards... but getting one of the cards that I recommended earlier would be more than enough for your rig.

If you want a Blu Ray burner, perform a Google search; but I don't think that getting one of those drives is worth paying $400+ (plus shipping) for the privilege.

I don't believe in spending money just to spend money, especially now, with all of the new items and changes in the horizon. But it's your money, so do what you want with it.
 
I agree with Tiraides on all points, especially on the motherboard and the video card. With your monitor setup and planned used, anything more than a P35 board and either an nVidia 8800 GT 512 or ATI HD 3870 would be wasted money -- you wouldn't realize any performance gain.

As for Blu-Ray: unless you plan to hook up your computer to an HDTV or already have another player and would just like the ability to watch your Blu-Ray collection in another part of your home (namely where your computer is,) then there is really no reason to consider it. You'll need a 24 inch monitor to take advantage of a Blu-Ray movie's native resolution of 1920x1080, and even then you won't get that patented "wow" home theatre experience from a screen that small.

Now if you happen to already have a BluRay player and an HD movie collection, then by all means go for a blu-ray drive. You can then at least rip your movies to your HD, which may be of some benefit to you (then again it may not.)
 
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