New Intel C2D system - comments welcome

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calikool

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 9, 2006
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I have a seven year old computer that needs to be updated. Here is what I have put together. My target date to purchase is between Feb and March 2008.

Comments are welcome. I'd like to be able to play Crysis, Supreme Commander, and other FPS games without problems. Recommendations on mobo, processor etc.

I already have an LG L245WP-BN Black 24" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitorand another 19" LCD monitor.

Antec Performance One P180 Silver - $115 Already purchased
--- As an after thought I think I would have liked to use this case. COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower I would have more room.

I replaced the orginal Antec Tricool fans with the Noctua fans. Great fans and quiet!

2 x Noctua NF-S12-1200 120mm Fan (48 CFM)
2x Noctua NF-P12 120mm x 25mm Fan - 54.3 CFM at 19 dBA
ZALMAN MFC2 Muti Fan Controller - Retail

ABS Tagan ITZ Series ITZ800-V2 ATX12V / EPS12V 800W Power Supply - $159 - Already purchased

I just saw that they have a 800w modular one now that looks pretty slick too. ABS 800w modular model

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM - $16 - Already purchased
CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS - $157 - Already purchased
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 - $179
Q6600 - $255 Q6600 Kentsfield
ClubIT Q6600 link -- I bought the Retail version from ClubIT for $271. I should call soon and get a price reduction since the price recently dropped and see how that goes.

ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail - $80

2x mushkin 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) - $280

1x SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - $8
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA-300 Hard Drive - $140
1x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM -$105

LITE-ON LightScribe Black 20X DVD±R Burner Model LH-20A1H-186 - Retail - Scrapped this one and got another Samsung


2x SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - $30
1x Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Sound Card - $80
1x EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $255
There are cheaper ones but I figured maybe I could use the EVGA step up program before my 90 days expire.

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2C - OEM - $139

Rough total price is $2200 - some rebates and it will be more like $2000.
 
This Hard drive is 89.00
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136053 -$189
Click to expand...

And unless you OS is 64bit
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16832116400
Click to expand...

You only need 2gb of ram- 4gb will show 2.75 to 3.5gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146693
Click to expand...


onboard sound has been very good lately-I would try onboard sound before buying the $80.00 card
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128067
Click to expand...


You might want to take the 100 from the hard drive and buy Vista and dual boot.
 
Too early to be deciding on a build now. Who knows what parts will be out or still be available 2-3 months from now? Also, who knows if the prices will still be the same 2-3 months from now? So unless you're planning to buy in Jan or early Feb, don't bother building a list now. It's way way too early to be doing so now.
 
Danny Bui said:
Too early to be deciding on a build now. Who knows what parts will be out or still be available 2-3 months from now? Also, who knows if the prices will still be the same 2-3 months from now? So unless you're planning to buy in Jan or early Feb, don't bother building a list now. It's way way too early to be doing so now.
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One could argue that this is the case 365 days a year. There's always something better on the horizon, and price drops are to be expected over time.

As for the OS, since you seem set on 4 GB of memory, definitely go with an x64 OS. That being said, if you were planning on buying a new OS, I couldn't see a reason not to go with Vista at this point.

I can also answer your next two questions for you. Yes, Vista works just fine, and the vast majority of people who try Vista x64, swear by it. Yes, it's perfectly fine to go with an x64 OS. Drive compatibility is a thing of the past, especially with Vista platforms.
 
gwarren007 -
And unless your OS is 64bit
Click to expand...

The plan is to eventually upgrade or dual boot Vista 64 but I don't really care for it right now. I'll throw it into a VMware environment and mess around but I don't want it to be my main OS just yet. I'm not interested in Windows XP Pro 64bit because it's just dying off and not much support for the gaming world really. I'm also messing with Ubuntu too.

DeaconFrost said:
As for the OS, since you seem set on 4 GB of memory, definitely go with an x64 OS. That being said, if you were planning on buying a new OS, I couldn't see a reason not to go with Vista at this point.
Click to expand...

I am not really worried about the wasted memory since RAM is pretty cheap and I would just rather have 2GB x 2 sticks and leave 2 slots open on the mobo VISTA is a resource whore but eventually it will become big guy on campus after a few service pack updates. I am also not a huge fan for having the Vistas encrypted hardware bus channels eventually leading to programmers taking the ability away for using my computer the way I want it to.

Prices will continue to decrease for sure but I think this build will probably last for another 3 years. As long as I keep the video card up to date.
.
 
I'm not sure where you are getting your Vista info, but you might want to read up on some factual info before dispelling it. First off, it isn't a "resource whore". It uses your resources much much more effectively. Many of us who have dual booted in the past ended up doing away with XP because Vista provided a much snappier experience. Second, I don't even know where to address the hardware bus encryption stuff, unless you are referring to DRM and HDCP. If you plan on using media legally, this isn't going to be an issue for you. If you plan on watching high def movie content, you simply pick out a video card and monitor that support HDCP and you're done. You're building a new system right now, so making these choices is a given already.There's no need to don a tin foil hat.

As for XP x64 being a dying OS, it's actually a newer kernel than XP x86. It's far from dying, and certainly far from being ignored by the gaming system. I would suggest getting the correct information in front of you before making a major purchase. If you have to go with XP on that system, there's no reason not to use XP x64.

If you want more opinions on this, and don't want to take my word for it, search the OS forum....it's been discussed many times. On new systems today, there's no reason not to be running an x64 OS.
 
Thanks for the comments everybody. Looks like this rig will work in the next couple of months.
 
I setup my new computer and it is really quiet and super FAST! I bought another 4GB of ram. Of course it will only show up as 3.25GB in Windows XP Pro. I plan to dual boot Ubuntu 64bit and compiz Fusion + Virtualbox as the main OS and run virtual WinXp. If I need to play games I will reboot into windows.

The vid card is great and makes all of my old games run super fast. FarCry plays great and Day of Defeat: Source will be a lot more fun.
 
i hate to nitpick here, but maybe you should consider ditching the IDE DVD drive and getting 2 SATA DVD drives instead-- just to stay on the cutting edge
 
I was kind of thinking the same thing about removing the Lite-on drive. But I kept running into people saying the sata version of the same drive was just really loud and didn't work that well. You can check the newegg.com reviews too.

My IDE version in my previous rig has always worked like a champ. If anything I would get a 2nd Samsung since it has worked out so far. It would just be nice to still have the Lightscribe option. Realistically, I may never use the it though.
 
I haven't really tried overclocking very much.

I think my RAM voltage says it is running at 1.93. I have the memory times set to to auto and CPU speed is all default.

Anyone familiar with what I can try with my Gigabyte board, Muskin RAM, and Zalman 9700 cooler?

Muskin RAM says voltage is 2.0 - 2.1 and timings 5-5-5-12. I have set the timings but not the voltage. I'm not sure why it is reporting lower than 2.0 anyway.

Thanks in advance.
 
calikool said:
I was kind of thinking the same thing about removing the Lite-on drive. But I kept running into people saying the sata version of the same drive was just really loud and didn't work that well. You can check the newegg.com reviews too.
Click to expand...
That is true for the LiteOn drive. So, ditch it and get one of the SATA Samsung drives, like the 203N. Everybit as good as the LiteOn, but nearly silent.

EDIT: I should read more. You already did that.
 
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