New system build - need suggestions

[esky]

Budget: $1000 excluding S/H; in USA
Need: Case, PSU, Motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD, DVD+-RW, and OS
Have: 2 19in LCDs
Uses: development in Adobe suite, office apps, video editing, 3D (Maya), some gaming

Goals:

(1) RAID: I'd like to build a system that doesn't use RAID at first, but later upgrade to additional hard drives and use RAID 5 (or another array possibly, 5 sounds most general for my needs)

(2) Video: Something that will support 2 LCDs for now, with light gaming. However, can I stay cost efficient and keep a possibility open to later upgrade to 3 or 4 total monitors - so I assume I need the capability to run at least 2 video cards

(3) I may want to turn this into an HTPC in the future, so I want some options that will later aid this such as a motherboard that will be friendly to additional peripherals, external disks and file storage on a small network

Questions:

I'm also leaning for the Core 2 Quad, so is there a way to ensure I get the G0 stepping?

Would I be able to just run my Win XP Pro on this new system and perhaps purchase Vista later? Will it run both 32 and 64 bit versions of Vista? If so, what's the best system build option, is it the Vista Ultimate OEM?

What is the minium PSU I should not fall under? What would be overkill?

And finally, please suggest a build?

Thanks

 

[engiNURD]

Clubit.com guarantees the G0 stepping.

If your license for XP Pro is retail, then yes, you can use it on a new system. If its OEM, just go with Vista for now. Since you want to use this as a HTPC, I'd suggest Vista Home Premium.

A good quality 500W PSU should fit your needs. The Corsair 520W is popular since its modular and can deliver more power than most other similarly rated PSUs. Anything around or over 750W would be overkill.
PSU Suggestions:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showpost.php?p=1590883&postcount=193
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103
PSU FAQ: http://www.jonnyguru.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1036

Now... more questions for you...
What features do you need in a motherboard?
What games do you play?
What resolution/settings do you game at?
You listed your uses, are those in order of priority?
Do you have a rough draft build of your own that we can nitpick? If not, browse through other threads, post a rough draft, and we'll tear it up.

 

[WildMonkey]

Since you are doing video editing and rendering the more cores the better.

I suggest you go Q6600 or wait for the new 45nm quad cores come out, probably in a month or less.

I would go quad core. $250-$300
Abit iP35 Pro or any P5K Asus board. $100-$200
Ati 3870 512mb or geforce 8800GT (both pretty much the same). $200-$250
G.Skill DDR2 PC6400 2x2gb RAM. $80
OCZ 600w PSU $80
Seagate 7200.11 32MB HDD drives. $120
I would suggest staying with windos xp, if you have to get vista at least get vista home premium 64 bit.
You can get 20x DVDr drives for $30 at newegg.
Any case will do, don't need to spend $200 on something a cardboard box can do.

 

[engiNURD]

Yes, go with 64-bit if you're buying Vista. Vista is great if you're running all new hardware/software/peripherals. If you have any old sw/hw, make sure there are drivers or that its compatible with Vista.

OCZ 600w PSU $80

I recommend against this PSU. Its most likely based on the FSP Epsilon, as are most OCZ units. The FSP Epsilon is notorious for out of spec ripple at high load on the +12v rail. While you may never stress the unit enough to invoke such ripple (which kills components over time), there are better choices (particularly XClio, Antec Earthwatts, Enhance, Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, etc). Just look at the PSU suggestions and FAQ I posted earlier.

Cases are subjective. Go with whichever one you like. Danny has a nice list of them that I keep forgetting to save so I can quote, but he might be posting it soon. If not, just search the forum for it. My personal recommendations include the Cooler Master Elite 330, Centurion 532 and 534, RC-690, and the Antec P180.

BTW, the P180 is on sale right now at Frys.com for $94 w/ free shipping and a $50MIR. Great deal, today only, and the case is normally $140.

Answer my questions above and I can give more recommendations to the other stuff you'll need.

 

[esky]

So I'm struggling with the motherboard... I looked at ABIT IP35 Pro and ASUS P5K DELUX.. but they seem almost identical, except Abit has RAID for the eSATA, but the ASUS has extra USB slots, and one of the PCI-E slots can go x4 or x1, plus wifi... However, if I ever want to upgrade to another video card, I assume that would probably be x16, so are there any similar options with more x16 slots? Let's say I get two 8800 cards, would I then have to do SLI or could I use them for 4 monitors?

Any other motherboard suggestions?

Also, what's the issue with using OEM Win XP on the new machine vs retail? I would like to go with Vista, but depending on how close to the budget I get, and my inexperience with Vista, I'd like to know that I have an XP option...

Sorry, edited to quote and reply some questions

Clubit.com guarantees the G0 stepping.
Now... more questions for you...
What features do you need in a motherboard?
What games do you play?
What resolution/settings do you game at?
You listed your uses, are those in order of priority?
Do you have a rough draft build of your own that we can nitpick? If not, browse through other threads, post a rough draft, and we'll tear it up.

Motherboard should be capable of RAID, eSATA, and just generally upgradable... so perhaps SLI as well, multiple I/O... I've always seemed to be constrained by my motherboard in the past when upgrading.

Games.. I don't currently play any, because I can't run much, but I don't have any particular game in mind. I've played BF2, HL2, Doom 3 in the past the most, but I'm guessing they will run pretty decent on any new build with an OK video card. Since I have 19in LCDs, 1280x1024 would be ideal.

And my uses are pretty much in order of priority, yes.

I will work on a build, I'd like to have more motherboard suggestions though, and perhaps some ideas as to what mobo options will help me future-proof this for upgrades, and what is not much use at all...

 

[WildMonkey]

So I'm struggling with the motherboard... I looked at ABIT IP35 Pro and ASUS P5K DELUX.. but they seem almost identical, except Abit has RAID for the eSATA, but the ASUS has extra USB slots, and one of the PCI-E slots can go x4 or x1, plus wifi... However, if I ever want to upgrade to another video card, I assume that would probably be x16, so are there any similar options with more x16 slots? Let's say I get two 8800 cards, would I then have to do SLI or could I use them for 4 monitors?

Any other motherboard suggestions?

Also, what's the issue with using OEM Win XP on the new machine vs retail? I would like to go with Vista, but depending on how close to the budget I get, and my inexperience with Vista, I'd like to know that I have an XP option...

I personally have a P5K Premium, great board.

It's up to you to decide what you need on your motherboard.

On the x16 thing, they are all x16 slots, the longer ones anyway. Those really short slots are for other types of PCIe devices.

Just about any P35, x38, 680i, 780i base board is going to be the same.

If you want to go SLI (nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI) then you have to buy a board design for such a purpose, like an eVGA 680i motherboard.

SLI and Crossfire does not support dual monitor mode, much less quad. SLI/crossfire is for gaming enthusiasts. More FPS in games, that's about it.

 

[engiNURD]

...if I ever want to upgrade to another video card, I assume that would probably be x16, so are there any similar options with more x16 slots? Let's say I get two 8800 cards, would I then have to do SLI or could I use them for 4 monitors?

Any other motherboard suggestions?

Also, what's the issue with using OEM Win XP on the new machine vs retail? I would like to go with Vista, but depending on how close to the budget I get, and my inexperience with Vista, I'd like to know that I have an XP option...

In SLI mode, you'll only have a single monitor active. The limited bandwidth of the 4.16x PCI-E slot shouldn't affect you unless you need to render on both screens simultaneously. Most people only render on one screen, so they only need a single powerful vidcard, and a $20 vidcard for the other monitor(s).

What other features, besides support for two vidcards, do you need in a motherboard? Firewire? RAID? etc. Answer that and we can give more suggestions. A better alternative, price-wise, to the P5K deluxe is the P5K-E. Another option that has a PCI-E 4.16x slot is the MSI P35 Platinum.

If your current license for XP is OEM, and it is being used and already registered to a system, you cannot legally transfer it to a new system. If you want to cheat the system, you can, but I'll let someone else tell you how. If you have a retail copy, you can transfer the license. If you have no legit copy of Windows, and you'd like to now get one, get Vista instead of XP.

Answer the other questions I asked above, in my other post, and I can give more suggestions.

 

[esky]

I personally have a P5K Premium, great board.
On the x16 thing, they are all x16 slots, the longer ones anyway. Those really short slots are for other types of PCIe devices.

The specs on newegg seem to mention that one is at x16 while the other 'x16' is actually x4 bandwidth (and on the ASUS it could go x4 or x1).. is the x16 and the bandwidth not the same spec?

I personally have a P5K Premium, great board.
If you want to go SLI (nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI) then you have to buy a board design for such a purpose, like an eVGA 680i motherboard.

SLI and Crossfire does not support dual monitor mode, much less quad. SLI/crossfire is for gaming enthusiasts. More FPS in games, that's about it.

How would I go about using two video cards for 3-4 monitors? Are there ideal cards for this?

 

[WildMonkey]

How would I go about using two video cards for 3-4 monitors? Are there ideal cards for this?

Well you need 2 video cards that have 2 DVI outputs each, and a motherboard with 2 x16 PCIe slots. That's about it.

But you can't crossfire nor SLI them, meaning that they operate independently.

 

[engiNURD]

Sorry, edited to quote and reply some questions
...

I will work on a build, I'd like to have more motherboard suggestions though, and perhaps some ideas as to what mobo options will help me future-proof this for upgrades, and what is not much use at all...

So the boards I listed earlier, the P5K-E (WiFi or not) and the MSI P35 Platinum fit your needs, and are cheaper than the IP35 Pro and P5K Deluxe.

So, you don't game much, but mainly play FPS games. Since you have a 19" monitor, an 8800GT would be good for both 3D rendering and gaming. If you want a better OpenGL card, I'd look into softmodding one of the ATI Radeon cards instead of buying a FireGL/Quadro card.

Most P35 boards with dual 16x-sized slots will have one at 16x, and the other only connected to 4 lanes. So, while the 2nd slot is large enough to fit a 16x card, it will only operate at 4x speed. Again, this shouldn't matter unless you plan to render on all 4 screens at the same time, which most people don't.

This would be an ideal build...
$115 - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Single-Pack DVD OEM
$263 - eVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB 512-P3-N801-AR
$276 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 2.40GHz 8MB L2
$140 - Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W ($20MIR)
$145 - MSI P35 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P35 ($20MIR)
$105 - WD Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$95 - Antec P180 Silent Full Tower ATX Case (price is good for 01/17/2008 only) ($50MIR)
$85 - OCZ 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2-800 PC2-6400 OCZ2VU8004GK ($30MIR)
$34 - Samsung 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
=========
$1308 + tax and shipping - $120 in MIRs

Since its over your budget, you can drop down to an HD3850 instead (-$90), and probably a smaller HDD (-$30). You can get a cheaper case (-$25-50), and a lower model Corsair PSU , like the 520W (-$30). If you don't plan on OC'ing, you can ditch the Ultima90 (-$50). That saved you around $225 total. I'll come up with a cheaper list later, gotta go do some work right now, lol.

Get the RAM while you still can! case, too, unless you want a cheaper one.

 

[esky]

So the boards I listed earlier, the P5K-E (WiFi or not) and the MSI P35 Platinum fit your needs, and are cheaper than the IP35 Pro and P5K Deluxe.

MSI P35 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P35

Does the MSI board you listed support Core 2 Quad? Newegg lists just "Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium EE / Pentium"

I'm thinking I'll get the Asus board anyway, they seem a little more feature rich, but I don't really see why the premium and delux versions are ~$50 more expensive on newegg than the -E version?

 

[engiNURD]

Yes, all P35 boards support Core2Quad.

There are subtle extras, all of which aren't worth their price premium, IMO. Though, others will disagree.