Q&A on new build.

O

Occidio

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Messages
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Ok, wife wants a tax right off for next year so that means I am building a new machine. Dont really want to pay an arm and a leg like I did with my last one back in dec 05. I made a short list of items I have in my wish list on the egg.
Antec 900 black steel $119.99
ABIT IP35 Pro $169.99
EVGA 8800GTS 640M $229.99
Intel Q9300 45nm 775 $289.99
OCZ reaper 4gb ddr2800 $109.99
Total so far without shipping is $919.95

This will be my first Intel build since the 90's with my old deschutes core proc. Been using AMD for the last couple years.
Any input would be welcome, ideas on saving a couple bucks here and there. Ideas on different proc since I havent been up to date with the new intels. Not interested in overclocking so its not an issue here.
I use my main computer for gaming and movie compression. My current computer can encode a movie from dvd to avi in around an hour and half to 2 hours depending. So anything faster than this only a plus.
Still not sure on OS, guessing I will take the plunge and get vista but not really needing it right now. Dont play any games that use dx10 right now anyway.
 
If you're not planning on overclocking, you could purchase DDR2 800 RAM instead -- you could find several 4GB kits for under $100 each. If you're trying to cut some corners price-wise, you could also settle for a Q6600 (the stock performance is not that much greater with the Q9300 than it is for the Q6600).

You'll also need to use a 64-bit OS to fully utilize all 4GB of RAM. Go ahead and get Vista Home Premium x64 now; it has better hardware support than XP Pro x64. (It's also available at NewEgg for $100 shipped.)

Which monitor do you have? And do you play a lot of games (if so, which ones)? Get the 8800GT or the 512MB 8800GTS instead. Both cards use the G92 GPU, which performs better than the G80 GPU the 640MB 8800GTS is based off of.

With your current build, a Corsair VX550 is a good choice in a power supply. Get it from Buy.com.

Many people don't like the Antec 900; poor cable management is the most oft-mentioned reason. Here are some other considerations:

Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $40
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $55
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $62
Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $70
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $85
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $90
Antec Sonata III ATX Case with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $100
Antec P182 ATX Case - $105
Gigabyte Aurora GZ-FSCA1-ATB ATX Case - $110

The Antec Sonata III comes with the EarthWatts 500W PSU, which can save you money. (The EarthWatts 500W is enough for your build.) Many people also consider the P182 one of the best cases around. If you need additional case fans, go with the Yate Loon D12SL-12 (low speed) or D12SM-12 (medium speed) 120mm fans.

Which hard drives were you considering buying?
 
For HDDs, consider the WD6400AAKS... uses the new 320GB platters and is super fast.

I agree with tiraides. :)

IIRC, there are some $80 Reapers with a $30MIR or something, which is the same speed, DDR2-800. You won't notice a difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, the difference is negligible), so don't pay a huge price premium for lower latency.
 
If you still plan on playing games don't use Vista, use XP pro in a dual boot system.

XP still has better encoding performance for movies. A quad-core processor will be great for that, very speedy.
 
thrawn86 said:
:barf: at the antec 900, but the rest looks nice :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I am thinking towards the P182 black gun metal.

tiraides said:
If you're not planning on overclocking, you could purchase DDR2 800 RAM instead -- you could find several 4GB kits for under $100 each. If you're trying to cut some corners price-wise, you could also settle for a Q6600 (the stock performance is not that much greater with the Q9300 than it is for the Q6600).



Which monitor do you have? And do you play a lot of games (if so, which ones)? Get the 8800GT or the 512MB 8800GTS instead. Both cards use the G92 GPU, which performs better than the G80 GPU the 640MB 8800GTS is based off of.

Which hard drives were you considering buying?
Click to expand...
I have DDR2 800 ram above, I guess the 2 and 800 joined together in formating.
I was curious about the 6600 also but I figured the 45nm would be the cooler way to go.
I have 2 Viewsonics, 20.1 wide and a 19 and I also run multiplicity between the 19 with another computer.
Did not know that about the 8800GT, I will make the switch on that.
I have been very happy with my samsung spinpoints, I have 2 200gig in my gaming computer and a 500 in my HTPC. Was thinking of going with 2 more with the new machine.

I was thinking of dual booting so that will that is not really an issue atm.
 
Albanu1800 said:
If you still plan on playing games don't use Vista, use XP pro in a dual boot system.

XP still has better encoding performance for movies. A quad-core processor will be great for that, very speedy.
Click to expand...

Don't spread misinformation. Vista works great on modern hardware.

OP, Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM is what you're after.
 
Vista is not optimized to play games better than XP that's why you get more FPS in XP. DX10 games show no advantange yet under Vista 32 or 64 bit.
 
Albanu1800 said:
Vista is not optimized to play games better than XP that's why you get more FPS in XP. DX10 games show no advantange yet under Vista 32 or 64 bit.
Click to expand...

Wrong. A 4-5 FPS difference does not make a substantial difference on reasonably modern hardware. DX10 titles do in fact look better, and occasionally run better, in DX10 mode. Upcoming titles like Alan Wake will make considerable use of DX10 features. This requires Vista. Period.
 
silent-circuit said:
Wrong. A 4-5 FPS difference does not make a substantial difference on reasonably modern hardware. DX10 titles do in fact look better, and occasionally run better, in DX10 mode. Upcoming titles like Alan Wake will make considerable use of DX10 features. This requires Vista. Period.
Click to expand...

Right on. I can't imagine recommending someone go through the hassle of dual boot for a few fps....
 
Revised
Antec P180 109.99
Abit IP35 mobo 169.99
EVGA 8800GT 194.99
Corsair 520HX 119.99 (I want modular)
Intel quad Q9300 279.99
OCZ Reaper 4gb 109.99
total = 984.94

I will most likely still play around with some of the parts. I will research all this to see if everything flow well and I like to take my time with cases. I also like to take my time with cable management.
Would it be worth making an option of seeing the price point of AMD? I havent kept up with procs in the last 8 or 9 months.

Edit- on a side note, what would be a better choice of ram for the abit board for compatibility? Anyone use this board? I like corsair and ocz since I have used them many times before without any issues. I never used brands like G.skill and geil etc.
 
I have the Antec P182 - and I believe it has better cable management than the P180. If that's your thing, you might want to put a few extra dollars there. My case is a TANK but I love it anyways
 
LateraLex said:
I have the Antec P182 - and I believe it has better cable management than the P180. If that's your thing, you might want to put a few extra dollars there. My case is a TANK but I love it anyways
Click to expand...

The new P180s have the exact same layout as the P182, they're just different colors.

OP -- RAM is RAM with very few exceptions. P35 boards aren't normally picky. Get whatever brand is cheapest (within reason). A-Data and G.Skill, OCZ and Corsair are probably your best bet.
 
Even with new hardware and new drivers whether they are beta or not you have to admit Vista has problems with hardware. Recommending "Occidio" to a dual boot machine as having XP Pro as a backup I think is a smart idea.

Vista is not rock solid stable as XP not yet there are plenty of issues even with SP1 update, go check it out!
 
Albanu1800 said:
Even with new hardware and new drivers whether they are beta or not you have to admit Vista has problems with hardware. Recommending "Occidio" to a dual boot machine as having XP Pro as a backup I think is a smart idea.

Vista is not rock solid stable as XP not yet there are plenty of issues even with SP1 update, go check it out!
Click to expand...

I've had no issues (on three substantially different machines). The bulk of people have had no issues. Stop spreading FUD.
 
Ok I've had issues on one machine but not the other.. It's not FUD and how could you say it's FUD when real people are having real problems.

Tell me this - Why this point after launch is Vista still having trouble? Certain people cannot install SP1 on their machines and when they do more problems arise.

If you take the XP launch date and compare it to the Vista launch after a year and 4 months XP was less problematic than Vista.
 
Occidio said:
Revised
Antec P180 109.99
Abit IP35 mobo 169.99
EVGA 8800GT 194.99
Corsair 520HX 119.99 (I want modular)
Intel quad Q9300 279.99
OCZ Reaper 4gb 109.99
total = 984.94
Click to expand...

Looks like a solid build but you might be paying a few dollars too much for some items. I just completed buying for my first build in more than 5 years and it's a fairly similar parts list. The major difference is I went with a 780i based board to go SLI in the future as I will be gaming on a 24" LCD @ 1920x1200. Just a couple of quick notes.

You can get a Corsair 620HX from Buy.com for $115.
Depending on what resolution you'll be gaming at there a lots of good deals on the 8800GT/9600GT and 8800GTS cards right now. Check the [H]otdeals forum.
As many others have said you can pay less for your RAM and get the same performance.

-Jade
 
8600GTS is a horrible card. The 9600GT is fairly good at least.

Nearly $200 for an 8800GT is too much, as Jade said. You should be able to get an 8800GTS 512MB for less than that AR without too much trouble anymore.
 
I was looking this over Gigabyte GA P35 and was curious. It says the standard RAM for this board is DDR2 1066. I believe its possible to keep going with the DDR2 800 but anyone know if I would run into problems or would upgrading the RAM to 1066 just be the better choice? The price would still be cheaper by a small amount than going with the Abit P35 and 800 ram. The Gigabyte board is that much cheaper.
 
Both boards accept DDR2-800 and DDR2-1066. Don't limit your research to the newegg pages, they lack some info. Click on the manufacturer's link on the bottom left of the product page to find out all supported speeds.

Choose a board that fits your needs. If you don't need a 2nd PCI-E 4.16x slot, onboard switches, an LED POST code display, Firewire, RAID, etc, then the DS3L would save you a lot of money. What features do you need in a motherboard?

BTW, here's the RAM I was talking about earlier:
$85 - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 OCZ2RPR8004GK ($30 MIR)
 
After dealing with my old Abit board for my AMD dual core, I have never had very good USB support.
I need good USB support, at least 4 Sata ports(2 internal drives and dvd burner are sata for right now).
I dont need SLI, never needed it, I liked the old Voodoo SLI, never felt very good about the the nvidia's version(hell my 7800GTX performs to my needs as it is now).
I kind of need firewire, I have 2 AMS venus external drives that use firewire and my video camera needs firewire.
I would like to go cheaper with the mobo and I do like gigabyte.
I guess I could always use my old computer to do firewire or get an adapter.
 
Yah, it sounds like the DS3L and a PCI Firewire card would fit your needs.

Clubit.com guarantees rev2.0 for the DS3L, which adds a couple more USB ports to the rear I/O panel.

If you want more SATA ports, the DS3R has 8. Another good option is the MSI Neo2-FR, which has 6, IIRC. Too bad the Abit IP35 is gone, it had Firewire and 6 SATA for only $100.
 
I've got a DS3R in a new revision P180, you'll love both. There is front panel Firewire on the 180/182's so a a PCI card with an internal hookup would be great if you go with a gigabyte.

Looks like a solid build, and pretty much just like mine...
 
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