Rate my build

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azul

n00b
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Dec 15, 2007
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I'm pretty new to this, so I'm sure I still need some help. It's mainly for games, and I want it to be very upgradeable for the future.


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V


ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual-Core Processor

I've got 2 gigs of DDRAM, a Western Digital 160gb drive, a DVD drive, video card from my current computer which I'm probably just going to add for now and update later, if needed.

Are additional fans/cooling systems recommended? Or does the case kind of take care of itself?

I'm guessing I need a soundcard, too? Any recommendations for some cheap ones?
 
Case is good, if you like the styling.

If you plan on going AM2 (or Core 2), I hope that 2GB of RAM is DDR2, not plain DDR.

If that's the case, why are you going with an AM2 build rather than a Core 2 Duo? You can get a much better performing system for the same money, heck you could even go with a Quad for a little more!

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059&Tpk=ds3l

Core 2 Duo E6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

Also, I'd skip that OCZ power supply, as they're known to have ripple that's out ot ATX specifications. You can read more about that here: http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=35&page_num=3

In its stead, I would recommend this Corsair 550VX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

You can probably get away with stock cooling unless you plan on overclocking a lot. I also don't know that you necessarily need a sound card. Try out the on-board sound, and if it's good enough for you, you can save yourself the extra cash, if not, you can always pick up a decent sound card later.
 
I remember reading that AMD>Intel, but what do I know:)

For the power supply, I pretty much went with what got good reviews from a lot of people. The one you recommended doesn't have a lot of reviews, but if you think it's better, I'll go with that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017 isn't much more expensive than the one you recommended, and it seems like a decent long-term investment?

Anyone else have some recommendations?
 
amd was leading a while back but intel has been doing a bit better for now. i agree i would go intel at this current time. you didnt say if you were using windows xp or vista. whats your budget also might be able to recommend other stuff if we know what budget ballpark you trying to stay in.
 
Core 2 architecture is on top in a big way right now. The only reason to go AMD is if you're looking for a lower end machine on a serious budget. Intel is faster clock for clock, and they OC better. It's a big switch-up from the single core Athlon 64 vs. P4 days -- I know, my last 3 machines had AMD CPUs. Not this one. ;)

The E6600 has been phased out in favor of the E6750 at around $200. It OCs higher and easier than the E6600 in general. Core 2 chips OC like mad, too, and run very stable when OCed properly, so there's no real reason not to. Grab a decent aftermarket heatsink and go to town. (The Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme an Sunbeam Tuniq Tower are popular on the high end. Scythe Ninja or Infinity in the mid range. AC Freezer 7 Pro or Coolermaster Hyper TX-2 on the low end).

As far as quads, the Q6600 G0 stepping can be had for around ~$275. There's no reason to go higher than that, as price to performance drops off /sharply/.

Unless you're going for a crazy OC (high end water cooling or phase) DDR2-800 should be plenty. 2GB (2x1GB) or 4GB (2x2GB) kit, your choice. Remember you'll need a 64bit OS (Vista 64bit is the way to go there) to make use of 4GB.

The OCZ GameXStream line aren't horrible PSUs, but they have out of spec DC ripple on the 12v rail when heavily loaded, which can kill components over time. There are a lot better options out there in the same price range. Any of the 500+ watt Corsair PSUs are a good deal. Wait a bit and look around for prices/rebates. Silverstone, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, or Thermaltake's Toughpower line (only -- other Thermaltakes suck) are good options too.

The Gigabyte P35-DS3R and P35C-DS3R are popular options for boards, as are the Abit IP35 line. They all OC about the same and are really stable, so get the board you need based on price and feature set. No reason to get a bunch of extra SATA ports if you'll never use them all, for example.

If you really, really want SLI the 680i/680i LT and 650i SLI boards are your only real options. If you do go that route buy eVGA /only/. You'll be very glad of their customer service should anything go wrong. The 6xxi series has something of a reputation for unreliability, but I personally haven't had any problems.

Oh -- and NewEgg user reviews? Ignore that crap. 3/4ths of the people there have no idea what they're talking about. Also, subjective user opinion is pretty much useless when it comes to PSUs. Look to [H]ardOCP PSU reviews or reviews by jonnyGURU to get an idea of the kind of equipment and testing that should go in to a good PSU review. You're looking for high efficiency, the ability to put out the rated wattage for long periods of time at real world temperatures (like in the [H]'s torture tests) and clean DC output under load.
 
knothead34 said:
amd was leading a while back but intel has been doing a bit better for now. i agree i would go intel at this current time. you didnt say if you were using windows xp or vista. whats your budget also might be able to recommend other stuff if we know what budget ballpark you trying to stay in.
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Ah yes, I have been running into a bunch of older reviews. Guess I shouldn't trust those:)

Price should range around what has been posted so far.

I'm currently using XP. I play a lot of games, so I didn't upgrade to Vista because I was worried that a lot of them wouldn't be compatible. I do suppose I might run both OS if I get my hands on a cheap version of Vista. Not sure where I can get it without spending a fortune and whether I need 32 or 64 bit.
 
azul said:
Ah yes, I have been running into a bunch of older reviews. Guess I shouldn't trust those:)

Price should range around what has been posted so far.

I'm currently using XP. I play a lot of games, so I didn't upgrade to Vista because I was worried that a lot of them wouldn't be compatible. I do suppose I might run both OS if I get my hands on a cheap version of Vista. Not sure where I can get it without spending a fortune and whether I need 32 or 64 bit.
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Very little reason not to go 64bit right now.

Initially driver issues were a big detractor but they've got much better and compatibility problems are few and far between.

Vista 64bit is also noticeably faster on my machine vs. the 32bit version. Also, if you decide to run 4GB of RAM you'll need Vista 64bit to make use of it all.
 
Is the q6600 quad worth paying around $100 more for than the Dual E6750?
 
azul said:
Is the q6600 quad worth paying around $100 more for than the Dual E6750?
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It depends entirely on what you do with your machine and how long you're going to go before your next upgrade. With a P35 board you'll be able to support the 45nm chips that are coming out, which should OC better than anything currently available and run cooler to boot.

If you're willing to wait, you could drop down to an E2xxx series chip for $90 or so, OC it to 3.2Ghz or thereabout and still be pretty good off for the time being, and pick up one of the faster quads in 6-8 months for $220ish.

If you only game, the quads really don't matter that much and likely won't be important for a year or more, if current trends continue, so a faster dual core (like the E6750) now is your best bet, and you can swap it out in a year or so for a quad.

If you don't want to bother with upgrading for a longer period of time, or if you do a lot of encoding or video editing work, the Q6600 now is the way to go.
 
silent-circuit said:
It depends entirely on what you do with your machine and how long you're going to go before your next upgrade. With a P35 board you'll be able to support the 45nm chips that are coming out, which should OC better than anything currently available and run cooler to boot.

If you're willing to wait, you could drop down to an E2xxx series chip for $90 or so, OC it to 3.2Ghz or thereabout and still be pretty good off for the time being, and pick up one of the faster quads in 6-8 months for $220ish.

If you only game, the quads really don't matter that much and likely won't be important for a year or more, if current trends continue, so a faster dual core (like the E6750) now is your best bet, and you can swap it out in a year or so for a quad.

If you don't want to bother with upgrading for a longer period of time, or if you do a lot of encoding or video editing work, the Q6600 now is the way to go.
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I am looking to upgrade as little as possible, so I'm pondering whether it's best to spend a bit more now and take a little longer to upgrade than spend less now and upgrade in a year already.

Is the E6750 much faster than the Q6600 at the moment? If so, perhaps I should stick with it for a while.
 
azul said:
I am looking to upgrade as little as possible, so I'm pondering whether it's best to spend a bit more now and take a little longer to upgrade than spend less now and upgrade in a year already.

Is the E6750 much faster than the Q6600 at the moment? If so, perhaps I should stick with it for a while.
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With proper cooling you can get a Q6600 to 3.4-3.6Ghz on average.
An E6750 will hit closer to 4Ghz and generally run cooler.

If you're avoiding upgrading, the $75 or so for the quad is probably worth it.

Have you made any other decisions? Motherboard, etc?

Also, I know cases are mostly personal preference, but cable management in the 900 is... ick. Looked at the P180/P182 series at all? They're quieter, that's why I ended up with one.
 
silent-circuit said:
With proper cooling you can get a Q6600 to 3.4-3.6Ghz on average.
An E6750 will hit closer to 4Ghz and generally run cooler.

If you're avoiding upgrading, the $75 or so for the quad is probably worth it.

Have you made any other decisions? Motherboard, etc?

Also, I know cases are mostly personal preference, but cable management in the 900 is... ick. Looked at the P180/P182 series at all? They're quieter, that's why I ended up with one.
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Yeah, I was just looking at your case and might choose it instead.

If the E6750 has more Ghz, why would one go with a quad core with less Ghz? Sorry, I'm still a newb:)

I was looking at the motherboard that xlt92explorer recommended (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059&Tpk=ds3l).

Not sure whether the c version is worth the additional $50.
 
If you're not looking to upgrade a lot, no the P35C-DS3R is not worth it over the P35-DS3R. The "C" just means it supports DDR3 as well as DDR2, and DDR3 is still insanely expensive and immature, showing little if any performance increase over good DDR2.

I'd suggest the P35-DS3R over the DS3L, or one of Abit's IP35 line (IP35-E, IP35, IP35-Pro).

The Quad core is basically like having 2 more processors in your computer -- it has 4 cores, the E6750 has 2. So 4 processors running at 3.6Ghz can do way more work than 2 processors running at 4Ghz.

Some programs, like older games, will only use one core even if you have 2 or 4, so in that case the E6750 has an advantage cause its individual cores are faster, and having fewer of them doesn't matter, only the one is used. Many newer games are multithreaded (can use more than one core) but don't make very good use of more than 2 cores. This is changing, though, so in the future the Q6600 will have an advantage over the E6750.

Currently the only things that really use the Q6600 and other quad cores to its greatest potential would be encoding audio and video, running a bunch of applications at the same time, and video editing. Newer games are starting to make better use of it, though.

Disclaimer: overclocking is /always/ luck of the draw. Your chip may refuse to go above 3Ghz. There's no way to know until you try, and stock cooling will not be enough, so be sure to get a nice aftermarket heatsink like one of the ones I suggested a few posts back.
 
Alright, that dual/quad explanation made perfect sense:)

Yes, I was looking into heatsinks, but don't see significant differences between them all.

Tell me whatever you think is best at a price range of 30-50 and I'll probably buy it.
 
Cheapest Antec Performance One P180B I can find in Canada is $140. Any other decent recommendations?

I can find a cheaper P180, but no B. Big difference?
 
Of the ones Danny suggested, I'd recommend the Ninja or the Tuniq.

Cases... hmm. The Coolermaster RC-690 is popular and shouldn't be too expensive.

With cases, pretty much so long as it has 120mm fans and enough space for your stuff and you like the look of it, it should be fine.
 
Alright, so this is what we're looking at:

Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA
In Stock 26048 $73.78 $73.78

Scythe Ninja Plus REV.B Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S478 S754 S939 W/ 120MM Fan
In Stock 21163 $44.99 $44.99

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard
In Stock 25369 $101.96 $101.96

Corsair VX550W 550W ATX 12V 41A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan
In Stock 25984 $96.84 $96.84

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box
In Stock 22211 $299.99 $299.99

I'm gonna try to get ncix to match some other prices I've found. Do prices usually go down after x-mas or new year's, or is now a good a time as any to buy?

Am I going to be able to just take my CD Drive and Hard Disk out of my current computer and put them in the new one, or will I need new drivers/new install?
 
You'll most likely need to re-install windows, or do a repair install.

I'd suggest the Thermalright Ultima90 over the Ninja. The ninja is somewhat of a pain to install compared to the Ultima90. My Ultima90 performs similarly to my Tuniq, and my Tuniq performed similarly to my Ninja... though I've never tried the Ultima90 and Ninja on the same chip. The Ultima90 is smaller, lighter, and easier to install than the Tuniq and Ninja. Pair it with a Panaflo Hydrowave 92mm fan (its $3USD, so find a cheap one).

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3068

Be sure to get the "energy efficient" Q6600, otherwise known as the G0 stepping (SLACR on the box label). The G0 stepping requires less voltage and therefore runs cooler -- a good thing whether or not you're OC'ing.

P180 is silver, and P180B is black. P182 is gunmetal, and P182SE has a mirror finish. The RC-690 is a great, cheaper alternative.

If your HDD and CD Drive are both IDE, then you might want to order a SATA HDD, since the DS3L only comes with a single IDE controller. Trust me, old IDE HDDs are slow compared to SATA300 drives -- and you don't want to think you built a brand new computer thats sluggish all because of a slow HDD. Look into a Seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 barracuda.
 
enginurd said:
You'll most likely need to re-install windows, or do a repair install.

I'd suggest the Thermalright Ultima90 over the Ninja. The ninja is somewhat of a pain to install compared to the Ultima90. My Ultima90 performs similarly to my Tuniq, and my Tuniq performed similarly to my Ninja... though I've never tried the Ultima90 and Ninja on the same chip. The Ultima90 is smaller, lighter, and easier to install than the Tuniq and Ninja. Pair it with a Panaflo Hydrowave 92mm fan (its $3USD, so find a cheap one).

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3068

Be sure to get the "energy efficient" Q6600, otherwise known as the G0 stepping (SLACR on the box label). The G0 stepping requires less voltage and therefore runs cooler -- a good thing whether or not you're OC'ing.

P180 is silver, and P180B is black. P182 is gunmetal, and P182SE has a mirror finish. The RC-690 is a great, cheaper alternative.

If your HDD and CD Drive are both IDE, then you might want to order a SATA HDD, since the DS3L only comes with a single IDE controller. Trust me, old IDE HDDs are slow compared to SATA300 drives -- and you don't want to think you built a brand new computer thats sluggish all because of a slow HDD. Look into a Seagate 7200.10 or 7200.11 barracuda.
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Couldn't find that fan on ncix. Excuse my ignorance:), but would http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21012&vpn=NF-S12-1200&manufacture=Noctua work as well? I'm looking for something rather quiet.
 
Alright, just bought everything. Found the Q6600 G0 somewhere for $10 more, and I got the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache Ncq Hard Drive and a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120MM Cooling Fan 1200RPM 20.1DBA 49.0CFM FDB.

Coming soon to a location near you: threads about me failing miserably at putting this thing together. :)
 
Good luck man!

Oh and get some pics up of it if you can!
 
I have a foxconn 7600gs nvidia card I should probably update, too. I regret spending $250 on it a year ago, because it really doesn't do anything special.

I read that the 8800 is good, but there's so many different manufacturers and so many versions (gtx, gts, etc.), so I'm totally clueless as to which one is best.

Any recommendations for $2-300?
 
Your 2nd link is gone (deactivated from the newegg website).

eVGA, BFG, and XFX are all good brands. Superclocked means its overclocked by the manufacturer. eVGA is popular because they have a step-up program, lifetime warranty, and they warrant the card even if you OC and/or change the cooler. XFX has double lifetime warranty, so you're covered and so is whoever you sell the card to. BFG was the original brand that sold OC'd cards. They all have good customer service, IMO (I've dealt with them all).

The 8800GT 512MB for around $250 would be your best choice.
 
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