So I guess its time to put together a new machine...

L

Lime

Gawd
Joined
Dec 3, 2003
Messages
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Movie was on last night, and all of a sudden I lost video and I lost sound, but the fans and such were still spinning - the machine was still on. Hard shut down, tried to turn it back on, no dice. It was late and me and the gf were going to sleep anyways. So I didn't mess with it. I didn't have time this morning before work to do anything, but I'm thinking I might have lost the motherboard. I'll do some troubleshooting tonight, but I started piecing a new machine together today anyways. I was thinking of putting one together in the fall, but I just found better things to spend my money on - getting moved out seemed like a better idea.

Anyways, this is what I came up with. If anybody feels like chiming in on better parts, etc etc that would be great. Like to keep it under or around $1k, building for stability and performance. I play games, but not a ton, but I do use a ton of Photoshop and compiling and ripping and burning and interweb surfing. I have a ton of stuff I store as well

Case: NZXT Zero - I'm not fully decided on what I want for a case. I want something with EXCELLENT air flow and i don't want all the glitzy LEDs and cathodes and such. Opinions and options on a good case are much appreciated. Going to have 4 hard drives.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811146029

Motherboard: ABIT IP35 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Heard good things about it, opinions and options wanted.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127029

Video Card: EVGA GeForce 8800GTS SSC 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130317

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817703005

CPU: Intel E6750

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115029

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034

Hard Drive: Either a Western Digital Caviar 16mb Cache 500gb 7200rpm drive or a Seagate with the same specs. I don't know whos better nowadays.

Parts coming from old machine:

200gb + 160GB ATA133 HDDs
320gb SATA HDD
Hauppage WinPVR 150 (forget exact model number...)
SATA DVD/CD burner
Keyboard + mouse + Monitor + other peripherals


Any ideas are appreciated. I like the case, but I don't know if I can do better for less. With 4 hard drives i'd like as much cooling as I can without sounding like a jet engine. I figure with as many fans as the case has, they won't all need to be spinning at 8 million RPMs. I'm slowly looking to replace my two ATA drives with another couple of 500gb or 320's sinc the prices have dropped, but right now I only need one more 500.

Would it be worth it to go to 4gb of RAM and go XP 64? Are there drivers for all my stuff? I don't like vista and I don't want to switch over to it. Just asking about XP64.

Thanks in advance
 
Bump?

Also, I heard perhaps an 8800GT 512mb might be a better choice then the 8800GTS 640mb... Argument being Faster, Newer and Cheaper. Any truth?
 
most definately!!! do not consider the old 8800gts especially with the 8800gt and new 8800gts out.
 
Yes, definitely go with the 8800GT 512MB, not a 8800GTS 640MB. The 8800GT outperfoms the 8800GT yes is significantly cheaper:
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $270

Also cases are mostly a personal choice item. So just choose a case or cases that you think loos good, whittle down the ones that don't fit your requirements and then choose the one that you think best suits you. You can't go wrong with the NZXT case you chose. However here are some other cases that you may want to check out:
Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $25
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $40
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $60
Antec NSK4480 ATX Case With Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU - $68
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $65
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $90
XClio Windtunnel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $110
Antec Sonata III ATX Case with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $100
Antec P180 ATX Case - $106
Antec P180B ATX Case - $109
Antec P182 ATX Case - $109
Gigabyte Aurora GZ-FSCA1-ATB ATX Case - $110
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $130
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Thermaltake Armor VA8003BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Cooler Master Stacker RC-830-SSN2-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Cooler Master Stacker RC-832-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Lian-Li V1000A Plus II ATX Case - $180
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Silver) - $210
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Black) - $214
Lian-Li PC-V1100A PLUS II ATX Case - $220
Lian Li PC-V1200B Plus II ATX Case - $240

Also, ditch the Corsair RAM. It's overpriced, expecially considering when you can get 4GB of RAM for $22 more or 2GB of RAM for $32 less:
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $100

In addition, the IP35 you chose is currently OOS. If you're buying sometime soon, I recommend getting the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R. The IP35 is an excellent mobo however I would only recommend it if you need a firewire port or have an aversion towards the color scheme of the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R. For that price range, I would go with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R since it has two more SATA ports and has legacy ports for a few laserjet printers that I still use.
 
The 8800GTS 512MB is a new G92 GPU, while the older 320MB/640MB models sport the old G80 GPU. Though, the vidcard you get is determined mostly by the monitor you have. So, what size monitor do you have? What games do you play and at what resolution/settings?

Danny Bui said:
Yes, definitely go with the 8800GT 512MB, not a 8800GTS 640MB. The 8800GT outperfoms the 8800GTS 640MB, yet is significantly cheaper:
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $270
Click to expand...

I think thats what Danny meant.

XP64 isn't worth using, simply because of poor support by the industry (drivers/sw compatibility/etc).

I'd definately suggest 4GB because of photoshop and the dirt cheap prices of RAM these days. If you go with 4GB, stick with a 2x2GB config. If you must go with 4x1GB, make sure the voltage is low (2.0v or lower). Danny listed some great G.Skill kits, and here are some good A-Data kits:

$87 - A-DATA 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 ADQVE1B16K
$43 - A-DATA 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 ADQVE1A16K ($15MIR)

I'd like to recommend the Cooler Master RC-690 for your case. Danny has it in his list above. Its $75 at zzf and has a $35MIR.

Also, why not a Q6600 instead? How often do you upgrade your system?

You don't need a 600W PSU, btw. The Corsair 520W will do just fine, or even the 450W. However, don't get them from Newegg, since they're overpriced there. Check out zipzoomfly, buy.com, and clubit.com instead.

EDIT: tons of editing since danny beat me, lol.
 
wow, thanks guys. I've been out of the hardware game for a while now, atleast 3-4 years, this is helping me make some decisions.

only reason I'm not going q6600 is price. I'm trying to keep this around or less than $1k. If I can dash down the price of the other stuff, I might consider it.

I don't upgrade often. From my trend now it seems every 3 years or so.

I agree with 4gb, but I won't be going to vista 64bit and it seems like XP64 bit isnt supported enough. Vista just bugs the hell out of me. I use it at work and really don't like it.

So 610w would be overkill? My electricity bill will be sad to hear that. I just want to make sure its all good, and PC power and cooling has seemed to stay atop the psu hill since last time i was into hardware. I'll look at the corsairs and lower wattage PC P&C stuff.

I'll check out the Gigabyte board. I was just partial to the Abit since I had a very nice abit board running my barton 2800+ overclocked, and it was a good board.

I'll keep in mind the other ram, i didn't really consider it, as last time i was building staying away from the cheap stuff was what i was trying to do, and they werent very good back then.

Good to know about the video card, more power less money? i am there.


Thanks guys, keep it coming. You're all really helpful.
 
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