$2,000 budget Gaming and Animation System

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: AubreyJr
I'm serously contemplating purchasing this system tonight. The system is cheaper now than the parts I originally listed even with the purchase of a new OS. Anyone have another suggestion for an energy and sound efficient power supply.

$210 ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Motherboard
$330 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core CPU
$50 ZALMAN CNPS 9300AT SuperFlo CPU Cooler
$210 MSI R4870-T2D512 OC Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 CrossFire ocd 780MHz Videocard
$110 Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)5-5-5-15 CAS5 Memory
$110 NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Case
$110 FSP Group FX600-GLN V2.2/EPS12V 600W Power Supply
$290 WD VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10k RPM 16MB Cache Primary Hard Drive
$175 Samsung HD103UJ Terabyte Secondary Hard Drive
$27 Samsung SH-S203N Black 20X DVD Burner with LightScribe Optical Drive
$140 Microsoft Windows XP Professional 64Bit SP2C Operating System
$6 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound Thermal paste
$1,768

Few things (I know you're going off newegg prices but I'll be recommending based off other prices I've seen as well):
1) For 50 bucks you can get a better cooler than the zalman. At that price you could get the ocz vendetta 2, the xigmatek hdt-s1283, or a tuniq tower.
2) Microcenter has the q9540 for 280, see the Hot Deals forum
3) ZipZoomFly has the P5Q Deluxe for 190
4) If you want 4gb of 1066 memory,
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...de=10008035&ps=homain1
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...8006&prodlist=celebros
are good choices, although you need to send in a rebate.
5) 110 is a lot for a 600W PSU, and I'm not familiar with the FSP brand.
As an example, the Corsair 650TX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139005 is only 80 after rebate.
6) A minor price difference, but ZZF has a Seagate 1TB drive for 160: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10005936

 

[AubreyJr]

Thanks Chronoshock. I was using Newegg as a guide and intended to price check before purchase. Obviously, the cost of shipping will determine whether I purchase from one site or numerous.

Other than price, do you have an opinion of any of the items I've listed or opinions concerning DDR2 1200 vs 1066 or efficient PSU's 600w vs 700 especially since you point out the high cost of the FSP Group PSU.

 

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: AubreyJr
Thanks Chronoshock. I was using Newegg as a guide and intended to price check before purchase. Obviously, the cost of shipping will determine whether I purchase from one site or numerous.

Other than price, do you have an opinion of any of the items I've listed or opinions concerning DDR2 1200 vs 1066 or efficient PSU's 600w vs 700 especially since you point out the high cost of the FSP Group PSU.

Well the RAM choice depends on if you're overclocking which in turn will affect your choice of CPU cooler and case. 1066 should be fine for any OC you do on the 9450 (as you'll typically hit the FSB limit around 450-500 depending on cooling and mobo used). I'm not sure how good Patriot ram is, so I can't say for certain how it compares to other DDR2 1066 choices out there.

For the PSU, FSP = Fortron who make many power supplies, so it should be fine. I just think you can probably get better at that price, with the Corsair being one option.

 

[AubreyJr]

Ok Chronoshock, I've taken your advice and chosen a Corsair PSU, but I'm going with the 750W instead of 650 for $10 more. I'm going with the higher watted PSU because I do intend to upgrade to a Radeon 4870 X2 at some point.

$120 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W

This system is primarily my first graphics/animation workstation that will be used to play some demanding games. Even though I have dabbled in overclocking in the past, I doubt I will be interested in overclocking this system at least within the next 4-6 months depending on my financial ability to upgrade or build a dedicated gaming rig or workstation.

Everything I've read suggests Zalman's are king, at least the 9700 anyway. I guess I need to take a look at some of your suggested coolers. Thanks.

 

[AubreyJr]

Since I do not intend to overclock this machine in the immediate future, I intend to install the stock heatsink and fan. I've taken this approach because I could not decide which cooler would be best even though I like what I read about the Thermaltake DuOrb's noise rating and competition with the Zalman 9700. If I knew it fit well in my current and future system config, I'd buy it today. I can always install a quality heatsink later when I purchase the 4870x2 and add a few more peripherals. I think I'm set. I'll spend some time price checking, and probably purchase my animation workstation in a few hours. Thanks for eveyones assistance. This has been enlightening. Current config:

ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core CPU
Stock heatsink and fan
MSI R4870-T2D512 OC Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 CrossFire ocd 780MHz Videocard
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Memory
NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel/Plastic ATX Mid Tower Case
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W Power Supply
WD VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10k RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive
Samsung HD103UJ Terabyte Hard Drive
SAMSUNG SH-S223Q/BEBN Black 22X DVD±R 16X DVD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe Optical Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Professional 64Bit SP2C Operating System

 

[sonnygdude]

Hey Aubrey - sorry for the late reply

Iwent with the P5Q Deluxe primarily for the gimmicks, the alleged 16 phase power and all that (it's my understanding that good stable power is a must for decent OC'ing). And don't worry, it works just fine with 45 NM processors, I think pretty much all the current socket 775 boards do., Also, if you'replanning on getting the 4870X2 later on you don't have to worry that the P5Q only has 8X crossfire link (you need an X48 board for the 16X link)

Other than that, my rig came out very similar to yours. I have a Corsair 520 watt instead of the 750, but I like it a lot - can't even hear it and it doesn't heat up anything in the PSU/drive chamber (because the flow is going from the drives to the PSU)

Also, I went with Vista x64 just because at work we've had some issues with XP x64 - although for your video work it sounds like Vista is not the best choice so you probably made the right decision there

Good luck - I think you'll really enjoy that system! If it's replacing one a few years old you will be blown away - I was with my new one, and I'm forming a deep emotional attachment to it right now (it's the first build I've ever done)

 

[Chronoshock]

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
Hey Aubrey - sorry for the late reply

Iwent with the P5Q Deluxe primarily for the gimmicks, the alleged 16 phase power and all that (it's my understanding that good stable power is a must for decent OC'ing). And don't worry, it works just fine with 45 NM processors, I think pretty much all the current socket 775 boards do., Also, if you'replanning on getting the 4870X2 later on you don't have to worry that the P5Q only has 8X crossfire link (you need an X48 board for the 16X link)

Other than that, my rig came out very similar to yours. I have a Corsair 520 watt instead of the 750, but I like it a lot - can't even hear it and it doesn't heat up anything in the PSU/drive chamber (because the flow is going from the drives to the PSU)

Also, I went with Vista x64 just because at work we've had some issues with XP x64 - although for your video work it sounds like Vista is not the best choice so you probably made the right decision there

Good luck - I think you'll really enjoy that system! If it's replacing one a few years old you will be blown away - I was with my new one, and I'm forming a deep emotional attachment to it right now (it's the first build I've ever done)

The p5q deluxe has a 16x PCIe 2.0 lane when used by a single card, if you have it in xfire then it goes to x8/x8 (which is still equivalent to x16/x16 PCIe 1.1). Either way the 4870x2 should run just as fast on a p45 mobo as it would on an x48. If he gets a second 4870 and does xfire, then there may be a slight performance drop, (referring to the tweaktown review: http://www.tweaktown.com/artic...performance/index.html )