A little advice on my new build please

[gerryd1968]

Hi guy's,

I'm a new member who has been reading the posts here for a while now looking for some guidance on my first proposed PC build. Now that i have a list of possible components i would really apreciate your opinions and suggestions on the list i have put together.

I would like to use this PC for gaming (Future SLI upgrade), audio/video conversion/encoding, and burning DVD's and CD's. i would generally be multitasking on this as well (this being my reason for the Athlon X2).

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $44.99

MOBO: Pending


GPU:
eVGA 256-P2-N516 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $295.00

PSU: Pending

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 1GHz FSB 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail $463.00

RAM: Pending

Floppy:
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM $9.99

HDD:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $110.00

Optical#1:
NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM $38.99

OS:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2 - OEM $146.95

The links above are all from NewEgg (for the most part the best price) I also looked at Mwave, Tiger Direct, and Monarch as some of these sem to have a few things cheaper.

Any help you could give me would be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

[halw]

Check out Zipzoomfly for prices. A lot of items are shipped 2nd day free from there.

 

[starwars7]

I second zip zoom and would like to emphasize getting a second 120mm fan for your case if it only has 1, I can't tell from the pics, but it looks like it just has a rear fan. So get a 120 in the front if it will fit, and if it doesn't, use an 80.

But it looks good.

Oh, I'm not sold on SLi, so I'd just get a non SLi MOBO and save the $100-$150.

 

[gerryd1968]

Ok, I'll check out Zip Zoom thanks...

i am leaning towards an SLI setup just for the fact that if i decide that i need more graphics power i can just throw in another 7800gt instead of buying a newer and more expensive card because as the newer cards are released the older stuff tends to drop in price...

i could be wrong though....

the case i chose is suposed to come with an 80mm intake fan in front but i will probable put a bigger one.

could you elaborate on your reasons for not liking SLI

 

[Beast388]

Originally posted by: gerryd1968
the case i chose is suposed to come with an 80mm intake fan in front but i will probable put a bigger one.

You are correct. I have that exact case and it comes with a 120m rear and a 80mm front fan. The side panel has a screened round opening and a CPU duct. You can remove that and put in another 80mm fan if you want to.

I am just using the stock fans and my rig idles at 28-30*C.

 

[gerryd1968]

Beast388...IYO how hard or easy is this case to work on in terms of space and also does it have a removeable mobo tray.

also can anyone see any compatibility problems with the psu/mobo or the mobo/ram i have chosen...i came up with these from the ASUS QVL for this board.

 

[Bobthelost]

I'd avoid the SLI myself, and i have that board.

It's not a great upgrade path unless you plan on buying a new card in the next six months or so. But if you want it then by all means go for it, i just realised that i prefer a single card option.

 

[TheNewGuy8]

whats your budget, gerry? You could save alot by ditching the 4400, getting an x2 3800+ and OCing. Or get an Opty 165/170 - they OC like nobodys business. Some hit FX speeds on air at stock voltage.

your RAM is overkill - go with the value stuff and save $60.

Ditch the Antec PSU - go with a Seasonic or a Fortron - something around 400-500 watts.

Sure you want to do SLI in future? Consensus around here is that SLI is a waste of money, better to go with single cards and replace.

And for Mobo - I forget the name now, but the DFI ultra-d SLI version is way cheaper and considered the best out there. If you go DFI get a Fortron PSU, not a seasonic (there are conflicts between the two).

cheers

 

[letstalkcisco]

It's a sweet looking system. I don't know if you're sold on the Centurion, but the fan comments that folks are making are very valid. I have a Coolermaster Cavalier 3, and it's a great looking case with a 120mm exhaust and 80mm intake (replaced with 90mm). You'll want to keep a nice setup like this cool if possible. Seems like especially with the passive heat-pipe design on the a8n-32 premium you'll want to have really good airflow in the case.

As for the SLI question, you probably will never use it. If I remember my reading correctly, 2x6800GTs are absolutely smoked by the new 7800 series cards. When you take an aging technology and add another card you increase the horsepower for sure, but next generation cards are always going to have benefits that you won't be able to squeeze out of a SLi solution on a previous generation card. That asus board is awesome (even though out of stock on newegg), but I wouldn't realistically consider SLI to be much of an upgrade path and thus your determining factor for choosing a board.

 

[bravacentauri83]

IMO, you have a strong system picked out. There should be no compatibility issues.

Couple of things:
-Unless you plan on running high resolution above 1280x1024 (say on a Dell 2005fwp) then SLI would be a good option. I think you would be fine with sticking to one card (7800GTX or an X1900XT). You could downgrade to a single PCI-E solution based on the nForce4 Ultra chipset. Such boards include the DFI Infinity, ASUS A8N-E and MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum.

- If you plan on overclocking then the tight timings on the RAM would help, but you wouldn't notice a huge difference between the memory with CL of 3 over a CL of 2 running it normally.

 

[MrX8503]

i agree with everyone about the SLI thing. IMO i think sli is only worth it if you have the monitor for it like brava suggested. Also buying an sli board for future sli setup is not cost effective because GPU's upgrade so often, by the time you set up SLI, you can already buy 1 gpu that beats your SLI setup. SLI if you have the monitor, money, and if your going to buy 2 gpus from the get go.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: gerryd1968
Ok, I'll check out Zip Zoom thanks...

i am leaning towards an SLI setup just for the fact that if i decide that i need more graphics power i can just throw in another 7800gt instead of buying a newer and more expensive card because as the newer cards are released the older stuff tends to drop in price...

could you elaborate on your reasons for not liking SLI

example: 2 x 7800GTs = ~$600. 1 x1900xt = ~ $600. choose the one you prefer

2 x 6600GT = ~$250. 1 6800GT = ~$190 and is basically the same performance as the 2 6600GTs in most benchmarks.

i wouldn't get the corsair XMS ram. not that it's not good, you just won't notice the improvment really over value ram. you'll save about $70.

you do not need a 550W psu. if you go the 1 vga card route, 450w should be more than enough. the 450w fortron is just $50. $35 in savings.

do you need the second optical drive? $30 saved if you don't buy it.

dropping down to a non-SLI board should save you about $100.

your total savings will be over $230. maybe you can save your money or apply the savings elsewhere in your system. maybe getting 2 7800GTs or the x1900x. or you could opt for the OCing route and buy a lot of cooling and drop your cpu down to a cheaper one so you save even more.

 

[Beast388]

Originally posted by: gerryd1968
Beast388...IYO how hard or easy is this case to work on in terms of space and also does it have a removeable mobo tray.

I found the case to be easy to work with. The toolless locking mechansims are very handy. The HD and floppy/optical drives installed quickly and easily.

Unfortunately, there is no removeable mobo tray, but that didn't bother me much. It was still easy to install the mobo.

 

[gerryd1968]

to answer thenewguy8's question...my budget on this is+/- 1500 (although less is always good)

From what everyone is saying i am rethinking the SLI route as i'm only running a 19" CRT for now. 7800GTX may be in the cards if i shave of a few bucks on the MOBO + RAM

although i have heard good things about DFI boards i've also heard that they are very picky about compatible hardware ie. PSU, RAM...etc. and that the BIOS is a fairly tough setup.

I will look for more info on the DFI Infinity, ASUS A8N-E and MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum along with others.

As far as RAM goes i guess i will have to hold off on that till i make a choice on a diferent MOBO. but can anyone suggest a good value RAM alternative.

Regarding the CPU, i don't really think i will be overclocking any time soon on this as i have never done it before and frankly the whole idea of cranking it up and not realy knowing what i'm doing makes me nervous (but not beyond the realm of possibility) on a 300+ piece of hardware. so more than likely i will go with a dual core AMD. i think in the near future software will be able to take advantage of it's capabilities. let's say i go with the 4400+ x2 and in a few months of studying i decide to overclock, how will it do?
(comments?)

thanks for all the great feedback, you guy's are great, please keep it coming

 

[bravacentauri83]

Regarding DFI compatibility: www.dfi-street.com has a large list of components (PSUs, RAM, etc) of what has been known to work consistently for DFI motherboards. Just a summary: Anything OCZ (RAM or PSU) works like a charm. Couple other PSUs including Enermax work well. Corsair, Kingston, and any valueRAM does not work nicely.

For value RAM, I use Corsair in my current build (w/ the Micron chips). They have a very good reputation, however most of their RAM is using the Samsung chips now. At that point it's personal preference since the Samsung chips have held their ground. Corsair's Value RAM is okay after experience with builds for other people.

 

[gerryd1968]

Thanks Brava....i will check out the DFI site you mentioned.