A new system for a friend

[caivoma]

What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing?
Games, watching TV, making movie and general just for every day task

What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
My friend has 5k and he want a top of the line computer that is last for 4 to 5 years. I told him that isn?t going to happens with the way technology progress. I am suggesting that he spends about 2 or 3k now and upgrade in a couple years.

What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
US.

IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Mostly reliable brand since he will put it together and he hasn?t build a machine for the last 5 years so I hope by ordering those reliable brand, it will help the building part goes smoothly.

If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
none

IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yeah.

IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
No

WHEN do you plan to build it?
This month or October.

He will not overclock or running any SLI/Xfire set up.

CPU:
Intel e8600
Click
299

GPU:
Gigabyte HD4870X2
Click
549
Or
EVGA GTX 280
Click
469
I heard the ATI card is better but run much hotter than Nvidia card so it may come down to that.

PSU:
Seasonic 700W modular
Click
I think it is better for him to go with modular PSU since it will be less cluster for his case and make it easy to install. If anyone have any suggestion for better PSU, please chime in. I think this should be plenty of juice for his setup.
159.99

Motherboard:
Asus P45
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129.99
He doesn?t need crossfire or SLI and Asus is really reliable.

Ram:
GSkill 4GB DDR2 1000:
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73

Case:
Antec 1200
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179.99
I chose this case because of the space and the air flow. I believe it has the fan controller as similar to the antec p182se case that I have.

Hard Drive:
2 WD 640GB:
Click
170

Other accessories can be choose later, these are the parts that I am most concern with since I don?t have any hand on experience on except the hard drive. I just want to make the putting together of all those parts to be as easy as possible. As it stand right now the total is about 1500 dollars so there are a lot of wiggle room. He already has a monitor and he doesn?t want to do any mod to the case for water cooling. And the system will be at home so the weight isn?t a concern.

 

[Roguestar]

If he's not overclocking, just get the DDR2-800.
PSU is a little expensive but I agree with the choice of a modular one, it's the handiest thing ever.
You could drop down to the much less expensive and almost the same performance E8400.
Instead of getting two 640GB drives you could get the one 1TB Caviar Black, I guess. Though that'd just be me for having one less HD to wire up inside .

 

[ther00kie16]

Slight performance premium isn't worth $100 more than a e8400 and speed gap decreases even more if he overclocks (would require a better hsf for significant oc)
Hard to argue for either one of those >$400 video cards. I would probably crossfire/SLI 2 $150 cards
Good PSU but could save a little money going with a Corsair 620HX (built by seasonic) at buy.com or provantage.
1tb is around $130 so that's probably the better route.

 

[Blain]

He'll actually need a TV card if one of the tasks is "watching TV".
The Hauppauge WINTVHVR1600 or ATI TV Wonder 650 would be fine.

As long as he doesn't mind you throwing his money around...
* Use either a 150GB or 300GB VelociRaptor for the OS & Apps.
* Add a ZALMAN Reserator XT to keep his rig cool and quiet.
* Get one of the 750W PS versions by PC Power & Cooling.
* Like Roguestar said, drop down to PC2-6400. It's more than enough for your situation.

 

[DSF]

If he's serious about making movies and is willing to spend 300+ on a CPU, he may be better served with a quad core.

 

[TheKub]

As a friend you should seriously get that ridiculous idea out of your buddies mind that spending big bucks to build a PC to last 4-5 years is pointless in nearly every case. Yes for 5k it will be a decent machine in 5 years but it will most likely be slow when compared to the 1k system of 5 years from now.

Spend good money on the reusables case\monitor\keyboard\mouse\speakers then spend like 1/3 of the remaining budget for the rest of it. Then tell him to replace the mobo\mem\cpu\vid in 2 years. Yeah its a bit more work in the long run but he will have a MUCH higher value for dollar that way.

Also, Unless he is going to have 8 hard drives the antec 900 would be a much better fit.

 

[caivoma]

Thanks for all responds, he is understands that there is no such thing that is a top of the line computer that will last 4 or 5 years. So I am trying to convince him that spend about 2 or 3k on really good computer parts right now and upgrade it later in couple years or so. The thing is he is going to build this one by himself or find someone to do it for him so I just suggest the part. He haven't build a computer for 5 years and I try to simplified the process as much as possible so no crossfire/sli or raid set up. So I think a raptor drive for OS and 1 TB hard drive instead of 2 WD 640GB drives.

Roguestar: I actually bought that E8400 and the gskill DDR2 800 for my new computer which I built a couple weeks ago and I know it is really good for the money but since he want good part so may as well go for it.
Blain: I will recommend him the TV tunner and the raptor hard drive sounds great. As far as I know, PC&C doesnt have modular psu and I want the modular psu since it should be easier to set up.
Dsf: I dont think he will making alot of movie to justify quad core but I will ask.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: caivoma
As far as I know, PC&C doesnt have modular psu and I want the modular psu since it should be easier to set up.

Modular power supplies build up resistance in the connections over time.

"I think it is better for him to go with modular PSU since it will be less cluster for his case and make it easy to install."
That is a bogus reason for a PS being used in the massive Antec 1200 case.

Seriously... "easier to set up"? Give me a break! :laugh:

 

[sonnygdude]

Since he's not worried about throwing around money, maybe upgrade the mobo a step or two? I've heard some people have a beef with the location of the power connector on the P5Q. A P5Q Pro has the connector in a more typical place. A P5Q Deluxe or Premium has more e-peen factor

 

[DSF]

Or, with that much cash available, I would suggest getting a large, high quality monitor that he can take with him from build to build.

 

[TidusZ]

If he's planning on having this computer for several years I don't think it's reasonable to take sli/xfire out of the picture. It's not like its that much more complicated, you could talk him through it on the phone while you eat dinner in less than a minute I'm sure. But then again someone willing to put out this cash and who wants a top of the line rig might as well spend 15 minutes reading the overclocking sticky and at least do a small overclock as well.

I second the monitor recommendation, find out how large his current monitor is and if its less than 22 inch might as well go for 24 or 27, especially if he's planning to watch tv. At 24" you'll get 1080p resolution (1920x1200).

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: caivoma
As far as I know, PC&C doesnt have modular psu and I want the modular psu since it should be easier to set up.

Modular power supplies build up resistance in the connections over time.

"I think it is better for him to go with modular PSU since it will be less cluster for his case and make it easy to install."
That is a bogus reason for a PS being used in the massive Antec 1200 case.

Seriously... "easier to set up"? Give me a break! :laugh:

Are you worried about the connection of your computer at each component? Or the connection of the power cord to the power supply? Or the power cord to a surge protector? or the surge protector to the wall?

If you're gonna call BS on him saying a modular PSU is easier to set up I'll call BS on the resistance argument. With the current in a PC, the resistance at one extra connector is negligible.

 

[Roguestar]

As the owner of a modular power supply I personally feel it is much handier when it comes to installing your system. Less clutter and exactly as many cables as you need. I just recently migrated my components from a crappy old case to the Antec P182 and I'm pretty glad I had a modular PSU when installing everything, it meant I could add power cables as and when I got my components screwed and slotted in, instead of having them all flopping around the bottom of the case getting in my way when I first installed the PSU.
My 2¢.

I agree with DSF on investing in a monitor, by the way.

 

[caivoma]

I recently bought the Corsair 750W for my system and there are a bunch of unused cables that I have to store into the middle hard drive bay of my case, I wished I bought the modular psu instead of that. So base on personal experience I think he would have an easy time to go with modular psu.

Sonygdude: Yeah, it is a really good idea on the motherboard.
DSF: I think he mentioned he has a monitor but I am not sure. I will ask the next time I see him online.

 

[caivoma]

Update: He has a monitor that he is really happy with.

 

[Denithor]

ASUS P5Q Pro + e8400 combo

Save $35 when you buy these two items together for a really good deal. $265 for processor & motherboard is hard to argue versus $300 for just the e8600 you're considering.

What games does he play and at what resolution? I generally recommend the single card solution (GTX 280) versus a dual-card setup (4870GX2) because the dual doesn't always scale well and will sometimes underperform. Actually, see if you could go with a GTX 260 instead of GTX 280 and save $150.

Try to spend <$1500 now on the box and then upgrade the mobo/ram/cpu/gpu in two years (if even necessary then, maybe just a GPU upgrade) when Nehalem is cheap. $1500 today and $1000 every two years for upgrades will yield a much better system 5 years from now at lower cost than trying to build a monster today that will last until then.

 

[tynopik]

if you have that much money to play with, the best way to improve speeed is to improve disk performance
1. a good SSD (SLC or the intel MLC)
2. ACARD RAM Disk http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=201723

 

[videogames101]

I have the antec 1200, it can cool the 4870 with no problems, 48C full load. It's a damn sexy case as well, the 4870x2 will blow the GTX280 away.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: videogames101
the 4870x2 will blow the GTX280 away.

Only in games where it scales well. In other games, it gets blown away.