About to buy - last second advice

[cochranjd]

I'm ready to buy this system (probably late tonight) and just thought I'd run it by the experts here for opinions or places for possible modifications...

The system is for me and my wife and I haven't played a game on the PC since about 3 years ago when I quit WoW. I don't want to build a system that is crippled for games, but that isn't my #1 priority. We typically use it for things like video/photo editing. My wife will use it mainly to blog and read websites which anything I build should be fine for. I also use it for development projects using things like Visual Studio, MySQL, Apache, and other development tools.

Budget - Under $1000 is probably alright, but I'd like to stay as close to or under $900 as possible.

Here is what I've got right now - I'm completely torn on the CPU between the E8500 (Core 2 duo) and the Q6600 (Core 2 quad) - many recommendations online say go with the duo, but they're all aimed at gamers which isn't my primary purpose.

Antec P182 ($129.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129025

WD Caviar 640GB/7200RPM ($74.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218

HIS 4850 ($169.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161243
Corsair 650W PS ($99.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139005

G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 (PC6400) ($44.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P ($134.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128358

Intel Q6600 ($194.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115017

Xigmatec HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler ($36.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003


That price comes in at just under $900 before shipping ($886.92 exactly if I added correctly).

Again, my concern is mainly with a few things:

1) CPU - I figure since I'm more likely to have a lot of medium intense apps running than I am to have a single highly intense app running, the quad is better, but I'm not sure.

2) Case - I want a case that is roomy enough to support the Xigmatec and that gets good airflow without collecting too much dust (which is the complaint I've read on some of the cooler master cases)

Thanks for any help you guys can offer.

I'm trying to follow the guidelines on the sticky, so here is the remaining info:

I will be buying my parts from the US (specifically newegg)
No real brand preferences at all
I will be using my current monitor, mouse, keyboard, floppy and DVD burner/drivers
I have looked through other threads but most seem to be mainly geared to gamers or are from almost a year ago
I may overclock, but it is not a definite and not the deciding factor in my purchase (unless it gives one of the CPUs I'm choosing between a definite advantage for my usages)
Plan to build this week - probably order tonight or tomorrow.

 

[gummi467]

Alright, well your build looks good. and is pretty similar to what I'm currently putting together in my room. Personally I chose an e8400 that I bought used but my main usage is light gaming and normal computer usage. I don't keep 50 things open at once and I don't do any encoding or the like so I figure when I need to upgrade to a quad I can just grab a good one down the road if required for a good bit cheaper than they are currently. Since you're keeping windows open and do encoding I would solidly recommend a quad as they are very similar in price to the duals and can be easily OC'd to stock e8500 speeds.

A couple of thoughts I have:

For the hard drive I would recommend the WD caviar black purely for the 5 year warranty as opposed to 3 year with the se16. the speeds are virtually identical. (recommended)

For the cpu you may want to consider the Q9400 instead of the Q6600. it's built on a 45nm die as opposed to a 65nm and will run cooler. Also it's clocked a little faster out of the box. Both OC just fine. (recommended)

That CPU cooler is awesome. I personally opted for the noctua nh-u12p because it came with the mounting bracket as opposed to the pushpins and is quieter than the s1283. It also performs at least as well if not better. personally I like a secure fit on my board due to the weight and if you were going to get the crossbow mounting kit for the s1283 that would put you up to $45 anyways. Add the fact that the noctua fan has a 6 year warranty and amazing build quality and I was sold. Having just installed it last night I can say I don't regret spending the extra money. (optional)

*edit* if you are serious about trying to really overclock it hard at some point down the road it could be worth your while getting some 1066 gskill or corsair ram so that you have the head room. the price difference is minimal. both of those brands are capable of running at lower volts when not being overclocked so check up on it.

You could shave a few bucks off by going with the UD3R if you knew you were never going to xfire them but hell, I went with the UD3P myself and I'm running a gtx 260 in case physx every becomes a reality or I swap for some ati's later on.

Just as a reminder, don't forget the thermal paste (AS5, or OCZ freeze (trying it for this build and so far it's great. no break in time)) and all of your cables ie: DVI if you don't have it already. Possibly a small flash drive if you don't have any handy as they are amazing for moving things around quickly. Also I didn't see an optical drive listed so make sure you have something of that sort. That's about all I can think of for now. Best of luck to you and feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

- Jared

Just so you know my base system
E8400 w/ Noctua NH-U12P
Gigabyte UD3P
Lian Li A05B (very similar to p182, I was torn between the two)
nVidia GTX 260
WD Caviar Black 640
2x2GB OCZ Reaper 1066
Corsair 650TX PS
Sony Optiarc 7220s DVD burner (can't vouch for this yet as I haven't installed it but from what I've read it's burn quality is superb which is why I got it
Plan on running vista 64