Advice for a new system

[sandeja1]

I have been told to "build a new system for myself or else" and would like some ideas/recommendations please. I currently have a PIII 733 with 384Mb of RDRAM, 80Gb HDD, 40Gb HDD, SoundBlaster 16 PCI sound card, 3Com NIC, Plextor CD-RW and a generic CD that runs Win XP Pro. None of these components are going to be migrated so it is a clean build. I have used this system for more than 5 years. My wife has decided that I have sacrificed for her and our family long enough and has directed me to build myself "a really nice system!" I will have a budget of between $1500~$2000 to spend and have some components already (see below).

I like to games: FPS (Quake, Half Life, Call of Duty etc.), Flight Sim's (Falcon 4.0, and some arcade style) and RPG (Baldur's Gate I & II, Newerwinter Nights with none of the add-ons yet).

What I have so far: Dell 2407WFP (AWESOME!!!), a Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX case without power supply, some Bose Companion 5 speakers my wife and son got me for Christmas. I know some don't like them but that is okay, I do, so no comments about them please.

What I would like to be able to do is:

1. Have a QUIET system. I don't want to have a jet engine starting up under my desk everytime I turn it on. My gaming is rather limited to night time after my son, and soon to be brother, have gone to bed.

2. Play Obliviion, Never Winter Nights II, Battlefield 2/2142 (both online and with bots), Far Cry, Half Life 2, Falcon 4.0: Allied Force; and any of the new games that interest me in the future.

2. I am not going to run MS Vista for some time yet. Probably not for at least six months~a year from now once the driver situation gets worked out and a service pack is released.

3. Digitize our music collection (another post will be made for questions about that later)

4. Have a system that I can incrementally upgrade (processor, video, etc.) every other year or so for a while. This system is going to have to last me for a while since my family comes first in all things.

5. Watch movies on/feed out to our TV eventually

What I am thinking so far is:

-Quad core Intel processor - if a case can be made for AMD that is fine also. I have used/built systems with both processor's in the past and like them both.

-Nvidia 680i Chipset motherboard or something else? SLI is not needed now but would like to be able to consider in the future. Not a requirement though.

-Minimum of 1Gb of DDR Ram (probably 2Gb) of name brand RAM (Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin?)

-Nvidia GeForce 8800GTX/8800GTS? ATI? Don't know yet. I know the Nvidia 8800 series is DirectX 10 compatible but I won't be running Vista for a while yet. Don't need SLI/Crossfire (yet) but will consider it down the road

-RAID setup? Possible configuration: 1 boot drive, 2 drives for apps (mirrored or striped)

-Sound Blaster X-Fi series sound card

-PCPower & Cooling Silencer 750W power supply

-DVD Burner (possibly two disk to disk copy/backup of my son's movies) Should I wait for HD DVD/BlueRay or upgrade later? I don't believe in piracy so I won't be selling/making copies for others.

Any ideas/suggestions are welcome!!! Sorry for the long post but figured who better to ask than the readers of Anandtech! I read this site everyday and enjoy hearing what everyone has to say, even if I don't understand/agree with some of it!

Anyway, thanks for your time and patience

 

[jpeyton]

I just finished a quiet PC build yesterday so I should be able to help out.

CPU: Right off the bat, I would suggest holding off on Intel's quad-cores until later this year when newer (cheaper) models are released. The cheapest Intel quad (Q6600) carries a hefty premium right now ($800+), but you can do a simple CPU swap later this year with a $300 quad like the upcoming Q6300 when it launches. I would suggest a Core 2 Duo E6400 as your CPU until then. It is cheap and can overclock quite a bit with no penalties. Coming from a PIII 700, even a mildly overclocked Core 2 Duo will be an amazing upgrade.

Motherboard: If you must have SLI, the EVGA 680i motherboard is a good choice in the upper-price range. An ASUS P5N-E 650i motherboard will be considerably cheaper, but still retain SLI functionality and overclockability. If SLI isn't a requirement, get an Asus P5B-E or Deluxe. If you need a less expensive solution, the Gigabyte S3 and DS3 are two great motherboards.

RAM: If you want to open up overclocking possibilities, I suggest getting some mid-range DDR2 800 or better. 2GB (2x1GB); Newegg has this Corsair 2GB kit for $178 after rebate.

PSU: Take a good look at the Corsair HX620 before you plunk down for a PCP&C Silencer. Amazing review, dead quiet, modular, made by Seasonic.

DVD Burner: Samsungs 18X DVD Burners are very quiet (arguably the quietest on the market).

Hard Drive: Either a Samsung 500GB or a Western Digital 500GB; Newegg has both for around $150. Both are incredibly silent.

RAID setup: Adding more hard drives makes more noise. I would suggest one big single drive to start out with; if you feel like you need more speed, then make a jump to RAID (preferably RAID5, for speed and safety).

Video Card: A single 8800GTS will run your games perfectly at native resolution on your monitor. The new $299 MSRP 320MB 8800GTS will be launched this month; the old 640MB 8800GTS can be found for around $370 on Newegg.

The GTS can output video to a TV without a problem, either using the standard definition S-Video output, or by using the high-definition DVI output. If your TV doesn't have DVI-input, get a DVI-to-HDMI or DVI-to-Component video converter at Monoprice.com.

Digitizing your music collection will be fast with a Core 2 Duo; just grab the proper ripping and encoding utilities for free online. Even Windows Media Player 11 does a decent job of ripping/encoding (just make sure you check the settings).

Case: If you have the option of getting a better case, I would highly suggest the Antec P180 for a quiet-case solution. Having a separate chamber for your PSU and your hot components makes a difference.

CPU Heatsink: The two best are the Sunbeam Tuniq Tower and the Scythe Ninja; either one paired with a quiet 120mm fan will serve you well.

Make sure you check out SilentPCReview.com for more suggestions about quiet PCs.

 

[sandeja1]

Cool! Thank you very much for the info!!!!

 

[Jaanpunjab]

So besides gaming are you going to be doing some hardcore multi-tasking or editing? Quad-core just seems like a waste if not. Most programs don't/can't even use more than 1 core, so unless you're doing a lot of heavy duty multitasking or some very heavy video and photo editing, I would stick with the dual core. Plus it would be good to wait for a little more competition between quad-core processors. I second jpeyton's recommendation of the P180, the only problem I have with it is the front door feels a little flimsy to me.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: Jaanpunjab
So besides gaming are you going to be doing some hardcore multi-tasking or editing? Quad-core just seems like a waste if not. Most programs don't/can't even use more than 1 core, so unless you're doing a lot of heavy duty multitasking or some very heavy video and photo editing, I would stick with the dual core. Plus it would be good to wait for a little more competition between quad-core processors. I second jpeyton's recommendation of the P180, the only problem I have with it is the front door feels a little flimsy to me.

The door has been fixed on the P180 since late 2006. Only early models had the flimsy doors.

 

[Jaanpunjab]

That's good to hear, my friend has one of the older ones and the door on that thing is so terrible.

 

[sandeja1]

Hi all,

Thanks for the info and now to the answers:

1. Depends on what you mean by "hardcore multi-tasking". When I am at home I usually only have two or three apps running because my system bogs down so much. When I am at work, I usually have between 8 to 10 programs running. Most in the background but switch between them a lot. I would like to be able to rip music/videos at the same time I surf the web, e-mail/IM, edit some pictures and maybe play a game at the same time.

2. I have heard that most programs won't use more than one processor at a time and was considering a quad only for future useage so the system doesn't get outdated as fast. I like jpeyton's idea about putting a dual in now and upgrading it later. If I put a "nice" enough dual core in, I think I could hold off on a quad for at least a year if not two. I don't know much about overclocking anything but will certainly give it a try this time I think.

I like the P180 case too. I forgot to mention that the centurion case I have is brand new still in the box. My current system is an old Dell Dimension that was going to be thrown out because it
"didn't work anymore". Turned out to be a bad HDD though.

I will look at the P180 in a store near hear, I may know someone that would like the CoolerMaster I have in the box.

I also have another question for jpeyton, or anyone else for that matter. Why the Core 2 Duo E6400 instead of the E6600 or E6700? Not doubting anyone, just curiosity is all.

Thanks for all the great info!

 

[engiNURD]

This is how I'd spend $2k. I think onboard HD Audio is good enough:

$316 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
$250 - eVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI
$274 - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 BL2KIT12864AA804
$570 - eVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB ($30MIR)
$105 - Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA150 16MB Cache
$164 - Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5000YS 500GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$144 - Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W ($20MIR)
$47 - Samsung 18X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ LightScribe Black SATA SH-S183L - OEM
$40 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm CPU HSF (Quiet)
==========
$1910 + tax and shipping - $50 MIRs

The Raptor is as loud as a Seagate 7200.10 320gb. If you want a quieter OS/App drive, go for the Samsung SP2004C. For backup, go for an external hdd, or add some drives later for a RAID5 array (media server). If you really want a soundcard, there are some affordable X-Fi models at the egg ($50AR for the xtreme gamer). If you don't want a DX10 card right now, go for the X1950XT or 7950GT instead. That Samsung DVD burner is rather expensive. I'd wait for the Lite-On SATA DVD burners to be back in stock for $30 instead, but jpeyton said the samsungs are the quietest. Though, they're only loud when your reading/burning, so if you don't read from cd/dvd or burn alot, then the lite-on should be fine. Upgrade to QuadCore in about 2 or so years, when applications will actually take advantage of it. The E6600 should last you a long time. The Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B, 680i, and Crucial ram will help to OC that beast.

 

[sandeja1]

Nice looking system build engiNURD.

Why that brand of 8800GTX versus another? Rebate or better card?

I don't think I will be burning/reading a lot from the DVD drive(s) once I am done ripping our music collection and some of my son's movies for backup so loudness on those drives may not be that big of an issue.

I have never used Lite-On drives (that I know of) but have several friends who tell me they are the bee's knees. I have only used Plextor in the past, except for the one time that I got a "deal" on a Kenwood "True 72x" cd-rom drive that lasted about six months. Anyone remember those?

 

[sandeja1]

Another question comes to mind about the 8800 series cards.

NVIDIA is going to change the build size from 90nm to 45nm in the future? Should I wait on a smaller core size that runs cooler/better and get ATI X1950XT or 7950GT instead as mentioned by engiNURD?

 

[engiNURD]

Sony used to rebadge alot of Lite-On drives. They're probably not the best, but work just as well. They feel cheaper compared to a plextor, but burn just the same; then again, the last plextor I bought was a 16x CD Burner, which still is still very solid. Though, they are much cheaper than plextors. If you buy good media (Taiyo Yuden), then you don't really have to worry about the burner brand. If you buy cheap media, stick to a brand thats been tested to work with a wide variety of media brands. Check out cdrinfo.com and cdfreaks.com for their reviews on optical drives. I personally own about 8 Lite-On drives, and they all work very well.

eVGA makes great cards and they have good customer support. The biggest reason for suggesting eVGA over other brands is because of their lifetime warranty policy: they still warrant their card even if you change the vga cooler. FYI, that motherboard also has a lifetime warranty.

 

[sandeja1]

Excellent!

Thanks for the info engiNURD! Nice to know that there are still some decent warranties on things out there. Just in case that is.