Building a new rig!

[pturula]

Sup guys, this is actually my first post on Anandtech.com forums so i hope its the start of a real learning experience. I used to know alot about this but havent kept up with the times and now im as newbish as it gets.

So im building a new rig for myself cause my old one is just becoming too slow.
I typically play games such as WoW, CS, CZ, Source and TF2.

Here the the parts i want to buy, all from the wonderful newegg.com.
If you guys can just please tell me if it will all work well together anything you would change.
Keep in mind im not made of $$ lol... so i really have to limit myself to the no more then 1300.

<Mobo :
N82E16813131073

<CPU :
N82E16819115003

<CPU Heatsink :
N82E16835118223
<
Graphics Card : I need this to last me at least a few years.
N82E16814130304

<HDD : 150GB is fine with me, i love the 10,000RPM, but will this work with the mobo ?
N82E16822136011
<
RAM : Im split between the 2... help me chose which is best...
N82E16820148070
OR
N82E16820227178


I plan on running Windows XP sp2+ on the rig... not ready for Vista just yet.

THANKS to all who help.
~Pturula

 

[DSF]

Don't take this personally, but how much research did you do before you came up with this parts list?

I don't see a case, power supply or DVD drive on your list. Are you bringing those from your old system? If so make sure your case has enough room and your power supply has enough amperage on the 12V rail(s) for a new video card.

Here's what I built recently for under $1000, and it will run Crysis on high detail very smoothly.

CPU: Intel E4500 2.2GHz
I have it OCed to 2.9 GHz. These chips overclock very easily. If that's not something you're willing to pursue, look at the E4600, E6550, or E6750.

CPU Heatsink: ZeroTherm BTF90
My girlfriend got this for me for Christmas. Works very well, and is nice and quiet. Honestly though, the stock CPU cooler is pretty good on Core2Duos.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
You listed an SLI motherboard, and I'm not sure why. Since you're looking to spend as little money as possible while still getting good performance, forget SLI. This will save you $100 on the motherboard.

RAM: 2x2GB Super Talent DDR2-800
You really don't need 4GB, but since it's only $70 it's tough to say no. If you only get 2GB, you should be looking to spend no more than $40-50. RAM is cheap right now.

Video Card: XFX 8800GT 512MB
You really don't need an overclocked version, I just bought one because it was in stock at the time. Frankly, if all you're playing involves Source engine games, you could probably go a notch or two lower on the video card. For example, you might look at the 256MB version of the 8800GT, or something like the ATI HD3850. Depends on whether you intend to play newer games or not.

Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint 500GB
The advantage of the Raptor isn't there the way it used to be. Other drives have caught up in terms of gaming performance. This Samsung is very quiet and a solid performer. I'm not saying the Raptor isn't faster, it's just not by much, and a new 500GB hard drive is cheaper.

DVD Drive: Lite-On DVD Burner
This is the one I bought, but any DVD burner from a reputable manufacturer should serve you fine.

Case: Antec Solo ATX Mid-Tower
I got mine on sale, but it's a very good, quiet case. Cools well too.

Power Supply: Corsair 520HX
I bought this one because it's quiet, reliable and has modular cables, but you really don't need 500W for this system. 400W should be plenty, and 450W is definitely enough.

 

[chuckm]

CPU:look at the 6750 or 6550, both will probably perform better than the 6600. You can also save $$ by getting a 21XX or 4XXX CPU.

MB:Are you going to use SLI? If not look at the P35 boards, they OC better.

Video:look at a 8800gt. Alot of them are out of stock, but they perform just as well for less $$

Ram: Get the regular Ballistix. The tracers have the flashing LED's which to me are just a waste.

As DSF stated you will need a power supply, a dvd drive/burner and a case to put it all in.

 

[pturula]

In response to post #2 & #3
I posted the SLI board because i feel at some point later on next year i would buy another graphics card and connect the 2.
And yes im using my old pc case, dvd, and cd wirter burners, as well as my power supply which i feel should be sufficient (700W).
RAM, im not really sure whats a good brand name to buy from, ill take ur word on the Super Talent ones.
As for the 500GB hdd... i've always been under the impression that Internal HDDs of such high capacity tend to flop and die as opposed to others 250GB and below?!
Also indeed the 8800GT seems more reasonable to buy rather then the 8800GTS. Do you recommend the XFX over the EVGA or ASUS model ?

Thank you kindly for your input.
~Pturula

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: pturula
In response to post #2 & #3
I posted the SLI board because i feel at some point later on next year i would buy another graphics card and connect the 2.
And yes im using my old pc case, dvd, and cd wirter burners, as well as my power supply which i feel should be sufficient (700W).
RAM, im not really sure whats a good brand name to buy from, ill take ur word on the Super Talent ones.
As for the 500GB hdd... i've always been under the impression that Internal HDDs of such high capacity tend to flop and die as opposed to others 250GB and below?!
Also indeed the 8800GT seems more reasonable to buy rather then the 8800GTS. Do you recommend the XFX over the EVGA or ASUS model ?

Thank you kindly for your input.
~Pturula

First, I'd strongly recommend against SLI. With the money you save by not going SLI in the first place, you can just get a single, better graphics card in the future. Your system will be less power-hungry, simpler, and cooler.

Second, newer graphics cards can be big. I'd double check your case dimensions to make sure there wouldn't be anything in the way of an 8800 series card. (There probably isn't, but it wouldn't hurt to check.)

Good RAM companies include Crucial, Corsair, Kingston and G.Skill among others. I heard good things about the Super Talent so I gave it a shot, and it's worked fine so far. As far as hard drives, 500GB is the current sweet spot in terms of price/capacity, and I think you're misinformed as far as failure rates. I'm actually wondering where you heard that.

XFX and EVGA are both good brands. For the most part, the cards you find for sale will all be following the same reference design. Some will be overclocked, but it's still the same core design, so there isn't a whole lot of difference from one to another. The main draw of companies like EVGA and XFX is the quality of their customer service. Both offer lifetime warranties and other benefits. EVGA has their "step-up" program, and XFX's warranty can be transferred to another owner.

Again, if you find a sick deal on a card of another brand, there's nothing wrong with them, they just often come with shorter warranties.

 

[pturula]

Thanks a ton for the help DSF.

You make sense with you SLI point. I'll definatelly do that.
Thanks for the heads up on the RAM and Graphic Cards... i will do some looking around and reply once more soon with other things.
I do like your setup, i feel i may steer towards it as you say you can run Crysis smoothly, i hear Crysis is a very demanding game, "graphically" that is. I think the only thing i might differ in is CPU, one thing i always like to invest in is a good fast solid CPU, i wont go for those extreme ones but i do like to get something that will last a few years. I do like what the Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66Ghz has to offer.

Once again thank you very much for your input, its greatly appreciated.
~Pturula


Edit :

PS: Btw the whole 250GB+ flop and fail myth i hear.... well its really came from reviews and things i've read, i've bought my share of HDD's for myself and others and everytime i read about ppl using these giant HDDs as internals they all said that they fried very quickly, and this was always on those of large GB sizes. I dont doubt it might be an urban legend of sorts, but ill definatelly consider the Samsung Spinpoint you mentioned.

 

[DSF]

Western Digital, Seagate and Samsung all have very good 500GB drives.

I should mention out of fairness that I play Crysis at 1024x768. That may not be good enough for some people, but it is for me. CS:S and TF2 run with everything maxed at 1600x1200 easily.

 

[pturula]

I wont be playing Crysis... all im sticking to is World of Warcraft, Counter Strike, CS:Source, and TeamFortress2.
But just out of curiosity, does the system get choppy and makes you play a slide show game ? or what happens when you go over 1024x768 ?

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: pturula
But just out of curiosity, does the system get choppy and makes you play a slide show game ? or what happens when you go over 1024x768 ?

I actually haven't tried anything else. When I ran the game the first time, that was the suggested setting, and it looks good enough for me that I didn't worry about it. Maybe I'll try upping it and see what happens. My guess is that it would stutter a little bit.

 

[pturula]

OK i got a question... im still hesitant as to what HDD i should chose. But i need some clarifications on the SATA types...

the WD Raptor HDD Has very low latency, seek and write times... as opposed to regulard 72000RPM drives.

What makes me curious is that the RAPTOR is Serial ATA150.
and i could easily get a regular HDD with a SATA3.0GB connection.

Ok so if my understanding is correct SATA150 is half as fast as SATA3.0GB correct ?

Assuming so... would that cancel out the latency, seek and write times in the RAPTOR vs a regular 72000RPM HDD ? take the Seagate Barracude as an opposing example.

Thanks

 

[DSF]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any consumer drive has saturated the bandwidth afforded by SATA150. In other words, any drive you buy will actually be transferring at speeds below SATA150's maximum capability. (Similar to the way we don't technically need the speed of PCI-e 2.0.) Both new standards will come into play some time in the future.

As far as I know, it wouldn't have any noticeable impact on performance.

 

[pturula]

Kool... got another question for ya...

the XFX 8800GT card you linked... thats a PCI Express 2.0 Card, im not up to date with that either, but isnt PCI express x16 better ? or is that the same thing alltogether ?

Thanks

 

[DSF]

PCI-e x16 is (I think) PCI-e 1.1. At any rate, PCI-e 2.0 is the newer standard, but it's fully backwards compatible. All 8800GTs (and any new mid-to-high-end graphics cards) are PCI-e 2.0.

 

[pturula]

=O you da man, i'll probably have more Questions for ya sooner or later lol.
Thanks for the help.

BTW the motherboard you linked in ur first post got deactivated on newegg.com LOL.

 

[DSF]

It's available at ZipZoomFly, and probably other places. Anyway, Newegg does have the other Gigabyte boards from the same series, the DS3R and DS3P.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10006307

 

[pturula]

Hmm, the motherboard you have has a PCIex16 slow correct?
So am i to assume i can stick a PCIe 2.0 graphic card into an x16 slow and it will work ?

Ooh ooh so i've been reading up on this PCIe 2.0 thing...
so it seems to me that at this point in time its a little pointless to get it since the current intel chips do not support PCIe2.0, which renders the graphic cards speed useless and it will downclock to 1.0 anyway correct ?

 

[Denithor]

abit IP35 $127

The abit IP35 has raid and firewire and is a solid board with a great track record for overclocking chips to their max. Pair that up with an e4500 and some good DDR2-800 memory and you will love the results.

Regarding the video card, for the games you have listed you will probably be best served with a Radeon 3850. This will easily handle your current gaming needs and probably cover you until the next generation of truly more advanced cards are launched.

GeCube 3850 256MB $165 (after $15MIR)
GeCube 3850 512MB $215 (factory OC to 725MHz, upgraded dual-slot cooler)

 

[pturula]

Just out of curiosity why the e4500 over the e6750 ?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: pturula
Just out of curiosity why the e4500 over the e6750 ?

I'm guessing e4500 is cheaper but you can overclock it to be similar to e6750

whereas e6750 doesn't have much headroom for OC because it is already very fast.


btw, hard drives are 7 200 RPM, not 72 thousand (72 000) rpm. If drives were 72k rpm, your computer would fly.

 

[pturula]

lol musta been a typo =P i meant 7,200 RPM =)