Building gaming/general use PC in the next 2 weeks.

[semisonic9]

Ok, I'm getting close to placing my orders for my next desktop tower and am looking for advice on a few remaining parts. I'm also especially looking for any hot deals or anything that can save me a few bucks here and there, by using different vendors.

Shipping time isn't really a variable I care about. I'll use most reliable vendors (except Buy.com, I don't care what people say!). One thing, though: if you've got a hot deal on a major component, please plug in shipping to Orlando, FL. 32817 and make sure it's actually lower in overall price! Some sites are notable for their "deals", then ripping people off on shipping.

The build is for gaming and general use. I'll overclock mildly. Parts preferences, carry-over parts, etc, are all listed below. It's less about overall budget than about trying to save what I can on the parts I want. Even if I save $50, that's $50 I could use on something else I want, ya know?


Parts list:
-------------------------------

Processor- E8400 ($175, shipped), or wait around for the Q3 quad pricedrops? See below. I'm annoyed they didn't drop the prices on the quad cores when they dropped them on the dual cores.

Mobo- Not sure. Recommendations? I'm leaning towards the old [DFI Lanparty P35]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136043[/L], ($130 + $10 shipping, 'egg) but mobos are one of the areas I know the least about. Is there any convincing reason to go with the P45/x48? How will the mobo choice effect my graphics card? I don't mind spending $200-250 here, but I can't yet see why I should.

RAM- G.Skill 2x2gb 1066mhz DDR2 $104.99, shipped, from the 'egg.

Sound- Onboard mobo sound.

Video card- 4870x2, when it's released.

Hard Drive- WD SE16 640gb 7200rpm 16gb SATA

DVD Drive- There doesn't seem to be a clear winner here. Recommendations? No blu-rays. I'm not much of an early-adopter.

PSU- Corsair 750TX $99.99 after rebate, free shipping. I hate rebates. It was this or a PC PnC, but since neither are modular and the Corsair is (supposedly) quieter, and is definately cheaper it seems like a no-brainer.

Case- Lian Li A71b - $260 + $28.62 shipping from the 'egg.

Cooling- No preference on thermal paste or cooling (for either chip or graphics cards). Thoughts?

Monitor- DoubleSight 26" replacement, should be out sometime in August. Until then, I've got 2 monitors I can use, so no big rush.

Headphone/Mic- Koss SB40s and possibly a Zalman clip-on mic if the built-in mic on the Koss' are that bad. I'm seeing mixed reviews. The headphones are $29 from Amazon, w/ free shipping. The mic is $8.54, shipped.

Keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc are all hold-overs from my current setup.

-------------------------------


Some thoughts:

I'm pretty sure Newegg's prices on case, PSU, and possibly processors can be beat by other sites.

Case- I went with the Lian Li A71b over the A7110 or V2110 mainly because of cost vs utility. I like the looks of the A71b, and didn't figure the hot-swap cages in the A7110 and a slightly fresher-looking front door were worth an extra $100 to me.

Purchase date- It looks like the 4870x2 and the replacement to the 26" Planar Doublesight monitor won't be out until mid- and late-August, respectively. Should I wait on ordering the other parts until then, too? I'm curious, mainly, if Intel's Q3 pricedrops will finally hit the quad-core chips by then.


~S

 

[DSF]

CPU: Go ahead and get the E8400, but since you're willing to overclock I'd consider the E7200 if I were you.

Memory: Get this G.Skill DDR2-1000 kit instead. It will save you $20 and still have plenty of overclocking headroom for whatever you want do.

DVD Drive: There doesn't seem to be a clear winner because there really isn't. This Samsung would be fine, but that's not to say it's the only one.

As far as waiting, there's rarely a reason not to. Prices on these things aren't going to go up, they'll only go down.

The exceptions would be things like your case, PSU and headphones if you find a very hot deal on them.

 

[sonnygdude]

Mobo - I think the biggest difference between P45 and X48 is that the former will be limited to an 8x PCIe link for crossfire, the latter will have a full 16x link. If you're really set on crossfire the X48 boards will be better, the P45 boards will be good for single card GPU setups.

I second DSF on the RAM - I did get the memory you're looking at, but it was on a good sale that made it only $5 more than the DDR2-1000. $20 for an extra 66 Mhz (25$ greater cost for 6.6% increased speed) just doesn't pass the sniff test.

I also second DSF on the DVD burner - I got what I think is the previous generation (the SH-S203). Great drive, burns FAST, relatively quiet. Noticeably superior to the one in my not quite 2 yr workstation at work. For Samsungs on Newegg, look for items that have the N or BEBN suffix - even though they are OEM this suffix indicates that they come with software

In terms of thermal paste for cooling, I think you're better off choosing based on handling/aging characteristics over what the manufacturer claims the thermal impedance will be. I know most people here will disagree with me, but I have to deal with cooling electronics at work and you have to remember that in terms of heat transfer, thermal paste and grease is just junk (10X better than crap is still crap) -it's only a means to reduce contact resistances. But the benchmarks are out there to show that it does make a difference - the problem is heat transfer is really sensitive to your experimental setup, even down to the aerodynamics of your board so you can never quite be sure if you're comparing apples to apples. Sorry to proselytize, heat transfer is one of the things I have to deal with daily

 

[semisonic9]

Originally posted by: semisonic9
Processor- E8400 ($175, shipped), or wait around for the Q3 quad pricedrops? See below. I'm annoyed they didn't drop the prices on the quad cores when they dropped them on the dual cores.

I think I'm going to change this to an OEM Q6600 if they haven't dropped the prices on the other quad-cores by then. I'll slap some thermal and a custom HS on it and take it to 3ghz+, which should remove any gaming bottlenecks I'll have in the 6-12 months it takes me to swap it out.

The Nethalem drop, later this year, seems like it might be an excellent chance to pick up some very affordable used 45nm chips. :-D


-----------------------------------------

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
Mobo - I think the biggest difference between P45 and X48 is that the former will be limited to an 8x PCIe link for crossfire, the latter will have a full 16x link. If you're really set on crossfire the X48 boards will be better, the P45 boards will be good for single card GPU setups.

Ok. The 4870x2 will only use 1x PCIe x16 pathway, right? It's basically "crossfire on a card", but it doesn't actually take up two slots...correct?

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
I second DSF on the RAM - I did get the memory you're looking at, but it was on a good sale that made it only $5 more than the DDR2-1000. $20 for an extra 66 Mhz (25$ greater cost for 6.6% increased speed) just doesn't pass the sniff test.

Ok, sold. If I can find a good sale, fine, but if not I'll go with the cheaper ram. I'm pretty sure the slower FSB of the Q6600 means the ram speed would be pretty meaningless until I upgrade the processor anyways.

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
I also second DSF on the DVD burner - I got what I think is the previous generation (the SH-S203). Great drive, burns FAST, relatively quiet. Noticeably superior to the one in my not quite 2 yr workstation at work. For Samsungs on Newegg, look for items that have the N or BEBN suffix - even though they are OEM this suffix indicates that they come with software

Honestly, I'm more interested in the quietest drive than anything else.

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
In terms of thermal paste for cooling, I think you're better off choosing based on handling/aging characteristics over what the manufacturer claims the thermal impedance will be.... Sorry to proselytize, heat transfer is one of the things I have to deal with daily

No problem. So...what's your recommendation here? Something specific, I mean.


~S

 

[sonnygdude]

Ok. The 4870x2 will only use 1x PCIe x16 pathway, right? It's basically "crossfire on a card", but it doesn't actually take up two slots...correct?

Yep. With the p45 mobo, the 8X link would be the bottleneck for two cards using the mobo for xfire, but with the X2, the communication on the card between the two GPUs is the bottleneck - the mobo only sees one card so it'll be at full 16x and the P45 mobo won't be a drawback

Originally posted by: sonnygdude
In terms of thermal paste for cooling, I think you're better off choosing based on handling/aging characteristics over what the manufacturer claims the thermal impedance will be.... Sorry to proselytize, heat transfer is one of the things I have to deal with daily

No problem. So...what's your recommendation here? Something specific, I mean.

OK - my opinion here, please don't take this as gospel, I'm using Arctic Cooling MX-2.
I've put the HSF on my CPU three times now, (AC Freezer 7 pro) - once with the stock goop on it (MX-2), once with AS5, and again with fresh MX-2. RealTemp said they were all within 2-3 deg of each other, which to me isn't enough of a difference to see as being statistically significant - i.e. with the different times of day, humidity, whatnot, I don't think I could say 2-3 deg means anything. I have read that MX-2 doesn't require curing and doesn't degrade over time as much, so I am using MX-2 now.

You'll probably find a lot of talk out there about diamond paste and all that, and if you're really interested I could go on at length about why using diamond vs. boron nitride or some of the other fillers is largely irrelevant and why people underestimate the importance of the paste (the goo holding the particles) itself. But what's most important is getting matching surfaces between the heatsink and the CPU, and a THIN layer of goop.

 

[semisonic9]

Mobo- I'm thinking of the Asus Maximus Formula II mobo.

It's expensive, on the higher-end of P45 boards, but throws in a lot of extras. I like the x-fi sound and the attention shown to heat dissipation. It's not quite 500mhz, though (475 was the tops {H] got. Since I'm only going for air cooling and relatively mild overclocking (3ghz with the q6600, maybe 3.2ghz tops), I think it could be a good board for me.

~S

 

[DSF]

You don't need fancy schmancy heat sinks on the board to get a Q6600 to 3GHz.

But either way, since you're talking about replacing the CPU in 6-12 months, anything more than the E7200 is a waste of money in my opinion. And for either the E7200 or the Q6600 DDR2-800 is fine.

 

[semisonic9]

Originally posted by: DSF
You don't need fancy schmancy heat sinks on the board to get a Q6600 to 3GHz.

But either way, since you're talking about replacing the CPU in 6-12 months, anything more than the E7200 is a waste of money in my opinion. And for either the E7200 or the Q6600 DDR2-800 is fine.

But...but...it's sexy! 😛

Yeah, you're probably right.

~S

 

[Denithor]

ASUS P5Q Pro $150
Mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800 $71AR

Great P45 motherboard from ASUS with all the features you could want and a great deal on mushkin DDR2-800 memory.

 

[semisonic9]

Mmm. I might go for the motherboard, but I'm kind of a fanboy of G.Skill memory.

~S

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: semisonic9
Mmm. I might go for the motherboard, but I'm kind of a fanboy of G.Skill memory.

~S

Any particular reason?

Not that there's anything wrong with G.Skill, I'm just curious.

 

[semisonic9]

They tend to produce RAM that performs very well for the money, with none of the common rebate games. I find them very reliable, as well.

~S