Building the Perfect Beast

[phobetor]

Ok everyone, I am sure that there have been many before me who have asked this question so here we go...

I am planning to build my own box for gaming. I have been doing a lot of research and weighing the pros and cons of different components. I am not looking to overclock this PC (cause i want it to last) I just want quality parts and a machine that will provide me a few years for high end game play.

Here is the list of parts that I have come up with:

· CPU - P4 3.06GHz 533MHz FSB 512K Cache
· Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-8SQ800 Ultra
· Memory - Corsair CMX512-3200LLPT 512MB DDR400
· Video Card - NVIDIA GeForce FX 128MB
· Hard Drive - Seagate 80GB, 7200RPM, Serial ATA, 8MB Cache
· Floppy Drive - Any
· CDRW - ASUS CRW-5224A (ASUS 52X/24X/52X)
· Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
· Speakers - Creative Labs MegaWorks 550 THX 5.1
· Case - ?
· Fan - 80x80x25mm Vantec Stealth Ultra Quiet (SF8025L)
· Power supply - Antec TRUE430 TruePower 430 Watt 12V ATX
· Monitor - Mitsubishi 2060u, 22 Inch Diamondtron Monitor

I have a few questions on this setup:

1) After reading about the Granite Bay chipset I am inclined to wait till the new chipsets arrive that support 800MHz FSB. However, I did see that Gigabyte has recently announced their new board (GA-8SQ800 Ultra) that supports DDR400 RAM, has a 533MHz FSB, and AGP 8x. Should I hold out for the 800MHz boards or will the difference in speed be negligible?

2) I am concerned about the reported noise problems with the yet to be released GeForce FX cards. I live in a small apartment and don't want to become deaf from the background noise and would also like to use this setup to play DVD's to my TV (i.e. create a home entertainment center). If this video card is too loud then I am leaning towards the ATI Radeon card but I'm not sure (it's a lot of money either way and don't want to miss some of the better features in the Nvidia card. My noise concern is also the driving factor in my choices for the case, power supply, and fans and I am completely open to suggestions on these components.

3) Do all these components make sense and am I missing (or blundering) with the parts I've chosen? I understand that some of the technologies I have chosen wont really benefit me for a while (i.e. serial ATA, AGP 8X) but im afraid to bypass them now only to find my system missing an important performance technology in a year...

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx.

 

[GTaudiophile]

It won't be "perfect" until you install a Radeon 9700 PRO...or wait for the 9900 PRO

Edit: Those speakers leave a lot to be desired too.

 

[LikeLinus]

I wouldnt know that Geforce FX anyway. You can get the ATI counterpart (which performs better in many test) for much cheaper.

Hell can you even buy an FX yet?

 

[paco83]

I'm putting together a similar rig in a month or 2, been lookin around and buying bits and pieces already.
If you find the Seagate S-ATA hard drive lemme know Can't find it anywhere

PS Welcome to Anandtech forums

 

[Chaotic42]

For cases I recommend the Inwin Q-500A. It's not 31337 or whatever, but it's easy to work in, has a removable motherboard tray, and I believe that it's indestructable.

 

[ElFenix]

i'd take a peek at some more sis 655 boards before making a final decision.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
It won't be "perfect" until you install a Radeon 9700 PRO...or wait for the 9900 PRO

Edit: Those speakers leave a lot to be desired too.

 

[Bovinicus]

I would go with the Radeon 9700 Pro. It seems to perform better with FSAA and Anisotropic filtering enabled. It is also cheaper, and the latest drivers have provided a lot of performance increases in a lot of different games. The rest of your equipment looks real good. I also might get a bigger HDD if you are planning on doing a lot of downloading. I know I would fill an 80GB drive up in no time at all.

 

[magomago]

get a 40x or a 48x cdrw - the extra price of the 52x is kind of useless and if you really wanetd to pay a premium, get a yamaha one that writes on the bottom of CDs

For your videocards wait for the 9900 Pro

 

[human2k]

get this:

Epox 8RDA+
Tbred XP2100
SLK800 + 80MM
Cosair 256MB PC3200 x2
Radeon 9700 Pro

No need purchasing anything faster than 2.4ghz, I doubt you can tell the difference between 300FPS and 100FPS. With the money saved, you can purchase a faster cpu/board later which is a BIG PLUS.

 

[magomago]

but it seems he doesn't want to upgrade later...that is why I think its best to get the best he can (assuming the best won't be eclipsed in 3 days...)

 

[NumbaJuan]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i'd take a peek at some more sis 655 boards before making a final decision.

ditto

 

[Varsh]

Originally posted by: human2k
get this:

Epox 8RDA+
Tbred XP2100
SLK800 + 80MM
Cosair 256MB PC3200 x2
Radeon 9700 Pro

No need purchasing anything faster than 2.4ghz, I doubt you can tell the difference between 300FPS and 100FPS. With the money saved, you can purchase a faster cpu/board later which is a BIG PLUS.

Noooooooo no no no, not the Epox 8RDA+, the Epox 8k9A2+ (I think that's it) has been voted at many many many places as the best motherboard out at the moment, and I mean by a long shot, even beat the new Asus by 180+ points, that's quite something, you can also unlock the clocking on your AMD Processor straight from the BIOS without having to meddle with the Processor yourself, this RIG's BUILT for Overclocking. And it's pretty damn cheap too.
You also would want 2 sticks of Corsair 512MB DDR333 PC3500 with it, it's certainly one hell of a juicy package if you get a top of the range AMD Processor with it

Though Phobetor, what you've got there's an awesome set up, but like others have said, for a gaming machine, you'd want a bigger HD or even another one, having games run off the other HD than the Windows one runs them faster, and you'd want more RAM

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
It won't be "perfect" until you install a Radeon 9700 PRO...or wait for the 9900 PRO

And you, the proud owner of a Radeon 9700Pro, would be just the person to recommend this card to him, since you have firsthand experience with it.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: jbond04

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
It won't be "perfect" until you install a Radeon 9700 PRO...or wait for the 9900 PRO

And you, the proud owner of a Radeon 9700Pro, would be just the person to recommend this card to him, since you have firsthand experience with it.

Since when do you have to own one to recommend a particular brand?

 

[tbates757]

Originally posted by: Varsh

Originally posted by: human2k
get this:

Epox 8RDA+
Tbred XP2100
SLK800 + 80MM
Cosair 256MB PC3200 x2
Radeon 9700 Pro

No need purchasing anything faster than 2.4ghz, I doubt you can tell the difference between 300FPS and 100FPS. With the money saved, you can purchase a faster cpu/board later which is a BIG PLUS.

Noooooooo no no no, not the Epox 8RDA+, the Epox 8k9A2+ (I think that's it) has been voted at many many many places as the best motherboard out at the moment, and I mean by a long shot, even beat the new Asus by 180+ points, that's quite something, you can also unlock the clocking on your AMD Processor straight from the BIOS without having to meddle with the Processor yourself, this RIG's BUILT for Overclocking. And it's pretty damn cheap too.
You also would want 2 sticks of Corsair 512MB DDR333 PC3500 with it, it's certainly one hell of a juicy package if you get a top of the range AMD Processor with it

Though Phobetor, what you've got there's an awesome set up, but like others have said, for a gaming machine, you'd want a bigger HD or even another one, having games run off the other HD than the Windows one runs them faster, and you'd want more RAM

This guy has no idea what he is talking about, please ignore.

As for suggestions, get the Western Digital 10K RPM Serial ATA drive, instead of seagate, seagate are quite but not that fast,
For CD-RW, Asus isn't that great at making CD-RW's, I'd recommend a Lite-On.
Speakers, Logitech Z-680
Case - Possibly CoolerMaster aluminum case, or ThermalTake Xaser 6000A II

 

[Varsh]

/me coughs
I AM NOT TALKING BULLSHIT

 

[JSSheridan]

The Gigabyte GA-8SQ800 Ultra has been renamed the SINXP1394, just in case you didn't know. Is GF FX the ultra or standard version? I've heard of rumors that Western Digital is releasing 10k RPM SATA drives w/ an 8MB cache, so you might want to look for those. I haven't seen any myself though. For your case, look at the Antec Performance Plus Model PLUS1080AMG - with Antec Original TRUE 430W P4 Power Supply ATX12V Retail for $128 + $18 shipping from newegg. And, btw, go with a Sony FDD

As for the nForce/KT400 debate; Read this and decide for yourself.

Peace.

 

[KidChaos]

Looks like ya have about a $3000 budget. Considering all your requirements, this is what I would get:

CPU - AMD XP Barton 2500+ OEM $190
· Motherboard - Abit NF7-S $126
· Memory - *Two* Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 CAS2 memory modules $320
· Video Card - ATi 9700 Pro $300
· Hard Drive - Western Digital 120GB Special Editon Hard Drive $145
· Floppy Drive - *Black* Mitsumi $10
· CDRW - *Black* Lite-On CD Burner $60
DVD - *Black* Lite-on DVD $45
· Sound Card - integrated nVidia Audio - nearly as good as Audigy 2 $0
Edit: · Speakers - Klipsch 5.1 Speakers $360
· Case - Lian-Li PC-601B (USB2.0, Firewire) $158
· Fan - 80x80x25mm Vantec Stealth Ultra Quiet (SF8025L) $8
Heatsink: Thermalright SLK-800 $30
· Power supply - ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FMA). 431W Power supply $91
· Monitor - Mitsubishi DP2070-BK 22 Inch Diamondtron Monitor $720

Total: $2563

You could simply overclock the 2500+ to outperform a P4 3.06, now or down the road. Here's a guide to help you with that. Though, it's plenty fast at its' default speed. The WD special Edition is considerably faster than the Seagate SATA 8MB cache drive. But if ya want a quiet PC, I can see why ya would go for the seagate drive. Looks to be quite a success.

 

[KidChaos]

The western digital 10K RPM SATA drives are for the enterprise market. It's really meant to be a cheaper but not cheap substitute for corporate SCSI drives.

 

[KidChaos]

BEWARE: At it's inception, there will be a considerable amount of SiS 655 boards floating around out there that DO NOT support hyperthreading.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: KidChaos
Looks like ya have about a $3000 budget. Considering all your requirements, this is what I would get:

CPU - AMD XP Barton 2500+ OEM $190
?Motherboard - Abit NF7-S $126
?Memory - *Two* Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 CAS2 memory modules $320
?Video Card - ATi 9700 Pro $300
?Hard Drive - Western Digital 120GB Special Editon Hard Drive $145
?Floppy Drive - *Black* Mitsumi $10
?CDRW - *Black* Lite-On CD Burner $60
DVD - *Black* Lite-on DVD $45
?Sound Card - integrated nVidia Audio - nearly as good as Audigy 2 $0
?Speakers - Logitech Z-680 5.1 Speakers $300
?Case - Lian-Li PC-601B (USB2.0, Firewire) $158
?Fan - 80x80x25mm Vantec Stealth Ultra Quiet (SF8025L) $8
Heatsink: Thermalright SLK-800 $30
?Power supply - ENERMAX EG465P-VE(FMA). 431W Power supply $91
?Monitor - Mitsubishi DP2070-BK 22 Inch Diamondtron Monitor $720

Total: $2503

You could simply overclock the 2500+ to outperform a P4 3.06, now or down the road. Here's a guide to help you with that. Though, it's plenty fast at its' default speed. The WD special Edition is considerably faster than the Seagate SATA 8MB cache drive. But if ya want a quiet PC, I can see why ya would go for the seagate drive. Looks to be quite a success.

I dont know about Bartons... I saw some benchmarks and they were pretty pathetic compared to Intel counter part. Its not like you cant overclock Intels
My P4 2.66 @ 3.2 easily

As for video card, get ATI Radeon 9700 PRo or wait for their R350

Speaker wise, DO NOT GET Z-680 until Logitech addresses the humming issue. No way in hell you should spend $270 for defective speakers.

 

[KidChaos]

I dont know about Bartons... I saw some benchmarks and they were pretty pathetic compared to Intel counter part.

Hello. Could you point me to those benchmarks please. Which barton? Which intel counterpart? Give phobetor a *complete* part list as ya may have a better config.

And I just saw a review raving about the Logitech Z-680s. Most say the hiss doesn't bother them. Others say it does. But, I see your point and i'll replace them with the Klipsch 5.1s in my recommendation. Thanx!

 

[TonyB]

forget what everyone has recommended so far and get this instead.

CPU - (2) Xeon 2.8GHz 533FSB 512k Cache Retail w/Hyper Threading
Motherboard - Supermicro X5DAE dual CPU motherboard E7505 chipset w/ Onboard Gigabit Lan
Memory - (6) Crucial 512MB DDR266 PC2100 ECC Registered Memory - 3GB
Video Card - ATi Radeon 9700 Pro AIW 128MB
SCSI RAID Controller - LSI MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 RAID (4 Channel) 64Bit 66MHz performance 128MB ECC SDRAM
Hard Drives - (6) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 18GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 0 - 108GB Max
Hard Drives II - (4) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 73GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 5 - 219GB Max
Floppy Drive - Any
CDRW - Plextor PX-W4824TABP 48/24/48
DVDRW - Pioneer A05 4X DVD-RW
Sound Card - Audigy 2
Speakers - Klipsch 5.1
Case - Supermicro SC850P4 Server Chassis
Power Supply - Supermicro PWS-0039 700W + 350W Redundant PSU
Monitor - Viewsonic 22" VP2290b LCD panel
Monitor II - Any

 

[human2k]

Originally posted by: TonyB
forget what everyone has recommended so far and get this instead.

CPU - (2) Xeon 2.8GHz 533FSB 512k Cache Retail w/Hyper Threading
Motherboard - Supermicro X5DAE dual CPU motherboard E7505 chipset w/ Onboard Gigabit Lan
Memory - (6) Crucial 512MB DDR266 PC2100 ECC Registered Memory - 3GB
Video Card - ATi Radeon 9700 Pro AIW 128MB
SCSI RAID Controller - LSI MegaRAID Enterprise 1600 RAID (4 Channel) 64Bit 66MHz performance 128MB ECC SDRAM
Hard Drives - (6) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 18GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 0 - 108GB Max
Hard Drives II - (4) Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 73GB U160 Hard Drive in RAID 5 - 219GB Max
Floppy Drive - Any
CDRW - Plextor PX-W4824TABP 48/24/48
DVDRW - Pioneer A05 4X DVD-RW
Sound Card - Audigy 2
Speakers - Klipsch 5.1
Case - Supermicro SC850P4 Server Chassis
Power Supply - Supermicro PWS-0039 700W + 350W Redundant PSU
Monitor - Viewsonic 22" VP2290b LCD panel
Monitor II - Any

Thats alot of money, get my system and you can still afford to take the wifey out and eat.