Buying parts for a major upgrade tomorrow

[Night201]

Let me start my saying that I usually upgrade every 3 years or so. I've gone longer than that this time (I'm debt free now and it doesn't hurt the wallet) and I'm really looking forward to this upgrade. I'll list what I have and what I plan on getting. Let me know what you all think. I've been assembling my own computers for years, starting with a Pentium 1 - 90mhz (total build was $4200 at the time - insane!). I then went to a P2 - 400, P3 866, and finally a P4 2.4 (which I'm using now).

Current PC:
Antec Sonata case w/330W PSU
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Intel P4 2.4Ghz
1.5GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
WD Raptor 74GB (Primary Drive)
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB Drive (Data)
NEC 3520 DVD-RW Drive
Windows XP Pro
Logitech G5 Mouse


New PC:
Cooler Master RC-690 Case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Corsair 620HX PSU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB Kingston DDR 667 RAM
EVGA Geforce 8800GT 512MB (600mhz)
WD Raptor 74GB from previous PC (SATA)
2x Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB Drive (SATA) in RAID 1
5x Asus DVD--E616A3T DVDRW Drives (SATA)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
New Keyboard (probably a basic Logitech one)
Logitech G5 Mouse from previous PC

I was originally waiting for the Q9450, but since that isn't coming out yet, I think I'll go with the E8400 and upgrade to a quad in maybe a year or so, as I really don't need it right when all is said and done.

I use my system mainly for video editing and playing COD - looking forward to COD4! I think the Dual core will be fine for now.

I don't plan on overclocking.

What do you all think?

 

[MegaVovaN]

COD4 will run wonderfully on that system, see link in my sig - it runs all maxed on that @ 1680x1050.

Overall a nice build, but
1) why ddr2-667? Maybe get ddr2-800 if price difference isn't high?
2) 620W might be a little overkill.

 

[Night201]

I forgot to mention I'm using a Dell 20.1" LCD

I agree that the 620 might be overkill (I was originally going to get a 520), but if I upgrade to a quad core, I think having that extra room might help put less strain on the PSU...agree?

Thanks for your input as well - I appreciate it.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I don't know, You do the math.

edit: since you don't plan on overclocking, 667 ram should be fine

 

[Night201]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
I don't know, You do the math.

edit: since you don't plan on overclocking, 667 ram should be fine

I think I'm pretty close to the PSU with the efficiency, so I think I'm going to stick with the 620 in case I go quad.

 

[betasub]

I like the case: it goes well with my Antec Quattro PSU. There's no front door like on your Sonata, nor any drop-down front covers for optical drives, so you'll want any front break-out drives to have bezels to match the rest of the case fascia.

 

[Night201]

Yep, it's all black.

 

[Roguestar]

Get the Corsair 520HX instead. Cheaper and will do the job just as well, even if you upgrade to Quad and SLI.

Check the Hot Deals forums:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=40&threadid=2145142
4GB of RAM for $56.

Consider an external drive for backup.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Night201

...

New PC:
Cooler Master RC-690 Case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Corsair 620HX PSU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB Kingston DDR 667 RAM
EVGA Geforce 8800GT 512MB (600mhz)
WD Raptor 74GB from previous PC (SATA)
2x Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB Drive (SATA) in RAID 1
5x Asus DVD--E616A3T DVDRW Drives (SATA)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
New Keyboard (probably a basic Logitech one)
Logitech G5 Mouse from previous PC

...

Do you really plan to have 5 burners in this machine? I imagine that is a wee bit overkill...

Otherwise your build looks good. As others have said I would go for DDR2 800 since the price difference is nothing and if you ever want to do a "soft" overclock you could simply change your FSB to 400 and bam, your cpu is running at 3.6. Check the hot deals forums for the Super Talent ram from ewiz, right now it's something like $37 per 2GB stick for DDR2-800. There are other deals for cheaper but those usually involve rebates.

Good luck with the build!

 

[Night201]

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: Night201

...

New PC:
Cooler Master RC-690 Case
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Corsair 620HX PSU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB Kingston DDR 667 RAM
EVGA Geforce 8800GT 512MB (600mhz)
WD Raptor 74GB from previous PC (SATA)
2x Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB Drive (SATA) in RAID 1
5x Asus DVD--E616A3T DVDRW Drives (SATA)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
New Keyboard (probably a basic Logitech one)
Logitech G5 Mouse from previous PC

...

Do you really plan to have 5 burners in this machine? I imagine that is a wee bit overkill...

Otherwise your build looks good. As others have said I would go for DDR2 800 since the price difference is nothing and if you ever want to do a "soft" overclock you could simply change your FSB to 400 and bam, your cpu is running at 3.6. Check the hot deals forums for the Super Talent ram from ewiz, right now it's something like $37 per 2GB stick for DDR2-800. There are other deals for cheaper but those usually involve rebates.

Good luck with the build!

Thanks. I did actually order 800 RAM...just in case, so we'll see. As for 5 burners, yes, I do them. As part of my business, I regularly need to make dozens of copies of videos I make (event videography), so having 5 drives for $100 pays for itself in 1 job. My next job alone will probably save me at least 3 hours alone.

 

[blckgrffn]

Wow, way to use up those 8 SATA ports!

The power supply being a little big will be fine for when you kick off all the burners at once...

Doing 2x2GB on that RAM?

Nat

 

[Night201]

Yes. I just need like 2 or 3 more SATA cables. I bought the DVD drives as retail thinking they would have the cables with them, but they didn't. I should have saved the $2/drive and gone OEM, but who knew? So that sucked, but whatever. So, yes, once I get more cables, all 8 ports will be used.

1 Main Drive
2-3 500GB RAID 1 Array
4-8 DVD Burners

I bought 4 sticks of RAM.

It's working great and it's so smooth. What a difference!

 

[MegaVovaN]

Monoprice for cables