Could really use some help with new build

[lozina]

It's been ~3 years since I last built a PC for myself and I haven't been keeping up tp date well with the technologies so I would greatly appreciate some advice on a new desktop build.

I plan to use it primarily for home entertainment, which includes games and video (including encoding videos to compressed formats and re-encoding videos from file to DVD formats). I don't buy the cutting edge games though and I'd like to stay away from the cutting edge hardware. It's a cost premium I no longer am willing to jump on. The budget would be anywhere up to ~$1200. But of course I dont need to spend that much If I dont have to.

I will be keeping my current :

-20" LCD monitor
-input devices
-video card (EVGA nVidia 7950GT) *may buy a second one to do SLI if that is recommended* But what I probably will do is in the next 6 months or so upgrade the video card on this new build separately.

Here's what I can come up with currently:

E6600 Core 2 cpu
w/ Zalman CNPS9500 hsf
ASUS P5WDG2-WS PRO T mobo
2 GB PC2-4200 DDR2
WD Raptor 150 Gb
ENERMAX Noisetaker II 420W
case ??

the primary focus is lower heat & noise, I am sick of the jet engine sounding space heater under my desk now

 

[LOUISSSSS]

if I were u I'd save some money by getting a 7200 rpm drive and upgrading to a q6600 with a tuniq tower

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
if I were u I'd save some money by getting a 7200 rpm drive and upgrading to a q6600 with a tuniq tower

hmm, thats some good advice right there because now that I think of it the raptor is a noisy hot beast from what I read. dont know why i considered it

edit: which 7200 rpm drives are known for being real quiet ?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: lozina

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
if I were u I'd save some money by getting a 7200 rpm drive and upgrading to a q6600 with a tuniq tower

hmm, thats some good advice right there because now that I think of it the raptor is a noisy hot beast from what I read. dont know why i considered it

edit: which 7200 rpm drives are known for being real quiet ?

Samsungs to my experience are the quietest.

However get the largest 7200rpm drive you can possibly afford. Larger the drive, the better the seek time.

Seagates 7200.11 are my personal favorate right now. There fast and fairly quiet.

Zalman sucks hardcore... dont get that...

E6600 is out dated, a E6750 is a better buy. However if your willing to overclock, both chips would get spanked by a E2180 in price/performance.

ASUS P5K-E is a much better board.

DDR2-800 [anything cheap, and the 800mhz will allow for some decient ocing] Also shouldnt be that much more expensive then the ram you originally picked.

<ask for advice on that PSU> I dont know how that competes in the low end area. I believe Antec Neo 550W was going on sale for 49.99 somewhere. Hit up the Hot deals forum and look around.

Case: Look for something with a rear 120mm fan that apeals to you. My personal favorates for quiet systems is the Antec P180 series, or P182. Great case for air cooling.

LianLi's look absolutely nice, but cost a heavy fortune. Same with the higher end silverstone.


Also DONT SLI. Upgrade. 8800GT 512meg > 2x7950GT in sli

 

[coolpurplefan]

I like real silence. Like a Scythe Ninja heatsink and passive cooling for the video card as well. You could choose something like Thermalright HR-03 or Accelero S2. Case, a cool one would be Coolermaster Centurion 5. I would replace the PSU with something more powerful. Why? You'd get less heat and noise if the PSU is not stressed like get a 500 watt model.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

No, you mean S1, right? The S2 is weaker.

For a PSU, look around. I think the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W was $50 with rebate last time I looked...

link

 

[lozina]

wow thanks for all the great suggestions!

cpu- between the e6750 and q6600- is the q6600 much more power hungry and hot? i dont really see the price being too much of a problem if it is not something that is a significant extra source of heat and power usage.

zalman no good? i like the sounds of that ninja scythe- nice big fan! should be real quiet

and i can get passive cooling for my video card? that's pretty cool! would definitely like to give that a try. would any of the cases mentioned above have a problem fitting this video card with that arctic cooling passive heatsink?

asus p5k-e ? ok!

psu- that sounds like a good idea getting stronger one so it works less, but 750W is alot of power (electric bill wise) it will always use 750W even if it's working at half load, would it?

hard drive... hmm still undecided on this. i really like the sounds of getting a big 7200. what do you think about getting two in a raid to make it quicker? bad idea as it would cause significant increase of noise or heat?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: lozina
750W is alot of power (electric bill wise) it will always use 750W even if it's working at half load, would it?

no.
If your system pulls 200w, it will pull a little more than 200w from the wall + a small amount due to power useage not being in "optimal efficiency" - 40-60% of capacity

in other words, it is likely you'll NEVER pull 750w

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN

Originally posted by: lozina
750W is alot of power (electric bill wise) it will always use 750W even if it's working at half load, would it?

no.
If your system pulls 200w, it will pull a little more than 200w from the wall + a small amount due to power useage not being in "optimal efficiency" - 40-60% of capacity

in other words, it is likely you'll NEVER pull 750w

that's great then!

i like that idea a lot now

 

[lozina]

ok what do you guys think about this updated build:

asus p5k-e mobo
intel e6750 (or q6600 ?)
2 gb ballistix pc2-8500 ram
seagate 750 gb sata drive (or 2 in raid?)
seasonic s12 650w psu
antec p182 case
ninja scythe cpu cooler
arctic cooling accelero for the video card?

darn, guess i am going cutting edge on some of these things, oh well

 

[DSF]

You don't need PC8500. Quality PC6400 is fine.

 

[Boyd117]

Stay away from the pc2-8500, its just a money grabber. Theres a good chance you wont even use all of the 400mhz of the pc2-6400 when OCing, and if you need a little more mHz, you can OC the ram and loosen the timings.

ram from ncix 4gb kit decent price.
patriot ram

 

[BlueBirdTS]

$130 still seems too expensive for DDR2 RAM, but whatever. I've found 2X2GB modules for as low as $70.

 

[lozina]

glad there is a consensus on that, easy decision then! i'll go for the 6400 ram, thanks!

any input on the cpu or on having raid setup? overkill?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: lozina
glad there is a consensus on that, easy decision then! i'll go for the 6400 ram, thanks!

any input on the cpu or on having raid setup? overkill?

Originally posted by: Blain

Here U go...

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Betcha RAID-0 didn't change your gaming world either.

Originally posted by: Andvari
RAID 0 Raptors provide very little performance increase whatsoever.

Originally posted by: aigomorla
But 2 drives on raid, i also noticed almost no difference.

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
agree with the majority. raid 0 is useless for most general usage

Originally posted by: sutahz
But upon further investigation and reading more reviews on RAID0, it was found to be basically useless as well (for my needs).

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
DIDN'T notice ANY speed difference going from single 150gb raptor -> raid 0 raptors.

Originally posted by: sutahz
Apparently RAID0 raptors unimpressed me so much I didnt bother running these tests on it/them.

:shocked: ENOUGH ALREADY! :shocked:

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: lozina
glad there is a consensus on that, easy decision then! i'll go for the 6400 ram, thanks!

any input on the cpu or on having raid setup? overkill?

Originally posted by: Blain

Here U go...

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Betcha RAID-0 didn't change your gaming world either.

Originally posted by: Andvari
RAID 0 Raptors provide very little performance increase whatsoever.

Originally posted by: aigomorla
But 2 drives on raid, i also noticed almost no difference.

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
agree with the majority. raid 0 is useless for most general usage

Originally posted by: sutahz
But upon further investigation and reading more reviews on RAID0, it was found to be basically useless as well (for my needs).

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
DIDN'T notice ANY speed difference going from single 150gb raptor -> raid 0 raptors.

Originally posted by: sutahz
Apparently RAID0 raptors unimpressed me so much I didnt bother running these tests on it/them.

:shocked: ENOUGH ALREADY! :shocked:

lol- ok, point taken!