First Custom Build = Success!

[endlessmike]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading these forums for months, and I'm about ready to build my first PC. The budget is right around $1000 US, with a little room upwards if the upgrade is necessary. Basically I need a complete build (new monitor, operating sys.), since I'm replacing a 6 year old laptop that's definitely on its last legs. This will be essentially for my personal home/work use - Autocad, Photoshop, multitrack recording, and some games (mainly things like CoH, Civ 4, LOTRO, maybe a racing sim or FPS or two.), and I may do a slight OC on it at some point. I've read pretty much all of the custom build threads, but would appreciate any advice you can offer.

Mobo: EVGA 122-CK-NF66-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i Ultra ATX - 99.99

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 - $185

Video: EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $89.99

RAM: Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit - $83.49

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $67.99

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 - $49.99

Power Supply: APEX AL-B500E ATX12V 500W Aluminum Power Supply - $54.99

Monitor: Hanns·G HW-173DBB Black 17" 8ms DVI Widescreen LCD - $149.99

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders - $114.99

Which puts me at 896.42 before rebates, 851.42 after. I didn't include a keyboard or optical drive because I can either scrounge those or pick them up cheap from pretty much anywhere.

My main questions are on the mobo, video card and PSU. Is that mobo alright? I read the review on AT and it looks to be decent for the price. The video card is essentially a placeholder until another, possibly cheaper wave of DX10 cards come out, unless it would be worth the extra money now for one of the low/mid-range DX10 cards.

Essentially I don't want to blow the bank, but still end up with something useful now and easily upgradable when the time comes and the prices/parts are right.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Sinn707]

Hi, for $10 more you should get GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3, it's a nice, stable board with all the features you'd ever want. Also, you can get ram with tighter timings like these for the same money, after rebate. Centurion 534 has better airflow and costs exactly the same as Centurion 5. Power supply is a very important part of your pc and it's better to go with a more trusted name, in that price range I'd recommend going with 480W Hiper, they make quality PSU's. And lastly, that 17" is overpriced in my poinion. I understand you are trying to save money but you should really consider getting a 20" Acer AL2051W instead for $50 more. It's a very rare 8-bit model with 176 degree viewing angles, you will not be disappointed.

Good luck.

 

[endlessmike]

So far... at just over $1000 pre-rebates.

Thanks for your help, those upgrades seem like good ideas. I had actually changed over to the Crucial RAM before reading this, looks like a good deal.

About the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3, the FSB is 1066/800/533, while the nForce is 1333/1066. With the E6550 having a 1333 FSB would there be much of a noticable performance hit, and is the Gigabyte better in enough other areas to warrant it if so?

Thanks again.

 

[KungFused]

Even better, for $10 less than the mobo you have picked out, you can get the Gigabyte GA-P35-S3, which features the latest chipsets for Intel which will have the best compatibility with your 1333FSB processor. I'd also recommend getting your PSU from a more reliable manufacturer, and in the case of this 400W Fortron PSU, you'll get all the power you'll ever need for less money (and less noise) than the no-name PSU you had picked out.

Your video card selection is an excellent budget option, and with EVGA's step-up program it'll be easier to upgrade it in the future (assuming you upgrade within 6 months). Good choice of processor and hard drive, and while the case Sinn707 recommended has a larger fan in front, it isn't a noticeable difference in airflow. I have the Centurion 5 case, and I suspect the mesh front panel w/ 80mm fan makes for better cooling than the solid front panel w/ 120mm fan. I've definitely never had heat issues in my system, and I live in Tucson, AZ -- if there were gonna be heat issues anywhere, it'd be here.

I definitely support Sinn707's suggestion that you spend a bit extra on your monitor, though -- that's gonna be your primary interface with your system, and you'll appreciate all the screen and clarity you can get, especially if you're gonna be doing CAD work! Samsung also makes good monitors, but at $200 that Acer looks like an excellent bargain.

[EDIT] FYI, we can't see your shopping cart. Try making it a public wish list and give us a link to that! Or just copy and paste.

 

[Sinn707]

Hmm, I was pretty sure P965P-DS3 would support the new 1333mhz FSB with a bios update from the official website. I normally would recommend Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R with the newest chipset but it was $20 more that's why I went with P965P-DS3, you might wanna ask around in the Motherboards section on this forum or go ahead and order ga-P35-ds3r.
Good luck.

 

[Sinn707]

I saw that Fortron PSU and was about to recommend it but then I remembered that there's going to be a video card upgrade in the near future (probably), and since the chances are it's going to be at least a 8800 GTS, 400W seemed a bit borderline. Btw, Hiper is not in any way inferior to PSU kings such as Corsair, Seasonic and PC Power & Cooling. They make very quality, reliable hardware, I would not have recommended them otherwise. Centurion 534 has a 120mm side panel fan which provides good air intake, and rear fan for exhaust which creates better air circulation than Centurion 5, in my opinion anyway.

 

[endlessmike]

I'll have to look around for those BIOS updates, but aside from that everything else seems to be set. I'm still undecided on the video card though. The 7600GT is $75 after rebates, and it should be more than sufficient for the time being, basically right now I just need something to replace my laptop before it catches on fire, and anything is going to be a massive step up at this point. Honestly, there are games from the past 3-4 years that I haven't even had a chance to play yet that I'm sure I'd still enjoy.

I'm also considering an 8600GT at roughly only $50 more, event hough form what I've read the DX10 performance isn't that great. Either way, at right around $100 give or take $25, I wouldn't feel committed to either one when the chance for something better came along.

I'm also tempted to just get a 8800GTS 320mb, but I'm not sure the benefit would outweigh the cost for me right now if I'd end up wanting to upgrade sooner than later.

Any suggestions? And thanks again for the help. :beer:

 

[Sinn707]

Gigabyte GA-P35-S3L Kungfused recommended might be a good idea also (especially if you don't want to take chances), even though I've personally never heard of this board before, it looks solid however.
And as for the video card, well, it's all about how much you are willing to spend, so I'm just gonna list the best choices for different budgets:

Below $75 EVGA 8500GT or X1650
$75 EVGA 7600GT
$100 EVGA 7900GS KO
$150 X1950XT
$260 EVGA 8800 GTS
$350 EVGA 8800 GTS 640M
$500 MSI 8800 GTX
$580 MSI 8800 Ultra

8800 GTS offers unbelievable performance for $260, if you can afford it. If not, 7900GS by EVGA is the card to get @100 mark, it nearly doubles the performance of 7600GT but costs only %25 more.

Good luck.

 

[endlessmike]

Edit: I made some purchases this week:

I had some gift cards laying around from CompUSA and Best Buy, and there were some nice deals this week.

Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $50
Coolermaster Centurion 5 - $70
Westinghouse 19" widescreen LCD - $130

And just ordered:
Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3R - $130
Intel E6750 - $200
Seagate Barracuda 320GB - $80
Vista 64 - $114
Gecube 1950xt 512mb - $200, $170 AR
A-Data 2gb kit - $82

So it ended up being just over $1000. I wasn't planning on spending that much on a video card right now, but it was a hard deal to pass up. I could have gotten the case cheaper, but no shipping, a gift card, and cash from selling an XBOX 360 made that a non issue. Ten bucks isn't going to break me. I'll let you know how it comes together.

 

[endlessmike]

I just finished this build last night - waiting all weekend for the optical drive and video card to arrive was torture knowing everything else was set to go. Everything went together smoothly and booted up without any issues. Running cool, quiet and stable so far.

I'm pretty sure this is the first computer I've owned that's been able to run anything new at or near max settings. LOTRO and Company of Heroes look fantastic and are super smooth, I'm excited to try out some of my old games that barely functioned on the old laptop.

I can't tell you how pleased I am with this. I doubt I could have bought anything pre-built at this price point that would have been any better, and knowing what went into it is a pretty good feeling too. The only downside is that I wish I had a few more hundred bucks in the budget for some more GAMES!

Thanks again to Sinn, KungFused for the advice, and all the other posts I've read that have been great references - this forum is an amazing resource to have. :beer: