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Help me throw this together...

Mrvile

Mrvile

Lifer
Well I'm finally ready for my college build and it's been a good while since I've done any reading about computer stuff - venturing back into the PC world after a two year hiatus is, well, intimidating to put it simply. Anyway I tried looking around without posting but it's sort of hard; I was able to pick out a motherboard and video card, but that's about it. I really don't have a budget, I'd like to keep it around $1500 or so, can be a bit over or under.

So I picked out the MSI P6N SLI Platinum because it seems like a nice, well-performing board for the price, and I've had good experience with MSI in the past. For the video card I'll most likely be getting an 8800GTS because I want to be DX10 ready (hopefully it fits in the small Lian Li PC-A05 case that I'm eyeing).

As for the CPU, how is the Intel E6420? And I'm totally lost when it comes to memory...no idea what to look for. Hard drive...what's the best capacity/price ratio these days? I don't need any raptor drives or RAID setups.

Anyway I'm basically just looking for a gaming/audio/digital art PC, I want quiet, and minimal overclocking (not in the whole OCing thing anymore). I want it to be pretty future-proof, since this will have to last me all four years with incremental upgrading as I need them.

Ok so here's what I have so far:

Motherboard: MSI P6N SLI Platinum - $160
Video Card: EVGA 8800GTS - $270
CPU: E6420 - $190
Memory: G.Skill PC2-6400 1GB sticks x2 - $130
Hard drive: Seagate 7200rpm 320GB - $80
Sound card: E-MU 0404 - $100
Case: Lian Li PC-A05B w/ blowhole - $125
PSU: Corsair Modular 520W - $90
Cooling: Zalman 9500, video card ???, Noctua 800rpm x2 - $85
Monitor: Hanns.G 19" Widescreen - $170
Optical: Asus DVD-RW w/ lightscribe - $30
Peripherals: Logitech MX518, Microsoft S82 - $65

Total so far: $1495

Yeah I know it's a lot I still have to cover, so thanks so much for your help in advance; any comments on what I already have and any suggestions for missing links are greatly appreciated. And yeah, I'm coming from an old A64 GeForce 6-series build, so be easy on me 🙂
 
First things first, the NDA for the new AMD R600 video cards should be coming off pretty soon (around the 20th or so I think), so you might wait and see which way you want to go with the vid card after all the reviews and benches are out.

As for monitor. Do you want a lot of desktop space? I thought I there was a good deal on the Dell 2407 for ~$570 after a 20% discout. Or if not, I have heard good things about the 22" Samsungs.

And I dont know whether you took this into account in your budget, but the Intel price drop is the 22nd, and your E6420 should drop to $183.
 
Originally posted by: Cabages
First things first, the NDA for the new AMD R600 video cards should be coming off pretty soon (around the 20th or so I think), so you might wait and see which way you want to go with the vid card after all the reviews and benches are out.

As for monitor. Do you want a lot of desktop space? I thought I there was a good deal on the Dell 2407 for ~$570 after a 20% discout. Or if not, I have heard good things about the 22" Samsungs.

And I dont know whether you took this into account in your budget, but the Intel price drop is the 22nd, and your E6420 should drop to $183.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. College doesn't actually start until the end of summer so I have some time to build this.

As for the monitor, I don't need a really big monitor, I was actually thinking about the Scepter or whatever 19" monitors for like $150-200.
 
Ive got the p6n platnium as well and its been very nice so far got my e6300 up to 2.8ghz
as for quite ive also got an antec nine hundred case and with the fans on low I can sleep next to it
and it dosnt bother me but its probably a little much for your uses. cases are for the most part personal opnion in truth you can make almost any one of the silent with
some new fans and a fan controller.
for ram somthing like that, I know OCZ ram has some issues with that mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087
if you not ocing the stock intel heatsink should be fine. That cpu looks like it should be fine though.
Personally I like segate hard drive but up to you how big you think you need probably will want at least 250gb
maybe more details about what you want?
 
Originally posted by: Elias824
Ive got the p6n platnium as well and its been very nice so far got my e6300 up to 2.8ghz
as for quite ive also got an antec nine hundred case and with the fans on low I can sleep next to it
and it dosnt bother me but its probably a little much for your uses. cases are for the most part personal opnion in truth you can make almost any one of the silent with
some new fans and a fan controller.
for ram somthing like that, I know OCZ ram has some issues with that mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087
if you not ocing the stock intel heatsink should be fine. That cpu looks like it should be fine though.
Personally I like segate hard drive but up to you how big you think you need probably will want at least 250gb
maybe more details about what you want?
Click to expand...

Well the case and cooling is so subjective that I can pretty much get whatever I want for whatever kind of setup I need. I was thinking just some quiet nexus/yateloons and maybe an oldskool Zalman 7700AlCu for the CPU (because it gets very quiet). I dunno about the video card though, it usually ends up being the loudest thing in the case.

Well I currently have a 160GB hard drive and I'm maybe using half of it, I don't need that much room. I have a Seagate hard drive and I like it a lot, I was thinking maybe the Seagate 320GB for $85?
 
For ram, how do these G.Skill sticks look? By description they are the same as the white ones Elias824 linked but are a bit cheaper. I'll add that to the list.

Also, is DDR2-800 the standard speed for Core 2 Duo these days?
 
The G.Skill? I have to admit I dont know too much about RAM, and even less about DDR2, but I have had a good experience with G.Skill.

And BTW, have you checked the Hot Deals forum? Thats usually one place I go to start things up.
 
ddr2 800 is pretty much standard now ddr2 667 is usually only a few dollars less.
The ones I linked are a little bit lower latency=slightly higher performance and better oc
Either way they are both good, you may want to look for yourself thats just what I glanced at as far as ram goes
Ati tool is a cool program to check out as far as loud video cards go you can change the fan speed's based on temp, it even works with nvidia cards now
 
Originally posted by: Cabages
The G.Skill? I have to admit I dont know too much about RAM, and even less about DDR2, but I have had a good experience with G.Skill.

And BTW, have you checked the Hot Deals forum? Thats usually one place I go to start things up.
Click to expand...

Yeah I meant G.Skill. Fixed.
 
Originally posted by: Elias824
ddr2 800 is pretty much standard now ddr2 667 is usually only a few dollars less.
The ones I linked are a little bit lower latency=slightly higher performance and better oc
Either way they are both good, you may want to look for yourself thats just what I glanced at as far as ram goes
Ati tool is a cool program to check out as far as loud video cards go you can change the fan speed's based on temp, it even works with nvidia cards now
Click to expand...

Oooh, I totally forgot about latency...man it's been a long time since I OC'd.

The white GSkills are only $10 more so I'll get those instead. GSkills seem to be one of the cheapest DDR2-800 ram on Newegg with good ratings, so no more OCZ or Crucial for me. I'm all budget now 🙂
 
Ahh, forgot the PSU. I want a decent, stable PSU but I also sort of want to go modular...cable organization sucks. Are there any modular PSU's out there that are actually good? I remember from my day and age they were all pretty bad...hopefully things changed?
 
Both of these PSU's are modular and have good reviews all ove rthe net.

You could get this 520W Corsair for $99.99 (best price I've seen!). Click Here!

Or you can get the 620W version here for $149.99 after rebate.
 
Originally posted by: cras4u
Both of these PSU's are modular and have good reviews all ove rthe net.

You could get this 520W Corsair for $99.99 (best price I've seen!). Click Here!

Or you can get the 620W version here for $149.99 after rebate.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Do you think a 520W can handle an 8800GTS or will I need the 620W version?
 
Originally posted by: Snakexor
the 520w will be fine! the corsair's are amazing!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will add that.

Now the last thing I don't really know yet is the monitor. I haven't upgraded my monitor since...well, I never did. I'm still using the 17" CRT (15" viewable) that came with my HP computer.

I'm looking for a 19" LCD with good picture, color, contrast, etc. But I still want it to perform. Possible? I was looking at either the Sceptre or the Hanns.G models - they seem to both be pretty cheap but also get very good ratings.
 
Both models should be fine. There have been reviews saying that each has a slight light bleed problem, but it's rarely noticeable unless you look for it. As for gaming, any monitor with a 5ms response time or less will provide you a good gaming experience with almost no ghosting. If you can spare the money THIS Samsung is a pretty sweet deal with nothing but good reviews. It's a 22" widescreen with a 2ms response time; about $300 after MiR.
 
Originally posted by: cras4u
Both models should be fine. There have been reviews saying that each has a slight light bleed problem, but it's rarely noticeable unless you look for it. As for gaming, any monitor with a 5ms response time or less will provide you a good gaming experience with almost no ghosting. If you can spare the money THIS Samsung is a pretty sweet deal with nothing but good reviews. It's a 22" widescreen with a 2ms response time; about $300 after MiR.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd really like to stay under $200. Also, I don't need a big monitor, I think 19" will be enough. I'd rather my games look good on a smaller screen than they look worse on a bigger screen. And for art/photo processing, I can always zoom in; I've been doing it on effectively a 15" screen for years.

Yeah this post was basically to prevent other people from trying to suggest a bigger monitor 🙂
 
Well I don't watch a lot of movies on my computer so I'll probably just need a regular full screen.

Unless most games nowadays run widescreen? Sorry I'm still playing CS:S 😛
 
Originally posted by: Mrvile
Well I don't watch a lot of movies on my computer so I'll probably just need a regular full screen.

Unless most games nowadays run widescreen? Sorry I'm still playing CS:S 😛
Click to expand...

If I had to make the choice again, I would still go widescreen. Most new games support widescreen (unless their EA).

And if you ever need to play an older game, you can dualie that CRT and have the best of both worlds.

As for the 19" widescreen, I think a lot of them use the same panel, so just find a cheap one with the features you want. And I personally would get one with DVI. I recently switched from using a VGA to DVI cable, and everythings sharper, and you can tell a difference. Its your choice though.

But just keep watching the hot deals. If your gonna wait a while to put it all together, wait for the best price. Theres always a good deal on Hanns G monitors at some place every once in a while.
 
Ok Cabages, I'll go widescreen then. For now I'll add the Hanns.G 19" wide to my list.

For everything else (optical drives, cooling, periphs) I can pretty much decide on my own. I'll come back with a final build to see how things look.

Thanks for all your help guys!
 
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