Help with 1st computer build!!

[ervinshiznit]

Hi, this is my first experience building a computer, so if you could help me out, that'd be great.
I intend this computer to be able to video editing, and a slim chance (20%) of being a gaming computer. I do have overclocking as an idea in hand. Here's what i came up with for parts(all are from newegg):

Case: $70 ENERMAX Chakra ECA3052BS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

CPU: $218 Update Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail

HDD: $0 (I'm pulling this from my old computer) Samsung SP1604N--its IDE interface

Case Fans (x2): $6 Rosewill RFA120L-W 120mm 4 White LEDs LED Case Fan - Retail

Ram: $130 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retai

Mobo: $123 GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

PSU: $60 COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail

DVD: $0 (im pulling this from my old computer) HP DVD640

GPU: $140 SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

CPU Fan: $45 Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm CPU Cooler - Retail

ATA Controller: $10 Rosewill RC-200 PCI IDE Silicon Image RAID (0/1/0+1) Host Controller Card - Retail

There's a $20 mail in rebate for the psu and $30 mail in rebate for hte gpu, so the total price after rebates and before shipping is:

Subtotal: $751.91

My dad still hasn't exactly given me a budget yet, but please keep suggestions within reason.

Couple of notes: I have the ATA controller there because I heard if you have the hdd and the dvd controller on the same channel, one of the two devices will determine which. speed the channel runs at, and could lower hdd speed dramatically.

The psu is a little worrisome, I don't know if thats a good brand, but it got good reviews. Its got 33A on the 12V rail, and the x1950gt requires 30A, im wondering if that's enough "headroom". Also, does it have all the connectors I'll need?

Im a little worried about the ram, is that a good brand? It got good reviews.

And does anyone know if the cpu fan will fit in my case? I don't know how many of you guys own that particular case.....

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ricemarine]

Enhance ENP-5150GH, $69.01 + S/H

Rated as a high quality PSU by johhnyguru. Silverstone pretty much rebadged these psu's. Pretty much when they said the x1950gt requires 30a, they meant that's how much amperage you need for the overal system, so 33 amps would be enough if you decide to keep the Coolmax PSU.

I cannot tell you anything about ddr2 ram because I'm a socket 939 ddr user . This PC does seem like it's meant a bit more to be flashy than quiet, but oh well. More than likely the big typhoon will be able to fit in your case though, just double check the dimensions.

Yes the DS3 only comes with only 1 ata channel, and if your dvd burner is running ata/33, your hard drive will run ata/33 as well. So that ata controller might be of use.

Is that CPU the price after the price drops from Intel?...

 

[ervinshiznit]

I prefer to buy everything from newegg, and i couldn't find that psu. But do you think the coolmax is good quality?

And yea, core 2 duo's dropped quite a bit.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit
I prefer to buy everything from newegg, and i couldn't find that psu. But do you think the coolmax is good quality?

And yea, core 2 duo's dropped quite a bit.

I would try and avoid the coolmax, definatly not one of the better brands, and the PSU is too important to skimp out on.

The enhance he recomended is deffinatly good, as well as Enermax, Fortron, Seasonic. I would avoid Antec as well, they haven't been doing so good in the quality department lately.

 

[Captante]

Another vote for a better power supply here ... if you want to buy everything from Newegg here are a few much better options then that crappy Coolmax for only a bit more money: (Listed in order of overall quality)


FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-PN, ATX12V, 500W Power Supply @ $67 + $7 shipping (Cheapest decent 500 watt on Newegg)


ENERMAX EG495AX-VE FMA ATX12V Ver 2.2 485W Power Supply @ $90 + $8 shipping (Not including $10 MIR)


SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply @ $115 + $9 shipping (After $15 instant-rebate)




Really the best choice for the money by far would be the Enhance 500 watt model linked above by Ricemarine @ E-Wiz which is identical to this 500 watt Silverstone for $30 more except for the shiny retail box ... the Seasonic is a bit better but nowhere near twice as good.


SILVERSTONE ST50EF-Plus ATX 12V 2.2 500W Power Supply @ $99 + $8 shipping (Out of stock)

 

[ervinshiznit]

Do these psu's have the 30A on the 12V rail required by the x1950gt?

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit
Do these psu's have the 30A on the 12V rail required by the x1950gt?

All the models I listed should easily power an X1950XT -or- 8800GTX plus the Seasonic for certain (& very likely the Silverstone/Enhance too) should be capable of running X1950XT Crossfire or 8800GTX SLI in the system you have planned, never mind the GT.

 

[oynaz]

Yes.

 

[ervinshiznit]

I'm thinking of switching to a 7600gt ($100 after MIR) off newegg so I can save money on the gpu and the psu. If I were to do that, what psu would you suggest?

I'm not really worried about graphics card power because I don't plan on gaming anytime soon.

 

[ervinshiznit]

I plan to have this computer on for basically 24/7, so please take into account capacitator aging for the psu.

 

[oynaz]

If you don't plan on gaming, the 7950 if definitely a bad choice. Perhaps a 7400GS? A lot of them are passively cooled.

 

[ervinshiznit]

Well I might game, I don't know. My point is I want a graphics card that can deliver the power if I need it, but otherwise, it shouldn't be too big a concern. I think I can go with the 7600gt.

And the capictator aging-I plan on keeping this computer for 4 yrs+, so I need a good brand psu...the psu calculator gives me 512W when i put in capictator aging of 40%

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit
Well I might game, I don't know. My point is I want a graphics card that can deliver the power if I need it, but otherwise, it shouldn't be too big a concern. I think I can go with the 7600gt.

And the capictator aging-I plan on keeping this computer for 4 yrs+, so I need a good brand psu...the psu calculator gives me 512W when i put in capictator aging of 40%

What Captante suggested were good psu's...
I wouldn't really trust that psu calculator that much... But if you say 512w (which is a lot for not high-end power sucking parts), then yes, the psu should be able to put out the wattage needed.

 

[ervinshiznit]

What do you guys think of the ram? Is it good quality?

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit
I'm thinking of switching to a 7600gt ($100 after MIR) off newegg so I can save money on the gpu and the psu.

Eh? The x1950GT is now $110 after rebate.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit
Do these psu's have the 30A on the 12V rail required by the x1950gt?

The 30A figure cited by the manufacturer is a worse case scenario for +12V needs of the entire system + the graphics card. Its a highly generic target that attempts to account for an entire range of power supply rating methods and total system power demands.

X1950 XTX requires only 10A of +12V current:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?s.../ati-x1950xtx/x1950_power_full.gif&1=1

 

[Ages120]

For a video editing computer I think that is an alright build. First thing I would say is wait till the end of the year. By then 4 or even 8 core chips will be on the market for the same price as your dual core.

If you want to buy a dual core now, buy a lower priced one with the same chip architecture and over clock it. The latest Intel chips seem to over clock very well. Easily giving you the same performance of a chip which costs twice as much. www.AnandTech.com has a nice article on the E4300 chip.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=2903

For encoding, a chip with more cores will always win out, if the encoder supports it. Since most of the encoding tools and codecs are open source most of them already support multi-core/thread encoding.

Also I see you are getting a ATA card and I am not sure if you would even need that. The board makers site says,"RAID Function for Storage Device
Supporting RAID 0, 1,JBOD function, GIGABYTE SATA2 and PATA Controller delivers completely solution for storage interface to increase fault tolerance, improve data access performance and provides additional interface for more IDE devices"

So I think you could setup a raid using your IDE and SATA because of the JBOD capability.
Also if your going to be doing video editing I would get a new SATA 3.0gbs drive even if you have two IDE drives.

You might want to do more research the power supply, motherboard, and memory. The Graphics Card and Cpu are easy to decide on since they can be compared side by side.

Memory is hard to find reviews on if it isn't bleeding edge or from a well known maker. Best way to research ram is to find side to side comparisons of different ram. You can extrapolate your need for mid range or high end from a couple comparisons. Although budget ram isn't always the worst. They often use the same chips for high end ram as they do on budget ram. BH-2 an CH-3 are some good examples.

Motherboard reviews can be found fairly easily, but comparing them to another board can be a bit time consuming. Weighing features and performance to price can take some time.

Also finding good reviews on power supplies is very hard and they don't do long term reviews. A power supply which has great voltages on every thing, doesn't mean it will last a long time.

If it isn't going to be a gaming machine these aren't as important, but you should always try for the best bang for the buck.

 

[ervinshiznit]

I can't wait because my old computer is out, and I'm running on a 256mb laptop with a P3 (yes P3) cpu, non mobile. I can't really stand this much longer.

I am going to overclock the E6400, hence the Thermaltake cpu fan.

The ATA card is because I only have one ATA channel on the mobo, and if i run both the hdd and the DVD drive on the same channel, it will run at ATA/33, slowing down my hard drive dramatically.

Since the 30A is a worst case scenario, I'll switch it back to the x1950gt.

I'm either going to upgrade to some SATA hdd's in RAID 0, or 1 more gb of ram (I heard Windows Vista 32 bit doesn't utilize a 4th gb) later.

I'm planning on using the Enhance psu recommended by Ricemarine.

I think I'm ok with my choice of motherboard, power supply, but I'll check the memory.

 

[Boyo]

Originally posted by: Captante
Another vote for a better power supply here ... if you want to buy everything from Newegg here are a few much better options then that crappy Coolmax for only a bit more money: (Listed in order of overall quality)


FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-PN, ATX12V, 500W Power Supply @ $67 + $7 shipping (Cheapest decent 500 watt on Newegg)


ENERMAX EG495AX-VE FMA ATX12V Ver 2.2 485W Power Supply @ $90 + $8 shipping (Not including $10 MIR)


SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply @ $115 + $9 shipping (After $15 instant-rebate)




Really the best choice for the money by far would be the Enhance 500 watt model linked above by Ricemarine @ E-Wiz which is identical to this 500 watt Silverstone for $30 more except for the shiny retail box ... the Seasonic is a bit better but nowhere near twice as good.


SILVERSTONE ST50EF-Plus ATX 12V 2.2 500W Power Supply @ $99 + $8 shipping (Out of stock)

:thumbsup: These are all good PSU's and I would highly recommend that you look into one of these for your new rig.

 

[ervinshiznit]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit

I'm planning on using the Enhance psu recommended by Ricemarine.

I also switched back to a x1950gt

 

[coolpurplefan]

My favorite cases are the Coolermaster Centurion 5 and the Silverstone LC20.

 

[ervinshiznit]

Ok, I'm basically ready to order unless you guys have any suggestions.

I switched the psu to the FSP one because of the outrageous shipping fee of $12 from e-qiz. Also, my dad really prefers to get everything from newegg.

Case: $70 ENERMAX Chakra ECA3052BS Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811124116

CPU: $218 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115004

HDD: $0 (I'm pulling this from my old computer) Samsung SP1604N--its IDE interface

Case Fans (x2): $6 Rosewill RFA120L-W 120mm 4 White LEDs LED Case Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835200008

Ram: $130 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098

Mobo: $123 GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128012

PSU: $67 FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-PN, ATX12V, V2.2, 12cm Fan, 2SATA, PCI-Express, 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817104037

GPU: $140 SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102034

CPU Fan: $45 Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835106061

ATA Controller: $10 Rosewill RC-200 PCI IDE Silicon Image RAID (0/1/0+1) Host Controller Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16816132004

Subtotal after MIR: $778.91

I have the ATA controller because of the hdd and dvd drive both being ATA, and I don't want them on the same channel-the mobo only has 1 ATA channel.

I plan on overclocking the cpu, can someone give me a crash course on that? I heard you have to change the voltages of the ram to 2.1V or 2.2V, but my ram specs say it only supports 1.8-2.0V. Do I have to switch the ram to get a good overclock?

Any suggestions overall?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: ervinshiznit


Any suggestions overall?

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1908390&enterthread=y