I've been out of the loop for a few months, help me build a new comp. from scratch

[DerelictDev]

Over the summer i sold my old build (A64 3200+, 2gb ddr, 6800gt) and now that the semester is about to start again i want to build a new computer.

It's going to be used for
- school work
- gaming
- watching movies

Also I don't plan on really oc'ing it or anything.

What I def. need
- Silence
- Modern look/ style

I still have my Antec p180 case but I'm thinking about selling it to buy a complete water cooled system bundle.
As for the general specs. I'm looking for
- Conroe cpu
- Audigy X-Fi
- 2gb+ ddr2??
- 7800gt+
- Water cooling system for p180 or new complete bundle (built into case)
- 19 - 21in LCD (want rather low native res. 1280X1024)

So from what i listed above, what are the best parts to fit my budget?
Which conroe should i get; E6300 or E6400 or is it worth dishing out the extra $$ for the 6600.
The audio card is a given.
Is there any specific type of ddr2 i should be looking for?
Is the 7800gt practical or should i go straight for a higher end card?
Are there any good and not too expensive water cooled case bundles that'll cool both the conroe cpu, the video card, and maybe the mobo if it has a fan.
And lastly which lcd is the best bang for buck. I had the vp191b and am now thinking about the upgraded ViewSonic VP930b, good choice?

Edit: Almost forgot to mention, which psu and how many watts should i be looking at.

Thanks

 

[dakotagts]

all of these issues have been delt with as far as good builds. Since you are not OC'ing then $1700 would allow you to get a pretty good stock rig and a real nice 19-21 monitor.

I think the best setup would be:

Core 2 6600, if you wait for a week or two more for prices to come down to around $320
if you get a gigabyte S3 board you will be set for only $129 if you get this you would basicly be wasting money on a audio card
1900xt card, saphire has one that is $289 after rebate at zipzoomfly.com
2gb corsair xms2 667 ram should do fine
then add the NEC 3550 DL burner
PSU seagate 430W maybe 500w
Dell monitor of choice 19-21 inch widescreen maybe.

 

[acegazda]

How bout this:
Lian li pc-101 (or use your old p180)
enhance 5150gh
c2d e6300
gigabyte p965-ds3
2x1gb Corsiar xms2 ddr2-800
Seagate 320gb 7200.10
Connect3d x1900xt
zalman reserator 1 plus
Viewsonic vx2025
xfi xtremusic
total $1770 (I think... might be lower)

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: acegazda
How bout this:
IGABYTE 3D AURORA GZ-FSCA1-ATB
seasonic S12 600W
C2D E6400
gigabyte p965-ds3
2x1gb Corsiar xms2 ddr2-800
Seagate 320gb 7200.10
Radeon X1900XT
Dell 2007WFP LCD
xfi xtremusic

Highly doubt Intel Core 2 Duo prices will come down this year. Why would you do that when demand's so high and you're earning so much money?

If you want a water cooling case, check out GigaByte's Aurora cases. Very good ventilation and cut outs for tubes in the back.

 

[DerelictDev]

I had a Zalman reserator maybe a year ago, that thing was a pain in the ass and dont feel like dealing with a huge blue structure standing near my comp. so thats out. I also agree that prices wont drop b.c from what I've seen these cpu's are selling like hot cakes. I doubt intel will bother dropping the prices for higher demand.

So with that said, is the 6600 cpu still a valid choice for price?
As for video it looks like you guys are all agreeing that the x1900xt is the right choice as well as the GA-965P-S3 mobo. On what level does the integrated audio compare to the audigy? I had an audigy2zs so i don't want it to be worse.

 

[Baked]

Ok, GA-965P-S3 and GA-965P-DS3 are 2 different mobos, make a note of that. You want to get the DS3. If you insist on getting the more expensive E6600, which doesn't play well w/ the DS3, you'll have to buy a more expensive mob that's compatible with it, like the ASUS P5W DH DELUXE.

 

[1N0V471V]

Why would you water cool when you're not overclocking? I understand the want for a silent PC, but why not just get a Zalman CNPS9500 and Zalman VF900CU? In my experience they're quieter than water cooling (I have/had both)

 

[Howard]

You don't need water for silence.

Keep the P180. What fans do you have for it?

---

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $185
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $140
Shipping from ewiz.com - $10-15

Scythe Ninja Plus - $36 (can be run passive in the P180 with decent exhaust flow, say a 7V Nexus or 5V YL)
Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm - $4
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $7-10

Corsair CMPSU-520HX - $120, free shipping
OR
Seasonic S12-430 - $75 + $7-10 shipping
OR
Antec NeoHE 430 - $70 (best option without modding case, IMO)

mushkin 2x1GB DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 1.9V - $151
eVGA 7900GT KO 256MB - $265, $20 MIR
Zalman VF900-Cu - $34
Samsung Spinpoint T HD400LJ - $140
NEC ND-3550A - $29
Shipping from newegg.com - $15-20

You'll want to suspend the hard drive in a 5.25" bay with clothing elastic or the like. Better yet, install it in a Scythe Quiet Drive HD noise suppressor. The quiestest option, though, would be to get this hard drive instead and suspend it.

 

[GloryField]

I suggest:
Use your antec P180, it's a great case

Core2Duo E6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
Scythe Ninja Plus/Yate Loon
OCZ GameXStream 600W
any 2gb DDR2 kit, since you aren't ocing
Radeon X1900XT
BenQ DW1655 DVD-RW (very very good/quiet drive, I can't hear the spinning of dvd at all)
Hitachi T7K250 250 GB SATAII

This will only cost you $1200.

Now with the extra money you could get a different case, but I would definately keep P180, and get a Radeon X1900 Crossfire Master card instead.

If you go crossfire, you'll need MSI K9A Platinum mobo, it got a very good review on anandtech here on the homepage

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: DerelictDev
I had a Zalman reserator maybe a year ago, that thing was a pain in the ass and dont feel like dealing with a huge blue structure standing near my comp. so thats out. I also agree that prices wont drop b.c from what I've seen these cpu's are selling like hot cakes. I doubt intel will bother dropping the prices for higher demand.

So with that said, is the 6600 cpu still a valid choice for price?
As for video it looks like you guys are all agreeing that the x1900xt is the right choice as well as the GA-965P-S3 mobo. On what level does the integrated audio compare to the audigy? I had an audigy2zs so i don't want it to be worse.

The onboard HD audio should be pretty comparable, integrated audio has improved greatly. Until somebody proves with some blind listening tests I say the cards like the X-Fi are waste of money when you already have very good HD-audio on the motherboard.

Water cooling is defiantly not needed for a very quiet / near silent machine, and much harder and expensive to setup then a high-end air cooling system.

The biggest problem will be if you go for a top end card like the 1900XT; for that the best option would be the Zalman VF-900 but you?ll still be dealing with fairly high temps, and some noise.

However if you're willing to sacrifice a bit of performance you can passively cool a 7900GT. I've built several near silent machines now, a few of them pretty high-end so if you want other specific recommendations let me know.

 

[DerelictDev]

Thanks for all the feedback

So heres the rig from what ive learned from you guys

Ill keep my Antec p180 case
Cpu - Intel Conroe E6600
Zalman CNPS9500 and Zalman VF900CU coolers
YATE LOON 120mm - D12SL-12 fans
Seasonic 500+ Watt
Samsung or seagate HD ~200gb
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
BenQ DW1655 DVD-RW
Radeon x1900xt vid card
2gb ddr2 (not sure which type)
Viewsonic VP930b or dell 19 -21in

It'll be about another week or so before i actually buy the parts, so please comment and add more info.

 

[1N0V471V]

Definately go for either the Viewsonic VX2025WM or (my favorite) the Dell 2007WFP

 

[Baked]

E6600's default multiplier is 9x, FSB speed is 266. Combine those two and you get 2.4GHz, E6600's default clock speed. If you don't OC, Any DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) RAM will do. CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) seems like RAM to get since it has low voltage requirement at 1.8v.

 

[Howard]

That's not going to be silent, unless your room is pretty loud.

 

[savvy]

Originally posted by: dakotagts
all of these issues have been delt with as far as good builds. Since you are not OC'ing then $1700 would allow you to get a pretty good stock rig and a real nice 19-21 monitor.

I think the best setup would be:

Core 2 6600, if you wait for a week or two more for prices to come down to around $320
if you get a gigabyte S3 board you will be set for only $129 if you get this you would basicly be wasting money on a audio card
1900xt card, saphire has one that is $289 after rebate at zipzoomfly.com
2gb corsair xms2 667 ram should do fine
then add the NEC 3550 DL burner
PSU seagate 430W maybe 500w
Dell monitor of choice 19-21 inch widescreen maybe.

I've been wondering... why do people think that they should be paying $316 for the E6600 Conroe when dealers are buying them by the thousand at that. Or am I missing something or confused?

 

[gramboh]

The video card will be noticible during 3D gaming, but I'm assuming you will be using headphones/speakers during gaming so that isn't an issue. The fans should throttle down during 2D/Windows. Other than that, 120mm fans in the case/CPU is going to be damn quiet. I'm assuming you want a quiet computer and not true silence.

I'd recommend the Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATA2 drive, best performance by far in 7200rpm SATA drives and its $95 on Newegg I believe.

 

[Baked]

BTW, if you're gonna get that Radeon X1900XT, you better buy an aftermarket video card cooler for it, 'cause the default cooler's loud and doesn't cool that well.

 

[acegazda]

howard, that's easily the best deal I've seen on an e6300 by $15... thanks! but why wouldn't you get the enhance 5150gh, it is certainly superior in quality to the antec and in in value to the corsiar and the seasonic, though the corsiar is excellent and the seasonic is quiet, and he's going for a quiet pc. Still, the enhance is 80+certified, meaning it is very efficiant. Greater efficiancy=less heat=lower fans speeds= less noise.

Baked, the x1900xt's fans does in fact cool well, it's just very loud. I think the vf900 is a 5 or 10% improvement on temps.

OP, I would seriously consider the viewsonic vx2025 as opposed to a dell. The dell is $80 more than the viewsonic and the viewsonic has gotten rave reviews right here on AT.

 

[Baked]

Oh, my bad, I was thinking about ATI's low profile coolers. Yes, the X1900XT does in fact have the double wide cooler.

 

[acegazda]

True dat, the cooler on the x1900gt sucks out loud.

 

[DerelictDev]

Again thanks for the continuous feedback

So here again is the re-modified rig
Antec p180 case
Cpu - Intel Conroe E6600
Zalman CNPS9500 and Zalman VF900CU coolers
YATE LOON 120mm - D12SL-12 fans
Seasonic 500+ Watt
Seagate 7200.10
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
BenQ DW1655 DVD-RW
Radeon x1900xt vid card w/ aftermarket cooler
2gb Corsair valueselect ddr2 ram
Viewsonic VX2025WM monitor

so how does this look? any changes or improvements? If not, here comes the new comp!

 

[lament]

here's my next rig.. of course I recommend everything in this list.

http://lament.backpackit.com/pub/72804

Unless you can get the X1900XT for $245, I'd get a 7900GT, cuz that's what they're going for (after rebates).

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: acegazda
howard, that's easily the best deal I've seen on an e6300 by $15... thanks! but why wouldn't you get the enhance 5150gh

No noise measurements = not in the running.

 

[lament]

cheapest E6600 deal I found was the one I got in on - buy.com for $339. it's on backorder tho, of course..

 

[Dissident]

don't get the DS3, get the P5B Deluxe and get this ram..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065


assuming you are overclocking, that is.

I've owned both boards and the P5B Deluxe will treat your E6600 better. It will overclock higher and run cooler. The DS3 has problems with the conroe (4MB cache) chips and also runs hotter, significantly hotter on the northbridge and the mosfets near the CPU.

IMHO