plans for a new system

[Ika]

Okay, so I've been completely out of the loop for a while. Ever since C2D came out, I basically stopped knowing everything I used to know about most of the parts inside a computer...


Which does make it hard to build a computer that I sorely need at this point. My build has come pretty far and most of the big items are pretty set, but if anyone has any complaints about any of my choices I'd love to hear about them.

I haven't done much shopping around yet, but these are the parts that I would like:
Case: Enermax Phoenix - $78
Case fans: YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12 - $9 for 3
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R - $130
CPU: NO IDEA! Either an E4300 and wait for Penryn, or E6750 and be happy...
CPU Heatsink: Scythe MINE - $30
GPU: GeForce 8800GTS 320mb - $260 AR
***RAM: 4x1gb of Buffalo Firestix (used from Viper GTS?) - D9 - $xxx
PSU: Corsair 520HX - $90 AR
***HDD: To be decided... hopefully 7200.11, if it's available and gets good reviews this month
Optical Drive: Samsung SATA DVD burner - $36

Peripherals:
Mouse: Logitech G5 or MX518, depending on price (probably gonna buy used)
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse II - $46
Monitor: Samsung 216BW - $260
Speakers: Logitech X-540 - $70

Randoms:
Arctic Silver 5 - $6
2x SATA II cables - $6
Aluminum mousepad - $15 (looks nice, that's all that matters)
Stalk microphone - $5
Microsoft Vista 64-bit Home Premium - $120

This build won't be complete until after July 22 (for the Intel price cuts) and until the new Seagate drives (hopefully) come out.

But... major updates!

I'm really in a pickle over what to do about my CPU... I was originally set on getting an E6750 for all four years of this comp's lifetime, but then Extelleron decided to be mean and plant the thought of "quad core will be useful" in my head - instead of the E6750 dual-core, go with an E4300 and wait for the 45nm Penryn quads to come out. I'm now thoroughly indecisive and have absolutely no idea what to pick.

 

[Quiksilver]

:S that enermax case doesn't include any 80, 92, or 120mm fans. Just the 250mm side panel one. which is odd, but i'm just pointing this out incase you missed it...

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
:S that enermax case doesn't include any 80, 92, or 120mm fans. Just the 250mm side panel one. which is odd, but i'm just pointing this out incase you missed it...

Actually I have noticed that... some of the preliminary reviews mentioned it. Interestingly enough, though, IIRC, some sites that were selling it did say it included fans... weird. Anyway, a couple of 120mm fans shouldn't be too hard.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
:S that enermax case doesn't include any 80, 92, or 120mm fans. Just the 250mm side panel one. which is odd, but i'm just pointing this out incase you missed it...

Actually I have noticed that... some of the preliminary reviews mentioned it. Interestingly enough, though, IIRC, some sites that were selling it did say it included fans... weird. Anyway, a couple of 120mm fans shouldn't be too hard.

its with that particular model.
http://www.enermax.com/english/product_cases_detail.asp?PrID=58

the ECA3090 ECA3091 versions come with a 120mm front intake fan, the ECA3092 version doesnt.

 

[Ika]

Ragh. Need some thoughts on the motherboard situation soon, before the price goes back up. And while people are visiting this thread, help me answer my RAM question too =O

 

[jpeyton]

The market will be different come July. No need to make any decisions now.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
The market will be different come July. No need to make any decisions now.

Will it really be that enormously different? I mean... I'm still planning on using the same CPU that I would've picked 8 months ago. Besides, I hope to have this thing built by mid/late July, so I can have time to get to know my system and iron out all the kinks.

I can't really see much happening in a month... maybe the motherboard situation, what with Intel's new P35 chipset and all. The GPU situation will very likely be different, but I can wait for that. I suppose Intel might have more price drops on CPUs, but that's just a price difference. I like where the E6600 is at in terms of performance and I don't see that decision changing in the near future.

 

[Trevante]

Get the revision 3.3 DS3, it's supposed to be better than the revision 1.3

 

[jpeyton]

I also think Corsair (Seasonic) makes a far better PSU than Silverstone in that price range.

 

[eggrolls]

the Q6600 is supposed to drop to ~$266 in July. $40 more than the current price of the E6600 with double the amount of cores.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I also think Corsair (Seasonic) makes a far better PSU than Silverstone in that price range.

While I've heard tons of accolades about Seasonic's S12 and M12 PSUs, some review hunting turned up some pretty nice results for Silverstone's PSUs too. The difference between the two is about $30 ($20 including a mail-in rebate that I probably won't be able to get in on). I'm trying to not spend any more money than I really have to. The Silverstone seems good enough that the money for the M12 seems superfluous, but if someone says otherwise, then I'll have to put more consideration into it.

 

[jpeyton]

If you're not planning on high end SLI, then a Corsair 520HX is plenty. Otherwise spring for a 620HX (ClubIT.com has a good deal on it).

 

[Quiksilver]

Alright cool you got the rest of your outline up now ;p

My thoughts:

PSU: That is an excellent PSU, exact model psu I am currently using and I've had zero problems with that and on top of that it is very very quiet.
HDD: Is their any particular reason why your going with the spinpoint series? I heard they are normally very quiet but some performance is lost, not much though. I personally would go with a seagate drive just got the 5 year warranty instead of the 3 year.
Optical Drive: Lite-On? :S last time I checked don't lite-on drives come with like a speed lock so the drive never spins above 16X or something, but it can allow you to turn it off by fiddling with a button code or something like that? I'm currently using two samsung drives and they work perfectly, although they are slightly older models, I like the aesthetics of them more. They are also within roughly the same price range.
Monitor: Add another choice. Acer AL2216WBD. Why? It is the exact same model monitor I am currently using and I have zero dead pixels, the colors are vibrant and clear, contrast is very nice, and further more zero problems with gaming, no streaks or ghosting. In other words it's perfect 🙂
Speakers: Although you asked for less then $30, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16836121123 these are less than $40 instead but they are supposed to be the best speakers you can get for under than amount and the fact that they seem to be the most popular. It's your choice though.

 

[Ika]

Back! Updated some parts. More fuller update coming tomorrow.

The CPU situation will be making me wait until after July 22. I'll probably be pulling triggers before then if I see a good price, though.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Trevante
Get the revision 3.3 DS3, it's supposed to be better than the revision 1.3

He's got the Gigabyte P35 MB listed not the P965.

 

[rise]

this is some decent gskill for about the same $$.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Blain
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Trevante
Get the revision 3.3 DS3, it's supposed to be better than the revision 1.3</end quote></div>
He's got the Gigabyte P35 MB listed not the P965.

I edited my original post; I was originally considering the rev 1.3 DS3 because it was $100, but since P35 looks really great, and isn't that much more expensive, I'm opting for that instead.

Originally posted by: rise
this is some decent gskill for about the same $$.

I'm going with 4gb of GSkill ram, because the reviews are nice and I don't think 2gb will be enough to keep me satisfied after four years. I also don't want to deal with four ram slots, and if 2x2gb sticks is double the price of 2x1gb sticks, why not?

 

[Blain]

I bought the DDR2 only version of the Gigabyte P35 MB. I haven't built it yet, but have high hopes for a good OC on my E4300.

 

[Ika]

More fuller update completed. I am fully ready to start buying stuff, like my case.

Originally posted by: Blain
I bought the DDR2 only version of the Gigabyte P35 MB. I haven't built it yet, but have high hopes for a good OC on my E4300.

Ooh, I didn't know there was a DDR2 only version... thanks for saving me $30. I don't plan on upgrading to Penryn, my next system will probably be Nehalem (or whatever Intel's completely new plan is).

 

[Ika]

Another day, another update, another concern...

Now that I'm thinking about putting together the actual system, I realized that I might have a potential conflict with my case and CPU heatsink. The Enermax Phoenix is 20cm wide, according to specs, and the Scythe Mine is 15cm tall... which might be a problem. 5cm might not be enough headroom for the motherboard, whatever's behind it, and the big side fan... wonder if anyone can help out with this.

With all the problems I've been hearing about with the 320mb version of the 8800GTS, I've decided to stick with the 640mb version...

 

[Blain]

That monster side panel fan is going to mess you up.
I would still use it, but change the CPU cooler to one that's lower profile and blows down on the CPU/MB.
Something like the Zalman 7700-Cu falls into your cooler price range and is much lower than the Scythe HS.

One other consideration on cooling is to keep the fans some distance away from each other. If fans blowing in the same direction are too close, the create more turbulence and therefore more noise.

 

[Ika]

For the CPU cooler, I've decided to stick with the MINE and hope I made the right decision. If not, it's not such a big deal, I'll just get a down-facing cooler or something...

BUT!

Big updates... specifically around the CPU and HDD situations, now. CPU situation is explained in OP, HDD situation - should I wait for Seagate's 7200.11 drives to come out (supposedly this month), or should I just go with a 7200.10, because they're cheap and available? Will 7200.11 drive prices be on the same level as current HDD prices?