please critique my "final" system

[junglerecker]

Hi!!

I posted a potential system in this forum last week and got some awesome feedback. Since then I've updated many of my components per all of your recommendations (except the power supply which I REALLY WANT to keep in there).

These are my plans for final purchases. Does anyone see anything (besides the PSU which I KNOW is overkill, but I'm getting it anyway ) that could/ should be changed??

Thanks so much!! I've put posts up in a number of computer forums and the feedback I got here surpassed most of the others combined! I'm really really grateful.

James


ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131028


Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003


CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145015


XFX PVT71PUDF3 Geforce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150184


NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152058


LG Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 10X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI Super-Multi DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136091


Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140


PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC ATX12V 510W Continuous @ 50°C Power Supply 90 - 264V UL/ ULC/ TUV/ CE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703001


Antec Performance I P180 Silver 0.8mm ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129154


Antec 77095 120mm Blue LED Light Case Cooling Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835129016


EVERCOOL EC8015 80mm Ball Case Cooling Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835119041


SAMSUNG 204B-BK Black 20.1" 5ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 800:1 0.255mm Pixel Pitch 1600x1200 display


Logitech Cordless Desktop S 510 967557 Keyboard + Mouse

(the last two I'm buying from Bestbuy)

 

[jhill1]

the ram is real good, i got the same set, and if you want to scrape out another about 20$ you could get the x1900xt 256mb which i have, and love

 

[SunSamurai]

Your vid card sucks.

 

[Niv KA]

looks nice... The PSU isn't that much of an overkill. It alows for upgradeablility. How much does this end up costing btw?

 

[Howard]

What are you doing with it?

 

[Boyo]

Agreed. I would get a better video card, but I would have put it in a nicer way. Upgrade to a 7950GT. You will regret going with a 7900 GS.

Also you might want to add another HD. Maybe a smaller Raptor or something to run your OS and games and the larger HD for your backups and media.....Keeps things faster.

 

[mrfatboy]

Your Vid card (7900GS) is a good choice. I would not spend big bucks on a better card because DX10 is coming around the corner. The dx10 cards will blow anything away that you can buy on the market today. Why spend all that money just to be top dog for the next 3 months. When the dx10 cards come out then upgrade then.

Also, switch to the BFG 7900GS OC. It's the best one out there. Take a look at the Anandtech review.

Your mobo is very good. Might be overkill. depends on what you are doing. Look at gigabyte ds-3 or Asus p5b vanilla. They will save you $100.

From what I have read here at this forum your ram speed is not a great choice. Choose the DDR2 800 for overclocking or use the DDR2 533 for just everyday use. Your ram brand is very good.

 

[Boyo]

Good argument for the video card. You could use that money for the Corsair 6400C4.

 

[junglerecker]

Thanks for all the feedback! It's like I leave to grab a sandwich, come back, and there's 5 messages already!! d@mn!

I want a versatile set-up, for light gaming (like playing older games that cost less), heavy on multi-tasking, DVD viewing, some DVD writing, engineering programs such as MathCAD, AutoCAD, probably some photo editing, but not to any professional standards, and web-surfing/ word processing of course. My goal is a system that can still do these things, and maintain overall stability, (minus playing newer games on high settings), in about 3 or 4 years.

Does anyone know how much hotter (or overall stable) the higher-end GPUs are compared to the 7900gs? I read a review at techreport.com that gave the 7900gs a high rating in terms of temperature and power usage. These factors are more important to me than gaming fps or 3D rendering.

The system looks like it'll cost about $1,800 including the monitor, before OS (which I can get a student discount on, I think). Would I save a significant amount of money buying from vendors other than Newegg?

Can anyone give me some advice on RAM. I was considering a DDR2 800 set, for slightly more, that had a 5-5-5-12 latency and PC6400, whereas these are DDR2 675 and 4-4-4-12 latency. What do you guys recommend? I've heard that the lower latency would benefit my CPU and mobo more than the 800 speed.

Thanks again for all the help!

James

 

[junglerecker]

oh, and I have no plans to overclock anything...

thanks.

James

 

[Boyo]

I recommend the 6400C4 for the mobo. Best for latency and overclocking.

 

[Howard]

What do you need the 80mm fan for?

 

[junglerecker]

the P180 case has two optional fan spaces, I wanted to fill both of them. The 80mm puts air over the GPU.

 

[Howard]

The P180 doesn't have the VGA duct anymore. And your links are broken.

 

[junglerecker]

Would anyone recommend buying the 675 and UNDERclocking to 533 for better stability, since my fsb is 1066?

 

[mrfatboy]

I don't know much about the underclocking thing. I would think that would be a bad idea.

Go with this memory.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590


Good, strong, reliable. bang for buck.


From what you have said you are not some uber system overclocker. Just like me. It's just about gaming, internet, email, basic stuff. Unless you need to calculate PI really fast don't waste your money.

 

[junglerecker]

I just realized my links don't work... how embarassing.

Here they are again, same order.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131028

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145015

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150184

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136091

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835129016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119041

 

[mrfatboy]

Here is the PC that I am going to build. Create your own Newegg public wish list. it's easy.


http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wis...cWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=3232994


Please note that I am still trying to figure out what board to get.

Note the price of my system. It should let me play around with overclocking as well. However, 24/7 stablility is a must.

 

[junglerecker]

That's exactly the other memory I'm considering! Since I don't have a good idea as to the performance/ stability difference I'd get with one over the other can you give me an idea of why you recommend the 800?

 

[dBTelos]

Shed $40 off of your total price.

 

[dBTelos]

Shed $40 off of your total price.

 

[junglerecker]

I think the main differences in our setup is that I'm planning on buying a $300 monitor, $120 case, and $200 power supply that are all included in the price I quoted. (from most of the research I've done the PSU sounds like a good long-term investment, notice the turbo cool 510w sli has an AVR which keeps voltage within a 1% variance on most rails and "clean power" within a .5% variance... a separate high quality AVR alone usually runs like another $100) Some people recommend against it, it makes the system significantly more expensive, and the fan runs as loud as 44 dba, but for me I'm willing to invest in long-term security. I don't want a HD failing from some voltage spike or something...

 

[mrfatboy]

My main goals are stability, speed, and price. When I first started picking my components I read everything I could get my hand on. This forum is great and so are the Newegg reviews.

I also read alot on this forum.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php

Here is were you can get into a trap. You start listening to the uber system people and you end up with a crazy uber system that cost you a lot and you are only using 30% of the power. Believe me, I had to crawl out ot the trap a couple of times

All of the parts that I have listed are solid, highly recommended parts, that will give me stability at a great price. They also have room for upgrading.

 

[Bobthelost]

You're paying a premium ($100~) for that security, now let's do some thinking shall we? Let's assume that your AVG will eliminate the possibility of your HD dying due to voltage spike, it probably won't but the reduction should be noticeable if you're right.

Now, how many HD deaths are due to PSU voltage fluctuations, i'm going to say that it's less than 5% of the total, just as a guestimate. If anyones' got better numbers then jump in. (Remember too that some of these voltage spikes will be generated by cheap POS PSUs, rather than decent ones that still cost a fraction of the PCP&C lines).

Now, some more guestimates: 95% of HDs survive three years or more, or in other words 1 in 20 will die within three years. Your extra $100 reduces the chances of you having a HD death from 5% to a mere 4.75%. (In other words you go from 95% chance of your HD living 3 years to 95.25%)

$100 for a .25% increase in HD survival for your $100 HD? That's really crap value for money. PSUs are not an investment, any and all will degrade with time, different standards may/will turn up and all told it's another way for you to waste money on "futureproofing".

Of course that's all built upon a lot of assumptions and guesses, but try putting in figures to convince me that it wouldn't be a better investment to get a cheaper PSU and an external drive to back up to for more or less the same money.

 

[Howard]

I told you already, the P180 doesn't use the VGA duct anymore, so get rid of the 80mm fan.