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Someone tell me if this build will work fine...

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I assume you already have a sound card? I used to work at a radio station and I spec-ed out systems for us there, so I've been in this territory before. We used Duron 950 (IIRC) at the time, and they were easily able to handle four tracks of audio in SAW and Cool Edit. I think that the E6600 would be a good buy for you anyway, but you might consider jumping down to the E6400 if it allows you to buy larger and faster storage space.

Exactly what kind of audio work are you doing?
 
Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I assume you already have a sound card? I used to work at a radio station and I spec-ed out systems for us there, so I've been in this territory before. We used Duron 950 (IIRC) at the time, and they were easily able to handle four tracks of audio in SAW and Cool Edit. I think that the E6600 would be a good buy for you anyway, but you might consider jumping down to the E6400 if it allows you to buy larger and faster storage space.

Exactly what kind of audio work are you doing?
Click to expand...

I work with Pro Tools so there's no need for a sound card as the hardware interface (digi 002r) works through a firewire connection as a sound card. As for the processor.. my whole goal has been overkill basically. I want to be so far out ahead processing wise of what I'd actually need that I won't have to upgrade for a LONG time. I'm hoping the E660 is REALLY fast as the whole point of this system was lots and lots of processing power. I'm not too worried about storage as it's cheap and I'll probably be good on that for a while. When I need more I'll get it.
 
Originally posted by: SexyK
Originally posted by: bierce85
I was actually thinking of this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102078

any thoughts?
Click to expand...

That card will work fine for your purposes but I would probably go with something like this if I were doing this build. It's faster, $5 cheaper and best of all has passive cooling so you're not adding any more noise into your case. Either will serve your purpose though... good luck!
Click to expand...

Good point on that card. I didn't see it because when it comes to stuff I know little about I mainly go by reviews.. so I was basically going down the list of the most reviewed sound cards and went with the first one that had a good amount of good reviews and was cheap. Good point on the passive cooling, too. I think I'll go with this one.
 
Just be aware that open box mobo's are just the mobo in an anti-static bag. No manual, no backplate, cables, just the motherboard.
 
Yeah, I read that but I'm still going for it because my friend's dad is going to put this thing together for me and he's an expert as well as have tons of spare parts lying around. His basement is a bone yard of computer parts.

Anyway I went ahead and bought the configuration I had listed above with a few small changes:

I went with 2 G of Patriot eXtreme Performance RAM instead of the 1 G of GSkill. There's a $50 rebate on these and they got a great rating. So for $130 after the rebate I'd say its a great deal.

I also decided to buy a few CD drives and leave the ones in the Dell in tact after seeing that they still go for a few hundred bucks on ebay. I'd might as well just reformat this thing and get a few hundred bucks towards the new computer.
 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
330 Watts is a little over the minimum he would probably need. I don't think it's ever a good idea to be just at that. You never know if you want to add something later, say another PCI sound card for whatever reason. Eventually the 330W PS is pushing it.

Also, not every PS that says 330W can actually handle that. Quality of the PS makes a difference too. I'm not saying the SeaSonic isn't sufficient, but a power supply is the one thing you never want to skimp on, you know?

For $10-$15 more he might as well get a 400W+ PS.
Click to expand...

The 330 watt S12 has plenty of power, and the build quality is identical across the entire S12/M12 line so your still getting one of the best PSUs around.

Read "Power Supply Fundamentals" if you have any doubts.
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
330 Watts is a little over the minimum he would probably need. I don't think it's ever a good idea to be just at that. You never know if you want to add something later, say another PCI sound card for whatever reason. Eventually the 330W PS is pushing it.

Also, not every PS that says 330W can actually handle that. Quality of the PS makes a difference too. I'm not saying the SeaSonic isn't sufficient, but a power supply is the one thing you never want to skimp on, you know?

For $10-$15 more he might as well get a 400W+ PS.
Click to expand...

The 330 watt S12 has plenty of power, and the build quality is identical across the entire S12/M12 line so your still getting one of the best PSUs around.

Read "Power Supply Fundamentals" if you have any doubts.
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, but...for $10-$15 more...
If someone gave me the choice of a 40GB HD for $50, and a 250GB for $60, what would you do?

When I upgraded my PC, I didn't think, OH, the 350W PSU would boot just fine with my PC. No, I spent the extra $20 and almost doubled the watts. Might as well. Anything I buy the next couple years will mostly likely work just fine with it. I won't need to buy yet ANOTHER PS come time to upgrade again.

Roommate is only running an AMD dual core and he had a 400W PS that wouldn't keep stable on his system. Granted the specs weren't perfect all the way across, he upgraded to a better brand and 550W and is now running just fine.

I've also seen different variations in how PS's react to other electrical equipment. People would turn on an exhaust in a bathroom and the PC would lock up. Upgrade PS and works just fine. Hell my apartment office is all sorts of messed up. Without flouresent lights in the office things flicker and crash all the time.
 
I've got a power conditioner with my PT rig I plug the computer stuff in to. Keeps steady, filtered power going into all my electronics. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: bierce85
I've got a power conditioner with my PT rig I plug the computer stuff in to. Keeps steady, filtered power going into all my electronics. 🙂
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: You're a step ahead.

How long do you plan on having this PC? And do you ever think you'd use it for anything else like gaming? Even if you don't, certain components like video cards are requiring their own separate power connectors now. You probably won't need one for what you got now, but later down the line should you do anything, best be prepaired and save yourself the trouble of throwing out one PSU for a new one.

I can't help but look at 350W even as the bare minimum. Maybe I'm being silly and ignorant, but out of the entire system I don't think it's something toj ust skimp on when you can do much better with only a few more dollars and a little bit of research on the right one.
 
I actually ended up going with the 450W cause as you said, it's only a little cheaper. I plan on having this thing as long as it will last. The mobo supports the Pentium EE processor so if that thing is really cheap in a few years maybe I'll swap it in there. I'm not really a big gamer. I used to play High Heat baseball (best baseball game ever) and that was about it.

I forgot to mention I also wound up getting This graphics card open box as well for $47 (reg $67) so hopefully it will do ok if I want to do some gaming. One thing I try to keep in mind though is not to clog up the computer too much with other stuff as to keep pro tools running as smoothly as possible. They say you should install minimal other stuff on a PT computer, however I don't really see the harm in applications that dont run in the background when they're not being used. Other than the HD space they might take up I cant think of any harm they would cause.
 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
330 Watts is a little over the minimum he would probably need. I don't think it's ever a good idea to be just at that. You never know if you want to add something later, say another PCI sound card for whatever reason. Eventually the 330W PS is pushing it.

Also, not every PS that says 330W can actually handle that. Quality of the PS makes a difference too. I'm not saying the SeaSonic isn't sufficient, but a power supply is the one thing you never want to skimp on, you know?

For $10-$15 more he might as well get a 400W+ PS.
Click to expand...

The 330 watt S12 has plenty of power, and the build quality is identical across the entire S12/M12 line so your still getting one of the best PSUs around.

Read "Power Supply Fundamentals" if you have any doubts.
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, but...for $10-$15 more...
If someone gave me the choice of a 40GB HD for $50, and a 250GB for $60, what would you do?

When I upgraded my PC, I didn't think, OH, the 350W PSU would boot just fine with my PC. No, I spent the extra $20 and almost doubled the watts. Might as well. Anything I buy the next couple years will mostly likely work just fine with it. I won't need to buy yet ANOTHER PS come time to upgrade again.

Roommate is only running an AMD dual core and he had a 400W PS that wouldn't keep stable on his system. Granted the specs weren't perfect all the way across, he upgraded to a better brand and 550W and is now running just fine.

I've also seen different variations in how PS's react to other electrical equipment. People would turn on an exhaust in a bathroom and the PC would lock up. Upgrade PS and works just fine. Hell my apartment office is all sorts of messed up. Without flouresent lights in the office things flicker and crash all the time.
Click to expand...

I can only assume you are basing your opinions on false assumptions of how much power PCs actually draw. A good 300 watt PSU is going no problems powering all but the most power hungry top-end CPU and GPU equipped systems.

You also can't compare a no name 400 watt PSU to a Seasonic S12 of any wattage. I've built several higher-end systems using the 330-380 watt S12.

The bottom line is the OPs system has very modest power requirements well under 150 watts DC (most likely under 100). Assuming both are equal a 400 watt PSU is not going to have any advantages over a 300 watt unit.
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
330 Watts is a little over the minimum he would probably need. I don't think it's ever a good idea to be just at that. You never know if you want to add something later, say another PCI sound card for whatever reason. Eventually the 330W PS is pushing it.

Also, not every PS that says 330W can actually handle that. Quality of the PS makes a difference too. I'm not saying the SeaSonic isn't sufficient, but a power supply is the one thing you never want to skimp on, you know?

For $10-$15 more he might as well get a 400W+ PS.
Click to expand...

The 330 watt S12 has plenty of power, and the build quality is identical across the entire S12/M12 line so your still getting one of the best PSUs around.

Read "Power Supply Fundamentals" if you have any doubts.
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, but...for $10-$15 more...
If someone gave me the choice of a 40GB HD for $50, and a 250GB for $60, what would you do?

When I upgraded my PC, I didn't think, OH, the 350W PSU would boot just fine with my PC. No, I spent the extra $20 and almost doubled the watts. Might as well. Anything I buy the next couple years will mostly likely work just fine with it. I won't need to buy yet ANOTHER PS come time to upgrade again.

Roommate is only running an AMD dual core and he had a 400W PS that wouldn't keep stable on his system. Granted the specs weren't perfect all the way across, he upgraded to a better brand and 550W and is now running just fine.

I've also seen different variations in how PS's react to other electrical equipment. People would turn on an exhaust in a bathroom and the PC would lock up. Upgrade PS and works just fine. Hell my apartment office is all sorts of messed up. Without flouresent lights in the office things flicker and crash all the time.
Click to expand...

I can only assume you are basing your opinions on false assumptions of how much power PCs actually draw. A good 300 watt PSU is going no problems powering all but the most power hungry top-end CPU and GPU equipped systems.

You also can't compare a no name 400 watt PSU to a Seasonic S12 of any wattage. I've built several higher-end systems using the 330-380 watt S12.

The bottom line is the OPs system has very modest power requirements well under 150 watts DC (most likely under 100). Assuming both are equal a 400 watt PSU is not going to have any advantages over a 300 watt unit.
Click to expand...

*poke*

I wasn't suggesting any no-name brand PS when it came to getting a 400W over 330W.

Calculate it out. I keep looking around and I keep getting close to a little over 300W.

EDIT:

Well just to say well over 100.


And the other bottom half of the screen just incase...

Threw in room for 1 extra stick of ram, and perhaps a pci card(wireless maybe?). Just in case. Maybe an external hard drive on USB.

If you know of another calculator, please help find the right numbers.

Now, mind you this is under full load. I don't know why you'd prep for anything less, but even at 60%, and only 1 DDR2 stick it's still over 150W. Of course, any power supply calculator could be off a few watts/per device.

After looking around a bit, I notice a lot of your posts on PSU Operadi tend to differ as far as how much power a person needs pending on their PC. Especially a couple remarks on a few high-end systems regarding them never breaking 250-300W
 
Originally posted by: Tarrant64
*poke*

I wasn't suggesting any no-name brand PS when it came to getting a 400W over 330W.

Calculate it out. I keep looking around and I keep getting close to a little over 300W.

EDIT:

Well just to say well over 100.


And the other bottom half of the screen just incase...

Threw in room for 1 extra stick of ram, and perhaps a pci card(wireless maybe?). Just in case. Maybe an external hard drive on USB.

If you know of another calculator, please help find the right numbers.

Now, mind you this is under full load. I don't know why you'd prep for anything less, but even at 60%, and only 1 DDR2 stick it's still over 150W. Of course, any power supply calculator could be off a few watts/per device.

After looking around a bit, I notice a lot of your posts on PSU Operadi tend to differ as far as how much power a person needs pending on their PC. Especially a couple remarks on a few high-end systems regarding them never breaking 250-300W
Click to expand...

A calculator is only useful if it is accurate, and none of those web based power calculators are anywhere near accurate.

To prove my point read SPCR's "Power Distribution within Six PCs" and you'll have a good understanding of what real systems draw in terms of DC power. You can also look at Daily Tech's testing of the 8800GTX and an Intel quad core CPU (complete system keep in mind) and you'll notice that the power draw is right around the 300 watt (AC not DC remember so - 15%-20%) mark under full load.

As far as my posts differing I'm not sure what that really means. Unless the topics are very similar obviously my replys are going to differ from one to the other.

And yes most high-end systems never break 250-300 watts (save high-end SLi/Crossfire machines).
 
Hey guys. I got everything in and wound up needing to buy some cables and stuff. That stuff should be arriving tomorrow. I have (at least) one more question: Will I be able to remove the maxtor SATA hard drive from my dell and just install it in the new system seamlessly or will have have to reformat it or something? If possibly I would like to keep it as it is because I backed up some data that I want to keep from the dell on to it.

Thanks again guys! (I'm loving the lion-li case!)
 
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