system build time - upgrading major components

[MrDudeMan]

i am rebuilding my sisters computer and i have a budget of $1500 or less for the following components:

• CPU - Q6600 - $272
  
  Video Card - eVGA 8800GTS 640MB - $350 AR
  
  Power Supply - Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W - $85 AR (ZZF)
  
  Hard Drive - WD Raptor X 150 - $170 AR (Newegg)
  
  Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 - $89.99
  
  RAM - Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 - $68
  
  Case - Antec P180B - $139

edit2: how do these components look? any advice on changing anything?

 

[MrDudeMan]

edited to add a few things

 

[bryanW1995]

You work for intel? . Is she going to have x64 os? If not, don't waste money on more than 2 gb ram.

I like the general idea of the system. I'm upgrading right now. I"m ditching my fx55, skt 939 and pc 3200 to get a Q6600, p35 mobo, and nice ddr2 (6400-8500 range depending on price/performance). I'm keeping the 7600gt/zalman 9700led/case/cd-dvd/etc. Only bad thing is I don't get employee discount so I have to wait until 7/22 to get the Q6600.

I have an older 36 gb raptor and a seagate 250 gb. I got the raptor a few years ago and just keep putting it in my new systems. I've had a few instances where I had to delete old games then ended up reinstalling, but I didn't actually NEED more hd space until this month (seti@home wouldn't run with only 500mb of hd space). Unless she has an immediate need for more than a 150gb drive, I would go for the raptor 150 and then have her get a 500gb or greater drive in a year or two when she runs out of hd space. HD's keep dropping in price, so she could probably get 1tb or more in 2yrs for the price of a 500gb now. Alternatively, esp if she has some important documents that she doesn't want to lose, you could get a raid mobo and a couple of 320-500 gb hard drives for mirroring for a similar price to the raptor.

 

[PurdueRy]

You can do better on the PS than that. Look at ZZF and Buy.com. Depending on the day, those places usually have the best deals.

 

[bryanW1995]

good call on the vid card. I'm trying to hold out for 2nd get dx10 since my 7600 gt works fine for civ 4, cinc3, and nwn all on highest settings on my 19" widescreen. I'm sure that will change as more dx 10 games show up.

 

[sweetca]

This comp needs a case with alot of cooling powah!

 

[Trevante]

What cooler are you getting? You need to look into aftermarket cooling to keep that Q6600 cool. I'd recommend a Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra 120 Plus

 

[MrDudeMan]

I changed the PSU to the Corsair 620W because it isn't much more expensive and leaves a lot more headroom. I know it isn't necessary, but whatever.

I still don't know what motherboard to pick, but I've heard the DS3 is pretty good. Is the 965 chipset good or would it be better to find something newer? Overclocking is not important - stability is. This computer will be running at stock and needs to be reliable.

bryanw1995, yes I work for Intel and no she will not be using a 64-bit OS yet. XP will use 3GB of the RAM and when we upgrade later to Vista she will see the full effect of 4. The computer needs to be built so it won't need to be upgraded for quite a while, and 2GB of ram isn't going to cut it.

As for the case and cpu cooler, I have no idea. The TT Ultra 120 seems to be getting some bad reviews...and is it really necessary to use something other than the stock HSF? It isn't going to be OCed remember. The case will obviously need to good ventilation and I am partial to the P180, but I am open to opinions.

 

[MrDudeMan]

bump - still need help with the case, mobo, ram, and cpu cooler if i even need it. thanks for any help you can offer...

 

[MrDudeMan]

bump again

i really dont know which mobo to get now. gigabyte has a weird memory compatibility list and the patriot ram isnt on it. should i go with another motherboard make all together?

 

[MrDudeMan]

bump for updated component list...

hopefully someone will comment? i think this is a final list unless someone has any advice otherwise.

 

[mrfatboy]

Here is what I'm looking to get:

Q6600
What can I say? it's a quad

Gigabyte p35c-ds3r
This board has alot of future proofing. ddr3 & 45nm support.

8800 gts 640
This card should do nicely for awhile.

2 gig gskill ddr2 800
Mem is cheap. might as well get it

Enermax liberty 500w
This ps still has overhead for this system. the 620hx is overkill.

Here is a shortcut to my actual newegg wishlist. I'm waiting for the july price cuts so take off another $300 or so.

fatty's wish list


If you are looking for a long term future proofed (reasonably ) like I am I would look at making some tweaks to you list.

 

[crimson117]

My opinion on the P180 case: If you have a full atx motherboard, as you would with the S3, it gets cramped if you try to install cards in the bottom two PCI slots. The cables that come out of the bottom-mounted PSU get in the way of the lower PCI slots.

I have a sound card, network card, and tv-tuner card, and it was quite cramped to install.

Otherwise, it's stylish, classy, quiet, all around great case, and I'm happy with it.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: mrfatboy
Here is what I'm looking to get:

Q6600
What can I say? it's a quad

Gigabyte p35c-ds3r
This board has alot of future proofing. ddr3 & 45nm support.

8800 gts 640
This card should do nicely for awhile.

2 gig gskill ddr2 800
Mem is cheap. might as well get it

Enermax liberty 500w
This ps still has overhead for this system. the 620hx is overkill.

Here is a shortcut to my actual newegg wishlist. I'm waiting for the july price cuts so take off another $300 or so.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewV...hDetail.asp?ID=3232994">fatty's wish list</a>


If you are looking for a long term future proofed (reasonably ) like I am I would look at making some tweaks to you list.

thanks for your opinions and advice...it is much appreciated.

i started out going down the future-proofing road, but my sister and bro-in-law said they wont be upgrading again for quite a while. the quad core is about 10x more computing power than she needs (i get an employee discount, thats the only reason we are buying it instead of an E6600/6700) and DDR2 will be just fine. she mostly runs work applications but does some gaming with me.

most of the games she runs are like battle for middle earth 2, command and conquer 3, etc., so nothing crazy. she has a 20.1" WS LCD, so the 8800GTS should be very powerful relative to this setup. basically, i was going to do exactly what you said, but then the extra cost seemed to just not be worth it.

other than the fact that this isnt as future proof as it could be, is it good?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: crimson117
My opinion on the P180 case: If you have a full atx motherboard, as you would with the S3, it gets cramped if you try to install cards in the bottom two PCI slots. The cables that come out of the bottom-mounted PSU get in the way of the lower PCI slots.

I have a sound card, network card, and tv-tuner card, and it was quite cramped to install.

Otherwise, it's stylish, classy, quiet, all around great case, and I'm happy with it.

we have no cards to install, so it seems the case should be fine. thanks for your input.

 

[mrfatboy]

Here is my new list for you. No future proofing! But very nice stable system that should last awhile.

E6600
Gigabyte p965-ds3 v1.3
8800 gts 320
2 gig gskill ddr2 800 or save some $$$$ ddr533
Enermax liberty 500w (you could go less/cheaper if you wanted to save $$$$)

this is my core system i was looking at a couple of weeks ago until I heard about the p35 and q6600 price cuts.

I hope it helps.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: mrfatboy
Here is my new list for you. No future proofing! But very nice stable system that should last awhile.

E6600
Gigabyte p965-ds3 v1.3
8800 gts 320
2 gig gskill ddr2 800 or save some $$$$ ddr533
Enermax liberty 500w (you could go less/cheaper if you wanted to save $$$$)

this is my core system i was looking at a couple of weeks ago until I heard about the p35 and q6600 price cuts.

I hope it helps.

i work at intel so i get the Q6600 at half price right now, which is the only reason we are going that route. otherwise, we would be getting the E6600. what is the difference between the mobo in my OP versus the one you mentioned? they appear to be the same mostly except one is a rev 3.3 and one is a rev 1.3. i was thinking higher rev numbers would be favorable, right?

ill look into the enermax liberty 500w, thanks.

is the corsair memory i have for 68.00 not good? it is DDR2-667 2GB (1GB x 2). i thought it was pretty cheap and good but maybe i was wrong.

what do you think about the 640MB versus the 320MB 8800GTS? it will be played on a 20.5" widescreen LCD. my thought was the 640MB would be good for quite a well, but either way she is upgrading from a 6800GS, so it will be massive gain either way. is it worth the price difference for 2x memory?

 

[mrfatboy]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: mrfatboy
Here is my new list for you. No future proofing! But very nice stable system that should last awhile.

E6600
Gigabyte p965-ds3 v1.3
8800 gts 320
2 gig gskill ddr2 800 or save some $$$$ ddr533
Enermax liberty 500w (you could go less/cheaper if you wanted to save $$$$)

this is my core system i was looking at a couple of weeks ago until I heard about the p35 and q6600 price cuts.

I hope it helps.

i work at intel so i get the Q6600 at half price right now, which is the only reason we are going that route. otherwise, we would be getting the E6600. what is the difference between the mobo in my OP versus the one you mentioned? they appear to be the same mostly except one is a rev 3.3 and one is a rev 1.3. i was thinking higher rev numbers would be favorable, right?

ill look into the enermax liberty 500w, thanks.

is the corsair memory i have for 68.00 not good? it is DDR2-667 2GB (1GB x 2). i thought it was pretty cheap and good but maybe i was wrong.

what do you think about the 640MB versus the 320MB 8800GTS? it will be played on a 20.5" widescreen LCD. my thought was the 640MB would be good for quite a well, but either way she is upgrading from a 6800GS, so it will be massive gain either way. is it worth the price difference for 2x memory?

whoops. sorry about the mobo version. I meant to say the DS3 3.3.

Regarding the vid card, the 320mb version seems like it will be plenty for you. If you have the extra $$$ 640mb won't hurt

The corsair ram is fine. However, if you are not OC'ing 533ddr2 is fine for you. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was looking at the corsair ram for awhile then I read on this forum that corsair is not using the true micron 9 chips. Gskill was, so i switched. They both have good reps. Gskill just tipped the scale for me

Have you started looking for a HS/fan for that Q6600? I don't think the stock fan is going to cut it. Everything I have read here so are is that they run very hot. There's another $60 to throw in your budget

 

[notanotheracct]

the difference between the ds3 revisions is negligible from what i recall but the 3.3 seemed slightly better for whatever reason (google it if you really need to know). the 620w psu is slightly overkill especially since you're not going to OC at all, and psu energy efficiency drops when utilization is below half IIRC, not that big a deal but something to consider still. your RAM is just fine, but you should double check to make sure your mobo supports it, the ds3 has been very picky with certain RAM brands and certain voltages too, resulting in RAM not being compatible or not working because the RAM required higher volts than the mobo was giving by default, meaning some people had to use cheaper low voltage RAM to boot up the system and manually raise the voltage then swap to the newer RAM.

and as for the 640 vs 320mb, 640 may be a bit overkill for the games played. the higher RAM proves useful for supporting higher resolutions and more intensive games but you are using a widescreen so it might not hurt... the only thing i'd recommend is a newer p35 motherboard because of the somewhat better chipset.

EDIT: mrfatboy's correct, 533ddr2 would do you just fine too, but since you're not OC'ing i think using your mobos highest rated RAM would be a good idea, and if you were wondering micron d9 is popular because of OC'ing.
i also can't comment on the q6600 running much hotter but an aftermarket cooler probably wouldn't hurt to keep it cooler, you're plenty below budget too. be careful with tower coolers though, they're huge and heavy, and don't fit in all cases. if you get one though, a one with a smaller footprint would be better. i got a arctic freezer pro 7 myself, it seemed to cool better on average than a few others and was just below that of tower coolers. anandtech did a review a bit ago which i used as reference too, just be careful when choosing a cooler since the direction it blows air matters, in my particular case i lucked out since my arctic freezer blows air directly towards the back fan of my case, but in another case it wouldn't have worked out so well.

 

[MrDudeMan]

whoops. sorry about the mobo version. I meant to say the DS3 3.3.

Regarding the vid card, the 320mb version seems like it will be plenty for you. If you have the extra $$$ 640mb won't hurt

The corsair ram is fine. However, if you are not OC'ing 533ddr2 is fine for you. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was looking at the corsair ram for awhile then I read on this forum that corsair is not using the true micron 9 chips. Gskill was, so i switched. They both have good reps. Gskill just tipped the scale for me

Have you started looking for a HS/fan for that Q6600? I don't think the stock fan is going to cut it. Everything I have read here so are is that they run very hot. There's another $60 to throw in your budget

we have room in the budget for 640MB, so we will go with that

i didnt know DDR2-533 would be fine, but 667 is a more appealing number to me for whatever reason, plus its only 68 dollars. irrational, i know.

i was going to stick with the stock HSF until i can see the temps for myself. a lot of people on here are really concerned about heat, and i mean they should be, but they might say its too hot when it really isnt. we will definitely get an aftermarket cooler if it runs too hot for my liking when i see it up and running in the case. basically i want to see how the ventilation in the case helps with CPU temps before we put a monster of a HSF in there.

the difference between the ds3 revisions is negligible from what i recall but the 3.3 seemed slightly better for whatever reason (google it if you really need to know). the 620w psu is slightly overkill especially since you're not going to OC at all, and psu energy efficiency drops when utilization is below half IIRC, not that big a deal but something to consider still. your RAM is just fine, but you should double check to make sure your mobo supports it, the ds3 has been very picky with certain RAM brands and certain voltages too, resulting in RAM not being compatible or not working because the RAM required higher volts than the mobo was giving by default, meaning some people had to use cheaper low voltage RAM to boot up the system and manually raise the voltage then swap to the newer RAM.

and as for the 640 vs 320mb, 640 may be a bit overkill for the games played. the higher RAM proves useful for supporting higher resolutions and more intensive games but you are using a widescreen so it might not hurt... the only thing i'd recommend is a newer p35 motherboard because of the somewhat better chipset.

EDIT: mrfatboy's correct, 533ddr2 would do you just fine too, but since you're not OC'ing i think using your mobos highest rated RAM would be a good idea, and if you were wondering micron d9 is popular because of OC'ing.
i also can't comment on the q6600 running much hotter but an aftermarket cooler probably wouldn't hurt to keep it cooler, you're plenty below budget too. be careful with tower coolers though, they're huge and heavy, and don't fit in all cases. if you get one though, a one with a smaller footprint would be better. i got a arctic freezer pro 7 myself, it seemed to cool better on average than a few others and was just below that of tower coolers. anandtech did a review a bit ago which i used as reference too, just be careful when choosing a cooler since the direction it blows air matters, in my particular case i lucked out since my arctic freezer blows air directly towards the back fan of my case, but in another case it wouldn't have worked out so well.

i switched the PSU back down to 520W. im not sure why i went to the 660W because i know there is no way the computer will use nearly that much power. my boss did some testing on his and his computer with a conroe never went over 90W in windows (w/o video card, for testing purposes only). 520W is even overkill, but i like the corsair PSUs and that is the lowest they offer of that model.

about P35...i really wanted to go P35, but i am concerned about stability and reliability since it is pretty new. 965P has been out for a while now and is more dependable i think. that is also why i wanted a rev 3.3 because some of the bugs have been worked out.

lastly, see what i said in response to mrfatboy about the CPU cooler. i will probably end up taking the advice from both of you and others about aftermarket cooling, but i really want to see it first. since we wont be OCing, the stock cooler should be fine as long as there is sufficient ventilation, so really we are just waiting to see how that works out.

thanks for all of the help everyone. i really appreciate it!