Very overdue system overhaul needs some critique...

[Psymon]

Hey,

So I've lurked Anandtech for a while, but never felt the need to register as I mostly just read the information here as a hobby and I really enjoy reading discussions on various hardware setups, software, and just about anything to do with computers.

Until now.

The PC that I'm currently on I built approximately 5 years ago, and it still serves me to this day (I can even play Oblivion on it, which most will probably pity when I post the specs in a minute). However, it is very overdue for an overhaul, and due to me acquiring some excess funds which is going to allow me to finally build my next dream system, I've decided
to go through with it.

Current PC Configuration:
Case: Just a full Antec tower
PSU: Stock
Mobo: ASUS A7N266
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ @ 1529MHz
CPU Cooler: Cheap aftermarket
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce FX5900 Ultra (256MB)
RAM: 1GB DDR DIMM DRAM
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 955DF 19" CRT
HDD: WD 300GB IDE/ATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache(?)
OS: Windows XP Professional

As you can see, it is definitely an old system and quite weak by today's standards. However, it is stable, it runs great, and I still get decent FPS in most of the games I play.

You're probably wondering what my objective is through upgrading. Here are a few:

1) I want to be able to play some of the latest games that I technically "can play" now, but I have to turn down the settings so much that it isn't even enjoyable (ex. Oblivion). Preferably I would like to play a game such as Oblivion with all settings (or the majority) of them maxed, and at a high resolution. Crysis, BioShock, and the newer games like that I would play if this was possible as well. A main game that I play currently is World of Warcraft, and I really want to be able to turn everything up on that with the highest resolution and not bog my system down at all, even in crowded areas.

2) I am very, very tired of using a CRT monitor. I'm especially tired of always having to play my current games in 1024x768 or lower resolutions just to get decent FPS. I also have wanted to make the transition to widescreen for a while now.

3) I'm a junkie. I like having good hardware, and I haven't had the money or the means to build a new system with all this fancy new technology.

I've been researching this "new PC" since the beginning of Summer, but something is still holding me back from making the purchase, and I hope that through the helpful input that is provided on this forum I will be able to make the decision.

Future PC Configuration:
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V
Mobo: ASUS P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet
GPU: EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported
RAM: OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit
HDD1: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150
HDD2: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical: Pioneer Black 2MB Cache E-IDE/ ATAPI DVD Burner
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE SB0570LPVP 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Low-Profile
Monitor (Option 1): SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Monitor (Option 2): SAMSUNG 245BW Black High Glossy 24" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor

The reason I have two monitor options is because I really like both monitors (though the second option is more appealing to me due to being 24" and having a height adjustable stand) but many have recommended the first option as a better overall (especially for gaming) monitor. The main problem also with the 24" is that the native resolution is high, which will force me to always run an extremely high resolution for my games which may not be possible for some of the newer games. I only want one, so I'm hoping some input can be placed here to help me decide.

A couple notes about what my intentions are.

a) I don't intend to ever use SLI. From what I've researched (despite what people have done to make it work) SLI seems to cause more problems than it solves, and I really have no intention of ever buying two of the video card above just for a bit of extra punch when one should do the job just fine.

b) I don't intend to use Windows Vista. The main reason being I think DX10 is still far off, and even though this system should be able to handle Vista, I don't see any reason to use it (yet) when I have no plans of using DX10. When and if I decide to use Vista, I would probably go with the 32-bit version.

On the latter intention, there is a slight issue. I have always used a *cough* version of Windows XP, and I really would like to use a, non *cough* version of XP. 🙂

Would anyone here recommend, at this point in time, shelling the cash out for a copy of Windows XP? Or is Vista, though distant, still closely around the corner where I would be better off just waiting and spending my money there.

My current budget is ~$3000 USD. I would prefer if I stayed below the $2500 mark but if need be to get a quality system that will last me a while I am willing to spend a bit more.

Thanks in advance for any insight you guys can offer on this. Cheers.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Welcome to AT!

I have the same PSU you're looking at (600W) and it's been great. Love the Samsung monitors - I have the 20" version of what you're looking at. I think the 22" is the better choice because of the refresh rate. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the 24.

Go for a Q6600 (same price as the 6850) - better longevity.

Go with DDR2. It's not worth the price premium for DDR3.

Great choice on the video card.

Not sure if you need the Raptor. I think 7200 RPM will be fast enough.

The mobo should have good onboard video, so don't worry about the separate sound card unless you're a total audiophile.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Psymon
On the latter intention, there is a slight issue. I have always used a *cough* version of Windows XP, and I really would like to use a, non *cough* version of XP. 🙂

Would anyone here recommend, at this point in time, shelling the cash out for a copy of Windows XP? Or is Vista, though distant, still closely around the corner where I would be better off just waiting and spending my money there.

Get yourself a copy of XP Pro OEM if you're set on not using Vista or DX10. If you can find a cheap copy of Vista Home Premium, though, it may be worth your money getting it.

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha
Welcome to AT!

I have the same PSU you're looking at (600W) and it's been great. Love the Samsung monitors - I have the 20" version of what you're looking at. I think the 22" is the better choice because of the refresh rate. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the 24.

Go for a Q6600 (same price as the 6850) - better longevity.

Go with DDR2. It's not worth the price premium for DDR3.

Great choice on the video card.

Not sure if you need the Raptor. I think 7200 RPM will be fast enough.

The mobo should have good onboard video, so don't worry about the separate sound card unless you're a total audiophile.

I originally had planned for the Q6600, but research has told me that current quad cores are making games perform worse than their dual core counterparts, and that quad core wouldn't actually become fully utilized until next year. Any idea what the deal is on all of that?

The reason I'm going with DDR3 over DDR2 is because the motherboard claims it only supports DDR3. I would go with DDR2 in a heartbeat if you could point me in the direction of a mobo with similar quality that supports DDR2.

Research also told me something that I never knew before. Apparently onboard sound, though sufficient in my eyes, takes up 5% of your CPU's processing power whereas if you buy a sound card it won't. Not a drastic hit to a monster of a CPU, but for a $20 sound card I thought it might help drain every last ounce of power out of this system. Am I just wasting money?

Thanks for the welcome and the excellent reply.

Also, I should have put this in my original post, but I do not currently have any plans of overclocking the system. My experiences with overclocking in the past hasn't been good, and I have always been content with stock speeds even on my current system.

Edit:
Quick look at some other options brought me to this:

Potential Motherboard Change: ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel
Potential RAM Change: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

 

[bamacre]

Most new games coming out, like Crysis, will run better on the Q6600. And for older games that do not make use of multiple cores, the 2.4Ghz clock speed is fast enough to handle them.

Why get that motherboard, when you can get something cheaper...?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

Oh, saw the edit, don't get an Nvidia based board, stick with a P35 chipset.

Since you are not going to overlcock, no need to get expensive memory. Might as well get two of these (with the Q6600) ...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=85016-16

The Q6600 only needs 533mhz memory to hit stock speeds, and without overclocking, anything past that is waste really.

You'll probably be saving some money here, so you can get a better sound card...
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5017775

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Most new games coming out, like Crysis, will run better on the Q6600. And for older games that do not make use of multiple cores, the 2.4Ghz clock speed is fast enough to handle them.

Why get that motherboard, when you can get something cheaper...?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

Oh, saw the edit, don't get an Nvidia based board, stick with a P35 chipset.

Since you are not going to overlcock, no need to get expensive memory. Might as well get two of these (with the Q6600) ...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=85016-16

The Q6600 only needs 533mhz memory to hit stock speeds, and without overclocking, anything past that is waste really.

You'll probably be saving some money here, so you can get a better sound card...
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5017775

Alright. Sticking with the P35 chipset, that motherboard looks good. Is Gigabyte a reputable manufacturer? I've never dealt with any kind of motherboard but Asus (my experiences have been good with Asus obviously).

I'd also like to stick at the 4GB mark if possible if I'm going with DDR2. I went with 2GB on the DDR3 just because the price was so ridiculously high, but since DDR2 is an option with this motherboard it would be better overall to bump it up, right?

As for the processor. That makes sense. When I was working with my Dad's new PC which had a dual-core I also recall there being some way to run programs with only a single core if they were incompatible with both cores. Is this also the case with quad cores?

Thanks again for the input on this.

Edit: For the sound, I should probably say what my current speaker setup is that I intend to stick with because I find it to be a high quality set. It is Logitech X-230 2.1. Would it be worth buying that X-Fi with speakers like this?

Edit 2: For the Q6600, I forgot to mention that there is the issue of B3 versus G0 stepping. Any thoughts on this from someone with first-hand experience between the two? If I order the processor from Newegg there is no guarantee I'll get a G0, so I might have to order it from elsewhere if G0 is substantially better.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: bamacre
Most new games coming out, like Crysis, will run better on the Q6600. And for older games that do not make use of multiple cores, the 2.4Ghz clock speed is fast enough to handle them.

Why get that motherboard, when you can get something cheaper...?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

Oh, saw the edit, don't get an Nvidia based board, stick with a P35 chipset.

Since you are not going to overlcock, no need to get expensive memory. Might as well get two of these (with the Q6600) ...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=85016-16

The Q6600 only needs 533mhz memory to hit stock speeds, and without overclocking, anything past that is waste really.

My RAM is similar - XMS2 5400, stock. I run an E6600 at stock too, so basically the same as the quad but with half the cores. No complaints with Corsair memory.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: Psymon

Originally posted by: bamacre
Most new games coming out, like Crysis, will run better on the Q6600. And for older games that do not make use of multiple cores, the 2.4Ghz clock speed is fast enough to handle them.

Why get that motherboard, when you can get something cheaper...?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050

Oh, saw the edit, don't get an Nvidia based board, stick with a P35 chipset.

Since you are not going to overlcock, no need to get expensive memory. Might as well get two of these (with the Q6600) ...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=85016-16

The Q6600 only needs 533mhz memory to hit stock speeds, and without overclocking, anything past that is waste really.

You'll probably be saving some money here, so you can get a better sound card...
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5017775

Alright. Sticking with the P35 chipset, that motherboard looks good. Is Gigabyte a reputable manufacturer? I've never dealt with any kind of motherboard but Asus (my experiences have been good with Asus obviously).

I'd also like to stick at the 4GB mark if possible if I'm going with DDR2. I went with 2GB on the DDR3 just because the price was so ridiculously high, but since DDR2 is an option with this motherboard it would be better overall to bump it up, right?

As for the processor. That makes sense. When I was working with my Dad's new PC which had a dual-core I also recall there being some way to run programs with only a single core if they were incompatible with both cores. Is this also the case with quad cores?

Thanks again for the input on this.

Edit: For the sound, I should probably say what my current speaker setup is that I intend to stick with because I find it to be a high quality set. It is Logitech X-230 2.1. Would it be worth buying that X-Fi with speakers like this?

Edit 2: For the Q6600, I forgot to mention that there is the issue of B3 versus G0 stepping. Any thoughts on this from someone with first-hand experience between the two? If I order the processor from Newegg there is no guarantee I'll get a G0, so I might have to order it from elsewhere if G0 is substantially better.

I have the P5N-E SLI you're looking at, and it's been solid for me for the past 6 months. Can't comment specifically on the Gigabyte mobo.

Keep in mind that if you go with XP, only about 3GB is usable because of 32 bit limitations. You'll get a slight performance increase over 2GB in some games. You might consider 2GB for now and another 2GB if you upgrade to 64-bit Vista in the future.

Haha, I have the same speakers too! They're an entry level model but I'm very impressed with them. I'm sure the sound card is good, but it looks like overkill since it costs more than your speakers (and you want to keep those). Just my 2 cents.

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: Psymon

Originally posted by: bamacre
Most new games ...snip

Alright. Sticking with the P35 chipset, ...snip

I have the P5N-E SLI you're looking at, and it's been solid for me for the past 6 months. Can't comment specifically on the Gigabyte mobo.

Keep in mind that if you go with XP, only about 3GB is usable because of 32 bit limitations. You'll get a slight performance increase over 2GB in some games. You might consider 2GB for now and another 2GB if you upgrade to 64-bit Vista in the future.

Haha, I have the same speakers too! They're an entry level model but I'm very impressed with them. I'm sure the sound card is good, but it looks like overkill since it costs more than your speakers (and you want to keep those). Just my 2 cents.

Fair enough. I was under the impression that XP supported up to 4 and Vista supported up to 8, but then again my sources could be mixed up.

I agree on the speakers, definitely an entry level model but they sound so good and put out a monstrous base. I've actually had to turn my base setting to the lowest possible when my roommates are asleep or they can hear it through the walls as if they were in my room.

As far as the Gigabyte mobo goes, I've heard from other sources that P35 was a better route to take (overall or in my situation? I'm not sure), but I've just never dealt with Gigabyte before so I have no idea what the quality of their board is. The reviews seem good, however.

I'm looking into the 2GB RAM you guys are using and will probably end up switching over to that if XP in fact doesn't support up to 4GB. With the motherboard it would be easy to add in another kit for 4GB if I upgrade to Vista anyways.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Psymon
Alright. Sticking with the P35 chipset, that motherboard looks good. Is Gigabyte a reputable manufacturer? I've never dealt with any kind of motherboard but Asus (my experiences have been good with Asus obviously).

Yes, the Gigabyte P35 boards are very good.

I'd also like to stick at the 4GB mark if possible if I'm going with DDR2. I went with 2GB on the DDR3 just because the price was so ridiculously high, but since DDR2 is an option with this motherboard it would be better overall to bump it up, right?

Yeah, that's why I said "two" of those, so two 2GB kits. It's a lot cheaper to go 4x1GB and 2x2GB and trust me, in the future, you'll need a new cpu and motherboard before you need more than 4GB of ram.

As for the processor. That makes sense. When I was working with my Dad's new PC which had a dual-core I also recall there being some way to run programs with only a single core if they were incompatible with both cores. Is this also the case with quad cores?

Yeah, same situation, just more cores.

Edit: For the sound, I should probably say what my current speaker setup is that I intend to stick with because I find it to be a high quality set. It is Logitech X-230 2.1. Would it be worth buying that X-Fi with speakers like this?

Considering the price difference, yes, I'd say so. That's a very high-quality card for the price.

Edit 2: For the Q6600, I forgot to mention that there is the issue of B3 versus G0 stepping. Any thoughts on this from someone with first-hand experience between the two? If I order the processor from Newegg there is no guarantee I'll get a G0, so I might have to order it from elsewhere if G0 is substantially better.

At this point in time, you are very likely to get a G0. I buy a lot of Q6600's for my business, and its been a while since I have received a B3. My last purchase of four Q6600's were all G0's (those were from zipzoomfly). But since you are not overclocking, it wouldn't make a big difference anyway. The B3 would just consume a little more power.

 

[Psymon]

All of the input given here, a little more research, and of course reading reviews has led me to the following configuration. Things that have changed from my previous configuration post are bolded as well as italicized. Prices are based in USD and quoted from NewEgg which is where I want to order everything from. I didn't include rebates or anything like that.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower - $119.99
PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - $139.99
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel - $129.99
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 - $287.99
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet - $59.99
Graphics: EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported $549.99
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit $254.00
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface $80.99
HDD1: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 $179.99
HDD2: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s $69.99
Optical: Pioneer Black 2MB Cache E-IDE/ ATAPI DVD Burner $29.99
Monitor: SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor $319.99[/b]
Keyboard: Logitech G11 Silver & Black $58.99
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional $139.99

And components that I already have and will continue to use on the new system:

Speakers: Logitech X-230 32 Watts 2.1 Black
Mouse: Razer Copperhead Chaos Green 2000 DPI
Mouse Pad: Razer eXactMat

As you can see, there's few things I'm actually going to be taking to the new PC because it's been so long since I've upgraded anything.

Total cost will be around $2400 USD which is well below my budget and below the mark which I mainly wanted to stay under ($2500 USD).

Any last thoughts by everyone here on this system? Only concern I have on it is potential incompatibility with the memory and the mother board (I wasn't able to determine from the Official Memory Support List if this particular memory was supported officially, but I don't think it matters since its DDR2 800).

I didn't include a few things like Artic Silver that I will add in. Down the line I might opt for switching out a lot of the stock Antec fans for non-LED's since I'm not a big fan of it and it is probably going to be too bright for sleeping since my PC is right next to my bed. We'll see what happens though as I've never had LED's in my PC like that.

Once again, I just want to thank everyone for taking the time to discuss this potential system and give some great insight on the hardware I was thinking about.

 

[bamacre]

The cpu is $10 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Power Supply is overkill. The Corsair 520W is plenty.
Why the aftermarket cpu cooler if you are not overclocking? The one in the cpu retail box is fine.
The video card is $20 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Why spend $254 on a 4GB kit of DDR2-800 when you can get two 2GB kits for less than half ($116 shipped at ZZF) of DDR2-667 (Q6600 only needs 533mhz anyway, more won't do you any good)?
The XtremeMusic is a better sound card and cheaper.
I think the Raptor is a waste of money, but meh.
I would get a SATA Optical drive (PATA is all but dead).
Why not go Vista if you are spending the money?

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: bamacre
The cpu is $10 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Power Supply is overkill. The Corsair 520W is plenty.

I mainly opted for it for a quality PSU that would potentially last into further upgrades.

Why the aftermarket cpu cooler if you are not overclocking? The one in the cpu retail box is fine.

I'm sticky with temperatures and I've never had good experiences with stock coolers.

The video card is $20 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Why spend $254 on a 4GB kit of DDR2-800 when you can get two 2GB kits for less than half ($116 shipped at ZZF) of DDR2-667 (Q6600 only needs 533mhz anyway, more won't do you any good)?

Unless I'm wrong, I've always been under the impression that the computer performs better if you have 2 sticks of ram, regardless of the size, rather than 1, 3, or 4 sticks of ram. Has this changed recently?

The XtremeMusic is a better sound card and cheaper.

It looked better and cheaper, but I was unable to find it on NewEgg. With all of these other discounts I might have to give ZZF a look even though I've never dealt with them. I take it you've dealt with them a lot. Are they pretty good on shipping and etc.?

I think the Raptor is a waste of money, but meh.

Potentially, but in my mind if I'm going to spend the money I might as well not skimp on a component to save a few bucks. It has been shown to have better performance, so I might as well for a main hard drive.

I would get a SATA Optical drive (PATA is all but dead).

Any recommendations on a SATA drive that you use? I'm horrible when it comes to shopping for opticals. I usually just buy the cheapest model.

Edit: Potentially this drive from ZZF.

Why not go Vista if you are spending the money?

Mainly because I don't see any reason to use Vista until they utilize DX10, which they really haven't yet. Plus I keep hearing way too many negative comments about unstability and Vista having poor compatibility with older games that I currently play like WoW. More than likely, this might just be a bunch of people who have no idea what they're doing, but it concerns me either way. I've used XP for so long I feel at home on it. Feel free to change my mind. 🙂

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Psymon

Originally posted by: bamacre
The cpu is $10 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Power Supply is overkill. The Corsair 520W is plenty.

I mainly opted for it for a quality PSU that would potentially last into further upgrades.

The Corsair 520W is very high-quality. The system as you have configured will not even hit 350W at full load.

Why the aftermarket cpu cooler if you are not overclocking? The one in the cpu retail box is fine.

I'm sticky with temperatures and I've never had good experiences with stock coolers.

The video card is $20 cheaper at ZZF and with free shipping.
Why spend $254 on a 4GB kit of DDR2-800 when you can get two 2GB kits for less than half ($116 shipped at ZZF) of DDR2-667 (Q6600 only needs 533mhz anyway, more won't do you any good)?

Unless I'm wrong, I've always been under the impression that the computer performs better if you have 2 sticks of ram, regardless of the size, rather than 1, 3, or 4 sticks of ram. Has this changed recently?

That used to be the case with AMD, but this does not happen with Intel systems (totally different).

The XtremeMusic is a better sound card and cheaper.

It looked better and cheaper, but I was unable to find it on NewEgg. With all of these other discounts I might have to give ZZF a look even though I've never dealt with them. I take it you've dealt with them a lot. Are they pretty good on shipping and etc.?

I have spent over $200,000 with ZZF in the past 3 years. 😉

I think the Raptor is a waste of money, but meh.

Potentially, but in my mind if I'm going to spend the money I might as well not skimp on a component to save a few bucks. It has been shown to have better performance, so I might as well for a main hard drive.

I would get a SATA Optical drive (PATA is all but dead).

Any recommendations on a SATA drive that you use? I'm horrible when it comes to shopping for opticals. I usually just buy the cheapest model.

Edit: Potentially this drive from ZZF.

NewEgg is actually a good place to buy optical drives. Honestly, I would go by reviews.

Why not go Vista if you are spending the money?

Mainly because I don't see any reason to use Vista until they utilize DX10, which they really haven't yet. Plus I keep hearing way too many negative comments about unstability and Vista having poor compatibility with older games that I currently play like WoW. More than likely, this might just be a bunch of people who have no idea what they're doing, but it concerns me either way. I've used XP for so long I feel at home on it. Feel free to change my mind. 🙂

Crysis will be out in a month. You'll want DX10. Especially if you are going to spend $140 anyway for an OS.

I put my comments above in bold.

 

[Psymon]

Pulled this up off NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...001&Tpk=corsair%2b520w
Seems like it even got better reviews than the other one. Could very easily be changed out if it's not going to matter as far as watts required is concerned. Would save me $20 as well.

As for the RAM, that's probably why I was under that impression. I never gave Intel a passing glance until recently, so it was all AMD for me. The only potential issue I see with the RAM you chose is that its DDR2 675. The motherboard specifications on NewEgg only list DDR2 800 and 1066. Will it work anyways?

I'll do a little more research on Vista as I agree with you, and I've always thought that a lot of the "vista sucks it never works and it's not compatible" being posted is simply from people (a) not experienced and/or (b) not putting enough effort into optimizing Vista properly.

Other than all that, I'm assuming the rest of the system looks good and ready to go?

 

[bamacre]

Cheaper at buy.com...
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/203270716.html

Yes, the DDR2 675 will work fine in the P35 board.

Yeah, rest looks good. The 512MB 8800 GT will be out in less than a week, it is a little slower than the 8800 GTX, but about half the price. Gotta make things complicated, eh? 😀

 

[Psymon]

I made all the necessary changes and found a perfectly fine SATA optical for around $30. It was an easy find because "top burn speeds" doesn't matter to me at all. Whenever I burn a DVD, I burn it at the lowest speed possible so it burns perfectly and free of errors. It was an ASUS optical as well with Lightscribe, and all my opticals have been ASUS or LITEON up to this point and haven't had any issues.

Did a bit of research, especially in the notorious Tweaking Guides Tweaking Companion for Vista, and decided to go ahead and buy it as well. Vista Ultimate Retail DVD which contains all the versions apparently including 32 and 64 bit options for a little over $300.

Overall, after shipping and taxes, the total came to just over $2500. Mission accomplished as far as my budget is concerned. Will the system hold up to the pain and torture awaiting it once I set it up though? Probably. 🙂

Thanks again to everyone, especially bamacre for taking the time to discuss those questionable components.

Everything should be arriving Friday (hopefully) which is one of my days off from work and classes, so that should give me something to do.

 

[bamacre]

Have fun building, and enjoy the system! 😀

 

[tigersty1e]

I would go with this mobo if you're not planning on doing raid or firewire.

http://shop4.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

If you still want that mobo, pay 20 bucks more and get the better model...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128048

I would also drop the cpu cooler and use the stock one.

I would also save 150-200 by getting 2 gb of ram now and then when the time is right either get 2 more or get a 4gb kit for cheaper than what it is now..... or get the P35C mobo (linked above) now and then when the time is right upgrade to ddr3 when you need 4 gigs of ram.


But if I really were you I would wait for Intel's next quadcore offering and if Nvidia's card is out then, hop up on it. Isn't the GTX technically a 1 year old card now?

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
I would go with this mobo if you're not planning on doing raid or firewire.

http://shop4.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

If you still want that mobo, pay 20 bucks more and get the better model...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128048

I would also drop the cpu cooler and use the stock one.

I would also save 150-200 by getting 2 gb of ram now and then when the time is right either get 2 more or get a 4gb kit for cheaper than what it is now..... or get the P35C mobo (linked above) now and then when the time is right upgrade to ddr3 when you need 4 gigs of ram.


But if I really were you I would wait for Intel's next quadcore offering and if Nvidia's card is out then, hop up on it. Isn't the GTX technically a 1 year old card now?

I wasn't aware of that better model of the motherboard, it definitely looks better. I'll probably revise my order to include it instead.

As for the ram situation I think starting out with Vista I'll want the 4GB to boot.

The only problem I have with the "waiting game" is once I wait for all that, there will be something better announced, and then I'll want to wait for that, and so on so forth. Unless a significant hardware change is right around the corner (maybe a month) I think it's a waste to wait for hardware improvements because there's no end to that game.

Has there been a concrete release date for the new quad cores and any sort of pricing information or specifics as to how well they'll perform in comparison to current quad cores? I haven't heard much about them.

Edit: Only other problem with the waiting game is even if it is around the corner, and even if it does offer a lot of performance gain over predecessors, brand new hardware is always extremely expensive. The CPU and GPU I'm currently using, though they might have better coming out, are finally getting old enough to be affordable on my budget and they still offer extremely good bang for the buck even in the latest games. Just my 2 cents on the new hardware subject - I could be wrong.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: bamacre
I have spent over $200,000 with ZZF in the past 3 years. 😉

:shocked:

 

[biostud]

depending on your eager to push the button you might want to consider the soon release of the 8800GT (which seems to be fairly close to the GTX for $250-300 less) or rv670

 

[Psymon]

Just an update on the current state of this system.

The motherboard information was enough motivation for me to cancel the order and revise it, and upon doing so I came across a review that I had not noticed before on the Samsung 226BW. Apparently there were 3 panel manufacturers for this, one was Samsung and the other two were [A] and [C]. The S was obviously the best one, but they are nearly impossible to find now, and the A's and C's are horrible LCD's in comparison.

Ordering that monitor off NewEgg was basically playing the lottery with a good chance of winning an A or a C panel, and as such I decided to look local: Circuit City & Best Buy.

Best Buy only had C panels, and Circuit City had what appeared to be an S panel, but they were unable to substantiate the claim.

However, while at Best Buy I noticed a different model, the 226CW. The difference? The CW has enhanced color using what I believe is called Wide Color Gamut(CCFL) but the big difference is that the 226CW model is *guaranteed* to be an S panel.

I ended up buying one of the 226CW and have it hooked up right now using my current system on DVI. I must say, I am very impressed with it, and haven't even taken the time to properly calibrate anything and the overall picture is very good to my eyes.

The only issues I've noticed so far are:

a) In WoW, a horizontal line will randomly span the very top of the screen and this line is either leftover pixels from something in the game, or a solid white. Alt tabbing fixes the issue but it will come back after a few minutes (alt tabbing fixes again).

b) While watching movies, there is a subtle but noticable grainy effect on certain backgrounds such as a landscape scene in the movie where an expansive sky is present. The sky will be noticably grainy.

Will calibration fix any of this? I don't know. Is my video card simply too old/weak to be fully compatible with the monitor? Possibly, but there's no way to tell until I build the new system.

Just thought I'd post this here as an update and as a word of warning for potential consumers of the Samsung 226BW. If you do go with it, be 100% confident that you are getting an S panel, and if you decide to go with the 226CW, maybe you can help me figure out if the issues experienced are just with my particular monitor, or if it's with all CW's.

 

[Psymon]

Originally posted by: biostud
depending on your eager to push the button you might want to consider the soon release of the 8800GT (which seems to be fairly close to the GTX for $250-300 less) or rv670

I've looked into the 8800GT a little bit, and I am impressed with the bang-for-the-buck, but it seems to still be inferior to its big brother. I'll definitely give it some consideration before finalizing my order, but I'll probably end up with the GTX.