Want to build new system

[Acehawk74]

Hey everyone. I'm looking for a new computer, and am looking for some ideas. Here are the details of what I have, and what I am looking for.

I have a monitor, and a 160gb external HD. No need for speakers, printer, or headset/mic/headphones.

I would like to make a system that is great for gaming, can be overclocked down the road (or now if I get the itch to do it) , and can last a good amount of time for the $ that I spend. I also would like to capture video and live TV (snapstream, tv capture cards). My budget is from 1000-1500, but I can go as high as 2 grand (would just prefer to say under 1500).

So basically, I'm looking for the following:

Case
Power Supply
Processor
Motherboard
Hard Drive(s)
Vid Card(s)
Ram (2-4gb, please advise on how much would be good)
Any Cooling Solutions that might be necessary


I'm sure im missing components, so If you can throw an idea in there, I would appreciate it.

One additional thing that I am looking for... I have always struggled with trying to get the processor and mobo mounted in the case, and ended up screwing something up. Do you guys know of a location on the net where I can get a good diagram of how to install the parts in the case? Once everything is mounted, processor in, I would be set.

I appreciate your input, and look forward to your replies!

Thanks!!

One final note - I am in the U.S., as I'm sure that will affect pricing suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[alimoalem]

here is MechBGon's guide to first time builders. i haven't read through the whole thing but many people say it's amazing (must be. an elite wrote it )

i'm tired right now so tomorrow maybe i can link the parts and add prices but here's a list you might be able to work with:

case - leave for tomorrow
psu: corsair 520w, enermax liberty 500w, seasonic 500w, or fortron 500w..about $100
processor: e6600...about $300
motherboard: gigabyte ds3..about $130 (maybe something else, i'll figure it out tomorrow or someone else will)
harddrive: 250gb-320gb Western Digital or Seagate..$70-95
video card: depends on your monitor and games. what resolution/settings do you play your games at and what games do you play? recommendation...anywhere between a $200 and $600 card
ram: 2x1gb ddr2-800 ram (g.skill, corsiar xms, quite a few others...too tired to think)...spend around $200-225
not too good with cooling but i remember reading up on a good fan on anandtech.com...go to the top of the page and click the cases/cooling tab. it should be one of the most recent ones...$50

this all should run you between $1000-1400 or something like that. definitely within budget and these are ballpark estimates. better buys are definitely around. there's a 2x1gb DDR2-667 deal in the Hot Deals forum for like $120. you can run dividers for your overclocks and ram makes like 2-5% difference in benchmarks (not noticable to humans) so you could save at least $100 there.

sorry for not being more of a help. i'm off to bed to class tomorrow, then i'll edit/update as needed

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Acehawk74
Want to build new system

Hey everyone. I'm looking for a new computer, and am looking for some ideas.
Thanks!

There are tons of threads asking the exact same thing. Have you read any of them?

 

[GoCobbers1]

MechBgon's guide does an amazing job spelling everything out for you... Use it.

 

[Acehawk74]

Alimoalem,

Fantastic Guide for first time builders! Thanks for the link!

I also appreciate the reply!

A couple of additional questions, on top of responding to your questions to me.

PSU - Other than a slight wattage difference with the Corsair, is there really much of a difference with any of those specific ones?

Video Card - I have a Samsung 204b monitor, and like to run at higher resolutions. I would probably inch closer to as high end as possible (within reasonable cost). The 8800's look nice, but I can't figure out if the difference between the 768 or 640 mb versions and the 320 is worth the price difference.

Ram - Excellent deal on that RAM. I could actually get 4gb with the DDR2-667 deal, and pay only $40 more than a typical 2gb price. Is the DDR2-667 solid ram (speed, overclocking, etc.)

I apologize for some of the noobish questions, I just want to make an informed decision. Thanks for the help!

Blain,
I have read some of the other threads, but here is why I posted my own.

I had specific questions other than a system configuration (Newbie guide for building, questions about TV capture cards and overclocking)

I didn't want to hijack another thread with my questions.

I also wanted to gauge the ideas more towards my situation. I'm looking for as much possible advice as people are willing to give me.

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: Acehawk74
Alimoalem,

A couple of additional questions, on top of responding to your questions to me.

PSU - Other than a slight wattage difference with the Corsair, is there really much of a difference with any of those specific ones?

I haven't researched all of those PSU's, but I know that the above mentioned are all quality choices and highly recommended. You may find that one has modular cabling, or that another is rated for quiet operation (I know the Seasonics are very quiet). I think any of the above would be a good choice.

I can't answer your other questions about video and RAM with confidence, but here are some tips on other hardware from personal experience:

Another great PSU choice not mentioned by alimoalim is the Enhance 5150GH 500W. It can be bought from eWiz.com for only $69. It is very quiet and runs at >80% efficeiency. It's by far the best bang for the buck PSU available right now.

Other choices on mobo's might be the Gigabyte S3 or Biostar TForce 965P. These are both offered at slightly over $100 and are proven to be great OC'ers. They jsut don't have all the bells and whistles of the high end boards but offer the same performance. By bells and whistles I am refering to firewire, raid, SLI, crossfire, etc...

For cooling you might want to check out the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. It is a very quiet and efficient cooler for around $30. There are better coolers out there for more money, but the Freezer 7 Pro is a great bang for the buck and will handle mild OC's with ease.

HDD's: The Seagate's are a little better in performance over the WD's, but I am sceptical on whether or not any human would actually notice the difference. I chose a 320GB SATA WD for my rig because it runs much cooler and quieter than the Seagates from the research I did. Now that I have it running, I can personally verify that it is very quiet and runs very cool. I can't say from experience how the Seagates perform.

I hope these tips give you a little more to work with for your new build :thumbsup:

 

[engiNURD]

What monitor do you have? what games do you play and at what resolution/settings do you want to play them at?

 

[Acehawk74]

I have a Samsung 204B (20 inch) LCD Flat screen. I play WoW, and play RPG and FPS type games (NWN, Oblivion, Halflife, etc..)

 

[imported_iNGEN]

The Tuniq 120 and Artic Cooling's Freezer 7 Pro are both excellent coolers for the money. The Tuniq 120 does a better job cooling during high load, but the Freezer tends to be quieter.

 

[alimoalem]

yea mcurphy's enhance psu recommendation is also a good choice. i didn't know the specific model or anything and was too lazy to go to ewiz.com (only place i know that sells enhance) so my bad

here is a link that compares the 8800GTS and GTX to high end DX9 cards.

here is a link that compares the different manufacturers of the 8800 cards (overclocking and performance after overclocked)

you really could have found these numbers yourself. lots of people (like blain) get pissed off when you don't use the source's resources. if you have a video card related question, check the benchmarks/reviews by clicking on the Video tab at the top. same goes for CPU and everything else up there.

your cooling answer.

if you want to spend more, there's an expensive cooler in that review. the arctic freezer should be good, too, though i have not seen any reviews of it myself.

i agree with mcurphy on the hard drives as well. seagate is faster. will you notice the speed difference? if you do, then something is really wrong with you. what i look for when it comes to hard drives is sound and heat. those are 2 things that you actually do notice. western digital is better in those two.

are you going to be sticking with a 20" display? if yes, then i suppose the 8800GTS would suffice. check out the benchmarks, etc. you'll be playing the games so you know what fps you like

 

[Acehawk74]

I appreciate the reply, and I know I probably could've found these resources myself. I just didn't trust my knowledge on the topic to make the correct analysis on it.

I apologize if it offended anyone.

I'll be sticking with the 20' monitor, but ill read the links and take the suggestions and search for prices. Thanks for the help!

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

With your budget, there's no question you'll want a Core 2 Duo. See what you think of this:

Core 2 Duo E4300 retail
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 retail
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 retail
2x Western Digital WD2500JS OEM
Cooler Master CAC-T05-WW retail
Lite-on LH-20A1H-186 retail
NEC 7170A-0B OEM
Leadtek PVR2000 retail
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR retail *not sure on this
FSP Group ATX400-PA OEM
NEC FD1231H-302 OEM
Zonet ZFM5620-CF retail
TOTAL: $1,112.26 shipped from Newegg

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
With your budget, there's no question you'll want a Core 2 Duo. See what you think of this:

Core 2 Duo E4300 retail
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 retail
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 retail
2x Western Digital WD2500JS OEM
Cooler Master CAC-T05-WW retail
Lite-on LH-20A1H-186 retail
NEC 7170A-0B OEM
Leadtek PVR2000 retail
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR retail *not sure on this
FSP Group ATX400-PA OEM
NEC FD1231H-302 OEM
Zonet ZFM5620-CF retail
TOTAL: $1,112.26 shipped from Newegg

DO NOT buy the NEC 7170A, it is insanely loud!!! LOL I bought this drive for my recent build and it sounds like a vacuum when it starts spinning. The NEC drives have really gone downhill lately....at least as far as noise goes. Read some of the newegg reviews for noise issues and you will see that many agree. I built my system as a silent PC and I was sooo dissapointed when this drive fired up for the first time. Check out some of the other brands reviews if silence is important to you.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
With your budget, there's no question you'll want a Core 2 Duo. See what you think of this:

Core 2 Duo E4300 retail
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 retail
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 retail
2x Western Digital WD2500JS OEM
Cooler Master CAC-T05-WW retail
Lite-on LH-20A1H-186 retail
NEC 7170A-0B OEM
Leadtek PVR2000 retail
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR retail *not sure on this
FSP Group ATX400-PA OEM
NEC FD1231H-302 OEM
Zonet ZFM5620-CF retail
TOTAL: $1,112.26 shipped from Newegg

i like this. mcurphy has first hand experience with the optical drive though so change that to something else (read reviews)

also, i would upgrade the 7900GS to a faster card. a 20" LCD has native resolution of 1600x1200 and the 7900GS struggles at that resolution.
power supply: even though it's not needed, it wouldn't be bad getting a 500w psu (enhance 5150 $64 at ewiz.com). others are out there but this is only $20 more than the FSP 400w recommended.

lastly, Acehawk, i'm not sure if you need the 500GB space or not but if you do, i would get a single drive. if you don't need the space, drop down to a smaller single drive. 1 drive > 2 drives if the prices are similar (i think 500GB drives are around $150 now so same price as 2 250GB drives give or take $10). a single drive is cooler, quieter, and takes less power.

i think hurtstotalktoyou's recommendation is real good though so i would edit your Original Post and add this system up there so people can critique this. it's a good start

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: mcurphy

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
With your budget, there's no question you'll want a Core 2 Duo. See what you think of this:

Core 2 Duo E4300 retail
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 retail
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 retail
2x Western Digital WD2500JS OEM
Cooler Master CAC-T05-WW retail
Lite-on LH-20A1H-186 retail
NEC 7170A-0B OEM
Leadtek PVR2000 retail
EVGA 256-P2-N624-AR retail *not sure on this
FSP Group ATX400-PA OEM
NEC FD1231H-302 OEM
Zonet ZFM5620-CF retail
TOTAL: $1,112.26 shipped from Newegg

DO NOT buy the NEC 7170A, it is insanely loud!!! LOL I bought this drive for my recent build and it sounds like a vacuum when it starts spinning. The NEC drives have really gone downhill lately....at least as far as noise goes. Read some of the newegg reviews for noise issues and you will see that many agree. I built my system as a silent PC and I was sooo dissapointed when this drive fired up for the first time. Check out some of the other brands reviews if silence is important to you.

There was a Samsung drive that looked nice, too, but I love my NEC ND-1100A, so I thought I'd suggest another NEC... But if they've gone downhill, go for the Samsung, I'd say.

 

[mcurphy]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou


There was a Samsung drive that looked nice, too, but I love my NEC ND-1100A, so I thought I'd suggest another NEC... But if they've gone downhill, go for the Samsung, I'd say.

I agree. The Samsung should be a good choice.

From what I understand, NEC has started using rebadged Sony Optiac or some crap for their hardware. This is the main reason for the noise and failure complaints you may read about. NEC used to be a very high quality burner, but that has seemed to change recentley.

 

[Acehawk74]

Alright, after about a week of tweaking and reading up, I came up with these final specs through all the reccomendations and advice from the forums in a few threads.

First of all, thanks to everyone for your advice, me and my wallet thanks you =D.

Secondly, may I have one final critique on the computer below? I will be planning on overclocking, and am looking for longevity in the system. If you know of any parts that are better, I would appreciate the input. Below are the parts, prices, and links to the listing. All items are on Newegg. Final price (with additiona periphrials, cheap mouse/keyboard for the wife, and printer) is $1,723. I have plenty of wiggle room, up to another $150 if need be so if an upgrade might be a bit pricier, but fits better, include that as well.

Thanks!

Cooler Master Centurion 5 - 49.99

Corsair 620W PSU

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - 132.99

Core 2 Duo E4300 - 175.00

EVGA Geforce 8800GTX 768 MB - 604.99

G.Skill 2GB DDR2-800 Ram - 174.99

320GB Seagate Barracude HD - 89.99

DVD writer w/lightscribe - 32.99

Soundblaster X-FI XtremeGamer
- 79.99

Inspire P7800 7.1 Speakers - 66.99

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Acehawk74
Alright, after about a week of tweaking and reading up, I came up with these final specs through all the reccomendations and advice from the forums in a few threads.

First of all, thanks to everyone for your advice, me and my wallet thanks you =D.

Secondly, may I have one final critique on the computer below? I will be planning on overclocking, and am looking for longevity in the system. If you know of any parts that are better, I would appreciate the input. Below are the parts, prices, and links to the listing. All items are on Newegg. Final price (with additiona periphrials, cheap mouse/keyboard for the wife, and printer) is $1,723. I have plenty of wiggle room, up to another $150 if need be so if an upgrade might be a bit pricier, but fits better, include that as well.

Thanks!

Cooler Master Centurion 5 - 49.99

Corsair 620W PSU

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - 132.99

Core 2 Duo E4300 - 175.00

EVGA Geforce 8800GTX 768 MB - 604.99

G.Skill 2GB DDR2-800 Ram - 174.99

320GB Seagate Barracude HD - 89.99

DVD writer w/lightscribe - 32.99

Soundblaster X-FI XtremeGamer
- 79.99

Inspire P7800 7.1 Speakers - 66.99

Looks great!

My only suggestion would be if overclocking spend and extra $30-40 bucks and get an E6400, some of the E4300's don't seem to overclock as well.

I also don't see an aftermarket CPU cooler listed? If overclocking you will want something better than the stock HSF

 

[Acehawk74]

I was hearing something about the multiplier being better on the 4300, which is why I went with it. The 6400 would give me similar speeds, or better, with the ram I have?

Also, any suggestions for a good aftermarket CPU cooler?

 

[s44]

Your RAM's actually a bit of overkill if you do use the E4300. E6400 will have a better guaranteed OC (will hit 3.2ghz at the RAM's stock speed) and is of course much faster at stock speed.