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MrM117

Junior Member
I'm thinking about building myself a new computer. I'm a freshman in college, so the most important points are price, future-proof, and durability--I want this to last for 3-4 years (my current machine, an Athlon XP I built myself, is 4 years old). I'm not an audiophile, nor do I have to have games run at max settings. That being said,I'm looking at about $1000-$1100, including monitor but not OS/keyboard/mouse/speakers.

Most of what I do is the standard browse web, write essays/code, watch movies, listen to music, etc. At any given time, I'm probably doing all of those things. I don't game a lot, mostly older games (I want to play Spore when/if it comes out, and there's always the occasional spontaneous LAN). I do want to run multiple VMs, so I've been looking at quad-core CPUs. The machine will most likely run some Linux distro with Xen. I'm hoping I can run my current copy of XP as a VM and get decent game performance. Can I run, say, Halo PC in a windows VM with decent performance? If that's completely unreasonable, should I get a cheaper dual-core CPU (I was looking at the E6550) and dual-boot XP? I don't plan on overclocking.

I like AMD, but it looks like Intel currently has the better price/performance for what I want. If that's not the case, please correct me. Other than that, I have no brand preferences.

I've looked around a bit, but couldn't find anything specifically addressing the VM issue.
Here's what I'm currently looking at:

CPU: Q6600
Mobo: ABIT IP35-E Will this board last? I've read mixed reviews about other aspects of this board. I'm willing to spend a little more if I can get something that will last longer, but otherwise this looks pretty good.
RAM: G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 Is this the right speed? I'm not up on my RAM speed to FSB ratios.
Video: eVGA 8600 GTS 512MB I could go $30 cheaper for an 8600GT or $30-$50 more for an 8800GT. I don't know anything about ATI chips.
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB I don't need much space, even though storage is cheap.
Case/PSU: Lian Li PC-A05B/Antec EarthWatts 430W
Monitor: Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor I just grabbed this arbitrarily--is there something better for approximately the same price?

According to Newegg, this comes to $1055 before shipping/rebates. Anything I'm missing? I already have a DVD drive that I can use to load the OS.
 
> Will this board last?

If you only use 1 video card, yes.

> Is this the right speed?

Yes.

>$30-$50 more for an 8800GT

Do it. 8600GTS is underwhelming for the latest games. If you really decide you can't afford the 8800GT then go for a 9600GT.

>Q6600

Nice choice for your demands, it sounds like. Get a good HSF and overclock it, and you will have a nice gaming machine as well.

> Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB I don't need much space, even though storage is cheap.

Sounds good. You might consider at least getting a single platter 320GB drive for the higher data density.

> 430W

I would say go for a little more power. You are running a quad after all. A lot of people recommend the corsair HX 520
 
That motherboard should be okay. Check out the Gigabyte P35-DS3L as an alternative.
Good choice the RAM.
The MSI 9600GT is about $155 AR, and the 8800GT is $190 AR. I'd definitely get that over the 8600GTS.

You should definitely take a day or two and do some research and consider overclocking. It's extremely simple, safe (if done with the right research), and gives you that extra performance for free.
 
Hey, thanks for the responses. I'll look into the PSU.

My current rig was overclocked, so I'm not unfamiliar with it. The problem is that I don't want to bother with replacing the HSF (I know, it's only about $30, but between that and the hassle...), and the machine will be stuffed into a small dorm room. I had to reset my current comp to factory settings after it overheated, and it has pretty decent cooling. If I can overclock a bit without bumping the voltage, I'll be happy to do that. Also, I want it to be quiet as possible without going to extra trouble.

Can anyone give me a practical feel for what advantage getting a better video card would give me? Keep in mind that I currently have a Ti4200, so I imagine anything I get is going to be a significant leap. Halo PC is the most taxing game I play with any regularity, and it runs fine on the Ti4200. Will getting an 8800GT over the 8600GT (non-S) increase the life expectancy of my machine?

Also, I forgot to mention, as it is I probably won't be buying for a week or two, and I don't really need it right away, so if there's a compelling reason to wait a bit, I can do that.
 
the 8600gt is not realy a gaming card (it will handle halo fine but if you decide you want to try anything more recent you won't be impressed), right now the 9600gt is a great budget card and the 8800gt is a great card at a near budget price.
 
I made the upgrade 3 years ago from a Ti4200 to an nvidia 6800GT. At the time, the 6800GT was $400. I thought "holy fuck that's a lot of money" but as soon as I got everything set up, I did not regret the purchase one bit. Especially when I started playing world of warcraft (which I no longer play) the video card was worth every penny.

Any game even if it is a few years old will benefit from a better video card. If you really don't play ANY new games then go for the 9600GT. It is inexpensive yet powerful.
 
Originally posted by: MrM117
My current rig was overclocked, so I'm not unfamiliar with it. The problem is that I don't want to bother with replacing the HSF (I know, it's only about $30, but between that and the hassle...), and the machine will be stuffed into a small dorm room. I had to reset my current comp to factory settings after it overheated, and it has pretty decent cooling. If I can overclock a bit without bumping the voltage, I'll be happy to do that. Also, I want it to be quiet as possible without going to extra trouble.

Can anyone give me a practical feel for what advantage getting a better video card would give me? Keep in mind that I currently have a Ti4200, so I imagine anything I get is going to be a significant leap. Halo PC is the most taxing game I play with any regularity, and it runs fine on the Ti4200. Will getting an 8800GT over the 8600GT (non-S) increase the life expectancy of my machine?
Click to expand...

Considering you have a Ti4200, I'm assuming your rig is a few years old. Overclocking today is MUCH different than overclocking before. While I'm not sure how proficient the Q6600 is on stock cooling, many of the E**** series overclock very well on stock cooling with a slight voltage bump. I imagine the Q6600 can do some mild overclocking on a stock heatsink with a very minor voltage bump.

An 8800GT will definitely extend the life of the machine. The 8600 series is yesteryear's card. There's no point into investing $140 on old technology. At the very least spend the extra $15 and get the 9600GT.

Why buy the 2007 model of a car for $14,000 when you can the newly remodeled 2008 for $15,400 that offers superior performance in every aspect?
 
with stock cooling getting the q6600 to 3.0ghz or at least 2.8 should be quite possible, once you start playing with the voltages it can get quite hot so an aftermarket hsf becomes necessary.
 
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