Yet Another "Critique my Rig" Thread

[DalamarD]

Greetings everyone. My friend has asked me to build a system for him, so I did some research and came up with the following layout. It's been awhile since I put a system together, so I may have missed a few things along the way. He gave me a budget of $1500 (including monitor and accessories). The system will be used primarily for gaming. He does NOT intend to overclock it at all, that sort of thing isn't really within his skill-set and he doesn't want to have to be bothered with it.


MOBO - GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor

GPU - Connect3D 3059 Radeon X1900XT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 VIVO Video Card

RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory x 2

PSU - Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply

HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

DVD Drive - LITE-ON 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE

Monitor - BenQ FP91G+ Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD Monitor

Speakers - Logitech X-230 32 watts RMS 2.1 Black

He has yet to pick out a case or a mouse/keyboard, but those should be largely irrelevant (I'll ensure he picks a decent case that is compatible with the rest of the system). He doesn't care too much about sound, so I figured the onboard sound would be good enough. As mentioned, he does not intend to OC at all, so the value RAM with the lower speed should be fine for his setup. I didn't see any Power Supplies that jumped out as being superior for his power needs, so I just went with a good name-brand that fit the requirements. Same with the monitor, I've heard good things about the BenQ, and the price was right. Please let me know if anything jumps out as being a bad choice, or if everything looks pretty good give the budgetary constraints. Thanks in advance.

 

[Boyo]

If he is a gamer I would recommend that he gets a sound card. Something like an Audigy 2 ZS or something similiar. NOt familiar with that PSU so I can't really comment on that, but if you go to jonnyGuru's webiste, you can get a good reveiw....I would also get better RAM. Get an E6300 or E6400 and use the extra money to get better RAM. Maybe you could then overclock his system for him with an E6300 and hit 3.0 or 3.2 GHz.

 

[DalamarD]

Jonnyguru actually rated the 500W version of that PSU quite well. I realize Rosewill is not highly regarded, so if anyone has any better specific suggestions, I'm open to them. I may yet end up buying a sound card. Eveyrthing I've read says that onboard sound is "good enough" for most people. He's by no means an audiophile, so I somehow doubt he'd notice whether or not there's a sound card present. As for the RAM, I was under the impression that buying better RAM would in no way benefit the system if I don't intend to OC. I could just OC it myself, but he lives too far away for me to be able to monitor and/or troubleshoot his system if something came up. So I think I'd rather focus on stability vs. a bit of extra performance and avoid OCing at all. So under those circumstances, I think the DDR2 667 value RAM would be fine. But please continue commenting, I appreciate all the suggestions.

 

[Boyo]

Well you are right. It won't benefit the system if you don't OC, so stay with what you have if he really isn't going to OC. I would go with a Seasonic or Enermax PSU, but if jonny guru gavbe the PSU you have the thumbs up, then go with that too. Overall I think it's a good build.

 

[lobbyone]

As long as there is no CrossFire or SLi, that PSU will be fine.

 

[brikis98]

if you def. aren't going to OC, the CPU/mobo/RAM speed are good choices. depending on the games he plays (esp. oblivion, bf 2, and other games with LARGE maps), he might see some benefit from 2gb of RAM. however, that's totally optional.

almost any sound card will beat on board sound, but if that's not a concern, that's def. a good way to save money. for that monitor (namely, it's native res.) the video card is also an excellent bang-for-the-buck choice.

i haven't read the review for that particular PSU, but in my experience, Rosewill has been awful. i've worked on 2 of their cases, both of which were flimsy, broke easily, tons of sharp edges, etc. and of the three Rosewill PSU's owned by my friends, 2 died in less than a year. of course, that may not be the case with this one, but i'd never trust my expensive components to rosewill. for almost the same price, you can get a (IMO) much more trustable Enhance 5150gh which jonnyguru also gave a very good review to.

what case are you putting all this in?

 

[Roguestar]

Seconding get extra RAM, but Corsair Value Select is certainly good enough for someone who's not going to overclock.

 

[Operandi]

Power: All power supplies are not created equal, and since they power everything in your machine they are not something you should skimp over.

While Rosewill may not be total junk like some they are not particularly good. You also don't need anywhere near 500 watts, quality is far more important then quantity. If you want something in similar price range this 330 watt Seasonic S12 would be a much better choice, though the 380 watt version would have you covered for future proofing.

Alternatively the Enhance unit mentioned above would also be an excellent choice.

RAM: You really want 2GB at this point if you want this machine to perform at all near its potential, it should also be dual channel (two matched sticks). Drop to slower CPU if you have to, all the Core2 CPUs are very fast.

Geil is one of my usual sources (among Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, Mushkin) and they seem to have the edge on speed for the price currently -- I would go with this 2GB Geil set.

Sound: Don't even consider a sound card until you are in the $200-$300 range with the speakers, you would never hear the difference on speakers like that.

All boards come with at the very least good HD audio chips that more then equal for high end sound cards from a generation or two ago.

 

[DalamarD]

Thank you all very much for the responses. In my first post, I neglected to mention that I would be buying 2x RAM sticks. So yeah, I would have 2GB total. I would never go with less than 2GB RAM anymore, it was pure oversight on my part not to mention it in my initial post. In terms of specific RAM, I was looking at Geil, but somewhere it said they only support AMD CPUs. Maybe I was reading it wrong, but I didn't want any compatibility issues. I've had good luck with Corsair Value Select in the past, so I figured I'd go with that. As for the case, he still hasn't picked one out yet. I gave him some basic guidelines, and told him to pick a few out. So much of a case is just aesthetics anyway, it seemed silly force him into a particular case. I'll make sure it has the right bays, cooling, etc. But for his needs, it doesn't have to be too specific.

Thanks again for all the comments, I think I'll try finding a better PSU as many people seem to think Rosewill is a bad choice. Other than that, it seems like I'm good to go.

 

[Daleon]

Defintely listen to everyone and don't go near a that Rosewill PSU... No one seems to make good single 12V rail PSU's anymore. A nice +12V@30A would be good if you can find one. Just don't skimp, put out the $100 or so to get something good.

Your still coming in well under your $1500, I don't know if he wants to spend that full amount or come in as cheap as possible. I'd personally shoot for an 8800GTS. I've seen a few going around $400 after rebates, can't beat that. Or maybe a little nicer LCD, widescreen is purty!