Hey there,
Everyone on this forum is always so helpful and supportive of us Noobs building our first system, I thought I?d take advantage of your great cumulative knowledge and run my proposed rig past everyone prior to ordering.
By way of background this will be my home machine. My first non-Mac home machine ever (if I?m going to make the windows plunge, I might as well go all the way).
What I think I'll be using it for:
TV Capture / TIVOing 15%
Copying Tapes to DVD 15%
Digital Audio Creation/Editing 10%
Gaming 20%
General Surfing 30%
Work (general MS Office stuff) 10%
So, here's what I'm thinking about building:
Case - CoolerMaster Cavalier (CAV-T01) (no side window)
This is going to be sitting out in my living room so it's got to look good. I like the 5 exposed 5 1/4 bays (as I'll probably eventually add fan controls, Sound I/O, etc). Also, I like the 120mm exhaust fan. With all the components, I'm probably going to be generating some kind of heat. Oh, and the "sound gauge" I'm going to try to replace with a thermometer.
CPU - AMD 64 4000+ (939) (OEM)
I know, a big boy, and expensive, but I think I need it. Digital Audio, DVD authoring and TV Capture, particularly if I end up multitasking will take up a lot of processing power. This gives me a powerful machine, but I would still have room to grow (e.g., I can move up to the FX-55 down the line if I still need more power). Also, the 1 meg L2 cache is just to enticing to pass up.
Heatsink Fan ? Thermaltake A1772
Since I?m building this blind, I didn?t want to go real big here since I don?t know how much space I?m going to have. From reading the forums here and elsewhere, it sounds like the consensus is this should be a pretty good choice.
Motherboard ? DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR
From the reviews I?ve been reading lately this is leading the pack as a choice. Also from the arrangement of the board slots I think I should be able to support all of the various stuff I want to plug into it (sound card, PVR, etc). See thread in Motherboard forum (DFI sticky in Motheboards forum)
Memory - Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x512)
Kind of weird, with all of the high end component talk to go relatively cheap on the memory, but from everything I've seen, going low latency might buy you an additional 2-5%, but will cost twice to three times as much (see article "Does RAM Latency Matter" on Extremetech.com article. Corsair is a good company and it's what's recommended for my motherboard. (2.5-3-3-6)
PSU - PC&C 510 SLI Deluxe
Yes, I know they are the most expensive PSUs out there. But generally everyone will tell you that they are the best. I tried to do the whole - calculate the apms per rail to determine if the PSU has the juice - but I've got so many peripherals I have no idea what the final calculation ended up as. They're big. They're strong. They?re reliable. PSU are the source of so many problems: and realistically, how often do you really replace it? I?ll pay for the piece of mind by putting in Godzilla now and know I won't have to worry about power later.
Video Card ? BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC
Here I'm a little more unsure. I'm staying away from the Ultras as they tend to be "double wides", and could preclude me accessing vital real-estate on the Motherboard. It may run a little hotter then the Leadteks, and may not be the fastest card, but according to everything I?ve read, it?s an excellent card, and it would appear BFG has the best reputation for customer support. Since this will be my first build ever, I?ll need all the help I can get. This thread sort of settled it for me thread
Sound Card - Audigy 2ZS Platinum
Since I'll be doing recording, having the plugs on the front of the rig will be very helpful. Might break down and go with the Pro (it has a stand alone box). The idea of forgetting to unplug something then walking away only to hear a sickening thud as the Case tips over gives me pause. M-Audio Revolution 7.1 was an option, but access to the plugs finally dropped it out of contention.
PVR Happauge 500 MCE
Originally was going to go with the AIW for the video card until I found out that it has software encoding rather then hardware, which can lead to a degradation of quality as well as dropped frames. Generally the consensus seems to be that the card is fine if you want to either record or game, but should you try to multi-task you run into problems. As for why the 500, it supports dual tuners so I can record two shows, or watch one and record one, etc. It also supports MCE natively. The current product recall has me a little nervous, but the HTPC community seems to be okay with it.
Hard Drive ? Seagate Barracuda 300 GB with NCQ (serial ATA)
This choice was surprisingly hard. I wanted a fast drive, but I needed a REALLY BIG drive. I could have gone with a Raptor for speed, but they're relatively small and expensive, especially since I'll be dealing with a lot of large video files. The other finalist (aside from the Seagate) was the 300 GB Maxtor (16 mb cache). Though perhaps faster, Maxtors are notoriously loud, and since this will be sitting on the desk next to me, I went with the quieter one.
DVD Recorder - Sony DRU 720A
I know, with Sony you always pay a premium for the name. But what I'm also paying a premium for is a full version of Nero 6.6: the dvd authoring software that comes bundled with the drive. Subtract that from the overall price, and the price gets real competitive. Though not the absolute fastest out there, it's still pretty speedy, and I'm guessing the difference isn't really going to be noticeable in the long run
Floppy Disk - Adaptec Media Reader 7500
EVERYONE who builds their own computers seems to say you need to have a floppy drive. In fact, they say if you don't include it you'll need it, if you include it, you won't. I can understand the whole "taunting the gods" idea so I want to have a floppy, but that seems like such a waste. This internal card reader supports flash media, memory sticks, etc, as well. If you've got to go, I say, go all the way.
Monitor - Samsung 997DF 19"
Knowing how variable monitors can be, I wasn't going to buy one on the internet if I could avoid it (besides, the cost of shipping would kill me). So after checking out sites, I made a list of potential players then went shopping here in NYC. Went CRT because of all the video stuff I'll be doing. From everything I've seen LCDs are still cooler to lack at then they are to look into.
Headphones - Sennheiser 580
This may change as I'm still researching. I'm going with headphones rather then speakers initially because where the computer will be is right near my front door, maybe 5 feet from my stereo. So a) I don't want the sound of a lot of highly amplified automatic gunfire scaring the neighbors into calling the police (this is NYC after all) and b) if I want music, I've got music right there.
Keyboard / Mouse - ???
Really not that focused on this. I really can't see any differences between the vendors, so when I'm ready I'll go to CompUSA, try out a couple, then just buy one. I am leaning towards a wireless mouse though; my current mouse wire is driving me nuts!
OS - Microsoft - Media Center 2005
Basically it's XP Pro SP2 with a couple of features turned off. But it also has integrated a lot of tools for me to be able to manage my TV recording, my DVD making and my digital Audio stuff.
So there you have it. Let me know what you all think. Am I any incompatibilities? Any obvious mistakes?
Thanks in advance for your help with this.
AMB
Everyone on this forum is always so helpful and supportive of us Noobs building our first system, I thought I?d take advantage of your great cumulative knowledge and run my proposed rig past everyone prior to ordering.
By way of background this will be my home machine. My first non-Mac home machine ever (if I?m going to make the windows plunge, I might as well go all the way).
What I think I'll be using it for:
TV Capture / TIVOing 15%
Copying Tapes to DVD 15%
Digital Audio Creation/Editing 10%
Gaming 20%
General Surfing 30%
Work (general MS Office stuff) 10%
So, here's what I'm thinking about building:
Case - CoolerMaster Cavalier (CAV-T01) (no side window)
This is going to be sitting out in my living room so it's got to look good. I like the 5 exposed 5 1/4 bays (as I'll probably eventually add fan controls, Sound I/O, etc). Also, I like the 120mm exhaust fan. With all the components, I'm probably going to be generating some kind of heat. Oh, and the "sound gauge" I'm going to try to replace with a thermometer.
CPU - AMD 64 4000+ (939) (OEM)
I know, a big boy, and expensive, but I think I need it. Digital Audio, DVD authoring and TV Capture, particularly if I end up multitasking will take up a lot of processing power. This gives me a powerful machine, but I would still have room to grow (e.g., I can move up to the FX-55 down the line if I still need more power). Also, the 1 meg L2 cache is just to enticing to pass up.
Heatsink Fan ? Thermaltake A1772
Since I?m building this blind, I didn?t want to go real big here since I don?t know how much space I?m going to have. From reading the forums here and elsewhere, it sounds like the consensus is this should be a pretty good choice.
Motherboard ? DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR
From the reviews I?ve been reading lately this is leading the pack as a choice. Also from the arrangement of the board slots I think I should be able to support all of the various stuff I want to plug into it (sound card, PVR, etc). See thread in Motherboard forum (DFI sticky in Motheboards forum)
Memory - Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x512)
Kind of weird, with all of the high end component talk to go relatively cheap on the memory, but from everything I've seen, going low latency might buy you an additional 2-5%, but will cost twice to three times as much (see article "Does RAM Latency Matter" on Extremetech.com article. Corsair is a good company and it's what's recommended for my motherboard. (2.5-3-3-6)
PSU - PC&C 510 SLI Deluxe
Yes, I know they are the most expensive PSUs out there. But generally everyone will tell you that they are the best. I tried to do the whole - calculate the apms per rail to determine if the PSU has the juice - but I've got so many peripherals I have no idea what the final calculation ended up as. They're big. They're strong. They?re reliable. PSU are the source of so many problems: and realistically, how often do you really replace it? I?ll pay for the piece of mind by putting in Godzilla now and know I won't have to worry about power later.
Video Card ? BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC
Here I'm a little more unsure. I'm staying away from the Ultras as they tend to be "double wides", and could preclude me accessing vital real-estate on the Motherboard. It may run a little hotter then the Leadteks, and may not be the fastest card, but according to everything I?ve read, it?s an excellent card, and it would appear BFG has the best reputation for customer support. Since this will be my first build ever, I?ll need all the help I can get. This thread sort of settled it for me thread
Sound Card - Audigy 2ZS Platinum
Since I'll be doing recording, having the plugs on the front of the rig will be very helpful. Might break down and go with the Pro (it has a stand alone box). The idea of forgetting to unplug something then walking away only to hear a sickening thud as the Case tips over gives me pause. M-Audio Revolution 7.1 was an option, but access to the plugs finally dropped it out of contention.
PVR Happauge 500 MCE
Originally was going to go with the AIW for the video card until I found out that it has software encoding rather then hardware, which can lead to a degradation of quality as well as dropped frames. Generally the consensus seems to be that the card is fine if you want to either record or game, but should you try to multi-task you run into problems. As for why the 500, it supports dual tuners so I can record two shows, or watch one and record one, etc. It also supports MCE natively. The current product recall has me a little nervous, but the HTPC community seems to be okay with it.
Hard Drive ? Seagate Barracuda 300 GB with NCQ (serial ATA)
This choice was surprisingly hard. I wanted a fast drive, but I needed a REALLY BIG drive. I could have gone with a Raptor for speed, but they're relatively small and expensive, especially since I'll be dealing with a lot of large video files. The other finalist (aside from the Seagate) was the 300 GB Maxtor (16 mb cache). Though perhaps faster, Maxtors are notoriously loud, and since this will be sitting on the desk next to me, I went with the quieter one.
DVD Recorder - Sony DRU 720A
I know, with Sony you always pay a premium for the name. But what I'm also paying a premium for is a full version of Nero 6.6: the dvd authoring software that comes bundled with the drive. Subtract that from the overall price, and the price gets real competitive. Though not the absolute fastest out there, it's still pretty speedy, and I'm guessing the difference isn't really going to be noticeable in the long run
Floppy Disk - Adaptec Media Reader 7500
EVERYONE who builds their own computers seems to say you need to have a floppy drive. In fact, they say if you don't include it you'll need it, if you include it, you won't. I can understand the whole "taunting the gods" idea so I want to have a floppy, but that seems like such a waste. This internal card reader supports flash media, memory sticks, etc, as well. If you've got to go, I say, go all the way.
Monitor - Samsung 997DF 19"
Knowing how variable monitors can be, I wasn't going to buy one on the internet if I could avoid it (besides, the cost of shipping would kill me). So after checking out sites, I made a list of potential players then went shopping here in NYC. Went CRT because of all the video stuff I'll be doing. From everything I've seen LCDs are still cooler to lack at then they are to look into.
Headphones - Sennheiser 580
This may change as I'm still researching. I'm going with headphones rather then speakers initially because where the computer will be is right near my front door, maybe 5 feet from my stereo. So a) I don't want the sound of a lot of highly amplified automatic gunfire scaring the neighbors into calling the police (this is NYC after all) and b) if I want music, I've got music right there.
Keyboard / Mouse - ???
Really not that focused on this. I really can't see any differences between the vendors, so when I'm ready I'll go to CompUSA, try out a couple, then just buy one. I am leaning towards a wireless mouse though; my current mouse wire is driving me nuts!
OS - Microsoft - Media Center 2005
Basically it's XP Pro SP2 with a couple of features turned off. But it also has integrated a lot of tools for me to be able to manage my TV recording, my DVD making and my digital Audio stuff.
So there you have it. Let me know what you all think. Am I any incompatibilities? Any obvious mistakes?
Thanks in advance for your help with this.
AMB
Get a 1MB chip if money is no object and you've exhausted all other possibilites for increasing performance.
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