April Computer Build Thread

[Lum]

How does this look? Anything I'm missing? (I have a recently purchased GeForce 8800GTS that will go with it). Bear in mind I am a builder n00b who usually just checks things off a list on Dell or Gateway's site, so feel free to mock viciously.

$134.99 - ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Onboard networking (hub is only 100M so it should be fine) and audio (is an audio card even worth it? I use a USB headset anyway...) (Changed by recommendation)
$  74.99 - Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Dual Fans Power Supply - Retail
I have no idea if this is good or not.
$115.98 - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail x2
I didn't see any 2GB sticks for my mobo so I suck at Newegg, I guess.
$209.99 - [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037]Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail[/url]
If I splurge on anything it will be this - this build is intended to last a while.
$ 29.99 - COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler - Retail
No preference on this
$ 99.99 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
No preference on this, will probably start using external HD arrays anyway (lots of ahem, video)
$ 25.99 - LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20 - OEM
No preference on this, may just gank the DVD burner out of my old system.
$ 89.99 - NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Uh, looks like it's roomy enough?  Schild thinks it looks assy and recommends this instead.

Total: $742.91 - I'd like to keep reasonably close to that price point but have mild flexibility.

(edited for people w/o Newegg accts)

[schild]

Have to log in to see it.

[Miasma]

A lot of the reviews say that RAM you listed burns out with the chipset in your motherboard after a few months.

[Engels]

That specific brand or that specific speed or what? I ask because I have the equivalent corsair brand PC8500 and the same P35 chipset and so far so good, been running 8 months.

[Viin]

Are you married to the DDR 1066? You could get this for less money and have 2 slots to add even more memory to:

OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $93.99 (-$30 MIR)

[Miasma]

That specific brand or that specific speed or what? I ask because I have the equivalent corsair brand PC8500 and the same P35 chipset and so far so good, been running 8 months.

I assume it's just the crucial brand, maybe even only that particular product.  If you read the reviews (which are really the best part of newegg) there is no way you would buy it.  Ramdom RAM errors slowly creeping up months after you thought everything was fine really suck.

[schild]

Crucial seems to have gone to shit.

[Trippy]

$134.99 - ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Onboard networking (hub is only 100M so it should be fine) and audio (is an audio card even worth it? I use a USB headset anyway...) (Changed by recommendation)

Who recommended this thing? It's pointless to get a dual DDR2/DDR3 motherboard where the DDR3 is limited to 1333 MHz since you are looking at maybe a 1 - 2% improvement in performance if it isn't actually slower than DD2. Not the same board but you can see here that DDR2 is actually faster than DDR3 in gaming benchmarks in the same motherboard because of the faster timings.

$  74.99 - Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Dual Fans Power Supply - Retail
I have no idea if this is good or not.

Hard to know without knowing who did the design of it for them.

$115.98 - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail x2
I didn't see any 2GB sticks for my mobo so I suck at Newegg, I guess.

Try here.

$209.99 - [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037]Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail[/url]
If I splurge on anything it will be this - this build is intended to last a while.

Your link and your description don't match. URL goes to Core 2 Duo E8400.

[Engels]

That specific brand or that specific speed or what? I ask because I have the equivalent corsair brand PC8500 and the same P35 chipset and so far so good, been running 8 months.

I assume it's just the crucial brand, maybe even only that particular product.  If you read the reviews (which are really the best part of newegg) there is no way you would buy it.  Ramdom RAM errors slowly creeping up months after you thought everything was fine really suck.

Er, I should correct myself, I have the PC2 6400@400mhz, Corsair CM2X1024 x 4
And I have heard that PC8500 ram does have problems with P35 chipsets, but in this case I heard the problems emerge with the Gigabyte P35 boards, and thought it was common to them alone.

Honestly, I'm with Trippy here...P35 is a bit of a dated chipset anyway, and would probably urge buying an x38 or x48 board, even if it hikes up the price a wee bit.

[lamaros]

Anything changed or is the recent discussion in this thread still pertinent? My PC has decided to give up on me the last couple of days and is crashing frequently. I could possibly get it working again with some minor part replacement, but it's time for a new one anyway.

So I'm going to get everything, sans speakers, this time around. If anyone has any recommendations then please do, otherwise I might beg for advice once I've got a basic idea what I'm looking at. Looking at being on the good value side, but able to play games for at least a while to come.

[Viin]

Well it's June now, so you might as well start a new thread.

Just kidding, most of the last couple of pages are recent so give them a whirl. Spec out what you want on Newegg and throw us the 'share this cart' link or whatever it's called.

[lamaros]

Oh and if anyone who lives in Australia, specificaly Victoria, has any advice on a decent and affordable place to get stuff that'd be nice too. Currently I'm just looking at MSY's prices: http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

[Lantyssa]

I'm still very happy with my set-up from earlier in the thread.  The processor could be upgraded to a Q9450 or whatever the new quad is, but it's been a solid build for me.

[Lt.Dan]

Oh and if anyone who lives in Australia, specificaly Victoria, has any advice on a decent and affordable place to get stuff that'd be nice too. Currently I'm just looking at MSY's prices: http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

I bought my stuff from Centrecom.com.au 

At the time they were the cheapest.

[Engels]

Ok, based on your PDF..

Video:
Nvidia 8800 GT, Gigabyte or Asus $222
or
Nvidia 9800 GTX, Gigabyte or Asus $323

MoBo:
Asus P5E-x38 $239
Or
Gigabyte X38-DQ6 $265

CPU:
C2D E8400 $207

CPU cooler:
Coolermaster Hyper 212  $49

HD:
Seagate SATA 250 gig $63

Memory:
4Gig Kingston Hyperx DDR2 800 $114

Case:
Antec Nine-Hundred $167 (probably one of the best cooling/noise ratio cases out there)

PSU:
Themaltake Toughpower 750W (nice nice modular cables) $192

Total: $1253 on the low end, $1382 on the high end

Optical drives, Keyboard and mouse I am going to assume you'll canibalize from your old rig.

[Engels]

Speaking of which, I splurged last weekend and bought the Lian Li PC-B25 case, an awsome budget but very effective CPU heatsink, and a really really dissapointing PCI slot fan.  I will take some pics later, cuz it really is a beautiful thing, both inside and out.

[lamaros]

Cheers Engels.

I have this Antec SP-500 PSU in my PC atm that isn't as old as everything else. But I guess it won't cut it eh?

[Engels]

erm, its Engels, and sure, I think that Antec will suit you just fine.

[lamaros]

Oops about that. My hearfelt apologies. It was a typo more than confusion. :)

So I'm now looking at:

Buying:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400/ 3.00GHz/ 6MB Cache/ 1333FSB/ LGA775  $207.00
MB: Gigabyte X38-DQ6  $265
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2  $63.00
RAM: Kingston DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x2GB) CL5 Value Ram  $110.00
GPU: Asus EN8800GT-HTDP-512 GF8800GT, 512MB, DDR3, PCIE2.0, HDTV, 2xDVI-I, HDCP  $222.00
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black  $156.20
Cooling: Coolmaster Hyper 212  $49 or Zalman CNPS9500A LED $65

Total: $1072.20

Reusing:

PSU: Antec SP-500.
DVD/Speakers/KB/Screen/Other HDDs

I'm not missing anything essential there am I?

[Engels]

Hold up...I just read some reviews that say that the Coolermaster Hyper 212 is awsome, but that its fan -cracks- after a month's use! Not everyone's, but enough to make me leery. From your list, I'd probably go for the Zalman 9500. I have one cooling an old AMD 64 San Diego chip, and it does a good job of keeping that overheating monster cool, so I figure it'll do very nicely with a 45 nm Wolfdale.

[rattran]

Don't buy an 8800gt. Go up to either a 9800gtx+ or a 4870.

More bang for the buck either way.

[lamaros]

Well, I am basicly broke at the moment so it'll probably take me a little while to save up the money, so I'll recheck the prices in a month when I'm closer to being able to afford it. I can't really afford $1000 though so I will stick to the cheaper side as close as possible. Uni+Mortgage is fucking me over.

[Engels]

Ask Schild about the 8800gt versus the 9800gtx sometime :P

[Trippy]

Well, I am basicly broke at the moment so it'll probably take me a little while to save up the money, so I'll recheck the prices in a month when I'm closer to being able to afford it. I can't really afford $1000 though so I will stick to the cheaper side as close as possible. Uni+Mortgage is fucking me over.

Why the expensive motherboard then?

[lamaros]

I think I saw it listed cheaper at some other site, so it was the same. I assumed that it was the better of the two.

If there is some considerably cheaper cheaper alternative that I should consider I'd be happily enlightened. I really have no idea at this point as I havn't bought a PC for ages and just started looking about yesterday.

[Trippy]

Are you planning on overclocking?

[Bungee]

Ask Schild about the 8800gt versus the 9800gtx sometime :P

The ATI 4850 beats them both. For less money ;)

[Lantyssa]

But it's ATI...

Never again.

[lamaros]

Are you planning on overclocking?

Nope.

[fuser]

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2  $63.00

Take a look at a Samsung F1 series, my next buy is going to be their 1TB ones (~$156 atm)

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black  $156.20

Take a look at a CM 690 half the price with a lot of nice options.

Cooling: Coolmaster Hyper 212  $49 or Zalman CNPS9500A LED $65

If you have the case room the Thermalright Ultra-120 is huge and cools well even with a slow 120mm fan (using a scythe df)

My PC is really quite but I have to say if your looking at a 8800gt their fans can get quite loud on the nvidia reference ones once they heat up. I'll probably end up buying an AC Accelero and rip the manufacture's heatsink/fan off.

Edit: oh yeah, I have one of the older 8800gt's with the older "improper" fan mapping. I followed this guide which spinup the fan slower at lower temps with a more staggered approach.

[Engels]

I just bought a knock-off of the Thermalright Ultra-120, the Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler and it works like a champ. I can't really do comparison bechmarks because I have no AC and can't get the room down to the 22 degrees, much less the internal ambient temp to that, but just to give you an idea, under a steady prime95 torture test for 10 min, the two cores on my E6750 drop from 55 down to 36 degrees in 5 seconds flat.

I would have recommended the Ultra-120 (it really just can't be beat), but it wasn't on his list :(

I do agree that the CM690 is a very good substitute for the Antec900, and I nearly went for it myself, but the one I found at the retail outlet I was at didn't come with all the fans! It had only two 120s...the Antec 900 comes with all the fans installed already and just in general, I like Antec engineering. Not to diss CM, since I have no experience with it.

[Lantyssa]

I just bought a knock-off of the Thermalright Ultra-120, the Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler and it works like a champ. I can't really do comparison bechmarks because I have no AC and can't get the room down to the 22 degrees, much less the internal ambient temp to that, but just to give you an idea, under a steady prime95 torture test for 10 min, the two cores on my E6750 drop from 55 down to 36 degrees in 5 seconds flat.

I have the other version of the 1283 Xigmatek and my CPU is kept very cool.  Motherboard layout can make it a pain to install, but it's really nice.

[Dtrain]

The ATi 4870 is making a name for itself by beating the more expensive Geforce offerings in performance at a much lower price point. This will prompt NVIDIA to lower prices again soon.

While I haven't seen SLi/Crossfire benchmarks on the new products yet, I do know from previous experience that the performance scaling on Crossfire is uneven.

Prognosis: Wait a week to see what the NVIDIA price drops do to the marketplace.

All things being equal the 4870 (and for significantly less money the 4850) are great single card solutions. If multiple GPUs are your thing though, the NVIDIA offerings will work best for you (just wait for the price drops.)

Also, re. disparaging comments about ATi: This generation ATi is the underdog. A couple generations ago you might have gotten stung by a lame ATi product. I could say exactly the same things at different times about NVIDIA - it doesn't mean I can't appreciate the value of the NVIDIA offerings. It's just the nature of hardware: examine the data, buy what's best for your price and performance needs at the time you're building. My ancient desktop is still running a ATi 9800 pro that I flashed to an XT - the thing's a champ and still gets up to run team fortress 2 fairly well.

ATi has a good chance to be competitive with NVIDIA well into the future. I'd say it's a lot like the great processor debates, but lately intel really has been kicking AMD around, so it's recently a very bad analogy. And I actually do think AMD is in real trouble - hopefully they don't have too much effect on ATi.

[Engels]

One of the things that ticks me off about ATI is their lack of support for Linux. I know, not that big a deal to most, but it bothers me immensely that ATI, always touted as the hard working underdog trying to get a chance against the limelight shown on Nvidia are actually total lazy slackers when it comes to providing Linux support, while on the other hand Nvidia has a very good track record of working with many Linux distros.

[Trippy]

One of the things that ticks me off about ATI is their lack of support for Linux. I know, not that big a deal to most, but it bothers me immensely that ATI, always touted as the hard working underdog trying to get a chance against the limelight shown on Nvidia are actually total lazy slackers when it comes to providing Linux support, while on the other hand Nvidia has a very good track record of working with many Linux distros.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_evolution&num=1