Finally ready to do a build....Advice please.

AznPoolPro · February 19th, 2007, 03:59 AM

yeah that is very true ultra isnt great. i went with Thermaltake.

Dachipsta · February 19th, 2007, 11:26 AM

Thank all of ya'll very much for the advice so far. Ya'll have already helped me to avoid 2 costly mistakes already. First is the 6600 vs. the 6700 which I will get to in a minute. Second is the SLI tip. When I mentioned about going with 2 lower end cards vs. one top notch card, I hadnt considered the heat load or the power supply requirements either. Excellent point. Thank you.

I will start with what I have seen in regards to MOBO's and go from there. Question: Is there anything in the specs that would allow me to see whether or not the board is a good for OC'ing vs. one that wouldnt be? Ryan mentioned the deal about having solid caps. I guess that means that they will maintain the vdc more reliably and steadily than a board without solid caps? Fluctuations in voltages is what we are trying to reduce by going that route I'm guessing then? I would like to know more about the differences with the caps. Ya'll have pequed my curiousity...

In regards to the processors, I now see why going with a 6700 wouldnt be advised instead of the 6600. In my reading, I have seen folks running stable with a 6600 at 3.0 Ghz and beyond. That is pretty darn fast and from what ya'll are saying, the 6600 in a more stable processor when it comes to OC'ing so I have been sold on that deal. Thanks again. Decision has been made on the processor......

As far as operating systems, I have been running Vista Ultimate since Nov. and couldnt be happier. I know everyone has their opinions, but the one thing I love about it is the boot time difference. Vista boots up FAST. I have been screwing around with XP for about 2 weeks now on my lappy trying to get the boot time reduced and to also stop my taskbar icons from disappearing on me. That in itself just rubs me frikin raw. At least on my lappy, Vista seems to run a lot faster in general than my XP MC. I will more than likely run Vista on my new build as well. I have the new Flight Sim X, which is one of the reasons I got pissed off with my 2 pc's enough to want a new one. I want to run FSX eventually with DX10 so I can see the program in all its glory with all the settings pushed up to rediculous. I didnt know that XP wouldnt support DX10 so that is another reason I can add to my list for wanting to stay with Vista. Not to mention Vista also looks damn kool and more sophisticated than XP but thats just my opinion and they are like belly buttons and other things....lol.

Now, on to GPU's. Ya'll have convinced me to stay with a single and just shoot for something DX10 ready. I know that is gonna cost me but I have kinda got my mind made up on that deal. I have time to wait tho and would like to see what transpires in the GPU world over the next couple of months in regards to new stuff that supports DX10. Thanks Karma for the links to the Vid cards. Man, that 8800 GTS in a HUGE card....lol. Going that route will definately involve taking measurements to ensure the thing would even fit in the new MOBO. Would suck if it didnt. I dont know if I would get that particular card or not but its good to know that their sizes need to be addressed. Regardless, it looks like its gonna be around 300-350 for a decent DX10 card which I will belly up for but would like to see what happens to the prices in the next couple of months for sure.

Now, on to the cases and PSU. In the beginning, I thought I was going to have to get a board, take measurements and see what case I would need. Now it appears that they are all pretty standardized so that wont be an issue. I just got thru checking out the cases offered on Newegg and they have some nice stuff. I poked around at TD too and they offer a bunch of the Home Entertainment cases as well. Now, I like that idea alot! That would allow it to blend in with my livingroom gear very well. Some of them look just like a receiver. Question I would have about one of those is how are they in the room department? Has anyone here ever used one of those for a build and if so, are you sacrificing room and cooling to pull of the look? Seems to me everything comes at a price and if I am gonna do OC'ing, cooling is gonna be very important. My first impression is that these receiver style cases wont cut it for hardcore gaming/OC'ing. What do ya'll think?

Well, I found what seems to be the best of both worlds and not too badly priced as well. Here is the link for it:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16...VC4000SNS.html

Says it has good cooling characteristics so thats a plus and it isnt too expensive either. I have a Soundblaster Audigy Platinum which has the 5.25 drive and this looks like it would support putting that in there.
I would prefer this type of case if I can get away with it. Hopefully ya'll will have some opinions on it yay or nay.

As far as harddrives go, I'll prolly just go with a couple 200 GB 7200 Rpm'rs setup in a SATA configuration. I dont know anything about RAID or if that would benefit me for the extra cost. At least with most of these MOBO's, I'll have that option if I choose to do so later on as an upgrade but I dont see a reason for it now.

Memory is gonna be another kick in the wallet I'm sure. I see good things about the Corsair pretty often but the buffalo firesticks got me looking pretty hard. That looks like a good deal and the review on them are pretty much all positive. Looks like I may go that route.

All the concern I had with the Bluetooth it seems has been for nothing. I knew nothing about it but it seems that all you do is get the little 20 dollar USB adapter and yer set. Pretty darn simple. I guess I was thinking that maybe they made MOBO's with wireless cards that had BT built into them but it doesnt appear to be that way. I guess if I elect not to get a MOBO with wireless, I can just add in a wireless card if I need one. The unit is going to be in my living room within cable reach of my router anyways plus it would be a much faster connection hardwired direct anyways. I guess I really shouldnt concern myself as much with the wireless.

Alrighty then. Thank you all so very much for all the advice so far. It has been a tremendous help so far but I have a lot still to learn. I am gonna wait at least a few more days before I decide on anything just yet. I would also like to see if ya'll have any more feedback about the HTPC cases and what ya think of them before I go that route. I am really wanting to go that way tho so if I need to be talked out of it, ya'll may have a good fight on yer hands.....lol.

Thanks again fellas....l8r

Shabow · February 19th, 2007, 12:17 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16819115004- $222.00, this processor is pretty damn good and can be insanely overclocked with even a stock HS. There is a tutorial on Tom's Hardware on how to overclock this particular processor.

Also I read a few reviews on the 8800 GTS 320Mb and I heard it runs really well if you are running moderate resolutions like 1280x1024 or even 1600x1200, the only thing they said was that maybe once games demand a larger frame buffer it will slow down...

The Terk · February 19th, 2007, 12:44 PM

Quote:

1. Gaming: #1 priority above and beyond anything else. I want this thing to kick ass on anything I throw at it with all vid levels set on rediculous.

this means you will want to go with an SLI/CrossFire board, but you don't necessarily need to get 2 GPUs off the bat, it will leave you w/ the option of getting another card. maybe get a decent card ($100-$200) now, and wait for more DX10 cards to come out before you go all out, since theres only 2 chipsets out now that even support it.

Quote:

2. Media Center Hub: I would love to link this sucka to my flat screen and be able to surf the net, have it function as my primary DVD player, listen to internet radio and play all my media directly thru my Kenwood surround receiver, all with my lazy fat ass on the couch.

JLK03F150 · February 19th, 2007, 07:02 PM

Quote:

The report claims the Core 2 Duo E6700 and E6600, currently priced at $530 and $316, respectively, will also see their prices cut on or before 22 April, to $316 and $224. The E6400 and E6300 will fall to $183 and $163, from $224 and $183, respectively.

The E6300 and E6400 both contain 2MB of L2 cache - the higher-priced Core 2 Duos have 4MB. Around the time of the price cuts, Intel will introduce the E6420 and E6320, both with 4MB of L2, priced at $183 and $163, respectively.

Joining them will be the E4400, a 2GHz, 2MB L2 part that supports an 800MHz frontside bus, the report states. It will be priced at $133. The recently released 1.8GHz E4300 current sells for $163, but that will fall to $113 on 22 April.

In June, the report claims, we'll finally see the Pentium E2140 and E2160, both with 1MB of L2 - they're single-core parts - and clocked to 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz, respectively. They'll apparently be priced at $74 and $84. The $49 1.8GHz Celeron 430 and the $59 2GHz Celeron 440 will appear in the same timeframe, it's said.

source
The e6700 isn't looking so bad anymore. It's only going to be $100 more than the e6600.

KarmaKiller · February 19th, 2007, 07:53 PM

Nice find JLk. where did you find that?

And sorry about misguiding you on the psu. I have used an ultra before and didn't have a problem with it. But i wasn't overclocked, or i didn't have any kind of massive video card that was hungry for power. My Bad.
I wonder how much you can overclock on the E6320?
And i totally disagree with Terk. No offense

Dachipsta, the case you have picked out is,well, how do i say this....Not Good. The reason why i say this is because it's a pain to get in there to do anything. The air flow is not that good, despite what "they" say. I would really stick with a normal tower. Just my opinion though.

Dachipsta · February 20th, 2007, 11:29 AM

I hear ya Karma....

It was worth a try tho, right?..hehehe. The way I figure it is that everything comes at a cost. A computer is designed to be in a computer case. Its also designed to look like a computer and for that to happen, it must be installed in a case that looks like computer. I suppose if it was supposed to look like a home theater componant, all the oems would be installing them that way too, but they dont.....lol. I think functionality, cooling and being practical is more important than trying to camaflauge this thing as a receiver or some other crap. Point well taken and I am going to go with a standard atx mid tower of some kind.

I am still hung up on as to which MOBO to get but its been a lot of fun researching things and learning something new in the process. The processor I am pretty much sold on and that is the E6600. If I wind up getting in a rush and paying 3 bills for it then so be it. I dont know how long I want to wait to do this as money, if its not spent on one thing, it will eventually be spent on another. I haev this money bugeted right now but that could change should something come up in the next couple weeks/months. I am going to place my order for the new gear prolly in the next few days. I would have made some serious mistakes and had lots of regrets had I not come here for advice. For that I thank everyone who was considerate enough to post here.

I will let ya'll know which MOBO I decide to get tho and get some last minute opinions to be sure. I think other than that, I have pretty much everything covered or at least the basic knowledge now to make as informed of a decision as I can. Thanks again!

him61 · February 20th, 2007, 10:49 PM

For overclocking, you can't go wrong with the Firestix, even if you get the crappy chips (small percentage are elpida, the rest are Micron D9s at last look), like I got, but I'm still pushing them pretty good at a 4x multiplier at stock voltages. Still, I'm not complaining about is as the processor has been the limmiting factor on all of my overclocks.

If you are set on Vista then so be it. As long as you can afford a DirectX 10 video card with this build...

As far as the e6400 vs. the e6600... The difference is more than just speed. the e6600 has 4 MB of cache vs the e6400 only having 2 MB... If you can afford the e6600 with all the extra equipment you are going to need for DX10 plus all of your sound stuff, it will definately be worth it a few years down the road when the extra cache will count a ton more. But the e6400 isnt a bad choice either.

Now, I personally wouldnt bother with SLI because with all of the upgrades you would need to run SLI, (Let's say you wait a couple years since that will be when games will probably start to [i]Majorly[i] strain that card. $250 for the depreciated card, $150 for an SLI ready PSU that can handle two GTSs, and add a couple of zallman aftermarket coolers to take care of heat ($30 each I think) which adds up to $460) you could probably buy an entire new card for the same amount of money that outperforms two of the other card in SLI. But if you are willing to pay $510 (Different depreciation for less time) in 6 months, then I could definately see it going to better places on the computer. Like RAM. Vista eats a lot, and so will all the new DX10 games. Long story short, unless you are willing to spend quite a bit up front, or can spend quite a bit a couple of months down the road, SLI is almost never worth it.

I dont really like going expensive with cases. Leaves more money for components. But that's just me. I used a Powmax case for a build for a friend once, I got it for $20 on Newegg, added a couple flashing Blue and Red LED Fans to it, and it certainly lights up a room. It looks really cool too, if you are into flashing lights and stuff... Sure, the quality of the case was crap, but it serves its two purposes very well:
1) Housing the components
2) Looking cool

Just letting you know that if you are looking to save a little, a case is something you can scrimp on if you really have to, although it is nice having the $300 Lian Li cases

As long as the motherboard has everything you need on it, and has a good chipset (Like the 965P chipset), it should be fine.

Dachipsta · February 21st, 2007, 07:19 PM

Alrighty then, I have a list of stuff I am ready to go ahead and get. I figured I would go ahead and post it up for some last minute input, opinions....ect. Here goes:

Case: http://www.xpcgear.com/mxpleasurebk.html
This seems to have a lot of bells and whistles for 112 bucks. Comes with 2-80mm and 2-120mm fans, temperature gauge and fan controller that supports 5 fans, 500w PS and has an aluminum chassis which should help even further with heat dissipation. It looks pretty darn cool too which helps. I think I will try out this PSU before I go shelling out more money for another one.

Processor: http://www.xpcgear.com/e6600.html
Pretty much the concensus here from what all has been discussed.

Motherboard: http://www.xpcgear.com/p5bdeluxewifi.html
Was a tough call with my limited experience. I think this covers all the bases in that it seems to address cooling very well and looks to be very OC'able. Would like to hear some opinions on this board. The only thing I didnt see in its specs were the solid caps. Am I doomed if it doesnt have them? Have done lots of reading in the Asus forums and such on it. Seems to be a bit buggy when it comes to getting dual channel memory squared away and also it seems a bit picky concerning PSU. Any thoughts? The thing comes with lots of kewl software features as well.

Memory: Doesnt appear that the B.Firesticks are supported by this board but the corsairs are so I may have to go that route. Saw something on Asus's site that this board supports Hyper X Kingston DDR2 1066. Any thoughts on this as well. I am beginning to think that this board may not be the best pick for someone with limited build experience......hmmm
Here is the link for the Hyper X: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134091
I dont see this listed in a 1GB configuration tho....I wonder why?
Also, Asus says in the MOBO manual..."
This motherboard does not support memory modules made up of 128 Mb chips or double sided x16 memory modules." Is this going to create a problem for me finding memory sticks? Now I am totally confused....grrrrr..Heeeelppp!

Ok, I had thought I was all set and just gonna confirm some stuff but now I have dumped more questions on ya'll. I apologize for that but I just dont want to make any mistakes. Maybe ya'll could help make some of this stuff about the memory a bit clearer.......I will leave it at this and see what advice ya'll have.....Thanks again. Maybe I did a good job picking a tower at least???...

KarmaKiller · February 21st, 2007, 10:15 PM

Just saw your post here. I noticed how much you are paying for the MoBo and cpu, check this out. There's a package on this page that has a dx10 card as a bundle. Also MoBo too...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Field=0&Page=1

And from what i read on the mobo you have picked out,
"supports DDR2 800MHz dual-channel memory architecture"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144061
This is good stuff, decent price......

Also, i don't know how much you know about the thermal electric cooling, but from everything i read it's incredable. there is a bundle on that page that has one.I have heard of people replacing the water cooling with these. I have never used one in any of the builds i have done, but i'm waitng for the day.....A little pricey i will admit, but as a bundle you save some $$..