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

[Dachipsta]

Hey folks.
I do realize that the search feature should be my friend but I am way too impatient for that. Besides, on a previous post in here about 3 weeks ago, a couple of ya'll told me that when I got ready to do a build, to get in here and ask some questions and to not be afraid to ask for help. Well, here I am........Heeeelp...

Just as a side note, I just went out browsing this afternoon at OEM desktops for the heck of it to see what could be had for what prices. I gotta tell ya, I was pretty darn dissapointed in the quality/finish of these new PC's. The first thing that comes to mind is frikin cheap! Not in price but in the quality and the way these things look. The HP's, Compaq's, Gateways....sheesh. The cases all look like they cost about 20 bucks to build. I dont care what they have inside them, I wouldnt pay the goin rates for these things. I would rather belly up and put my money in a laptop. They at least look like they are worth something. Sorry for the rant. I was just pretty disappointed.

Soooooooo. Back to the matter at hand here. Uses for the computer will consist of the following parameters:
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.
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.
3. Music editing and recording: I am a pretty proficient musician and for a while was a pretty heavy duty Cubase user, recording my own songs, loops and whatnot. Need to have the ability to still do music editing and recording.
4. Overclocking: I have never had a PC that I could overclock. I wanna get my feet wet and start doing some OC'ing finally. I want something that has fully adjustable BIOS and a unit that runs good and cool that can take getting pumped up without frying itself.
5. Looks: I want a finished product that looks damn kool! Something that can sit out in the living room with the rest of my gear and not look out of place.

Alrighty then. I guess that about sums it up. I do have some ideas but I havent a clue where to buy, who has the best prices, how to order the stuff as in can you buy packages. Just basic ignorance in buying everything separately pretty much. I definately wanna go Intel Core 2 Duo. Thats a given as I have been very happy with my Intel T2300 1.66 Ghz lappy. It performs absolutley great and pretty darn cool for a laptop. Any suggestions would be much appriciated and if ya'll need any more information, just post and let me know. Hopefully ya'll can show me the way and I can be on the road to a kick ass build.......l8r

[him61]

Do you have a budget for this build?

[Dachipsta]

Damn, in all that rambling, thats the one thing I forgot to mention.....lol.

Well, the way I look at it, the going rate for pretty much anything out there in the OEM world is around 1000-1200 bucks for something decent. Why dont we start there and see what I could do with that.....

Thanks for replying by the way.....

I just saw this....

http://shop.resellerratings.com/PD-36823321/vk-36823321

and this.......

http://shop.resellerratings.com/pd-37276730

Does that look like something decent? I noticed that it says its WIFI ready. Does that mean it supports Blue Tooth or is that something that would be dependant on a wireless card and not the MOBO. I'm figuring on a wireless keyboard and mouse with decent range for couch potato functionality....

Both of those MOBO's look as though they would support future upgradablity to core 2 extreme one day if I get rich?...hahahaha. They both also support running dual GPU's which I think is very kewl. I guess I will try and pair those to a processor and see maybe if I can find some package deals.....

[Dachipsta]

Derr, it looks as tho both of those are one in the same. Didnt see that the numbers both matched.... Looks like a pretty nifty MOBO. Is 200 and some change too much to spend ya think on a board? The thing of it is that I dont want to have any regrets later on. I dont wanna be obsolete in 6 months. I want this thing to be able to hang in there for a couple years at least as far as upgradability. Anybody out there? I know my impatience shows........sry.

[JLK03F150]

If SLI isn't going to be in your budget then there is no reason to get an nvidia chipset. Have a look at the Asus P5B Deluxe - with or w/o WIFI. The WIFI is just an integrated wireless network connection. My router sits next to my desktop PC, so I wouldn't have a need for it myself.

Also look at the Asus P5B-E, fewer features & less expensive. Gigabyte has a couple nice boards too. The GA-965P-DS3 & the GA-965P-S3.

Intel is going to have some nice price cuts 4/22/07 so it might be well worth the wait. That's my plan for buying a C2D.

I'm also waiting for ATI to release its R600 series video cards. They will be competing with the nvida 8800 series. Nvidia will also be releasing their next gen mid and low end cards soon too.

IMO it's a good time to kill a little time, do a little research & wait for the newer stuff right on the horizon.

[Dachipsta]

Thanks JLK for the reply. That is kinda what I was talking about when I mentioned I would like the thing to be able to grow and last as long as it could before becoming obsolete. Having the ability to run two GPU's in tandem would be a great + as I cant say now whether or not I would consider it in the future. If I went ahead with a MOBO that supported it, I would be leaving myself some good potential for a future upgrade, wouldnt you agree? I had read a little about running 2 GPUs but didnt know really anymore about it other than it existed. If that were the case and I decided to do that, would you be able to run say 2 cards a bit lower in quality rather than having 1 top notch card?

As far as the wireless stuff goes, how do you equip the thing for Bluetooth? Also, doesnt the Bluetooth stuff have better range than regular USB wireless stuff? I thought I did for some reason.

Also, I know I am hitting ya'll with a lot of stuff all at once but does anyone have any advice on what to look for in a case? Maybe some things to avoid/things that are benfits?
If Intel is planning on cutting thier prices, I would very much like to hang on for a bit and see what happens. I'm all about saving some money just like anyone else. Would it be wrong to go ahead maybe and get the case and MOBO to go ahead and start assembling stuff or would it be better to wait until the MOBO and Processor are mated first as in is it much easier to install the processor when the MOBO is out of the case. That seems kinda like a no brainer....

As far as processors are concerned, I priced out the E6600 vs. the E6700. Its a decent difference of about 200 clams. Would I see any real difference going from 2.4 to 2.7 to justify 200 bucks. Almost seems kind of a trivial difference for an extra couple 10ths of 1 Ghz or would I see a big difference in performance? Cache and fsb are identical.

Also, thanks for the links to the other MOBO's. I will get to checkin those out. Any word on MSI? I have heard they are a good board for a dual core setup. Any truth to that or do you have an opinion one way or the other. Any other opinions on which boards are better for dual cores?

Thanks in advance..........l8r

[KarmaKiller]

Okay here we go. I'm basically listing what i'm about to build. I pick these parts because personal preference and alot of bang for the buck.Everyone has there own opinion on what is best, so just keep that in mind.....

Mobo - Cpu
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...BM-975X2-E4300
Or if your a newwegg fan-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130055
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

I recommend you get the e6600 cpu. They are fast and very overclockable. And since i'm on the subject of overclocking, cooling is very important when you get into overclocking. Thus why i list the Following:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835128014
This is what i have and i can only speak for products i have used. This heatsink dropped my idle almost 20c, and my load never peaks over 45c. I am overclocked right now also. Another plus is it has an external fan control so when you leave your system to idle you can turn down the fan to a silent setting. Again just personal preference.
If you decide otherwise, Zalman is a really good brand also. I used them on previous builds.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118019

Memory depends on the board you get. I recommend corsair,or ocz is good for overclocking. I run 2g of mem now and my machine is fast as can be. Most of the new boards support up to 4-8g now.


Now to the video cards. I'm gonna assume your going to run Vista. So you'll want to get a card that supports dx10. I hear the drivers might be a little buggy, but i don't run vista so i can't talk about that. But i do know that the future of gaming graphics is moving in the dx10 direction, their is just not many games that take advantage of it now.The other thing is cards that support dx10 are very pricey right now. It's new technology so the price isn't going to come down anytime soon. In saying that, i don't know how much of your budget you want to drop on video cards. So i'll list the one's that supports dx10 and we'll go from there.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...918&CatId=1558

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143086

Now for sound...
This is what I currently use. I am a drummer in a band and we use my house to record demos and what not. This thing is awsome. I can't live without the remote anymore.<---lazy

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8858&CatId=107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102181
That is the more expensive version. But the first one i listed works great.

Hard Drive-
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=TSD-320AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SubCategory=14
I don't know how big of a HDD you want or need. So the last link is just a page of different HDD. Just make sure you get one that has SATA, or if your going to use raid look for that too.

Cases...
You can get pretty crazy with the cases. If you are going to overclock make sure you get a case that has multiple spots for fans and has good ventilation. ThermalTake is a good brand of cases. Lots of room and plenty of ventilation.
Also another thing to look at, if you run any kind of sound card that has an interface in the front you have to think about the door on the front of the case. That's one thing i overlooked on my current build. I had to modify my door with a dremel to make it close properly. Just food for thought.
Crazy cases
http://www.xoxide.com/allcases.html
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=TC3J-2145
The last one comes with a power supply also. You want a beefy power supply to run some of those high end video cards. Don't try to go cheap on the supply, you want a good one. Ultra is a decent brand. It has the option of not running all the unused power cables. Helps the air flow through the case. You want to look for dual rail. It helps on high end systems. Ocz is a good brand for a supply too.

I think this is long enough for now. If you need more links drop a note and you'll be taken care of. Myself, i would use tigerdirect or newegg, they are about the best. There's also
http://www.frozencpu.com/index.html
http://www.geeks.com/
http://www.directron.com/

How'd i do Guys?
Good luck and i hope this helped....

[Ryan220587]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLK03F150

Also look at the Asus P5B-E, fewer features & less expensive. Gigabyte has a couple nice boards too. The GA-965P-DS3 & the GA-965P-S3.

I'm also waiting for ATI to release its R600 series video cards. They will be competing with the nvida 8800 series. Nvidia will also be releasing their next gen mid and low end cards soon too.

IMO it's a good time to kill a little time, do a little research & wait for the newer stuff right on the horizon.

agreed. i have the 965p-ds3 mobo and it's fantastic. i has all the overclocking features you need. the only thing that doesn't allow me to overclock more is my memory. as for the r600's, i don't know how many cards they are going to release, but if it's more than 1 type (like nvidia has the 8800gts/gtx models) then i might wait and see what ati brings to the table.

i personally don't see the point in going sli right now, with so many big gfx cards coming out with so much more power, i see very little point paying all that money and getting 2. u might as well put ur money towards a nice single pci-e mobo (the gigabyte i bought was a great price) and put more money towards a nicer single card, which will be fine i think for anything u throw at it.

p.s i believe the only difference between the ds3 and the s3 boards by gigabyte is that the ds3 has all-solid capacitors...so if you have no need for that then you can save some more money there and get the s3. i also have the m55 sli-s4 by gigabyte which is a very cheap sli board now, but i don't know how well it overclocks (note: the m55 sli-s4 is a socket am2 mobo, not 775). hope this helps.

[him61]

I'd also support waiting it out for a few months. But let me give you a few of my opinions reguarding a few topics that you asked about:

1) SLI:
Never worth it unless you have a lot of money on your hands, and your ego demands the insane FPS that SLI will give you. Mostly because of heat, power, and price. Since you will be running two video cards, heat will pose a huge problem if you endup getting cards that run hot in a single GPU setup (Which includes almost all of the high end cards) which will run up the bill for better cooling. You will also be looking at a 600+ watt quality power supply (usually more than double the price of a quality unit that will run a single card setup) to run SLI. And as far as price to performance goes, one high-end card gives off better FPS than two mid range cards. Unless the budget allows for extra cooling, an expensive PSU, a more expensive motherboard, and high end cards, SLI is usually never worth it.
2) Cases:
There are tons of cases to chose from. The only thing you should have to worry about with a case is the size, the looks, and the cooling system. Size is usually no problem since most cases are built around the ATX form-factor. If looks are important to you than search around on newegg for cases that you like, and make sure that you can slap a couple 120 or 80mm fans in it. (If not already included)
3) Overclocking
Let's face it, overclocking will up the price a bit. Not only will you need a good motherboard, but good RAM, and a decent power supply are musts also.
4) e6600 v. e6700
Not worth the extra $$ at all IMO. If you plan on overclocking, you will be able to surpass the speeds of the e6700 easily with an e6600.
5) XP v. Vista
Right now, Vista is buggy, and does not live up to the expectations that most people had. ATM, I'd chose XP over Vista, but once they release some service packs, Vista should be ok. Note: If you plan on running any DX10 games, you will need Vista.

Now, on to product suggestions
Case: You should pick one out yourself.
PSU: FSP 400w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104953
Cooling: Depends on the case. Arctic Silver plus Karma's HSF should be good for the processor.

CPU: e6600- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003
Mobo: I'd suggest none other than the GA-965P-DS3- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012
RAM: Buffalo Firestix. These should come back in stock within the next week- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820150054
Video Card: It depends on what games you play. For example, for games like HL2, Oblivion, and BF 2142, ATI cards would perform better than their NVidia counter-parts. In FEAR, COD, and Doom 3, NVidia cards perform better. Me being a huge HL2 and Oblivion fan, I tend to favor ATI cards.
Sound Card: I'm not big into sound, so I don't know how to help with your media setup...

HDD: Depending on space needs, I'd go for any of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0%2E10&Ntk=all
DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151136
OS: Windows XP or Vista.

I'm pretty sure that that covers everything. If you were to buy now, that is what I'd suggest, but if you buy in a few months, the only changes I'd make would be the video card and the OS.

I hope that was helpful

Edit: Lol, It took me over an hour to post that(Ryan's post wasnt up there when I started typing)... Stupid Dial-up... Anyways, with the DS3 v. the S3, there are a few minor differences, the major one being the DS3 overclocks better and has better voltage stability than the s3. And, to unlock all the memory options, you have to press Ctrl+F1 on the BIOS main screen.

[JPMiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=TC3J-2145
The last one comes with a power supply also. You want a beefy power supply to run some of those high end video cards. Don't try to go cheap on the supply, you want a good one. Ultra is a decent brand. It has the option of not running all the unused power cables. Helps the air flow through the case. You want to look for dual rail. It helps on high end systems.

Ultra is NOT a good brand at all...
If your running a low-end system and you get a high enough powered one, then MAYBE you don't have as much to worry about, but it still wont provide as clean power as a quality unit from a good brand...
Its also something you want to consider AFTER you have your primary list of components...