Preliminary Build

[Spontz]

With the assistance you folks kindly supplied, I've put together a preliminary build for my new computer. The only problem is that, with monitor, it reaches about $2,000.00 (judging by NewEgg prices), and that's without considering shipping or extended warranties. If there's a way to shave a few hundred dollars from that total, without taking a massave performance hit or making it impossible to upgrade, I'd appreciate a hint or two as to how to do that.

Anyway, on to the gadgetry:

Chassis: NZXT Lexa
Power Supply: CoolMax CR-450B
Motherboard: Intel D955XBK
CPU: Intel Pentium D 930
RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR2-667
Video Card: PNY GeForce 7600GT
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi 'Xtreme Music'
Hard Drives: Samsung SP2504C 250GB x 2
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-S162L 16x
Card Reader: Atech Flash Pro-28U
Monitor: NEC Multisync LCD1970GX 19"

I also have floppy and DVD drives in there, but they're generic and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I specified a PNY video card only because I've used their products in the past and recognized the name; I'm open to suggestion if there's a better company out there. I'm also not certain about the monitor, but so far it seems the best choice.

A question about that card reader: it requires an internal USB connector, and the motherboard I've chosen has four rear USB ports, and headers for four more front/rear ports. Do those headers count as internal connectors for this purpose?

Advice, suggestions, comments? (Abort, retry, fail? )

 

[Maxiius]

What are you going to be using you computer for?

Edited: Dropping the card reader & coolmax PSU brings you down to 1870. That case comes with a higher wattages PSU anyway.

 

[Sonic_Reducer]

it's a nice setup but why using the samsung hd ??? i'm in portugal anda the price diference between samsung and western isn't that big and the reliability of those are far better so i would advice them to you, or maybe some seagate.

 

[Maxiius]

Chassis: NZXT Lexa
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi 'Xtreme Music'
Hard Drives: Samsung SP2504C 250GB x 2
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-S162L 16x
Card Reader: Atech Flash Pro-28U
Monitor: NEC Multisync LCD1970GX 19"

MB: DFI-Lanparty
CPU: Opteron 165
RAM: Cosair 2GB DDR-400
Video Card: BFG 7900GT

= $1906 b4 S&H

That's of course if you want a gaming rig. But you chose Intel for a reason, I assume more computer involved software over gaming hehe. Anyways, i'm just throwing ideas out for ya. If ya went AMD, you get a video in that setup that blows away that 7600 card, and move up to the 7900 age of visual experience!

 

[baracuda73]

To save cash skip the x-fi sound card and buy and audigy 2 or 4 wont notice any difference.

 

[Spontz]

What are you going to be using you computer for?

Edited: Dropping the card reader & coolmax PSU brings you down to 1870. That case comes with a higher wattages PSU anyway.

Sorry, I should always remember to fully caffeinate myself before posting.

I'll be using the computer for the standard low-end office-type stuff, plus digital photography and a certain amount of gaming. I don't need the world's fastest gaming system, though; at the moment mostly I play Eve online.

As for the power supply, I chose the version of the case with no included power supply after reading some poor reviews of the one with which it ships.

Also, I forgot to ask about a RAID setup. I think the motherboard comes with a RAID controller, but it's possible I'm being misled by lack of knowledge. Will I need to purchase a RAID controller in addition to the rest of this? Or is the performance gain for RAID-0 not worth the expense? If that's the case, would a fast 100-GB HDD for the OS and programs and such, coupled with a 500-GB for data, photos, music, etc., be a better setup?

 

[Spontz]

it's a nice setup but why using the samsung hd ??? i'm in portugal anda the price diference between samsung and western isn't that big and the reliability of those are far better so i would advice them to you, or maybe some seagate.

I chose Samsung because of good reviews on this site, and an impression that they are quieter drives. I hadn't considered Western Digital because of some very poor experiences a friend had with them, but those were about ten years ago, so maybe the company deserves another look.

To save cash skip the x-fi sound card and buy and audigy 2 or 4 wont notice any difference.

Good idea, thanks. I shudder at the thought of labels like 'X-Fi' and 'Xtreme Music,' anyway. I chose that one because it claims to improve MP3 recording and playback, and high-quality music is rather important to me. But I've always been under the impression that the sound card isn't involved in MP3 ripping, so perhaps I was simply allowing myself to be led by ad copy and wishful thinking.

 

[Maxiius]

I think the motherboard comes with a RAID controller, but it's possible I'm being misled by lack of knowledge.

Straight from the Intel site...

Peripheral Interfaces Eight USB 2.0 ports
One serial port
One parallel port
Four Serial ATA interfaces with RAID support
One parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support
One diskette drive interface
PS/2* keyboard and mouse ports

To save cash skip the x-fi sound card and buy and audigy 2 or 4 wont notice any difference.

I agree with this, I just didn't know if you were a big audio buff or not

If that's the case, would a fast 100-GB HDD for the OS and programs and such, coupled with a 500-GB for data, photos, music, etc., be a better setup?

For all the data, photos, and such you might want to consider RAID1 so you dont lose that information. 1 fast HDD & 2 250GB raid1 drives might be something that interest you also. I mean, I'd hate for that 1 500GB drive to fail and lose over 100GBs of photos, data, etc...

 

[Spontz]

Straight from the Intel site...

Right, I did see that, I just wasn't sure whether "RAID support" meant "integral RAID controller" or "will not emit sparks and smoke if a RAID controller is inserted."

For all the data, photos, and such you might want to consider RAID1 so you dont lose that information. 1 fast HDD & 2 250GB raid1 drives might be something that interest you also. I mean, I'd hate for that 1 500GB drive to fail and lose over 100GBs of photos, data, etc...

This is a good point, but are the 500GB drives fast enough for RAID-1 to be worthwhile?

 

[Maxiius]

This is a good point, but are the 500GB drives fast enough for RAID-1 to be worthwhile?

Raid 1 is not based on speed, Raid 1 is based on data security, i.e. mirroring your data to both drives. Raid 0 takes 2 drives and puts them together and stripes data down to put half on each. If you want both speed and security, go with 1 150GB raptor and 2 storage drives. 1 Raptor though = bookoo bucks though.

 

[Spontz]

Thanks... I did know that already, though, which is why I asked about the speed of 500GB drives. It's my understanding that they're big, but rather slow, so a RAID-1 of the same size as the RAID-0 I'm considering would be secure, but would take longer to do anything. Isn't the question of data security resolved by simply backing up files, in any case? Or are RAID-0 configurations so staggeringly unstable that every day is an exciting adventure in the game of Will My Hard Drive Crash Today?