Hi, Help building Rig

[GT2Flash]

Hi, im GT2Flash and, im new here.

I need to build a computer for my migrane sufferer mother. She does Graphic and CPU heavy tasks. I want to build her a comp from the ground up for about 1-1.5K.

I need the CPU (Conroe) (Anything higher than a E6300)
MOBO
PSU
Video Card
RAM
HDD (SATA)
DVD/CD R/RW single drive
Sone kind of cooling
A Case
and, a LCD Monitor

Uhh...thanks =]

 

[-silencer-]

ViewSonic VA1912wb 19" widescreen LCD $229
SeaSonic S12-430W PSU $90
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mobo $130
E6600 $309
Scythe Ninja heatsink/fan $40
2x1GB CorsairXMS2-DDR2-800C5 $263
Antec P180 $130
Western Digital SE16 250GB hard drive $80
Lite-On CD/DVD burner $30
Sapphire X1900GT videocard $170 (or Geforce 7900GS $180)
$1471.

If she's not gaming (just working with 2D graphics) you don't need a high-end videocard.. get a 7600GS for $100 instead and put that money saved elsewhere.

 

[GT2Flash]

she works with 3D graphics. As in crteating animations fo rmovies, etc.

 

[AMDThunder]

Somehow I don't think mom needs an aftermarket cooler or a $130 case. Could probably skimp a bit on the GPU as well.

To the OP, there's a couple hundred posts on here asking the same thing. Read thru them for some more ideas.

 

[Crapola]

ViewSonic VA1912wb 19" widescreen LCD $229
SeaSonic S12-430W PSU $90
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mobo $130
E6600 $309
Scythe Ninja heatsink/fan $40
2x1GB CorsairXMS2-DDR2-800C5 $263
Antec P180 $130
Western Digital SE16 250GB hard drive $80
Lite-On CD/DVD burner $30
Sapphire X1900GT videocard $170 (or Geforce 7900GS $180)
$1471.

Good selections... I might consider maybe a different RAM. If you're not going to OC, the DDR2 800 is overkill. I believe C2D runs on 533.

 

[GT2Flash]

Ok, lets try this:

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129154

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131045

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130056

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817371001

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115003

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145034

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148140

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824254011

Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106042

Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118019

 

[farm]

That is almost the EXACT system that I am putting together, except I am going to use the Zalman 9700 over the 9500 and the P180B over the P180, but that is scary close to mine.

 

[-silencer-]

That is almost the EXACT system that I am putting together, except I am going to use the Zalman 9700 over the 9500 and the P180B over the P180, but that is scary close to mine.

You're intelligent and well-informed then.

Back to the OP:
Moms (at least mine and a few others) tend to be very picky about noise. That's why I suggested the Scythe Ninja - it's about the best cooler at lowest fan rpm. The Zalman 9700 does have better performance, but it's also louder (at high and low setting) and more expensive. The noise issue is also why I listed the P180 case.. it's excellent for muffling noise. The Ninja/P180 combo is what I used for my own mom's machine.

As for the RAM, why not overclock? Set it up for her and forget it - does she need to know if it's overclocked or not? If she's using cpu intensive apps, the OC will help. If you don't want to bother with overclocking, true - get lower speed 533 or 667MHz RAM, and put that saved money toward another hard drive - moms like the security of RAID1.

If she's doing 3D rendering in 3D studio max/maya/lightwave/etc, an overclock will help. If she's working with 3D animation/motion, I'd go ahead and get the X1900GT/7900GS videocard.

If she's working with large files, perhaps consider RAID0 or RAID0+1 setup...

Edit:
Noticed you changed a few items in your list..
The Asus motherboard is a bit pricy. For the extra $50, you get 2xLAN ports, eSATA, and RAID0,1,0+1 instead of just 2 ports of 0 or 1 with the Gigabyte. Consider the Asus P5B motherboard for $140.. same eSATA and RAID options as the Deluxe, but with different PCI slot layout.
The power supply is massive overkill. The SeaSonic 430W will be plenty for running a modern non-SLI sytem and only cost $80-90. (And definitely be quieter too)
The RAM is also not needed.. go for the Corsair 675-C4 timings for $50 less. That'll overclock to 800-C5 if you need to, but will be be fine for lower speeds as well.
I don't know much about that monitor brand, but I do know ViewSonics are excellent. Put some of that saved cash into the $229 ViewSonic I listed earlier.
Cooling.. either upgrade to the Zalman 9700 (only $5 more right now) or get the Scythe Ninja ($40 right now). The 9700 cools a little better, but the Ninja will be quieter than the Zalman (even with the 9700 on low speed setting).

 

[GT2Flash]

Yeah, ill be OC'ing the sucker...

I OC'ed my X2 3800+ to 2.97 on air with a XP-90C but, it sounds like an airplane.


Umm...Im trying to keep the parts list confined to only Newegg so, no scythe ninja

Im going to get the P180 case for her and one for myself too

Can you tell me more about raid?
Since she is afterall dealing with sensative data.

I like the Mobo just fine, it is personal preference because my bud uses the same board ind it is great.

Umm...PSU is good to have for future Video card upgrades or more HDD's or optical drives

Hans-G and Viewsonic are competitors.

I took your advice and like the 9700

Thanks for the help

 

[Featherstone]

this video card will give you better performance for the same price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102022

And unless you are set on a 6600 I would suggest an E 6400 or 6300 as they provide almost the same performance but are much cheaper, especially since you plan on overclocking.

 

[-silencer-]

I ordered two Scythe Ninjas from newegg a few days ago.. still $20 off (total $40 each):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185038

RAID1 is mirrored, meaning you have two identical hard drives storing the exact same data on each. If one dies, you still have the data on the other. The downside is you only have one drive in visible size compared to RAID0. Ex: 2 250GB drives in RAID0 will look like 1 500GB drive to the OS, and will perform faster than a single drive with higher transfer rates and nearly identical access times. 2 250GB drives in RAID1 will look like 1 250GB drive to the OS - the other 250GB drive is just a copy. Other RAID options (0+1/5) will require more than 2 drives..

 

[GT2Flash]

Ive decided i dont want the ninja.

What is the best RAID config?

What is 0+1?

Is RAID 0 or 1 better?

 

[-silencer-]

That's fine.. the 9700 is a better cooler, although the Ninja is quieter.. trade-offs in everything.

0+1 is striped and mirrored, but that'll require 4 identical drives. Basically it's two RAID0 drives that are then mirrored. It's for high transfer rates while keeping the security of backup.

Better is all relative. RAID0 will always perform much faster, but RAID1 means you'll have the redundancy for data security. If one drive in a RAID0 array dies, you lose all data since it's split across both drives. I personally run RAID0 on my Raptors so my operating system, photoshop, 3dsm, premiere, protools, games, etc. have the highest performance possible. However, I have a RAID1 array on 2 500GB drives for data security - storing all my saved video/audio files, movies, mp3s, documents, etc.

If your mom is going to be using her computer for data storage of whatever 3D stuff she's working on, stick with RAID1 for data security. If she's backing up data frequently to an external drive or DVDs, she could probably benefit from RAID0 performance. However, if a drive dies, she'll need to reinstall a new replacement drive and her OS, drivers, software, etc.. With RAID1, if a drive dies, you just have to install a replacement drive and have it mirrored again - I've never had this happen so I'm not sure of the exact process.. but it's much easier than a complete re-install of the OS/software.

 

[GT2Flash]

Aite, ill go RAID 1

any guides to how set it up?

uhh...

any other tips before I go ahead and get this stuff?

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

RAID 0+1 is overkill. It forms a striped (RAID 0) array out of two mirrored (RAID 1) arrays. Not necessary.

Since she's doing 3D modeling, a larger screen is nice. While I'm doing programming, the larger the screen the better. The Viewsonic VX2025WM is what I'm using now, and it's basically an orgasm that plugs into the wall. 20" of LCD is great, and the refresh rate is awesome, no problems staring at it for hours at a time.

Since her work is on the machine, I'd suggest not overclocking. Believe me, an e6300 or e6400 will provide plenty of power. Keep in mind that most of the people on here are gamers who have mulitple machines, if you ask the few that do more work than play they're mostly running stock clocks. It's not worth the risk if your work resides on it.

For video card, I'd say to get a workstation card, but $1500 doesn't leave much leeway. Get an eVGA card with at least 512MB of video ram, the extra texture memory really helps with a higher-resolution screen and larger models. SLI or Crossfire...meh. I don't think it's useful enough to warrant another video card, especially since $1500 doesn't really allow it.

For cooling, don't get anything too heavy or tall. I'd say you shouldn't need anything quieter than the stock cooler. See how it goes, try it out for a while, and if it's too loud then you can change it. If you get a quiet case, without a window, something like one of those Antec Sonata II cases, fan noise should be irrelevant.

For those who are saying not to use DDR2-800, you'll be choking the performance of the Core 2. Memory performance is critical when doing anything 3D-related. Besides, it's not that much more expensive, even for Corsair's XMS series. Fortunately, Intel CPUs aren't as sensitive to CAS latency and timings as AMD CPUs generally are, so you won't notice too much of a difference with slightly slower timings and CAS latency.

Core 2 Duo e6300
GIGABYTE GA-965G-DS3
2 x WD Caviar RE 250GB drives
2 x 1GB Mushkin DDR2-800, 5-5-5-12
eVGA GeForce 7950GT, 512MB
Viewsonic VX2025WM 20" LCD display
Antec Sonata II case, with 450W PSU
Windows XP Pro
Samsung DVD burner w/ Lightscribe

Total = $1279

The rest is up to you. The only thing you could possibly need to upgrade would be the PSU, but Antec knows their power supplies. That 450W will power that build with no problems. If you wanted to upgrade the video card to a DX10 model eventually, you'd want a new PSU. But that's in the future.

Good luck!