Proposed C2D System - Opinions/advice Please?

[Jake_Barnes]

Core 2 Duo System:

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Mid-Tower
[may upgrade case - this seems inadequate ...]

PSU: (Haven’t decided yet: probably 500-600W PSU) - recommendations requested!

Mobo: ASUS P5B Deluxe
-or-
MSI P965 Platinum
-or-
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - mild OC

Ram: CORSAIR XMS2 DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

GPU: GeForce 7900GS
-or-
ATI Radeon X1650PRO

HDD: 2 X Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB

Cache SATA 3.0Gb

Cooling: (Fans) 1 -Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm (rear

exhaust)
2 - VANTEC SF8025L 80mm (front and side

intake)

(CPU) ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm

Optical
Drive: LITE-ON SATA Optical Burner CD/DVD

+/-,etc.

*Cheap/adequate Floppy Drive*

Cables: Whatever is needed.

Monitor: 20" Dell Flat Panel

LCD

Would appreciate any/all suggestions/recommendations/feed-back, etc.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Come on guys - a little help (advice) here ... please?

 

[Onus]

Note the folowing warning (specific to the ASUS):

Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets

If it applies, be sure to get RAM that runs at 1.8V. That Corsair doesn't.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

If it applies, be sure to get RAM that runs at 1.8V. That Corsair doesn't.

JumpingJack (CPU section) - gave me that RAM advice. He's running it in his ASUS P5B Deluxe system right now - said it worked great. But, I'll double check - thanks.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Taco, any PSU recommendation? I'm all over the place on this item 8O

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Yeah, I liked these:
OCZ GameXStream

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610

CORSAIR 520W Power Supply

And I like this one too: ENERMAX Liberty 500W

I'll take another look at that GPU. Looks good. Thanks

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I'll think about the SCEPTRE Widescreen LCD - $200 is $200 bucks. But, I love that Dell - seen it, love it.

I won't ever be running dual graphic cards - just not that important to me. So crossfire and SLI are not in the picture for me.

I'm still undecided on PSU - but the more recommendations, the better - I've narrowed it down from hundreds to 4-5 or so ... :lol:

Edit: I like this Fortron Source 450w - for the money, it's got great amps on the 12v rails. And I think it would be adequate for the modest system I'm contemplating. You think?

 

[pmr]

I don´t know what gaming king you want, but those two choices are very different.
So: 7900gs>7600gt>7600gs ddr3>x1650xt>x1650pro

help me helping you

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I don´t know what gaming king you want, but those two choices are very different.
So: 7900gs>7600gt>7600gs ddr3>x1650xt>x1650pro

help me helping you

I liked the 7900GS ... had a friend tell me he loves the 1650PRO (512 memory & DDR2) ... I'm not a big gamer - so, my default would go to the 7900GS I guess.

Your thoughts? What's a gaming king? (I don't think I'd be one ... lol)

 

[pmr]

Well, i did invented that sentence... 8O
like gaming 4xaa at 1600x1200 kind? none of this options fit...
Want to spend $130 on a great gfx? go asus 7600gs ddr3 top


to I_Love_Tacos:

http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4336

 

[pmr]

not because i have one, but price wise, an oc'ed 7900gs rapes an "older" oc'ed 7900gt. don't ask me why, but any core goes to 650mhz no sweat and some even come with 1.1ns mem. Search for some benches.
But yes, an oc'ed x1950 pro will beat an oc'ed 7900gs

 

[pmr]

well, the x1950pro put up a good fight, but the xt has more pipelines and is faster, and trounces the 7900gto in most benchmarks (not sure about it being able to compete with the gtx, that's xtx land). But I don't think the 7600gs is worth considering, not enough pipelines and really weak clocks, this is far better for the money, especially the insane clocks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150182

how can u say 1400mhz is weak????????????

 

[pmr]

rendering and editing in what software????

 

[pmr]

If you have payed attention, I always mentioned the ddr3 one. Don´t need to show me the ddr2 one.

As for the gfx cards being faster at editing, the only software that use it is Adobe premiere and I'd like to see some benches about that.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

I have a friend who does tech support for Dell. He builds his own systems - he told me that GDDR3 cards blow away GDDR2's. I don't know, have to trust you guys.

 

[raven_87]

Just looking @ the original post

Tower?? Full sized, you picked

Mobo - P5B Deluxe if you can snag it

RAM? Drop the XMS2, G.skill 800 slightly cheaper, 1GB modules
can overclock nicely.

out of the two GPU's listed...7900GS, but if you can afford that, spring for an X1950 instead.

HDD's are nice

Lose the 7700.... TT or Scythe for you young man

Lite on is good for cheap DVD ROMS, I have a couple.
But you want a quality burner and that = Plextor

PSU.....
You know what brands I'm going to say. And make it 600w or greater =)

 

[pmr]

if you compare between the same gpus, memory speed matters. If different, you have to do some research.
Look:
8800GTX DDR3 (1800mhz)>8800GTS DDR3 (1800mhz)>X1950XTX DDR4 (2000mhz)

7600GS DDR2 (800mhz)>6600GT DDR3 (1000mhz). GPU architecture is what matters here.


Hey, it's all about the money. If you have 200, go x1950pro or 7900gs
If you have 150, go 7600gt
if you have 130, go 7600gs ddr3

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Lose the 7700.... TT or Scythe for you young man

Links?

 

[raven_87]

I had a 7700....not that impressed.

Replaced it with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106061

With my 148 @ 3ghz, the load temp never exceeded the average idle temp on the 7700 (around 38C)


I'm thinking about picking up either

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185027

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185042

 

[jaguarskx]

Jake,

Overall, your system looks good.

I would choose the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3, based on several reviews it gives very good performance and is at a good price point.

As for the GPU, since you are not going to be gaming much, I would stick with the 7900GS you selected or drop down to a 7600GT, or perhaps a 7600GS. You don't need to buy a X1950Pro like others are suggesting since it's most likely an overkill.

Regarding the power supply, I would go with the Corsair 520w PSU since it is a derivative of a Seasonic S12 PSU. I have a Seasonic S12 500 PSU and I can say it is a very quiet PSU. The Fortron 450w PSU is both good and inexpensive and will be more than enough to power your proposed system.

Keep the Dell 20" you have listed. It uses an 8-bit LCD, which is far better than a 6-bit LCD screen used in cheaper LCD monitors because it provides better color accuracy and crisper text. The down side to 8-bit LCD screens is price and the response times are not as good as 6-bit LCDs.

Lastly, instead of selecting the E6600 you could opt for the C2D E4300 CPU which has a clock multiplier pof 9 (just like the E6600), but it only has 2MB of cache and the default FSB is 800MHz instead of 1066MHz. It also lacks virtualization. The average performance difference between 2MB and 4MB of cache is about 3%-4% in most applications; including games. The one exception is multimedia encoding where the performance difference is 10%. The C2D E4300 is currently selling for $179 compared to $316 for the C2D E6600.

There have been several reviews where the E4300 has been push as high as 3.2GHz - 3.4GHz. I'm not pushing you to go with this CPU, I just wanted to put it on the table as an alternative.

 

[raven_87]

LCD = Dell, Viewsonic, Samsung - favs'

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Keep the Dell 20" you have listed. It uses an 8-bit LCD, which is far better than a 6-bit LCD screen used in cheaper LCD monitors because it provides better color accuracy and crisper text. The down side to 8-bit LCD screens is price and the response times are not as good as 6-bit LCDs.

Thanks, I'm not saying that $ is no object - but I know that Dell monitor (made by Samsung) and it's 1st rate (unlike other Dell crap). I figure I'll get 5+ years out of that 20", so $40 more/year isn't a big hit. It's got 1600x1200 native resolution - I like that.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that GIGABYTE DS3 - should be as good as the Asus with only a mild OC.

I might stick with the 7900GS - just because I know nvidia and have always had good luck with their cards (please - I'm not starting a fan boy war here ... just my opinion).

With the upcoming price drop on the e6600, I'll stick with this chip - I like it, will be doing video editing (need the cache).

I appreciate the comments. I'm still debating the PSU ... why this one item is causing consistent brain farts, I don't know - maybe, I'll pick 4-5 and throw darts ... :lol:

 

[jordanwise]

that processor has far too much muscle to pair it up with low end graphics (trust me i've got one), you should be aiming for x1950 pro/xt. and contrary to what has been said about corsair xms2 pc6400 ram, i have some (2gb, C4 latency) and it works fine with my p5b deluxe.

p.s: its nice to see a forum master asking for help for a change, instead of us noobs

 

[zenmaster]

Get an EVGA brand Video card.

Then in 90days you can swap it for a mid-range DX10 card at little or no cost based upon the $150/$180 estimate for the variar 8600 models coming out.

(With EVGA, you can trade you card in for a better model within 90 days. You only pay the difference between what you paid and the list of the current card.)

With a new generation of cards coming out in 90 days, I see no reason to not go that route. Especially since the cards you are looking at are in the same $$$ range as what the new ones are expected to be listed.

 

[pmr]

that processor has far too much muscle to pair it up with low end graphics (trust me i've got one), you should be aiming for x1950 pro/xt. and contrary to what has been said about corsair xms2 pc6400 ram, i have some (2gb, C4 latency) and it works fine with my p5b deluxe.

p.s: its nice to see a forum master asking for help for a change, instead of us noobs

WTF? don´t troll please.