Basic Advice Needed

[darrylr]

I'm a total newbie with building a computer and want to make sure I'm not going terribly wrong with any of my selected components. This system will be used for web development and graphics. I may play with some 3d graphics in the future, so I'd like that option. Definitely not a gamer. I plan on over-clocking the CPU to 3.2Ghz. I'm most concerned about compatibility issues.

All inputs appreciated on my selection of components!


COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $39.99

COOLER MASTER RS-500-ASAA ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 500 Watts Continuous Power Supply $79.99

MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard $159.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor $187.00

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $34.99

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $69.99

EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card $89.99

DIAMOND XtremeSound XS71DDL 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card $29.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160811AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $54.99

PHILIPS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 8X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE interface (ATAPI) DVD Burner $33.99

Hanns·G HW-191DPB Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.00


All prices are from newegg.com!


Thanks,

Darryl

 

[Jdm240sx]

for the powersupply i would invest in FSP forton bluestorm II 500w or go to compusa get their antec trio 650W (bad ass psu) for only 80$!!
mobo and cpu looks fine case is a nice pick
i would go with scythe ninja instead of arctic cooling freezer for only 5$ more
i have no clue about the memory i never used corsair before so i dont know alot about their overclockability

bump the 7600gt and get the x1900gt @ 120$
bump the 8mb cache 160gb and get the 160gb 16mb cache western digital for 7$ more
bump the sound card your motherboard is sufficent

for a dvd drive i would use Sony Nec or Samsung SATA /w Dual Layer
everything seems compatible
i didnt see thermal compound
for a thermal compound try arctic silver 5 its one of the best

 

[Scougs]

I'm not too much of an expert on the newer motherboards, but I did notice that Intel's new P35 chipset seems to have some performance benefits and will be more upgradable.

 

[darrylr]

Thanks for reviewing my component list. Being a newbie, I did forget the thermal compound. :? I especially wasn't sure about whether I needed the sound board, so good to know I can save a few bucks there. Sound isn't all that important to me anyway.

I liked the Cooler Master PSU I had selected because it has an 85% efficiency rating and exceptionally positive feedback from those who had purchased it. A lot of people emphasized the "500W continuous", stating that can be better than higher wattages. The high efficiency apparently also puts off less heat in the box, besides being more energy efficient.

For the graphics card, $90 was the most I wanted to spend. Would rather go down than up.

I looked at the reviews on the WD drive and a considerable number of people were having their drives die on them. The ones that worked were very happy with the performance. Thoughts on Western Digital's quality control?

I had a question on the motherboard I selected. On the specs under storage devices it includes SATA and SATA RAID 0/1/0+1/5. Does this mean I can configure two drives in a RAID configuration without buying a RAID controller, or does it mean that it works with a RAID controller?

Like your advice on the CD/DVD.


Thanks!

Darryl

 

[4745454b]

What do you mean by "graphics" and "3d graphics"? Web developement and photoshop work can easily be done with something as weak as onboard video cards, so the 7600GT is overkill. If I comment on something, it needs attention, if I ignore it, don't worry about it.

COOLER MASTER RS-500-ASAA ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 500 Watts Continuous Power Supply $79.99

You didn't provide a link, so I'm not sure of how good it is. I do know that if your spending $80 on a PSU there are a lot of good ones available. This isn't one of the ones I see most often, so there might be better out there.

MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard $159.99

This struck me as a little pricey for a 650i motherboard. The MSI SLI-FI (one version down from yours) is only $110. The Asus P5N-E-SLI, which supports the FSB 1333 while yours only supports 1066, is $141 counting shipping. Unless I'm missing something, you can get a cheaper board and not notice anything missing.

EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card $89.99

Again, unless you mean something different when you say graphics, something like this 7300GT for $60 counting shipping and rebate should be fine.

DIAMOND XtremeSound XS71DDL 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card $29.99

Much like the video card, is there a reason your getting the soundcard? The audio on the motherboard is already going to be 5.1/7.1, why do you need a soundcard? Drop this and free up $30.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160811AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $54.99

Nice, but seems a little small to me. Try to get one of the 7200.10 series, and a larger drive. The 250-320GB drives are the current sweet point.

 

[darrylr]

Excellent advice -- thanks for saving me some bucks!

I dropped the sound card from my buy list and changed the mother board to the next model down. Those two items saved $80.

I'm going to stay with the graphics card because I might do some higher end 3d graphics and play a game once in a while, so the $30 is worth it.

I still need to explore the drive options. I wanted to configure the drives with RAID 0 for better performance, so I was going to buy two. This means a total of about 300 Gb of usable space. Currently I only use 70 Gb, so 300 will hold me for quite a while.

Can anyone tell me if the mother board I selected supports RAID directly, or if the spec simply means that it supports a RAID controller.


thanks,

Darryl

 

[4745454b]

It supports RAID directly, no card needed. I am however one of the anti raid people, at least what I call AID0. People believe that an AID0 system will be faster then a none AID0 system. While this is technically correct, there are better ways of speeding up a system then using an AID0 array. The problem is this, the AID0 array only pays off IF you are using the array. Most of the time, you are busy using the RAM and the CPU, not the harddrive. If you are using the harddrive a lot, more ram will help (and be faster) then adding an AID0 array. Database servers and people who edit large/massive videos need the speed that AID0 CAN provide, not people who make webpages.

In addition, I never suggest people use an AID0 array as their bootdrive. If you need the speed of AID0, get a single drive to load windows onto, and whatever drives you are going to use in the array. Load windows and programs onto the single drive, while the scratch/workspace goes on the array. This way, when the array gets lost due to bad drive, corrupted driver, you don't have to reinstall windows, etc.

 

[darrylr]

Good feedback. I run several web server machines and on one we setup RAID 0+1 and it's kick-ass fast. Obviously a web server is heavy in disk IO, so I think I just got caught up in my fascination with the web server speed.

I think I'll go with your recommendation on the Seagate 7200.10 drive at a 320 Gb capacity and forget the RAID.

Any inputs on the Hanns 19" LCD display? I'm not familiar with the brand, but it got lots of great reviews at newegg.


cheers!

Darryl

 

[apt403]

That Coolermaster psu is decent, but this one is cheaper, more powerful, and is of higher quality.

 

[shooter124]

that power supply is on the psu us reference list and has gotten only positive reviews from professional reviewers and neweggers, probably won't give you any trouble and its shiny!

 

[lunyone]

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $34.99

All prices are from newegg.com!


Thanks,

Darryl

Go here:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-AC7PRO
for the cooler. It's $22 and free shipping!!!

 

[apt403]

The one I (now succesfully) linked has gotten mainly positive reviews as well.

 

[darrylr]

Any inputs on the Hanns 19" LCD display? I'm not familiar with the brand, but it got lots of great reviews at newegg.

Lastly, since this is my first build, any components missing that would be recommended for consideration?


thanks,

Darryl

 

[alarinn]

I bought 2 of these at Office Depot for $140 for the kids heading back to school in the fall. For the money, I was extremely impressed with the clarity. They rivaled my Dell 2407!! The negative is the sound sucks. Even the cheapo $5 Walmart powered speakers sound an order of magnitude better.

 

[rockyjohn]

I know you said that on the grahpics card you would be more inclinded to go down than up, but Frys.com had a BFG 7900 GS OC card on sale for only $99.99 AR. So for $10 more you can get a card that is about 50% faster for games. I think that would be a worthwile increase.

http://shop3.outpost.com/%7Bn8p6krEJgNEpHDaiTPUVnQ**.node3%7D/product/4970851;jsessionid=n8p6krEJgNEpHDaiTPUVnQ**.node3?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG