Out of the game for a while-- need some advice on a build

[rootb33r]

Hey guys-
When I was in high school I was the resident computer geek; I built over 100 computers for friends, family, and friends of family. Of course, I always had to have the best PC so I was constantly up on the technology. Unfortunately my career interests went into finance and I had to get a Laptop for college. The result was that I stopped following desktop technology.

While in college I pretty much just played WoW, and my laptop was good enough to run it at a pretty decent framerate so I never felt like I needed a PC. Now I've graduated and my new company bought me a laptop, so I don't need one at home any more. Also, they said I could use the laptop for Grad School so I don't need to worry about that.

Anyway, I've decided to build a new PC for gaming, music, and TV-watching. I would sincerely appreciate your opinions on the hardware I've picked out, as well as answering some of my questions.

Goals: 1) compatibility
2) cost-to-performance ratio maximization (spoken like a true economist )

One sidenote: when I was picking my system I paid a lot of attention to customer reviews because I don't know what half of this new technology is. Also, I already have a nice 21" LCD I just recently got to dock my laptop to.

-GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5200CSBOX - Retail
-SAPPHIRE 100196L Radeon X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
-Rosewill RP500-2 ATX 2.01 500W Power Supply - Retail
-COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

total: $651 (amazing how cheap these parts are)

Questions:
1) Will the stuff work together?
2) Is the PSU enough power?
3) I've never used SATA- is it like IDE with the plug-and-play on the Motherboard?
4) If you had to upgrade 3 items, what would they be and what would you upgrade to (no $500 vid cards or processors or anything ridiculous like that)
5) Anything I'm forgetting?

6) I would also like to get a TV tuner. I want to be able to watch TV and record shows. Can you recommend me a TV tuner?


*EDIT* I completely forgot a DVD/CD-ROM... should i go with SATA for this?

 

[Captain_Soviet]

Since you seem to have experience, I suggest getting an E4300-based build and overclocking that, you shouldn't have much trouble. You should be able to afford a cheaper P35 board and an E4300 without a large increase in your costs. If you do decide to stick with AMD, I suggest a better motherboard that doesn't have onboard video. As for DVD drives, go for SATA, there's no reason not to, and the cables are thinner which leads to better airflow. Finally, a lot of people here seem to not like Rosewill power supplies, but I personally haven't had any experience with them.

 

[rootb33r]

Ok. I just did some research and that processor looks awesome. Unfortunately, I don't remember a thing about motherboard specs so what motherboard would you suggest to pair with the E4300?

This is the one i found (open box makes it cheaper haha):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131176R

then I had to change my RAM to DDR2 533

 

[Captain_Soviet]

Ooh, don't get a 945 chipset board. If you want a cheaper board that will still OC great, check out the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, you should be able to find it for around $100 on Newegg. If you want a bit more future-proofness, get a P35 board, such as the Asus P5K or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3, those should both be good. Finally, keep the 800 Mhz RAM, you'll need it for overclocking and it doesn't cost much more than 667 Mhz RAM.

 

[Hatman]

Id say e6420 at min becase of that 4mb cache. And the clocks are much higher than the e6320.

 

[rootb33r]

I guess the RAM was never a question of price, but rather i settled for the 667 because i couldn't find a 800mhz-compatible board i liked.

Also, assuming the stock hs+fan will be insufficient, could you recommend a decent aftermarket hs+fan? (for the 4300)

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Captain_Soviet]

All the 965 and P35 boards are compatible with DDR2-800, so no problem there. As for a heatsink, if you want something cheaper, check out the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, but if you want the best, check out the Tuniq Tower 120 or Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Make sure they fit in your case though, I don't know much about how much space you need for those heatsinks.

 

[rootb33r]

Beautiful-
Thanks Everyone.

 

[rootb33r]

Another question about the video card-

Is that the best one i can get for less than $200? I guess technology has changed since my days of building PC's because back then it was "get as much VRAM as you can" and now there are pipelines and all sorts of other things to consider.

for instance:
the incumbent:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102075
vs.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814150220

the ATI has twice as much memory but the Nvidia has twice as much pipeline... no idea what that means but i've heard it before and i know it's good haha.

Any insight would be great.
Thanks.

 

[Captain_Soviet]

Here, you're better off checking the VGA charts, and seeing which card performs better in the games you plan on playing, and then see if any advantage the 7950 GT has is worth the 20 dollars to you. If these cards don't satisfy you, it may well be worth the step up to a 320 MB 8800 GTS.

 

[DireStrike]

Hey, I'm in a similar situation, except I was never quite as good as you were.

I've just been through the whole song and dance here, over most every component, and the only comment I have is on the Rosewill PSU. That brand name seems to be almost a joke over at the PS forum. I can't really make any recommendations, since I can't seem to get my head around large segments of the PSU selection process, but I recommend you check in there. There are several lists and tiers of PS brands and units in the forum's Sticky.

Good luck!

 

[rootb33r]

Thanks for everyone's help... I changed the PSU to a "Tier 3" brand.

I also decided to go with the X1950Pro 512MB.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[turpit]

> but if you want the best, check out the Tuniq Tower 120 or Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme.
> Make sure they fit in your case though.

Yep! DITTO that. Both compete for top honors
in tests reported at www.anandtech.com (very objective
reviews there, and Anand is a H/W genius, hands down).


FYI: Just found this today -- some new HSF players & designs:

http://www.insidehw.com/content/view/158/9/

CPU Coolers Roundup


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library
http://www.supremelaw.org/

Nice find on the cpu coolers round up.

 

[Zorg]

I assume that you will be keeping this build for several years? Get a Q6600, after price drop $266. Get a P35 mobo with DDR2, see AnandTech review below. Note the free 25% OC to 1333. The quad core will be the CPU of choice with everyone working on multi core support. It will keep you "current" a lot longer than the dual core, and at $266 it's the only way to go. Make sure you get G0 stepping (or B stepping revision G0 or whatever it is). Pair that up with the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and the Scythe S-Flex fan. The whole thing will cost a little more, but it's money well spent.

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2989&p=4