First Home Built Computer

[cytrial]

So I'm new to this computer building. I'm getting a friend who knows more than I do to help me put everything together. Here is my build:

LIAN LI PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
Thermaltake Toughpower W0128RU ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LG 18X DVD±R Lightscribe DVD Burner Black IDE Model GSA-H44LK
Then some other LG CD drive.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5608452

I was just curious if this would be a decent build. I'm looking to not spend over $1400. Would I still be able to use my version of XP that I have on my old system with this new system as well, or would I need another version to run on the new computer? I plan on replacing my old computer with this one completely. So if anyone has any suggestions, or any comments I would greatly appreciate the help.

 

[aevm]

The LG DVD-RW can already read/write CDs, save a bit of cash there and don't get a second CD drive.

MSI is not very reliable these days from what I read. Get a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R instead.

The 8800 GTS 640MB is right in the middle between two great choices, the 8800 GTS 320MB and the 8800 GTX, and less bang for the buck than either. I hope you can get the GTX, it's worth the difference. The case you picked will fit a GTX, by the way. Reuse your old disks if you have to, don't buy the new Seagate yet, if you need to save for the GTX.

I doubt you can reuse the XP. If you got it as OEM, i.e. with the old computer, you can't move it. If it's retail then you can reuse it, just call and deactivate it from the old PC first. If you have to buy XP again, buy Media Center, it's cheaper than XP Pro and doesn't have any serious disadvantages. Vista has some driver issues, I'd stay with XP for now.

 

[seezur]

I would agree aevm about the motherboard, But if your looking for SLi support then go with the ASUS P5N-E SLi as it has the same chipset as the MSI you picked. Otherwise this looks to be a pretty solid build

 

[aevm]

Or, slightly better but more expensive, Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus. It can run both cards at 16x and is good quality and overclocks well. It's a 650i/680i hybrid board, i.e. a bit above 650i.

I also like the eVGA 680i board (forgot the exact name now). I suspect that's even more expensive though.

 

[cytrial]

Ok, thanks for the initial input. I have changed a few things around. It came down to this now:

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5398071

I'm not sure about the PSU now, if it would be able to do as well as my first one.

 

[aevm]

Nice!!! A beautiful build with a single item in it that stinks :lol: And you guessed right it's the PSU.

I liked your original choice (ToughPower). These would also do nicely:

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

 

[Dior]

650i board for $130 when Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R costs the same? why? SLI? Not worth it in any way in my opinion.

The $80 Corsair 520HX from buy.com will power an 8800 GTX just fine, that system won't nearly consume that much power at any given point. With futureproofing in mind you can get Corsair 620HX for $130 if you want.

I'd also get Q6600 instead of E6850 with a cheap $20 Freezer 7 Pro (directron.com) and overclock it slightly to 3.0Ghz. Same speed, 2 extra cores, only $20 more. Future games will be able to utilize 4 cores fully.

Just my 2c.

 

[aevm]

Agreed that SLI is not worth it. Cytrial, maybe you should take an hour or two and look through the SLI threads. If you reach the same conclusion get the DS3R.

Don't know about Q6600. I just got myself one, but I will use the PC for work too, not just games. TBH my favourite game is Diablo 2 and it will only use one core I hear Oblivion also crashes a lot unless you configure it to use only one core. Right now, if the computer is strictly for gaming, it will be 25% better off with a E6850. When Crysis is released a Q6600 will be better. That's another one for Cytrial to decide himself. The E6850 will be nicer in 2007 and part of 2008. After that he'll wish he'd got a Q6600. It depends on now long he will keep this CPU. Anyway, I saw at least 3 threads about E6850 vs Q6600 today, let Cytrial find them rather than start a new one.

The Corsair 620HX at $130 is a good deal, but $115 for that OCZ beats it Would you say the Corsair is higher quality? I know they're both great.

Edit: OK, here's a flame. It's not fair to compare the overclocked Q6600 with the non-overclocked E6850 and then say Q6600 wins. If overclocking is an option then the E6850 overclocks even better than the Q6600 and the E6850 wins again, by a larger margin too. But yeah, good idea, either way overclocking is worth exploring with these Core 2 CPUs.

 

[Maziar]

Well , in programs that take a lot of power from CPU , i dont think even an OCed E6850 can win Q6600 ,
according to this :
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3038&p=8

if u do just gaming , then a e6850 , if u want something for future and heavy apps , then q6600 ,

 

[leo2kp]

I reckon they'll have better quads out when they're more usable anyway. I'd go with the dual-core for now and wait on the quad.

 

[cytrial]

Well this computer is mostly going to be used for gaming. So I think I'm going to stick with the e6850 OCed.
I've narrowed the mobo's down to these two now. I was just wondering if the price difference between the two would be worth it. I've decided to do away with getting SLi since I'm getting the GTX instead.
First:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050R - $121.94

Second:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128057 - 86.99


I'm still stumped when it comes to PSUs. Would that $80 corsair power everything in my system? If so I'll problay end up going with that.

One more n00b question. Would I need to get any additional cooling for this system? If so, any good cheap recomendations?

Thanks again!

 

[aevm]

The DS3R supports 8 SATA devices instead of 4, has a somewhat improved SouthBridge, supports RAID, has better onboard sound, has somewhat better cooling, has solid capacitors for better durability. I would pay the additional money, even if it's just for the ability to add more than 4 disks and the solid capacitors. That is, you may add a sound card anyway and not care about RAID and it's still worth getting the DS3R.

The Corsair 520HX: yes, it would do the job. No, I wouldn't buy it for this PC. I would buy it for a less powerful PC, sure. The 620HX would do nicely.

Power supplies are less efficient when used close to their limit, so you want a margin there. For example a good PSU will have an 85% efficiency in the middle of its range and 70% close to the limits. It's better for your electricity bill and for the computer's cooling if only 15% of what you pay for is converted to heat in the PSU and not 30%.
Also, PSUs lose some of their power in time through capacitor aging, so again you need a margin. Also, you may want to add disks or other cards later, and it's nice to be able to keep the PSU when you do that. No offense to Corsair, the 520HX is a great PSU, but your computer is going to be a bit too powerful for it.

Additional cooling: I think you're fine. The case you picked comes with 4 fans, that's already plenty.

Maybe if you decide to overclock the CPU, then you'd need a CPU cooler.

By the way, I don't know if you care, but this is interesting: these motherboards (DS3R and S3L) allow you to reuse 1 or 2 IDE devices. I'll just move my old 250 GB disk to the new computer (I got a GA-P35C-DS3R) instead of moving the old junk over with a USB cable :lol: It will be a slower disk but still good for storing stuff I don't use often.

 

[cytrial]

Well think i'm nearing completion. Hope to order things either tonight or tomorrow.

I used the OCZ PSU posted earlier. I put the higher priced mobo in. Then I looked at the specs for it, and it said to check the website for RAM that works with it. The RAM I was getting wasn't on the list.. Would it still be able to work, or would I need to change it to something else. I could change it for:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

When I was reading the reviews on newegg it got a lot of defective reviews.

That is what its running like atm, but I think I'll order the PCU from somewhere else since its about $20 higher at newegg.

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5398071

 

[Maziar]

looks good

 

[cytrial]

SO I finally finished up what I'm getting:

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5398071

-LIAN LI PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

-GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

-EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3

-CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply

-Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor

-CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

-SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

-SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

-PHILIPS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM


I'm ordering from Newegg, and ZipZoomFly. All together with shipping, and minus the mail in rebates it comes to the total of $1,384.06.

Any final thoughts/comments? I hope to place the order either tonight or tomorrow sometime.

 

[Maziar]

very nice , e6850 is good , q6600 is also good

 

[Onus]

Gopher it. Happy fragging.

 

[aevm]

I'm just being picky now, but what's with the floppy drive? I haven't had a floppy drive since 2002, I think... Yeah, it's a beautiful setup, enjoy!

 

[cytrial]

I just put the floppy drive in there in case I need to use a floppy drive for school or something.
Anyway thank you everyone for all the help. It's greatly appreciated.