Gaming freak here...

[AnOniM]

So..I finally got my last dollar in the pig(gy bank that is ) and of to the computer store with me..I intend on purchasing this build and need some relevant opinions regarding its value (gaming value that is)..I have to mention that the budget I've been talking about (n.r. piggy bank) is of about 1.400$ to the cent.. So, what do you think? Does it fit well together? Is the PSU sufficient? Can I get another system that is better then this one at the same price?..I have to mention that I am not from the US..I'm from Europe..so certain taxes and commercial add-ons make the prices a little bit (and by a little bit I mean "a lot") bigger then in the States..Can't wait to hear your comments..


Motherboard: Asus P5KC, Socket 775

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz, FSB1333, 4MB, socket 775

HDD: Seagate 160GB 8M cache SERIAL ATA-II (300MB) 7200rpm with NCQ (Native Command Queuing)

DVD-RW: Pioneer DVR-112BK black SuperMulti DVD+/-R 18x, DVD+/-RW 8x6x, DVD+/-R9 10x DL, DVD-ROM 16x, DVD-RAM write/read 12x, CD-R/CDRW/CD-ROM 40x32x40 ATAPI bulk

Case: RAIDMAX SIRIUS WB Black RMX-SRS WB

RAM: Kit Dual Channel Corsair TWIN2X 2x1024MB DDR2, 800MHz, 4-4-4-12

Power source: Chieftec ATX P4 560W

Video card: BFG Tech GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB

 

[boner]

damn???

 

[VoidPhantom]

I think you should drop the E6850 and go for the E6750.
Although the E6750 is 2.66GHz, you can easily overclock it to 3.0GHz and its like $100 less.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

Use this sight and see if your PSU will suffice the amount of stuff you have.
And make sure its at least 50W more for safe insurance with %>80% efficiency for max results.

 

[decripple]

um don't get a raidmax case. I would suggest a Cooler Master or Antec case in the low-mid range case segment. Try the Centurion 5 from Cooler Master

 

[aevm]

Motherboard: Asus P5KC, Socket 775
The P5KC makes you pay for DDR3 support, you don't need that. Get the P5K or even better GA-P35-DS3L.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz, FSB1333, 4MB, socket 775
A Q6600 will do better in some games and worse in others, right now. In the future, most games will do better on the Q6600. I'm guessing that you're not planning to buy a new CPU next year. Get the Q6600, it's future-proof.

HDD: Seagate 160GB 8M cache SERIAL ATA-II (300MB) 7200rpm with NCQ (Native Command Queuing)
Good. Also see what WD has, get whatever is cheaper. In my experience both are good, WD a bit quieter.

DVD-RW: Pioneer DVR-112BK black SuperMulti DVD+/-R 18x, DVD+/-RW 8x6x, DVD+/-R9 10x DL, DVD-ROM 16x, DVD-RAM write/read 12x, CD-R/CDRW/CD-ROM 40x32x40 ATAPI bulk
The only DVD burner I ever hated was a Pioneer. Also, ATAPI means IDE, and what you really want is a SATA burner. Get an LG or Samsung or LIte-On, and make sure it's SATA.

Power source: Chieftec ATX P4 560W
Read this thread. http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/545667-power-supply.html
Then read this one and pick something more reliable. http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings

Does your computer store have a Web site?

 

[mrmez]

Not bad.

If u dont want to OC, u can go for 667Mhz ram
Also, dont u think u may need a bigger HDD?

 

[AnOniM]

@aevm: yes it does..but I doubt you will understand the language, maybe just the base words..anyway --> http://emag.ro/componente_pc Btw: the connotation for the power supply is "surse" if that is what your are looking for..I saw an Sursa Antec TruePower Trio 550W that could be better..Plus that, it may have been a fluke accident..Chieftec is a good brand (or so I've heard)..

@ mrmez: I'm a gamer..Only need to store games. If I'll need more gb on the HDD, I'll just add another one..Also, I made it so the PC would cost less..Already exceeded the budget..I don't know..

Thanks for posting you guys

 

[AnOniM]

@mrmez: Oke..so I updated to a Seagate Barracuda 250GB, 7200rpm, 16MB, SATA II, NCQ..Realized that it pays off to have a bigger HDD..but this is as high as I'll go..running out of money..

@aevm: Could you please explain why SATA is better than IDE?

 

[aevm]

@aevm: yes it does..but I doubt you will understand the language, maybe just the base words..anyway --> http://emag.ro/componente_pc Btw: the connotation for the power supply is "surse" if that is what your are looking for..I saw an Sursa Antec TruePower Trio 550W that could be better..Plus that, it may have been a fluke accident..Chieftec is a good brand (or so I've heard)..

Thanks for posting you guys

No worries about understanding the language. Last month I put a list together from a site in Norway, and before that there was one in Dutch :lol: It's more fun this way.

Not a bad site, but it could use a custom builder like this one for example.
http://www.shoprbc.com/ca/shop/configurator.php?cgid=6

Here's what I'd pick:
http://emag.ro/placi_baza/placa-de-baza-gigabyte-p35-ds3l-socket-775--pP35-DS3L
http://emag.ro/procesoare/procesor-intel-quad-core-2-q6600-24ghz-box--pBX80562Q6600
http://emag.ro/hdd/hdd-western-digital-caviar-se-160gb-sata-300-mb-s--pWD1600AAJS
http://emag.ro/dvd_writer/dvd-write...b-bebe-bulk-negru-vista-design--pSH-S203BBEBE

http://emag.ro/surse/sursa-corsair-cmpsu-550vx-550w-atx22--pCMPSU-550VX
The Antec you found is also very good.

The RAM you picked is great.

The case is totally a personal choice. Make sure you get one with excellent cooling. The 8800GT is hot and needs it.
This one would be great:
http://emag.ro/carcase/carcasa-antec-nine-hundred-fara-sursa--pNINEHUNDRED

Good luck!

 

[aevm]

@aevm: Could you please explain why SATA is better than IDE?

1. For a hard disk, you get higher speed with SATA. For an optical disk, it's not very different.
2. You are allowed longer cables with SATA than IDE.
3. SATA cables are very narrow and don't block airflow, so your cooling will be better.
4. It's also much easier to arrange narrow cables than wide 80-lane IDE cables.
5. The GA-P35-DS3L will let you disable some legacy IDE options in the BIOS if you don't need IDE. Not sure how this helps but I've been told it's a good idea. Personally, I found it a pain to add an IDE disk to a GA-P35C-DS3R - the system wouldn't boot at first and I had to spend some time in the BIOS tweaking things.
6. Your next computer's motherboard will probably not support IDE, so getting a SATA burner now improves your chance of reusing it later.
7. IDE devices are no longer fashionable. Girls will run from you in terror if they catch you using them

 

[nukemaster]

i suggest you look under Antec Corsair and Fortron

based on the price of your last one...maybe this would be a good option
http://emag.ro/surse/sursa-antec-ea-500-ec-earthwatts-500w-atx-22--pEA-500EC

Also depending on what your case costs the Antec Sonata III may also be a good option as it also comes with a decent 500 watt PSU(in fact the same one above)
http://emag.ro/carcase/carcasa-antec-tower-sonata-3-sursa-earthwatts-500w--pSONATA3/ad--4152

According to the PSU calc, your system will have more then enough power.....hell i even added dual hard drives and a 8800GTX....4 usb devices ect. So even with some upgrades you should be fine....
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

I would give more options, but you money is confusing.... so its not easy to see whats a good deal...

EDIT

aevm has recommended an excellent system.

 

[AnOniM]

You guys rock.. Well, regarding the monetary exchange --> 1 USD = 2.31 RON (in which prices are shown on eMag)..I have a few questions:

1. The motherboard you suggested aevm doesn't have DDR3 support, it has video on-board (dont know if that count for anything), doesn't support Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Core 2 Quad processors (if I'll ever need that type of procs) and doesn't support Crossfire..So, should I ever want to go Crossfire, I'll have to buy another motherboard..All other characteristics seem to be pretty much the same..

2. I think I'll take the Seagate Barracuda 250GB..better warranty period, more storage and I think I'll need it;

3. Totally right about the dvd-writer...I don't know how I missed that one..Cheaper and better..plus it's a sata one..and not IDE.. (btw-thak you for explaining that to me)

4. About powering it I'm not sure what to get..Could you please look at both the Corsair and the Antec (with the case)..It would help me if I got the Antec case with the Antec 500W EarthWatts since it would save me a great deal of money..But I'm thinking that the Corsair might be best since it is a 550W and it is (after all) a Corsair..So please, could you guys look and give some pro's and con's to them..Is the Raidmax such a bad case? I like the Antec but in order to get the Antec, I have to drop the Raidmax and the Corsair power supply...I would save money though.. :|

That's about it..Also, if you could explain what made you choose the Gygabite motherboard over the more expensive and (as seen on eMag) more "gifted" and Crossfire-ready Asus?..that would really help me understand and make an easier choice..

 

[AnOniM]

*also..forgot to ask..How important is a heatsink? do I really need one right now or can I add it at a later date (when I get more money since now I'm flat broke )

*the Corsair power supply has an 120mm fan while the antec one has only a 80mm one..That will affect the cooling overall I think..Also, whats the deal with th 12v rail(s) that I keep reading about..I just don't get it..(I know I asked a s*** load of questions but I really want to learn )

 

[AnOniM]

Looked at the Sonata 3 and at the included EarthWatts 500w power supply..It look pretty darn good..Only good reviews, so I think I'll get it and save some cash..I think that the 500W power supply is more then enough to power my system..And I'll be saving some money while keeping the overall quality to a premium.. So thank you for suggesting that to me..much appreciated nukemaster..I was worried that the 8800 GT would be a big stress for it but as it seems, it can handle a lot more..

 

[aevm]

You guys rock.. Well, regarding the monetary exchange --> 1 USD = 2.31 RON (in which prices are shown on eMag)..I have a few questions:

1. The motherboard you suggested aevm doesn't have DDR3 support, it has video on-board (dont know if that count for anything), doesn't support Intel Pentium 4 and Intel Core 2 Quad processors (if I'll ever need that type of procs) and doesn't support Crossfire..So, should I ever want to go Crossfire, I'll have to buy another motherboard..All other characteristics seem to be pretty much the same..

2. I think I'll take the Seagate Barracuda 250GB..better warranty period, more storage and I think I'll need it;

3. Totally right about the dvd-writer...I don't know how I missed that one..Cheaper and better..plus it's a sata one..and not IDE.. (btw-thak you for explaining that to me)

4. About powering it I'm not sure what to get..Could you please look at both the Corsair and the Antec (with the case)..It would help me if I got the Antec case with the Antec 500W EarthWatts since it would save me a great deal of money..But I'm thinking that the Corsair might be best since it is a 550W and it is (after all) a Corsair..So please, could you guys look and give some pro's and con's to them..Is the Raidmax such a bad case? I like the Antec but in order to get the Antec, I have to drop the Raidmax and the Corsair power supply...I would save money though.. :|

That's about it..Also, if you could explain what made you choose the Gygabite motherboard over the more expensive and (as seen on eMag) more "gifted" and Crossfire-ready Asus?..that would really help me understand and make an easier choice..

That Sonata 3/Earthwatts sounds great, do it. Seagate is also good, can't go wrong with them.

The P5KC you wanted costs 416 RON. The GA-P35-DS3L I recommended costs only 310 RON. The Asus supports Crossfire badly, i.e. one of the video cards runs at x4 instead of x16, so if you want Crossfire it's not a good choice.
Also, the GA-P35-DS3L does support quads and does not have integrated video - you sure you're looking at the same board as me? You really don't need DDR3 support, trust me. Not with DDR3 price and performance where they are these days. Also, why would you want Crossfire support if you're getting an nVidia card? You can only use Crossfire with two ATI cards.

If you're serious about adding a second video card later you need to start over, and with more money. Sorry! You would need a bigger PSU, a really well cooled (and bigger, preferably) case, and a more expensive motherboard (based on the 680i chipset for nVidia cards or the X38 chipset for ATI cards). You don't really need two video cards unless you have a screen resolution of 1920x1080 or more, IMO.

If you can afford more money for the motherboard look at these too:
http://emag.ro/placi_baza/placa-de-baza-asus-p5k-socket-775--pP5K
http://emag.ro/placi_baza/placa-de-baza-gigabyte-p35-ds3r-socket-775--pP35-DS3R
http://emag.ro/placi_baza/placa-de-baza-gigabyte-p35-ds3p-socket-775--pP35-DS3P
All of them have some additional features over the DS3L. If you don't need those features stick with the DS3L, why pay for stuff you won't use.

Heatsink - add it later, or never. If you don't overclock you can stay with the stock cooler for ever, it will be fine.

 

[spotless]

does GA-P35-DS3L support the 45 nm quads?

 

[nukemaster]

sure does....but i do not see a .45nm bios out as of yet...its out for the P35 DS3r, should just be a mater of time for the DS3L

http://www.gigabyte.co.nz/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2599

@ AnOniM - I have both the Antec Sonata and Sonata II and the psu's they came with work just fine to this day. The 500 watt earthwatts(this psu is far better[powerful] then the ones that came with the first 2 cases, so power will not be a problem at all) will power your system without any problem....

The Only reason i do not still use my Sonata II(it has another computer in it) case is that it lacked room for 6 hard drives.

My only word of waring for the P35 DS3L is to make sure you ram is good, i have found that board to be picky with some crucial(rendition) ram....The Corsair you have selected should work like a charm....

Just in case you did not know what corssfire was all about?
Its an ATI specific way to run dual(or even more in the future) video cards in a way that they work together for games. Since you are looking at a single 8800GT crossfire is not needed nor will it work with Nvidia cards.

 

[Guest]

I think it does. I know the P35-DS3R does.

 

[aevm]

The DS3R also has a newer on-board audio chip, and better cooling. I noticed the price difference between DS3L and DS3R was small on that site anyway. Maybe he should get the DS3R.

 

[AnOniM]

Thank you..I'll get the Sonata 3 then..Looks really good and read only good things about it, its predecesors and Antec in genral..The power supply is very good as well..I'm not sure about the motherboard though..If I were to choose between the Asus P5k and Gygabite P35-DS3R, which one should O get? (reliability and features being called into question) Is the Gigabyte P35-DS3P better then the two? I don't want to cut corners now..I would rather get something that is very good now and have features that I will eventually use then to get a cheaper part and when I will need the extra-features, to buy another one because it does not support it...

*sorry about the mixup..I knew that Crossfire is for ATI and SLI for Nvidia..I was a little distracted..

 

[monnewbie3]

Good build.
Only thing I would tweak is to pick up some pc-6400 ocz reaper memory.
For the reason that its lifetime warrenty (even if u over volt to 2.2v.) And it can hit pc-1000's speeds and still run stable.
its about 100$ US
Just my 1 cent worth.

 

[nukemaster]

The biggest difference from the P35 DS3R and P5K

P5K has firewire. Do you need firewire?

P35 DS3R does not have firewire

P35 DS3R has 8 Sata Ports(and comes with a bracket to run up to 2 of those as E-SATA ports).
If you plan on lots of hard drives, this board is for you

The P5K has 5 internal Sata ports and 1 external. The 5th internal is way over by the PCI slots so its a pain

The P5K has 2 16X PCI-E slots, but the lower one only gets PCI-E 4X bandwidth. The slot looks like a 16X but is just wired for 4X
So of you plan of getting a PCI-E 4 card later, this board is good for you

So in the end you have to decide what feature you need. More drives? DS3R....Firewire and a PCI-E 4x? P5K

The P5K also has a heatpipe cooling system. I have seen no advantage as chipsets are rather heat tolerant under normal use.

I hope this is not confusing the issue

P5K Specs
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1637&l1=3&l2=11&l3=534&l4=0

P35 DS3R
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2543

P35 DS3R Rev. 2.0 (more usb ports on the back....no parallel[old printer scanner] port)
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2626&ProductName=GA-P35-DS3R

 

[aevm]

As for the DS3P, it's very similar to P5K (FireWire, two cards, one running at 4x).

 

[AnOniM]

Oke..so I thought about it and I've decided to get the Gigabyte P35-DS3R since I don't want to go SLI in the near future and am happy just to run games in full settings with one video card..Neither do I plan on OC'ing in the near future..but probably will do so eventually..I understand that the Gigabyte motherboard is reliable and offers me all those options..I'll probably put more HDD on but not now..For now I'm just interested in running games like Crysis as close to the high settings they were meant to have..And, as I have seen in most reviews to the 8800 GT, I will be able to do so..On a scale of 1/10 (in regards to what games I can run on the config at high settings) what would be your estimate? I'm asking because I can't comprehend how it will behave once assembled..You guys might..So? Crysis in full? (maybe the shader will be at medium setting)

 

[nukemaster]

The current crysis demo is not yet ready. It does not seem to take advantage of quad quite yet. Crysis should do high with an average FPS
in the 30's(30-35 or so), Some people are more or less sensitive to game fps.

Currently more games have dual core support(even more still use one core) then quad, but since you plan to have this for a while the quad core recommended above is still a good bet. If you plan to over clock you can get a free boost from 2.4 to 3.0 on the Q6600(just make sure you keep an eye on the temps and run your fan full speed). If you do not plan to OC then a faster dual core may serve you better for now and a fast quad when they come down(in price) in the future. Only you can make that decision.

What are you upgrading from?