new build - all comments welcome

[davun]

Hey everyone,

it's finally time for me to finally build a proper system. I use the computer a lot - I'm a programmer professionally, and also am a huge gaming / music / movie fan. However I've never had the computer I've really wanted, and this is the first time I can do things the right way.

My budget is between $2,000 - $3,000. I am happy to spend money on something that is worth it, however I do not want to throw money away. I would like a system that is a very good - great performer at this time, and easy to upgrade within reason over the next 2 years at least. For example I'm quite sure I will pick up an 8800GT card in the next week or two, and upgrade that to a next-gen nVidia super-card next Feb/March - I see no point in purchasing an 8800 ultra when they're about to be superseded.

I have in the last couple weeks done a fair bit of research, and I'm quite sure the following parts are compatible. I would like to overclock the Q6600 up to between 3.0 and 3.2 GHz, so I have chosen the Zalman PSU cooler, which will fit in the case and not be too heavy. I am not considering any other OC.

My weakest level of knowledge is regarding the PSU, however I have read only good things about the Corsair.

I'm going to have a 150Gb Raptor as the primary drive, and 2X500Gb backup drives; 1TB. The Samsung drives are so cheap! The only thing holding me back from buying more of them (2TB, 3TB...) is I actually don't need such storage at this point, but it is so tempting.

I already own Microsoft XP Pro (32 bit), and will user this on the new system. I'm definitely not wanting to get Vista.

My main questions are:
* am I missing anthing?
* will anything in my list not be compatible
* does anything in my list have known gotchas, for example 150+ page threads online of issues, which I found for a certain sound card
* would you suggest a different part, and for what reason (quality/budget ratio in mind)
* should I consider further cooling for the case; I believe the 830 comes with a few fans already
* what other accessories would you recommend? If I've got the heart of the system right, now I can think about extra temperature monitors, etc

Finally, I'm in the US, ordering pretty much from newegg. The case and sound card I have already ordered - I just could not miss those deals.

Without further ado, here is the list I have come up with:

Case - Cooler Master Stacker 830 (already ordered)
Motherboard - Abit IP35 Pro
CPU - Intel Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz (will OC to 3.0 - 3.2GHz)
RAM - Crucial Ballistix 2GB
Primary HD - WD Raptor 150GB
Backup HD - Samsung SpinPoint T Series 500GB X 2
PSU - Corsair CMPSU-620HX
CPU Cooler - Zalman CNPS9700
Graphics Card - GeForce 8800GT variant
Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro (already ordered)
DVD Drive - ASUS Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM
DVD Burner - Pioneer Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
OS - Microsoft XP Pro 32 bit (already own)
Monitor - Samsung 226BW
Speakers - Klipsch Promedia GMX
Keyboard - Microsoft ergonomic (already own)
Mouse - Logitech G9 (nearly went for a death adder!)

Finally, thanks everyone for reading this! I appreciate all feedback.

 

[nightscope]

Everything looks good. The sound card was overkill in my opinion, so is the case. Though you should know that you can't run SLI on that board, only crossfire. So if you do get a 8800 GT with it, you won't be able to add another in SLI. So either you go with crossfire with that board, or you go with a different board. BTW, I have the Abit ip35-e which is a less expensive version of that board, and it's great.
For the harddrive I would go with the new seagate drives with 32 mb cache:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

For the ram, I would get the ddr2-800 version and just overclock it yourself. Furthermore, Core 2 Duos don't really benefit much from the higher frequency on the ram.

For the cd/dvd drive, this is what I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153
It's great, extremely fast and cheap.

Don't know much about those speakers, but I have the logitech z5300e surround sound speakers, and they're great. See if you can get some good deals on that stuff on black friday.

 

[joewho]

Looks good. If it were me. I would change these items.

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) $149
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145

AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz $179
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156005

GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 $269 OR ANY X38 Board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128066

Intel Xeon X3220 G0 Stepping Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 $286
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938011

or even the X3210 for mild overclock like your talking. You could also go with CAS-3 memory since 9-333=3.0ghz.

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 $69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146567

 

[akhilles]

If you're getting an Intel-chipset mobo, you might as well go with Crossfire. The HD 3870 is a little behind 8800GT, but for $200. Killer deal! Get 2 & crossfire them. Free shipping.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/games/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=a1350903&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643

 

[nhobo]

I'd wait until January to buy. Prices will come down, post-holiday sales will be raging, new hardware (Penryn) will be out. You'll be able to get an E8500 (Penryn quad) for what you are paying for the Q6600.

You could have started without the sound card to see how you like the mobo's audio, which is pretty good. Forget the Raptor - awful price/performance ratio. You'd be better off with a 3rd Spinpoint or an external HD for backups. Look at the Gigabyte DS3R or DS3L for a mobo. Klipsch Promedia is a great choice, as is sticking with XP Pro.

 

[Andrius]

The E8500 will be a dual core penryn not a quad.
The Q9450 will be a quad core in the Q6600 price range.

As for the motherboard and dual graphics the current market stinks.
Get a P35 motherboard and a high performance graphics card like the G92 GT or GTS in two weeks time.
Gigabyte's onboard audio is rubish (IMO).

Skip the Raptor and get a 24" Samsung 245B screen over the 226BW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234

 

[zenmaster]

#1 - Don't buy any RAM faster than DDR2-800, its a waste.
Simple DDR2-667 will take that system to 3.0Ghz.

#2 - What is your "Backup" Plan. Are you going to backup your Raptor and one of your 500GB disks to the other 500GB disk. If so, good plan.
If you have not considered backups, start considering :>>

 

[aevm]

No worries about the PSU, the 620HX is a great choice.

Replace the Pioneer thingy, it's IDE. Get a SATA burner (SH-S203B, PX-810SA, LG GSA-H62N-BK).

I'd also replace the DVD-ROM with a second burner. It's smart to get two different burners rather than identical.

I'd replace the Zalman 9700 with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme/Scythe SFF21E combo. It's quieter and will let you enjoy the expensive sound card.

I would have spent less on the sound card and more on speakers. For example X-Fi XtremeMusic + Z-5300 (or even Z-5500). Too late now, I guess.

 

[davun]

OK, thanks for the feedback so far! Quite a lot to think about there.

Nightscope : not interested in SLI - dual cards don't give 100% improvement, more like 30%, so I'm not a fan of that since it's also such a short term investment in general. I'm happy to buy a super-card when the time is right, and enjoy it for a year or so.

HD - good point. Thanks, will go for that one.
Burner - similarly.
Ram - please make a particular recommendation. I don't really want to bother overclocking anything except the CPU, as my aim is to build this thing, be proud of it, and move on to actually using it! I mean, how much difference would you notice by OC'ing the ram? The CPU I believe makes the biggest difference in this respect.

Speakers - don't have space for surround speakers. I would prefer them, but don't have space ( NYC apartment issues ).

joewho : well, your comment just throws me! I look up the xeon, I read about instability issues for general civilian non-server use. I'm using XP Pro 32 bit - can't use more ram than ~3 gigs, and I'm not sure I will really be aware of a difference above 2 gigs. Not comfortable with having 1 gig sitting unused. Re. your recommendation for the lower spec 2GB ram, and here's a question for all you other folks, will higher spec ram make a large difference? Also, do you have a particular reason for recommending the Gigabyte board over the Abit? Thanks!

akhilles : hmm, xfire. What does everyone else think? I'm not an ATI fan at the moment, but you do point out a good deal here if I go xfire. Comments?

nhobo : you also make an excellent point re. waiting for price drops. One problem however. Crysis is sitting on my desk! My current computer is reduced to tears trying to fire it up! Bioshock too!

I am actually a huge music fan, so the sound card was the right choice regardless. You sure about the raptor? I wouldn't mind an extra spinpoint instead (or seagate as NightScope suggests), but can you argue that I would not notice the difference? 7,200rpm | 10,000rpm seems a pretty substantial ratio. If it makes things fly noticably higher, I don't mind a little extra cost.
You also mention Gigabyte - could you also argue why I should choose this over the Abit?

Andrius - ok, thanks. I think the 24" Samsung would be good, except for its extra cost, lower response time (people are complaining about ghosting newegg for example), and simply the fact that it has a far lower user base than the 22". The 22" has strong reviews all round, and I feel more comfortable making that choice.

zenmaster - ok, cool. Could you also please recommend the RAM of your choice. Data backup is definitely on my mind, one reason I'm getting 2 backup drives than 1. I also have an external 200Gb drive. Agree with you 100%.

aevm - yup, replacing the burner to SATA per NightScope's suggestion. But 2 burners? Hmm, $30 is low cost in the scheme of things, but I'm not sure I need 2. In the event of a disaster, I could always cannibalize my old (current) computer for its drive, right? Now, I have to directly challenge you on the CPU cooler. My research so far has pretty much shown that those coolers will not fit in the Stacker 830 case - they are enormous. They are also heavy, and I don't want to damage my motherboard. I'm not even sure they will fit the abit board with the other cards etc installed. Please advise me otherwise - I love the look of the infinity, the 120 extreme, and in fact I spent a lot of time looking into whether the Scythe Mini Ninja could even work - but I have the feeling they are basically impractical, unless I really want to OC the chip to hell!
Again, re. the surround speakers, just don't have space at this point. It seems the Klipsch speakers are superb for a duo speaker setup.

Thanks again everyone - looking forward to your responses

 

[aevm]

OK, thanks for the feedback so far! Quite a lot to think about there.

aevm - yup, replacing the burner to SATA per NightScope's suggestion. But 2 burners? Hmm, $30 is low cost in the scheme of things, but I'm not sure I need 2. In the event of a disaster, I could always cannibalize my old (current) computer for its drive, right? Now, I have to directly challenge you on the CPU cooler. My research so far has pretty much shown that those coolers will not fit in the Stacker 830 case - they are enormous. They are also heavy, and I don't want to damage my motherboard. I'm not even sure they will fit the abit board with the other cards etc installed. Please advise me otherwise - I love the look of the infinity, the 120 extreme, and in fact I spent a lot of time looking into whether the Scythe Mini Ninja could even work - but I have the feeling they are basically impractical, unless I really want to OC the chip to hell!

The burner thing: I'm just thinking DVD-ROM drives at $20 are not worth it, with burners at $30.

Sorry about the cooler thing. There's a guy who managed to put The TU120Extreme in a Stacker 830 but I think it's a different flavor of Stacker 830. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151310
BTW, the Zalman 9700 won't fit either, according to a newegg reviewer.

Read these reviews here for some cooling ideas.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ryType=0&Pagesize=100&SelectedRating=-1&Page=

I think the Thermalright Ultima-90 would be good. It does fit. Here's a review.
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3068&p=5

 

[akhilles]

The deal has come & gone, I'm afraid. You waited too long. You do realize the P35 doesn't do SLI? Only Crossfire.

 

[davun]

aevm : ok, will consider 2 burners instead, good point. Cooler - the Ultima 90 looks like an excellent choice, and fits my aesthetic much more than the Zalman too. I believe the Zalman fits that case ok nonetheless (couldn't find the review you mentioned).

akhilles : that's np for me, I don't really want to go down the dual-card setup of either flavor, I would rather have one card.

I also read on another board that the Raptor often does not play nice with the Abit board, which is really too bad. I'm now thinking 3X500Gb drives, all at 7,200rpm. That gives plenty of capacity for backup - I was looking forward to a fast main drive, but if it's a hit or miss affair, I guess it's best to avoid it.

Further thoughts? Looks like I'm almost ready to start ordering

If someone wants to recommend the best ram option, 2Gb since I'm using 32bit XP, I'd appreciate it. I don't want to OC it - too much hassle for the sake of $60 or so IMO. The Abit board supports DDR2 800. This RAM is going to last me until my next major upgrade - possibly 2-3 years. I don't mind paying a little extra for the best. On the other hand, if you think I'm missing a major point here (I don't want to seem ignorant), push back. Thanks!

 

[hughyhunter]

Lots of good recommendations here. I think you have the hard disk, and optical drive worked out so lets move on to more important stuff like RAm, CPU and mobo.

As for the CPU... If you are dead set on building now I would get exactly what you are interested in that being the Q6600. Just make sure it has the G0 stepping as it will overclock much better than the older one.

RAM... On newegg right now you can get 2x2 gigs of g.skill ddr2800... This is pivitol as 2x2 will allow you to upgrade to 8 gigs eventually... and for now you will get the 1t timings on your mobo with only 2 sticks. I saw some 2x2 gig sets for less than 150 all over newegg.

Hard disk... Get 3 spinpoints like previously mentioned and go raid 0+1 for performance.

Mobo... The big discussion will continue... You have no ambitions of SLI or crossfire so that makes it easier... The x38 has really been selling me lately... Particularly the foxconn x38a. The reason why is the FSB, DDR3 capabilities and with the foxconn you can use ddr2 now and upgrade to ddr3 later... that's awesome. I think that it's better than the P35 due to the aformentioned ability to upgrade to 45nm penryns. So get the x38 or wait for the x48. P35 is good to but not future proof. Nvidia is not a good chipset for people that have no intentions to go SLI because that is what you are paying for with Nvidia chipsets is that capability.

I love the 8800GT... Dont hesitate as you wont be dissapointed... Even when the D8E comes out you can sell that 8800gt on ebay or something.

Soundcard is overkill though... You can do a lot with A LOT less... I am assuming that you arent going to be recording proffessionally and even if you were you wouldnt be looking at creative.

I dont know why anyone would look anywhere else than the PC POWER AND COOLING power supplies... Go to Frys and see how much heavier they are than the other's there. Hands down the highest quality power supply you can buy. Get the 750 watt one... on newegg for 159 I believe.

 

[aevm]

I also read on another board that the Raptor often does not play nice with the Abit board, which is really too bad. I'm now thinking 3X500Gb drives, all at 7,200rpm. That gives plenty of capacity for backup - I was looking forward to a fast main drive, but if it's a hit or miss affair, I guess it's best to avoid it.

Get 2x750GB instead of 3x500, and go with Western Digital. WD7500AAKS is faster than the WD5000AAKS (because it uses perpendicular recording).
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=446
Here's a quote from the review:

Final Thoughts

The new Western Digital WD7500AAKS Caviar SE16 750GB hard drive is one of those rare times when I can clearly say recommending this product is right thing to do. The performance of the new perpendicular-based 188GB platters makes this model almost as fast as WD's own Raptor 150GB hard drive, a feat we once thought unthinkable during its initial launch. And you don't lose the capacity of modern hard drive to get this speed -- 750GB should enough for the most demanding of users. If we could ask WD to step up in one area it would be in warranty coverage and match their competitors.

 

[dallasjoh]

No worries about the PSU, the 620HX is a great choice.

Replace the Pioneer thingy, it's IDE. Get a SATA burner (SH-S203B, PX-810SA, LG GSA-H62N-BK).

I'd also replace the DVD-ROM with a second burner. It's smart to get two different burners rather than identical.

I'd replace the Zalman 9700 with a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme/Scythe SFF21E combo. It's quieter and will let you enjoy the expensive sound card.

I would have spent less on the sound card and more on speakers. For example X-Fi XtremeMusic + Z-5300 (or even Z-5500). Too late now, I guess.

aevm,

Why two different burners rather than identical? If you wanted to burn a movie or music to two disk at the same time wouldn't the burn be better if the drives were identical. All CD\DVD duplicators on the market have identical drives. I am just curious as to why non identical would be better!!

 

[aevm]

1. you get two CDs with different software, rather than two CDs with the same software. For example I got Roxio with my PX-810SA and Nero with my LG. With two LGs I'd have had a useless second copy of Nero instead of Roxio.

2. some burners are better than others at some things. For example my LG burns faster than the Plextor and rips audio faster, but the Plextor rips movies in 9 minutes instead of 22.

3. some burners work well with some types of media and not so well with others. With two different burners you can choose from a wider range of media and take advantage of more sales.

4. If you often write two copies of a disk, your chances that both are badly written are smaller with different burners. Let's say your first burner has a firmware bug. If the second burner is the same type, it probably has the bug too. If it's not the same type, it probably won't have it.

 

[hughyhunter]

1. you get two CDs with different software, rather than two CDs with the same software. For example I got Roxio with my PX-810SA and Nero with my LG. With two LGs I'd have had a useless second copy of Nero instead of Roxio.

You sold me on this one single thing alone... I never would have though of that

 

[dallasjoh]

If your a newbie and need the software than I guess maybe but the other part I am not to sure about. Most drives now days have just about the same speeds and as for burning to different media there is none better than Plextor and for firmware updates, which allows you to burn to newer media as it hits the market again Plextor. Also if what you say holds true than the company making burning duplicators would put different drives also, wouldn't they? Moving on!!!!

 

[davun]

ok, been looking up your suggestions.

hughyhunter : great, will look for the G0 locally, looks like if you order online, you could get anything. RAM - ok, will go for 2X2gb G.Skill. For the HD, I've changed course and I'm now looking at 2XHitachi 750Gb 32Mb cache drives, around $190 each. These things are meant to perform at the same level of Raptors. I'm not interested in RAID - for my needs I think it would just over-complicate my life. You've also sold me on PC POWER AND COOLING - going for the 750 watt. Surprised I missed that during my research of PSU's, they seem to have a top-rank reputation, and I am especially encouraged that the manufacturer addresses all issues on newegg.com. Good stuff.

Your recommendation of the Foxconn I see in two ways. Yes, it's future proofing, but it's also ~$80 or so more. When the time comes for me to do my next upgrade, DDR3 will be the norm, there'll be new chips (maybe AMD will be the new leader, hey you never know), and there is a very strong knowledge base on the abit at this point. Since when I next upgrade a lot of hardware will be outdated, I think I'll stay with the abit and just get a new, equivalently priced, board at that point. I have to say that choosing the motherboard has been the far most stressful part of researching this build.

Oh, about the soundcard - this is just something I don't want to mess around with, I want to get the right card and be done with it. I don't want driver issues, game issues, music/movie issues... this card is not likely to be superseded for a good few years. This is one component that I certainly expect to migrate when the time comes for another build.

aevm : your comments led me to the 2X750Gb Hitachi - they have 32mb cache as opposed to 16mb, and seem excellent performers.

The 2 drive thing... lol. Sneaky stuff, but true.

Further comments anyone? I'm going to start seriously ordering over the coming weekend.

 

[hughyhunter]

Look for SLA3J at the end of the product code on the box of your q6600 when shopping... that will garuntee that it's the G0 stepping.

I like that you are going with those products versus the previously metioned. You will be happy with them i'm sure. The P35 is still a great board and will be a very friendly overclocker probably even more than the x38. If you are sure you have no ambitions for dual gpu's and or even pci-e 2.0 and the ddr3 than dont worry about it. As far as I know the foxconn is the only board that supports ddr2 also.

I personally own the 226BW (beautiful monitor... got from tigerdirect... no dead pixels) and an evga 8800gt... the only thing I would suggest is invest in a aftermarket cooler for the card because it does get HOT!

Hope all goes well on your pc builidng adventures

 

[aevm]

Here's a good cooler for the 8800GT:
http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/thermalright-hr-03-gt-vga-cooler.html

Make sure you get the HR-03 GT. HR-03 Plus won't fit and HR-03 Rev.A is not designed for that much heat.