My Upcoming System Build

[Allanag]

Hi all,

I am going to be building a new system probably in about a month or 2. I would love to have your feedback on the system specs so far. I do not plan to be doing any overclocking.

1. Case-Thermaltake Armor VA8003BWS
2. Motherboard(Based on the x48 chipset) Probably a Gigabyte board
3. PSU-Seasonic M12 600 Watt
4. CPU- ? Unknown
5. Heatsink- Stock or ?
6. RAM- Corsair 4 GB(Probably DDR3)
7. GPU- GT8800 512 MB
8. HDD-Western Digital. 500 GB.
9. DVD-ROM-Plextor PX-810SA
10. Monitor-Gateway FPD2485W 24" Widescreen High-Definition LCD Flat-Panel Display
11. OS-Vista Ultimate 32 bit.

I will probably use integrated sound card and NIC, otherwise will probably put in a Creative card for sound.

I may also put in a tv tuner card. If so, would be welcome to suggestions for this.

Thank you in advance.

Allan

 

[rgeist554]

You're wasting money on DDR3 at the moment. Also, I see that you're buying and X48 board (which supports Crossfire), but buying an Nvidia card? The X48 is a smarter move over the X38 though, because it will contain improvements that the X38 should have had. I would suggest that you wait for Nvidia's 700 series boards. They will support SLI as well as the newer 45nm chips (we hope). It hasn't been released yet, but I still believe this will be a smarter move for you.

Ok, on to my suggestions:

1. Case - Fine
2. Motherboard - I'd say wait for Nvidia 700 series chipsets. If you need something now just to "Hold you over"... try a Gigabyte P35-DS3L or ASUS/ABIT equivalent
3. PSU - Fine unless you want to SLI. (Maybe still fine if you decide to use SLI, but you may be cutting it close if you over-clock)
4. CPU - If you want a Duo Core: E6750 or E6850 (More $). If you want a Quad: Q6600 and OC to ~3.0+Ghz. You can also just buy a higher clocked Q6xxx or Q7xxx if you don't want to OC your self. **The E6750 performs just as well as the Q6600 in games if you don't over-clock either**
5. Heatsink - Stock is fine if you don't plan to OC. If you do - Go with a TR Ultra 120E. Tuniq Tower & Zalman 9700 are also nice.
6. RAM - Go with 4GB of DDR2 PC6400 (800Mhz) or the 1066Mhz variety if you're really worried that the RAM will bottleneck you (which it won't) DDR3 is extremely overpriced at the moment. $400 for 2GB of RAM? No thanks.
7. GPU- 8800GT is fine. If you're deadset on an X48 board, I would personally crossfire two 3870HD's. (Crossfire may actually be pretty nice for you since you're going to use a 24" screen - that means higher native res)
8. HDD - Fine
9. DVD - Never heard of Plextor. Samsung makes pretty good burners at a reasonable price.
10. Monitor - Try to find the respnse time on the monitor. If you're a gamer you want 8-10ms or lower. Higher than that and you may see ghosting or lag.
11. OS - I'd go with the 64-bit version. It will support the full 4GB of ram that you plan on buying. (The 64 bit also goes on to support a full 128GB of RAM)

I'm not sure about TV Tuner cards.

 

[Allanag]

Hi Rgeist,

I know that DDR3 is a waste of money at the moment, but not sure how if it may be worth it in a month or 2. If it remains overpriced, I'll definitely be getting DDR2. I will certainly wait for the Nvidia 700 series boards. The response time on the monitor is 6ms(gray to gray)

Thank you for the feedback.

 

[rgeist554]

Hi Rgeist,

I know that DDR3 is a waste of money at the moment, but not sure how if it may be worth it in a month or 2. If it remains overpriced, I'll definitely be getting DDR2. I will certainly wait for the Nvidia 700 series boards. The response time on the monitor is 6ms(gray to gray)

Thank you for the feedback.

Maybe the price on DDR3 will go down, no one can be sure of these things.

Anyways, you're welcome. Have fun when you create this new rig.

 

[singingigo]

Heck, I'd stick with the X48 MB and bet two 3870s in Crossfire. They outperform a single 8800GT and do a better job decoding HD. (Not to mention they scale WAY better.)

If you aren't OCing, look for the q6700 or wait for the cheaper Q9xxx series. (Hey, they might not be a ton faster, but they will save you $$$ in energy costs.)

 

[aevm]

I agree with rgeist554 on all points.

I would recommend the WD7500AAKS instead of the 500GB version because the 750GB version has PMR and it's much faster.

Plextor is the best company when it comes to DVD burners. The PX-810SA in particular is worth every cent, even if it costs twice as much as most other burners. I got one, by the way No rip-lock garbage there, for example.

Seasonic is IMO the best PSU manufacturer these days. They design their own products, plus a few for PC Power & Cooling and Corsair. I think the PC Power & Cooling Quad Crossfire 750W would be best here, for a build with two video cards and a very nice budget. Make sure it's the Crossfire version so you get 6/8 PCI-E connectors rather than plain 6-pin connectors. That will come in handy later if you need to upgrade cards and the latest and greatest card that year needs 8-pin connectors.

Cooler: if you don't overclock you can get a $20 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, or nothing at all. With the Freezer you'll get a few less dB.

Since you're willing to wait for X48, I guess you're not in a hurry. Get HD3870 cards for it, because x48 doesn't support multiple nVidia cards in SLI. The HD3870 is quieter than the 8800GT too. The Q9450 CPU sounds very promising. The last I heard about it: to be released January, around $316, very similar to Q6700 but using 45nm tech and with SSE extensions.

If you prefer nVidia cards get a 780i motherboard. Keep in mind that 8800GT or 8800GTS (including the G92 version) will not support triple SLi, but only regular two-cards SLI. Triple SLI is reserved for 8800 GTX and Ultra AFAIK. Mind you, three 8800GT cards would be a bit excessive anyway, what with the heat and noise.

Edit: TV tuners.... I am clueless about HD tuners. For regular TV, Hauppauge PVR-150 (single tuner) or ATI Theater 650 are popular and have excellent image quality. My Dad has one of each and likes them both. Both work with the same software (XP Media Center or BeyondTV, for example). There are some dual tuner cards too, if you think you'll need to record two shows at the same time. The important things when you buy a tuner are:
1. image quality (reviews help a lot here)
2. hardware encoding (OK, if your CPU is a quad Penryn and doesn't do anything special during TV recording then I guess this is no longer important. It was essential for some Pentiums though.)
3. compatibility with the software you intend to us

 

[rgeist554]

Plextor is the best company when it comes to DVD burners. The PX-810SA in particular is worth every cent, even if it costs twice as much as most other burners. I got one, by the way No rip-lock garbage there, for example.

Good to know.

Mind you, three 8800GT cards would be a bit excessive anyway, what with the heat and noise.

Hehe.... just make the case water-tight and pour water over it to make your own sauna.

 

[PHOENIX86]

Ya your definatly ganna want the upcoming 780i chipset coming out if your going to go with a nVidia card. The reason is if you want to go SLI later on then you have that option open. Plus I believe its going to have 3 way SLI. And by the time that comes out the new 9 series nVidia cards may be out so Its better to wait untill the first two months of 2008 have passed.
Im in the same boat you are and Ive been waiting and readin reviews for months now waiting for just the right hardware to come out.
Waiting would be the right choice in terms of:
Videocard
RAM
Chipset
and processor prices...
the core 2 quad is sooo cheap for its power. thats probably what I would go with.

 

[singingigo]

The WD AAKS series rocks! The PMR is nice. A better choice is to have TWO drives, one for the OS, and one for apps/data/etc. I noticed about a 20% improvement in system boot/app load times when I went to two drives...

 

[Allanag]

The WD AAKS series rocks! The PMR is nice. A better choice is to have TWO drives, one for the OS, and one for apps/data/etc. I noticed about a 20% improvement in system boot/app load times when I went to two drives...

I probably will end up having 2 drives, for just this reason and will get the WD AAKS.

"Plextor is the best company when it comes to DVD burners. The PX-810SA in particular is worth every cent, even if it costs twice as much as most other burners. I got one, by the way No rip-lock garbage there, for example."

I love Plextor! so far, I have never had any issue with any of their burners. Although, from some reviews I've read, there are faster ones out there.

After all is said and done, I certainly hope that this monster is quieter than the last one I built. My current computer that I am using, and which I built several years ago, sounds like a lawnmower or airplane taking off.