New build for photo editing

[jakobs]

This will be my first build. I mainly need it for photo editing (and multitasking), I'm getting pretty sick of how slow my current machine is. It has lasted almost 4 years and I'd like this next one to last at least 3, so I'm trying to think about the future. I'd like to spend less than $800, but something around there should work. The main thing is I need it to last. I've been researching and reading these forums (big help) and heres what I've come up with:

Q6600 $255 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115018)

Artic Cooling Cooler $27 [Overkill?] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

Gigabyte P35 MOBO $100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059)

Corsair 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 $130 [Overkill??? I want to be able to upgrade to 8GB in the future] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145176)

Corsair 550W PSU $80 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003)

2 WD Caviar 80GB HDs $86 [One for Apps, other for scratch disk] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136195)

WD Caviar SE16 500GB $105 [Is the new variable speed drive worth it?] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073)

Cool Master Elite Case $35 [Anything wrong with this?] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115)

I'll be reusing my X800 XT [Or should I get something new?]

Resuing optical drives, as well as, LCD, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and Soundblaster Audigy. I'll be running XP Pro for now, maybe Vista down the road.

Suggestions???

 

[jakobs]

I know I forgot thermal paste. And I'll need a USB expansion card [Suggestions?].

Did I miss anything else?

 

[bobbknight]

The way the fan mounts on the Arctic freezer 7 pro the fan duct will not provide much extra air flow and might interfere with it's installation.
The holes on the back vent for the 12cm fan are to small to provide good outward air flow.
I find that a large honeycomb pattern for the exit air fan vent provides very good air flow.
Unobstructed fan vents in the front of the case also aid greatly in positive air flow in a case.
Of all the cases that I have owned the two from Antec, the Super Lanboy and the 900 are the best I have ever owned when it comes to good air flow.
Super Lanboys are B stock direct from Antec if they still have them.
An the 900 is on it's way out as the new case on the block is the Antec 1200. But you can still find good deals on it if you shop around. I got mine from Frys.com near the end of last year for $78 delivered.
You can find other cases that will give good air flow, but the best will have a fan in front and one in back that don't have anything in the way blocking the air flow. Look at an Antec 900 to see what I am talking about.
For hard drive speed it hard to beat the bang for buck of the newer Seagate 32mb cache drives like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 series.

 

[g-paw]

If you're not seriously overclocking, you can use the stock HSF. Crucial Ballistix is good RAM and will be less expensive. Check out the ASUS P5K and P5K E, more features some of which you may want in the future

 

[jakobs]

@boobknight, I think I could ditch the duct if it got in the way. I do like the Antec 900 and can see it would breath a lot better, but I'm trying to cut costs and I don't think I need a ton of air flow, I'll look around some more. Checkin out the Seagates too. Thanks

@g-paw, I'm getting the Q6600 OEM so no HSF included, are you saying I could get away with something smaller, or is the stock HSF pretty good?

 

[g-paw]

Your better off with the retail CPU, better warranty and the HSF is good if you're not seriously overclocking. Check out the Antec Sonata II, easy to work with, good cooling, quiet, and come with good PUS

 

[Kamrooz]

here's what I'd recommend.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104037
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136178

Pretty much the best route you can go. The antec 900 is a FANTASTIC case. The stock cooling is quite adequate, plus, all the fans have 3 settings, low noise, medium, or high. For stock cooling, you get a lot for your money. Plus, with the large fan that exhausts at the top, it's guaranteed to keep everything quite cool.

Stick with the stock heatsink, if you don't plan to OC, no reason to get anything special. Even with the stock HS, you can oc a bit with no worries.

Regarding the PSu, tier 3, a goodie, small rebate also, there are probably some other good choices, but I didn't want to go searching all over the place, nab it or something similar if you want.

About your vidcare, you're not gaming, no need to buy a new one, just use it. You can always upgrade the vid card later, why cut down on the other vital components when you have something to use? Perfect choice, stick with it ^_^.

for the ram, if you want you can nab 2x1 sticks for a MUCH cheaper cost, but always nice to have room for upgrading, also if you plan to go xp 64 bit, it helps, as well as having the extra memory to lower the need of paging files. I have those modules in this rig I've built for a family friend, great sticks. My first set, unfortunately one stick was bad, RMa'ed to newegg and got a replacement set. I can run these suckers at a 1:1 ratio (667) to this 3ghz oc'ed q6600 G0, I can tighten the timings down to 3-3-3-8 at 2.1 volts (1.9 is spec)...Great modules, they run Micron D9HNL ic's. Of course not better the D9GMH's...But you can't get them in 2x2gb varieties.

Hope this helps, post if you have any questions. Hopefully you have an OS, didn't keep that in mind.

 

[Noya]

I would go with two of these for just a few bucks more as it's double the space:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

Also, place the pagefile at the beggining of the 500gb model on a 5-10gb partition.

500gb for $95:
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA3494869&nav=3


Also, never buy a PSU from newegg. They overcharge and never have free shipping on the good models.

Corsair 450vx $60 shipped, $50 after rebate:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-450w-power-supply/q/loc/101/205466485.html

Great buy at $58:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-550w-power-supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html

Modular cables at $80:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html


If you're going to overclock (you should), order it from ClubIT as they guarantee G0 stepping.
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938452
http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938460

And as someone else said, you may want to just by a 2x1gb kit now ($25-30) and just upgrade when the 2x2gb 1066 or similar come down in price.

 

[jakobs]

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[mlaporta]

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 520W Power Supply

 

[jakobs]

Thanks for all the help, my new system is sweet. I went with the Antec Sonata II case, Q6600 w/ oem cooler, 2x2gb of corsair xms2 ram, 2 80gb and 1 500gb Seagate HDs. I went with Vista 64 Bit. Everything went smoothly, except a little heat sensor malfunction in the cpu, which was easily fixed by removing and reinstalling the mobo and cpu.

PROBLEM:

I can't get vista to recognize a HD from my old computer. I just want to copy some files. Its SATA 1.5 and NTFS formatted I believe. It came from XP. It shows up in Disk Managment as a complex drive and its offline, it can't be initialized without formatting. Any ideas?