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First time build $2200 budget. HELP PLZ!!!

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This will be my first build and I want to make it a good one, but also one that will last me. Technology is changing so rapidly though I don't know if this will be possible. I am a some what experienced user, but when it come to the best compatabilities and best components for future upgrades. I will be using the computer for about 40%faming,such as Crysis and call of duty 4, and the rest general everyday us. I do a little video editing from time to time, but nothing to intense. I will list the preliminary components I have picked but I am still looking and have read so maany reviews that I am stuck on what exactly to do. I have never over-clocked, but plan on trying it out a little to get my feet wet and then go for more. PLZ offer any suggestions!!!

Case- Apevia X-Telestar maybe but I am not really sure. Some reviews I have read said that the MOBO Below is oversized so I don't even know if the case will work.

MOBO- I really like the ASUS Maximus Extreme, but a bit pricey. Is it worth it? Depends on CPU and GPU as well. I read that you can put nvidia card on this board with the right drivers, but I am not sure. Board for AMD?

CPU- Q6600, E6850, or AMD Phenom?

Cooling-?????????? Artic Cooling Freezer 7. Is it really needed, or will the stock cooler work just fine?

Memory- Seeing that most everything I have read says to stick with XP 32-bit for the time being I will just use 2-3 GB. DDR2 vs DDR3? Pending the MOBO. I guess for future upgrading DDR3, but how long before DDR4 and it is worth the price? After Vista gets the kinks worked out of it I may go dual boot or just completely switch to Vista.
For the MOBO I choose, i looked at OCZ platinum PC 10600 (1333)

GPU- Nvidia 8800GT or GTX vs. 3870 x2. I really dont know. I have always had computers with ATI but not a specific preferance. 1 or 2 cards?

PSU- Don't really know how many Watts to get, but looking at the Pc Power and Cooling PSU.

PhysX Card- What is its main purpose? Do I need one? I have heard good reviews.

HDD1- Raptor 150gb or 2-Raptor 74gb on a Raid 0?
HDD2- Seagate 500gb 7200.11

Optical- DVD burner dual layer SATA connections. Any suggestions on which one.
Monitor- I want a good 22-24" LCD. Suggestions. Have seen a bunch I like, but can't really choose.






More about : time build 2200 budget plz

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Wow, thats quite the budget there. Heres some input coming from somone who just upgraded to a Q6600.

First of all, whether or not you need/want a quad core depends on how much multithreaded aplications you plan to use. I a decent amount of rendering from Maya, so a Q6600 makes sense for me. When you encode your videos, you will see an improvement with a quad core over a dual core. I paid $300 for my Q6600 a month ago, so if you honestly think you will do enough video encoding to warrant such a CPU, then go for it. Otherwise go with a dual core.

I'm currently using an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and I gotta say, its a great bang for the buck. I currently run at 3 GHZ on my cpu (stock is 2.4 GHZ) and have yet to exprience any temp or stability issues. The $30 I spent for this cooler is well worth it.

For your graphics card, get an 8800 GT. Its a fantastic card and offers quite a bit for your momey. It will perform about as well as the current top of the line Nvidia cards for a fraction of the cost.

Forget a physics card. IMO, they are a waste of money and are severely underutilized by games. You're much better off putting that money into a bigger HDD, more RAM, better CPU, etc.

For your monitor, I suggest going to a local retailer (best buy, circuit city, etc.) and seeing one in person, then making the purchase online. On occasion, a major retailer may have something on sale, which might bring their prices down to a competitive level. Keep in mind that even though there are numerous companies that sell LCD displays, there are very few companies that actually produce them. Last I checked, for example, was that Dell and Viewsonic purchase from the same LCD manufacturer. So buying a Dell vs. a Viewsonic LCD didnt make much difference at all when it came to performance.

Good luck!

Ok, so far i mostly agree with everything thats been said by superbrett 2000. If i had 2200 to spend on a comp, this is what i would do:

CPU: E8500 - ~$300
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 ~$50
Mobo: Asus Maximus ~275
Case: Coolermaster CM690 ~$60
RAM: 4gb DDR2-1066 ~$180
GPU: 8800GTS 512mb, preferrable an OC edition card. ~$310
PSU: PC Power & Cooling silencer 750 ~$140
HDD1: Raptor 150GB ~$175
HDD2: Seagate 7200.10 500GB ~$135
Monitor: Viewsonic VX2235WM ~$250
(I really REALLY reccomend this monitor)
DVD: Any 18/20x DVDR ~$40
Soundcard: SB X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro ~$150
Total ~$2065. Add in a good mouse/keyboard and you're at or close to your 2200 figure. If you wanted to save some money, you *could* get away with ddr2-800 mem, maybe a slightly lesser PSU. Things like that. But this system will last you 2 years easy, will allow good OCing, cooling, etc.


Absolute waste of money to get a physx card. Ultimately secondary+ cores are going to be coded to do physics calcs in games, so although in theory it is a good idea, dual/quad core processors are ultimately going to kill it.


Also, forgot to mention, DDR3 is a complete waste of money, and by complete, i mean COMPLETE. Tomshardware has an article testing it and DDR2 on the exact same systems (using dual mem capable boards) and on average it was producing from 0 to i think ~3% performance gains, I.E. Negligable.
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This would be a solid build to last you many years:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
-
ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
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G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK
-
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported
-
Antec 900 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
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CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply
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ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Low to Moderate OC

or

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - High OC
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ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound
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2-Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS 500GB 7200.11 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (1st-OS, 2nd-Games, Video, mp3's, Data)
-
Samsung SH-S203B SATA

(Get the "Retail" version of the optical drive in order to get software with it. This will include the decoder you'll need to watch movies on it.)
-
SAMSUNG 245BW Black 24" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 400 cd/m2 1000:1 (DC 3000:1)

I don't think the DDR2 1066 memory is worth it at this time, the 800 memory is so cheap and so close in performance.

Most high performance mobo's have built in audio 7.1 so I would hold off on buying a soundcard till you check it out... you will be surprised.

Raptors are pretty high-priced and the 7200.11 are just as close to them in performance plus you will get more space.

If you get this board and the rest of the peripherals you can always upgrade the processor with a Q9550 when it is released and drops to $300 or less if in fact you even want to after trying the E8400.

Article On PhysX Card:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/06/19/can_ageia/

jonsmi7167 said:
What is a good Modular power supply. I would prefer one of those because I don't want unused wired all over the place.
the above PSUs are very nice. if you are looking for something a little less expensive, the corsair hx620 from buy.com is modular, quiet, and either tier 1 or 2, i cant recall.


I chose the raptors because it has always been my experience that for your main drive that you use the most, you want as little data as possible so that it doesnt have so much to seek through. Maybe this is not the case anymore or I am just completely wrong. Any advice? I got the 500gb for storage. Do you know if the Maximus Formula supports Crossfire or SLI? I think I am going with a 24" display. First, do tou have one you suggest, and also do I need to run say dual 3870's or 8800gts? If the mobo supports SLI I would probably do dual 8800 GTS or something to that degree and get the ones from EVGA so when the 9800 series comes out I can upgrade for the difference.

kutark said:
Ok, so far i mostly agree with everything thats been said by superbrett 2000. If i had 2200 to spend on a comp, this is what i would do:

CPU: E8500 - ~$300
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 ~$50
Mobo: Asus Maximus ~275
Case: Coolermaster CM690 ~$60
RAM: 4gb DDR2-1066 ~$180
GPU: 8800GTS 512mb, preferrable an OC edition card. ~$310
PSU: PC Power & Cooling silencer 750 ~$140
HDD1: Raptor 150GB ~$175
HDD2: Seagate 7200.10 500GB ~$135
Monitor: Viewsonic VX2235WM ~$250
(I really REALLY reccomend this monitor)
DVD: Any 18/20x DVDR ~$40
Soundcard: SB X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro ~$150
Total ~$2065. Add in a good mouse/keyboard and you're at or close to your 2200 figure. If you wanted to save some money, you *could* get away with ddr2-800 mem, maybe a slightly lesser PSU. Things like that. But this system will last you 2 years easy, will allow good OCing, cooling, etc.


Absolute waste of money to get a physx card. Ultimately secondary+ cores are going to be coded to do physics calcs in games, so although in theory it is a good idea, dual/quad core processors are ultimately going to kill it.



Yes, I own the same View Sonic monitor...very nice very sharp

Also, yes I own the Corsair 620W, Very nice and I believe www.clubit.com has an excellent rebate right now!

He wants this to last.

Drop the dual cores and get a Quad-core instead.

Get a Q6600, or wait for the Q9400 in March.

It will pay dividends in the future.


Also ensure that you get an Evga video card. The step-up program may prove exceptionally useful, as it has to me both times I bought cards from them (my only two, incidentally).

i disagree on the quad core. I really do. He said 40% gaming, and the rest everyday use, with a "little video editing" nothing major, etc. Unless he were heavy into editing or modeling, etc, quad core is a complete waste for him. Dual core is going to give him more speed for the $ and will last him longer.
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