First home built system in a long time...help!

[krane78]

Hey all, I have been putting together a new machine and want to know what others think. I live in Switzerland and the links provided are from where I am going to buy the items. Prices here aren't as good as in the US and this setup is already exceeding my budget. Is everything compatible and make sense?

MOBO: Giga-Byte GA-P35-DS3L - http://www.techmania.ch/name/brand/812171/cat/path/details.htm?sessionID=1208

CPU: Core 2 Duo E4700 - http://www.techmania.ch/Core%2B2%2BDuo%2BE4700%2B%252D%2B2%252E60%2BG/Intel/915436/14750/10000/14749/details.htm

MEMORY: Corsair DDR2 2048MB PC800 - http://www.techmania.ch/DDR2%2B2048MB%2BPC800%2BNON%252DECC/Corsair/361729/14660/10000/14629/details.htm

VIDEO: Gigabyte 8800GT 512MB DDR3 700MHZ PCIe x16 - http://www.techmania.ch/GF%2B8800GT%2B512MB%2BDDR3%2B700M/Gigabyte/894271/empty/empty/empty/details.htm

HDD: Western Digital 500GB,SATA-II,WD5000AAKS - http://www.stegcomputer.ch/details.asp?prodid=wd-wd5000aks

DVD/RW: Lite-On 20A1L SATA - http://www.stegcomputer.ch/details.asp?prodid=lit-20a1l14c

CASE: Arctic Midi-Tower Silent T2Pro ATX,CE-Norm,500Watt - http://www.stegcomputer.ch/details.asp?prodid=arc-sil-t2p

MONITOR: LG 22" TFT,LG L225wt,Silver, 5000:1,300cd/m2,<5ms - http://www.stegcomputer.ch/details.asp?prodid=lg-l225wt

Any and all feedback is welcome and thanks!

 

[akhilles]

It won't make sense until we know the uses of the pc. It could be built for playing tic tac toe.

 

[mihirkula]

As he said...and also let us know your budget

 

[chrisfromalbany]

get rid of the WD HD or for 500 Seagate 7200.11 500 drive.

might want to pony up the money for q6600 because going to last longer and well in the states doesn't cost too much more. Here is it $200 for the processor.

 

[aziraphale]

Hmmm...Techmania...I'm from Switzerland, too and haven't heard of them yet. Have to have a closer look on that shop then. Have you had any experience with them so far? Of course I know Steg, and they are quite ok IMO.

 

[krane78]

Sorry for not being clear enough. Let me know if you need to know anythign else.

It is built for gaming and basic home use. Mostly MMO's and some FPS. I am not looking for playing things like Crysis on full settings ETC. My original budget was $600 swiss francs, and this build is about $750 swiss francs. The cheapest E8400 or Q6600 that I could find was like $100 more than the E4700 which I was hoping to just OC a lil bit to 3.0 or so.

Also what is the difference of the Seagate 7200.11 500GB over the WD that I chose?

 

[mihirkula]

That CPU is fine...though get the Seagate 500GB 7200.11...also i suggest you get the 9600GT or the Radeon 3870..that'll cut down your expenditure and still give you a great performance.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed on HDD. If Ocing check out:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=29&post=245679&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=3&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[krane78]

Thank you for your reply and the link to OCing the mobo, I have bookmarked it. I am not against switching the HD to the Seagate over the WD but could you or someone please tell me why? What does that HD do better or have over the WD? Thanks

 

[mihirkula]

^ .. in a nutshell the Seagate one is faster than the WD one. For more details check Tom's Hard Disk Charts .

 

[krane78]

Ok checked out the charts, thanks for pointing me in the right direction

So does everything else look ok then? I am still a bit unsure on the Case/PSU. Do you all think it should be fine? I am looking at getting this all tomorrow if I have any luck.

Thanks again in advance!

 

[krane78]

Oh and one more question, would I notice anything significant going with a 9600GT 512MB rather than a 8800GT 512MB? Your thoughts?

 

[aevm]

I couldn't find anything better for case/PSU on that site, not for 110 CHF or less. For example a Thermaltake Toughpower 600W PSU costs exactly as much as the case+PSU you picked together.

I think you've got a good list now.

 

[mihirkula]

Hmmmnn i couldn't find a good case/psu on the site either... look around a bit more for this...

Now for the GPU, the 9600GT is much cheaper than the 8800GT, gives a great performance too... at lower resolutions like 1280 you wouldn't find any difference at all between the 8800GT, 3870 and the 9600. Especially since you're not interested in very high end Crysis and stuff. So if you're getting a big difference in price for the 9600, get that. Chek these bechmarks for your consideration.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_9600_gt_sli_performance/page9.asp

 

[krane78]

Thanks aevm! Aye for the price the Artic 500W is the best deal for sure. I just wasn't sure if it was going to be sufficient with the system build. For some reason PSU's are really expensive in Switzerland.

 

[krane78]

mihirkula: Thanks for the link. I think I am more leaning towards your advice and getting the 9600GT and Ocing it a bit and using the saved money to get a E8400 instead of the E4700. Thoughts?

 

[mihirkula]

Good choice...jus know that the 8800GT is a better card for higher resolutions...otherwise the 9600 is a good card

PS: check the price of the E6750 at your place.

 

[krane78]

Where I am at the prices are as follows:

Asus 8800GT 512MB 1800/600 - $240
Asus 9600GT 512MB 1800/650 - $200
Intel E4700 - $159
Intel E6750 - $214
Intel E8400 - $247

The monitor I am getting (see original post) has a max res. of 1680 x 1050 @ 75 Hz. Do you think the 9600 OC'd will be just as comparable as the 8800 at that resolution?

Thanks again!

 

[aevm]

The video card matters more than the CPU at 1680x1050 in most games. Let's say you have $400 for CPU + GPU together. I'd pick 8800GT+E4700 rather than 9600GT+E6750.

Actually, your best option is to wait until you save more money and can afford 8800GT+E8400... They get cheaper every month anyway.

 

[mihirkula]

Shucks i was hoping the E6750 would be just a tad more $ than the E4700, but theres a big difference here....

^ So as he said....higher resolutions 8800GT is a better choice... can you wait till may or so...prices are bound to drop

 

[akhilles]

chrisfromalbany, the price cut came early? Supposed to come on the 20th.

krane78, no need to apologize. Now we're getting somewhere. FYI, 1 CHF is about $0.9992 US. Close to parity. Your budget is about $750 US.

I'm with aevm on this one cuz you're building a gamine pc whose sole purpose is errr gaming. You want to get the highest FPS possible out of your budget. 8800GT is a better card overall. You can google 8800gt 9600gt benchmarks & see for yourself. 9600GT is good at being a budget SLI. i.e. 9600GT X 2 on 750i/780i. Go with aevm's suggestion.

 

[chrisfromalbany]

There are people here who are now selling the q6600 for $200. Only a matter of time BF the prices drop.