First Time and The Only One I'll Get For Ages

[ComputerDrake]

Well, as the title says, it's going to be my only build for quite a while (well a whole system build, might upgrade from time to time). My budget limit is about $2000-2700 depending on how much I receive from Chinese New Year Noise is not really a problem for me, only sometimes (The Fact that when my current P4 5-yr old computer Sony VAIO VGR-RB30 idles I can hear the fan in the other room with TV's on) while I'm watching a video or playing a loud FPS.

So to begin, NewEgg has deactivated the Antec 900, but I'm willing to get that either locally or upgrade to the upcoming Antec 1200. They have also ran out of the G0 Stepping Quad, but I'm willing to wait for it to come back in stock or buy from another place.


Western Digital Raptor 150GB 3.5" SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - $169.99http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136012

Creative 53SB000003000 Elite Pro Sound Card and HS-900 Headphone Bundle - $129.99 with $50 Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16829102018

Logitech MX518 2-Tone Wired Optical Gaming-Grade Mouse (Well-hey, if I'm not gonna upgrade the mouse, why not go for mid-range?) - $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16826104178

SUPER TALENT INT-AIN1-C All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader - $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820609198

LITE-ON Combo Black IDE Model DH-52C2P-08 - $23.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16827106082

Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker - $78.99 with $20 Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16836121006

2x Silverstone FM-121-B Case Fan - $33.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16835220014

2x HITACHI Deskstar E7K500 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $279.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822147007
(Necessary for all the junk files I will accumulate over the next 5 years)


Hanns·G HW-191DPB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor Built in Speakers - $174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824254005

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $5.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16835100007

Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR-115DBK - $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16827129018

Rosewill RTK-045 45 Piece Premium Computer Tool Kit - $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16899261003
[Hey I'm too lazy to pick out the tools, and I want it to go without a hitch]

Scythe SCKW-1000BK "KAMA WING BLACK " Aluminum Memory Heatsink - $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16835185050

Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler - $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16835106102
[Personally dont want to get the Zalman's or Artic Silver Fans, overhyped?]


LINKSYS WMP300N 32-bit PCI Interface High-speed Wireless-N Wireless Adapter - $64.99 (Hey it's Draft-N. Bad wireless signals on my router, positive reviews for this)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16833124069

Link Depot IDE Round Cable - $3.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16812104043
(Personally confused on this. Only one IDE slot on my motherboard for two IDE CD/DVD drives. Will this fix it? Or will it already work?)

PALiT GeForce 9600GT SONIC NE/960TSX0252 Video Card - $174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814261001
(Yes I know factory overclock is a rip-off. I just dont feel safe messing with Graphics cards- being that it's the most important part of a gaming system, and Palit's products are known to be high-end, as well as cool)

Thermaltake W0116RU 750W Power Supply - $174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817153038
(Modular, what else is there to say?)

Intel Quad Core Kentsfield Q6600 2.4 Ghz LGA775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?items=N82E16819115017
G.SKill 4 GB(2x2) 240-pin DDR2 1066MHz Dual Channel Combo - $374.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?items=N82E16820231166
(10.00 Combo Discount would make up for the 10.00 Cheaper for G0 Stepping as if I was buying these two separately)

Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Systems Builder- OEM [Yes the horrid Vista but I'm dual-booting with XP to get future proof and classic performance]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?items=N82E16832116202

and

ABIT IP35 Pro ATX Intel Motherboard Combo - $259.98 with $30.00 Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?items=N82E16813127030

and dont forget the Antec 900/1200.

I threw in an equal price case to factor in the price with same shipping to get the value which is.

With shipping ($79.04) and tax ($187) it comes to a total of

$2532.80 with $135 in rebates.

so

$2397.80

Any comments, suggestions, are welcome, flaming is not

 

[WR2]

Link Depot IDE Round Cablel; this will replace the flat ribbon IDE cable in the ABIT IP35 Pro motherboard accessory pack. Not required if you're not using any IDE/PATA drives.

[:wr2:1] Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model
[:wr2] Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model

[:wr2:3] LITE-ON Combo Black IDE Model DH-52C2P-08 For CD/DVD to DVD copying? Not actually needed. You can create ISO images to your hard drive and then burn them to DVD or CD.
Still want a 2nd Optical drive? Replacet he IDE model with a SATA model.

[:wr2:3] Hanns·G HW-191DPB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor Built in Speakers Built in speakers? with a Logitech X-540 speaker system?
ViewSonic VA2026W 20" Widescreen LCD = $199 after rebate
SAMSUNG 220WM 22" Widescreen LCD = $240 after rebate

[:wr2:2] Western Digital Raptor 150GB
Drop the Raptor and use that $170 to upgrade your $180 GPU to support that 22" LCD
EVGA Superclocked 9800GTX $320 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130350

[:wr2:2] Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit - get the SP1 64bit version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

 

[akhilles]

What are the uses of the pc? Will it be overclocked? How long will be it kept?

I'm not aware of any Chinese New Year except the one in Feb. It's April.

You're paying $225 for a yesteryear P35? Scrap that crap. Get X38 for 10-20 bucks more. Or ASUS P5E for the same price.

The cpu coola is crap. You can spend $100 on an air cooler & it will NEVER beat liquid or tec or more exotic cooling. My point is either spend a little on air cooler or not at all. Which brings back to my question: is the cpu going to be overclocked? If not, stick with stock coola. Or pick up Freezer 7 Pro.

 

[jaibot18]

um, why not just build a 1500 dollar system and in 3 years or so change the mobo cpu graphics and ram? That would make alot more sense.

 

[drumr1829]

I second not going with an IDE drive and picking up the SATA version. That's the one thing I wish I could change with my build...but I have everything all wire-tied and dont feel like doing it all over again (I couldnt wait to start backup up my movies so I picked up one for my old PC which only had IDE and then brought that over to the new build). Also the IDE cable, round or not, takes up a lottt of space in the area between the mobo and the HDD cages. I'd wait until the Antec 1200 as I saw there were more holes for wire maintenance unless you want to take a dremel to the 900. I just got an additional DVD drive and like it alot....it also has lightscribe which i use all the time.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151154

 

[ComputerDrake]

Well 9800GTX is =_= A slightly overclocked 8800GTX from what I hear. 9600GT seems to be the best mid-range solution for the price, so why go all out for that extra 5 fps?

Yes Chinese New Year is in February, I'll be building this next year, but not gonna change later. My dad says pick the parts now, and any depreciation of price goes back to me so yeah.

Going with 64-bit seems to be an issue with me, being you know, most programs I'm gonna run doesn't run with 64-Bit Vista (uses 16-bit code for game), but are you saying it works because I'm dual-booting XP(32-bit, provided by Dad). Would that eliminate any compatibility issues with software?

Also, the game I'm playing doesn't support Widescreen, won't it look awkward? Besides, if I was gonna get a Widescreen, I have a different screen in mind that I'm not gonna say. Any particular reason for picking the others? And I'm not dropping the Raptor, for my own reasons I'm not willing to explain.

Yes I'm going to be overclocking my Q6600, trying to go for a reasonable overclock (3.2Ghz). Uses will be some Video Encoding/some of the Adobe Suite, and gaming. Any reason I should spend more money on a motherboard? When P35 suits my Overclocking needs just fine? Seems more like hype to me (Seeing as the cheapest X38/X48 chipset on newegg is a minimum of $194.99)

Getting a SATA CD-Drive seems reasonable to me, but I heard somewhere that having only one IDE drive can cause problems? And if I didn't want to change the IDE, I can fit two drives with one cable? Or what? Haven't really gone into detail with studying how IDE works, seeing as it is soon-to-be out of date.


@drum lightscribe is incredibly expensive, just so I can burn a picture? No thanks.

 

[WR2]

1 IDE device has NEVER been a problem. Mixed IDE devices (floppy optical) have rarely had problems.

Widescreen monitors don't have to display non-widescreen games/programs awkwardly. Just you need to - - well Im not gonna say.

Compatibility issues with what software? I've been using Vista for a long time now and have yet to run into any real compatibility issues early on there were more driver issues with hardware (especially older hardware) than with incompatible software. Vista Application Compability Toolkit & profiles and compatability options (with 32bit versions) really cut down on the compatibility. Yes many people had problems. It wasnt always easy to find the answers on how to make software compatible with Vista. Many others had no problems with the same software causing grief to others.

Pick the parts 10 months in advance? Thats a new & different way to build a system (not a good way mind you [[:wr2:5]] )

9800GTX is a slightly OC'd 8800GTS G92 - not 8800GTX.

Ohhhhhhh all right - Visit WideScreen Gaming Forum to learn the tips and tricks of getting non-wide screen game to play nicely on luscious wide screen monitors

 

[ComputerDrake]

Yes 10 months in advance is weird, but it's my dad's weird lesson of "money management" (although, mind you, I've never had any problems so far, most of of my money management results in my benefit [and because this is the only thing I've bought so far with my own money that's over $2000) . So compatibility is no longer an issue?

Now only problems are:

Vista32/Vista64

P35/X38/X48 Chipset

9600GT/8800GT/GTS512MB

ArticSilverFan/Current/Buying Thermalright Ultra 120-Extreme Separately.

Length of Cables/Cable Management in a Mid-Tower/Full-Tower Case

IS there enough power cables for all my stuff? (GPU, etc)

Performance/Compatibility/Signal Strength of Draft-N (I can't run an ethernet cable into my parents room, they think it's "ugly" having wires around the floor. My mom even bought a longer ethernet cable just so she could wire it around/behind the furniture, so yeah.

And I'm not willing to get Liquid Cooling (In fear of destroying my computer >>Read Title<< only one I'll get for ages). Sure there are other problems that air cooling also provide, but it's just my paranoia.

Also, can someone take a look at this monitor? Some people say it's a fake, due to faulty video camera software, etc. But for its specs I'd get it for sure.

ASUS VK222U Black 22" 2ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor Built-in 1.3M pixel webcam - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236034
5000:1 Contrast Ratio
2ms Refresh

and apparently NewEgg has a new arrival for $70 more (but same specs? with like 1 or 2 KHz and Hz difference, respectively)

Also, I'm considering running my two 500GB drives in RAID 1 for backup purposes (movies, photos), or should I just run them both separately?

Any reasons why I should'nt get the Silverstone FM-121 fans[Would have to get a 3rd for the Thermalright Ultra)? Sound is not a problem for me, and temperature of room is cool year round (usually ranging from 23-27C)

Again, thanks for the already given input, and again for the future ones

 

[groo]

if its 10 months in the future, tell him you want an intell x58 board, the fancy new quad that will be out then, and 3 x 2 gigs sticks of DDR3.