Rate my potential build

[singh246]

I haven't made this PC yet but am hoping to. It will be my first build so please give me some advice on how to improve. And tell me weather the components are all compatible with each other.

Case – Antec 900
PSU – Antec NeoPower 650
Motherboard – Asus P5N-D nForce 750i Sli
CPU – Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
Graphics card – EN9800GTX TOP/HTDP/512M
RAM – OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4Gb
Hard Drive – Western Digital VelociRaptor 300Gb
Optical Drive – Pioneer DVR-212BK

 

[Preclude]

Can you list, in detail, the type of games you will be playing?

 

[dragonsprayer]

quotemsg=1831156,1,334281]I haven't made this PC yet but am hoping to. It will be my first build so please give me some advice on how to improve. And tell me weather the components are all compatible with each other.

Case – Antec 900
PSU – Antec NeoPower 650
Motherboard – Asus P5N-D nForce 750i Sli
CPU – Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
Graphics card – EN9800GTX TOP/HTDP/512M
RAM – OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4Gb
Hard Drive – Western Digital VelociRaptor 300Gb
Optical Drive – Pioneer DVR-212BK[/quotemsg]



this is one of the better build lists i have seen on THG, normally i rip the entire thing!

first, sli mobo, going add a second card some day? PSU is too small, while the antec 650 is great psu it is on the small side for your build even with 1 gpu - go with a good 750 or 850+ if you want a second card and cool running system

second the mobo - that mobo/chipset was plagued in the beginning and i have not used it, i would recommend the stiker ii with that cpu since i spend 2 weeks tuning it too 3.6ghz with that cpu - email ne for the settings.

note: i have not looked into that mobo much since the 750i has has many many issues - i use the 680i for low end with a q6600, or the stiker ii with the new 45nm q's.

the systems i built with the stiker ii and q9450 and q9600 worked well with osz - the flex ii is great ram - the reaper is good too


nice build list it should work great


while i do not rate them i would rate it 8.2/10 loss of .5 for psu too small and sub par 750 mobo with expensive parts

 

[uutorok]

I would recommend Alpine 7/Freezer 7 Pro. The Alpine 7 sells at $12-$15 price range, while the Freezer 7 Pro is under $25. They perform as good as, if not better than, those top cooling fans like Thermalright Ultra, Ninja Plus.

 

[dragonsprayer]

I would recommend Alpine 7/Freezer 7 Pro. The Alpine 7 sells at $12-$15 price range, while the Freezer 7 Pro is under $25. They perform as good as, if not better than, those top cooling fans like Thermalright Ultra, Ninja Plus.http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/arcticcooling_012808122344/16459.pnghttp://images.anandtech.com/graphs/arcticcooling_012808122344/16455.png

dude! you r kidding? x6800 is half a quad - which is half the heat!

i recommend you read my post and my endless self promtion!


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/250728-28-xigmateck-thermalright-120mm-plastic-forgot

artic is in the bottom 1/3 - get a good cpu cooler and the 120mm xig is $40 with a fan
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3268&p=7

 

[Mathos]

I haven't made this PC yet but am hoping to. It will be my first build so please give me some advice on how to improve. And tell me weather the components are all compatible with each other.

Case – Antec 900
PSU – Antec NeoPower 650
Motherboard – Asus P5N-D nForce 750i Sli
CPU – Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
Graphics card – EN9800GTX TOP/HTDP/512M
RAM – OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4Gb
Hard Drive – Western Digital VelociRaptor 300Gb
Optical Drive – Pioneer DVR-212BK

Case Good, Always have liked Antec cases, and that one is a nice one.

PSU - ......Might cut it close if you ever decide to run SLI. For a 650w I'd go with this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005. Should be able to easily handle that setup, and SLI. Thats also a really good deal at that price.

For 750w here is another good one from Corsair, good price too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Motherboard - Not really a fan of Nvidia based boards, unless you're dead set on eventually running an SLI setup. I'd recommend maybe an Intel P45 based board, like this one, that is just about in the same price range. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131296 . Not to mention, the disk performance on the Intel based board would likely blow away that of the 750i boards. You could then still use the 9800gtx, if you didn't plan on SLI, or possibly get yourself an HD4850, and be able to upgrade to an Xfire setup in the future.

CPU - no problem there, pretty good cpu for the price.

Graphics card - pretty solid performer, but you also have the alternative of one of these. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131296
I point that particular one out because they currently have a combo deal going with the p5q pro board, which as far as I can tell is almost the same thing as the p5q-e, just has a different heatpipe layout, and on board sound is different.

Ram- that choice is good, but would be wasted on a 750i board, since that one can only use up to ddr2 800. Alternative, this one I am using myself with my setup, it costs about $12 more, but also has better latencies, and runs on less voltage. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146785 , I've never had any issues with Mushkin.

HDD - I don't get matching a velociRaptor drive Raid setup with a board that wouldn't be able to keep up with the data throughput. A p45/x48 board maybe, but, not with a 750 or 780i board. In fact, unless you're really particular about disk performance you could very likely save a chunk of money by using a couple decent seagate 7200.11 barracuda drives. Then you could put the extra money to a better PSU or second GPU, which would do you better in gaming.

Optical Drive - Couldn't find the one you listed but I'm going to assume it's similar to this one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129020 , not a bad drive, been thinking about picking one up as my secondary optical drive, so I can run it along side the hp dvd1040i. Don't know if I'd worry too much about lightscribe until they make it capable of doing color labels.

CPU HSF- Though the cpu you're getting will come with a stock fan I always recommend getting aftermarket.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011 This ones a good one, just make sure they include the fan speed controller with it, otherwise its loud at full speed, I use one myself and it cools the Phenom 9850 fairly well, hangs around 29c idle, and never goes far above 40c under full load even during this time of year in Texas.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233012 This here is a really good lower cost hsf, and recommended by many on this forum.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154002 This is always a good performer and for a long time was considered king of the hill, along with the TRUE 120.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6..._775_AM2_754939_940_F_771_604_.html?tl=g40c14 That one right there, along with the Thermalright IFX14 are the new kings of the hill when it comes to cpu coolers. Only problem with that Noctua would be finding it in stock.

 

[NMDante]

First, what do you intend to run with your system? From the parts, I am guessing gaming, mostly.
Second, what is your budget? Hell, anyone can make a wish list of parts they would like to have in a system, but without a set budget, that's all you're going to have, a wish list.
Third, most of your parts are pretty good, and should work well. The 750i based mobo is the only thing I would be concerned about. Do some research on it, before going that route. Like Mathos mentioned, unless you are deadset on SLI in the future, I would consider a P35 or P45 board.

Don't take my criticism as bashing, but if you truly want honest opinions, you should include a budget limit, so people won't just recommend $350 motherboards or $250 PSUs, that you might not need. Take for example your HDD. Unless you really need the access speed of a Raptor drive, any regular HD would be fine, and cost much less per GB vs. the Raptor.

 

[singh246]

Ok I aim to spend about £1000/$1950 and intend to use it for playing games.

 

[Mathos]

Ok I aim to spend about £1000/$1950 and intend to use it for playing games.

Damn, if you're aiming to spend that much, I wouldn't worry too much. In fact when it comes down to that I'd actually recommend an X48 based board, thats gonna be the best all around performance for you, especially when it comes to getting the full potential out of those velociraptors. And when it comes to what GPU to select, I'd suggest you read this article from Anandtech today. The 4870 looks likes it's gonna be a damn good card. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=1 Most of the time it's performing around or above that of the gtx260, and at times it puts down the gtx280 or at least performs in the same league, and should come out costing around $300.. I'm going to edit my previous post to reflect this, and add a total price down at the end, may take a day or so.

 

[dragonsprayer]

Ok I aim to spend about £1000/$1950 and intend to use it for playing games.

we would expect it to be for games it is a build list for gaming computer, the perosn asking that should have known that. then again you might not know that so i guess its good he asked


good luck!

at 2000 pounds = $3000 grand you should use 2x 3870X2's or wait for the hd 4870 or GTX 280 or 9800GX2

you should also you use 3 hard drives - 2 raptor raid0 os drives and game drives and a 3rd storage drive.

a 850-1000w psu will also fit into a $3k build list