Help with new build

Darktiger66

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I am building my first computer in 3 years. My first build was a AMD based system. For this new rig I plan to use Intel. My choices so far the CPU are Q9450, 9300, 6600 or Dual core E8400. I do a lot music encoding as I have over 200 Gigs on one of my hard drives and I plan to get into some photo and video stuff. I play a few games like World of Warcraft and the Sims. I have not overclocked before I might try it with this build. I have more time to get in overclocking now. I have a HP 24" monitor already and I plan to use this motherboard GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R it supports DDR2/DDR3. I would like suggestions on which CPU (Dual vs Quad) and Motherboard (P35 vs P45) I should use. Money is not a real issue but don't plan to spend more than $1500.00. Any Help will be much appreciated.

List of likely components: Nvidia 8800GTS card have not decided on a brand
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) or G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Vista 32/64 Worried about drivers for 64 bit
Would like to get this Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion but i have heard of driver issues with Vista
 

shadowduck

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Video card: GTS is not really worth the extra right now. Get an eVGA 8800GT then "step-up" to a 2xx series video card in 3 months. You will only pay the difference in price between the two cards.

Get 4GB of RAM- G.Skill's $94 kit with 4-4-4-12 times.

Vista 64- drivers are mostly no longer an issue except for a few items. Mainly HP printers it seems.

Creative's products are meh and the drivers are pieces of s***. You don't need a sound card unless you have $400-500 speakers. Onboard sound has really gotten better now.

Do not get a hybrid memory motherboard. They have been plagued with problems. DDR3 is not a good choice right now, and probably won't be for a while yet. Look at the Gigabyte x48 board here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336

Music encoding will benefit from quad cores- so look at the Q6600 or 9450. 9450 will run cooler due to being 45nm and the 12MB cache will help you vs the 6600's 8. However, the Q6600 just got a price cut and is really a steal a $200. It almost $120 cheaper than the 9450. It will overclock to 3.2 in almost all cases, if you get lucky 3.6 (I got lucky hehe).

ALso- P35 motherboard would be just fine like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

x48 gives you full PCI-E 2.0 support, RAID, Official FSB1600 support for better overclocking. P35 is just fine though to save over $100 on the motherboard.
 

jpdykes

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If you can wait for the new graphics cards due out in the next couple of weeks that is the best option. They should have more power than current cards and force price cuts in current cards.

Vista 64 will give you access to 4+Gb of RAM and is much more stable than at release. Agree onboard sound will suit you fine unless you are a serious audio person.

You will need a PSU, try a Corsair 620HX or similar. Shadowduck probably has the link to the PSU hierarchy chart I can't find it.

Also a case - personal preferance really. You can probably go with a mid tower rather than a full tower.

I do run a hybrid motherboard (Gigabyte DS3R) and haven't experianced any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky. I also run a Q6600 (currently unoverclocked) which seems to be holding up just fine.

HDD, seagate barracuda 7200.11 are nice, WD are also good. Can't go wrong with either of these.

Hope that is useful
Jeremy
 

Darktiger66

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Thanks for your help. I am going with the GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard and the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ram. I will wait on the GPU. Besides the case and PSU my biggest question is the CPU. Would the Q9450 consume less power than the Q6600. I leaning towards the Q9450 because of less heat and power consumption.
 

Darktiger66

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Will I benifit more from the first motherboard you suggested (GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4) than the GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L? I don't want go into overkill but I do want to buy the best components for what I use my computer for. I am also going with 64bit Vista.
 

shadowduck

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Well, the X48 board offers Crossfire support, official FSB1600 support, and other features. However with a new Intel socket coming by the end of the year which will require a new motherboard and increase performance by around 30% it might make more sense to go P35 now.
 

shadowthor

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I agree with the above post, that the new intel socket will be arriving at the end of the year. It might not be worth getting an expensive mobo, but the cost of the new cpu is speculated to be expensive, so it your call.
 

jpdykes

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You asked about CPU;

- If you are purely gaming and can work to remove lots of background processes when you game then the generally wisdom is to go with a higher clock speed dual core. If you are doing many different things as well as gaming then possibly quad is the way to go. I'm not entirely convinced there is a definite answer. I run a Q6600 which is great even not overclocked it is apparently also easy to get a higher clock speed from it.

I'd go Q9450.

As for motherboards;
- If you aren't going to crossfire then you won't see the difference with the cheaper P35 boards. The preformance changes are very small and if you aren't into your benchmarking you won't notice the difference day to day.
- The new chipset will be expensive - they always are - but you probably aren't going to be moving to it for 3 years at which point it will be affordable again. It is also DDR3 specific and currently this memory is very pricy.
- I would suggest going with the P35 if you aren't going to run two cards almost immediately. If you are going to put another card in very shortly go with X48 - although the PCIe 2.0 support might be worthwhile if you want to run very high performance cards of 3 years time.

Try searching for 7200.11 500Gb drive on newegg there is a 32mb cache one on there which looks like a good drive.

Jeremy
 

Darktiger66

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Thanks again for your advice. I have a question about my PSU (Mad Dog smart cable 500W 26A 12V) I am using on my current system. On Monday UPS will deliver my new components. Q9450/Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L/G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400).
My wife bought me the PNY 8800GT 512MB card for fathers day. I already have WD 320GB and 250GB Hitachi hard drives. I plan to get one of these 2 PSUs Corsair CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V or PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V. Does this PSU I using have enough power to run to my system safely until I get my new PSU?
 

Darktiger66

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What would be the best wattage for my build? I used the Corsair Web calculator and it recommened 450 to 550 based my CPU, GPU and hard drives