new build

[hai-san]

So after about 8 years, I finally started my first build. Money was the huge determining factor and now that I have a job I going to have a good pc up and running. I originally was going to build a budget I have a friend who hooked me up with some of his old parts. So right now I got:

Coolermaster Cosmos S : $40
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 : $150
Sony NEC 20X DVD IDE Writer : $10
Silverstone Modular 1000w: $100

So after getting these items for such a great deal, I decided to use the money I saved to buy better parts then my original intent.

So right now my biggest issue is motherboard. I'm very lost in the scene and the last motherboard I looked at was a Gigabyte P35 board back a few months ago. I seriously don't know what to look for now. What's stable or what not. Which SLI board if I go that route. I'm only overclocking the q9450 to 3.0GHz. Nothing higher.

Also a big issue is what GFX card I'm going to get. My friend is selling 2x 9800GT for about 170 but I don't know if I can get it in time.

Hard drive I'm trying to convince a friend to give a Raptor 74GB to me for 25 since he doesn't use it. If not a WD 640GB.

CPU cooler i was thinking about:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011

I have a few 120mm Rosewill fans a friend will give me.

RAM will most likely be DDR2 PC2-8500 with two 1GB sticks. I'm not decisive over 32-bit or 64-bit. I don't know how much of a gain would be from 2GB to 4GB.



Im using it a multimedia pc, with some light gaming. any suggestion would be much appreciated

 

[dirtmountain]

With multimedia and only light gaming then the P35 is still not a bad choice. P45 would also be a good choice. No reason to go SLI or crossfire if you don't heavy game. You might consider going 2x2 GB of DDR2 800 RAM at 1.8v, extra RAM never hurt anyone.

 

[megamanx00]

So he's gonna sell you two 9800GTs for $170? Sounds like a good deal to me. Anyway if you wanted to go crossfire I'd get this board

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128344

You can get a Radeon 4850 for now and then drop another one in latter. Two 4850s would definitely be much better than two 9800GTs.

 

[hai-san]

thanks for the replies. Like I said, I haven't research anything aside from P35 boards. How stable are the p45 boards. Although I'm not a heavy gamer, I really like the idea of having crossfire/SLI later on but I'm concerned over the heat issue with the HD4850. If I do go the SLI route, which motherboards do you recommend. I could get a EVGA 790i for about 250 refurb or a 790I FTW for 280 new. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to spend that much. I'm aiming for the 120-180 price range.

Also for hard drives, how big of a performance increase does RAID 0 increase. Cause the WD 640GB are fairly inexpensive.

This is my first build, and I'm hoping it will last me at least 3 years. Thanks again for the input.

BTW, I have a Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speaker system. I'm just using one jack for my laptop as of now. It inconsistently makes a pop every now and then. Is it because of onboard sound?

 

[Nytmare]

If your friend hooks you up with the NVidia 9800 GT cards, you will need to go NVidia chipset MOBO IF you want to use two GPU's (one NVidia GPU on Intel chipset MOBO is fine, but cannot do SLI on Intel MOBO). The 780i would be your best bet. The 790i requires DDR3 memory unless I am missing something. The down side is that NVidia chipset MOBO's have a reputation as being "buggy". I do not, however, have personal experience with this.

The ATI 4870 and 4870x2 seems to be the "hot" top GPU right now. The X48 Chipset MOBO's are the ones I like. My favorite is the Asus P5E Deluxe and Rampage Formula. If you only go with one GPU, a P45 chipset would save some $$$. The main advantage of the X48 chipset is a slight performance gain with respect to Crossfire (PCi-E slots both run at x 16 as opposed to one x16 and one x8 with P45).

The Xigamtek S-1283 CPU cooler is very good and cheap.

HD....WD 640GB great choice

Memory: 2 x 2 gig DD2 800. I like Corsair.

PSU...go Corsair, PC Power and Cooling, or Antec (True Power Quattro). Make sure you get right level for the build. I like modular cables for a "clean" case build.

Fans: get some good 3rd party to switch out from OEM case fans. Sythe very good brand.

GL

 

[hai-san]

Thankss, I'm super excited. I just order a Zerotherm Nirvana CPU cooler and I already have a 1000w Silverstone PSU. I'm pretty set on a P45 board now and a HD4850. I'm getting a few Rosewill fans for a buck each off a friend. I want a fan controller to lower the fans when the computer is idle. Can a fan controller control the CPU and GPU fans?