Newish Builder - Help and win a prize!

[silkmonkey]

Hi all. This is my first post and it is a doozy.

I have an old computer that I sort of built myself (I did everything but connect the case wires to my mobo) and it was midrange at best when it was new. So, I find myself looking to build a PC for gaming as well as a schoolwork machine (grad school possibly). That having been said, my PC budget will consist of whatever I can scrimp by cutting back to instant noodles, etc. I'm not figuring on being able to spend more than about $6-800 unless I can borrow some money from my folks. Any help will be appreciated, and you will be eligible for a prize. (more at the end of post)

Criteria/Details


CPU:
I'm indifferent to brands, but Intel seems to be the favorite amongst people, and I figure I could give a Hackintosh type setup a try. I don't overclock (I don't like to gamble with my technology), so I don't expect to need an aftermarket cooling solution

Motherboard:
Integrated audio is a must (unless someone can provide a compelling reason to use an add-in card), and plenty of SATA connectors. I'm only going to be able to afford to run one video card, so I don't need SLI/Crossfire. I wouldn't be opposed to something with SLI support though.

Memory: DDR2 800 seems to be the favorite. 2 or 4 gigs? Anything else to consider?

Video Card: I've heard good things about the 8800GT but it seems that it would be the most expensive part of the build. Is there a cheaper but comparable part? I'm not a FPS maniac (I don't need Crisis at 1900x1200 or anything), but I'd like to have solid gaming performance. My monitor will be reused and is 17" and capable of 1280x1024.

Optical Drive: Is it worth splurging for a brand name DVD burner? Blu-ray?

Hard Drives: I'm not doing video editing or anything where I need Raptor like speeds. I have ~50 gigs of music (yay for my radio station job), and probably another 100 of films (I worked with our school production lab). How much could I expect to spend on a SATA drive of at least 300 usable space? Is it worth making a RAID array for extra data backup? I don't want to lose my music/schoolwork/pron collection

Other:

-Dual/multiple boot: I own spare licenses of XP SP2, Vista Home Premium. I'm not sure which I'd use. I'd also like to possibly try out Linux (I've heard good things about Ubuntu) as well as maybe OS X.

-Reuse keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor (as noted before)

-To be built roughly 1 piece or $100 at a time. Starting with the less fluctuating parts like case, power supply, etc.

-Hope to complete construction sometime in May or early June.

The Prize

Yes that's right. I'm offering a prize. I don't have money to offer but I have the chance at fame. The winning contributor (to be decided by me) will be immortalized in the name of my new computer, joining the family of Homer, Wolfgang and Jimmy.

I have two pieces ordered:
Antec P182 case ($69)
Corsair HX620 ($109)

Go nuts!

[tsmvengy]

I would suggest not buying your parts one piece at a time (RAM is maybe the only thing I would buy earlier as prices are rock bottom right now.) Save your money up until you have enough to buy everything at once; there's no reason to buy parts one at a time. You'll also save money/be able to buy better parts for the same $ if you wait...

[thejamppa]

If you are not FPS fanatic, then there two fabulous contender's:

GF 9600 GT and HD 38x0-series. Cheapest HD 3850's are very, very cheap now and the reference cooler is quiet. It offers very good gaming experience for games generally.

GF 9600 GT is roughly same strength in gaming as HD 3870. But AMD's recent price cut's have made HD series very tempting.

CPU's: if you can find Intel e8x00 series cpu grap that. e6750 is still good processor worth of considering. Pair it with P35 or P31 motherboard ( P35 has more features like raid and firewire ) Abit IP 35-series would be good.

I'd still recomend you to get after market cooler as this is silent pc review so noise is some concern. There are good budget coolers availeble from rosewill ( same as the one tested in SPCR under name akasa ) and Arctic Cooling Alpine 7-series.

2GB memory would be fine for XP. For Vista 4 GB would be fine, due its nasty memory usage. DDR2 is cheap.

for 320 GB+ HDD Western Digital GP ( Green Power ) or Samsung T-166 series are quiet. I am not sure if you really need raid. Regular backing-up would be cheaper than using raid set-up. But human being is lazy. I still prefer to back up my school work on 8 GB Thumb drive or get small external HDD for that one.

For optical: Wait... Blu-ray is still not worth paying such high price for I think. Samsung does make quiet Sata DVD-ram stations... quieter than LG's anyway...

[kel]

A word of warning - the stock e8400 cooler is rather underpowered - I tried running it in a then only weakly ventilated system (only one 12cm right at the back of the case running at around 1200rpm) - the result was that the cpu hit coretemps of around 72c under full load! (that was in games, which generally only even fully use 1 core)

Even a cheap Arctic Freezer 7 Pro will get you down to at least 60c - probably even less (used ancient cooling paste and probably didn't apply it correctly either as I was just working with what I had on hand at the time )

In a well ventilated system you can easily get lower than that - I currently run with 2 noctua case fans (one blowing in air from the top, the other blowing air out the back, @ around 800rpm, original cpu fan removed) and I can't push the cpu beyond 51c anymore even after half an hours stresstest with prime95.

To put it simply - the stock e8400 cooler is crap and even a cheap aftermarket solution will give you notable improvements

[silkmonkey]

Also of note:

My current computer sits on my desk right next to me and is LOUD. It sounds like a mini jet engine from across the room. I don't need my system SILENT per se, but quieter would be glorious.

Suggestions?

[AndrewD]

Here's some thoughts/suggestions:

CPU - Intel E8400 if your budget permits. If not, since you don't want to overclock, E4700 is a cheaper option and E6750 is another good choice. If you want quad, check out the new Q9300 but that's going to be a larger price jump. If you're not buying immediately, the E8400 availability and price should improve soon, so I'd say its going to be a choice between one of the cheaper 65nm's (E4500/4600/4700) and the 45nm E8400.

M/B - P35 chipset - Gigabyte or Abit.

Video - HD3850 and HD3870 are great value options at the moment - awesome performance for the price and nice low idle power consumption. 9600GT is another good value option and performs close to the 3870 in most cases. If you don't want to use a 3rd party cooler, the main difficulty will be finding one with a quiet stock cooler. Otherwise, consider the Arctic Cooling S1 cooler - works great on the HD3870 even passively.

RAM - 2Gb is enough for general use and gaming, but it's very cheap at the moment, 4Gb won't cost that much more. Plenty of good options from Crucial, Corsair, Patriot, G.Skill for example.

HDD - At 320Gb, Samsung or Western Digital (for WD, look for the new single platter 320Gb version). For larger capacity, depends on whether quietness or performance is more important to you. WD GP series 500Gb is a good option, the new WD 640Gb 2-platter also seems to offer top-end performance, but quiet and low power consumption too (very close to the GP's according to the recent TechReport review).

Fans - Scythe Slipstream 800rpm. But since your budget is tight, see if the Antec stock fans are quiet enough for you first. At low speed, they're not too bad and you might think they're fine.

CPU Cooler - with your PSU, a quiet HDD and VGA cooler and quiet case fans, the stock Intel cooler will probably be the loudest component. Since you don't want to overclock, just look for a cheap after market cooler that you can use your choice of 120mm fan with (eg. Slipstream). I don't have any specific recommendations... favourites like the Scythe Ninja, Thermalright Ultra-120 and XP-120 are all good options but can be overkill if you're not overclocking, and the $'s can possibly be put to better use elsewhere. But if silence is important, a large/efficient cooler with a 120mm low rpm fan is what to look for. Maybe also have a look at the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 that has just been reviewed here.

DVD drive - Samsung or Asus 20x SATA. I've found the Asus to be quieter than the Samsung (but still noisy), but not as reliable when reading/writing certain discs.

As a starting point, here's a baseline config at ~$600 based on current NewEgg prices:

CPU - E4700 $150
M/B - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L $90
RAM - Patriot 2Gb kit $45
GPU - HIS HD3870 ICEQ3 $190
DVD - Samsung 20x $30
HDD - Western Digital 500Gb GP (WD5000AACS) $95

I chose the ICEQ card as it's stock cooler is meant to be fairly quiet. There are some cards with large passive coolers too (I think PowerColor have one). Otherwise, you could go with a cheaper card (eg. Sapphire at $170) and replace the noisy stock cooler with the Arctic Cooling S1 (~$35). The HD3850 is a slightly cheaper alternative to the 3870.

I haven't included case fans or CPU cooler as this might be quiet enough for you. If it isn't, then you can always swap the cooler and fans at any stage down the track.

If you can stretch the budget a bit further, this is what I'd personally go with at the moment (given your case and PSU selections):

CPU - E8400 $210
M/B - Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R $133 (or -DS3P if you want might want Crossfire in the future)
RAM - 4Gb kit (2x2Gb) eg. G.Skill $80
GPU - HD3870 (eg. Sapphire) + S1 ~$205
DVD - Samsung 20x $30
HDD - Western Digital 640Gb (WD6400AAKS) $130

Total ~$790

Plus a decent CPU cooler of your choice with Slipstream 800rpm fan and same for the case fans. If you don't need as much storage, drop the HDD down to 320Gb and put the $'s into the cooler/fans.

About 4 mths ago, I built a similar spec box (except microATX based) - E6750, Crucial 2Gb, Gigabyte G33M-DS2R, HD3870 + S1, XP-120 CPU cooler, Slipstream fans, Samsung 20x DVD, Seasonic 430W PSU, and an older 250Gb Maxtor HDD. I'm very happy with it - excellent general purpose PC and great for gaming (I run at 1680x1050 btw). Very quiet, low power consumption, and fast. If I was building it now, the only things I'd change are the CPU (E8400 instead of the E6750), maybe 4Gb RAM kit (2x2Gb) instead of 2Gb, and a quiet HDD like a GP 500Gb or the new 640Gb.

Like the other comments, I suggest waiting until you're ready and then buy all the components at once. Maybe just grab the RAM now in case prices go up. Everything else will probably go down in price, and when you're ready there might be some other options to consider - like the Samsung F1 320/640Gb drives and HD4000 series video cards. In the meantime, do as much research as you can, and narrow down your wishlist. You'll find an enormous amount of valuable information on the forums here.

Hope this helps!

[AVT]

Hi all. This is my first post and it is a doozy.

I have an old computer that I sort of built myself (I did everything but connect the case wires to my mobo) and it was midrange at best when it was new. So, I find myself looking to build a PC for gaming as well as a schoolwork machine (grad school possibly). That having been said, my PC budget will consist of whatever I can scrimp by cutting back to instant noodles, etc. I'm not figuring on being able to spend more than about $6-800 unless I can borrow some money from my folks. Any help will be appreciated, and you will be eligible for a prize. (more at the end of post)

Criteria/Details


CPU:
I'm indifferent to brands, but Intel seems to be the favorite amongst people, and I figure I could give a Hackintosh type setup a try. I don't overclock (I don't like to gamble with my technology), so I don't expect to need an aftermarket cooling solution

Motherboard:
Integrated audio is a must (unless someone can provide a compelling reason to use an add-in card), and plenty of SATA connectors. I'm only going to be able to afford to run one video card, so I don't need SLI/Crossfire. I wouldn't be opposed to something with SLI support though.

Memory: DDR2 800 seems to be the favorite. 2 or 4 gigs? Anything else to consider?

Video Card: I've heard good things about the 8800GT but it seems that it would be the most expensive part of the build. Is there a cheaper but comparable part? I'm not a FPS maniac (I don't need Crisis at 1900x1200 or anything), but I'd like to have solid gaming performance. My monitor will be reused and is 17" and capable of 1280x1024.

Optical Drive: Is it worth splurging for a brand name DVD burner? Blu-ray?

Hard Drives: I'm not doing video editing or anything where I need Raptor like speeds. I have ~50 gigs of music (yay for my radio station job), and probably another 100 of films (I worked with our school production lab). How much could I expect to spend on a SATA drive of at least 300 usable space? Is it worth making a RAID array for extra data backup? I don't want to lose my music/schoolwork/pron collection ;-)

Other:

-Dual/multiple boot: I own spare licenses of XP SP2, Vista Home Premium. I'm not sure which I'd use. I'd also like to possibly try out Linux (I've heard good things about Ubuntu) as well as maybe OS X.

-Reuse keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor (as noted before)

-To be built roughly 1 piece or $100 at a time. Starting with the less fluctuating parts like case, power supply, etc.

-Hope to complete construction sometime in May or early June.

The Prize

Yes that's right. I'm offering a prize. I don't have money to offer but I have the chance at fame. The winning contributor (to be decided by me) will be immortalized in the name of my new computer, joining the family of Homer, Wolfgang and Jimmy.

I have two pieces ordered:
Antec P182 case ($69)
Corsair HX620 ($109)

Go nuts!

$600/800 budget?

Here you go:

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116036

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131277

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145175

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814261002

Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=
Pick one

Hard Drives:
No, RAID 1 is not worth it for the home user.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148140

--
523$ so far. With a few other components should just fit your price.

[HammerSandwich]

Get this vidcard. Or you can save a little money by swapping an S2 onto the Palit & dealing with the rebate.

WDC or Samsung for HDs, no question. WD's new 320 & 640 look good and the 500GP is a great quiet drive.

If you can't buy everything now, wait for Wolfdale prices to come down in the next 1-2 months. But there's no reason not to buy RAM & HD now.