Building A COMP

Published on August 21, 2007 By Dan Greene In PC Hardware

I am building a new computer. I am doing it myself, that is to say without the help of a major corporation in business to build a computer for me and than bill me. I have listened to a bunch of sources on what types of components to buy and come to a few conclusions. The choices are staggering, and I love that but it can be overwhelming at the same time.

I have selected a few components so far but for the rest I’m looking for some input from people who have done it in the past or are in the same boat as me. Advice is a nice to have at this point before I start making any mistakes I’ll regret in 6-12 months so comments are welcome.

Settled and purchased already CASE-- POWER SUPPLY-- GRAPHICS CARD--MONITOR--MOUSE
Still thinking about CPU--MOBO
Decided on KEYBOARD--RAM

HERE IS WHAT I HAVE TO DECIDE YET!

CPU I know I'm going DUAL CORE for sure maybe even QUAD CORE. I started looking at the E6400, then I started looking at the 6420, then 6550, then 6750. I was almost ready to buy the E6750. I mean I was pricing it, double researching it but then I saw some stats and comparisons for the Q6600. I thought really what I want to do is get either the E6750 or the Q6600.

Here's what I know, 2 execution cores E6750 1333mhz FSB 2.66ghz processor 4MB L2 cache, it can be overclocked to 3.2-3.9 Ghz on air cooling. The Q6600 has 4 execution cores, 1066 mhz FSB 2.4 ghz speed 8MB L2 cache, can be overclocked to around 3.2-3.4 ghz on air cooling. The E6750 is $204, the Q6600 is $281 so really the value choice becomes $75-80 for 4MB of cache and 2 more execution cores, meaning that it can't be over taxed right now. The FSB on the MOBO I'm looking at getting can be overclocked, the RAM can be overclocked and the CPU itself can be though not to the degree of the E6750. I am a bit wary of the clock speed being significantly below the 3Ghz level because I'm running a single core 2.4 ghz processor right now. No complaints on the speed really but the bandwidth of the processing is below what I need for games today and in the near future. Obviously two cores are better than one and I don't know how much performance boost I'll really see with a quad core which is why I throw the idea out there. Is it better to get a faster dual core, rather than a fast quad with double sized L2 cache for most applications.

I do a fair bit of compression with win wrar and I know that more cores could speed that up, I also play Supreme Commander which wants two cores to play with after 5 minutes of play, I also use Vegas 6.0 to do some video rendering, and dual or quad cores will cut in half or a quarter rendering jobs. But for the most part I just want a really fast and capable processor, I don't do too much rendering but I'd do enough that either a dual or quad would be fine. Maybe it's an opinion question but I'm really looking for input from people with the comparison experience, is the additional L2 cache a necessity?

MOBO
Here I know I want an ASUS MOBO

I'm not sure if I want the

P5K (probably not)
P5K-E/WIFI-AP
P5K-Deluxe WIFI-AP

I know I want a LAN support on the board, not really WIFI, I want sound to be on the board, I want 4 RAM slots, I want some SATA connectors for Harddrives. I also want to be able to overclock the RAM/CPU/Bus, ASUS supposedly has the support for this right with the board bios settings and stuff. (Not an expert but looking to learn) I am having a hard time deciding which of these models is the best for what I need. I don't want to just get the Deluxe but I am confident it has what I need. I'm holding out hope for the P5K-E WIFI-AP. It's about $50 less and might be what I want. I just don't know Help HEHE.

CASE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=antec%2b900

This thing kicks ass in my opinion. Antec 900 Gaming Case, at $105 from Amazon, I liked the style of this case, it’s got lots of room, a side window, 5 fans including a top 200mm fan, it might even be too much case but I kinda wanted to go overboard on it. It's stylish and that didn't really matter what I wanted was good cooling, good size, and steel rather than aluminum durability. The fact that it got hugely positive ratings by lots of people on both newegg and amazon, finalized my decision. What sucks is I don't have all the components to put into it yet.

Price was excellent, but at retail it was up there around $150. So I got it online. I know what you are thinking, you shouldn't by the case till u get the MOBO, but you can't get the MOBO without the powersupply and most cases are ATX or ATX mini so I just got a big ATX. I'm happy.

POWERSUPPLY
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HJ9CEO/105-6777259-6648464

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W
I know what you are thinking here too. 700 watts, what do you live in a power plant? Nope, not even near one, in fact my electricity bill is pretty high considering the area I live in, Midwest, however, I have learned you need good rail voltage. This one also has 3 connectors for power instead of just two, so I guess that's good. Honestly I have no idea about power supplies I just know that I got a Dell a few years back and wanted to upgrade my Graphics Card, and in doing so I also had to upgrade my power supply because I only had a 250 watt PS inside and I upgraded to a 400 watt PS. I figure I'm going to end up adding a total of 3 or 4 hard drives because I have 4 SATA ports on my MOBO and hardrives come down in price over time. I don't want to put strain on my PS because I'm upgrading my hard drive space. Also I wasn't sure what CPU I was going to get, and am still debating. Plus though the 8600GT is SLI compatible I didn't think I was ever going to go SLI with it, but in the future I might rather than get a 8800GTX, or I might get the 8800GTX in SLI (OMG SOMEBODY STOP ME!) If the price comes down. I figured I only would need around 500-550 watts and 600 was a good margin so I looked at a few of the PS available and just got a 700 for the hell of it. LOL.

GRAPHICS CARD
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814122024

LEAD TEK Geforce 8600 GT PCI-E 256 MB 128 bit DDR3 card SLI Support

I bought this because of the price, A shade over $100, DX 10 compliancy, and I wanted an 8 series card. It’s also pretty fast and comparable with the top of the line 6 series and above average 7 series cards. The 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX were both about $200-$400 more dollars but being top of the line cards their price is likely to drop significantly in the next six months but the 8600 will only drop maybe $10-15 maybe $25. I can live with that, resell it and get a GTX in a few months, which is what I really wanted. I just couldn’t do the $500 price tag.

MONITOR
http://www.cmicomputer.com/cgi/quikstore.cgi?product=monpw19ktcf&detail=yes
monpw19ktcf: 19" KTC Flat Screen Monitor 1600x1200 .25

I don't even really know why I bought this monitor and I hope I don't kick myself in the ass for it, I needed something that would draw 1600x1200 because I want to run my games and programs in that size, I also want my desktop resolution to be that way as well. It's just easier to edit things, to work on more than one program at a time, It was only $149 so I'm hoping it's going to work out. I didn't want to go with a dual monitor solution quite yet but I might in the future. I really wanted to get a large LCD flat panel but I couldn't find one that I knew for sure would draw in 1600x1200 for less than $400. I know I probably will need to get something else in the future, maybe even the near term but I was going to try this one on my current rig and see what 1600x1200 is like, and maybe even keep it for the older system I have or relegate it later when I get my a large flat panel say 22-25" Whatever will draw 1600x1200 that's what I need.

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145043
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

I checked with Crucial and Corsair for RAM compatibilities with the Deluxe model, I can get PC2 DDR2 5300, 6400, 8500. Each of those numbers stands for the data rate in GB/sec theoretical. So for the 5300 5.3 GB/sec max, or 8.5 for the 8500. Another thing that matters is the latency settings and you want those to be low, for 5300, 6400, 8500 I found some that are 3-3-3-9, 4-4-4-12 5-5-5-15...
I don't need LED's or flashy shit though a nice heat sink or dissipation system would probably be good.

I don't even know if I plan to OC this stuff but I want it to be ready. I think I've settled on the 8500 but I'm open to some good 6400 stuff. I know I'll be getting the 2 GB level and holding there until I see a reason to get another stick of 1 GB, if I decide to upgrade to 4 GB I'll just get another two sticks of 1GB, So I'm golden buying 2 x 1GB sticks. With a $40 mail in rebate it's really under $200 for the RAM.

KEYBOARD, Haven't gotten it yet... Something from Best Buy, maybe cordless probably USB cord, something cheap $15-20 whatever. I like stock keyboards, I'm not picky here.

MOUSE
I got myself a nice 4 button USB mouse, a best buy brand (made in China) Dynex, cheap and looked ergonomic, I kinda like it. For $15 I like it more than the microsoft or logitech mice that were available.

All for now comments and suggestions welcome! Thanks

Comments

SSG Geezer

on Aug 21, 2007

I don't think you can overclock those Core2 Duos on air with the standard heatsink. Unless you are going to spend the extra cash for one of the aftermarket versions, stick with stock speeds or go for a 5400+ AMD X2. (or faster) Then save the money from not having to buy a larger heatsink, and upgrade your video card.
O/Cing the FSB will also increase heat and power consumption, but the case you are looking at should have few problems moving the air you need to keep it cool.

For your video rendering the Intel piece appears to be the best choice, but if you went with an X2 you could save cash on a good Mobo, and skip the proc heat sink upgrade.

I am still a fan of the Logitech MX 510 or 518 for gaming. the thumb buttons work great for me. (I am right handed).

stubbyfinger

on Aug 21, 2007

I have the E6400 at the stock 2.13ghz with an 8800GTS 640mb and it’s plenty for the latest games, and you could use the extra money for a better video card. The newer cards are handling more of the processing in games now anyways. If you feel you need faster then I would go with the quad core, I wouldn’t buy a dual core any faster than the E6400 which will OC to 3.0ghz no problem if you beef up cooling.

The most bang for buck I think is the 8800GTS 320mb at $300. I like EVGA because they have a lifetime warrantee, advance RMA service and a very good step up program when you’re ready to upgrade. Make sure you register for all that within 90 days of purchase.

One thing I would definitely do is go with 4gb ram. That and a really fast HD like the Rapter X will give you the most noticeable performance increase over any other upgrade. It’s really nice quitting a game and not having to wait for the desktop to load. Plus if you upgrade to Vista, it will use 1.3gb all by its lonesome. Also don’t bother with ultra fast low latency memory unless you plan on trying to OC to the max, and your not going to be able to that anyway without water cooling or some other extreme cooling so it’s a complete waste of money. And there’s absolutely no advantage at stock speeds or moderate OCing. DDR2 800 with case latency: 5 is all you need, in fact there having a lot of problems with the higher volt memories.

I have the 700watt Thermaltake tough power with the modular cabling witch helps keep good airflow.

Get the best MB you can buy and check the manufacturers forums to see how bad the problems are, keeping in mind the only people there are the ones with problems.

That’s all I can think of, Good luck.

Phoon

on Aug 21, 2007

One thing I would definitely do is go with 4gb ram.

Unless you are going to run a 64bit OS, chances are your OS will not recognize all 4Gb. Might want to examine that one. It has to to with the chipset on the mobo....

stubbyfinger

on Aug 21, 2007

There's a patch for Vista32 and you can turn the page file off in XP32 to see all 4gb. It's strictly a 32bit OS limitation its got nothing to do with the chipset as long as the cpu is 64bit that is.

Dan Greene

on Aug 22, 2007

"I don't think you can overclock those Core2 Duos on air with the standard heatsink."

You can just not to the degree I was quoting. In the case I have I expect it to have a high degree of heat dissipation via convection, but you are right in suggesting I acquire an aftermarket heatsink solution. This being the first process I OC I am hoping there are diagnostic tools that will let me have insight to the temperature so I can monitor it and metric different cooling options. I know that they can be significantly OC'd on air cooling alone, similar to how the celeron processor used to be.

"I have the E6400 at the stock 2.13ghz with an 8800GTS 640mb and it’s plenty for the latest games, and you could use the extra money for a better video card."

I do plan on upgrading the graphics card once I see how the one I have is working out with the monitor. I do want the 8800GTX, I've researched it and know a whole lot about it, the GTS while a good option just doesn't have the horsepower that the GTX does, and for the money the GTX is a good option. What I want to happen is the price to come down about $100-150 and that will only happen when the next top of the line card drops. Maybe it'll be a 8900 GTX or something.

"One thing I would definitely do is go with 4gb ram."

I know it is silly but I'm not going Vista anytime before 2008. I can't stand the OS and the history of problems and bad press and negative impressions from my friends. Maybe it's a lot of bs, but I'm very happy with XP SP2 home, and I think I'm going to spring for XP SP 2 Pro, One problem I have with that is the 4 GB barrier which is really 3.0-3.5GB + page file. I'm not interested in dumping money on ram beyond 2 GB right now, In the future though the MOBO I'm looking at is capable of handling 8 GB and in order to get there I have to go Vista, and I probably will in 2008 or 2009 after a firm verdict is reached on Vista vs XP or Vista and the new OS Microsoft is working on.

"Get the best MB you can buy and check the manufacturers forums to see how bad the problems are, keeping in mind the only people there are the ones with problems."

Good advice, I've spent at least 6 hours browsing Asus' forums and tech support for their MOBO's each of the ones I'm looking at. The only thing I wish they had is a better description of each of the P5K variants as there seems to be an endless number of them.

"Unless you are going to run a 64bit OS, chances are your OS will not recognize all 4Gb. Might want to examine that one. It has to to with the chipset on the mobo...."

Base covered.

"you can turn the page file off in XP32 to see all 4gb. It's strictly a 32bit OS limitation its got nothing to do with the chipset as long as the cpu is 64bit that is."

That's an interesting solution, turning off the page file. Would that prevent the OS from dumping any data into the page file at all, because to me that seems like a sure slow bottleneck. Granted if you ran out of ram, the system would crash right? With the page file enabled and 3 gigs of ram would it ever allow the system to address more then 4 gigs of ram total?

"really fast HD like the Rapter X will give you the most noticeable performance increase over any other upgrade."

I really am looking at getting a fast small hard drive for just the OS, maybe 30 gigs, and putting everything and I mean everything else on another one.

Thanks for the ideas guys keep em coming please.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!