New to building, please review Build.

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 12:01 am

So this isn't exactly a silent build, although most of it is damn quiet. It's really just the video card that's going to make a ton of noise, but I wanted to see if you guys would look it over. I am new to building and origionally wanted a silent PC but after looking at high end video cards I felt it was a little difficult. Let me know what you think of this build though. i'd really appriciate it.

Mobo - ASRockx38 - $107
Video Card - Radeon 4870x2 OC'd - $520
HDD Seagate 7200.11 - $60
Monitor Samsung 2253BW $210
Case XCLIO A380BK $110
PSU Corsair CMPSU 750W $99
RAM 2 x 2G Patriot DDR3-1600 $155
CPU Intel E8500 $189

Total ~ $1500

What do you guys think? It's my first build so please be gentle, but also tell me if something is horribly wrong, uncompatible or just a stupid buy.

A few notes: The Mobo runs x38 which I know is old but I don't really want to spend the money for a x48 and i want full speeds if i go crossfire, i also wanted DDR3 RAM to future proof myself. I don't know if I want to spend the extra money and get the E8600 so any comments on that would be good. The HDD and video card I got from Toms Hardware charts, just kind of pulled out ones near the top. A few of the items I found have open box specials on new egg which I'm excited about

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:08 am

An overclocked vga card only delivers about 5-10% more performance, for a lot of money. If the game you are running runs fast, 80fps becomes 80*1.05 = 84 fps. If the game is not running fast enough, lets say 25fps, 25*1.05 = 26,25 fps. In both cases it doesn't make sense to buy an overclocked vga card.
Seen from the monitor you are buying, the radeon 4870x2 will not be able to show it's full potential in a lot of games. I would buy a single 4870, and if it isn't fast enough 2 -4 years later, buy a new vga card. That will save you a lot of money. But if you are a really hardcore gamer who wants the absolute best now, it can be worth the money.

Further more, asrock is the (low) budget brand from asus, that motherboard is really a heavy contrast to your vga card

DDR3 memory is NOT faster than DDR2 on your cpu / motherboard combination. To save money without loosing performance, why not use DDR2 memory ?
If you want really good reviews with high quality, look at Anandtech and XBit labs. If you look at several articles about vga cards you can see which performance the cards are delivering on different resolutions and games and see which card you need for your desired gaming experience.

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:41 am

You make a good point about the motherboard and the DDR2 memory. I going to go with DDR2 memory but I like the mobo in the sense that I can always upgrade to DDR3 when the price comes down, however I'll probably look around more for a better mobo. I def. want something with the x38 or x48 north bridge as I may want to eventually go for crossfire. I also want to eventually pick up a second monitor.

Keep the good advice coming

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 10:23 am

What games are compelling you to get a 4870 x 2 for a 1680x1050 resolution monitor?

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 10:49 am

CA_Steve wrote:What games are compelling you to get a 4870 x 2 for a 1680x1050 resolution monitor?

Well it's really more of a future investment I think. I'm not really buying everything for current Gen games. I just want to make sure I can play everything that's out now, and everything that will be comming out in the next few years.

Also, I'd like to do dual monitors eventually, i know that doesn't require TOOO much power but still.

Also, I'm competing with my friends to have a kick butt build lol. If you think it's way overboard let me know. I've just always herd if your building a gaming rig one of the main places to throw ur money is the video card. I may be wrong though I'm new to this.

relitz · Post by **relitz** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:11 am

If you change your card to a 4870, get another motherboard and some DDR2 RAM, you'll probably afford to go dual monitor right away.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:42 am

Today's $500 video card is next year's $200 video card and the year after's $100 video card. Save your money. If you have fps envy, get a single 4870 at most and an aftermarket cooler. ATI's stock cooling solutions are mediocre at best.

Dual monitor - if the second monitor is doing some 2D task, the horsepower required is not very high.

Memory - DDR3 still isn't worth the cost/benefit. Get decent rated DDR2 and save $50-100.

PSU is very overkill unless you plan to get 300W of video cards. Good rule of thumb for a quiet PSU is take your max expected power use and then multiply by 1.75 to 2x for the PSU rated power. You'll never need the power, but it seems that most PSU's fans start ramping up at the 50% rated power point. So, running at 50% rated power means a very quiet PSU. Your mileage may vary.

e8500. $24 more than a e8400 and 0.16GHz faster. woo.

Seagate drive - Samsung and WD two platter 640GB drives are quieter. It also seems to be the sweet spot of speed/performance.

Case - not familiar w it.

Mobo - some folks swear by Asrock. I've never used one.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 2:02 pm

HD 4870 with AC TwinTurbo might be best solution... HD 4870x" is huge overkill for your resolution...

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:13 pm

Ok everyone, I want to first say thank you so much for your input. I'd also like you guys to welcome my new baby to the world! I just hit buy, so I hope it turns out good. Please let me know what you think of my final decision but also, be nice. It's never good to find out u made a bad choice, unless it's bad enough that I need to return something.

XCLIO A380BK Case
ASUS P5E x38 ATX mobo
2 Radeon HD4850
950W Rosewill PSU
Quad Core Q9400 CPU 2.66Ghz
OCZ Reaper 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 RAM
750GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD
Samsung 2253BW monitor
OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler

Plus mouse keyboard a couple fans etc. I hope it's as good as I'm excited about it

Thanks again guys!

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:34 pm

950W psu? sigh...that would be my first return...

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 7:14 pm

CA_Steve wrote:950W psu? sigh...that would be my first return...

When bought in conjunction with the CPU, it was 170 dollars off (so it was 80 bucks). I was originally going to get a 650 or 700W but this one ended up being 20 dollars cheaper with that combo deal. I know it's a bit overkill but in the future if I want to run crossfire 4870x2's I've got the power. Any other good comments?

protellect · Post by **protellect** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:09 pm

Sayguh wrote:
CA_Steve wrote:950W psu? sigh...that would be my first return...
When bought in conjunction with the CPU, it was 170 dollars off (so it was 80 bucks). I was originally going to get a 650 or 700W but this one ended up being 20 dollars cheaper with that combo deal. I know it's a bit overkill but in the future if I want to run crossfire 4870x2's I've got the power. Any other good comments?

They usually sell crappy PSU's in conjunction with other parts
Maybe rosewill's quality control has gotten better, they aren't in my mind a quality brand.

Good Luck.

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 3:06 pm

protellect wrote:
They usually sell crappy PSU's in conjunction with other parts
Maybe rosewill's quality control has gotten better, they aren't in my mind a quality brand.

Good Luck.

Ah, you are correct. I was caught up in the moment buying. I was origionlly going for a Corsair 750W but I was worried about that not being enough power for future upgrades and the 950 was only 20 dollars more expensive with the 170 dollar instant savings.

I looked up a few reviews and it's very hit or miss with Rosewell it seems. Most people were saying they either worked or they didn't. Occationally I found a thread or two that said the PSU fried the Mobo. I'll just cross my fingers and hope I'm not one of those!

Lucifiel · Post by **Lucifiel** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:30 am

I would not skimp out on the PSU. I'd an amd64 3000+ rig and almost everything was badly damaged by a malfunctioning Antec Truepower. That included cpu, mobos, hard disks and just about everything else except for dvd writer, graphics card and ram.

Since there was no warranty left anymore and was a bit dry on cash, I was forced to downgrade and get a cheapo lower-end rig as there're no hardware shops that accepted pay-by-installment with 0% interest.

Since then, I've become much more wary about PSUs.

Sayguh · Post by **Sayguh** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:07 am

Yikes! Stop scaring me guys! lol

Lucifiel · Post by **Lucifiel** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:12 am

Sayguh wrote:Yikes! Stop scaring me guys! lol

Actually, I really mean it.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:08 am

Why the x38 board?
If your getting a 4870x2 you are very very very very unlikely to need to go fro crossfire in the future unless you do something crazy like duel 30" monitors and demand nothing less than max graphics settings and 60fps on every game in the next 2 years.
Get a good P45 board with PCIE 2.0 and it will be much more future proof than a x38.

The 4870 will be fine for your current monitor (i have a 4850 and it has no problems at max settings of any game i play at that res (aalthough i dont play crysis because it isnt a very good game), although the 4870 would be a better choice if your going to keep it for more than a year). Crossfire it up later if you really need to, although until you buy a bigger monitor i don't see any game maxing out a single 4870 at 1680x1050. Get the second card if/when you get the bigger monitor and save yourself money. in the meantime it'll be far easier to cool quietly, something we SPCRers like.

If you go for the single 4870 with options for a second later you shouldn't need more than a 600w PSU.

Xbit labs are very accurate on GPU power consumption and the only source i fully trust. As you can see 4870's in crossfire (or a single x2) consumes less than 300w under full load. Add in your CPU, board drives and peripherals and your not going to top 500w no matter what you try.
I would recommend a good ~600w PSU for such a setup. Gives you plenty of headroom while still offering good efficiency at idle wattages.

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:43 pm

Lucifiel wrote:
Sayguh wrote:Yikes! Stop scaring me guys! lol
Actually, I really mean it.

Ditto on the good quality PSU.

Its the same as saving 5cents a gallon on gas, and getting bad gas that ends up ruining the engine in your $50k car.

Most likely it wont die right away.. but over several years as the PSU wears out, things will start acting wierd and then crashing. But if your one who replaces your PC every 2 years or so, then the chances of getting bit by this are much less.

As for dual monitors.. you dont need a huge amount of graphics power. I have 2x 19" screens at 1280x1024 running off a single 8600GTS card with zero issues. It plays WoW, C&C3 and supreme commander just fine for my tastes. If your going to get dual monitors, get both at the same time to ensure they are identical models and closely matched. I got my 2nd monitor a couple months after the first, and I can see a definate difference in the pictures displayed -- even they are both the exact same model.