Critique my first time build ($1500 budget)

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 3:01 pm

Recently I've been looking at components to put into my first computer build. It feels like I'm getting pretty close but there are still things a few things that I can't decide on, most notably the motherboard. All the parts have to add up to $1500 or less after shipping, tax, and rebates. This includes only the actual computer, no monitor, speakers etc. As this is my first time building a new computer, I'll probably avoid overclocking initially but I definitely want to keep that option available for later. So far I've come up with the following (Prices are listed before shipping and after rebates):

Case: Antec SOLO ($90)
CPU: Intel e6600 ($315)
HDD: WD3200KS 320g ($100)
GPU: HIS x1900xt 256mb IceQ3 ($276)
CD/DVD: 1 DVD burner, 1 DVD-ROM player (about $50)

PSU: Either Antec NeoHE or Seasonic S12 (Is 430 watts enough or will I need 500?) ($80 - $120)

RAM: Corsair XMS2 2gb DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) I'm really just guessing here. DDR2 667 should be fast enough for mild overclocking, right? ($220)

MOBO: Once again I'm really not sure. The three top ones I've been reccomended are probably the Gigabyte DS3, Asus P5B Deluxe, and the Asus P5B-E. Apparently the DS3 has no firewire support. Does this just mean that it has no firewire port or that it is incapable of taking advantage of firewire cards? If it's the latter, I'll have to pass on this one. Basically, I want a MOBO with firewire and RAID capability and one that is EASY to overclock MILDLY. I don't want the one that has the highest capability, but rather ease of use and reliability for slight increases. ($160 ish)

How does it look?

(This was copy/pasted from my post on the Tom's Hardware Forumz and Anandtech)

Now for the SPCR part!

I'm hoping to keep my system pretty quiet but it doesn't have to be absolutely silent. The graphics card (which would have otherwise been loud), case, and PSU were all chosen for this reason. Will I have a fairly quiet system with these components?

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 4:20 pm

The stock CPU heatsink fan is not optimal for a quiet computer. You should consider getting a better heatsink - that'll help you with overclocking too.

My E6600 runs at the same temperture overclocked to 3.3GHz with a Scythe Ninja heatsink as it did running at 2.4GHz using the stock heatsink and fan. Night and day with noise.

replay0 · Post by **replay0** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 5:53 pm

What are you building the computer to be used for? FPS gaming? Multimedia? Office documents and spreadsheets? That makes a big difference on recommendations.

Case: You can get the SOLO on sale for $70 if you look around for sales. Fry's occasionally has it for $70 (that's when I bought mine about 3 weeks ago).
CPU: Depends on what you use it for, otherwise, even a E6300 or E6400 will suffice especially if you are keeping the overclocking option available.
CD/DVD: You can buy these for less than $35 each, shipped, if you check out NewEgg.com.
PSU: 430 is more than enough for a non-SLI system. I bought my Antec NEO HE 430w on sale for $60 when it was on sale. 380W works too, but 430 is better to be safe.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:56 pm

You sure are hedging your bets, aren't you?

Max Slowik · Post by **Max Slowik** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:45 pm

I think you should look at Abit's return-to-authority non-flagship:

Abit AB9 Pro (what you should look at) and MAX: http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q4/ab ... dex.x?pg=1

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:53 pm

Howard wrote:You sure are hedging your bets, aren't you?

How so?

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:00 pm

replay0 wrote:What are you building the computer to be used for? FPS gaming? Multimedia? Office documents and spreadsheets? That makes a big difference on recommendations.

Case: You can get the SOLO on sale for $70 if you look around for sales. Fry's occasionally has it for $70 (that's when I bought mine about 3 weeks ago).
CPU: Depends on what you use it for, otherwise, even a E6300 or E6400 will suffice especially if you are keeping the overclocking option available.
CD/DVD: You can buy these for less than $35 each, shipped, if you check out NewEgg.com.
PSU: 430 is more than enough for a non-SLI system. I bought my Antec NEO HE 430w on sale for $60 when it was on sale. 380W works too, but 430 is better to be safe.

The reason for all the power is basically for gaming. While I might not take full advantage of the system initially, it should last me until I'm through highschool (I'm a sophomore right now) and possibly into college. As I am a student, Office documents and such will be used but as i said the power is for gaming

.

Unfortunately I have no Fry's where I live. There is a Best Buy in town and a Circuit City about 40 minutes away but that's pretty much it.

Also, the 50 dollars for CD/DVD was for both combined.

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:17 pm

AndeeG wrote: Also, the 50 dollars for CD/DVD was for both combined.

Any reason why you need two drives? A good DVD burner handles pretty much all optical media (read and write) except for the new blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:25 pm

The ASUS P5B-E and ABIT AB9-Pro both have the ICH8R(AID) southbridge and onboard Firewire. Both will easily do mild OC'ing and they fit in your budget. Out of curiosity, why do you want RAID and what flavor were you thinking about running?

DDR2 667 should be fast enough for mild overclocking, right?

Yes.

Is 430 watts enough?

Yes, unless you plan to go SLI/Xfire.

Will I have a fairly quiet system with these components?

What are using for a CPU cooler and exhaust or intake fans? How are you mounting the HD?

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:35 pm

pyogenes wrote:
AndeeG wrote: Also, the 50 dollars for CD/DVD was for both combined.
Any reason why you need two drives? A good DVD burner handles pretty much all optical media (read and write) except for the new blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.

It's just more convenient to stick the cd/dvd in the first drive and a blank one in the second rather than having to download the contents to my HDD and then back onto the cd-r or dvd-r

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:37 pm

jackylman wrote:Out of curiosity, why do you want RAID and what flavor were you thinking about running?
What are using for a CPU cooler and exhaust or intake fans? How are you mounting the HD?

I just want RAID to be available for the future in case i want a backup drive/raid 0 array etc. I probably won't use it initially.

I'll mount the hard drive with the elastic suspension thingies. As far as other cooling goes, unless I need an intake fan, I'll initially leave everything stock. If the sound bothers me or i need lower temps for overclocking, I'll look into aftermarket cooling.

pyogenes · Post by **pyogenes** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:28 am

AndeeG wrote:
pyogenes wrote:
AndeeG wrote: Also, the 50 dollars for CD/DVD was for both combined.
Any reason why you need two drives? A good DVD burner handles pretty much all optical media (read and write) except for the new blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.
It's just more convenient to stick the cd/dvd in the first drive and a blank one in the second rather than having to download the contents to my HDD and then back onto the cd-r or dvd-r

Just so that you're aware, you'll have a higher success rate with copies if you create an ISO file first (buffer underruns being a very minor risk, incorrect reads being the main risk). Then again optical media is so cheap these days, who really cares if you coaster once in a while.

replay0 · Post by **replay0** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:27 am

AndeeG wrote:
jackylman wrote:Out of curiosity, why do you want RAID and what flavor were you thinking about running?
What are using for a CPU cooler and exhaust or intake fans? How are you mounting the HD?
I just want RAID to be available for the future in case i want a backup drive/raid 0 array etc. I probably won't use it initially.

I'll mount the hard drive with the elastic suspension thingies. As far as other cooling goes, unless I need an intake fan, I'll initially leave everything stock. If the sound bothers me or i need lower temps for overclocking, I'll look into aftermarket cooling.

Me personally, I'd skip the RAID and just buy an external USB HDD and do backups to it using Microsoft PowerTool's SyncToy program (or any other simple backup software). You can further protect your data by doing occasional backups to DVD discs and keep it at an offsite location (like your parents house when you move away for college, etc.).

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:07 pm

Are there any more suggestions for any particular motherboard? Opinions seem to vary widely between forums and individuals.

If I end up with a little extra cash should I go for the s12 over the NeoHE? IIRC, the s12 has only one fan which makes it quieter but might decrease cooling capability.

Also, will any front fans be necessary for the SOLO without any overclocking?

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 4:36 pm

AndeeG wrote:Are there any more suggestions for any particular motherboard? Opinions seem to vary widely between forums and individuals.

What's wrong with the Asus P5B-E? And I know the lower layout of the AB9-Pro is quirky, but Abit has excellent fan control and hardware monitoring. So what's wrong with it?

I find a lot of tech forums are littered with fanboys, clueless teenagers, and obsessed OC'ers. I'm not saying you have to get one of the two boards I mentioned, but I think they meet your criteria and are worth your consideration.

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:37 pm

jackylman wrote:
AndeeG wrote:Are there any more suggestions for any particular motherboard? Opinions seem to vary widely between forums and individuals.
What's wrong with the Asus P5B-E? And I know the lower layout of the AB9-Pro is quirky, but Abit has excellent fan control and hardware monitoring. So what's wrong with it?

I find a lot of tech forums are littered with fanboys, clueless teenagers, and obsessed OC'ers. I'm not saying you have to get one of the two boards I mentioned, but I think they meet your criteria and are worth your consideration.

I just looked at those two boards a bit more on anandtech and right now I'm leaning more towards the Asus, as its layout seems superior. However, it said that the Abit has a 4 pin molex connector for future graphics cards. Is this something I should be looking into since I plan on upgrading next year?

Also, on the DS3 does lack of firewire support simply mean no ports on the I/O panel or is it impossible to run, say, a firewire port at the front of the case?

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 5:50 pm

If I end up with a little extra cash should I go for the s12 over the NeoHE? IIRC, the s12 has only one fan which makes it quieter but might decrease cooling capability.

There is no issue with the cooling capacity of an S12. My -430 fan has yet to ramp up above 950 rpm, even under sustained 100% CPU and graphics loads. It usually stays at about 700 rpm. It was one of the best four quieting (and cooling) improvements made to my sig system.

It's just more convenient to stick the cd/dvd in the first drive and a blank one in the second rather than having to download the contents to my HDD and then back onto the cd-r or dvd-r

I had planned to do the same thing, but Windows always copied to a temporary file before writing anyway, so I never used the second optical drive.

replay0 wrote:Me personally, I'd skip the RAID and just buy an external USB HDD and do backups to it using Microsoft PowerTool's SyncToy program (or any other simple backup software). You can further protect your data by doing occasional backups to DVD discs and keep it at an offsite location

That's what I do. I use Argentum Backup to copy data to a second internal HDD every night, then copy to DVD every few months. I haven't been good about keeping those elsewhere, however. I should.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:36 pm

AndeeG wrote:Also, on the DS3 does lack of firewire support simply mean no ports on the I/O panel or is it impossible to run, say, a firewire port at the front of the case?

I'm sorry I didn't answer that question before. You can always put a PCI FireWire card in (something like this)
Or you can get a PCI-x1 card, but they're a bit more expensive.

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:28 pm

Arghh!!!

I was almost ready to buy (though I'm still undecided on RAM) until Newegg discontinued the HIS x1900xt 256mb IceQ3. Then I looked online and found one other retailer but they discontinued it the next day! What should i do?

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 9:23 pm

AndeeG wrote:I was almost ready to buy (though I'm still undecided on RAM) until Newegg discontinued the HIS x1900xt 256mb IceQ3. Then I looked online and found one other retailer but they discontinued it the next day! What should i do?

Buy an X1950 Pro? It's not as fast, but it is a bit cheaper. It also runs cooler than the X1900XT. I'd get the Sapphire model ($200) and a VF900. The HIS/Arctic Cooling coolers are known to develop clicks anyway.

I'd guess it's also possible for you to tighten your belt elsewhere (CPU, mobo) and upgrade to the XFX 7950GT or another X1900-series card you like.

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:51 pm

Right now I'm looking at the x1950 pro to tide me over till next year. That gives me the following components:

PSU: 500w Seasonic S12 (I might downgrade)
GPU: Sapphire x1950 pro
CPU: C2D e6600
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb
Optical: Sony IDE DvD drive
MOBO: Asus P5B-E

All this from Newegg adds up to $982.56

+ Antec SOLO from zipzoomfly
+ OCZ DDR2-800 from Fry's

Grand total after rebates, tax, shipping, all that is about $1277.56. This should give me plenty of extra money to buy a new graphics card next year. What do you think?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:12 pm

Hello,

The Seagate HD is not all that quiet, and they run fairly warm, too. I'd go with the Western Digital SE16 instead.

AndeeG · Post by **AndeeG** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:17 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello,

The Seagate HD is not all that quiet, and they run fairly warm, too. I'd go with the Western Digital SE16 instead.

I remember hearing the same, but someone said they didn't have a problem with the seagate and it loaded things much faster. That wasn't on SPCR though, so I'll take your word for it