First custom build. I could really do with some advice. :)

[ddlooping]

Hi all.

My Dell Dimension 4700 (I know) is on its last leg and I've decided to replace it with a custom build PC.
It is my first custom build so I could really do with some advice.

As a self-employed web-designer I spend hours every day working at the computer, so I'd like it to be as quiet as possible.
Before you mention them, I cannot get an Antec P180 or SOLO for size/budget constraints.
I unfortunately do not like the Sonata Designer white facia (the PC will be located in the "office" corner of my living room).

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OS: Windows XP Pro.

Daily usage:
- Web coding: apache/mysql/php.
- Web design: Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash.
- Web browsing, email...

Occasional usage:
- HTPC: WMV-HD, H264.

Infrequent usage:
- Video encoding.
- Video convertion.

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What I already have and intend on using in/with my custom build:
- Two EIZO monitors (17" & 19" at 1280x1024).
- Two 80GB SATA drives (I'll upgrade them at a later date).
- A Pioneer DVD-RW drive.
- A Samsung DVD drive.
- Logitech wireless keyboard.
- Logitech mouse.
- Three USB external hard-drives.
- Canon Pixma500 printer/scanner.

My budget, ~£300, is for the rest of the set-up:

I have pretty much decided on getting the following bits:
- Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180.
- Coolermaster Centurion 5 All Black Case + 550W eXtreme Power Plus PSU
- Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix (x2?)
- Scythe S-Flex 120mm Ultra Quiet Fan.
- Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro.

I hesitate between the following motherboards:
- MSI P35 Neo2-FR.
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3.
- I ruled out the Asus P5K one but can't remember why.

For the time being I intend to use the onboard graphic for one of my monitors, and a dedicated card for the other (main).
The trouble is I have no idea which graphic card to pick:
- Innovision 3D 7300GT 512MB.
- Innovision GeForce 7600GS 512MB.
- Innovision GeForce 7600GST 128MB DDR3. Is 128MB of DDR3 better than 512MB of DDR2??
- Inno3D 8400GS 512MB DDR2 Passive.
- MSI 8400GS 256MB DDR2.

Is one any better than the others in terms of H264 decoding?
I am very confused as to which one to get as they are all in a fairly narrow price bracket but none of them have the same GPU and/or amount (even type) of RAM.

As I also have a 720p Hitachi projector I will probably add a second card in the near future.

In my current PC I have 3GB RAM:
- 2GB (2x 1GB) Crucial DDR2 PC2-4300.
- 1GB (2x512MB) Samsung DDR2 PC2-3200.

Could I use the Crucial DDR2 PC2-4300 in the new build, or would the drop in MHz cancel the benefit of running 4GB?
Would using the PC2-4300 as RAM-drive be of any benefit?

I intend to overclock the processor slightly as long as it doesn't raise the noise level too high. Any tips on reducing the latter would be great (apart from "don't overclock").

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I apologise for the long post but I thought I'd better be thorough.
It wouldn't surprise me if I had forgotten some important stuff anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S: I'm also looking for a reliable internal multi-card reader.

[nitram_tpr]

Does it have to be INTEL?
You could get the Gigabyte 780G motherboard, the on-board graphics will handle H264 decoding perfectly. It also has the ability to provide 2 outputs for your monitors. If you add another graphics card you can then output to 4. it also has a full HDMI connector.

And why Nvidia cards? Why not a 3850 or 3870 ATI card?
I would not chose a gfx card with only 128meg of ram, just not enough these days.

Also...how quiet is the PSU that the Centurian is bundled with?

If you mix 2 speeds of memory the system will run at the speed of the slowest memory. I would stump up the extra for 4gig of the PC6400.

If you want quiet I would get the Scythe Mini Ninja heatsink and fan rather than the Arctic cooling one, it will be much quieter.

[ddlooping]

Thanks for the reply, Martin.

Does it have to be INTEL?
You could get the motherboard, the on-board graphics will handle H264 decoding perfectly. It also has the ability to provide 2 outputs for your monitors. If you add another graphics card you can then output to 4. it also has a full HDMI connector.

The processor is the component I picked first.
Intel came on top in all the comparison tests and shootouts I read.
The E2180 seems to have a good price/performance ratio and is easily overclocked.
Once my choice was made to go for an Intel processor I did not look at the AMD boards.

Could you let me know what processor/board you have in mind, so I don't have to spend hours looking for more tests.

And why Nvidia cards? Why not a 3850 or 3870 ATI card?

The ATI 3850 cost over twice as much as most of the graphic cards I selected.
Make that thrice for the 3870.
In that price bracket it looked like NVIDIA was the one to go for.
I might have missed something though.

I would not chose a gfx card with only 128meg of ram, just not enough these days.

Any opinion as to which card is best in my selection, excluding the 128MB DDR3 one?

Also...how quiet is the PSU that the Centurian is bundled with?

From what I've read it has the potential to be fairly quiet if you change its fan (something I forgot to add to my list).
The quite favorable SPCR review of the Coolermaster Centurion 5 + PSU bundle.
Keep in mind the PSU included with the case is now the 550W model.
I do hope it is as good if not better than the 350W one.
The comments on the above review seem to indicate the Centurion 5 can be fairly easily modded.

If you mix 2 speeds of memory the system will run at the speed of the slowest memory. I would stump up the extra for 4gig of the PC6400.

Thanks for the info, Martin.
Does this also apply if I use the 2GB DDR4300 as RAM-drive?

If you want quiet I would get the Scythe Mini Ninja heatsink and fan rather than the Arctic cooling one, it will be much quieter.

Thanks, I'll look into it, even though it's twice the price.

[nitram_tpr]

My current favourite motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G
This would negate the need for a graphics card as the on-board GPU will supply 2 monitors.
It will though use upto 512MB of the system ram so out of 2 gig you'll only have 1.5gig available. If I were to build another system based on this motherboard then I would put 4gig in.
As for a CPU, for about the same price as the Intel you could get the AMD X2 5000

I know the Heatsink I have chosen is expensive, but it will cool the CPU passively so you won't have a fan to use power or create noise

Using system ram as a Ram Drive? How do you do that?

[ddlooping]

Thanks, Martin, even though you've thrown a spanner in the works.

RamDisk info.

[ddlooping]

A couple more questions if you don't mind, nitram_tpr.

- How much (if anything) would I be sacrificing in terms of upgradability if I was to go the AMD route?

- I read on the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G spec sheet that it has SPDIF out/in headers.
Does this mean I could use an optical digital input with it?
If yes, I would I go about adding the connection to the system?

[ddlooping]

Ok, here is where it's at so far...

- Coolermaster Centurion 5 + 550W eXtreme Power Plus PSU: £69.99

- Scythe S-Flex 120mm Ultra Quiet Fan - 1600RPM - 3&4pin connection: £13.45
Do you think it'd be worth getting a second Scythe S-Flex 120mm to replace the PSU one?
Would adding a 80mm intake fan for the case have better cooling effect overal or would it just hinder the air flow?

- Scythe Mini Ninja Socket 478/775/754/939/940/AM2 Heatpipe Cooler: £27.41

- AMD Black Edition Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (out of stock at eBuyer ): £57.71

- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H: £56.95

I still need a graphic card so as to be able to run two monitors and a 720p projector...
- Innovision 3D 7300GT 512MB: £29.99

- Crucial 2GB kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory: £34.14

Total: £285.49

[ddlooping]

Anybody else wants to pitch in?

[Rewdoalb]

1. From some of the articles I've seen, you may want to combine your motherboard with an ATI card. The new 780G hybrid chipset combines the power of the integrated graphics with that of the dedicated card for optimum graphics performance. So, maybe consider a card such as the ATI Radeon HD 3450? It can be found for about $40 USD, although I'm not sure what that comes out to in your native currency.

2. You call the Scythe S-Flex "Ultra Quiet" but I noticed it's the 1600RPM model that you've mentioned. If you want quiet, get the 1200 RPM, if you want ultra quiet, get the 800 RPM.

3. I have the centurion 5, it's a good case for the price, although not nearly perfect.

4. Why not 4GB RAM? Especially since your integrated graphics could be taking a chunk out of the 2 GB? Or did I miss something where you decided to use the 2GB you already have along with the new 2GB kit (which should work fine too, if it doesnt just buy 2 more sticks)

[ddlooping]

Hello Rewdoalb, and thanks for the reply.

1. From some of the articles I've seen, you may want to combine your motherboard with an ATI card. The new 780G hybrid chipset combines the power of the integrated graphics with that of the dedicated card for optimum graphics performance. So, maybe consider a card such as the ATI Radeon HD 3450? It can be found for about $40 USD, although I'm not sure what that comes out to in your native currency.

2. You call the Scythe S-Flex "Ultra Quiet" but I noticed it's the 1600RPM model that you've mentioned. If you want quiet, get the 1200 RPM, if you want ultra quiet, get the 800 RPM.

3. I have the centurion 5, it's a good case for the price, although not nearly perfect.

4. Why not 4GB RAM? Especially since your integrated graphics could be taking a chunk out of the 2 GB? Or did I miss something where you decided to use the 2GB you already have along with the new 2GB kit (which should work fine too, if it doesnt just buy 2 more sticks)

1. Thanks for the info, I'll definately look into it.

2. eBuyer.com call the Scythe S-Flex "Ultra Quiet".
Couldn't I simply undervolt the 1600RPM model?
That'd give me more options, no?

3. Any suggestions as to how to improve it would be most welcome.

4. To save money?!
I guess an extra $60 wouldn't be too bad.
I'd like to try the 2GB of RAM I already have and if it doesn't work out I'll buy 2 more sticks, as you suggested.

P.S: Have you ever tried using a RAM-Disk?

[nitram_tpr]

The 780G motherboards do supprt Hybrid crossfire. If you want to run Hybrid then you will need to buy a ATI 3450, these are very cheap (£24 from Ebuyer).
The thing with Hybrid Crossfire is that it will indeed combine the power of both the on-board GPU and the 3450 to get a boost in performance, but, you will not be able to use the on-board GPU outputs.
For your use get a 3450, don't run it in hybrid and you can hook up 4 monitors.
1 on the on-board VGA
1 on the on-board DVi or HDMI
2 on the 3450's connectors.

With the 780G platform you have to select in Bios which digital output you want to use, either DVI or HDMI, you can't use both at the same time!

I would suggest that you use the 3450 DVI outputs for your flat panel monitors and the on-board DVI or HDMI for your projector.

You will be able to run the 120mm fans from the motherboard headers. I have hooked up 2 Akasa amber 120mm fans in my case (Antec Fusion) to the motherboard headers and they run silently. Well I can't hear them from the couch which is about 6ft from the case. The case you have chosen is far roomier than the fusion so it should run cooler anyways.

I think that if you run a full sized ninja heatsink you can get away with a single 120mm fan in your case hooked up to one of the motherboard headers.

Changing the fan on a brand new PSU sounds like a pointless excercise to me
Is the PSU that comes with this case known for it's excessive noise?
If you use a 780G mobo with one of the 45watt AMD CPU's and the 3450 card this will not run to more than perhaps 150watts, so the PSU will be running at less than 50% so the fan shouldn't have to run that fast.

Equipping our AMD 780G board with an Athlon X2 BE-2350, we measured the lowest power consumption of any system in our lab so far during playback of a Blu-ray movie – a mere 73 Watts.

The ramdrive implimentation sounds interseting.
The trouble is ram speeds are set in BIOS before it boots into windows, so if you mix 2 ram speeds the sysyem will set the speed to the speed of the slowest ram.

[ddlooping]

Thanks for this detailed reply, nitram_tpr, I appreciate it.

Changing the fan on a brand new PSU sounds like a pointless excercise to me
Is the PSU that comes with this case known for it's excessive noise?

I haven't managed to find any review/data about the PSU noise unfortunately.
The Centurion 5 reviewed by SPCR included the 350W version (mine will include the 550W) and was described as noisy.

The ramdrive implimentation sounds interseting.
The trouble is ram speeds are set in BIOS before it boots into windows, so if you mix 2 ram speeds the sysyem will set the speed to the speed of the slowest ram.

Bummer.
Oh well, I'll still give it a go and if it doesn't work out I'll get a couple more sticks.

[AVT]

For your build, I would suggest AMD, and a 780G board.

Intel may have slightly better processors, but the 780G's integrated graphics are far superior to everything Intel has, and you'll avoid having to get a graphics card alltogether.

edit: Also, the 1600RPM S-Flex probably won't be 'ultra quiet'. I have the 1200RPM version, using it only because of an ASUS feature that triggers an alarm under 1000rpm, and it's just about at the point between silent and noticeable.

[ddlooping]

Thanks for the advice, AVT.