samurai nightling October 19, 2008 Share samurai nightling Member October 19, 2008 (edited) Ok so i know this place is filled to the brim with people who know a lot about computers. I built this one, but it is now 4 years old and well, i want faster now. I've been researching stuff alot, and I just wanted peoples suggestions on good parts for a new build. I'll lay out some basics I've decided I want and you guys can maybe tell me how it things sound or what to change? Things i wanted or am thinking of getting are: - Intel quad-core Q9550 12mb cache -pci-e 2.0 in the mobo -4-8GB of DDR2 1200 ram OR the new DDR3 ram, this is a big place where im stuck on deciding since its either save money and get old, or spend money but get new. -a geforce graphics card at least around or above 756mb-1gb (doubt i really need sli) -maybe an Antec power supply? This truepower series one ive had in here has had no problems so i trust Antec so far. -possibly a SATA 3.0gb/s 10000rpm Western Digital Raptor HDD, 300GB or whatever i remember it was on newegg. I haven't set up RAID before so im unsure of multiple HDD's. -Mobo suggestions based on the DDR2 or DDR3 ram? -I can handle keyboard, monitor, mouse, DVDrom and all the little accessories, so i don't need much help there. I basically want it to be pretty dang fast. The memory is where im having the hardest time deciding. I wanna build a comp that will be fast for at least another 5 or so years as this one has held out. What do you guys think? Comments are all welcome Edited October 19, 2008 by samurai nightling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 19, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 19, 2008 how much do you have to spend on the rig? and in the future the hardware section is set-up for threads like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 19, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 19, 2008 how much do you have to spend on the rig? and in the future the hardware section is set-up for threads like this lol sorry. but at least in here more people are maybe likely to see it, and as far as price goes, i was estimating around $1500, but that's not really including the little extras, just the computer itself. Im gonna maybe use some things out of this one, like my soundblaster X-fi extreme gamer sound card, and prolly the DVD drive, speakers/headset, maybe monitor also? Reusing what i can ya know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 19, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 19, 2008 ENERMAX Chakra ECA3052BL Blue/ Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811124115 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $20.00 Mail-in Rebate $69.99 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EACS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Item #: N82E16822136151 Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy $129.99 POWERCOLOR AX4870X2 2GBD5-H Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814131116 Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy $529.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail Item #: N82E16817139006 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $20.00 Mail-in Rebate $119.99 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail Item #: N82E16820231190 Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy $124.99 Intel BOXDP45SG LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX DDR3 Intel Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813121348 Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy $149.99 Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400 - Retail Item #: N82E16819115131 Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy Total comes to $1,406.94 and you will then get $40 back in mail in rebates. Price includes shipping so you should have enough left over for some fans, thermalpaste, mouse and keyboard etc. If you need an OS I suggest cutting back on the CPU to maybe the Q6600 or if you want to drop a little more off the cost you could switch out the mobo and RAM for one that supports DDR2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 19, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 19, 2008 some good stuff threre, and also cheaper in price. i still think i might go with the Q9550 or Q9450 because they come with the 12mb L2 cache over the 6mb cache on the q9400. im also glad to see the G. skill ram because i have 2GB G. skill right now and it seems to run great at stock speeds. The case would definitely need a fan in the back, but that's fixable. Not sure if i need a 1TB harddrive, i dont store movies on here, and as far as music goes, well i fit all of it on this 120GB i have right now. I would cut back on the HDD i think. Does getting a 10000rpm HDD from western digital make a noticeable difference from a 7200 rpm HDD? Cuz i can go cheaper with a 7200rpm one from seagate or something. Thanks preacher for all the great stuff, i might just use alot of it in my build when i decide to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 20, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 20, 2008 Good call on the CPUs, I was looking more at cost than anything. Honestly I think the faster hard drives are a waste of money. I had a set of raptors running in raid a while back and the only time I would see the difference was when I ran a benchmark program and it told me it was a few points better lol. There are guys here that will claim that the fast hard drives do everything from increasing fps to getting them better gas millage in their cars but you just can't see it in normal day to day PC usage. If you don't need the space I would go with a nice WD 500GB hard drive. I'm a gskill and patriot fan myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo October 20, 2008 Share Cujo Member October 20, 2008 preach, if you're recommending against a 10,000rpm drive you should probably also recommend against ddr3... sam, you can get 8gb of ddr2 for the same price as that ddr3. what monitor are you running? that will help with the vid card choice as that ati card preach recommends is complete overkill for anything less than 1920 res. ie. less than a 24". never buy an intel branded motherboard. asus or gigabyte are the only brands i'd buy. the asus p5q-e should do the trick. since you like antec i'd recommend the true power quattro 850w. i believe m2 just bought or is about to buy one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 20, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 20, 2008 ok so i did decide against the 10000rpm HDD and decided on a seagate 500GB 7200rpm one, but ill look at the WD ones for price/quality comparisons I also had an Asus P5E3 deluxe mobo i had already chosen for DDR3 memory and I will most likely get an Asus if i go DDR2 also, which brings me back to the biggest decision in this build. I know DDR2 is way cheaper and so are the mobos for it, and getting 8GB would be sweet cujo, but i also wanted to ask how much memory does windows vista premium recognize? thats the OS im gonna buy and will it recognize 8gb because i know that people say XP only recognizes up to 4gb or something like that. If I do end up getting DDR2, im getting the fastest speed which is like DDR2 1200 (PC2 9600) speeds. Cujo, my monitor right now is a Hanns G 19" LCD 1440x900. The video card i was looking at is the EVGA geforce GTX 896mb card. A little cheaper and not as much overkill, still pci-e 2.0 Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming because i could use all the support i can get lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tek-Almighty October 20, 2008 Share Tek-Almighty Member October 20, 2008 The e8400 was rated one of the top 4 cpus for OC ability and price as of 1 month ago. I would agree. Love it and my 12% oc has been effortless thus far. So few things take advantage of quad core at this point. you can't beat $175. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 20, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 20, 2008 yeah that's true Tek, but im looking to build so that i don't have to for at least another 5 years, without too much upgrading in between, so when things start using quadcore more, I'll already be set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squinty October 20, 2008 Share Squinty Member October 20, 2008 One of my buddies just ordered a new HD (tonight in fact) and it was a 640, for only 75$, so only 5$ more than a 500 SE16 model, or 10$ more than the model that Preacher mentioned. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136218 I mean the extra space isn't technically necessary, but for 10$ more that's what I'd get personally. I have the SE16 model of the 500, and I haven't had any problems, So I don't see why the 640 would be any different. Squinty >.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDamage October 20, 2008 Share ZeroDamage Member October 20, 2008 You will need a 64-bit Windows if you plan to use 4GB of RAM or more. You do not NEED it but you will need it if you want to see all of the memory installed. Otherwise, take that 4GB and minus however much your video card has. 64-bit Vista works really well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo October 20, 2008 Share Cujo Member October 20, 2008 if you're buying new vista and you're used to xp pro then get vista business. home premium is just like xp home and mce combined. any vista 64 bit will recognize all that ram. that vid card is HUGELY overkill on your monitor but at least you'll never be gpu limited... for that monitor i'd save 100 bucks and go with a 4850. i wouldn't build a new dual core system today either. after playing mercenaries 2 and seeing my dual core pounded with 100% usage my next upgrade will likely be a q9550. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[LaW]Maverick October 20, 2008 Share [LaW]Maverick Member October 20, 2008 (edited) This would be my build: RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX Case: $74.99 (not my favorite, but it keeps costs down for other things, and it's a good case--I've worked on one) ASUS Striker II Formula MOBO: $299.99 ($30.00 MIR). Very nice board. I'd avoid DDR3 right now until the price goes down and the speed goes up. If you look at the timing, it's not really giving you a boost because the latency is so high on the DDR3 right now. BFG Tech BFGEGTX2801024E GeForce GTX 280 1GB Video card: $404.99 ( $30.00 MIR) (went with this because of price and comparability to the 4870 people are still arguing which one is better, so I say save $100 if they're that close Antec Signature SG850 850W Power Supply: $199.99 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz: $319.99 2 Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives: $159.98 ($79.99 a piece) 2 ASUS Black 20X DVD/CD Burners: $69.98 ($34.99 a piece) ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink: $49.99 The total is $1,579.00, and $1,519 after the mail in rebates (MIRs) That will get you one killer set up with over a TB of storage. You can cut out $80 of the price if you only get one 750 GB HDD, thus putting you below your $1,500 mark by $60 after the MIRs. Edit: After reading Cujo's last post, I'd agree, but the GTX 280 1 GB is pretty close the 4870, $100 cheaper, AND it'll handle an upgraded monitor if you get one some day. Edited October 20, 2008 by [LaW]Maverick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[LaW]Maverick October 20, 2008 Share [LaW]Maverick Member October 20, 2008 You will need a 64-bit Windows if you plan to use 4GB of RAM or more. You do not NEED it but you will need it if you want to see all of the memory installed. Otherwise, take that 4GB and minus however much your video card has. 64-bit Vista works really well for me. Also, the 32 bit vista with SP1 will now read all 4 gigs of RAM. Now, weather it UTILIZES all 4 gigs is another story--but Windows can see it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 20, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 20, 2008 Actually even 32 bit PCs "use" all 8gb, they just can't read more than 3.5gb. If I remember correctly, it registers the remainder of the ram as cache memory, but don't quote me on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 20, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 20, 2008 (edited) all this vast knowledge i did not know! thanks guys. im pooling all of these ideas and parts and combining the ones i like the most. What advantages does a 64bit Vista have over 32bit Vista besides recognizing all of the RAM? Does it actually run faster or make money grow from trees for me? If i get the 32bit Vista I'll still be ok getting 4-8GB ram because it will still use it, just not recognize all of it? Also, should i get the cheaper version of Vista for System Builders or should i get retail so that Windows will actually provide me with support for the OS? I'm just worried that if Vista goes haywire, that i would be stuck trying to figure stuff out without Microsoft's assistance. Edited October 20, 2008 by samurai nightling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 20, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 20, 2008 yeah but why limit yourself when the 64 bit doesn't usually cost more. You're going to a quad core system for future apps so you might as well go with the 64 bit for the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 20, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 20, 2008 true preacher. and mav i would like to point out that in your build you failed to add in the cost of RAM since you didn't include any lol. the build will be a couple hundred more than $1500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 20, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 20, 2008 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115041 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Two sets of these G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-5300CL4D-4GBPQ - Retail COOLMAX RM-750B 750W ATX12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail POWERCOLOR AX4870X2 2GBD5-H Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM SIGMA LUNA LUNA-WB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Grand Total including shipping is: $1,467.52 - $40 mail in rebates = $1,427.52 and with the other $72 you can send me something nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tek-Almighty October 20, 2008 Share Tek-Almighty Member October 20, 2008 Your apps will be able to use that extra ram...the prob is that only 2.78 gb is available to the OS if you go with XP. Sometimes while playing Crysis: warhead, my DDR2 usage is up to 3.3 gb. I would echo Cujo on the 4850 if you have a low res monitor...although, the 4xxx series really does shine when the resolution is turned up as well as the AA and AF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cujo October 21, 2008 Share Cujo Member October 21, 2008 (edited) stay away from that aajs model hard drive preach suggested. that's pure legacy. you want aaks if going wd though i like the 32mb cache 640gb seagate that mav posted. just bought two of them for my media centre. also, don't even consider the gtx 280 or the x2 4870. as i said above, you need at least a 24" or larger monitor to take advantage of those cards. at the res you'll be gaming at, a 4850 will more than suffice. for sure go oem on the operating system. there's also really no reason NOT to go 64bit. despite what some say a 32bit system, vista or otherwise, is not capable of using/seeing/allocating/whatever more than 4gb of total memory(hhd and cpu cache, as well as vid card memory). it's a limitation of 32bitness NOT the operating system. yes MS has made vista 32bit "see" that full 4gb but that's mostly to quell the fears of ignorant people who think they got ripped off and only got ~3gb of ram when they paid for 4. yes people were not only rma'ing their memory but their whole computers. that's why ocz (and others i think) came out with 3gb kits. the way vista 32bit interacts with and uses ram is no different than xp 32bit. preach, ddr2 667? tek, i've pushed those ram numbers in mercenaries 2. even css pushes my system over 2gb. though sitting here typing this with very little open i'm sitting at 1.63gb used. vista sure is a hog... Edited October 21, 2008 by Cujo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling October 21, 2008 Author Share samurai nightling Member October 21, 2008 Ok well i think im getting the Vista business 64bit for system builders, since its so cheap compared to retail. And yeah, that RAM is really slow preach, and getting 8GB of it wont make me want to buy it anymore lol. I am getting 8GB of DDR2 1066 G. Skill memory, at like $80 a set. I'm also cutting back on the video card, getting the same model but at a lower clock speed to save some money and since i wont need all of it. I do want to keep that card though because i might buy a 22" Hanns G. monitor like the one i have right now for my 19". I think i have most of it figured out and i will post each of the links when i get home, im at my gf house right now. When i get home tonight I'll post up what i'm getting and you can give me some more suggestions from there. Thanks again for all this info guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly October 21, 2008 Share dragonfly Member October 21, 2008 (edited) I used vista64 business and can recommend it. (cujo recommended it to me - a good recommend) I also have a 4850 and like it quite a bit too. I too have the 8400 and love that chip. Had it to 3.6 but backed it down to 3.5 for right now. I've owned both Asus (P45 - my current board, as well as the A8N-sli Premium, socket 939) and eVGA (680i pro or whatever it was called) mobos - I liked the evga's bios much better, but both boards never gave me a single problem. I've only owned OCZ ram (gold xtc, platinum rev.2 and hyper or reaper or whatever they call it with the heat pipes @ 1066), and never had a problem with that either (I'm running the reaper edition @ 1066 currently). I also have 2x500GB AAKS WD drives and they have been perfect. Just sort of backing up what's been said I guess Edited October 21, 2008 by DarkArchon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher October 21, 2008 Share Preacher Member October 21, 2008 Ok well i think im getting the Vista business 64bit for system builders, since its so cheap compared to retail. And yeah, that RAM is really slow preach, and getting 8GB of it wont make me want to buy it anymore lol. I am getting 8GB of DDR2 1066 G. Skill memory, at like $80 a set. I'm also cutting back on the video card, getting the same model but at a lower clock speed to save some money and since i wont need all of it. I do want to keep that card though because i might buy a 22" Hanns G. monitor like the one i have right now for my 19". I think i have most of it figured out and i will post each of the links when i get home, im at my gf house right now. When i get home tonight I'll post up what i'm getting and you can give me some more suggestions from there. Thanks again for all this info guys. Actually it's very low latency and good for OCing. It's akin to what I have in my PC. Also that monitor is a great deal right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824254035 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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