[Jishory]

my current computer is taking a crap on me.... I decided to build a computer, better system for less money. Im planning on adding raid which i have no experience with, 750 gb hard drives in raid 0 and maybe raid 5 down the road, i am not sure what raid controller to pick, i can wait on it anyways. anyways ive been shopping around for components, im trying to make it as quiet as possible as i keep mine running 24/7 in my bedroom, i looked at liquid cooling and it seems pretty expensive. otherwise i will be using it for gaming and torrents. anyways heres what ive come up with for the best price.

HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 170$ newegg

ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe zipzoomfly 220$

AMD Phenom X4 9600 Quad Core Processor tigerdirect 210$

Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 newegg 122$

2x SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner OEM newegg 30$

Open Box: ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/640M GeForce 8800GTS 640MB Video Card newegg 230$

ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail 48$ newegg

ANTEC SONATA III 500 (black) ATX super mini tower case w/500w power supply 3x5.25" 2x3.5" 4x3.5"(hidden) w/front i/o connectors & 120mm case fan mwave 110$

artic silver 6$ newegg

2xThermaltake A239 120mm Case Fan 12$ newegg

zalman vf1000 vga cooler 50$ newegg

[mistawiskas]

Only reservation i'd have on what you selected, is the hitachi deskstar.

[jake]

The AMD is gonna run hotter than a new 45mm Intel and need more cooling and noise.
What is your budget?

Here is a fairly good article on a midrange ($1600 with monitor) pc.

Ars System Guide: Spring forward and build a new, badass rig: Page 3

[sims]

stay away from HITACHI Deskstar, I'd go with a segate. You can find 500 gigs for around $100 now.

AMD simply does not stack up to intel currently. Go with an intel platform.
DDR2 800 is considerably cheaper then 1066, unless you're looking for the outright best overclock possible DDR2 800 will do you fine.

if you want it quiet get a HSF that uses a 120 MM fan, if you're going to Overclock you might want a little larger of a case, I;m very very happy with the antec 182, though with a good PSU it will costs twice as much as the sonata III which is still a decent case and PSU, extremely good value for the money, its just a fairly generic case.

if you want to save abit of money the 8800GT's are still a fair bit cheaper then the new GTS and the performance difference is marginal on a fast system. On sale I see them going for $160 nowadays. the fans on both them are very very loud. my case has sound deadening and other then my videocard all my fans (6) are 120MM, without the videocard the system is almost silent, but the videocard is super noisy.

they run really hot, even with all of my cooling on a mild OC I hit 60C on my GT and I have a heatsink twice the size of the reference design. Their are a few that come with passive cooling systems if you really want quiet but I'd be a little concerned about heat if you want to OC at all.

[ivanolo]

I like AMD, but they don't have a competitive high-end product right now. Stick to Intel.

Here are my suggestions:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
Newegg.com - Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-NX88T512HPV1 GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (w/ Zalman cooling fan)
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM (2x)
Newegg.com - Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
Newegg.com - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Total = 1,078.45 (incl. S&H) - $90 (MIRs) = $988.45

[Lord Kain]

As the other said, I'd drop the deathstar.

Patriot memory?? WTF is that! Is Corsair / Crucial / Kingston much costly?

And also, why AMD? Intel got the upper hand nowadays no?

[ivanolo]

Shit, for a 4GB (2x 2GB), it's, like, twice as much if you go with those brands.

[-Sevendust-]

I dont think I would ever go amd again. Intel is just to good and cheap now. Both of my pc's are running x2 5000 and x2 4200. No problems but I wish I woulda went intel.

[Jishory]

haha ok dont kill me guys ill get an intel... i havnt looked into this stuff in years i kinda gotta learn it all over, everything has changed alot. I did not notice that i picked a mini atx case, i was trying to go with the mid tower version... what do you guys think of this revised setup....

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 150$ newegg

ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail newegg 150$

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail newegg 180$

Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS24G8500ELK - Retail newegg 122$

2)SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM newegg 30$

PNY VCG86GTS5XWB-OC GeForce 8600GTS 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail newegg 170$

SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM newegg 7$

ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail 48$ newegg

Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail newegg 130$

artic silver 6$ newegg

2)Thermaltake A239 120mm Case Fan - Retai 12 newegg

ZALMAN VF1000 2 Ball VGA Cooler - Retail 50$ newegg

shaved a couple hundred bucks off and should perform better thanks to you guy's suggestions.

any recommendations on raid cards?

[jake]

If you aren't planning on running two or more video cards I would look for a motherboard with a P35 intel chipset instead of the nForce one. You won't give up many features or any performance and it will run cooler and cost less.

This card looks like a good choice and is compatible with DDR3 if you ever upgrade to it.

You aren't going to be able to sleep with that video card running, it is way too loud.

Edit: Ivanlolo's MB choice was alot cheaper than mine with the same chipset. The only thing that I see differnt is 2 less USB ports, no DDR3 support and the lack of the onboard RAID.(which is most likely just software based)

[sims]

I tend to agree, I'm running the P35 and i'm very happy with it, I got just below a ghz overclock on my Q6600. I've never really like asus, but the gigabit and abit are very well regarded boards. I run an abit P35 Pro and i'm very pleased with it. if you NEED to do raid, any of the higher end Mobo's will have it built in. P35 boards do not do SLI however.

Theirs still alot of ways to knock some costs down, I'd a 500 gig HD is half the price. I've owned every brand of HD possible and seagate is the only hard drive that has never died on me. Seagate > everything else.

a good case with sound deadening, like the P182 or some of the coolermaster cases will cut down on noise abit. You can find decent 120MM fans on sale for $4 or $5. and HSF that uses a 120MM will cut down a noise abit, the Ultra120 is an excellent option but expensive, very worth if your going to OC. regardless the videocard is going to be the loudest part of the system.

unless you are going for a huge overclock you can save alot of money just going with DDR2 800. I paid $70 plus free shiping on my hole system for my Patriot 2x2 gig 4-4-12 DDR2 800 ram. I belive its the ram limiting my OC as my temps are very low, but i haven't fooled around with it enought to be totaly sure. either way I was able to go from 2.4 to 3.34 GHZ without a problem on this ram.

SLI is a waste IMO anyways, you better off getting a good videocard in the first place. if this is a gaming rig you need something better then the 8600, my friend has one and his system is allready struggling to play newer games at a decent resultion(1680x1050)

I'd try to find an 8800GT that has passive cooling stock, you won't be able to overclock it much if at all, but it will save you wasting $50 on a HSF for you videocard that will void the warrenty and will be completely silient.

edit - if your going dual core, get the newest gen.

[Jishory]

is going with one of those zalman video card fans a good way to go? are you able to slap those on most cards?

[MSP]

I'd get an Intel CPU and chipset (SLI really isn't worth it at the moment, IMHO), and a Seagate hard drive. And if at all possible get an Nvidia 8800 card. The difference in performance is tremendous.

And a floppy drive, WTF?

[Jishory]

hows this graphics card look? Newegg.com - MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

arent floppy drives necessary for some reason when first booting from a raid setup?

heres the new version.... i am not sure of what processor to go with 200-250 range is what im looking at
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 150$ newegg

ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail newegg 140$

CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail newegg 114$

2)SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM newegg 30$


MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail newegg 215$


SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM newegg 7$

ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail 48$ newegg

Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail newegg 130$

artic silver 6$ newegg

2)Thermaltake A239 120mm Case Fan - Retai 12 newegg

[MSP]

That looks like a good build, make it so! I'd still get a Seagate, but otherwise great.

I haven't needed a floppy drive for anything for a while, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have one. If it were me I'd save the 7 bucks and just use an old one (if needed), and remove it once the OS is loaded.

[-Sevendust-]

Originally Posted by Jishory

is going with one of those zalman video card fans a good way to go? are you able to slap those on most cards?

I got one for my x1900xtx. Works great.

[Jishory]

ok... last call

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe LGA 775 Dual-Core CPU BX80557E6750, 2.66GHz directron 189$ shipped

OEM WD Caviar GP 1TB Hard Drive (Serial ATA-300, 16MB) 225$ ycst shipped
GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail directron 158$ shipped

CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - compusa 133$ shipped

2)SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM newegg 30$

MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail techonweb 239$ shipped


SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM newegg 7$


ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail newegg 52$ shipped


Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail newegg 130$ sdtechdeals 115$ shipped

artic silver 6$ newegg

2)Thermaltake A239 120mm Case Fan - Retai 12 newegg

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit shopcsi 127$ shipped

grand total without os 1208$, just over my budget but i can swing it and i get to start with the 1 tb hard drive... ill be ordering this up tomorrow if it all looks good

[Jishory]

last minute changed my mind to these hard drives based on you guy's reccomendations and i remembered they do a bunch of development down the road from my cousin's house and they are on a street named Disk Drive
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

[Jishory]

Posting from my new rig... i love it. thanks a million guys! now to pay off my credit card...

[jake]

How is the noise? The build all went smoothly I assume?