PC Build Input

[Otter]

I'm going to be building a new PC as my last one (Socket A - AMD 2700) is starting to show it's age. It still runs like a champ but the hard drives are IDE and it's upgrade potential is shot because all the slots are PCI and AGP so I'm finally ready open up the wallet.

If you have a moment take a look at the following build and let me know if you see any mistakes or room for improvement.

I've had nothing but good experience with ASUS motherboards. I'm taking the E8400 even though the previous models can be overclocked to it's potential. I had an expensive experience overclocking and stick to factory settings these days. Love the case, one of the reviews was "it sucked in my baby and spit him out the back". Kinda iffy on the power supply being only 610w but it's coming as a package deal with the case.

Looking to go high-end but not bleeding-edge gaming maching.


Processor: Intel Core 2 E8400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&Tpk=N82E16819115037)
GPU:EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339&Tpk=N82E16814130339)
MOBO: ASUS P5Q Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299&Tpk=N82E16813131299)
Case: XCLICO A380BK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010&Tpk=N82E16811103010)
Power Supply: 610W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005&Tpk=N82E16817703005)
Hard Drives: Western Digital Caviar SE16 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136039&Tpk=N82E16822136039)

[Hammock Parties]

Don't buy a 9800.

Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

I'd also spend an extra $30 and get a 1 TB drive.

[Fish]

I agree about avoiding the 9800, but I would recommend this instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161244

I've been much happier with the Radeons as opposed to the NVIDIAs... and the IceQ cooler is awesome. I haven't found a game yet that I couldn't max out every setting. You can overclock the hell out of it too...

Plus you get a HDMI output...

[htismaqe]

Interesting, my experience has been better with the GeForce vs. the Radeon.

[Fish]

Interesting, my experience has been better with the GeForce vs. the Radeon.

Ever since the whole Monster 3Dfx SLI migration to the NVIDIA Viper era I had been strictly NVIDIA/GeForce, and would spit at the thought of a Radeon in my machine. . But I can honestly say I've reversed that over the last 2 years. I'm not saying NVIDIA is bad, but Radeons have performed much better, and stayed cooler than the NVIDIAs as of late. I think the color is better too, but that's personal opinion I suppose.

[Baby Lee]

Processor: Intel Core 2 E8400 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&Tpk=N82E16819115037)
GPU:EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339&Tpk=N82E16814130339)
MOBO: ASUS P5Q Pro (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299&Tpk=N82E16813131299)
Case: XCLICO A380BK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010&Tpk=N82E16811103010)
Power Supply: 610W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005&Tpk=N82E16817703005)
Hard Drives: Western Digital Caviar SE16 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136039&Tpk=N82E16822136039)

I have a E6600 Quad, P5K, XFX Geoforce 9800 GTX, and 700W PS and it's been rock solid for over a year. If you do any video processing or DVD burning, I'd go with quad processor. I don't really see 'amazing' gains in everyday tasks [word processing, internet, etc] but remastering video or burning DVDs is blazing.

[Fat Elvis]

Could you be tempted with a laptop?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9173262&type=product&id=1218044029168

[Fritz88]

nicely put. Check www.pricewatch.com.

Go for 1 TB. 320 is nothing.

I'd say go for two 1 TBs.

[htismaqe]

I have a E6600 Quad, P5K, XFX Geoforce 9800 GTX, and 700W PS and it's been rock solid for over a year. If you do any video processing or DVD burning, I'd go with quad processor. I don't really see 'amazing' gains in everyday tasks [word processing, internet, etc] but remastering video or burning DVDs is blazing.

Multi-core processors aren't going to improve the performance of individual apps much. Where you see the big improvement is if you're burning a DVD and word processing at the same time.

[htismaqe]

By the way, nice choice on the XClio case. I have both case and XClio power supply and they are rock solid.

[Baby Lee]

Multi-core processors aren't going to improve the performance of individual apps much. Where you see the big improvement is if you're burning a DVD and word processing at the same time.

If your software is designed to make full use of the processors, it can be impressive. My remastering SW puts all 4 cores at 100%, but 6 minutes later a 8.5 Gig HD feed is ready for my Ipod. And I can burn a DVD remastered to fit onto a single layer in under 20 minutes from start of read to end of write.

[htismaqe]

If your software is designed to make full use of the processors, it can be impressive. My remastering SW puts all 4 cores at 100%, but 6 minutes later a 8.5 Gig HD feed is ready for my Ipod. And I can burn a DVD remastered to fit onto a single layer in under 20 minutes from start of read to end of write.

Yeah, some of the specialty apps do take advantage of multiple cores, I wasn't paying attention that you said you were remastering video.

[Fezzic]

a note on the power supply.....GOOD CHOICE! Huge fan of PC Power and Cooling, and I think that's the exact PS i have in my current home comp build.

[Otter]

Don't buy a 9800.

Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

I'd also spend an extra $30 and get a 1 TB drive.

I did upgrade to that video card, the increase in stream processors alone worth the extra little bit of cash. Thx

[jjjayb]

Ever since the whole Monster 3Dfx SLI migration to the NVIDIA Viper era I had been strictly NVIDIA/GeForce, and would spit at the thought of a Radeon in my machine. . But I can honestly say I've reversed that over the last 2 years. I'm not saying NVIDIA is bad, but Radeons have performed much better, and stayed cooler than the NVIDIAs as of late. I think the color is better too, but that's personal opinion I suppose.

Heh. I went just the opposite. Went from 3dfx to all Ati cards. I hated the very thought of Nvidia because of them buying 3dfx and killing them. This time I bought an Nvidia card and I've been just as happy with it as my Radeon's. I don't seem to have to tweak anything with this one like I did with my Radeons. It just plays everything. But I'll still look at both companies when I get my next card.

[Otter]

I have a E6600 Quad, P5K, XFX Geoforce 9800 GTX, and 700W PS and it's been rock solid for over a year. If you do any video processing or DVD burning, I'd go with quad processor. I don't really see 'amazing' gains in everyday tasks [word processing, internet, etc] but remastering video or burning DVDs is blazing.

I do burn the occasional DVD and some minor video editing but not enough to warrant jumping up or down to a quad core. This is being build primarily as a gaming machine.

Thx for input tho

[Otter]

By the way, nice choice on the XClio case. I have both case and XClio power supply and they are rock solid.

I fell in love with that case the minute I saw it and reading the reviews solidified the decision. Full tower with tons of ventilation and room to work. I'm also adding another 120mm fan in the back and using this (http://www.newegg.comProductProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019) as the CPU cooler so that puppy should have lots of circulation.

I also just found this really cool Firefox adon because I had to lookup how to tag the URL into a name:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/128 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/128)

Just left click when your making a post and all the BB code is there for you.

[Pants]

I, too, for the first time ever decided to go with an ATI card as opposed to my usual nvidia fanboy preference and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it. They make overclocking your video card idiot proof and it performs like a champ. Can't complain really.

Oh, and the reason I switched is because I have always been a huge supporter of AMD over Intel, and since AMD and ATI are now an entity of sorts, I decided to give a Radeon a chance.

[htismaqe]

I, too, for the first time ever decided to go with an ATI card as opposed to my usual nvidia fanboy preference and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it. They make overclocking your video card idiot proof and it performs like a champ. Can't complain really.

Oh, and the reason I switched is because I have always been a huge supporter of AMD over Intel, and since AMD and ATI are now an entity of sorts, I decided to give a Radeon a chance.

Yeah, the whole AMD and ATI thing is wierd though. Because the best AMD motherboards by far are nVidia chipsets...

[htismaqe]

I fell in love with that case the minute I saw it and reading the reviews solidified the decision. Full tower with tons of ventilation and room to work. I'm also adding another 120mm fan in the back and using this (http://www.newegg.comProductProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019) as the CPU cooler so that puppy should have lots of circulation.

I also just found this really cool Firefox adon because I had to lookup how to tag the URL into a name:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/128 (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/128)

Just left click when your making a post and all the BB code is there for you.

That's just so f-ing cool. I have an XClio case with 250mm side fan and I added a 120mm in the back. I use the Zalman CNPS9500 cooler which is almost identical to that one. :thumb:

FYI, your linkie is broken. :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019&Tpk=N82E16835118019

[htismaqe]

I do burn the occasional DVD and some minor video editing but not enough to warrant jumping up or down to a quad core. This is being build primarily as a gaming machine.

Thx for input tho

Not only do games (at least none that I'm aware of) not use multiple cores at once, most of them will have issues if you don't manually set the affinity permanently to a single, specified core.

[Pants]

Not only do games (at least none that I'm aware of) not use multiple cores at once, most of them will have issues if you don't manually set the affinity permanently to a single, specified core.

I believe some of the newer games are being designed to utilize multicore processors. I know the Crytek peeps are in love with multicore and Crysis and up are designed with them in mind.

[Fish]

I, too, for the first time ever decided to go with an ATI card as opposed to my usual nvidia fanboy preference and I have to say, I'm pretty happy with it. They make overclocking your video card idiot proof and it performs like a champ. Can't complain really.

Oh, and the reason I switched is because I have always been a huge supporter of AMD over Intel, and since AMD and ATI are now an entity of sorts, I decided to give a Radeon a chance.

I don't consider myself a fanboy of either. Show me results, and I'll base my opinion on that. Show me different results, and I'll gladly switch back. I agree on the overclocking though. Couldn't be easier with the Radeon.

I prefer Intel mobo chipsets at the moment, regardless of my video card.

[Otter]

Not only do games (at least none that I'm aware of) not use multiple cores at once, most of them will have issues if you don't manually set the affinity permanently to a single, specified core.

Do you know where the configuration is to do that off the top of your head?

I'm going to be using XP Pro until Win 7 is released.

[Pants]

I don't consider myself a fanboy of either. Show me results, and I'll base my opinion on that. Show me different results, and I'll gladly switch back. I agree on the overclocking though. Couldn't be easier with the Radeon.

I prefer Intel mobo chipsets at the moment, regardless of my video card.

Definitely a better way to go about things with your mindset, but just like some people prefer "American made", I ALWAYS preferred nVidia.

[htismaqe]

I believe some of the newer games are being designed to utilize multicore processors. I know the Crytek peeps are in love with multicore and Crysis and up are designed with them in mind.

Yeah, some people use Crysis for BENCHMARKING. :D

[htismaqe]

I don't consider myself a fanboy of either. Show me results, and I'll base my opinion on that. Show me different results, and I'll gladly switch back. I agree on the overclocking though. Couldn't be easier with the Radeon.

I prefer Intel mobo chipsets at the moment, regardless of my video card.

Overclocking is a function of the manufacturer, not the chipset. I use MSI video cards and they're ALL very easy to OC, regardless of whether they're nVidia or ATI chipsets...

[htismaqe]

Do you know where the configuration is to do that off the top of your head?

I'm going to be using XP Pro until Win 7 is released.

Not off the top of my head.

Just Google it, it's everywhere.

[Pants]

Overclocking is a function of the manufacturer, not the chipset. I use MSI video cards and they're ALL very easy to OC, regardless of whether they're nVidia or ATI chipsets...

The difference is that ATI has like 3 manufacturers and nVidia has a gazillion and counting.

[htismaqe]

The difference is that ATI has like 3 manufacturers and nVidia has a gazillion and counting.

I've been using MSI for pretty much everything lately. Best price vs. performance...

[Fish]

Overclocking is a function of the manufacturer, not the chipset. I use MSI video cards and they're ALL very easy to OC, regardless of whether they're nVidia or ATI chipsets...

I'm talking about the Catalyst Control Center, which can be used to overclock nearly any modern ATI card, regardless of the manufacturer. It uses a neat simple GUI to overclock and monitor the GPU. Of course some manufacturers are much more "overclock friendly" than others...

[htismaqe]

I'm talking about the Catalyst Control Center, which can be used to overclock nearly any modern ATI card, regardless of the manufacturer. It uses a neat simple GUI to overclock and monitor the GPU. Of course some manufacturers are much more "overclock friendly" than others...

RivaTuner does the same thing and is slimmer than CCC. CCC actually isn't that reliable of an app.

[Baby Lee]

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0300438

One day only, B&M only!!