My first build... comments welcomed!

[chrash]

Hi,

I've been thinking about building my own pc for a while & have now been pushed into action by my current prebuilt one going pop.

Its going to be a dual boot system, both OS's are XP Pro (though one may become Vista at some point in the future), one OS used purely as the heart of a recording studio, other OS used for video & general office / internet stuff. I'm after something reasonably powerful for soft synths, audio & video encoding etc.

It needs wireless.

It will be used for some gaming, but only fairly gentle stuff. I want something that will last for a good few years.

Budget is £900, though any money I can shave off is more to spend in the pub :)

The spec I'm looking at:
Antec Nine Hundred Advanced Gaming Case ATX £69

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz Skt 775 FSB1066 4Mb Boxed £200

Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi Motherboard £125

OCZ Technology PC2-6400 Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz 2GB £171

MSI NV7600GT TV-OUT 2X DVI 256MB PCI-EXPRESS £109

2 x Samsung Spinpoint 300GB 7200rpm SATA 8mb Cache OEM HDD £59 each

NEC 7173A 18x DVDRW RAM Label flash Black Oem Drive £21

Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £68

Total = £881

Soundcard - undecided at the moment but as this system forms the heart of a recording studio I shall chat to a music store. Until I decide I will probably use the Audiophile 2496 from my current system.

The pc will be used with dual lcd monitors, which I already have. I will also be using my current keyboard & mouse and won't need a 56k modem. I don't need OS / software either as these will all be transferred from the current machine.

Storage space is important so as well as the two 300gb Samsungs I will be adding a 320gb Seagate 7200.10 from my current system.

I'd be very happy to hear 'that sounds great! Stick with that!' but also happy to hear 'Noooooooo! Use this instead...'

It is my first time building so all advice gratefully received :)

[Freakitchen]

Some good choices there.

The case is very much a personal preference thing, and the Antec 900 is a good one. However, it really is a 'gaming' case, with LED lights, a 'see through' construction, and lots of fans. For a true multimedia computer, I'd want something a lot less 'flashy', and quite a bit quieter.

The Antec Sonata II case is built for silence, and comes with a quality power supply that would be fine for that setup. It's also on discount this week

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-040-AN

If you'd like something larger, there's also the Antec P180, but you'd need to get the separate power supply as well

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-049-AN

We've been recommending Corsair XMS memory for Core 2 Duo systems

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-CS

I'd get Seagate 7200.10 Hard drives for top reliability. They also have double the cache of those Samsungs:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-078-SE

If you need burning software, you need to go for a Retail Optical drive:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-064-LO

FK

[chrash]

Thanks, I'll have a look at that case, I know I should really choose something quiet, but I do fancy the look of the nine hundred... hmm...

Memory - cheers, will follow your advice on that one :)

I was put off the Seagates because I have had two in the last year, one failed within a few weeks & the other has recently started making wheezing noises & pausing now & again... I don't know if this is down to problems in my current pc though.

I should have said I don't need burning software as I have a recent Asus DVD writer which will be going in along with Nero etc which it came with. The NEC is just because I wanted one with label flash.

Many thanks for your input, any thoughts about the graphics card because thats one area I know absolutely nothing about?

[Freakitchen]

I've found recent Seagates to be perfectly reliable. If you'd rather get a different brand, though, I'd buy Western Digital over Samsung.

For occasional gaming, the 7600GT is a great choice.

FK

[chrash]

Thanks again, ok it seems that the spec is decided. I'm sticking with the Nine Hundred case, I found a review elsewhere on this forum & apparantly the noise isn't too bad. My studio is purely electronic, no mics, so sound isn't a huge problem. Also, I shall follow your advice with the Seagates, maybe I'd just been unlucky with them & they do have a long warranty.

So, the amended kit list...

Antec Nine Hundred Advanced Gaming Case ATX £69

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz Skt 775 FSB1066 4Mb Boxed £200

Asus P5B Deluxe WiFi Motherboard £125

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) £153

MSI NV7600GT TV-OUT 2X DVI 256MB PCI-EXPRESS £109

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £67 each

NEC 7173A 18x DVDRW RAM Label flash Black Oem Drive £21

Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £68

Total = £879

£2 less than my original spec! Thanks for your help Freakitchen :)

[Freakitchen]

Looks good to me. My only concern is that you're overpaying a bit on that video card. Here is an equivalent card at Overclockers...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-019-BG

...£25 less than the MSI model.

You don't mention where you intend to buy these parts, but I'll suggest you get everything from one place to avoid paying for multiple delivery costs.

Good luck with the build.

FK

[chrash]

I have finally got round to building this, finished last night, worked first time which frankly amazed me! Many many thanks for your help, I wouldn't have had a clue what I was doing if it wasn't for this forum.

The spec is as above except the graphics card is now an Asus EN7600GT Silent.

The only slight issue I have is that the Antec case has the PSU at the bottom & the power connectors for the cpu are at the top of the motherboard. The power lead reaches but it goes close to the huge heatsink on the graphics card which I'm guessing isn't a good thing.

Does anyone know if you can get extension leads for this type of connector so I can run the lead round the edge of the case?

*edit* after a bit of searching on this site I found this link that looks like it'll do the job: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=34109&doy=search

[Panama Red]

Congrats on the successful build! Always nice too, to see someone research their custom requirements, find a workable solution and post that solution here for others to share. Not only are you a successful computer builder you're also a considerate poster - just the kind we like here at PCM.;)