Yet another virgin build awaits feedback... Thanks!

[Tyger]

Hey everyone. I've been doing research on the current hardware market for quite some time now, and finally the day for me to contribute to that market has come However, opinion of a single person is always worthless, therefore I'm asking for your help in answering some questions (which I will give about specific components) and giving me all the feedback you see appropriate. Most of the performance I'm going to squeeze out of this rig will go games, but there are a ton of other things I plan to use it for; to sum up, I'd like to get an all-around (and upgradeable, to that end) pc, with games being somewhat a priority So here goes the list:

M/B
Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe

CPU
Intel P4 820

RAM
Kingston KVR533D2N4K2/2G (DDR2 533 2x1G Non-ECC)

HDD
2x WD WD2500KS 250GB 7200rpm SATA II 300Mb/s 16MB
- I plan to make this a RAID 0 solution

GPU
Asus EN6600GT/HTD/256M

Audio
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
- some problems with this one: any idea why this is the only model of the series not available in my area? I don't really the reason to pay extra ~80% for the 5.25" bay and the remote (i.e. Platinum)

O/D
Asus DRW-1608P

FDD
Sony FDD 1.44Mb

Chassis
Asus TA-250
- I've heard that CoolerMaster is a good thing... Is, for example, Cavalier 3 worth the 25% extra? (aside from looking cooler? )

PSU
Asus A-45GA
- I've no idea if this is the optimal choice, but if you've got any suggestions, (1) this is the most I can spend on a PSU, and (2) a lot of the best brands are not available here in Lithuania (yeah, it sucks, but you just have to live with it)

Speakers
Creative CREATIVE Inspire 5.1 T5900

UPS
APC BACK-UPS CS 650VA 230V
- I like the price of this baby, but it supports a maximum of 400W - is this OK with my 450W PSU?

Printer
Minolta PAGE PRO 1300W
- I know this is like the cheapest thing ever, but unless anyone can give me any major flaws on it, I'm not spending any more in this area


And one more question: maybe it is a better idea to nerf the RAM to 2x512 instead of 2x1024 and get a better graphics card (like 6800) for the difference? I'm going to go SLI at some point, but I'm afraid getting a 6600GT now might be to much of a limitation (like, how good can dual 6600GT be in a year or two?). On the other hand, the 3 GB RAM limit doesn't seem that bad, since most probably that P4 820 is here to stay
So here's my inquiry, maybe a bit lengthy one, but I really want to get this right. Thank you all in advance!

P.S. If you found you miss something, you are right, but I've already bought keyboard and mouse, and I'm going to reuse my current SyncMaster 757MB monitor (for now).

[Med]

If you're looking to go SLI later, it would probably be best if you spent a little more to get a SLI certified PSU now. Here's a list of all the PSUs currently certified by nVidia, to see if any are available near you.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizon..._powersupplies

Spending about $10 more for one like the Antec Truepower II 550w will save you money in the long run, not only because you won't have to get a new PSU when you go SLI, but has less of a chance of failing and taking all your components with it.

[Tyger]

OK, this antec PSU does look good (the only version I found in my area was TPII-550P EC), but it's certainly not $10 more... it's 2.5x of what the asus costs! And I'm already sorta streching the budget with this build. I know official certification is way better, but asus states that this model (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l...56&modelmenu=1) is "SLI platform supported".

And since we're talking power here, can someone guide me on how powerful the UPS has to be to support this (or other) PSUs? Thanks

[Strider]

My Motherboard (A8N-SLI Premium) states a minimum of 500 Watts for SLI, I would imagine it's about the same for other motherboards. While that PSU is SLI supported it might not be able to handle 2 video cards because the lack of power.

[786ARS]

If this is your first build, stay away from raid, unless you are absolutely sure what you are doing, because if one drive fails, then you are stuffed. Anyway is your processor dual core? If it is then you might want to consider a 3.4Ghz if it is primeraly made for gameing, because the only reason for dual core is multitasking/ multithreading, and as the majority of games are single threaded, it wont be as good as a single core. Also you might save yourself a bundle. Finally, if you plan to go SLI, then go for a 500Watt incase you ever try to o'clock, because two gpu's, and intel dual core, you might not have enough power uwith 450 Watts.

[blue60007]

Right I can guarantee that SLI and a dual core Intel is going to GUZZLE the power. As said, I would drop down to a 3.4GHz single core if this is for gaming. Also, do you really need that super expensive sound card? There's the Audigy2 series which is probably nearly as good as the X-fi. Since your going SLI, I would try to squeeze a 6800 in instead of the 6600. Two 6600s are about equal to one 6800.

You'll have to get at that Antec TP-II 550, or another PSU that is SLI certified. Spend a little more now, so when you go SLI you don't have to buy a new power supply. If that ASUS costs 2.5 times less, that's pretty darn cheap, and I wouldn't trust that cheap of power supply with anything. Btw, I only see one PCI-e connector on that PSU, so it can't be SLI "ready" or "supported".

And as stated above, I would just stick with one hard drive. Do you really need 500GB of storage?

[Tyger]

The updated list:

Mobo Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe
CPU Intel P4 820 box
RAM Kingston KVR533D2N4K2/1G (DDR2/533/2x512)
HDD WD WD2500KS 250GB 7200rpm SATA II 300Mb/s 16MB
GPU Asus Extreme N6800GT
Audio Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
OD Asus 1608P DL Black (the BenQ 1640 is unavailable as much as I looked, all I could find was 1620, and I prefer Asus over that. Or shouldn't I?)
FDD Sony FDD 1.44Mb black
Chassis CoolerMaster Centurion 5 (CAC-T05) + Arctic Cooling Artic Fan Pro TC (I've read that the stock intake fan is laud as hell)
PSU Antec TPII-550P EC (this buddy is pretty damn expensive, I have never thought I would pay for a PSU almost as much as a mobo!)
Speakers Creative Inspire 5.1 T6060 (these cost a notch less then the T5900 model, and look darn cooler )
SP APC P5B-GR
Printer Minolta PAGE PRO 1300W

The grand total is (LTL-->USD) ~$1800. And that's about hitting the ceiling on my budget

Thank you again for your input on this, it did help, though it really sucks that a lot of really cool components aren't available here in Lithuania... Anyway, I'm ordering this beast in days, and I would like to get some final thoughts, especially concerning the CPU. I've read some reviews, but they are all saying something like "P4 820 may not perform as good on single threaded applications as P4 640+ does, but it does have some important advantages, bla bla..." Now I know I tend to strech my comp with multitasking sometimes, and the 820 would be ideal in that case, but then again, I also like gaming, and then the 640 would be more appropriate.
What I'd love to know is whether in a year or two the 820 will be superior to 640 in more areas then video encoding and multitasking, as it is now. And coming back to games, I know the benchmarks have been cruel to 820 in this scene, but really, I don't care if this CPU is being trashed by something 3x as pricy. All I care about is that it enables my box to play the current and upcoming games, maxed out or not.

So, if anyone have some thoughts about that, they are very welcome. Thanks!

[blue60007]

Well I'd much rather see a 3.2 or 3.4GHz single core, than a 2.8 GHz. Doesn't really matter though. Games don't rely on the CPU enough for the slower speed CPU to make a difference. Your video card will play a bigger factor than the CPU. Basically, you should see little difference between the 640 and the 820 in games . Now, if you are doing heavy mutlitasking multimedia stuff (like video/sound encoding/editing) you should see much better performance while running two processor intensive applications than with a single core with Hyperthreading alone.

[Jaggannath]

Is that video card SLI?? Because I'm assuming you need it to be, looking at your PSU and mobo

[jayb1234]

You left out the OS. You can get oem Windows Xp for about 80-100 bucks.

[Tyger]

Well I'd much rather see a 3.2 or 3.4GHz single core, than a 2.8 GHz. Doesn't really matter though. Games don't rely on the CPU enough for the slower speed CPU to make a difference. Your video card will play a bigger factor than the CPU. Basically, you should see little difference between the 640 and the 820 in games . Now, if you are doing heavy mutlitasking multimedia stuff (like video/sound encoding/editing) you should see much better performance while running two processor intensive applications than with a single core with Hyperthreading alone.

Yes, that's what I was thinking, and even more, I believe that getting a dual core chip now is an investment that is gonna last me longer than a generic single core solution And I do tend to do some heavy multitasking sometimes, my current old fella is seriously streched at times

Is that video card SLI?? Because I'm assuming you need it to be, looking at your PSU and mobo

Yes, it is SLI enabled. No, I'm not getting two of them at the moment. I plan to "invite the other one" a year or two later, for about half the price

You left out the OS. You can get oem Windows Xp for about 80-100 bucks.

I didn't mention any software because I've pritty much decided on Win XP x64, and I wanted to focus on the hardware here. Thanks for reminding though

[blue60007]

Personally I would aviod the x64 version. First off there are very very few 64 bit apps, and I don't think Windows is a whole lot faster. Also I heard plenty of nightmares about finding compatible drivers for all your devices (x32 drivers will NOT work), so you should make sure any devices (printers, etc) you plan on hooking up have 64 bit drivers.

[Tyger]

Yes, I've heard about things like that. Anyway, I'm gonna experiment with the x64, if I don't like something or some drivers do not exists, then the hell with it. And I can always dual boot

[blue60007]

Well that's up to you - it's your money

[jayb1234]

Here is the link to the list of SLI certified motherboards, video cards and power supplies. http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build.html

[brizey]

3-D RTS games put a lot of strain on both the CPU and GPU because of the complex AI and unit control, while FPS games and other imersives like GTA are all about the GPU. Since I am more of a RTS fan (and Civ4, which supposedly has an incredibly deep AI), I am going with a "faster" single core processor.

[Tyger]

Hey guys, its me back I've ordered the thing already, and here's what I'm gonna have lying on my floor about mid next week:

Mobo: ASUS P5ND2 SLI Deluxe
CPU: INTEL P4 820
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS7700-Cu (full copper)
RAM: KINGSTON DDR2 533MHz 2x512Mb
HDD: WF2500JS (they didn't have the 16Mb cache version in stock)
GPU: ASUS EN6800GT/2TD
Audio: CREATIVE SB X-Fi XtremeMusic
OD: LG GSA-4167-B (supposedly a great drive, and quite an opposite of being expensive )
FDD: Sony Black
Speakers: CREATIVE T6060
Chassis: INTER-TECH IT-CF-07 (I haven't found any trace of this manufacturer's website (strange). Here's some info though: https://content.it4profit.com/itshop...efault&LANG=en)
Exh. fan: GLACIALTECH SilentBlade GT8025EBDL-1 (80cm, 19dBA)
Printer: MINOLTA PP1300W
SP: APC P5B-GR

So basically what changed is:
1. Since they didn't have BenQ, and I wasn't really sure about the Asus, I asked them what could they recommend and they said that of what they have tested themselves, the LG drive was by far the best one. And since it was a bit cheaper than the Asus, I went with LG.
2. Case & PSU: They didn't have any Antec cases, but introduced me to the brand named 'Inter-Tech', which they said was the best value for the money. I picked the only model that had dust filter in it. Furthermore, it comes with a silent (will see how much of a truth is that) 420W PSU, and all this for a mere ~$65 (vs. CoolerMaster case & Antec PSU combo @ ~$260).
3. Since I saved on the case and PSU, I got a big nice all-copper Zalman CPU cooler, just to be on a safe side with that P4 820 BTW, I already have the cooler, its a nice decoration now until the other components arrive

That's it. I want to thank you guys once more for your suggestions. I will make one more post here when I assemble this beast, with comments on how the process went through and how do I like the system. C ya then

[blue60007]

Well you might want to grab a SLI certified PSU. I really really wouldn't trust all that equipment with a PSU that is $65 and includes a case. See if you can do some research as to what brand PSU that is and if it's even an ATX 2.0 unit (24 pin connector) if it's not, you don't want to use it. That power supply might not even put out 420W like it says, and with a power guzzling dual core Intel CPU, you need lots of power.

[jayb1234]

The one page on the intertech site lists that power supply as a

Coba King 420W

Googling coba power supply only returned 1 link in English in the first several pages that might be helpful

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

They tested a 350W version. The results were not outstanding, but it passed thier tests.

I imagine that if you google "coba power supply" there will be a number of pages in a language that you know.

Found this with the address, but no website link

[Tyger]

Originally Posted by jayb1234 The one page on the intertech site lists that power supply as a Coba King 420W Googling coba power supply only returned 1 link in English in the first several pages that might be helpful http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html They tested a 350W version. The results were not outstanding, but it passed thier tests. I imagine that if you google "coba power supply" there will be a number of pages in a language that you know. Found this with the address, but no website link

Here's what I've found on the official page: http://www.inter-tech.de/Englisch/Do...AP_400X_12.pdf . Nothing special, looks pretty generic. Probably the best thing to do is to see how it performs in practice, and if it is not satisfactory, I will get another one. I just hope the case turns out to be a good one