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08-24-2006, 06:01 PM
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#1 |
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Member (2 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 3
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Yet another first time builder...
I've been considering building my own computer for several months now and I've finally gotten funds to do it. I'm aiming for under $1800-$2200 not including a monitor, OS, mouse, keyboard, or speakers. I plan on using it for gaming, downloading bittorrent files, burning dvd's, and using Mathematica for students plus other engineering/science/math programs I can get my hands on.
I've read through a number of posts on this forum and have decided on the following. (I noticed other people provided links so I will too. I'm hoping just copying and pasting the links into the post works. I use ... in some of the item names because I didn't feel like typing the rest of the long names out.) Case: Antec Performance I P180 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($115) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129154 PSU: Antec TruePower 2.0 Truecontrol II-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply ($100) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103933 Mobo: ASUS M2N-SLi Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570... ($143) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131013 Should I upgrade to the wireless edition? CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Windsor 2000MHz... Socket AM2 (~$330) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103757 Not actually going to buy from newegg.com because of the price. HDD: Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10,000 RPM Cache Serial ATA150 HD ($330) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136035 Is 10,000 rpm a good thing to get? RAM: Corsair XMS2 2gb 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM... Dual Channel Kit ($306) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145589 Primary Optical Drive: Sony Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-Rom... ($20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101131 Does it matter which drive is primary? Secondary Optical Drive: Lite-On Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVR+R...DVD Burner with LighScribe ($38) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106015 Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value... sound Card ($64) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102175 This is a later purchase. Would a x-fi card be a better buy? Video Card: I hit a snag here. I would like a high end Nvidia video card but I'm having trouble discerning between the secondary companies that put there names on these cards. I don't plan on using 2 cards in SLi. My budget for this is about $400-650. (Would ATI be a better choice for a single card?) And that's my planned rig. It comes to about $1400 without a video card and sound card. I also plan on grabbing a floppy drive and a large external hard drive to store the majority of my bittorrent files. I think that's everything on needed. I'm sure I'll have quite a few more questions before I actually buy anything. Any input and suggestions would be appreciated. And one last thing, is tigerdirect.com that bad of a site to buy from? The sites I've browsed through are tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, directron.com, tankboys.com,and zipzoomfly.com. Last edited by Tiny_Eli; 08-24-2006 at 06:05 PM. |
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08-24-2006, 06:12 PM
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#2 |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,509
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Tigerdirect is real bad, and tankguys is some guy selling parts out of his house.
The other three are good reputable places to buy. I would go with an ATI card and a non-SLi motherboard will be less expensive than SLI. Be sure you check the RAM compatibility list at the motherboard makers site. AM2 is real picky about what RAM it will work with. Skip the sound card untill you try the on board, it will be pretty good 8 channel. Opticals, doesnt matter which is master.
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08-24-2006, 07:50 PM
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#3 |
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Wx geek
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6,638
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Consider getting the 74gb version of the Raptor...at the very least don't get the windowed version - a waste of money. Spend the saved money on a storage drive
__________________
"It is the way of man to make monsters and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers." |
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08-25-2006, 03:07 PM
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#4 |
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Member (2 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 3
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I just got my hands on a processor. It's not the one I thought I was getting but the price was good.
Case: Antec Performance I P180 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($115) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129154 PSU: Antec TruePower 2.0 Truecontrol II-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply ($100) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103933 *Updated*Mobo: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP Socket T Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard ($270) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131025 This seems to be the recommended board but is there a good choice that's cheaper? *Updated*CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 1066MHz FSB 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115002 *Updated*HDD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ($280) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136034 RAM: Corsair XMS2 2gb 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM... Dual Channel Kit ($306) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145589 Primary Optical Drive: Sony Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-Rom... ($20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101131 Secondary Optical Drive: Lite-On Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVR+R...DVD Burner with LighScribe ($38) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106015 Video Card: I've been looking around and most sites I've seen say to either get ATI X1900XTX or GeForce 7950 GX2. Would the GeForce be better since I don't plan on running SLi or Crossfire? I guess I'll grab parts only from newegg, zipzoomfly, and directron then. Thanks for all the help so far. |
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08-25-2006, 03:15 PM
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#5 |
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Wx geek
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6,638
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Nice processor! It's really the better way to go...the Core 2 Duo's have been whipping the AMD CPU's... Yes, that's a good board. It's the only board I would recommend at this point. The other 965 chipset boards are cheaper, but there very new. The 975X chipset is more mature.
You might consider not going with the Truecontrol - go with the Truepower. Truecontrol's I think allow you to adjust voltage, but I feel that's a bit dangerous, especially if you're not sure what you are doing. Plus the Truepower is a few bucks cheaper. Oh, and pass on the PRO series memory. Get the cheaper, regular TWIN2X2048-6400 - all the PRO series does is add some useless LEDs - which you won't see anyways. It's the same modules, just without the PRO's LED's, should save you $60 or so. I would go with the X1900XTX - even if you don't use Crossfire, I just feel it's kinda silly to get an nVidia card for a Crossfire board (or a ATI card on a SLI board). You can certainly run an nVidia card on a Crossfire and vice versa, just defeats the purpose of the CF/SLI board. Also the X1900XTX is a really good bang for the buck. The 7950GX2 costs $200 more - it's faster but not by *that* much. Again, you may consider going with a storage drive...that 150GB may fill up quick with lots of games and such. Also, here's the OEM version of the drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136012 It's much cheaper...not a bad price really, anyway with OEM all you lose is a fancy box and SATA cable. There'll be cables in the motherboard to use. Warranty is 5 years on both OEM and Retail. Might consider putting the saved money on: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701 If you think you'll need more storage. Last edited by blue60007; 08-25-2006 at 03:22 PM. |
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08-25-2006, 04:32 PM
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#6 |
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V12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston, T.E.X.A.S
Posts: 3,488
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If your not worried about sli or crossfire this is the one I would get:
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/475...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG -If you have the money and want the max perf. in a single card pick the 7950GX2, Otherwise I would pick the X1900XTX, just so much cheaper and performance doesnt justify 200 dollar cost differential. -If you want the motherboard cheaper I would get it from here: http://www.tankguys.biz/deluxe-socke...dy-p-1675.html Otherwise great build.
__________________
“We must not let ourselves get driven off course, no matter what happens we must stick to our natural game” -Zenedine Zidane |
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08-25-2006, 10:05 PM
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#7 | |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,509
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No don't get it at tankguys.
That place is not dependable or reputable. Read through the customer service section in the guys "forum" and most of the posts are about why hasn't my order shipped, with the general responses being lame excuses about things like we can't get it right now , we don't have enough credit to get it right now, we have it but don't have enough people to ship it right now, etc. And they might be advertising the 3.04 rev Intel 775 board but they are shipping the old version. Quote:
Tankguys. com can not by any stretch of the imagination be considered reliable or reputable.
Last edited by jayb1234; 08-25-2006 at 10:43 PM. |
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08-25-2006, 10:11 PM
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#8 |
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V12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston, T.E.X.A.S
Posts: 3,488
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They are the first place I check for motherboard and memory parts. Ben is a great guy when it comes to customer service and they will always try to help you out. They are also the only ppl that didnt price gouge during conroe time and willl help you as much as possible.
Honestly mistakes will happen, by they do try their best. @ Tiny_Eli Please check this thread: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...light=tankguys Go to the middle bottom and the second page. Nobody is forcing anything on you. I cant confirm a 100percent gurantee either. You decide how you want to spend your money. I just dont want a good reseller's name to be tarnished. If you have a question you can contact him yourself. Yes newegg is friggin awesome, nobody can match its buying and selling power. Thats all im gonna say on that topic. ========= Otherwise looks like a great build. Those raptors are really nice, they are expensive but fast. Truthfully though, the only way you see a major difference between a nice 16mb drive is when you put 2 of them in raid 0. Which increases the chance of failure, and costs an arm and leg. If space isnt something your all that worried about then its great. But you will feel almost equivalent performance by one of Seagate's 7200.10 series. Last edited by Mr.Ferrari; 08-25-2006 at 10:23 PM. |
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08-28-2006, 04:29 AM
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#9 |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,509
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Good reseller? Hardly. By accepting those Core 2 Duo preorders, he entered into a contract to provide them in a timely manner, at the advertised price in the order they were recieved. Did he? No, he did not. If you read through the relavant threads in his "forum" you will see that what he did was telll the first 20 or so people that they would get the processors at the advertised price and then raised the price and told anyone who wasn't willing to pay the higher price that they would have to wait untill if and when he could find more processors at a lower price. Good business practice? No. Ethical? No. Illegal? Absolutely. His actions are in violation of several sections of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, and who knows how many other state and federal laws. As far as the bait and switch referred to with the motherboard, I highly doubt that that was a simple mistake. Again in his forums you have people complaining about not recieving RAM they ordered, and his excuse is that it is drop shipped. But he did not reveal that at the time of the order or on the product page. More violations. It is pretty obvious that the guy either has little or no knowledge of proper business practices, commercial and consumer law and business ethics or that he is intentionally operating with complete disregard for them. In either case there is no logical way that his business can be considered reputable or reliable.
Last edited by jayb1234; 08-28-2006 at 04:43 AM. |
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08-28-2006, 06:18 AM
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#10 |
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V12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston, T.E.X.A.S
Posts: 3,488
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Well he did provide a full explanation in that thread, you and me each are entitled to our opinion and im cool with that.
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08-28-2006, 05:25 PM
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#11 |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,509
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The series of lame excuses he gives in the Core 2 Dou related threads, in no way change the fact that he failed to live up to his legally binding contractual obligations.
Illegal activity is illegal activity regardless of whether you use some whiney excuse about not being able to make a profit to deceive customers into believing that is is justifiable. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it, and is not an acceptable defense. While at some past point in time tankguys might have been ethical, reliable, dependable and or reputable; it clearly no longer is any of those. If tankguys was unable to afford to provide the preordered processors in a timely manner at the stated price regardless of any financial loss they had to incur in order to do so; then they had no business accepting the orders in the first place.
Last edited by jayb1234; 08-28-2006 at 05:28 PM. |
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08-28-2006, 08:54 PM
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#12 |
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Kickin' it
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 7,723
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__Moderator Note__
Jay & Mr. Ferrari, please use the PM system for your discussion. Don't hijack someones thread. Tiny Eli, I apologize. |
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08-28-2006, 09:33 PM
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#13 |
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,509
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Sorry about that Tiny_Eli and Alaron.
I didn't intend to hijack the thread, but it did get pretty far off track. My bad.
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08-28-2006, 09:50 PM
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#14 |
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Member (2 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 3
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That's quite alright. I know how heated things can get when people want to get a point across. But back to the topic at hand. I believe that I have pretty much my finalized item list.
Case: Antec Performance I P180 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($115) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129154 PSU: Antec TruePower 2.0 Truecontrol II-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply ($100) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103933 Mobo: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP Socket T Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard ($270) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131025 This seems to be the recommended board but is there a good choice that's cheaper? CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 1066MHz FSB 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115002 HDD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFDRTL 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ($280) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136034 *Updated*2nd HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701 *Updated*RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034 Primary Optical Drive: Sony Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-Rom... ($20) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101131 Secondary Optical Drive: Lite-On Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVR+R...DVD Burner with LighScribe ($38) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106015 *Updated*Video Card: ATI 100-435805 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814195003 or BFG Tech BFGR7950GX21GBE Geforce 7950GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143063 The video card choice comes down to whichever one I feel like when I fully purchase everything. If I feel like saving some more money I'll get the first one but if by chance I feel like going all out I'll get the 2nd one. Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it. Now it just comes down to me paying, receiving and put this thing together. |
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08-28-2006, 09:56 PM
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#15 |
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V12
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Houston, T.E.X.A.S
Posts: 3,488
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Well if you dont plan on a dual card config, namely crossfire. Then a 965p chipset board should suit you well.
Asus P5B Intel P965 And skip the X1900XTX, save yourself some money and get this: X1900XT |
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08-28-2006, 09:59 PM
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#16 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 1,512
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good luck with the build. i noted above that you wanted an external hard drive. if this is the case (i really reccomend internal, much cheaper and faster), just buy an internal drive and get an external enclosure for it. that way you save a TON of money (250 gb internal drives go as cheap as 50 bucks, while an external 100gb drive goes for over $100, and the enclosures are like 30 bucks), plus you always have the option to switch it back to an internal drive int he future. good luck, looks like youre computer is going to be super fast, enjoy it!
__________________
Desktop: Intel Core i7 930 @ 4.0 GHz | Sapphire HD 6850 | Asus P6X58D Premium | Vertex 2 120GB | 12GB OCZ DDR3 | Notebook: 13" Macbook Pro | 2.26GHz C2D | 4GB Mushkin DDR3 | Nvidia 9400M | 500GB Scorpio Blue | OS X Lion | File Server: Intel Atom N330 | Zotac ION G-E | 4GB Corsair XMS2 | 3 x 2TB Caviar Green | |
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08-29-2006, 03:22 PM
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#17 |
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Wx geek
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6,638
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You could go with this RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590 and save a few bucks...the timings don't make that much difference. |
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