Help to build - 3-4k budget

[SGasan116]

Actually it colud be less or more - depends on configuration.
Mainly it will be for games (high resolution) and audio recording/listening (some guitar and CDs) and also DVD dubbing - so I need very good sounding audiocard. Not going to overclock or do watercooling or SLI 2 videocards. Good aircooling will be sufficient. Only best parts and best performance and reliability, so system will be good and stable at least for 2-3-4 years)

So far I came with this list:

1. Case: Silverstone TJ09

2. power supply: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR
or Thermaltake Toughpower 850W W0131RU – NVIDIA QUAD-SLI
or may be I need less powerful, like 850wt? or another brand?

3. motherboard: Asus Striker Extreme
or Asus P5W Deluxe or Asus P5B Deluxe
or ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition LGA 775 Intel P965
or ASUS Commando LGA 775 Intel P965
I do not care too much about SLI, b/c I do no want second videocard. Better upgrade in future for new videocard. I care about stability.

All I need is reliability and performance. I'm not going to experiment with overclocking, but of course it always nice to have extra features.

4. processor: Intel QX6700 2.66 GHz
or Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93GHz?

5. memory: Corsair Dominator PC28500
or Corsair Dominator XMS2 DDR2 800
or Corsair Dominator DDR2-1142
I'm pretty confused here, because of all these specs and options etc. But I prefer a manufacturer with reputation.


6. sound card: Creative Creative X-Fi Elite ProSound card
Any other suggestions for quality sound? Any audiophilies here?


7. video card BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOC2E GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
or I should go with Ultra?

8. Hard Drive 1 (2) Western Digital Raptor 150Gb
Hard Drive 2 (2) Seagate Barracuda(perpendicular) 750Gb or 500Gb
no need for RAID

9. Plextor 18X DVD Burner ($106)
Lite-On 20X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe
I want to burn DVD and CDs and have second reading drive for convinence of copying.

10. monitor:
SAMSUNG 244t-BK Black 24" 6ms
or
NEC Display Solutions LCD2470WNX-BK Black 24" 6ms

also their 22" monitor cost almost two times less. May be extra 2" not important, so I can save? I didn't have expirience with big widescreen monitors, so please advice on this.

11. network: killer NIC descrete card
and probably I'll need wi-fi card - which one?

12. processor cooling:
Scythe Infinite, Tuniq Tower, Thermalight Ultra?
Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm CPU Cooler
Thermalright HR-01-K8 CPU Heatsink
ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
Scythe SCASM-1000 120mm Sleeve Andy Samurai Master CPU Cooler
VIGOR GAMING CLT-M2I 92mm Thermal Electric CPU Cooler
too many choices
And also do i need some glue for this installation?

13. Kb/mouse: Logitech G15/G5
also what about these keyboards:
ENERMAX Aurora Black 104 Normal Keys USB Mini Keyboard
Saitek PZ30AU Black 104 Normal Keys

14. TV tuner: ATSC HDTV tuner superstream

also it will be nice to have some control over temperature inside, like some processor with display in place of front bays (and it's looks very cool!) Any recommendations?

15. Windows XP. Seems its not a good time for Vista - to early and too buggy.

Thank you in advance and sorry my mistakes - English is my second language.

[flanzig1]

With the video card you picked, a PSU in the 550w range will do you fine. Stay with the Asus P5B series, pick one that has the options you want.
If no OC, Corsair Value Select DDR2 667 is plenty good.
The hetasink that comes with the Intel CPUs with work fine unless your looking to make a quiet machine.
NIC: try the on-board first.

[SGasan116]

Thank you very much! But what about mobos and memory choices? And which other components from the list will be better ? It will be really helpful to hear your opinion as a users and experts.

[LeftyAce]

Motherboards:

Originally Posted by flanzig1 Stay with the Asus P5B series

You can even get one with onboard wireless (WiFi) if you need it.

Memory: if you're not planning on overclocking,

Originally Posted by flanzig1 Corsair Value Select DDR2 667 is plenty good.

Make sure to get SATA optical drives, as the P5B motherboards don't like IDE very much. LiteOn is good quality and a decent price.

[minsonngo]

1. Case: Silverstone TJ09

Kind of pricey... but utimately the case is your choice... as long as it takes ATX motherboards your okay... These are nice and not as costly:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129017

2. power supply: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR or Thermaltake Toughpower 850W W0131RU – NVIDIA QUAD-SLI or may be I need less powerful, like 850wt? or another brand?

Don't need anything that strong... around 500 watts is good. Here is a good one I would suggest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001

3. motherboard: Asus Striker Extreme or Asus P5W Deluxe or Asus P5B Deluxe or ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition LGA 775 Intel P965 or ASUS Commando LGA 775 Intel P965 I do not care too much about SLI, b/c I do no want second videocard. Better upgrade in future for new videocard. I care about stability. All I need is reliability and performance. I'm not going to experiment with overclocking, but of course it always nice to have extra features.

Since you don't plan to overclock or use SLI... the ASUS P5B is more than enough...

Here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131030

4. processor: Intel QX6700 2.66 GHz or Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93GHz?

This should be more than enough for your purposes.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

5. memory: Corsair Dominator PC28500 or Corsair Dominator XMS2 DDR2 800 or Corsair Dominator DDR2-114

Again... since your not overclocking... go with DDR2-667 and pick the Corsair Value Select or XMS2 line. 2 to 3 GB of memory will be good for your system.

6. sound card: Creative Creative X-Fi Elite ProSound card Any other suggestions for quality sound? Any audiophilies here?

I'm not a sound card man myself so I will leave this department to someone with more knowledge that me.

7. video card BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOC2E GeForce 8800GTX 768MB or I should go with Ultra?

These would be good instead... just depends on what you want to spend. But anyone of them will serve you well.

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130082

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130072

8. Hard Drive 1 (2) Western Digital Raptor 150Gb Hard Drive 2 (2) Seagate Barracuda(perpendicular) 750Gb or 500Gb no need for RAID

Do you really need all of that hard drive space? Just go with one SATA Raptor as your primary HDD and another regular SATA HDD as your secondary HDD for storage. If you need any more HDDs for storage later on... just add another regular SATA HDD. No need for two raptors.

9. Plextor 18X DVD Burner ($106) Lite-On 20X DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe I want to burn DVD and CDs and have second reading drive for convinence of copying.

Get the SATA Lite-On DVD burner... and get another SATA Lite-On DVD-ROM for reading DVDs.

10. monitor: SAMSUNG 244t-BK Black 24" 6ms or NEC Display Solutions LCD2470WNX-BK Black 24" 6ms also their 22" monitor cost almost two times less. May be extra 2" not important, so I can save? I didn't have expirience with big widescreen monitors, so please advice on this.

22" monitors would be the smarter choice here IMO. The brands you picked out are good.

11. network: killer NIC descrete card and probably I'll need wi-fi card - which one?

The motherboard has onboard lan. As for your wi-fi card... it is good practice to get the same brand as your wireless router.

12. processor cooling: Scythe Infinite, Tuniq Tower, Thermalight Ultra? Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm CPU Cooler Thermalright HR-01-K8 CPU Heatsink ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler Scythe SCASM-1000 120mm Sleeve Andy Samurai Master CPU Cooler VIGOR GAMING CLT-M2I 92mm Thermal Electric CPU Cooler too many choices And also do i need some glue for this installation?

Since you are not overclocking... get the Retailed Boxed version of the processor you pick out. It comes with a great heatsink & fan already with the thermal compound already preapplied for you. Using their heatsink & fan will allow you to keep the warranty on your processor also.

13. Kb/mouse: Logitech G15/G5 also what about these keyboards: ENERMAX Aurora Black 104 Normal Keys USB Mini Keyboard Saitek PZ30AU Black 104 Normal Keys

Not my area either. Someone else should be able to input on this.

14. TV tuner: ATSC HDTV tuner superstream also it will be nice to have some control over temperature inside, like some processor with display in place of front bays (and it's looks very cool!) Any recommendations?

Not sure about the tuner.

But here are some nice fan controllers and temperature monitors:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813999251

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813999504

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813999507

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813999405

15. Windows XP. Seems its not a good time for Vista - to early and too buggy. Thank you in advance and sorry my mistakes - English is my second language.

Go with Windows XP with a coupon to upgrade to Vista later. You can upgrade to Vista after the first service pack comes out.

[SGasan116]

hank you very much! Great post and lot of material to think. My only concern is about mobo - seems not very reliable, judging from reviews. I want something less headace producing, so to speak. Actually, I may be will try to O/C in 1-2 years, and this why I want some future proof with my build. This is why I'm thinking about Quadro and so on.

[LeftyAce]

Based on my experience building with them and watching these forums, ASUS motherboards produce the fewest headaches of any company out there. Which reviews are you referring to? The newegg rating is 4/5. I wouldn't put too much stock in the handful of people who can't get it working.........there'll be people like that for every motherboard available.

By Quadro do you mean Quad Core? (Quadro is an nVidia video card line). This P5B will take quad core, and do some mild- to medium overclocking: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131030

[DSCHIEF]

This is the Audio package I'm using, it's not too expensive

Card: M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Inputs Analog RCA plugs; Coaxial S/PDIF; 5pin DIN MIDI

Outputs line level analog RCA

AMP AudioSource AMPOneA

Speakers Infinity Primus 150's

I'm old school , I only have 2 ears so why buy more than 2 speakers, Any distinct effects you might have gotten out of 5.1 , 7.1 or what ever the newest gimick is.
Is lost when placed in a small bedroom with bare SheetRock walls. where most home P/c's are set up

Also look at the Cooler Master Centurion 534+ case instead of the Antec, I've built systems using both, and prefer the Centurion.


If you have any extra cash, put it into the Speakers, thats where it will do the most good.

[Mr.Ferrari]

If you wan't more features and a bit more quality in the board, go for the P5B Deluxe.

The M-Audio Chief suggested would be a great choice, but if your a major gamer, then I would probably opt for a Creative X-Fi due to Eax3 which will give you better sound effects.

Any case will do, if you wan't class and have the $$, you can never go wrong with a Lian Li.

[Duffasaurus]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari If you wan't more features and a bit more quality in the board, go for the P5B Deluxe. The M-Audio Chief suggested would be a great choice, but if your a major gamer, then I would probably opt for a Creative X-Fi due to Eax3 which will give you better sound effects. Any case will do, if you wan't class and have the $$, you can never go wrong with a Lian Li.

He's only going to get these enhanced sound effects if he has a multi hundred dollar audio setup. There is a slight performance gain when you get the load off onboard audio though.

[Mr.Ferrari]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environ...dio_extensions

I know I noticed a big difference when jumping from non EAX to a Creative card supporting it. So have had many others, its pretty much a staple.

I used a set of X-230's and/or Sennheiser PC160's with noticeable changes in sound effect when gaming.

[doubledragon5]

Originally Posted by SGasan116 hank you very much! Great post and lot of material to think. My only concern is about mobo - seems not very reliable, judging from reviews. I want something less headace producing, so to speak. Actually, I may be will try to O/C in 1-2 years, and this why I want some future proof with my build. This is why I'm thinking about Quadro and so on.

I would egnore the reviews, most people who build maybe one two pc are not that knowleable about them.. I have use all ASUS boards of different kinds and haven't had any issues at all. This site is one of the worlds largest and with the most experience of pc builders.. Go with the P5B as suggested you won't be dissapointed..

[SGasan116]

ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131028

ASUS Commando LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131149

ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131164

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188013

Now it's reduced to these mobos - which one colud be the best? less problematic and reliable?
do i need to buy newegg.com warranty service plan for 1-2 years?

thank you!

[minsonngo]

Out of the four motherboards I would go with the ASUS P5B Deluxe.

[SGasan116]

Unofortunatelly it's doesn't support Intel Quadro Core2 chip. Damn! I was already about to order...

[minsonngo]

Actually the ASUS P5B Deluxe DOES support the Quad-core CPU. NewEgg.com does not have it listed for some reason.


But it says so here on the ASUS website for the board: http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?m...11&l3=307&l4=0