Budget Graphics and Music Rig - THOUGHTS?

[counterfiction]

Hey guys. I've built in the past but it's been, oh, about 10 years since I built a computer (back in the 486 days when I was 15). So, just a quick check to make sure that I've thought through everything and that this will all be compatible.



OS - Windows XP
Purpose - NO gaming, Photoshop and InDesign, DVD Creation, and general use



CASE
Rosewill R5604-TBK 0.8mm SECC Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -LINK-


MOBO
ASUS M2NPV-VM AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - -LINK-


PROCESSOR
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADX6000CZBOX - LINK -



DDR2 RAM
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - LINK -


HDD FOR OS
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST380815AS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - LINK -


HDD FOR STORAGE
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - LINK -


OPTICAL DRIVE
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - LINK -


POWER SUPPLY
Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply- LINK -


VIDEO CARD
ASUS EN7300GT SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7300GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - LINK -


SOUND CARD
Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card- LINK -


TOTAL PRICE BEFORE REBATES: $746.88





So, what do you all think?
Will it fit the bill?
Will all the pieces play nice in the same sandbox?

Thanks in advance for any/all input and help.

[Cricket]

You don't need a third party heatsink if you're getting a retail CPU. It'll come with it's own approved heatsink that you'll want to use if you want to keep the 3 year warranty.

Personally I would look for a motherboard with a NVidia chipset, not a VIA.

I also would use another Seagate HDD instead of the Western Digital.

And you really don't want to use a Samsung optical drive...very unreliable.

I also wouldn't use a Thermaltake PSU, I'd use something else (I prefer Fortron Source PSUs).

Cricket

[counterfiction]

thanks for the heads up on the third party heatsink. i must have skipped over that in the SPECS.

difference between the NVidia and the VIA?

yeah, i am going to match up the Seagate drives.

recommendations on good optical drives?



* list is updated without 3rd party heatsink and with seagate drives.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by counterfiction difference between the NVidia and the VIA?

Better stability and performance.

Originally Posted by counterfiction recommendations on good optical drives?

Lite-On, LG or Sony/NEC.

Cricket

[hitchface]

Well, a couple of bits for ya...

The Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 is only about $25 more, and beats that AMD chip in Photoshop filtering tests, DVD encoding and DVD transcoding. The programs are Photoshop CS3, DIvX 6.6.1 and Clone DVD 2.908, respectively.

Aside from that, you won't need 3 gigs of RAM, 2 should be plenty. If you plan on going Intel, keep that same RAM speed (667) but go with something from maybe Kingston or Corsair. If, however, you plan on sticking with AMD, bump up the speed to 800 mhz.

As far as the PSU, I wouldn't personally go with a Thermaltake. Check out this slightly abbreviated post from glc:

Power Supply Manufacturer TOP 10 (or TOP 5)

#1a
Topower
(some TTGI - Super-Flower, OCZ, EPower/Tagan, RaidMax, Vantec, ACI)

#1b
FSP - Fortron Source Power
(Fortron, Sparkle, Cooler Master*, Zalman, Aopen)

#1c
CWT - Channel Well Technology
(Antec, Lead Power, Enermax, Xclio, Turbolink)

#2a
Sea Sonic

#2b
Wintech
(Ultra X-finity)

#2c
Acbel Polytech
(Stateside, just the Cooler Master True Power)

#3a
Sirtec
(Chieftec, Enlight, ThermalTake, High Power)

#3b
HEC - HeroIchi Electronic Co.
(HEC, CompuCase)

#3c
AMS - American Media Systems
(Mercury)

#4a
Youngyear
(Aspire, Logisys, MGE, Ultra X-Connect, Rosewill)

#4b
ATNG
(Coolink, CoolMax, Rosewill, StarTech)

#5
CRAP!
(L&C, Deer, Allied, Eagle, CodeGen/Foxconn, EverPower, Maxpower)

Note that Thermaltake is in the 3rd list. You can get a much better PSU for only a few more dollars.

Thats about all I have for now. Looks good though. You'll obviously have to change the cooler and motherboard for the chip if you go Intel.

EDIT: I need to refresh before I post.

[counterfiction]

I think that I will be sticking with AMD for the processor.

Thoughts on this MOBO?
GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD Motherboard - LINK -

[counterfiction]

My main concern is whether or not this will all work together. I'm under a time crunch and would like to get this ordered in the next day or two.

[Cricket]

For the motherboard I would use either a ABIT or ASUS motherboard. Gigabyte motherboards aren't "bad" it's just that I've had to deal with lots of minor issues when working on computers with Gigabyte motherboards.

I just noticed you've picked PC 5300 DDR2 RAM...you'll need PC 6400 DDR2 RAM in order to get full performance from that system. PC 5300 RAM will be crippling the system.

Repost an updated list of the parts you're going with and we'll let you know how you're doing.

Cricket

[hitchface]

Originally Posted by counterfiction I think that I will be sticking with AMD for the processor.

Out of curiosity, what draws you to the AMD chip?

And as I/Cricket said, make sure that you go with DDR2 800 RAM (PC26400) if you go with AMD.

[counterfiction]

The reviews on the Gigabyte motherboard were "glowing" on NewEgg. What sort of problems did you encounter?

ok, i switched to 2GB of PC 6400 ram and upped the speed to 800MHz


the list has been updated.

seriously, thank you SO much for your help so far. it's invaluable.

[counterfiction]

Originally Posted by hitchface Out of curiosity, what draws you to the AMD chip? And as I/Cricket said, make sure that you go with DDR2 800 RAM (PC26400) if you go with AMD.

I'm really trying to budget with this build. The main reason I'm staying with the AMD chip is that my wife is making me nickel and dime this one. Bummer, I know.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by counterfiction The reviews on the Gigabyte motherboard were "glowing" on NewEgg. What sort of problems did you encounter?

The Gigabyte motherboards I had problems with were from the Slot 1 days of computing (about 8 or 9 years ago) but I recall having problems getting certain brands of hard drives to be recognized by the Gigabytes, having issues with different brands of RAM (mixing brands was bad), weird BIOS error messages that would go away with just a reboot...remember, this was years ago and maybe Gigabyte has improved (especially since they were bought out by ASUS). I just tend to avoid this brand (along with a long list of other motherboard brands). I basically just use ASUS motherboards now.

Cricket

[hitchface]

Originally Posted by counterfiction I'm really trying to budget with this build. The main reason I'm staying with the AMD chip is that my wife is making me nickel and dime this one. Bummer, I know.

Thats cool. That chip will still pull pretty hard, so I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[counterfiction]

Originally Posted by Cricket The Gigabyte motherboards I had problems with were from the Slot 1 days of computing (about 8 or 9 years ago) but I recall having problems getting certain brands of hard drives to be recognized by the Gigabytes, having issues with different brands of RAM (mixing brands was bad), weird BIOS error messages that would go away with just a reboot...remember, this was years ago and maybe Gigabyte has improved (especially since they were bought out by ASUS). I just tend to avoid this brand (along with a long list of other motherboard brands). I basically just use ASUS motherboards now. Cricket

So you would recommend this ASUS board over the Gigabyte?

ASUS M2NPV-VM AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - LINK -



EDIT: LIST UPDATED

[The Village Idiot]

Originally Posted by counterfiction I'm really trying to budget with this build. The main reason I'm staying with the AMD chip is that my wife is making me nickel and dime this one. Bummer, I know.

Your on a tight budget and your getting the most expensive AMD processor avaliable? Forgive me if i'm missing something but if your on a budget i'd probably wouldn't be looking at AMDs most expensive product.

To be honest, i actually dont understand your logic processor wise, personally i'd buy a new P3K chipset by Intel with inbuilt graphics, that way you save $60 on your video card, while the E6750 is $25 more expensive than the AMD 6000+ and out performs it heavilly. So not only do you save money but you have a processor that is far better on benchmarks, and seeing as your general purpose of the computer is things that are very processory, you'd be a fool to get the AMD, not because i'm an Intel fanboy, but because your just wasting money for the sake of wasting money on derelict parts.

Edit: or if you chose that motherboard above it has inbuilt graphics, that way you can get rid of the 7300GT and save $60 at least.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by counterfiction So you would recommend this ASUS board over the Gigabyte? ASUS M2NPV-VM AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - LINK -

I don't know much about the different AMD based motherboards, but in general ASUS motherboards are better quality than Gigabyte motherboards. ASUS is a top tier manufacturer while Gigabyte is a middle tier manufacturer...so ASUS is a top end brand and Gigabyte is more middle of the road. Over the years I've built with almost every motherboard brand out there and I've come to the conclusion that ASUS, ABIT and Intel are the only brands worth building with (I build Intel based computers)...I won't use anything else anymore.

Cricket

[hitchface]

That 6000+ still manages (more or less...falls behind but not by much) to keep up with the E6750. I would still go with an Intel, but if you aren't too picky about those extra precious seconds, the AMD will do just fine. Newegg is selling other Intel chips for far more than that, the E6750 just so happens to be on sale, I suppose.

Tom's Hardware, my friends...

[counterfiction]

all right. i think that i'm set on my build, all components should be correct.

so, will this work when put together?

[hitchface]

You should check the mobo website to make sure your RAM will be compatible.

Do you need a monitor or any peripherals? Speakers?

[counterfiction]

the RAM appears to be compatible.

no monitor and no speakers needed. although the wife had me add an ergonomic keyboard and upgrade to a 400Gig HDD. great idea actually.

[hitchface]

Well, with HDDs being cheap as they are, you can't go wrong with extra storage.

Those are the only things I can think of. Might wanna wait on Cricket's go-ahead first though. He is smarter than me

[counterfiction]

Originally Posted by hitchface Well, with HDDs being cheap as they are, you can't go wrong with extra storage. Those are the only things I can think of. Might wanna wait on Cricket's go-ahead first though. He is smarter than me

Yeah, it still amazes me at how far they have come down in the past few years.

Sounds good. Your input has been great too though. I'll wait patiently