First potential PC build with some questions

[Ariofighter]

Hey Everyone!

I have never built my own PC before, but it is definitely something I want to do. The PC I’m using now I had built for me, but that was 7 years ago. I had a laptop, but it got stolen. So now I’m here with my really old computer wanting to do things with Photoshop and 3ds…haha not on this thing I’m not. So I have never even created a parts list before so if someone could look this over that would be awesome.

Like I said above the main use for this computer will be working on projects in 3ds and Photoshop, along with the normal internet and word use. Oh oh and gaming….cant forget that. So my plan is to get something that will last me a while, and be upgradeable…I like the quad core extreme processors, but there is no way I have the grand to put into one right now. I also don’t think I have the know-how to SLI any video cards, or will I need to have two 8800GTXs.

So back story aside here is my parts list.

Processor: Q6600 Kentsfield 2.44
Power Supply: Rosewill Atx 12v 950w power supply
Motherboard: EVGA 680i Ultra
Video Card: EVGA 8800GTX 768 mb
RAM: Corsair XM52 DDR2 (4 one gig sticks)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-fi
Hard Drives: Western Digital 500gb (x2)
Case: Thermaltake Armor Full Tower
Optical Drive: Samsung 20x DVDR Burner
Wireless Card: Edimax PCI Wireless G adapter
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

I don’t know if I’m missing anything, and I think these will all work together. If anyone has any input that would be awesome. I have peripherals so I don’t need anything like that…a wide screen monitor would be awesome but that will come in time.

Thanks Again.

[shadowpr]

Look at this MB instead: P5K-e. That should also handle the wireless you need, so you don't have to get a seperate card.

For the Ram, get a 2x2gb DDR2 800 pack instead.

Instead of a samsung optical, look at lite-on retail drives. They are good quality and come with nero.

When you get vista, make sure it's the oem.

And I would get a different Power supply. Look at this list for good ones: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

[wildfire]

Also there's no way somebody NEEDS a SLI setup of 2 8800GTX's.

You should consider getting 1 8800GT or 1 8800GTX.
Going SLI with the same card will only give you about a 40% increase and isn't worth the money.

Look at these charts.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html
The 8800GT isn't listed yet but, an 8800GT is stronger than and 8800GTS.

8800GT is only about $280 right now.

[Ariofighter]

I have read a lot of people on this forum recommending this Mobo other then the 680i, any particular reason as to why? I will take a look, nothing is written in stone at this point.

As to the ram, should I stick with the same company? Is the (2x2) just to give the ability to upgrade later on and not have to get all new ram?

I will also look into the optical drive. Should I include a floppy drive just for the sake of having one in case of problems?

Oh and is a system builder version of Vista the same as OEM?

Lastly, the power supply was included in a deal with the processor on newegg, that was really the only reason I chose it. How do you know how big of a power supply I need? Oh and as far as after market heat sinks, if there is no over clocking is it not necessary for a large after market heat sink.

I think these are all of my questions, at least for now. Thanks a lot everyone.

[liambl]

Originally Posted by Ariofighter I have read a lot of people on this forum recommending this Mobo other then the 680i, any particular reason as to why? I will take a look, nothing is written in stone at this point.

It is because it has a much newer chipset capable of the new Core CPU's based on the 45nm "Penryn" core process. Also Intel CPU's tend to run better on Intel chipsets.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Ariofighter I have read a lot of people on this forum recommending this Mobo other then the 680i, any particular reason as to why? I will take a look, nothing is written in stone at this point.

It's highly recommended cause it's a proven MB. It's reliable, and stable. It also offers room for upgrading in the future.

Originally Posted by Ariofighter As to the ram, should I stick with the same company? Is the (2x2) just to give the ability to upgrade later on and not have to get all new ram?

I recommend the 2x2gb pack cause of stability. It's an issue where if you have 4x1gb, then you might have to lower the speed of the ram to run the system stable. By getting the 2x2, you can run it at stock speeds.

Originally Posted by Ariofighter I will also look into the optical drive. Should I include a floppy drive just for the sake of having one in case of problems?

I didn't get a floppy drive. Some people do, some don't. It's not that big of a deal unless you think you'll need one. Either way, they're pretty cheap.

Originally Posted by Ariofighter Oh and is a system builder version of Vista the same as OEM?

Here is a link to Home Premium 64bit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116204

Originally Posted by Ariofighter Lastly, the power supply was included in a deal with the processor on newegg, that was really the only reason I chose it. How do you know how big of a power supply I need?

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195
That should answer your questions about the PSU.

Originally Posted by Ariofighter Oh and as far as after market heat sinks, if there is no over clocking is it not necessary for a large after market heat sink.

If you're not overclocking, then just use the retail heatsink. It will work fine, and not void your warranty.

Originally Posted by Ariofighter I think these are all of my questions, at least for now. Thanks a lot everyone.

If you have other questions, just ask.

And I would recommend posting a list of your parts after you make changes.

[Ariofighter]

Processor: Intel Q6600
Power Supply: Thermaltake ATX12v/Eps12v 850W
Motherboard: Asus PK5-E/WIFI-AP
Video Card: EVGA Nvidia 8800 Ultra
RAM: Corsair XMS2 (2x2Gb)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500gb (x2)
Case: Thermaltake Armor Full Tower
Optical Drive: Lite-On 20x DVD-RW Burner
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit System Builders

Those are the new specs for my system, well when I get the money. I changed the Mobo, and removed the sound and wireless card. That mobo has built in 5.1, so if I want to get a sound card down the road it wouldn't be a problem. If I don't need it know, why spend the money.

I used one of the power supply calculators and wound up around 600w, so I figured I should up it a little in case I decided to add anything else later. Should I go with a 1000w so I don't have to upgrade it if I ever plan on going for an extreme quad core?

My last questions are regarding to SLI and Physics Cards. I am going to do some research on both of them but, realistically with the above setup will more then one card be necessary? I also don't know if physics cards are even worth buying into right now, but I figured I would ask.

[wildfire]

Originally Posted by Ariofighter Processor: Intel Q6600 Power Supply: Thermaltake ATX12v/Eps12v 850W Motherboard: Asus PK5-E/WIFI-AP Video Card: EVGA Nvidia 8800 Ultra RAM: Corsair XMS2 (2x2Gb) Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500gb (x2) Case: Thermaltake Armor Full Tower Optical Drive: Lite-On 20x DVD-RW Burner OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit System Builders Those are the new specs for my system, well when I get the money. I changed the Mobo, and removed the sound and wireless card. That mobo has built in 5.1, so if I want to get a sound card down the road it wouldn't be a problem. If I don't need it know, why spend the money. I used one of the power supply calculators and wound up around 600w, so I figured I should up it a little in case I decided to add anything else later. Should I go with a 1000w so I don't have to upgrade it if I ever plan on going for an extreme quad core? My last questions are regarding to SLI and Physics Cards. I am going to do some research on both of them but, realistically with the above setup will more then one card be necessary? I also don't know if physics cards are even worth buying into right now, but I figured I would ask.

Umm the Power SUpply is OVERKILL.
You'll be fine running a 600 Watt on that thing.
Also if you choose to go extreme quad core.. That might add about 30 watts... nothing too much, definietly not another 150... However if you like the extra headroom of upgrading than you can get that PSU.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Ariofighter My last questions are regarding to SLI and Physics Cards. I am going to do some research on both of them but, realistically with the above setup will more then one card be necessary? I also don't know if physics cards are even worth buying into right now, but I figured I would ask.

That PSU is already overkill, so I wouldn't get one with any more.

SLI and physics cards really aren't worth it. The only way SLI is worth it is if you're going to get the 2 best video cards available. For the price, it's not worth the slight increase in performance. Beter off just upgrading the video card later on to a newer powerful one and that should be enough.

As a side note, that MB can't do SLI.

[Ariofighter]

Ok everyone, here is what I hope to be my final build list. I dropped the PSU from 850 to 750w, and went with a brand I have heard of. I wasn't planning on SLIing, for money reasons and I doubt I will need a more powerful card for quite some time. There are lots of things I want to learn to do when it comes to building computers, however seeing as this will be my first one I will try to avoid it. I'm already worried about frying something when I'm putting it together. Ok enough typing and here is the list, with store and price.


Processer: Intel Q6600 Newegg $279.99
Power Supply: Corsair TX750w 750w Tiger Direct $179.99
Motherboard: Asus PK5-E/WIFI-AP Newegg $139.99
Video Card: EVGA Nvidia 8800 Ultra MicroCenter $699.99
RAM: Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 (2x2Gb) Newegg $222.00
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500gb (x2) Newegg $209.98
Case: Thermaltake Armor Full Tower Newegg $149.99
Optical Drive: Lite-On DVD-RW Burner Newegg $34.99
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit System Builders Newegg $179.99

Total $2,096.91
Total w/ Rebates $1,976.91

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone. I can't wait to build this thing...just out of curiosity is there a section here where everyone posts pictures of their builds? I wanted to see what everyone had put together.

[shadowpr]

Could try this: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=124144

[Ariofighter]

Ok, so its coming down to the time where I will be getting the cash to make this happen. I have run into a question that I would like to ask.

My question comes down to video cards. I know I should post this in the video card section, but I figured that I had a thread with my system info in it already I might as well keep this one going.

So i know that I want to go with an EVGA and a 8800 series card. The issue im running into is what one. I really like the ultra...go figure, but its also very expensive and I am starting to think its not worth it. Especially when the GTX seams to be nearly just as good. So I started to lean towards the GTX insted of the ultra...however now looking at the GTS and GT cards im all messed up. The GTS cards have a higher MB then the GT so that makes me happy, however the 512mb GT cards, have nice clock speads as high as the Ultra and GTX cards....so my question is this. Bang for my buck what is a good deal? For my indended uses of the computer is a GTX a good choice or will the GTS last me for a while. The GT's cost and clock spead has me sold, but I am weary of the 512mb being a strain in the next few years and I am not planning on replacing anything. So there is my issue, essencially my question is what one is a good choise for lasting the longest, being the best for 3d modeling and gaming, and not breaking the bank. If the ultra or GTX is worth the cash then ill spend it, but if there not I would rather know now, you know?

[shadowpr]

Here's my take on it. If you can afford the gtx, get that. The gt is probably the best bang for your buck, but it's really hard to find and when you do find it, they have jacked up the price too much from what it was intended. I hear there is also a 8800gt with 1gb of memory, but good luck finding that one too. Both the gtx, and the gt will outperfrom the gts last i checked.

[Ariofighter]

Ok so if I were to go with the GTX, that is the card im leaning towards, is it worth getting like the Superclocked or KO version? I have heard alot about these cards running hot. Also I can theoredicly overclock them myself (voiding the warrenty) if I chose too right? So how much of a differance does a faster clock spead make?

[liambl]

Yes, you can overclock a normal card yourself, quite easily using Rivatuner. The KO cards only really boost the clocks by a few MHz, not really enough to justify the cost.

[Kilauea]

I would say go with the 8800GT, I strongly doubt that spending the extra 300$ for the GTX will give u any advantage worth mentionning in a few years when your GT will be outdated. For twice the price(I am being nice here, cuz its almost 2.5 times the price), you get an overall 7% increase in performance accoridng to Tom's Hardware charts. I say, go for the GT and in a few years, when it is outdated, spend the extra 200 or 300$ to get yourself a new GPU that will blow away the GTX or use that money for a new computer.

Then there is another advantage, saving that much money will enable u to get your system a little faster(since it would be cheaper) and thus to enjoy it faster/longer.

[Kilauea]

Originally Posted by Ariofighter I used one of the power supply calculators and wound up around 600w, so I figured I should up it a little in case I decided to add anything else later. Should I go with a 1000w so I don't have to upgrade it if I ever plan on going for an extreme quad core?

Just a little thing because I tried to see how you obtained 600w, try to do the test again, just this time, choose a single socket system, read the little note below that. Unless I fail to understand this properly, you are using a single socket Q6600 system.

That really puts the wattage of your system in perspective.

[Ariofighter]

Just to clarify, are you saying that the PSU I chose is too low? I just did the Newegg calculator to see what I would get and I ended up with 650w using the GTX card.

Im looking into the GT cards now, so is it just better to get the 512 8800gt....and not mess with the superclocked or the KO, because that can be done for free myself?

Oh and I realised that the 8800gt cards use PCI 2.0....however my mobo only has the PCI x16 slot...is it going to work? What is the differance between the two slots?

[Kilauea]

No, the PSu you chose is not too low, you could easily deal with a 600w PSU.

The 8800GT isn't better than the GTX in terms of performance, but the performance gains are so minimal compared to the price difference, that I feel the GT would be a much better investment.

[Ariofighter]

Ok because I love video card questions I have another one. I am leaning towards the 8800gt...on of the versions, but I am still really bothered by the lower memory on the card when compared to the GTX. So I was thinking about hunting one down when I built the PC then getting another one down the road when they are easier to find and SLIing them. That was as far as I can mentaly grasp, I would have the memory of 1gb that would make me happy, the speed of the gt cards, and for just over the cost of the GTX, superclocked. I know that this way of thinking never usually ends up happening but lets pretend that it is a fact that I will get another one within a few months. I know that my chosen mobo doesnt support SLIing video cards. If I were to end up with this set up of duel superclocked 8800gt's what mobo should I go with that would keep the processer and the video cards happy? And preferably not making my change my ram or other components.

Also another question, is DDR3 RAM worth it at the moment? Or is the $$$ just not worth the gain in performance?

[wildfire]

PCI-E X16 is a PCI-E 1.1 slot. And yes it is compatible with each other. PCI-E 2.0 gives little gains in the quality of games, most companies have decided that it's not worth adding in the minor PCI-E 2.0 details into their games right now.

Yes I would definitely drop from and 8800 Ultra to an 8800GT. I say that around 10 FPS in a game does not justify the $400 difference. However if you're like a really rich guy with like 10 million dollars and absolutely needs the best, by all means buy an 8800Ultra. However the 8800GT is still imo the video card that everyone should be looking into and not wasting $400 for 10FPS.

The system you chose out in the 10th post, will require only around 600 watts, what the other guy ment was that if you chose single slot, the wattage requirement would DROP, not increase.

Well let me say how much 512Mb is already. 512mb will be able to handle resolutions at like 2000x1200, 2xaa, 16af on games like COD4. If you wanna go high to like 2560x 1560, 16af, 16aa, then you'll run into problems with 512Mb.
Honestly, 512Mb is more than enough though.

SLI HAS diminishing returns, get 1 8800GT and get 100% of it's performance.
Get 2 8800GT in SLI and then get 150% performance. Not worth the money. Remember if you go SLI, you can only have 1 monitor too.
Memory in video cards doesn't add up like that either, I'm pretty sure your memory will still be capped at 512 using 2 8800GT.

If you do plan on SLI, even though I highly suggest you don't. I would say to get an 680i Evga motherboard that is compatible with 1333FSB quad cores. Some 680i nforce motherboards actually do support FSB 1333 BUT DO NOT support Quad cores at 1333FSB. You will be able to find a 680i nforce motherboard with an intel socket and support for ddr2 800 ram everywhere.

DDR3 ram is not worth it, this is like the same as comparing a 8800GT to and 8800GTX but the difference for ddr2 and ddr3 is even smaller.Obviously you can spend big bucks and get DDR3 but you will never notice any major difference, in fact most people can't tell the difference from ddr2 to ddr3.

Main things what I'm trying to say is, don't go SLI, don't get a GTX, don't get DDR3.
That is unless your rich and have 10 million dollars you don't know what to do with .

[Ariofighter]

Hey thanks for the quick responce. I had a feeling that was the answer I was going to get, but I figured I wasnt out anything if I asked the question. So it looks like I am going to have to do one final change to my specs....swiching the GTX for the GT. I just have to figure out what one...is there any chance someone can tell me if the slightly higher clock speed is knowtacable at all, or if I have a chance to pick up just the 8800gt I should because the differance isnt worth the money.

[shadowpr]

Don't really want to add to the confusion, but the new 8800gts will outperm the 8800gt, and is close to the gtx in performance. Under a certain case or two it can outperform the gtx as well.

I believe it's priced in between the gt and gtx as well.

[wildfire]

well I think that the 8800GTS 512 at around $340 isn't exactly the best deal, it does outperform the GT by a couple FPS and beating the GTX sometimes. However, if you can get a good deal for the GTS 512MB by all means go ahead.

I just thought of the 8800GT because I'm always visiting NCIX [canada & us retailer. I'm not on newegg often since it's us only] and the 8800GT galaxy with a "new and improved" fan only costs $229 [after 20 mir] and IS in stock and has been for a while, it has still maintained a single slot design too.
Heres a link http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...8&promoid=1061
However since your from the US, you would go to that link but add a "us" in ncix__.com
Hmm.. on US site it's actually $244... with no mir.

If you look, the cheapest 8800GTS 512 is $340 but if it's any cheaper at newegg then go for it.
Just checked and the 8800GTS is around $350 at newegg o.O
Now to find a cheap 8800GT.. find one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130296
That one at newegg is a good deal, it's evga branded, and only $259. Don't forget that evga actually now offeres free shipping for RMA, before it costed the consumer $45! At Ncix forums there was a whole debate in their forums going around of people complaining, then they said that it would be $15, then people kept complaining and then they made it free. it was also posted in evga forums too but it changed on dec, 7 / 07 haha