1st builld advise for newbie....

[Shuggy]

Hi all,

I've been lurking on here for a couple of weeks now trying to get an insight into building my first pc. Still slightly confused with everything but determined to give it a go and with the help of the knowledgeable people on here I'm sure I'll do alright. As you can tell I'm a complete novice!

So..... I have a copy of Vista Ultimate, ummm.... and that's it so far

My old oem computer blew up (literally) but there are a few parts I could probably salvage, in particular the monitor (iiyama prolite c480T) and speakers (Creative 7.1 surround), although this seems like a good time to start anew with everything else.

I'm looking for a setup that will be good quality, not necessarily the best of the best but something that will last for a good few years. My budget is around 2k USD.

Principal usages are multimedia type things (photos, movies, music editing etc), gaming is not a big deal for me, although I do play a few shoot-em up types games. I would like a TV card to hook up to my HD Cable to record tv.

The Intel Quad Core seems the way to go for my needs at the moment but now over to the informed guys on here for their advise please............


Many thanks.

[shadowpr]

MB: P5K-E
CPU: Q6600
Ram: 2x2gb DDR2800 Corsair or G.Skills
Video: Evga 8800gt
PSU: Corsair 550
HD: Seagate 7200.11 500gb
Case is personaly choice.
Keyboard and mouse are personal choice as well.

Someone else will be able to help with the tv tuner card.

[Shuggy]

What is the reasoning behind DDR2 and not DDR3 memory? (except price..!).

When will DDR3 become the standard do you think?

[pam123]

That's a pro-active list and, with a total 4 GB of ram, assumes you're going for the 64 bit version of your chosen operating system (If you don't you can't use 4GB of ram).

Let's back up a minute.
What is your budget ?
Media Center PCs don't have to cost the earth but we need a place to start.

[Alaron]

DDR3 won't be standard for awhile. (In the world of technology, we can never really put a time on it). It is too expensive and the performance isn't there yet. Stick with DDR2, it is a proven platform and very inexpensive right now.

[Shuggy]

Ok, thanks to shadowpr, here's what I'm looking at:

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 512-P3-N806-A1 GeForce 8800GT SSC 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM

Creative 70SB046A00003 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card - Retail


Does this kit all work together??? Anything else I'll need (TV card is missing at the moment). Not planning on overclocking (yet!) so will the cooling be adequate?

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Look at a retail lite-on dvd burner drive. That will come with nero software.

[Shuggy]

Does this seem like a winner:

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe - Retail

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Seems good.

Just realized you didn't include a power supply.

And is there a reason to get that moher board? I think it's more expensive then the P5K's.

[Shuggy]

PSU is:

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail

On that note, although I'm currently in the US I will probably be taking it back to the UK at some point. Do you see any issues with this?

I upped the mobo because of all the good press this Striker Extreme gets on here. It is a bit more expensive but I'm still within budget.

Also, I added a sound card even though the mobo has it on-board. I listen to a lot of music on the computer and edit a few tracks as well. Is the soundcard overkill or will I notice a difference with it?

Thanks.

[flanzig1]

Looks like that Corsair PSU has auto detect for line voltage. You will need to get a power cord for the UK style of AC outlets once in the UK.
As for the sound card, we usually suggest trying the on-board(with good speakers, of course) to see if it meets your listening needs before getting a sound card.

[hitchface]

To throw a wrench in the works...are you planning on using a 64-bit OS? 4 gigs of RAM is overkill, and I bet by the time everybody will be using it, DDR2 will be obsolete. 2 gigs will do just fine.

[Shuggy]

Yep, got 64-bit vista already (at least I think I have...! The box says "32 and 64 bit")

Good news about the PSU, moving the old computer over to the states from the UK is the reason I think it blew. Looked good though... :-) Never seen my son run so fast.

I think I'll leave the sound card for the time being then and maybe install one at a later date if I think it's required.

Once again, thanks for all the advise.

[hitchface]

Know that a 64-bit OS isn't the norm right now. You'll likely run into problems with a lot of apps. However, if you're prepared for it, have at 'er!

[pam123]

Heads up guys.
The folks at Redmond have said that the sp1 for Vista will enable 4 GB of ram on the 32 bit version.
Let's see if they deliver.

[hitchface]

Could it be?! I wish we'd just ditch 32-bit and move on...

[Masaki 7-11]

Regarding 64-bit, you should stay away from it unless you are working with custom apps and programs built for 64-bit. You'll see a major speed difference between 64-bit and 32-bit with 64-bit being slower. There isn't any need to get more than 2GB of ram since it would encumber your system rather than speed it up, and it would also cost you extra.

Regarding the TV Tuner, this one should be fine if you are using a coaxial cable to hook up your computer to the cable box:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116015
This card is media center compatible (a feature in xp mce, vista premium and vista ultimate) as well as a compatible remote.

Another option is this TV Tuner from Leadtek which has component in ports in addition to the ports found on the TV Tuner above, it also comes with a remote, is vista certified and costs $54.99, here is the link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815122010

[pam123]

Originally Posted by pam123 Heads up guys. The folks at Redmond have said that the sp1 for Vista will enable 4 GB of ram on the 32 bit version. Let's see if they deliver.

More news from Redmond, and I'm really unhappy with them.

Larry commented: "Roger, you are right to question the new 4 GIG reporting in Vista SP1. It only reports the amount of RAM in the computer, not the amount of RAM available to the operating system. This update is apparently for people who are not advanced users. No more questions from them since the operating system reports 4 GIG now even though the operating system still has apx. 3 GIG available for use."

http://dl.tv/2007/12/kvm_switches_how_to_use_depth.php

Catch the DL.TV show 209 .

[hitchface]

Bugger.

And in response to the comment about 64-bit processing, it isn't so much an issue of slow performance. It actually allows CPUs to crunch data way faster, or rather, in larger chunks. The problem is more with drivers. Programs can often enough run by way of emulation, but not so for drivers.

[Masaki 7-11]

The problem with 64-bit is the emulation, a lot of processor power is spent on emulating programs, so it is slower than 32-bit and may make it hard if not impossible to multi-task. I've used both 64-bit and 32-bit vista ultimate on my core 2 duo laptop, and it was Much faster on the 32-bit version. Like I said before if you are not using custom programs made specifically for 64-bit, it will be much slower than running on 32-bit. Regarding drivers for Vista, the support is about the same for both 32-bit version and 64-bit version, so no worries there.