New PC - need some guidance!

[conezone]

Hey guys, a friend of mine pointed me toward this site when I asked him about building a new PC. It's been pretty damn useful so far!

Anyway, the computer I am on now is one I built about four years ago, with a minor upgrade here and there. I did recently purchase a new case, which I like so far. The computer will be used primarily for gaming and I am going back to school where I do a decent amount of 3D Modeling / Animation, though it's not my primary focus and the school has computers to use for the final renders and whatnot.

I was looking at building a new one using the case, DVD writer, and possibly the hard drive I currently have.

The DVD writer is almost brand new and works great/is quiet so I'm not even considering replacing that at the moment.
The hard drive is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148031
And the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137


I'm not going to need new peripherals at all, and I also have an external Seagate Terabyte drive that I store everything on. I'm not sure if there would be a noticable difference if I were to purchase an internal HDD vs using the external, and if installing games to the external would slow anything down.

Anyway, using a few threads from this site (mostly just one, actually, it seemed to fit my requirements pretty well), I created this wishlist on NewEgg. Basically, I'm just looking for any advice, especially about the case/HDD. I can afford to spend more on some stuff, especially if I'm not going to be buying a new case/HDD. While I can afford to, I obviously don't want to if the performance increase will be only a slight increase.

Here is the NewEgg list:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...conezone's

Edit:
Posting the individual parts to make it easier for people glancing.

Motherboard:
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131299

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

GPU:
SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102747

RAM:
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

OS:
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116215


Thanks!

[vtfanmv5]

The parts you have listed look great.

As for the HDD, it's really up to you. Yours would be fine, but you could gain a little performance with a newer Seagate 32MB cache drive. The difference wouldn't really be much.

As for the case, yours looks good if you want to keep it. If you are thinking about getting a new one, I like the Antec 900.

[shadowpr]

Parts look good.

I personally would install anything to an external drive.

Another thing to consider is that your hard drive, and i assume your dvd drive are ide. Newer motherboards can only support 2 ide drives. They are being phased out. Seeing as how sata dvd drives are so cheap, you might wan to take a look into that.

Also, vista ultimate really isn't worth it from what I hear. Home Premium is usally what most people enjoy.

Make sure if you have a printer or other peripherals that they have vista 64 drivers.

[conezone]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Parts look good. I personally would install anything to an external drive. Another thing to consider is that your hard drive, and i assume your dvd drive are ide. Newer motherboards can only support 2 ide drives. They are being phased out. Seeing as how sata dvd drives are so cheap, you might wan to take a look into that. Also, vista ultimate really isn't worth it from what I hear. Home Premium is usally what most people enjoy. Make sure if you have a printer or other peripherals that they have vista 64 drivers.

The DVD drive I have is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827140025

I wasn't even thinking about SATA, for some reason I had the impression it was a PITA to work with, but after reading more, I guess it's just as easy as IDE? I've built a few computers before, but I don't really know anything about Master/Slave and what the difference is, so I always just ignored SATA :P

Maybe I will upgrade it since, like you said, I can get one for pretty cheap. I think I'll upgrade my HDD and case, at this point for an extra couple hundred dollars I can keep my old PC intact and maybe even sell it/give it to my parents who are using a Sony VAIO from the first year they came out (99 maybe?) with Windows ME on it :\

As for Vista Ultimate, I wasn't really sure so I just chose Ultimate. I'll downgrade then for sure to Home Premium.

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll probably be ordering the parts today or tomorrow so I can get them by my day off on Tuesday.

I'm adding the case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=antec%2b900

A HDD:
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148309

I'll just keep my DVD for now, I can always buy a SATA one later. Honestly the only reason I bought one at all was to install some software for a wireless card I installed, I rarely use them.

Another quick question before I make this post even longer - When using FRAPS or something similar, will I see a performance decrease saving the videos to the external? I would think that I would, but short of moving the videos right after I make them, I can't think of a way around it (the way mentioned sounds far too tedious). I suppose I could move all the videos for one night over, that may do the trick.

Edit: On second thought, I'm just going to get a bigger internal HDD since I'm downgrading the OS anyway.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148274

[shadowpr]

That 1tb drive should be good. Here it is scheaper: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...tCode=10005936

Sata is easier to work with then ide. There are no master/slave jumpers with sata drives. So it's just one less thing to worry about.

[phigdon]

buy this drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288
its the same price as the 250 you listed and two will be a bit less than the 1T drive.

also your windows is System Builders Pack, one computer, one install. look at a Retail version instead.

[conezone]

Alright, I got excited when the UPS guy drove up, just like a little kid :P

Anyway, everything is in, it works fine except when trying to install Windows Vista, it doesn't recognize my HDD. I'm not really sure how to troubleshoot this, I checked the connections on my HDD and they seem fine. It's the first time I've run into this kind of problem, so I was hoping you guys could help!

[shadowpr]

Is the hard drive recognized in bios?

Which hard drive did you end up getting?

[conezone]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Is the hard drive recognized in bios? Which hard drive did you end up getting?

No, it wasn't in the BIOS. I checked the connection to the drive but not to the Mother Board

Vista is installing now!

I ended up with the 1TB Seagate we had talked about.

Thanks again, I'll update you guys if I have any more issues or once I get it all done

[shadowpr]

Glad you got it going.

Let us know how you like that drive.

[conezone]

Well, I finally have to go to sleep so I can make it to work on time, but after messing around with the new computer, I have to say thank you guys so much!

Everything on the computer is much faster than I expected and one of the nicest changes is the noise coming from it is almost nothing. I can leave it on when my girlfriend wants to stay over now :P

And, surprising to me, I can actually tell the difference between that old HDD and the new one. I really didn't think they could possibly be that different, but it's definitely noticable and I love it.

Thanks again!

[peter8d9]

Checkin out some of your info in this thread because I'm going to get some of the same hardware. Thanks