Newbie New build

[Bacchus_whine]

This will be my 2nd build. It will be mostly for pictures and gaming. I'm trying to keep it to around $1,000. I'm hoping to reuse my monitor, DVD drive, keyboard, mouse, and speakers.
Can the board gurus weigh in on any potential issues or improvements.

Intel core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4 GHZ 2 X 4MB L@ Cache LGA 775 quad-core processor $200

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX motherboard $135

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR Geoforce 9800 GTX + 512 MB 256 Bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 X 16 HDCP Ready SLI suppported video card $130

Antec earthwatts EA500 500W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply $75

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM $53

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $50

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ $47

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2B for System Builders [OLD VERSION] $85


Will the 500 W power supply be enough if the video card manufacturer states that their device needs 450 W?

Can I use Windows XP Home Edition SP2B [old version] and will that slow the system down or be a cause for any concern?

[glc]

Everything is compatible, the power supply is strong enough. Not exactly the components I'd choose, but it will work fine.

[Force Flow]

Go with an e8400 instead of the quad. If you really want a quad, I'd suggest nothing less than the Q9550 because of the amount of cache. Lesser quads don't have as much, which hurts performance, and in those cases, the C2D's perform better.

The 7200.10 drives are starting to get old, and the newer seagates haven't been showing themselves to be reliable. I'd suggest a Western Digital Black drive.

Best bang for your buck for a video card these days would probably be an ATi 4850 or 4890. nvidia equivalent would be something from the nvidia GTX 2xx series.

The PSU should be more than adaquate.

Yes, you can use a SP2 disk. Just make sure you install the latest service pack and windows updates.

[Bacchus_whine]

Originally Posted by glc Everything is compatible, the power supply is strong enough. Not exactly the components I'd choose, but it will work fine.

Thanks for the response. Which components would you keep and what do you recommend?

[Bacchus_whine]

Originally Posted by Force Flow Go with an e8400 instead of the quad. If you really want a quad, I'd suggest nothing less than the Q9550 because of the amount of cache. Lesser quads don't have as much, which hurts performance, and in those cases, the C2D's perform better. The 7200.10 drives are starting to get old, and the newer seagates haven't been showing themselves to be reliable. I'd suggest a Western Digital Black drive. Best bang for your buck for a video card these days would probably be an ATi 4850 or 4890. nvidia equivalent would be something from the nvidia GTX 2xx series. The PSU should be more than adaquate. Yes, you can use a SP2 disk. Just make sure you install the latest service pack and windows updates.

Thanks for the response. I'm not really sold on any of these parts. I'm just trying to get the most I can for around $1,000. These parts all seemed to fit and received decent reviews on Newegg. I'll take a look at you recommendations.

[Force Flow]

Don't base your entire decision making process on newegg user reviews. Not all of them are accurate or backed up by solid findings.

[Bacchus_whine]

Based on Force Flows suggestions I changed some components. I also changed the chip from Intel to AMD, the graphic card from Nvidea to ATI, and the MOBO to match AMD. Anyone think any of those changes were a bad idea?

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor $200

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $110

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply $100

SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card $95

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $70

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $50

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ $47

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2B for System Builders [OLD VERSION] $85

I had some difficulty figuring if the PS is compatible with the GPU. I went to the site to check but it asks whether you're single card or Multi/Crossfire. Looks like the Sapphire is a single card that is Crossfire ready? Does anybody have a better PS for me to use?

I'm thinking I have about $100 left in my budget. Which component should I put that money into upgrading?

[glc]

That's an excellent PSU and plenty for a single 4850.

If you are gaming and have another 100 bucks to blow, get a HD 4890.

[Khalil]

The 4890 is definately the way to go if you enjoy gaming. Nothing wrong with the 4850 but with the 4890 you will get all the eye candy without sacrificing any performance.

[Bacchus_whine]

XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $200

Is this a good card? If so, is the Coolermaster Centurion (mid-tower) a sufficient enough case or should I get full sized case?

[glc]

XFX is NOT recommended.

Video Card Rating

Midtower should be fine.

[Killer01]

$220 a great card, only ousted by the 4870 x2 wish is like $150 more

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102809

[glc]

Killer:

moderate build?

FINAL WARNING.

[Khalil]

Bacchus, your are best going with an Asus, Sapphire or Diamond for an ATI card, Sapphire are great only thing is they don't offer direct customer support and newegg won't help you passed the 30 days. I highly recommend an Asus.

[Bacchus_whine]

Originally Posted by Khalil Bacchus, your are best going with an Asus, Sapphire or Diamond for an ATI card, Sapphire are great only thing is they don't offer direct customer support and newegg won't help you passed the 30 days. I highly recommend an Asus.

How about the HIS H489FT1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ($225)? You had a thread before that listed HIS as a good brand name for GPU.

[Khalil]

Yes those are good but I am not sure about their direct customer support, maybe glc can chime in here. I still recommend Asus because of their great RMA and customer service.

[glc]

I have not had to deal with HIS. I haven't heard anything BAD about them though, and I have heard that they have excellent cooling solutions on their cards.

[No.Good]

Originally Posted by Bacchus_whine How about the HIS H489FT1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ($225)? You had a thread before that listed HIS as a good brand name for GPU.

Alot of the manufacturers are really no different, they differ in cust. service, the games the card comes with, and other little things.

HIS is known for their innovative cooler designs even though this one has the reference cooler. Only thing that might be off putting bout that card is the minor overclock.

I always tend to stick to sapphire as they make alot of the cards for amd/ati.

[Bacchus_whine]

I was hoping to use my SONY Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM IDE DVD Burner from the PC that died. Would that drive work out okay or is it too outdated for my build? Also i could not find the disc that came with the drive. Would I even be able to use this drive with a new build? I changed my case to the Antec 900 if that matters.

[Khalil]

If it is still working use it.

[Bacchus_whine]

Originally Posted by Khalil If it is still working use it.

What do I do about drivers?

[LeftyAce]

Windows will recognize it as a generic optical drive, which is fine.

[glc]

All you will need is burning software. Without it, it will just be a reader, and XP does have a basic CD burning app built in. You can download a free CD/DVD burning application such as Deepburner, CDBurnerXP, or Imgburn.

[Bacchus_whine]

Cool. Thanks guys.

[Bacchus_whine]

So i pretty much have everything installed in the PC. I had to RMA the first Antec case that came because it looked like someone went all "Officespace" on it. I'm confused about the Pwr_fan connector. I have the GIGABYTE GA-MA790X AMD MOBO and it has a 3 pin Pwr_fan pin. My Corsair 650 W PSU only has 2 and 4 pin connectors. Do I need a converter cable or do I not use the Pwr_fan pin?

Also the Antec 900 has 4 fans. I'm assuming I just connect all 4 of them to the same cord from the Corsair 650 W PSU and plug them into the sys_fan pin on the Gigabyte MOBO that fits (4 pin)?

[glc]

You do not need to connect the PSU to the motherboard power fan connector. You also do not need to connect the case fans to the motherboard if they come with standard 4 pin connectors, just connect them to the PSU. I'd rather power them direct anyway - it's too easy to overload the motherboard circuits. The only fan that MUST be connected to the motherboard is the CPU fan.

[Bacchus_whine]

Thanks.