Building a pc for a mate

[grasshopperbe]

i am composing a new case for a mate. Is this a good value for money combination?

It will get normal use like word processing, internet, media,etc, but he doesn't play 3d games at all.

The only 'special' requirement is that he wants to hook it up to his audio mixing equipment, so silence is also an important point.

I don't know the first thing about these audio mixing devices but i imagine he will need either a midi card or a special device via usb/firewire or so.
(will have to ask his specialized audio equipment dealer for that i guess)

He keeps his pc for several years normally so it should be something not too underpowered.

Case
Antec Sonata Elite (Excl. PSU) € 85

PSU
Corsair HX520W - 520W ATX PSU - Modular - 20/24 pins - Black € 95

Mobo
Asus P5Q - S775 - P45 - PCI-E - DDR2 - SATA RAID - Sound - GLAN - 1394 € 116
Asus P5Q Pro - S775 - P45 - 2x PCI-E - DDR2 - SATA RAID - Sound - GLAN € 126

- is there any reason to go for the more expensive one in this case?

CPU
Intel Quad Core Q8200 - 2.33Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 4MB € 167
Intel Quad Core Q9400 - 2.66Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 8MB € 275

I guess just let him choose according to his budget?

RAM
Corsair Twin2X 4096MB (2 x 2048MB) - DDR2 PC6400 - CL5 - Heatspreaders € 54

should be enough for any current os.

GPU
MSI N9400GT-MD512/D2 - PCI-E - 512MB DDR2 - Dual DVI - TV-Out € 59

I don't think there is any reason to go for more expensive cards for his needs? Maybe better a "passively cooled" card?

HD
Samsung 1TB SATA II - 7200rpm - 32mb (Spinpoint F1) € 97,01

CD
Samsung DVD+/-RW - 22x - SATA - Double Layer - ZWART (Bulk) € 25


All advice is very welcome.

[Khalil]

If your mate is not going to play 3D games why waste money on a P45 system? Go with the a an Asus PQ5-EM G45 that has built in Intel 4500 graphics chipset, forget the Nvidia card and save your buddy some money.
The Q8200 is a snail, I do not like that CPU, the E8400 dual core will smoke it any day of the week. If your buddy must have a Quad stick to the Intel Q9xxx or go with an AMD 940 or 955.

Samsung optical drives and hard drives are camel dung, try and find Lite-0n or LG optical drives and stick to Western Digital Black or Seagate Hard Drive with Western Digital as preferred.

[glc]

If you go with onboard video, the power supply requirements will go way down. If you really want a quad, go all the way to a Q9550. You could even use a cheap P5KPL-CM motherboard.

[grasshopperbe]

-About the motherboard, the problem over here (belgium) is availability. I don't do any online purchasing, and most stores only take 1 or 2 types of motherboard in stock.
The rest has to be ordered, which can take awfully long.
Apart from the one mentioned above, i can only find this other asus board

-Asus P5KPL/1600 - S775 - PCI-E - SATA - Sound - GLAN € 64

Is it as good as the P5KPL-CM you mention?

-I don't know about the onboard video, will ask him what he prefers

-For the cpu, these would be better options then ?
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 - 3.16Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 6MB € 195
Intel Quad Core Q9550 - 2.83Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 12MB € 330



for the hard drive i'll take the WD, will have to look around what other brands of dvdrw i can find here.

I do have to say i had some pretty bad exeriences with LG drives in the past too.
(lots of broken ones).


Thank you very much for the information. With all these different types of mobo's and gpu's etc its hard to know what the right pick is

[Khalil]

SONY and Asus DVD drives are excellent as well. I use Sony more than anything else. The Asus P5KPL you mentioned will work great with either the E8500 or the Q9550 with great results. If he is going to be mixing music and using production software the 9550 Quad core will serve him better in my opinion.

[grasshopperbe]

Which of these 2 should i prefer? It seems liteon, asus or sony drives arent sold around here

LG DVD±RW - 22x - SATA - Double Layer - Lightscribe - ZWART (Bulk) € 25
NEC DVD±RW - 22x - SATA - Double Layer - ZWART (bulk) € 25


For the rest I will present him with this list and let him choose according to his own budget.


Case
+Antec Sonata Elite (Excl. PSU) € 85

PSU
+Corsair HX520W - 520W ATX PSU - Modular - 20/24 pins - Black € 95

Mainboard
+Asus P5KPL/1600 - S775 - PCI-E - SATA - Sound - GLAN € 64
Asus P5Q - S775 - P45 - PCI-E - DDR2 - SATA RAID - Sound - GLAN - 1394 € 116

CPU
+Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 - 3.16Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 6MB € 195
Intel Quad Core Q9550 - 2.83Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 12MB € 330

RAM
+Corsair Twin2X 4096MB (2 x 2048MB) - DDR2 PC6400 - CL5 - Heatspreaders € 54

GPU
+MSI N9400GT-MD512/D2 - PCI-E - 512MB DDR2 - Dual DVI - TV-Out € 59
MSI N285GTX-T2D1G-OC - PCI-E - 1024MB DDR3 - Dual DVI - TV-Out € 399
(just to show him the variation in prices on vidcards)

HD
+Western Digital 1TB - SATA - 7200rpm - 32mb € 89



Thanks for the help

[Khalil]

If there is a way you can get away from MSI products you will be doing yourself and your mate a favor. High Failure rate and bad customer support.

[glc]

He will not need a video card or a 520w PSU with a P5KPL.

[grasshopperbe]

i will replace the psu with this one then, as it is the cheapest 'good brand' one i could find here

Corsair VX450W - 450W Power Supply - 120mm Fan € 66

I know msi is certainly not the best, but i only have the choice between XFX and MSI in graphics cards. a while ago i ordered a pny one, took over a month before it was delivered.

For ATI cards i can get sapphire, but i thought i should get an nvidia one with an intel chipset.

[LeftyAce]

The P5KPL motherboard has onboard video. If he's not planning on gaming, that's sufficient. That powersupply is a good unit.

[grasshopperbe]

I'm just going to let him choose about the gpu (onboard or not), try to advise him according to what he's going to use it for.

Thank you for helping me find the right picks