Looking to build a new computer... advice please?

[MiV]

One of my friends told me you guys could perhaps help with determining what would be a good setup for a new computer - and perhaps with locating the proper parts.


I'm a web designer, looking for something that can run numerous applications at one time.

I've considered getting a 15k speed hdd for primary and then 1Tb for alternate hdd space - images, videos, sounds, etc... for web site storage.

So that said here's what I'm looking for:

2.6ghz+ dual channel processor
4gb ram
at least 1Tb hdd storage
256mb video card (sli optional, not required for the graphics processing I do - I like seeing what most people will see)
A nice cool and quiet case/powersupply
A quality mobo
Built in sound is comfortable


I was configuring one on Alienware.com and I'm just not comfortable buying from them. The price to meet the above was $3300

thanks all

 

[hungryduck]

well, no matter what your going to spend a pretty penny on a system like that.

 

[MiV]

it's a tax write-off ... LOL so
/me shrugs

LOL

 

[FieryGoose]

Ok, yea all that hardware is deffinatelly gonna cost a bit...
Um, i'm not exactly sure what sort of processor would be preferred for what your doing between AMD and INTEL but being that i prefer AMD, i'm gonna suggest the AM2 amd athlon 64 4400+($500) it doesn't run at 2.6 ghz but I think you'll be happy... for hdd's I would get 2 500gb seagate barracudas ($300 a piece), and for your faster one I think the best bang for the buck would be the 150gb raptor($330) and for a mobo get thehttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131011($240)
and for the case just choose an atx full tower that you like. Also for the graphics card if you don't need a good one then don't get one but for a really nice card for the price this one is good:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130016($320)
um.. and most importantly if your case doesn't come with one already get a nice psu like this one:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103941($118), if you don't like that one brands like thermaltake and antec are especially good. and as for cd/dvd drives i think your smart enough for that. Also take a look at the stickies. Good luck .

Edit:I Forgot to tell you all the prices I listed are off of newegg.com, also other good stores are zipzoomfly.com and monarchcomputer.com, and tigerdirect.com

 

[Asus]

$360 AMD X2 4200+ This would perform similar to an Intel Pentium D 840 (3.2GHz) dual core CPU. The AMD CPU should be a better value for performance and price. Here is a review that has the X2 4200+.
$110 Asus board Nvidia chipset with SLI
$170 Kingston 2GB DDR400 Kit (2 x 1GB) You can buy two of these and have 4GB of memory. Keep in mind that it will probably downclock to DDR33 speed because you would have 4 double sided sticks.
$275 Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA harddrive. 5 year warranty
$285 Western Digital 500GB SATA harddrive. 5 year warranty
$265 XFX Nvidia 7900GT 256MB PCI-Express.
$110 Thermaltake Tsunami Case. 2 120mm fans for good but quiet airflow. The harddrive rack is also pretty nice.
$105 Enermax 500Watt PSU (SLI support)
$150 UPS. If you don't have one then pick up one of these.

If you are doing important work and want to use 4GB of memory then I would suggest going with an AMD Opteron CPU which is Socket 940 and uses Registered/ECC (Error checking and correction) memory instead unbuffered memory. Opterons perform the same as Athlon 64 and X2's if they are the same specs. The more memory you have the more chance for corruption. If you used Registered Memory then it would not downclock with 4GB and ECC will check for memory errors.

 

[Viperidae]

The more memory you have the more chance for corruption. Registered/ECC memory would help because your memory would not downclock with 4GB of memory and it will check for memory errors.

It really does seem that everyone wants to fill all 4 ram slots these days, eh Asus? :rolling:

 

[Asus]

It really does seem that everyone wants to fill all 4 ram slots these days, eh Asus? :rolling:

haha Yeah.
Although some users do make use of the extra memory. Although 2GB is plenty for just gaming at this point and you don't want to give up any speed.

 

[MiV]

Thanks guys,

ASUS - that's just about dead on what I was looking for.

I was curious about the motherboard though - I tried to see if I could find a socket 940 motherboard on newegg and didn't see any labelled as such.

As far as 4 gigs of ram... It's not going to be uncommon for me to be running all of these programs at the same time:

Adobe Photoshop
Fireworks
Flash
Dreamweaver
Illustrator (though doubt it'll run while photoshop is running)
mIRC
A video editing program (haven't selected one yet)
A sound editing program
Internet Explorer
Firefox
and a streaming radio station for a football fansite

yeah I may only use about 2gs of it... but there could be some times when I hit just over 3 - lol

 

[Asus]

I found Socket 940 boards under Server motherboards on Newegg. Looking around at Newegg.com and Monarchcomputers.com I only find dual socket boards.

MSI Opteron workstation board with the nForce4 chipset. You could put 2 dual core Opteron chips in that sucker for a total of 4 cores. That would be smooth computing. Surprisingly it supports Dual Channel memory and SLI (2 PCI-Express slots). If you want you can put in a single CPU and leave the other socket empty. The CPUs do have to match if you put 2 CPUs in. And remember if you do go Socket 940 that you buy Registered ECC memory (PC3200 DDR400 is supported) instead of unbuffered memory. Not as many regular PCI slots for expantion cards though.

And if you had 2 cpus, 2 gfx cards, multiple harddrives and 4gb of memory...you would need a bigger powersupply. lol

Also you would have to double check to make sure the board fits in the case you buy. Server/workstation boards generally are a little longer than other boards (from side to side not top to bottom). Both this board and the Thermaltake Tsunami case say 12" x 9.6".

There are other boards with more PCI expansion slots. Tyan's is more expensive but the Asus board is about the same price. You would have to find a case that supports the bigger board sizes though.