New PC. Thank God. Please Advise.

Exploder

Exploder

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Hey guys, it's finally happening. I'm getting a new computer, in about three weeks!

This is my first PC that I will build myself. I've done some research and searched for good parts but I'm still unsure about a lot of things. Here are my planned specifications:

Samsung 226BW
Asus Striker Extreme
Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra
Cooler Master Centurion 534
Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
Plextor PX-800A DVD±RW/DL IDE retail
Seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.11 SATA2
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz, 1333FSB
OCZ Platinum XTC 2048MB DDR2 PC6400 KIT, 2x

The Striker Extreme seems to be pretty good, it's built on a nForce 680i motherboard, which supports the 1333fsp speed of the Core 2 Duo processor.

The Geforce Ultra is needed because of the high resolution of the monitor. It also runs cooler than the GTX. The Plextor is fast and supports Vista.

I don't know much about the Seagate hard drive or the OCZ RAM, but they look good on paper. I've chosen the E6850 as my processor because it's the fastest dual-core around the quad q6700 is slower and the multi-core support isn't quite there yet.

So what do you guys think? I do appreciate every single comment and post. Feel free to correct me and keep in mind that I'm a noob at this.

Take care :)

EDIT: I need a PSU and another 120mm exhaust fan, any suggestions?
Also, how's my RAM? Does it complement my system well? Or would I be better off with two 2048MB sticks of RAM?
Edit/Delete Message
 
Ultra? Please, do yourself a favor and just get the GTX. You won't notice it in performance. It's sad to see that people actually buy those ridiculously overpriced graphics cards. The rest looks fine to me. Though if you plan on overclocking (I assume so since you invest in an overpriced overclocking mainboard), you'd go better with 2x2gb kit, since 4 dimms put a heavy load on the memory controller and will kill your overclock.

All in all I think you're investing too much. Vista Ultimate... comon.
 
I'm not sure if Vista 64bit is required, 32bit should be fine and you'll get less driver issues.
Also I'd concider getting Home Premium instead of Ultimate, take a look at this comparison and see if there is anything that Ultimate has that you need.
 
As was said before, GTX instead of Ultra and Home Premium instead of Ultimate. For the HDD, if you really feel you need 1TB, then have at it, however remember that even 500GB is a lot. Other than that, I can't really complain.
 
Javert said:
Do you really need 1 TB???
Click to expand...

Yeah. I kicked myself in the face for saying that 80 gigs would be enough back in the old days.

Files are getting bigger and bigger and I'll keep the PC for a good while before I upgrade anyway.

The Brick said:
Ultra? Please, do yourself a favor and just get the GTX. You won't notice it in performance. It's sad to see that people actually buy those ridiculously overpriced graphics cards. The rest looks fine to me. Though if you plan on overclocking (I assume so since you invest in an overpriced overclocking mainboard), you'd go better with 2x2gb kit, since 4 dimms put a heavy load on the memory controller and will kill your overclock.

All in all I think you're investing too much. Vista Ultimate... comon.
Click to expand...

The Ultra will help at high resolutions, and there is a fps difference if you check out some benchmarks. Besides, the Ultra is like 60 bucks more expensive. That's like 3 hours of over-time. So I don't have a problem with it. I'm not into over-clocking the graphics card or the motherboard.

I want Ultimate because of Bitlocker. A big hard-drive means a lot of important files, and I often go to LANs where PC security plays a big role.

Look closely at the RAM, I wrote 2x. So that means 2x 2048MB, as in 4 gigabytes of memory. You say 4 dimms put a heavy load on the memory controller... let's just say that I have no idea what you're talking about :)

EDIT: Ah now I get it. The RAM I listed are two 1024MB sticks. You're saying I would be better off with two 2048MB sticks. Well, got any suggestions?

I also need the back-up feature of Ultimate because of the large amount of data I'll put in it.

Operational said:
I'm not sure if Vista 64bit is required, 32bit should be fine and you'll get less driver issues.
Also I'd concider getting Home Premium instead of Ultimate, take a look at this comparison and see if there is anything that Ultimate has that you need.
Click to expand...

I need 64 bit to make use of all four gigabytes of RAM. The driver issue is kinda exaggerated. It's not like 64 bit drivers are a rarity, there are almost just as much 64 bit drivers as 32 bit drivers.

staticprimer said:
As was said before, GTX instead of Ultra and Home Premium instead of Ultimate. For the HDD, if you really feel you need 1TB, then have at it, however remember that even 500GB is a lot. Other than that, I can't really complain.
Click to expand...

Read my first reply :)

EDIT: I'm looking for a PSU. But I don't know how much wattage I should shoot for.
 
thank god i'm over this shitty uber PC buying stuff.

it's just stupid to spend all that money.
 
I'm still using a 60GB HDD from last September and it's only half-full. :/
 
jverne said:
thank god i'm over this shitty uber PC buying stuff.

it's just stupid to spend all that money.
Click to expand...

My old PC is more than 4 years old, and I'm tired of playing Tetris with sucky graphics and low fps. This rig isn't the most expensive one either.

Anyway, I need a PSU and another 120mm exhaust fan, any suggestions?
Also, how's my RAM? Does it complement my system well? Or would I be better off with two 2048MB sticks of RAM?
 
Zeus said:
Do you really need a TB of hard drive space..I have 160 and it's only half full. I think you would save about 3x the price by getting a 500gb.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073


4gb of ram is a little overkill as well. 2 GB should be plenty, 3 at the most
Click to expand...

I'll look into that hard-drive. Apparently it's extremely fast... me likes.

I need all the RAM. It will do me well in the future. I had to do a RAM upgrade on my previous computer because I was short-sighted. Not this time.
 
Exploder said:
My old PC is more than 4 years old, and I'm tired of playing Tetris with sucky graphics and low fps. This rig isn't the most expensive one either.

Anyway, I need a PSU and another 120mm exhaust fan, any suggestions?
Also, how's my RAM? Does it complement my system well? Or would I be better off with two 2048MB sticks of RAM?
Click to expand...

mine is also 4 years old...and i don't give a ****.

the main reason i'm not a gamer anymore is the crappy games that are out there.

the newest game i've played was oblivion which is what? two years ago?

ok i've played the demo of Supreme commander, and after i finished i realized it was so boring.

the only game i said i would try is civ 4 but i heard it's also dumbed down.

it's sad but i have to face it...my gaming days are over.


now i would never buy a gaming computer. ever.

and besides tetris is much more fun than anything out there today.

and don't think i'm that old...i'm 21.
 
jverne said:
mine is also 4 years old...and i don't give a ****.

the main reason i'm not a gamer anymore is the crappy games that are out there.

the newest game i've played was oblivion which is what? two years ago?

ok i've played the demo of Supreme commander, and after i finished i realized it was so boring.

the only game i said i would try is civ 4 but i heard it's also dumbed down.

it's sad but i have to face it...my gaming days are over.


now i would never buy a gaming computer. ever.

and besides tetris is much more fun than anything out there today.

and don't think i'm that old...i'm 21.
Click to expand...

So you're not playing Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, or Portals?
 
jverne said:
mine is also 4 years old...and i don't give a ****.

the main reason i'm not a gamer anymore is the crappy games that are out there.

the newest game i've played was oblivion which is what? two years ago?

ok i've played the demo of Supreme commander, and after i finished i realized it was so boring.

the only game i said i would try is civ 4 but i heard it's also dumbed down.

it's sad but i have to face it...my gaming days are over.


now i would never buy a gaming computer. ever.

and besides tetris is much more fun than anything out there today.

and don't think i'm that old...i'm 21.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, my "games to buy" list is huge and I'm sitting here giggling like a child just thinking about it.

Maybe it's because I haven't played a new game after HL2. simply because my computer sucks.
 
Zeus said:
So you're not playing Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, or Portals?
Click to expand...

Ep 1,2 are probably one of the few games that might not bore me to death.

TF2 meh...don't care...Portals, seems decent but i guess it's way too specific and isolated...now if they put HL and all of these together...


there are few exceptions, but they really don't make up for the money spend on upgrading hardware, especially with such "high end" components.


seriously few games today offer you real enjoyment...partially it's because we've (I've) grown up and have greater expectations. dumbing down games also doesn't make things better.


just an example that suddenly pooped up in my mind...remember the game Street rod?

remember the details it had...picture if an ultra advanced game like that would be made today, with added details, graphics,...!

today games have...Engine type I, engine type II,... where is the ****ing involvement!?!?

but i have to face it...todays games are for 14 year olds, not for a grown up man.

face it few if none games today are made for adults...there is no sex, realistic violence, psychological elements, deep and intriguing story, hard decisions, mind puzzles that are in connection with the game environment (not like Portals), advanced AI,...


i'd rather not play than waste time on boring games.

i'm not downgrading anyone who plays them, it's just that games are not fun anymore to me. and i'm sure some will agree.
 
Zeus said:
Do you really need a TB of hard drive space..I have 160 and it's only half full.
Click to expand...
You'll be suprised - I have 180GB and I'm constantly annoyed about how small it is. It really comes down to how you use your computer I suppose and its not that uncommon, the Steam Hardware Survey says that 25% of people have over 250GB of Hard Drive space.

I think you would save about 3x the price by getting a 500gb.
Click to expand...
Or 2x500GB - you could even RAID 0 them.

4gb of ram is a little overkill as well. 2 GB should be plenty, 3 at the most
Click to expand...
I agree.

Exploder said:
I had to do a RAM upgrade on my previous computer because I was short-sighted. Not this time.
Click to expand...
So buy 2GB and then upgrade to 4GB when you need it. You make it seem like it's a mistake to have the need to upgrade something on your computer.
 
Operational said:
So buy 2GB and then upgrade to 4GB when you need it. You make it seem like it's a mistake to have the need to upgrade something on your computer.
Click to expand...

Well it's more like a hassle and it's easier to just get 4 gigabytes from the beginning. New games will benefit a lot from it.
 
Here's the thing with hard-drives:
No matter how big they are, you will fill them up very quickly.

You'll find yourself saving shit you never needed, keeping unwanted programs, and pretty soon you'll have a full hard-drive with no way of cleaning it up, because you don't know what to keep.

EDIT:

and also, it is MUCH better to upgrade a little bit at a time, not build a full rig and think that it will last forever.
 
theotherguy said:
Here's the thing with hard-drives:
No matter how big they are, you will fill them up very quickly.

You'll find yourself saving shit you never needed, keeping unwanted programs, and pretty soon you'll have a full hard-drive with no way of cleaning it up, because you don't know what to keep.
Click to expand...
Not if you keep your space at least a little bit organised. I'd like 1TB so I can keep stuff I want without having to burn DVDs all the time. Last time I went to a LAN I had 50GB space which is nothing and there was a lot of stuff I missed out on because of it.
 
1TB isn't as crazy as it sounds. I have 720gb total storage, and an extra 500 wouldn't hurt. And that 1TB drive IS really fast. One of the fastest available as far as I know.

About the GTX vs ultra, I see what you mean, but still the ultra isn't worth the $100 over the GTX IMO. Right now it might seem that , for example, you get 25fps with a GTX, and 29fps with an ultra. You'll think, "oh that means it's best playable with an ultra!". Well, in two years it won't matter if you get 9fps or 11fps. It's just unplayable and you'll need something new, you'll regret spending so much money on it.

As for the 4gb, if you won't be overclocking, 4x1gb won't matter too much. ram will last you a while, so getting 2x1gb now and another 2x1gb later doesn't really matter, though I can say that the ram prices are very low currently, so I'd get 4gb for sure. It won't matter in games too much though.

The mainboard is overpriced because it's one of the best boards for overclocking (on that chipset). You could save some money there.

All in all I think you're spending too much, but if you got plenty of money I guess it won't matter much. It will be a great pc.
 
Operational said:
I'm a bit sceptical of this, do you know of any benchmarks?
Click to expand...

Nope, but games will need more and more RAM for the future, that's for sure. The extra RAM will keep my overall system faster with multi-tasking and new games in the future.

The Brick said:
1TB isn't as crazy as it sounds. I have 720gb total storage, and an extra 500 wouldn't hurt. And that 1TB drive IS really fast. One of the fastest available as far as I know.

About the GTX vs ultra, I see what you mean, but still the ultra isn't worth the $100 over the GTX IMO. Right now it might seem that , for example, you get 25fps with a GTX, and 29fps with an ultra. You'll think, "oh that means it's best playable with an ultra!". Well, in two years it won't matter if you get 9fps or 11fps. It's just unplayable and you'll need something new, you'll regret spending so much money on it.

As for the 4gb, if you won't be overclocking, 4x1gb won't matter too much. ram will last you a while, so getting 2x1gb now and another 2x1gb later doesn't really matter, though I can say that the ram prices are very low currently, so I'd get 4gb for sure. It won't matter in games too much though.

The mainboard is overpriced because it's one of the best boards for overclocking (on that chipset). You could save some money there.

All in all I think you're spending too much, but if you got plenty of money I guess it won't matter much. It will be a great pc.
Click to expand...

The thing is, the Ultra is hardly that expensive compared to the GTX, not in Norway at least, and if I want to over-clock, I'll much rather clock the Ultra, because it runs cooler than the GTX.

Yeah, the mainboard. I've been thinking about this for a while. Some people have suggested the P35 board but I'm not so sure. Got any recommendations?

Also, how do I edit my posts? I can't find the edit button any more, and I need to edit my first post. Here are the updated specifications:

Samsung 226CW
Asus Striker Extreme
Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra
Cooler Master Centurion 534
Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
Plextor PX-800A DVD±RW/DL IDE retail
OCZ Platinum XTC 2048MB DDR2 PC6400 KIT, 2x
Corsair HX620W
Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
 
You can only edit recent posts.

The 8800ultra used to be $750 when it came out. Didn't know about the apparent price drop.

The P35 chipset is really good with quadcores, mainly talking about stability and overclocking. For dual core, the p965 or 680i will do just as well. But only the 680i mainboards support SLI. The rest supports Crossfire.
 
The Brick said:
You can only edit recent posts.

The 8800ultra used to be $750 when it came out. Didn't know about the apparent price drop.

The P35 chipset is really good with quadcores, mainly talking about stability and overclocking. For dual core, the p965 or 680i will do just as well. But only the 680i mainboards support SLI. The rest supports Crossfire.
Click to expand...

Oh okay, thanks. I'm not interested in SLI or Crossfire. Do you know whether or not the Asus P5K3 Deluxe board supports dual-channel RAM?
 
P5K3 is DDR3 only. Don't waste your money on that. Seriously.
 
The Brick said:
P5K3 is DDR3 only. Don't waste your money on that. Seriously.
Click to expand...

Ah, I discovered that. I'll be going for the Asus P5K Deluxe mainboard instead. I checked some benchmarks and it looks good.

I just have to mention it... thank you so much for helping me :)
 
This is a little out of date by now but I want to back up the guys saying that more HDD space = better, because they're right. I have 750gb at the moment and I'm about to add another 500-750gb because I've filled most of it up.
 
Ennui said:
This is a little out of date by now but I want to back up the guys saying that more HDD space = better, because they're right. I have 750gb at the moment and I'm about to add another 500-750gb because I've filled most of it up.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree. I've been stuck with 80 gigs for more than 4 years now... it has been so frustrating. I'm looking forward to have a lot of space for my FLACs and games.
 
Lol what's your job Exploder? :naughty: I got this: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=7309927 At the time it was $1,664 or something like that. I don't use Vista because it runs so slow and I kinda wish I didn't get Halo. They are coming out with the 9k series with NVIDIA gfx cards and the 45nm CPU's are coming out. I kept my original HD which is around 500GB too (which imo all my research reports won't fill up the HD). But hey what do I care? You obviously don't have a limit on making the pc so just get 20 surround sound speakers or something along with that huge 60" lcd TV as your monitor. Probably fill the HD full of porn too while your at it. :LOL:
 
hool10 said:
Lol what's your job Exploder? :naughty: I got this: http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=7309927 At the time it was $1,664 or something like that. I don't use Vista because it runs so slow and I kinda wish I didn't get Halo. They are coming out with the 9k series with NVIDIA gfx cards and the 45nm CPU's are coming out. I kept my original HD which is around 500GB too (which imo all my research reports won't fill up the HD). But hey what do I care? You obviously don't have a limit on making the pc so just get 20 surround sound speakers or something along with that huge 60" lcd TV as your monitor. Probably fill the HD full of porn too while your at it. :LOL:
Click to expand...

I had a job at this meat factory and made some good money. The pay was awesome and I worked a lot of over-time. Nah, I'm not in the mood to wait for 45mm and the 9k series... I've waited long enough. My current PC is 4 years old and I can barely play Tetris with good fps. So I want the real deal this time.

My room is way too small for those surround speakers and the TV, but I'm tempted anyway :p

We should play some games together when I get this one :D
 
Exploder said:
I had a job at this meat factory and made some good money. The pay was awesome and I worked a lot of over-time. Nah, I'm not in the mood to wait for 45mm and the 9k series... I've waited long enough. My current PC is 4 years old and I can barely play Tetris with good fps. So I want the real deal this time.

My room is way too small for those surround speakers and the TV, but I'm tempted anyway :p

We should play some games together when I get this one :D
Click to expand...
Oh I know what you're saying lol. I just made a leap from a 1GB, P4 2.80, and a x800 AGP card. The GTS is what you should get and certainly cut down on many other things in my opinion. In fact I would think long and hard about this decision. ;)
 
hool10 said:
Oh I know what you're saying lol. I just made a leap from a 1GB, P4 2.80, and a x800 AGP card. The GTS is what you should get and certainly cut down on many other things in my opinion. In fact I would think long and hard about this decision. ;)
Click to expand...

Trust me, I've been thinking about this one for a good while. I know how it's like to buy an outdated computer... and buying something like the GTS would be just that. It's just not good enough for the games I will be playing.

For example, a GTS would weep during CoH at 1680x1050, high details. I've been refining the specifications and they are already quite a lot cheaper than what I previously had in mind. Here are the updated specs:

Antec P182
Corsair HX620W
Samsung 226CW
Asus P5K Deluxe
Plextor PX-800A retail
Asus GeForce 8800 Ultra
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB
OCZ Platinum XTC 2048MB DDR2 PC6400 KIT, 2x

As you can see, it's considerably cheaper, but the performance will still be the same.
 
That's the only thing I have to complain about my laptop. My HDD is only 80GB, and I've filled up about 45% of it already with Steam games.

The rest of my stats are okay. GeForce 7900 GS (only 256 MB though, need to upgrade that eventually), 2 GB of RAM, 2.16 GHz Intel T7400 Dual-Core processor.

Would that be enough to run OB at the highest settings without problems? Should be, but we'll see.
 
Yeah but the GTX kicks Crysis butt and anything else. You can OC the GTX too. It's just not worth it. I'm surprised your not going for the 3GHz quad core with dual video cards. :LOL: When I tried to play Halo 2 on Vista I got about 5FPS. It's a terrible OS and the start menu often takes 5sec to load. It takes you half an hour to install 3 Window updates. 2GB is fast enough. If you are a graphic artist who renders stuff like phantom design, then you need 4GB. Save yourself all that extra money and be sure to get the CPU cooler I got. You can OC it to 3GHz with no voltage increase and stays at 35C. You will never get the best computer because it's technology. My motherboard is pretty darn good too. The only time my system has come to it's knees is when I installed Vista. Just seriously listen to us because most of us know what we are talking about and have the hardware right now so we know from first hand experience. Some of us even have IT jobs like MRG for example.
 
hool10 said:
Yeah but the GTX kicks Crysis butt and anything else. You can OC the GTX too. It's just not worth it. I'm surprised your not going for the 3GHz quad core with dual video cards. :LOL: When I tried to play Halo 2 on Vista I got about 5FPS. It's a terrible OS and the start menu often takes 5sec to load. It takes you half an hour to install 3 Window updates. 2GB is fast enough. If you are a graphic artist who renders stuff like phantom design, then you need 4GB. Save yourself all that extra money and be sure to get the CPU cooler I got. You can OC it to 3GHz with no voltage increase and stays at 35C. You will never get the best computer because it's technology. My motherboard is pretty darn good too. The only time my system has come to it's knees is when I installed Vista. Just seriously listen to us because most of us know what we are talking about and have the hardware right now so we know from first hand experience. Some of us even have IT jobs like MRG for example.
Click to expand...

I like Vista, I haven't found any serious problems with it yet. 2GB means that I will have to upgrade soon because I'll be doing sound recording and editing. I'm not sure if I'm going to over-clock the CPU yet, but when I do, I'll look into that cooler.

Would you mind showing me your specifications?
 
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