"Skilled" user need help with 1400$ budget

[wiz.joe]

Hallo everybody, I wasn't in contact with hardware for about a year now, so when my friend told me I should go here and ask, I was really looking forward to this moment. I hope, that you can help me crack this thing out.

I currently have my 5 years old zuppamachine and finally I put some money together and I'm going to spend them as soon as I will know how :)

I've been browsing forums here for a while now, so when I added gained "knowledge" (don't laugh :)) to what I read in reviews all over the internet, I scooped this rig out:

MB: ASUS P5K-E
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 BOX
CPU chladic: Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev. B
Graphics: BFG GF8800GTS 320MB DDR3 OC
HDD: Western Digital Caviar RE 3.5" 320GB WD3200YS
RAM: A-Data Vitesta EE 2048MB (kit 2x1GB) 800+ MHz
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi mX Xtreme Audio
Case: Cooler Master Elite 330
DVD: Samsung SH-S203B černá OEM
Cooling: Noctua NF-S12-1200

On my home OC forum, they agreed with this build, but I don't know.. from what I have read here you guys are pretty much on other level. For example, I was sure, that I'm going for Patriot 6400 4-4-4-12 EPP rams, but then I found thread about Micron chips, and found out, that they don't use old good ocable Micron chips and instead of them they use ProMOS chips, and that suc*s, right? So...

My requierements from this computer will be:
CPU on 450*8 (I know that you can never know, but I hope for)
RAMs on 1:1 - 900mhz+ (I don't have opportunity to buy G-Skill or Ballistix in our country, so I choosed A-Data, heared about them just in positive)
Graphics - they tell me to save my money and go for 320mb, others tell me to buy 640mb to have reserve for future.. yeah, I want to play games, but is the 80$ difference worth it? Probably I will be using 19" LCD (1280*1024).
Is it possible to run two monitor system? Like my old 17" CRT with new 19" LCD? Do I need sth special for this?
I really don't know anything about sound, even though I read a lot reviews and articles about sound cards, currently I have Sennheiser PC150, but AC'97 onboard sound, and it's terrible :) will X-Fi even in the cheapest version make a difference?

And yes, I almos forgot, this rig as it is would cost 1200$, so I have little money to spend yet, or I can save, if you tell me to..

So will you please please help me with this build?
Thanks in advance guys!

[zanzabar]

why not get the 2900pro 512mb its cheaper than the gts320 and outperforms it in nearly every benchmark and keeps up with the gtx and 2900xt when u have no aa


and i dont see a psu listed, ide go with teh corsair 550hx or silverstone op750 depending on the budget that u have left


also i just looked ur ur ram on the ram list and its promos so that if u want 900mhz ram those might get buged, what country are u in and or hwat other brands are avalable

[L'enFer]

i'd go for Scythe Infinity with 2 S-Flex fans and change your XtremeAudio soundcard for Audigy 2ZS. one question: if you buy heatsink for your cpu why do you want to get E6750 box? just for longer warranty?

[SSXeon]

CPU: Core2 Q6600 $280
Mobo: ASUS P5K-E $155
mem: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB 800Mhz 4-4-4-12 $110
PSU: SILVERSTONE ST75F 750w $160
HD: WD Caviar 320GB WD3200YS $90
DVD: Samsung SH-S203B $31
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 330 $40
GPU: HD2900Pro $280
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 EXTREME $57
Fan: Noctua NF-S12-1200 $25
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-E 1x $50

$1278 w/o shipping. Thats what i would get.

All prices from newegg, cept the Ultra-120 is from sidewindercomputers.com, and for the Noctua went to frozencpu.com. I see you want quiet. ;)

And yes you can hook up both monitors, i have my 22" Acer on the right, and my 17" Sammy LCD on the left. :D

[perkam]

CPU: Core2 Q6600 $280
Mobo: ASUS P5K-E $155
mem: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB 800Mhz 4-4-4-12 $110
PSU: SILVERSTONE ST75F 750w $160
HD: WD Caviar 320GB WD3200YS $90
DVD: Samsung SH-S203B $31
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 330 $40
GPU: HD2900Pro $280
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 EXTREME $57
Fan: Noctua NF-S12-1200 $25
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-E 1x $50

$1278 w/o shipping. Thats what i would get.

All prices from newegg, cept the Ultra-120 is from sidewindercomputers.com, and for the Noctua went to frozencpu.com. I see you want quiet. ;)

And yes you can hook up both monitors, i have my 22" Acer on the right, and my 17" Sammy LCD on the left. :DIf he is buying a GTS, he is Nvidia-inclined, hence he`ll be better off waiting for the 8800GT coming next month.

Other than that, SSXeon`s rig looks good.

Perkam

[wiz.joe]

Wow I'm surprised that so many people reacted that quickly. So to be correct, I will answer to everything.

to zanzabar: Yes, I chose Nvidia, because they didn't sell 2900 pro in three shops, where can I buy. Before few minutes, they refreshed their list, and whoopa there are two cards coming: Sapphire 2900pro 512mb and 1gb version... But probably they will be buyed really fast, so I have to decide fast too... :confused: what now? Btw the reason for not choosing 2900xt was the heat, noise, and bill for electricity.. I'm not sure now..
And for the PSU, last line didn't copy, my bad. I chose Seasonic S12II-500 500W. Is there really need to have 750W PSU for computer like this?
I also looked on the ram list, and I have found out, that there is almost no 100% certainty to get modules with chips what you want. Maybe when you buy some 1066mhz modules you'll get nice Micron chips. Anyway, I can buy Corsair, Kingston, A-Data, Aeneon, Zeppelin, Kingmax, Patriot, OCZ, but it differs from shop to shop. And I could buy Geil's too, but they don't sell them anymore :(

to L'enFer: what means 2 S-Flex fans? And why not Ninja? It's only 1$ cheaper than Infinity. Don't see that much difference between them. And no, I didn't choose BOX version because of longer warranty, I chose it, because they don't sell not-BOXed versions. Yeah, bad luck.

to SSXeon: I like your build a lot, but I can only say, that it's a shame I can't buy for that money. For example, Ultra extreme cost here above 100$ without fan. Funny, isn't it? Upgrade from E6750 to Q6600 will cost me exactly 100$. 360$ for Q6600 by the way. Overall, everything you wrote is cheaper than my stuff.

to Perkam: No, I'm not Nvidia-inclined, just what I wrote above - heat, noise, "price per watt", and quite nice performance even with AA on, just thought Nvidia was better (GTS640 vs 2900xt).

Thanks for response.

[SSXeon]

If he is buying a GTS, he is Nvidia-inclined, hence he`ll be better off waiting for the 8800GT coming next month.

Other than that, SSXeon`s rig looks good.

Perkam

:D Yeah or a nice HD2950XT. ;)

Wow I'm surprised that so many people reacted that quickly. So to be correct, I will answer to everything.

to zanzabar: Yes, I chose Nvidia, because they didn't sell 2900 pro in three shops, where can I buy. Before few minutes, they refreshed their list, and whoopa there are two cards coming: Sapphire 2900pro 512mb and 1gb version... But probably they will be buyed really fast, so I have to decide fast too... :confused: what now? Btw the reason for not choosing 2900xt was the heat, noise, and bill for electricity.. I'm not sure now..
And for the PSU, last line didn't copy, my bad. I chose Seasonic S12II-500 500W. Is there really need to have 750W PSU for computer like this?
I also looked on the ram list, and I have found out, that there is almost no 100% certainty to get modules with chips what you want. Maybe when you buy some 1066mhz modules you'll get nice Micron chips. Anyway, I can buy Corsair, Kingston, A-Data, Aeneon, Zeppelin, Kingmax, Patriot, OCZ, but it differs from shop to shop. And I could buy Geil's too, but they don't sell them anymore :(

to L'enFer: what means 2 S-Flex fans? And why not Ninja? It's only 1$ cheaper than Infinity. Don't see that much difference between them. And no, I didn't choose BOX version because of longer warranty, I chose it, because they don't sell not-BOXed versions. Yeah, bad luck.

to SSXeon: I like your build a lot, but I can only say, that it's a shame I can't buy for that money. For example, Ultra extreme cost here above 100$ without fan. Funny, isn't it? Upgrade from E6750 to Q6600 will cost me exactly 100$. 360$ for Q6600 by the way. Overall, everything you wrote is cheaper than my stuff.

to Perkam: No, I'm not Nvidia-inclined, just what I wrote above - heat, noise, "price per watt", and quite nice performance even with AA on, just thought Nvidia was better (GTS640 vs 2900xt).

Thanks for response.


O sorry yeah USA owns with cheap parts. Where do live btw?

[zanzabar]

teh 2900xt is $150-$200 more for 5% more perforce and way more heat

and try to get some corsair dominator ram that stuff always has micron dims and will oc

[SSXeon]

teh 2900xt is $150-$200 more for 5% more perforce and way more heat

and try to get some corsair dominator ram that stuff always has micron dims and will oc

That stuff is alot more tho, he would be better off with some nice cheap XMS2 800Mhz mem. Memory shouldnt be too expensive where he lives.

[zanzabar]

xms2 is promos, that defeats the purpose and in the states dominator 800mhz is only like $25 more

[SSXeon]

xms2 is promos, that defeats the purpose and in the states dominator 800mhz is only like $25 more

Neweggs out of the cas4 dom but there its a good $50 more. Is there a better place to get memory for cheaper? Thanx.

[NickS]

why not get the 2900pro 512mb its cheaper than the gts320 and outperforms it in nearly every benchmark and keeps up with the gtx and 2900xt when u have no aa


and i dont see a psu listed, ide go with teh corsair 550hx or silverstone op750 depending on the budget that u have left


also i just looked ur ur ram on the ram list and its promos so that if u want 900mhz ram those might get buged, what country are u in and or hwat other brands are avalable

+1. Heres my list. Combines silence, style & great cost/performance/upgradability IMO.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017)
Mobo: Abit IP35 (P35 Chipset) (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813127029)
Memory: Crucial Lanfest 2GB DDR2-800 (Guaranteed D9) (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820148144)
GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD 2900 Pro 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102706)
Sound: X-Fi XtremeGamer (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16829102006)
HDD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 "AS" (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148136)
Optical: Lite-On 20x DVD+RW LightScribe SATA (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827106073)
Case: Coolermaster CM690 Midtower (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119137)
PSU: Enermax Infiniti 650w (http://www.directron.com/ein650awt.html)

And for cooling..

CPU: Thermalright Ultra-120 Xtreme (http://petrastechshop.com/thulhecpucos.html)
Case Fans (x3): Yate-Loon 140MM 25dBa (http://petrastechshop.com/14yalod1cafa.html) (yeah, the case takes 140mm's)
Heatsink Fan: Yate Loon D12SL-L (http://petrastechshop.com/12yalod1cafa.html)(The one, the only)

GRAND TOTAL:
$1366.86 USD + Shipping & Handling

If you want to save a few bux, shrink down the HDD to a 320GB. Have a nice day ;)

[LagunaX]

I was wondering when someone would replace the WD Caviar with the 7200.10 Barracuda...

[zanzabar]

have u guys been paying attention he cant use newegg and has local shops that dont carry half of teh stuff that u are linking, and on the ram, unless u want to buy 1066mhz the best ocable 6400 in the brand group that he posted was corsair domination (not xms) since thats teh only micron based

[L'enFer]

to L'enFer: what means 2 S-Flex fans? And why not Ninja?
i mean stock Infinity fan is not good enough. there were many tests confirming that Infinity is better with 2 fans in push-push/pull-push configuration (it depends on whether your will use it in or out of the case). S-Flex fans (http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/002/sflex_detail.html) are very good fans, but they're overpriced a little. Yate Loon are also very attractive and silent fans that are cheaper.
check out this thread: OCPulse Heatsink Showdown! Comprehensive Air Cooling Roundup (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158187). may be it will help you to choose a heatsink.

[wiz.joe]

Um forums didn't work for me yesterday. Anyway, few things changed since last time. But firstly I will response to you, nice people helping me ;)

2 zanzabar: When exactly are these new 8800gt and 2950 coming? Is it worth to wait for them? And now, I'm really considering switching from 8800gts 320 to 2900pro 512. Prices are like this in shop where I'm gonna buy this stuff (I'm from Slovakia, middle Europe)

SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 2900PRO, 512 MB DDR3, PCI Express x16, 2xDVI/ VIVO - 340$ (8520 crowns in my country btw :))
SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD 2900PRO, 1GB DDR4, PCI Express x16, 2xDVI/ VIVO - 416$ (10 400,-)
BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC, 320MB DDR3, PCI Express x16, TVout, HDTV, 2xDVI - 398$ (9959,-)
BFG GeForce 8800GTS OC, 640MB DDR3, PCI Express x16, HDTV, 2xDVI - 507$ (12 691,-)
BFG GeForce 8800GTX OC, 768MB DDR3, PCI Express x16, HDTV, 2xDVI - 708$ (17 702,-)

2 NickS: nice stuff, but almost half of those things aren't around here, like no crucial memories, no abit mobos, no fans like that..

2 L'enFer: and what about Noctua NH-U12F it's like 73$ here, Infinity costs 63$ and if I want to add next S-Flex (21$ more), what will be better, like price/noise/heat overall. Hope you know what I mean :)

And what about RAMs? Are these the real dominators with micron chips?
http://www.alza.sk/2gb-kit-2x1gb-ddr2-800mhz-pc6400-cl4-4-4-12-corsair-twinx-xms2-dominator-dhx-box-epp-vhodne-pro-dualchannel-d75585.htm Or will I have to buy some waay more expensive modules? I will probably stick with A-Data Vitesta, don't know the possibility of getting Promos chips, but according to http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/ you can get some with Micron chips too. Do you know how is it about their new revisions of Vitesta?
Finally I wouldn't look at price, if it is under 200$. Of course in our prices it is way less money than on newegg or whatever, so just for illustrating our prices:

2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 CL4-4-4-12 PATRIOT Extreme Performance Low Latency, EPP, SLI-Ready - 156$
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 A-DATA Extreme Edition Vitesta RETAIL BOX - 99$
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz PC8500 A-DATA Extreme Edition Vitesta RETAIL BOX - 240$
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 CL4-4-4-12 CORSAIR TWINX XMS2 Black BOX, EPP - 117$
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 CL4-4-4-12 CORSAIR TWINX XMS2 PRO Platinum BOX, EPP - 267$ O.o
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz PC6400 CL4-4-4-12 CORSAIR TWINX XMS2 DOMINATOR DHX BOX, EPP - 159$ (grey heatspreader with orange stripe)
2GB (KIT 2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz PC8500 CL5-5-5-15 CORSAIR TWINX XMS2 DOMINATOR DHX BOX, EPP - 230$ (dark black heatspreader)

The question is, that if it's worth the money, like 100$ more for 5% difference. That would be stupid, you know, I'm still student :rolleyes:
It's starting to really piss me off, I'm still not decided. :am:

PSU - can't buy Silverstone here.. just Corsair, Thermaltake, Seasonic, Enermax, OCZ, Fortron, Chieftec, Akasa, Tagan, Yesico, ... so pretty nice variety of PSUs here.

Sound - I decided on X-Fi extreme, that should work.

Cooling - I just saw one test, where Scythe S-Flex got better results than NF-S12-1200. As the price is almost the same, I will probably be picking two of them, one in and one out for CM 330 case. Nobody said anything bad on this case as I browsed threads... Is the default fan, which comes with that case good? Hope for nice scuttle inside the case so... :)

Thanks for response to much more stupid stuff from me, but I would like to order computer as soon as possible, um, maybe if you convince me to wait, I'll wait :)

[zanzabar]

at that price the 2900 512 is the winner in price/performance

for ram i guess try and find the oldest kit of partiot 800mhz that will be ur best chance for micron at a reasonable price (and the grey heat spreader isnt dominator from xms)


and for psu if they cary ocz do they carry the pc power adn cooling 750W with duel 8 pin (ocz bought them so they might have it) if not go for a seasonic if it fits in the budget


for the 2950 it is supposed to beat the 2900xt while being midrange and low power, but u will need a pci-e2 mb for it so u would have to spend the $300+ for an x38 chipset



edit ---
i dont know about shipping or other expenses but the for sale section u can get micron dimmed chips and the price might even be better than ur local shop

[L'enFer]

2 L'enFer: and what about Noctua NH-U12F it's like 73$ here, Infinity costs 63$ and if I want to add next S-Flex (21$ more), what will be better, like price/noise/heat overall. Hope you know what I mean
look at this comparison: Noctua NH-U12F vs. Scythe Infinity vs. Tuniq Tower (http://www.roclockers.net/review/noctua-nh-u12f-vs.-scythe-infinity-vs.-tuniq-tower.html).

[wiz.joe]

2900pro is already sold out, I wasn't at home last few days so I didn't have opportunity to buy this rig finally. So I will stick with these setup:

MB: ASUS P5K-E Wifi - no non-wifi version here :mad:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 BOX
CPU cooler: Scythe Infinity SCINF-1000 with 2 S-Flex 1200 fans in PUSH/PULL (thanks L'enFer :))
Graphics: BFG GF8800GTS 320MB DDR3 OC - because there will be no 2900pro around for at least 2 or more weeks now :mad:
HDD: Western Digital Caviar RE 3.5" 320GB WD3200YS - any difference between AAKS and YS except price?
RAM: A-Data Vitesta EE 2048MB (kit 2x1GB) 800+ MHz - no $$$ for dominators and no nicer option here
Sound: Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi XtremeGamer 24-bit 7.1 retail
Case: Cooler Master Elite 330 - will everything fit in this case? thinking especially about infinity :)
PSU: SEASONIC S12-550 Energy+ or SEASONIC M12-600, 600W
DVD: Samsung SH-S203B black OEM
Cooling: 2x Noctua NF-S12-1200 / 2x Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 1200rpm for cooling case in/out - same price, just found in some review that scythe has bigger cfm and has bigger intake? like it soaks better than noctua..

These are my very last questions I hope, because I can't change almost nothing in computer due to my budget and I'm 95% ok with this rig. Um, maybe I can change, but I see no point. Thanks for response and please, try to answer everything so I can finally order it :)

[cloned]

i would upgrade the video card to a 640 MB 8800 GTS or get an EVGA 320 MB 8800 GTS and upgrade to a 640 MB 8800 GTS or a 8800 GTX with the step-up program if it is available in your country.

but other than that it looks pretty good and your case should hold everything fine, you may have to move your HD out of the way