Advice On New Rig

[drtitanium0]

In few months I will be building a whole new rig for my self. It is extremely important to me that it will be relatively silent while idling as it is about 6 feet away from where I sleep. My budget is around $1400 and this includes new keyboard,mouse, monitor, optical drives, and mouse pad. Here's what I was thinking so far:

Lian Li PC 7B- $100
Asus P5Q Pro- $140
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale- $170
mushkin XP ASCENT 4GB DDR2 1066 (2x2GB)- $115
2xWestern Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS- $170
Corsair 750 TX- 100
EVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB (already own)
LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner X2- $24
Samsung 245BW- $400
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D- $13
Tuniq Tower- $40

TOTAL w/ Shipping: $1353

Please let me know what you think I should change/keep the same.

[MomijiTMO]

Hmm I would go with a Q6600 over the yorkies because they are so much cheaper and OC pretty well too.

The E8600 might be a better option if this rig's soul purpose is gaming.

[drtitanium0]

I do some light gaming mostly counter-strike source and a story driven FPS every once in a while(although I did give up on crysis because of my poor frame rates). I use the computer mostly for video/photo editing, encoding video, and of course gaming. So do you think it would be better to future proof my rig with a quad core,if so which one, or just get a dual?

[zanzabar]

i would get the 750TX instead they are like $15 apart, and i would get a samsung over the seagate for a 750GB, unless u go 330GB u shouldent get a seagate, and i would suggest the 660 black WD, or samsung 1TB f1 they use 333GB platers and are the fastest 7200RPM

[drtitanium0]

i would get the 750TX instead they are like $15 apart, and i would get a samsung over the seagate for a 750GB, unless u go 330GB u shouldent get a seagate, and i would suggest the 660 black WD, or samsung 1TB f1 they use 333GB platers and are the fastest 7200RPM
Thanks, for the suggestions I updated the specs in the original post. My only remaining questions are:

1. q9300, q6600, or e8600?
2. Is that the best RAM for the money?
3. Would upgrading to an HD 4870 make that much of a difference from my 8800 gts?
4. Is the samsung 245BW the best 24 inch display for ~400.
5. What keyboard do you think I should get? I currently have a saitek eclipse and am unhappy with it because the space bar broke within the first 2 weeks of use.

[zanzabar]

i would go e8600, and that ram is the best

for grafix if u could stay were u are now and get a q9650 that would be the best IMO

[Spoobs]

8800 hundred series cards are in no position to be replaced IMO. Yes the new ATI cards are raping it 3d Mark wise and a bit more FPS wise but to replace your card with a newer one seems a bit unnecessary.

As of my understanding few games even take advatage of the full potential the of dual core CPUs, i think other types of CPUs may come out, the new ... I1? or something like that from intel is supposedly coming soon. So i recommend picking up something small like a wolfy which is more than enough for games until we see what new CPUS come out.

I heard the Dell Ultra SHarps are one of the best monitors that can be bought. Samsung is no joke either though. I think either way you will be happy with ur LCD. LG is supposedly also another great monitor CO.

[drtitanium0]

i would go e8600, and that ram is the best

for grafix if u could stay were u are now and get a q9650 that would be the best IMO
A q9650 is definitely out of the question budget wise.


8800 hundred series cards are in no position to be replaced IMO. Yes the new ATI cards are raping it 3d Mark wise and a bit more FPS wise but to replace your card with a newer one seems a bit unnecessary.
That's exactly what I was thinking in the first place thanks for confirming that.


I heard the Dell Ultra SHarps are one of the best monitors that can be bought. Samsung is no joke either though. I think either way you will be happy with ur LCD. LG is supposedly also another great monitor CO.
The Ultra Sharps are definitely what I want to get but the 24 inch ultra sharp costs ~$600 so I guess I'll stick with samsung.
__________________

[Xel'Naga]

I use the computer mostly for video/photo editing, encoding video
They will greatly benefit from a quad.
I would recommend the q6600 if you plan to OC the crap out of your CPU. Otherwise, the q9300.

[drtitanium0]

They will greatly benefit from a quad.
I would recommend the q6600 if you plan to OC the crap out of your CPU. Otherwise, the q9300.
I'll probably just stick with the q9300 since I plan on just using stock cooling.

[Fragger]

Stock cooling and you want it to be quite? Good luck.

[adamsleath]

I do some light gaming mostly counter-strike source and a story driven FPS every once in a while(although I did give up on crysis because of my poor frame rates). I use the computer mostly for video/photo editing, encoding video, and of course gaming

quad core. q6600 or q9400
cheap one.

crysis is horribly grfx bound, and cs is so old as to render any upgrade for it unnecessary.

A TRUE 120 and silent 1200rpm fan like noctua p12 or s-flex.

[Chruschef]

The processor choice can be broken down pretty easily,
the Q6600 and E8400 are about equal in price range and will perform accordingly; but I think because more and more games are going multithreaded, especially with nehalem(8 cores, 16 hyper threads) coming out, that number will spike. It also clocks if you get the right batch. Make sure to go retail, not OEM.

Your gfx card doesn't need upgrading for CS, but if you plan on playing some of these newer games coming out, especially like Far Cry2(which looks great) it will need some upgrading. But chrismas is just around the corner. ::P:

Do you really need 750 gigs of memory, and there are quite a few better hard drives.

[drtitanium0]

The processor choice can be broken down pretty easily,
the Q6600 and E8400 are about equal in price range and will perform accordingly; but I think because more and more games are going multithreaded, especially with nehalem(8 cores, 16 hyper threads) coming out, that number will spike. It also clocks if you get the right batch. Make sure to go retail, not OEM.

Your gfx card doesn't need upgrading for CS, but if you plan on playing some of these newer games coming out, especially like Far Cry2(which looks great) it will need some upgrading. But chrismas is just around the corner. ::P:

Do you really need 750 gigs of memory, and there are quite a few better hard drives.

I think I've settled on the q9450. Yes, I do need the 750 gigs of memory because I currently have 400 gigs with my 250 gig internal and 150 gig external and I am constantly deleting stuff to make room. Which hard drive would you suggest?

[Chruschef]

Why wouldn't you buy a Q9550? I'm pretty sure it's maybe 5$ more, and slightly faster by 200mhz. I'd pay 5$ for 200mhz.

Well, I'm strongly biased reguarding hard drives to western digital, and I don't know anything about the samsung drive's reliability... Samsung as a company is usually very reliable.

[drtitanium0]

I just chose the samsung drive based what zanzabar said. If you have better option please inform me.

[perkam]

Did you check the official guide? :shrug:

This rig is far superior:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $275
ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail - $200
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $150
GPU - You Have One
2 X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $180
LG Black 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ SecurDisc Tech - $25
Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $135
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - $130

Total: $1,095

Total w/Shipping etc: $1,150 + $250 of w/e you need = $1,400

No need for the quad unless you have a practical use for it (games prefer high frequencies).

Perkam

[zanzabar]

Did you check the official guide? :shrug:

This rig is far superior:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $275
ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail - $200
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $150
GPU - You Have One
2 X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $180
LG Black 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ SecurDisc Tech - $25
Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $135
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - $130

Total: $1,095

Total w/Shipping etc: $1,150 + $250 of w/e you need = $1,400

No need for the quad unless you have a practical use for it (games prefer high frequencies).

Perkam

:up: , except for the case

and assent is better than dominator but both are good

[drtitanium0]

Did you check the official guide? :shrug:

This rig is far superior:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $275
ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard - Retail - $200
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $150
GPU - You Have One
2 X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $180
LG Black 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ SecurDisc Tech - $25
Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $135
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - $130

Total: $1,095

Total w/Shipping etc: $1,150 + $250 of w/e you need = $1,400

No need for the quad unless you have a practical use for it (games prefer high frequencies).

Perkam

The problems I have with that are:

1. I hate the look of that case and I can't use the fans because of the flashy lights next to my bed.

2. What's the advantage to having 2 hard drives? (I've heard of RAID but don't know what the advantage is/how to set it up.)

3. I'm going to need alot more than $250 to get my mouse, keyboard, mouse pad, and monitor. I figure the monitor will cost around $400 alone.

[MomijiTMO]

You don't sound like the RAID type [neither am I]. I can't really afford to have an array fail on me.

I think the recommendation was for their Gb per price [and 2 platters I guess].

[B.E.E.F.]

E8400 or E8500, and crank up the FSB.

I will vouch for the Noctua P12. Its very quiet. Pushes alot of air. The Noctua Silent series 800rpm and 1200rpm are a little annoying. Quiet, but they have a little bit of a buzz.

[drtitanium0]

What I probably should mention is that I might not be able to change processors/motherboards for another 3-5 years and that is why I was leaning towards the Quads. With this factored in do you still think it is better to get a dual or would a quad be the better choice for "future-proofing" my rig.

[drtitanium0]

Just to let everyone know I have ditched my stock cooling plans and I am going to get the TRUE 120 with that noctua fan mentioned above. I'll probably have to come back to the forum for help because I have never mounted anything but stock cooling on a CPU before. Also, can anyone confirm that the TRUE 120 will fit on the p5q pro without blocking any dimm slots or something like that?

[alex_UK]

Regarding the monitor i would get the Asus MK241H 24" Widescreen HDMI/HDCP LCD HD Monitor - Black...
I dont know what you like in dell monitors...they are all overpriced for what you get and 6ms response???
Have a look at the specs of Asus...

[drtitanium0]

Regarding the monitor i would get the Asus MK241H 24" Widescreen HDMI/HDCP LCD HD Monitor - Black...
I dont know what you like in dell monitors...they are all overpriced for what you get and 6ms response???
Have a look at the specs of Asus...
Dell monitors are some of the best around there sharpness is equal to no other consumer grade monitor I have ever seen. When a company says that their monitor has a 2ms response that usually means it is closer to 5, or at least that's what they say in Turok's LCD Buyer's Guide.

[B.E.E.F.]

Just to let everyone know I have ditched my stock cooling plans and I am going to get the TRUE 120 with that noctua fan mentioned above. I'll probably have to come back to the forum for help because I have never mounted anything but stock cooling on a CPU before. Also, can anyone confirm that the TRUE 120 will fit on the p5q pro without blocking any dimm slots or something like that?

Look at this review of the HR-01 vs the Ultra 120:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article842-page1.html

[drtitanium0]

Well, as you can see I have decided to back out of getting a quad core or even a e8600 due to the overwhelming price and the fact that I will try to save up for Nehalem in 1&1/2 years. Newegg was out of TRUE 120s so I am thinking about getting the Tuniq Tower instead. If anybody knows any better heatsinks that newegg has in stock please post a link here.

[Chruschef]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109133

the heatsink with duct, improves performance.. In the reviews they don't use it
my buddy has got one of these, and he's got his Q6600 at 3.9ghz, stable with it(i don't know exact temps)... Ideally it works best in a push/pull. Pushinng air into the tunnel, pulling out the other end of the heatsink. You have to purchase fans on your own by the way.

[drtitanium0]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109133

the heatsink with duct, improves performance.. In the reviews they don't use it
my buddy has got one of these, and he's got his Q6600 at 3.9ghz, stable with it(i don't know exact temps)... Ideally it works best in a push/pull. Pushinng air into the tunnel, pulling out the other end of the heatsink. You have to purchase fans on your own by the way.

I said I need a heatsink that is in stock.

[Chruschef]

it was in stock like ten minutes ago!