Finally finished my first-ever build! What upgrades for $550?

Hey guys.

I've finished my first PC build ever. I know what I'm doing in terms of hardware, but the whole voltage/OC/yadda yadda stuff really confuses me, so I don't really post much here :p:

But, I was wondering, is there anything that I can visibly improve on? I've taken a few pictures of it all set up. Please keep in mind that I have about $500 more to sink into this, this was just temporary.

Anyway, the specs of it are in my signature. Right now it's at 2.64GHz... I know, iMpathetic. :D

So... the pictures.

Thanks a lot for your help! (BTW, my apologies for having the side panel on.)

http://img.skitch.com/20080613-7hkrx...9qg73ueepr.jpg
http://img.skitch.com/20080613-dp3ix...wg5a784fi5.jpg
http://img.skitch.com/20080613-wrj68...w21uj12wu9.jpg

For starters that vid card is way underpowered for that 24" screen. With an extra $500 in the budget you should have gone for an 8800GT at least, given that you have a SLi board even two of them. Also, please tell me that PSU is a Toughpower model. Other than that your build looks reasonably clean and well cable-managed, good stuff :)

is he using the PSU that came with the case :eek:

According to the sig it's a Thermaltake PSU of some description. I'm hoping out hope that it's a Toughpower, but from the pics above I'm not terribly hopeful.

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Originally Posted by SoulsCollective

For starters that vid card is way underpowered for that 24" screen. With an extra $500 in the budget you should have gone for an 8800GT at least, given that you have a SLi board even two of them. Also, please tell me that PSU is a Toughpower model. Other than that your build looks reasonably clean and well cable-managed, good stuff :)

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Yeah, I knew I should have gone with the 8800GT, but I didn't have the money until a day ago. Funnily enough, the most extreme game I've ever played is Halo, and I suck at that. :p

Actually, I got home and realized it was an Ultra PSU, but it's not the one that came with the case. :)

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Originally Posted by ripken204

is he using the PSU that came with the case :eek:

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^^^

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Originally Posted by SoulsCollective

According to the sig it's a Thermaltake PSU of some description. I'm hoping out hope that it's a Toughpower, but from the pics above I'm not terribly hopeful.

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Yeah, I'm not sure of how great of a brand Ultra is for PSUs, but a friend of mine (NetburstXE on here) told me Ultra wasn't that bad.

So, guys.... upgrades? Thanks a ton for your help!

Oh, I forgot, said friend wants me to get a "real" motherboard. Getting to 3GHz or 3.2GHz on my current mobo and cooling is all I really care about, should I bother upgrading?

(If it helps any, at 2.5ish GHz, my CPU is at 1.33V.)

That Ultra psu is totally fine man. I run the same on on my X3210 rig with a 2900pro & an oc of 3.6g, it runs 24/7 crunching WCG.

Ps. Like that wallpaper border, got that in my sons bedroom :p:

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Originally Posted by iMpathetic

Oh, I forgot, said friend wants me to get a "real" motherboard. Getting to 3GHz or 3.2GHz on my current mobo and cooling is all I really care about, should I bother upgrading?

(If it helps any, at 2.5ish GHz, my CPU is at 1.33V.)

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get a passive heatsink for your southbridge,
the p5n-e sli has none there and it gets hot

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Originally Posted by Jowy Atreides

get a passive heatsink for your southbridge,
the p5n-e sli has none there and it gets hot

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How much do they cost/can I find them at newegg?

Thanks.

Oh, is the P5N-E SLI really a bad mobo?

D'oh! It's an Ultra PSU! :ROTF:

Buying upgrades today.... Budget is exactly $550.

What I've been thinking...

- 4GB RAM
- Raptor 150
- 2X 9600GT (SLI)

Any thoughts?

The 4GB RAM will help with running Vista, and getting a decent video card, or sli.

Yeah, just listening to iTunes and browsing the web, I'm using over 1GB.

Are 9600GTs a good value?

You should get a decent sound system.

The graphics scheme is about to take a major change, so don't buy any graphics card in the next 3 weeks.
Anything you buy now will have its price cut by 50% or more, by then.

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Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

You should get a decent sound system.

The graphics scheme is about to take a major change, so don't buy any graphics card in the next 3 weeks.
Anything you buy now will have its price cut by 50% or more, by then.

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What, you mean the Altec Lansings I scavenged out of a dump trailer aren't the ultimate in desktop audio? :shocked::shakes:

Well, then.

Logitech Z-4s sound excellent. It's not like I'm going to be playing games or anything, anyway.

You should get a GTX 260

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Originally Posted by AfterAfx

You should get a GTX 260

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Great!

...uh, so are they the successor to the 8800GT?

I just built my first PC as well..

my only question is HOW DO USE THAT MOUSE...

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It's not like I'm going to be playing games or anything, anyway.

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Then why waste money on more video card power? If you're doing photoshop type stuff then more ram would be a much better investment. If it's audio stuff, then better speakers. What you plan to do with the system should be the determining factor in what to purchase.

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Originally Posted by Hockster

Then why waste money on more video card power? If you're doing photoshop type stuff then more ram would be a much better investment. If it's audio stuff, then better speakers. What you plan to do with the system should be the determining factor in what to purchase.

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</sarcasm>

Not playing Crysis though.

I'm going to speak in blunt terms, mkay? :D

I want it to be fast.
I want it to be pretty.
I want the upgrades for it to become faster and prettier to cost less than $550.

Well I'd be tempted to get a new motherboard, though it's not a horrible board but it has it's issues. If your keeping the motherboard and plan to overclock, definitely get a heatsink for the southbridge. I'd also replace the one on the northbridge as well since it gets rather hot. At the very least, rig up two 40mm fans onto the NB heatsink. I used the Noctua NC-U6 with a 60mm Panaflo fan on the NB and a slightly modified Enzotech CNB-S1L on the southbridge (had to drill out the mounting holes on the heatsink). Though I've gotten rid of my P5N-E SLI board.

If your not doing much high-end gaming, I don't see the need to waste money on a video card. Seems your more into daily stuff and listening to music.

So...
Some decent speakers
A sound card, perhaps an ASUS Xonar
4GB of RAM (assuming your running Vista x64)
New keyboard and mouse
Upgrade motherboard cooling or get a new motherboard

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Originally Posted by jdrom

Well I'd be tempted to get a new motherboard, though it's not a horrible board but it has it's issues. If your keeping the motherboard and plan to overclock, definitely get a heatsink for the southbridge. I'd also replace the one on the northbridge as well since it gets rather hot. At the very least, rig up two 40mm fans onto the NB heatsink. I used the Noctua NC-U6 with a 60mm Panaflo fan on the NB and a slightly modified Enzotech CNB-S1L on the southbridge (had to drill out the mounting holes on the heatsink). Though I've gotten rid of my P5N-E SLI board.

If your not doing much high-end gaming, I don't see the need to waste money on a video card. Seems your more into daily stuff and listening to music.

So...
Some decent speakers
A sound card, perhaps an ASUS Xonar
4GB of RAM (assuming your running Vista x64)
New keyboard and mouse
Upgrade motherboard cooling or get a new motherboard

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Thanks for your well thought-out post. :clap:

Anyway, as far as upgrades go, I'm looking into doing a few exchanges with a friend.

Basically, what would happen is I buy him a DFI board... I don't remember what kind.. and he's going to give me $20 and his P5K-E.

I'm also probably buying his Rocketfish case and putting my quad and the P5K-E in it. The old case will go with the P5N-E SLI board and an E7200, plus some RAM, an 8500GT, and a decent PSU.... plus an 80GB HDD I have lying around.

So, I'll have a nice second system.... but what would I do with it?

Would it be better to disappoint him and upgrade my system or build a second one and make him happy?

I'm torn. :(

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So, I'll have a nice second system.... but what would I do with it?

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:shrug:
start a folding farm with another quad? :ROTF:
i keep one as a backup for my sister :lol:
i have cables messy everywhere but they dont obstruct air flow :rolleyes:

get a nice sound card (base level xfi would do) and some speakers or nice headphones.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...abs-_-29102016

a razer mouse or somesuch...with a mouse pad.
etc
:yawn2:
e7200 and q6600 are certainly bang for yr buck chippies.
Intel Q3 prices are set to drop also.
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/654

i think the case youve shown in the pic looks quite good/neat.

let the dust settle on new graphics cards, if you get any in the near future.

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Originally Posted by adamsleath

:shrug:
start a folding farm with another quad? :ROTF:
i keep one as a backup for my sister :lol:
i have cables messy everywhere but they dont obstruct air flow :rolleyes:

get a nice sound card (base level xfi would do) and some speakers or nice headphones.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...abs-_-29102016

a razer mouse or somesuch...with a mouse pad.
etc
:yawn2:
e7200 and q6600 are certainly bang for yr buck chippies.
Intel Q3 prices are set to drop also.
http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/654

i think the case youve shown in the pic looks quite good/neat.

let the dust settle on new graphics cards, if you get any in the near future.

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Man, you know what I hate? Zoolander. :p:

I figured out what I'm doing with it.

FILE SERVER! W00T W00T!

Does anyone here actually have a built file server? How is it configured?

ULTRA's x3 line is great, but their other units are kinda weak... But i think you will be ok if you dont push it too hard.

I would get an better mobo for OC (in case your mobo is limiting you... i wouldnt change it if it can do around 400Mhz FSB), upgrade to 4Gb ram and wait fot the next gen GFX cards, they are coming soon enough.

Actually, we just tried 3GHz @ 1.3625V and it died. :( We spent 90 minutes trying to fix it before I noticed the CMOS jumper was set to 'reset', from when we reset it. :p:

The file server is getting more and more enticing.

Going out to Tigerdirect to buy my stuff today.

Looks like I'll be building a cheapish C2D.

Any thoughts?

You should look into ways to drop ram usage if your running Vista and using 1gig of ram with your browser and media player up, you should be able to drop it to right around half that. I know of someone who posted a nice little thread on some tips on how to do so, but I am having trouble finding it atm. Some light searching should give you some good tips on how to do so. Oh and as you probably know, if you upgrade to 4GB's of ram and you're not running 64-bit Vista/64-bit Xp, it won't recognize the full 4 gigs.

Also, the rocketfish (a division of Lian Li if you didn't know) is a nice case but that ultra looks very clean.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrockW

You should look into ways to drop ram usage if your running Vista and using 1gig of ram with your browser and media player up, you should be able to drop it to right around half that. I know of someone who posted a nice little thread on some tips on how to do so, but I am having trouble finding it atm. Some light searching should give you some good tips on how to do so. Oh and as you probably know, if you upgrade to 4GB's of ram and you're not running 64-bit Vista/64-bit Xp, it won't recognize the full 4 gigs.

Also, the rocketfish (a division of Lian Li if you didn't know) is a nice case but that ultra looks very clean.

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Yeah, I thought my RAM usage was ridiculously high, even for Vista.

If I end up upgrading instead of building a new system (which I might do) RAM would be the first order of business. However, I'm running 32-bit Vista.

BTW, the case is a frickin' fingerprint magnet. :(

Yeah, i believe the rocketfish has more of a matte finish and would be less of a problem that way.

There's the thread i was looking for, that's just a few tips, msconfig is a good place to start, just make sure you know what you're doing b4 you change things.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=56728

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Originally Posted by BrockW

Yeah, i believe the rocketfish has more of a matte finish and would be less of a problem that way.

There's the thread i was looking for, that's just a few tips, msconfig is a good place to start, just make sure you know what you're doing b4 you change things.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=56728

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Excellent, thank you! That should help me a lot.

As far as the rocketfish goes, if I can talk him down to $100, I'll buy it.

Unfortunately, a financial misunderstanding prevents me from spending any more than $125.

I was thinking.... Antec Nine Hundred ($80 AR, free shipping) and 2GB more RAM?