LeanWolf

Hi Guys!

I've talked about it for some time now and I'm finally going to do it: buy an all new rig! I could really use your advice as I'm no hardware guru.

It'll be used for pretty much everything: games, home cinema, 3D modelling, heavy image processing, surfing, etc.

I want it to be FAST!, i'm using my old P3 lappy to do all those things and I'm tired of waiting for tasks to finish.

What I was thinking:

• CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo (maybe even Quad, would it be worth it?)
• GFX - nVidia (what's really good but still value for the money?)
• mobo - no idea, help!
• PSU - again no idea
• RAM - should 2 Gigs do it? (advice on exact kind would be appreciated)
• HDD - at least 500 GB (again advise)
• OS - time to try Vista (Home Premium?)
• sound - no idea, something decent to plug into my kickass Yamaha receiver
• screen - big LCD
• case - help!
• fans - help!
• DVD - +/-RW
  

Hmm, checking the list I see I know even less than I thought! Well any advice is appreciated. This'll be the first rig I assemble myself so nothing too complicated please.

Also I live in Luxembourg and will probably buy in Germany, so any good computer stores/online dealers would also help.

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temeteus82

Q6600 for cpu. It's around 250€ might be lower in Germany. 2 Gb ram Vista Home Premium....

[EDIT] You might want to look them here : www.pixmania.lu

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>GSXR<mrbusa

If researching and looking at performance numbers for the hardware for a system that you will be using is not fun then what is the point? Your first step is to determine a budget. There is allot of hardware that could range from a few hundred to ten thousand+, USD, for a whole system. The resolution you are going to be gaming at is a big determining factor in picking your components.

ChaosMinionX

Give you a sweet deal on a Xeon3060 dualcore LGA775

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Grace

My favourite kind of thread. Alright, let's get to it.



CPU : E6850 or Q6600. The Quad will certainly be faster if multi-multitasking but the E6850 will currently rule in games and typical applications. I'd get the Quad if you plan to keep this PC for years.

Motherboard : Plenty of choices there, the Asus P5K-Deluxe or Gigabyte P35-DS4 are fine examples. I need to know if you have any favourite makers.

Memory : 2 gigs will be fine for now, you can add another 2 later. The cheapest 800MHz 2GB kit will be fine.

GPU : If you are a casual gamer, an 8800GTS will be a good choice.

PSU : Something in the 700-850W range will do for a long time to come. Have a look on Be-Quiet units.

HDD : As long as it says Seagate, it will be fine. A 500GB drive, two, three, you choose. 2 will be more than enough I guess.

OS : Vista Home Premium sounds just fine.

Audio : You don't need one, high definition audio on-board, use an optical or coaxial plug depending on what your motherboard will give you.

DVD-RW : A NEC SATA drive will be fine.



The screen and case are matters of personal preference. How big you need the screen to be? The case is a subjective matter, I cannot recommend something that I like because you might not like it at all! You need to give us some options or some clue at least.



Here, if these are too expensive or something bothers you, just let me know.

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ChaosMinionX

@Grace - hatin' on the Western Digitals

And building on the ram thing, you can get 4GB of DDR2 800 memory right now for dirt cheap.

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RaveneR

i've just helped my friend build a rig:

Asus Striker Extreme M/B DDR2-800
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.0Ghz
OCZ 1GB DDR2-800Mhz x2
Leadtek Winfast 8800GTS 640MB
Coolermaster PurePower 650W
Coolermaster Cosmos Casing

Total: SGD2503

maybe leanwolf can use this as a guide and maybe the others can give comments on his future rig based on this?

LeanWolf

Ok thanks so much for your input! I've done a little research and this is what I'm leaning towards:

Corsair PC XMS2 Xtreme Perf TwinX matched DDR2-800 (2x1024)
Intel Core 2 Q6600
Sparkle 8800GTS 640MB
GigaByte GA-P35-DS4
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB
NEC DVD+/-RW
Fortron Epsilon 800W
coolerMaster CPU Eclipse
Thermaltake Soprano case

screen: 22" LCD wide (looking at Asus)

ok some further stupid questions:
will i need thermal paste?
is a dvd player needed in addition to the burner?
if i get two HDDs, do i need anything special to set them up in a RAID config?
32 or 64 bit Vista? would going 64 mean all my software's useless?

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temeteus82

64-bit Vista has emulation software so it can run 32-bit apps. I recommend get the 32-bit since you can move to 64-bit just by ordering the media from MS. CPU coolers have their own thermal paste in the cooler or in separate tube. But if you can get AC's MX2 then I recommend you to get it. If you have DVD-writer that's all you need for DVD's. For RAID you need only to read the manual and read how to setup the RAID array.

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Grace

There is no such thing as a stupid question. The only stupid thing is to be afraid to ask something you want to know.


Not necessarily, thermal paste will be included with the cooler you'll buy. It will be good enough. Better won't hurt but it won't make much of a difference (matter of fact, no difference if you don't plan to squeeze every last MHz out of the CPU).

No, not needed. If you copy a lot of DVD's it would be more speedy as you can copy on-the-fly (reading and copying at the same time) but otherwise, no.

Nothing special needed, you just need to set them up in the BIOS.

64 bit will run all of 32 bit software just fine, they are backwards compatible. Some older applications do not work properly but that goes for all Vista versions. I'd get the 64 bit if I were you, no reason why not to.

You might want to re-think about this case. The Soprano is good looking but not a high quality case. Its plastic parts break easily.

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ChaosMinionX

If your going 22" wide screen, Samsung 226BW 22" cant be beat, unless you get that new dell thats got a better color gamut.

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LeanWolf

Thanks again guys, you all rock!

That Samsung is better, and only a few euro more. Thanks ChaosM!

Grace: damn I looked at alot of cases and thought the soprano not only looked pretty cool, but came with lots of fans and was relatively cheap. What would you recommend if I said I want sturdy and proper venting/fans. Besides that I don't really care about looks. Oh and a couple of USB, a firewire and audio jacks in the front somewhere would be nice.

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Grace

That's a complicated matter because looks are very important as well and it all depends on what you are willing to spend.


A few examples of my personal preferences are:

Antec P180
NZXT Adamas
Lian Li PC7B

As you can guess, my taste lies on simple, elegant cases. Any of these will get the job done, but they are normal ATX cases, just well designed and built.

An example of a case with very good ventilation is the Antec Nine Hundred, but that'll be noisy.

You got to choose the case YOU like according to your needs. The Soprano will be ok if you are gentle with it too, I just don't like the low quality plastic parts myself.

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temeteus82

Get the Antec P182! I got P180 and I've been running some issues with PSU wires ...

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jdc0589

Lian-Li PC60 PlusII (black). I love mine. Installing 8800 series cards is tricky though, shoot me a pm and I will give you some tips.

Once everything is installed its a great case and wont break the bank.

Ditto on the 226bw, cant be beaten for the price.

LeanWolf

Hmm ok I'll change the case, don't like the sound of cheap plastic bits.
probably go with the antec p182, no Lians on pixmania at least

Thanks again!

guess I'll order on Monday

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PangingJr

check out SilverStone Tech TJ10/09/07, or Cooler Master Stacker 83x for your computer case.

as for Lian-Li cases, atm i think only A10's and A16's are good and seem to be usable the most.

caqde

I would also look at the original Stacker the thing is a tank.. Steel/Aluminum built like a rock.

A note on this if you plan on getting over 2GB of ram I would get a 64-bit OS as a 32-bit OS will ONLY have access to 4GB - VideoMemory - Restricted memory space (640KB conventional + other old DOS compatibility stuff....). Applications in a 32-bit OS are restricted to 2GB of space or 3GB if they are aware of the extended Pagemode command. Which is basically useless... But anyways for the use of 3Dmodelling and Image Processing I would keep this in mind as you might be able to go over 2GB of RAM. You can always dual boot Windows 32bit and 64bit if need be for compatibility until Microsoft fixes all of the issues with the 64bit version.

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AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3/ Giga-byte MA790XT-UD4P
XFX HD5770 1GB / 2x2GB of GSKILL DDR3 10666 8-8-8-23
Samsung SH-S182D DVD-RW drive / Samsung SH-S222A DVD-RW drive
Western Digital 7500AACS(Primary)/Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb(Secondary)/Western Digital 3200KS 16MB 7200rpm SATAII HD(Secondary)
Fortron AX500-A PSU / CoolerMaster CMStacker
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX / Creative Inspire 6600 6.1 speakers
Samsuugn T200HD 20" LCD Monitor / Logitech Internet 350 Black Keyboard
Logitech MX510 Mouse