[AySz88]

Well, first, the parts I picked out...

• Case: APEVIA X-Navigator ATXA8NW-AL/500 - $130+16 from Newegg (but I'm not sure if I trust the included power supply, so...)
• PSU: SeaSonic M12 SS-700HM - $180 from Newegg (free shipping)
  
• Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R - $156+7.5 from ClubIT
• CPU: After the new Intel Core 2s come out at the end of the month, probably the Q6600. Budgeted about $300.
• Cooling: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT - $50 from Newegg
• Graphics: MSI NX8800GTS-T2D640E-HD OC GeForce 8800GTS 640MB (oddly cheaper than non-overclocked) - $350+7 from Newegg
• Memory: 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-8000 (already bought, was $85 from Buy.com)
• Optical: Sony NES Optiarc AW-Q170A-B2 - $31+5 from Newegg
• Optical 2: Lite-On combo drive - $28+6 from Newegg (trying both due to conflicting advice )
• Misc: NES Floppy drive, Aces multifunction card reader, and Arctic Silver 5, $36+7 from OutletPC
• Misc: Lapping Kit from Easy PC Kits, $8+6 from EasyPCKits

• PSU: SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM - $125+8 from Newegg
• Graphics: MSI 8800GTS-T2D320E-HDOC GeForce 8800GTS - $302 from onSale (free shipping)

That totals about $1350 plus $55ish shipping.

And I'm also thinking about the following, though I'm not sure if the gains will be worth the money - any thoughts?

• New mouse: Logitech G5 - 37.5+8 from Geeks.com (older version) or 54(+8) from Magnum-PC (newer)
• Cooling: Tuniq Tower 120, $47+9 from XPCGear (only $6 more than the Zalman, don't know if it'd fit)

• Audio: Audigy Sound Blaster - $24+11 from Magnum-PC
• Cooling: Cooler Master Aquagate S1 - $65(+11) from Magnum-PC (but can combine with the audio to save shipping)

...which would be potentially another $68.

I was trying for a couple of things here... I wanted to try some overclocking, and have some future-proofing for the next 4 or 5 years. I'm keeping to a price range of about $1250-1500, but I'm pretty much replacing my current desktop, so I don't need a keyboard or a monitor or such.

This is my first time building a system, so I've been basing my research from the ExtremeTech Bang for the Buck build and George Ou's Bang for the Buck blog post.

Thank you for comments, in advance!

Edited by AySz88, 08 July 2007 - 02:51 PM.

[Advertisements]

Everything is compatible.

You won't be able to add another drive as there is only one PATA slot on that motherboard. You'd have to get SATA.

If you want to overclock, aftermarket cooling is a must, please stay away from water cooling there are more things involded such as a resevoir and pump. Considering this is your first build, I highly recommend you don't buy liquid cooling.

That sound card is dated, you'll get the same performance from your onboard audio.

To save an extra bit of money you'll probably want to get either the E6650, if you overclock you won't notice a difference between this chip or the E6750. Otherwise you could purchase the current quads for more future proofing, they will retail much less at the end of July.

Don't trust the included power supply, I recommend you get a PSU will a little more juice, around 600W for future upgrades and head room for overclocking.

James

Edited by james_8970, 04 July 2007 - 11:40 PM.

[james_8970]

Everything is compatible.

You won't be able to add another drive as there is only one PATA slot on that motherboard. You'd have to get SATA.

If you want to overclock, aftermarket cooling is a must, please stay away from water cooling there are more things involded such as a resevoir and pump. Considering this is your first build, I highly recommend you don't buy liquid cooling.

That sound card is dated, you'll get the same performance from your onboard audio.

To save an extra bit of money you'll probably want to get either the E6650, if you overclock you won't notice a difference between this chip or the E6750. Otherwise you could purchase the current quads for more future proofing, they will retail much less at the end of July.

Don't trust the included power supply, I recommend you get a PSU will a little more juice, around 600W for future upgrades and head room for overclocking.

James

Edited by james_8970, 04 July 2007 - 11:40 PM.

[AySz88]

I think I'll stay away from the water cooling for now then. Ou described that particular model as "as easy to install as a normal air cooler" and thought that meant all the complex stuff was melded into the fan and heatsink. But I'm not really in a rush to try water cooling.

Is there something that would use IDE other than the optical drives? The motherboard specs say I should be able to put two devices on PATA (one master, one slave, I think). Or did I miss something that's using one up?

I think I'll drop the sound card and change the CPU. Do all the quad core CPUs also exhibit the same behavior (lower number not mattering) after overclocking? Thanks a lot.

[edit] About the PSUs...the 600W and 700W of the same model just seem to increase the max total amps on the 12V rails (per connector is always 18A) - would that still be better?

[edit2] Updated the top post, thinking about a better graphics card. The 700W and the 600W are almost the same price after shipping, so I just put down the 700W.

Edited by AySz88, 05 July 2007 - 11:53 AM.

[james_8970]

Quads a slightly more limited compared to Dual core as they are hotter, if you can keep the temps down there is no difference. Remember though you can always overclock, but you cannot add cores.

To my knowledge you can only have slave for Hard drives, not optical drives, also you cannot have a hard drive as well as a optical drive on the same PATA cable.

Water cooling is to much of a risk if you don't have someone with you who knows what they are doing and have had past experience. Unless you have done a heep load of research regarding the topic.

James

[Titan8990]

You can have a hard drive and a CD drive of the same IDE cable as long as the HDD is set to be the master. I also think that you can have two opticals on the same cable but I have never tried it personally so I can't disagree. I highly recommend a SATA HDD though.


Edit: I also recommend getting a case made of steel. I have bad experiences with aluminum cases. You might want to have a good look at your case before getting that Zalman cooler. It will be huge.

Edited by Titan8990, 05 July 2007 - 01:56 PM.

[james_8970]

Yes the cooler is very large, but effective at it's job and it will fit into the case if your curious.
http://www.xcpus.com...st.html?garpg=4
Go to that link and scroll down to near the bottom to view it in a build.

Never knew you could place an optical drive and hard drive one the same IDE cable. Please note that the IDE cable isn't a bottleneck (yet) so there is not really any advantages to it other then freeing up the IDE slot. Your best bet is just to get the cheapest of the two kind of drives (if on drives has either a IDE or SATA model).

Also if you can wait till the end of the month to build it's highly advisable.

James

Edited by james_8970, 05 July 2007 - 02:30 PM.

[AySz88]

I was going to try it with my computer, but my optical drives are already currently both on the same IDE cable. They both have jumpers for both master and slave, too (though they're on cable select right now).

I'm expecting to get a bunch of SATA drives eventually (maybe RAID 5 in the long term?) - I'm figuring that keeping those free would be a good idea. Can I use my current hard drives with PATA->SATA adapters until it's time for that upgrade?

I'm definitely waiting for the new Intels at the end of the month, but is there anything other than that?

Edited by AySz88, 05 July 2007 - 04:18 PM.

[Troy]

Yes that's right, cable select will set the first one as master and the second one as slave, I also have two optical drives on the on IDE cable, except I have one jumper set as master and one set as slave. Also, you CAN have one optical drive and one hard drive on the same IDE cable, but they both will work at the slowest speed, similar to having different types of RAM. So if your optical drive is rated at 66 and you have a 133 hard drive, your hard drive will only go at 66 also, meaning you get that performance hit, so it is better to have separate cables. I found all that out the hard way

[AySz88]

I looked at this graph (second on the page) and I found a Tunic Tower 120 for only $5 more than the ZALMAN (including shipping) - but I'm not sure if *that* would fit in the case, since it seems a lot bigger. Any advice about this?

[edit] fixed link, thanks titan

Edited by AySz88, 05 July 2007 - 08:32 PM.

[Titan8990]

It might just be me but your chart link sends me to a blank page.

[AySz88]

It might just be me but your chart link sends me to a blank page.

Oops, fixed - thanks.

[AySz88]

I managed to bump up my budget a bit, so that's reflected in the first post now. Any last bits of advice, please? (I'm still wondering how to check whether that heat sink will fit, and if I'm supposed to wait until the end of the month to buy the CPU only, or wait for everything...?)

Thanks all for the help so far!

Edited by AySz88, 08 July 2007 - 03:34 PM.

[james_8970]

Wait for everything, I'm expecting new motherboards to be released by that time anyways. Besides if new hardware comes out, existing stuff will be lowered in price, till you have everything figured out, I suggest you don't buy anything.
James