
New Build Suggestions
#1
Posted 05 February 2007 - 02:36 PM

#2
Posted 05 February 2007 - 03:22 PM

1GB of ram is a must - 2GB if you can afford it
300GB of Hard Drive space should be suffiecient,
and practically any $200 graphics card can play new games on medium.
id say a 500W minimum PSU, 600W if you can afford it. As you upgrade components, it's likely they will become more power hungry.
DVD/RW Drives are practically a must, and are very handy when you need them...
Obviously any size monitor is fine, but its up to you - of course! I've always knocked dell, but maybe you should build a custom system with them. They are VERY good quality and support is brilliant.
#3
Posted 05 February 2007 - 03:42 PM

#4
Posted 05 February 2007 - 05:14 PM

#5
Posted 05 February 2007 - 05:39 PM

I did consider going the Dell route, but the person for whom I am doing this build, or helping with I should say, is wanting to learn how to build it, from scratch, so that he not only knows exactly what is there, but can also work on it and with it easier in the future if he must. He said his plan was to save about $1700-$2000 over the summer and work on the build from there. I told him that we should be able to easily build a system to meet his requirements on that budget.
Well talking about after summer that will be like what 5-6 months away by that time newer stuff will be out like newer video cards etc but a core 2 duo would still be a good choice. I wouldnt permanently make my mind up on a video card yet because like I said there will be better and greater video cards out by then in 5-6months time. The R600 video cards by ATI will be out within a couple months.
Its really to early to pick out every item for the pc but 2gb of ram is A MUST. 1gb of ram isnt enough this day in time especially if you end up getting Windows Vista and want to play the new directx10 games coming out in 4 months or so.
You can very well build a complete system for that price range even under it.
Get a good brand of memory like Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston, Crucial, the GSkill lower latency ram is good even but the lowest priced GSKILL isnt as good because they are made by 2 diff manufacturers I think believe it or not.
Im not a fanboy of just 1 manufacturer anymore I get what has the best performance / good reviews for the money. Although Corsair is my favorite. On Nvidia VS Ati get whatever has the best performance for the price it doesnt matter both cards work fine.. I used to be an nvidia fan only but I have changed on that aswell. Dont get all hyped up on a certain brand just get whatever is HIGH Quality with good reviews and the best price to performance ratio. DONT get an OFF brand unherd of memory though. On a motherboard dont skimp out on that either get a High quality board. For the Conroe mobos about $200 is the price range for the High end quality of a mobo that has all of the options, accessories and all of the goodies. You can get a good board in the $150 range also for the Conroe. For a powersupply DO NOT SKIMP OUT ON THIS!! Get a Truepower Power supply from a KNOWN manufacturer that is HIGH quality. DO NOT get a cheap $40 700W power supply for example because it will not have the true 700Watts of power and the amps on the 12 volt and 5volt rails will be weak.
Make sure the powersupply has 18-20Amps on atleast one of the 12 volt rails if you get a high end video card. If you want SLI get a powersupply that has atleast 2 12 volt rails with 18-20 amps on each rail. For SLI on the 8800gts's you can get by with a 650W powersupply from a high end manufacturer with the 18-20 amps on the 12 volt rails I told you. So 650w minimum for 2 8800gts's in SLI to be safe. For 2 8800gtx's you might need 700W. Remember this is all depending on what else you have on your pc aswell.
Antec trio 750W psu is a great psu and its around $130 from newegg.
the antec 700W and above psu's are good for these new machines that demand power
Hiper makes a 580W psu that is high quality with solid rails and its easy on the wallet quite cheap in price, it can even handle a 8800gts quite well with no problems.
Tagan 700W and above has good power supplies
PC power and cooling makes great power supplies
OCZ has good power supplies
Corsair has good power supplies
Thermaltake 600w and above is good
Watch out for FSP psu's they have low 12volt rail amps I wouldnt get one.
Remember just look at the amps on the overall rails of the psu.

#6
Posted 06 February 2007 - 07:50 AM

(jrm20) I realized that it was too far out to start picking all the components now, especially video cards. You gave me alot of the information that I was after though. I was ot completely certain on the PSU or Memory brand. I have bought Ultra Memory in the past, but i was thinking of going with something a little higher end for this build, per the request of the person I am helping (though he did not know that was what he was requesting). Thank you very much for the PSU advice, that will come in very handy. I know from past experience not to skimp on the PSU. I am not one to save all my money there, I actually will often spend alot more money on the PSU just ot make sure that the computer is protected like it needs to be. I am going ot be changing the PSU in my personal computer soon due to increased power demands due to upgrades and after a better quality PSU.
As far as memory, I do not think I am going to go with the high speed memory too much. This guy will not be needing it and will not be doing and OC or anything, so I will probably go with one that is good for general use, probably Dual-Channel, just so he has a good performance for a decent price. I like Crucial and Corsair, so I will probably advise those for him, depending on what is running for a good price at the time.
Any suggestions on brands of CPU fans that you have found to be dependable?
#7
Posted 06 February 2007 - 08:08 AM

#8
Posted 06 February 2007 - 09:16 AM

#9
Posted 09 February 2007 - 08:12 PM

#10
Posted 15 February 2007 - 11:05 AM

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