help me build my system

[s37]

looking for input on some final decisions.

looking to build a system, got about $1600 I can spend +/- a little.

what I am looking at right now is:

AMD Athlon X2 AM2 5600+
ASUS Crosshair motherboard
ASUS 8800GTS video card
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 ram
~100 GB 10,000 SATA hard drive

I think i've narrowed down the processor i'm going to use, however im stuck on what motherboard to use (ive used ASUS alot in the past, but am open to other brands if they are better), the hard drive (used Western Digital in the past, but I hear there are some better SATA drives on the market now), and the case.

The case is the big ordeal for me right now. I have used Antec cases in the past, and like them, but if I want to get something in the 600 watt range, im pretty much going to have to buy the case and PSU seperatly, which means I will have to fork out over $300 for a good case/PSU combo.

Now there is one case out there that is just absolutely incredible looking, that I would almost be willing to spend alot more money on, however, since this computer will be at home all the time and not at LAN parties and I will not be showing it off, I would rather go for performance and functionality rather than looks, but, here it is anyway (awesome looking case, very sleek, very professional looking)

GIGABYTE 3D Aurora 570 GZ-FA1CA-ASB Black 1.0 mm Aluminum body ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

you can find the pics of it at newegg. I would post the URL but it wont let me post them yet.

anyway, I know that thermaltake, coolermaster are some good cases, but I need to find a case that will have a GOOD PSU. I like the antec cases because they have the TruePower power supplies, and have been pretty good from what i've heard. Are there any good comparable PSU's out there that I could get into? I'd like to spend no more than about $200 on a PSU/case combo if i can help it, but I also want to make sure the case is sturdy, roomy and easy to work with, and I want the PSU to be of good quality, stable and reliable. Probably in the 550 - 600 watt range, enough to properly power my components. By the way, Im not an overclocker, so I don't guess I would need anything bigger than 600 watts.

So how about it? You computer gurus hook me up please

[s37]

btw, i chose the AMD 5600 over the 6000 or 6400 because i had heard that since the memory controller uses a divider, if you used a higher speed chip, the way it divides out, say if you had an 800 mhz memory bus, you would only get like 757 mhz actual. if someone knows about this or if it is wrong or has been corrected, let me know please.

[CK8-04]

Your build looks good. The only SATA 10K RPM drives you can buy are Western Digital's Raptor, so no choice there. I would avoid the Raptor X with the clear cover because that drive really brings back the nickname "Whining" Digital, however, the 74GB Raptor I have in my system is dead silent (along with the rest of my PC). If you want a case that is more performance oriented with looks as a lesser priority, Antec's P180 or Solo are, hands down, the quietest and most well thought out cases I have ever used and I've used quite a few. The P180 is more suited for higher heat output systems while the Solo is the opposite. Each have excellent sound dampening properties and good thermal characteristics.

For the PSU, I would recommend a Corsair 520HX for your system (same one I have). It is the highest rated PSU over at SPCR. It comes with a 5 year warranty, modular cables, dead silent fan, excellent efficiency and doesn't need flashy lights or artwork to show off how good it is. I used the same PSU in my friend's PC which had an 8800GTX and a quad core and the system ran just fine.

[s37]

thanks for the info.

this is what i put together so far, all from newegg:

PSU - corsair CMPSU 520HX ATX 12v v2.2 520watt - $129.99

Case - Antec Performance One P180B - $129.99

MB - ASUS Crosshair nForce 590 SLI - $244.99

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 Ghz Windsor AM2 - $149.50

Ram - Corsair XMS2 4GB(2x2GB) 240 pin DDR2 800 PC6400 - $289

Hard Drive - WD Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM SATA - $149.99

DVD RW - Samsung 20X DVD RW SATA - $31.99

CDROM - ASUS EIDE/ATAPI - $11.99

Fan - Zalman CNPS NT 110mm 2 Ball - $59.99

Video Card - BFG GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320 bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 - $409.99

For a total of $1607.42, which hits the mark right on the head for the price I was looking at.

I may look at that Gigabyte case...depending on room. That is one of my concerns, is that video card is supposed to be massive, so I want to make sure I get a case that is big enough to support it. Another concern i'm reading about is that the CPU coolers are very large, and seemingly put alot of stress on the motherboard.

Lastly, the hard drive. The one I listed is the SATA150 I think. It is 10,000 RPM, true, but i'm wondering if I would be better off going with the 7200 RPM SATA 3.0/GB hard drive instead. Can get one that is like 500GB for about $40 less than the 74GB 10,000 rpm drive. Considering that my current 74GB Raptor is only just over half full, I don't store alot of stuff, but performance wise...i'm looking for the better of the two.

[CK8-04]

I've built several systems using the P180. The 8800GTS fits without problem. The GTX will require the hard drive cage in the top chamber to be removed although there is another hard drive cage in the bottom chamber that fits 4 drives.

[s37]

also, on that P180 case, i was looking at the bottom where the PSU installs. right behind it, there is a lower chamber fan, and on the other side, the lower drive bays where you mount your drives. does this area get too cramped? i mean, have you noticed a problem with wires getting caught in the fan?

[s37]

thanks for your help. im narrowing it all down now. need to add in some Artic Silver cpu thermal grease and I should have it all down. already have monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc.

ive heard some people say the onboard sound on that crossfire is kind of bad though...might have to spring for a sound card later.

[CK8-04]

Originally Posted by s37

also, on that P180 case, i was looking at the bottom where the PSU installs. right behind it, there is a lower chamber fan, and on the other side, the lower drive bays where you mount your drives. does this area get too cramped? i mean, have you noticed a problem with wires getting caught in the fan?

If you populate all 4 spaces, yes, the area does get cramped, but the fan is spaced far enough from the drives that the cables won't get too much in the way.

[JMerrick]

Buy Intel

[CK8-04]

Since you're not overclocking, this motherboard coupled with either this quad core or this dual core would be a lot faster than what you're planning to get.

[NBK]

Hi

You might want to get a DVD burner instead of a CD-ROM drive...

HTH
NBK

[SRTDodge05]

Originally Posted by NBK

Hi

You might want to get a DVD burner instead of a CD-ROM drive...

HTH
NBK

He has a dvd burner and a cdrom, i would replace the cdrom with a dvd rom.

[PGIV]

You didn't mention what OS you would be running. If it's 32 bit, I would go with 2GB of RAM and save a few bucks. You'll have problems if you try to run over 3GB on a 32bit OS (or, to put it another way, a 32 bit OS won't recognize over 3GB of RAM).

[Jefetequila]

Have you looked at the Antec Case Performance One P182 Gun Metal Black?
I bought it and its fantastic.Good cooling and very quiet and it look fantastic.

[s37]

hey there, yes i was looking at the P182 case from antec, but for the price, there isnt that much difference, as far as I can tell.

i havent decided on the OS yet. i have been thinking of going Vista 64 bit, but i have heard people say that gaming is still better on windows xp. as such, i have reduced the memory to corsair dominator 2(2x1GB) instead. better memory, cheaper price (compared to the 4GB setup i was looking at).

as far as the cdrom/dvdrom. i have a burner in my spec, but i figured I would get a DVD RW and a CDROM, since the DVD RW will also play DVD movies, a DVD ROM would be redundant, I could go with a faster 52x CDROM for installing programs that work off of CD's. Granted, if I ever wanted to copy anything from DVD, it would be alot faster going from DVD ROM to DVD RW than to have to copy the DVD to my hard drive and then burn it to my DVD burner.

as far as the intel chip and motherboard. i have used AMD in the past, but this does not mean I am opposed to Intel. I will use whatever is the best, fastest and most reliable on the market. I do like AMD in one aspect, however, and that is because they are making a quality product at a fairly good price.

I am just trying to shave off a little cost on this system right now. ive decided against the crosshair MB, and instead am looking at the M2N32 motherboard from ASUS. with this combination, i can get the two for $326, and the intel setup you listed would put me up to $409. Now granted, if I can shave off some price in other areas, it may very well be worth my while to go ahead and get the intel setup. Both AMD and Intel make good products, really, anymore, it all comes down to price. I'll do some more looking and figuring and see if I can come down on some other prices and incorporate the Intel solution.

Funny thing about reviews, however, in one article, you see Intel dominating the CPU market, in another article, they will say that AMD has the edge. Who do you believe?

One other thing, I had planned on spending about $409 on a BFG 8800GTS 640MB 320 bit video card. The other day, a friend of mine suggested another solution. Since most motherboards today are all SLI compatible, he suggested getting two of these:

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS Superclocked / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card

which list for $160 each. so for $320, I could get two video cards to work in SLI, or for $409 I could get that BFG, but im wondering about the performance.

comparing:

BFG - 8800GTS / EVGA 8600GTS
BFG - 640 mb / EVGA 256MB x2 = 512MB
BFG - 320bit / EVGA 128 bit
both the clock speed are around the same, BFG has 580Mhz, EVGA has 576Mhz.

For those of you who have messed with SLI before (since i never have), would it be more beneficial getting the 8800 single card or 2 8600 cards?

part of me is leaning toward the 8800 BFG, (or another card like it, ive found I can get some other cards (evga and xfx) for a little less, and I may, down the road, end up getting another one anyway..)