First Build...Please Check It For Me!

leopardforest

leopardforest

New Member
OK so this is my first build. I am a long time mac owner and I have gotten fed up with not being able to use windows only software, and going to school for engineering this has become a problem. So I have finally see the light.....

So this is what I ultimately want to do.

I want it fast, but budget as I am a student.

I will primary use it for (in this order) : Multitasking (web browsing, papers, all your everyday programs) , Photo editing (Photoshop, Lightroom), Engineering Programs (Matlab, Pro Engineer, Solid Works), Games, HD movies, and web design.

I eventually want to have dual screens, another hd or 2, and a TV tuner.

So this is my newegg list:

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

GPU: EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

HD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Drive: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Case, Monitor (22"), and input: I am going figure this out later, I figure this depends more on looks than anything.

Also I plan on running Vista 32 bit, as I have read that 64 bit has problems with compatibility? Pros, Cons??


So my question is: Is everything compatible? Will my psu be sufficient for years to come? Is the GPU overkill, I am not a huge gamer, but I am selling my xbox 360 so i can spend more on this, so I might become a big gamer. Any other suggestions? Other brands? What would you change?


I plan on buying mid summer, so hopefully prices will fall, anything worth waiting for?

Thanks!!
 
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if you're doing alot of photoshop and stuff like that then you'll want to get a quad core and also i think windows 7 comes out this summer so you should get that instead of vista. but if you get vista get the 64bit because they have fixed most of the bugs so you wont have to worry about that. also get 8 gigs of memory. also by summer im guessing that the prices are going to drop so why not get a c2q and 8 gigs of ram
 
Right now I am just going off current prices, but if a can get a quad for about the same price and close to 3ghz i will go for it. Is there really that big of an advantage to having a quad vs duo? Are you just able to multitask better? And what is the big advantage to 64 bit....just being able to use more memory?
 
quad is a bit better with multi tasking and more future proof. 64bit OS performs a bit better and yes allows you to use more memory.
 
but for a 3ghz quad it is double the price of a c2. is it really worth it? I am not going to be doing super intensive photoshop work, just more personal photo editing. is is better to step down to sya a 2.4ghz quad rather than a 3hgz duo?
 
Unless you prefer NVIDIA based graphics, you might consider the 4870. Performance is equal to the 260 and is a better buy at the moment. Also because the MB supports Crossfire and not SLI multi card setups would give you the option of running multiple video cards in the future.
 
I am not biased to Nvidia or ATi as i hve no experience with either. I have only heard from a couple people that ATI does not have as much support with drivers. Opinions? I want something that is going to be super stable and perform well.
 
well if you're not gonna build for a while i'd recommend just keeping up with all the new stuff that comes out and all the price breaks then a couple weeks before you're actually going to buy post something here.
 
leopardforest said:
So my question is: Is everything compatible? Will my psu be sufficient for years to come? Is the GPU overkill, I am not a huge gamer, but I am selling my xbox 360 so i can spend more on this, so I might become a big gamer. Any other suggestions? Other brands? What would you change?


I plan on buying mid summer, so hopefully prices will fall, anything worth waiting for?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Everything is compatible. PSU is over kill unless you plan on going crossfire/sli(dual video cards), but it is a nice PSU and not to pricy. The last thing I would worry about is if your PSU is future proof. You will want to go quad, they are a big advantage and I would consider going with an i7 setup. An i7 tower can be had for about $1000us atm, and hopefully prices will fall for you. 4gb of RAM is fine for you and is an easy upgrade in the future to 8gb if you so choose. For i7 you will want 3 sticks of ram rather than 2 or 4. Your GPU is great and will play games fine.

Really the only thing I would look for is falling prices on the i7 setups. Post back when the time comes to buy and we can help you budget.
 
leopardforest said:
I have only heard from a couple people that ATI does not have as much support with drivers. Opinions? I want something that is going to be super stable and perform well.
Click to expand...
I’m not aware of poor driver support from ATI and have had no issues with mine. I always look closely at buyer satisfaction and feedback at Newegg. 92% good or excellent for the 4780 is a very good rating for video cards though the card you’ve spec’ed is a fraction higher at 94%. Here’s a good article regarding graphics card performance and value.
 
DarkTears said:
why didn't you go i7?
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Sigh... My friend does autocad and photoshop and has hardly any lag on a duo core 3.0... Autocad he has done designs with over 90 parts that also have movement. Some lag on rendering with those 90+ parts, but not enough to justify paying for a quad or i7..

Don't waste your money on an i7 right now. At most a quad core will do you fine.

Get yourself a good cpu to gpu ratio with 4gigs of ram and an x64 OS.
 
To the OP. I seen you have 2x2gig sticks picked out. If you don't plan on getting more ram down the road get 4 sticks of 1gig.
 
Backwoods166 said:
Everything is compatible. PSU is over kill unless you plan on going crossfire/sli(dual video cards), but it is a nice PSU and not to pricy. The last thing I would worry about is if your PSU is future proof. You will want to go quad, they are a big advantage and I would consider going with an i7 setup. An i7 tower can be had for about $1000us atm, and hopefully prices will fall for you. 4gb of RAM is fine for you and is an easy upgrade in the future to 8gb if you so choose. For i7 you will want 3 sticks of ram rather than 2 or 4. Your GPU is great and will play games fine.

Really the only thing I would look for is falling prices on the i7 setups. Post back when the time comes to buy and we can help you budget.
Click to expand...


Everything I have read says Corsair is a good choice. So you think 750W will be good if in the future I want to bump up to a quad, better gpu, maybe even more memory, and another hd or two?

Also any suggestions for memory speeds? For this mobo?

Thanks!
 
leopardforest said:
Why is this? It kind of depends what I get into. But why would I want to have 4 1g's?
Click to expand...

depending on the mobo my friend got slightly higher scores when using 4 sticks instead of 2. He is running vista 64bit though.Most will say two sticks is better than four, but why would Intel say four is better then two assuming they add up to the same amount of ram? I'd listen to Intel and people that have actually ran the test... Because I know someone is about to say I'm wrong lol. Intel > forum poster.......
 
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us11csalyer said:
depending on the mobo my friend got slightly higher scores when using 4 sticks instead of 2. He is running vista 64bit though.Most will say two sticks is better than four, but why would Intel say four is better then two assuming they add up to the same amount of ram? I'd listen to Intel and people that have actually ran the test... Because I know someone is about to say I'm wrong lol. Intel > forum poster.......
Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice! I have not heard about this before. But I think I will go with two sticks as I would like to expand in the future. As of right now I am not try to have some machine that has the best of the best for componets ( I wish I could) I am trying to make a relatively fast workhorse that will last for a good 3-5 years with out much upgrading. (Relatively being compared to a ibook G4)
 
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