Desktop PC: advice needed

M

Magnus

New Member
Hi,

I'm trying to work out a new desktop computer to purchase/build and I've been encountering some problems. My main concern is avoiding hardware conflicts (like getting an AMD mobo that doesn't support my intel chip and the like).

In the hopes of getting an all around decent rig that'll last for a three or four years for approx $1000 CAD (yes, my current build exceeds that by a bit). I'm not heavily into gaming, but do play a bit of Warcraft 3 which isn't very demanding on intense graphics. Besides that, main uses would be world processing, the odd graph or report and general net surfing and email use. I went with the 2.13 Core 2 Duo and 2 gigs of ram in the hopes to make it last, although the 256 mb video card might have to be updated in two years, that's alright.

And without further ramblings, I give you my work in progress desktop:

Computer case:
Antec NSK4400 New Solution ATX Mid Tower Case 3x5.25 2x3.5INT 380W ATX12V V2.0 Silver Black

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.13 Ghz 1066FSB 2MB cache

Motherboard:
ASUS P5B LGA775 Conroe 965P DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 6 SATA2 Sound Motherboard
-on-board audio
-on-board ethernet RJ-45 for internet access

Memeory (RAM):
Corsair Value Select PC2 - 5300 2x1GB DDR2-667 240PIN Dual Channel Memory

Video Cards:
EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT PCI-E 256MB VGA DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive

Power Supply:
Forton Sparkle FSP/SPI ATX-400PN 400W ATX12V 20/24PIN Power Supply W/ 120mm Fan P4 AMD Ready
-my case comes with a power supply, is this better?

DVD writer:
Samsung SH-S182F DVD+RW 18x8x18 DVD-RW 18x6x18 DL 8x 2MB IDE DVD writer

Any hints/tips/advice on glaring hardware conflicts or issues with Windows XP Home Edition are greatly appreciated and encouraged. Thanks a bunch in advance.

Edit: Added URLs
Edit: Updated

-Magnus
 
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if you're really into gaming I would go with a better graphics card myself, and don't forget a sound card. I have the audigy4, which is like $70 or $80, if not less, and it is superb. Your samsung writer should do you well, and you seem to have good RAM. Your hard drive is decent too.
The 7600 is mid-range, and only plays the new games on medium settings. Also your processor should handle a lot so, yeah if you're really into gaming I'd go with something better for a graphics card. Other than that I think you're good.
 
Interestingly, thanks, lincsman. So, are there other brands you'd look for in a vid-card or are you thinking something like 512 MB would be better than the 256 I had in the original build? It's definitely something I'll look into and see if I can budget in there.

I didn't go with a sound card at all. I have on-board audio on the motherboard, which might not be the best quality but should be ample, which saves me some money for the time being. The mobo also provides me with an on-board Ethernet RJ-45 port. I figure it should be sufficient to start, but maybe I should be adding a sound card and ethernet card right off?

-Magnus
 
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GCR said:
Go with this motherboard; they're great and only a dollar more.

http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010807&cid=MB.157

You can get a sound card if you want, but the on-board audio is very good. I only got my card because it was free.:)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! It has also been pointed out that the case I selected (Antec NSK4400 New Solution ATX Mid Tower Case 3x5.25 2x3.5INT 380W ATX12V V2.0 Silver Black) comes with a 380W power supply. So, I should consider looking at a new case or figure out if that'll be enough to power all my stuff so I'm not purchasing two power supplies.

-Magnus
 
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yeh by the sounds of it the gigabyte mobo is the one to have at the moment so go for that rather than the asus. Other than that it looks like a nice build. What you planning on using it for? just general?
 
Magnus said:
Thanks for the tip! It has also been pointed out that the case I selected (Antec NSK4400 New Solution ATX Mid Tower Case 3x5.25 2x3.5INT 380W ATX12V V2.0 Silver Black) comes with a 380W power supply. So, I should consider looking at a new case or figure out if that'll be enough to power all my stuff so I'm not purchasing two power supplies.

-Magnus
Click to expand...


Usually power supplies that come with cases aren't that great. Get a seperate good quality PSU. You don't want to trust/risk your parts with a crappy power supply.
 
Styrak said:
Usually power supplies that come with cases aren't that great. Get a seperate good quality PSU. You don't want to trust/risk your parts with a crappy power supply.
Click to expand...

Agree. I don't risk my house burning down due to short circut of crap PSU.
By the way, I think 400W PSU is not enough. At least get one around 500W for the spec.
 
400W is enough for what you have there, although you can get a 500W psu for not much more. If you want a gpu to last a few years don't get a 7600, as lincsman pointed out there fairly mid range cars. Look into something like a 7900 or the ati x1900 range and upwards.
 
The gpu you have selected is a little weak but sufficient, otherwise a good setup. Look into gigabytes ds3 mobo, I believe it to be better than Asus's board for C2D's.
 
So, I more or less need a 400W power supply at the minimum? That’s what I’m hearing. Also, case power supplies aren’t good, and I should look into another. In that case, would the Forton Sparkle FSP/SPI ATX-400PN 400W ATX12V 20/24PIN Power Supply W/ 120mm Fan P4 AMD Ready work with what I have?

I’m a little lost on the motherboard stuff. I know that probably isn’t an area I should be skimping on. A decent motherboard, processor and power supply are pretty key items. If I skimp on the video card, it’s not a good either but, I can replace it down the road in a year or so when the budget allows.

My uses for this computer are some light gaming (Warcraft 3) but primary use is for net surfing, email and reports writing. So the core 2 duo is massive overkill. I could mostly likely best fit my budget by dropping the core 2 duo entirely and going for a cheaper processor. However, I thought if I get a core 2 duo now the system will last me for three to four years without much worry of having to upgrading anything (’cept the video card).

Thanks for all the help. I'm still debating and pondering. I'll try and update the system in a bit and browse some more motherboards.

-Magnus
 
If nffc10 didn't answer your question, I am actually a little behind in the video card industry, but I believe that any brand like XFX or BFG for a 7900 (which I would recommend, good recommendation there nffc10) or EVGA I'm sure is good too. The ATI x1900 is simply made by ATI - I'm not sure it's so good to buy non-ATI cards with ATI chips, but for the 7900 anything like xfx, bfg, evga, possibly ASUS would do. I do agree with you on that the motherboard, processor and power supply are most important.

higher-quality Motherboards are key for overclocking, and provide extra features etc. like external SATA connections and onboard firewire etc., but most important I would find the right fit for the processor you're selecting with the features you want. What I recommend to look for in a motherboard: PCI-Express connections, possibly SLI (SLI is maybe not important if you're not into much gaming)
-RAM support - how much RAM it can take
HDD capacity - how many GB it will recognize
SATA - I would recommend a SATA- capable motherboard - a difference of 100mb/s vs 300 to 900 mb/s I believe
5.1 to 7.1 onboard audio - you may not need 7.1 but my guess is is that if it's 7.1 it would be high quality sound

Processor, well, the better you get the faster your machine is. I STRONGLY recommend dual core, however even for heavy-ish gaming and other uses like music-making programs and itunes etc. - the AMD x2 4600+ does okay, which is fairly low-end nowadays I think.

As far as Warcraft 3 goes - I ran that on my HP celeron 2.2ghz machine with 768mhz RAM and an ATI Radeon 9250 PCI - which froze trying to run the Battlefield 2 menu - so the 7600 will do you fine. In fact, if I were you I would spend about $50-70 on a video card or get onboard video for now if you plan to upgrade to something like the 7900 or ATI x1900 in a year or less. Warcraft 3 and like games are really not that demanding. I just wouldn't want to spend $90-100 now and then 150-200 shortly thereafter.

Sound card - for basic music etc. and light gaming, onboard would be fine, as pointed out earlier in this thread.
I would go with 450 or 500W, if 400W is the idea you're getting for minimum. You can calculate everything but if you want to upgrade at all, I would get lots of power. A fan, a light, video card upgrade and viola you need more power. Enough power is really important. I'm not much of a power matcher except - MORE! (can you tell I used a 200W PSU for a while?)
-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012
Hope it helps.
 
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I've been reading up on the OCZ PSU I posted a link for, sounds like it's only a good idea if you have a smaller case. My case is fairly small for the parts inside(ANTEC) and I have no problem, mind you mine is the 700W version. ANyways yeah only if your case isn't huge.
 
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