My Preliminary Build

A

aj327

New Member
Initially I was just going to upgrade the computer I have now with a new motherboard, processor, and RAM, but I have an illness I think that makes me need to have the best. So I started out only wanting to spend around $700-$800 and now it looks like I'll be spending closer to $2500. Served me well last time though. The computer I'm replacing was the best there was 5 years ago, and it did me well.

I'm an avid multitasker. Not much of a gamer but I stress my system pretty hard. So the only change I'd consider making is perhaps downgrading the nvidia 7800 to the ATI x800. But when you're talking the difference between 2500 and 2200, doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to just go all out.

Couple questions though. I've listed two RAM modules. Is it worth getting the ECC stuff or should I just stick with the regular RAM. Also Keyboard/mouse suggestions would be appreciated.

Finally, what do you all think? Pretty bad ass, no?

Case: ENERMAX CS-718B Black Computer Case $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811124110

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX AMD Motherboard $176.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ $374.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Video: Leadtek WinFast PX7800GTX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card $489.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122224

Sound: Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro $399.99
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=14064

DVD-Burner: PLEXTOR Black IDE DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW $168.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131352

DVD- Drive: ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A BLACK $24.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135136

Floppy: SONY Black Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black $11.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821103116

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $122.00 (2 of these)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory $272.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145486

OR

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM ECC Registered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory $331.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145509

PSU: SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W Power Supply $159.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151025


All told with the cheaper RAM it’s around $2500
 
I'd say spend a little less money on your sound card and video card and use the money for a little better processor, possibly an AMD X2 4400+?
 
So if your system didn't cost half as much, where do you recommend I pare it down? I know I'm spending a lot on the sound card, but that's because I'm going to have my pc double as a mixer (I make my own music), which the x-fi pro allows you to do.

In terms of video cards, I know the 7800 is overkill, but it's only overkill now. As a substitute people are offering the 6800, but a few months back that would have been considered overkill as well. In a few years time, the 7800 will hopefully still be regarded as a decent card. I don't plan on replacing this build for another 5 years or so. Like I said in my first post, I'm still considering downgrading the card a notch or two, but I feel like I'm already in this deep, what's two hundred more dollars, if for nothing else than to feel like I have the best...at least for this week?
 
The 7800 will go out of style just as fast as the 6800 did like you had said. It doesn't matter what you buy now you WILL want/need to upgrade within the year.
 
Not much of a gamer
Click to expand...

That means you shouldn't have a 7800GTX. Try drawing the line at $200 or less.
No matter how much you stress your PC, the only that would stress your graphics card to the point that you need a high-end one is a PC game.

ECC RAM has it's uses but not for your uses. XMS RAM is nice and will help you get more performance out of your entire 2GB of RAM.

There are MUCH cheaper alternatives to high quality sound mixing than a $400 sound card. Since you are willing to spend $400 on a sound card, I guess you must have a kicka** sound system hooked up to your PC.

That is one he** of a DVD-Burner. I wouldn't pay $170 on a DVD-Burner!! Heck I could get an automatic DVD-Burner/Label Printer for that much. I've read reviews and I know it is slot fed and it instantly detects a CD but that is a high price for shaving a couple seconds off of putting a CD in....

Floppy drives are going extinct in a hurry and they are ugly. If you need an emergency boot disc, get a USB flash drive. They are great for making boot discs as long as your mobo supports booting from a USB drive.

Great motherboard choice but you don't need SLi.

That CPU is overkill but if you got the money and think you might need dual cores....go ahead and get it.

Hard drives are great and I take it that you are gonna do RAID? Might as well with those beasts.

That PSU looks great and should do admirably.

I like the case too. Simple,smooth, and sleek. Looks like it has a big volume knob on it :)

About ZipZoomFly, they have awesome prices but the product lineup can't even come close to newegg. I recommend going between both stores when shopping. Splitting your shopping between those stores is a good way to go since you don't even have to pay for 2nd day shipping at ZZF and newegg usually has pretty cheap and very fast shipping.
 
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I agree, you don't need that overkill of a video card unless your going to play games. You said that you mix music and multi task. A cheeper video card will do all that and save money. I think the cpu chose is good for the multi tasking and mixing it should server you well. I don't know if you need to spend $400 on a sound card, even if you do mix you own music and what not i think going out and spending $400 on it is a bit overkill...
 
Gamerman, thanks for the well thought out reply. I really appreciate it. OK so if I don't go for the 7800, is the 6800 the next logical choice or should I go even cheaper with the ATI X800.

As for the sound card it's not the card that costs that much. The card alone is probably around $130. It's the external unit that you get with the pro that would allow me to plug in my guitar and mic. I'm actually still debating this because guitar center is apparently going to be having a ridiculous nationwide labor day sale, which might take care of my mixer situation. And a true dedicated mixer will no doubt be less confusing and far more functional than a modified sound card could be. Though I did think it would be neat trying it out.

In terms of my monitor, I was actually considering getting the Dell 24 inch. It's just over a grand which seems a great price for such huge real estate. We'll have to see though, I may settle for less. If I do go that big though, is the tendency then to bump me back up to more expensive video cards? (By the way I should also mention that my friends and I occasionally go online to play Halo. I know I said I wasn't "much" of a gamer, but I didn't say that I didn't play them at all...)

What is XMS RAM? And when is ECC RAM warranted?

Also, and I know this is going to give me away as a complete know nothing, but what is RAID exactly in terms of the benefits and what I'd need to do to set the drives up as such?

The case I love because it doesn't look like it was made of scrap metal from some post apocalyptic future. That and I love how someone finally figured out that it's useful to have the usb/firewire ports on the top of the case rather than on the bottom. I mean who puts their computer on their desk these days? The LCD on the top of the case is pretty sweet too...it's understated but has just enough bling to make it look hot.

The quick read time of the burner is nice, but it also writes at 16x. I havne't looked around too much, but I imagine there are alternatives that write just as fast?

Thanks again for everyone's input.
 
aj327 said:
Gamerman, thanks for the well thought out reply. I really appreciate it. OK so if I don't go for the 7800, is the 6800 the next logical choice or should I go even cheaper with the ATI X800.

As for the sound card it's not the card that costs that much. The card alone is probably around $130. It's the external unit that you get with the pro that would allow me to plug in my guitar and mic. I'm actually still debating this because guitar center is apparently going to be having a ridiculous nationwide labor day sale, which might take care of my mixer situation. And a true dedicated mixer will no doubt be less confusing and far more functional than a modified sound card could be. Though I did think it would be neat trying it out.

In terms of my monitor, I was actually considering getting the Dell 24 inch. It's just over a grand which seems a great price for such huge real estate. We'll have to see though, I may settle for less. If I do go that big though, is the tendency then to bump me back up to more expensive video cards? (By the way I should also mention that my friends and I occasionally go online to play Halo. I know I said I wasn't "much" of a gamer, but I didn't say that I didn't play them at all...)

What is XMS RAM? And when is ECC RAM warranted?

Also, and I know this is going to give me away as a complete know nothing, but what is RAID exactly in terms of the benefits and what I'd need to do to set the drives up as such?

The case I love because it doesn't look like it was made of scrap metal from some post apocalyptic future. That and I love how someone finally figured out that it's useful to have the usb/firewire ports on the top of the case rather than on the bottom. I mean who puts their computer on their desk these days? The LCD on the top of the case is pretty sweet too...it's understated but has just enough bling to make it look hot.

The quick read time of the burner is nice, but it also writes at 16x. I havne't looked around too much, but I imagine there are alternatives that write just as fast?

Thanks again for everyone's input.
Click to expand...

Well... as for Halo, you're not going to need too much of a card to play at highest settings. An X800 will allow you to play at a very good framerate with all setting maxed. However, if you think you may find a new game in the future, such as Unreal Tournament 2007, you might want to go with a card better than the X800. Pretty much, if you pay for a top-of-the line card now, expect to be able to play games that come out within a year at highest settings, but after a year or so, your card probably won't be able to max out on games. The 7800GTX will last you for a good time, but I don't know if it's worth paying the extra money now, because within two years, the difference between a 7800GTX and a 6800GT will probably be the ability to play on medium or medium-low settings.

I feel that I'm kinda rambling on and not making much of a point. I'd recommend getting a cheaper card now... such as an X800, or even a 6600GT, which will give you all the power you need for playing Halo. Then, when a new, hardware-demanding game comes out that you want to start playing, you can upgrade to a top-of-the-line card.
 
Def. Use all 4 Gigs of ram. You also might want to check out mysimon.com. You can compare all the online stores with one search and find the best price. Might cut your price down some. good luck
 
The 7800 is for hardcore gamers who want every living detail of their gaming fantasies to be met....
or for rich people who want bragging rights.

The x800 is an excellent card with a good price but if you are looking at the X800 I would suggest getting the 6600gt. It is pretty much the same price but it performs better.

XMS Ram is high-performance RAM. It has tighter latencies so your PC will be able to utilize your RAM faster. ECC RAM is highly stable it checks for memory errors between it's clock cycles, this slows down performance but if you are in a work environment where stability is a higher priority than speed, ECC RAM rarely screws up which means almost no blue screens.
Here is a quote from a site about ECC RAM:
When you go to buy RAM and you see 16X64, this means 16 Meg X 64 Bits which is a 128 Meg stick of RAM. A stick of RAM that is ?x64 is non error correcting, while a stick of ?x72 is error correcting and runs slower that the 64. ECC RAM (error correcting code) is normally used on a server motherboard for more reliability and costs more, the extra 8 Bits is used to correct the data passing through. Your motherboard probably cannot use ECC RAM and if it able to use ECC RAM it cannot be combined with NON ECC RAM. ECC is parity RAM, Non-ECC RAM is Non-parity RAM. RAM comes in either NON ECC or ECC.

You don't need a huge graphics card if you have a large screen. The Mac at my job is running dual 23" high resolution widescreen cinema displays on an cheap graphics card, since Mac only just recently began using high-power cards. The PC I'm using right now has an FX5200 in it and it is running dual 17" monitors at excellent refresh rates.

I like my case from a post-apocolyptic future :D It is an NZXT Nemesis Elite. I like my PCs to really stand out and it also has tons of really nice features for gamers and overclockers.
 
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Qlutch said:
[...] However, if you think you may find a new game in the future, such as Unreal Tournament 2007, you might want to go with a card better than the X800.[...]
Click to expand...

There's going to be a UT 2007? I thought they stopped after UT 2004...
 
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