new build

tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
I think it is time to retire my PC and make it into a Linux media center and build a brand new one.

I was browsing around newegg and realized I am kind of out of date on what is the best hardware out there. I build a rig for about $700ish that had Asus MB 775, core 2 quad intel processor, 9800GTX 512 MB, 4gig of RAM

I guess I don't have a budget but I will tell you what I don't want/need:

I will not be over clocking

I will not be running SLI

I will not be running any RAID arrays

I need it to run Vista (yes I am going to put vista on it - so I can update my MS certs).

Basically I want it for a few things:

1) Virtual machines

2) Media storage

3) Fallout 3 and Star Craft 2

Other than that, all my other needs will be done on my Linux box or my Mac.

For purpose of a budget, even though I don't have one, lets try to keep it under $1000, including a new monitor. I want to get rid of my old monitor and get a new one.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
Newegg preferred?

I just got approved instantly for a newegg preferred account, and I have never used one before. I plan on probably ordering this system in a day or two and was going to put it all on the preferred account then just pay it off in like 3 months.

Anyone have any suggestions?

This is what I am looking at so far

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130376

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227307

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

I also read that starcraft 2 will be 3 separate games, not too sure how I feel about that one.
 
Last edited:
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
atentora said:
Your board isn't DDR3... Try

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104062

I am assuming you want 1066 RAM.

As for the rest, they are good.

Oh and be careful with no payment for X amount of time. You pay a lot more due to interest.
Click to expand...

No interest for a year from what I read. I have no payments due for one year and after that year then it hits 23% interest compounded every 25 days. Pretty standard cred card.

They approved me for $4,000 dollars though, lmao, and I want to spend around $1,000.

Thanks for the memory notice, I must have not read it was DDR3.
 
atentora

atentora

New Member
tlarkin said:
No interest for a year from what I read. I have no payments due for one year and after that year then it hits 23% interest compounded every 25 days. Pretty standard cred card.
Click to expand...

Just saying cause some people don't pay at all the first year and get screwed cause of that :(
And do you have a case, PSU, DVD drive, OS, ect?
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
atentora said:
Just saying cause some people don't pay at all the first year and get screwed cause of that :(
And do you have a case, PSU, DVD drive, OS, ect?
Click to expand...

Yeah I am adding the drives in now. Optical and storage are pretty basic, a hard drive is a hard drive. I already own licenses to XP Pro and Vista Ultiamte, and the Vista DVD has been sitting on my desk for a year. Our MS rep gave me a full version for free since we support thousands of windows machines at work.

I am looking at PSU and cases right now. I already added 2 500GB SATA2 seagate HDs. At 89 a piece I might as well get two.

I have added this to the build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

Now just need a case...mid tower would be nice. I may go buy a case locally though, I like to see them in person.

I kind of like this case, reminds me of my Antec Lanboy

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

So all of that comes out to just under $1336....I almost want to add a $1 item to make it $1337, then that would make it just that much cooler?
 
Last edited:
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
anyone else have any suggestions? I am basically going off what I had read off of Tom's hardware and Maximum PC and a few other on line review sites.

I really need a new monitor so that is a must this time, but maybe it will last me long enough I won't need to buy a new one next build.

The only thing I am skeptical on is the Mobo, because I may want to put an after market heat sink and fan on it, and I would want it to fit. Anyone have any suggestions on that?

I do prefer Asus motherboards, but am open to other suggestions. I have just had so much great luck with Asus over the last 10 to 14 years.
 
Last edited:
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
So no one has any input? I think I am going to go ahead and order the whole build as is tomorrow. I got newegg preferred financing so I get 1 full year to pay it off. No biggie if I add or swap things out. I can probably get 1500 paid off by 2009 no problems.

Let me know if any of you have any input

thanks
 
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
I'll post back later tonight. I think I have some better ideas w/ regard to the GPU, mobo and RAM, but I gotta eat dinner first...

Congrats on the newegg account. You're a responsible guy, so I think it will work out great for you. :)
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
mep916 said:
I'll post back later tonight. I think I have some better ideas w/ regard to the GPU, mobo and RAM, but I gotta eat dinner first...

Congrats on the newegg account. You're a responsible guy, so I think it will work out great for you. :)
Click to expand...

I live alone and have no kids. So all my money literally goes to me. I could just save up for a month and buy it but instead I'll just use my credit and pay it off in a few months and get a whole new rig now.

Thanks for looking into it. I picked the samsung LCD because I have always liked samsung products. We used to have two maya labs that ran all Samsung monitors and they were all pretty nice.
 
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
tlarkin said:
I live alone and have no kids. So all my money literally goes to me. I could just save up for a month and buy it but instead I'll just use my credit and pay it off in a few months and get a whole new rig now.
Click to expand...

It's a good way to improve your credit as well, IMO. You won't pay any interest, and having an additional account will look good on your credit report, especially after you pay off the balance; although it looks like your credit is already pretty solid considering the amount of credit you've been approved for.

tlarkin said:
Thanks for looking into it. I picked the samsung LCD because I have always liked samsung products. We used to have two maya labs that ran all Samsung monitors and they were all pretty nice.
Click to expand...

The monitor is awesome. I've seen that model in person and I don't think you'll be dissapointed.

RAM: Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 4GB. <----Top of the line and only $87.99 shipped after MIR.

GPU: If you go with the memory I've recommended, you've immediately saved $35 ($60 if you count the MIR), so I would go with the eVGA GTX 260. It costs more, but it's better. :p In the end, this will add to the total immediate cost of the rig by $45 ($35 after the MIRs), but I think it's worth it. You get more memory, a newer GPU architecture and does pose a significant performance increase over the 9 series GTX. The Radeon 4870 is another good card to look at, although I still think the GTX 260 would be the best.

Since you'll likely run an nVidia card, the mobo you've selected looks good to me. Sounds like you're not interested in running SLi in the future, but if you ever find it necessary, it would be good to have that option available. If Starcraft 2 ends up being a graphically intensive game (haven't seen the recommended specs), a second GPU may be worth considering. If you do some research and find that the Radeon 4870 would be better, then go with a P45 or X38 motherboard chipset.

Everything else looks really good. The only beef I have with the Antec 900 is the amount of thumbscrews associated with the drive cages. Just so you know, you need to remove eight screws per cage to gain full access to the hard drives. Not really a big deal, more of a minor complaint. Oh, also, if you run the fan speeds above the lowest settings, the PC is straight up loud, IMO. The PSU you've selected is an awesome unit and, since it's modular, it will definitely help with the cable management within the 900.

I'm inclined to suggest the Q9550, but I'm not sure if I can offer a good argument that would make you spend an additional $60. :p
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
Last edited:
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
tlarkin said:
Ok I took your advice with the RAM and the video card, what about the motherboard? I am inclined to change it out for a different one. Any thoughts on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

I don't really see anything wrong with the mobo. I mean, if you're positive you won't run SLi (doubt you'd want or need to, but, six months from now, you could probably pickup an additional GTX really cheap), then you can look at some ASUS P45 boards. It's an Intel chipset, so you won't be able to add an addtional card. See, that's the only advantage to running an nVidia chipset, the SLi capability.
 
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
tlarkin said:
So I am not sure on the case either.
Click to expand...

Everyone that owns the p182 loves it, so, for a case, I think it comes down to personal preference. Earlier in the thread, you said you would go view some personally, and I think that's the best idea. I know Fry's electronics has all the popular cases on display, but I'm not sure if there's one in your area. Maybe Microcenter?

tlarkin said:
I am going to get the video card you suggested. It wasn't much more money.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's worth it.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
Yes there is a Microcenter down the way from me. I worked there many years ago. OK, so here is my final build I think:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131327

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115043

total: $1,376.93

I grabbed two of those 500 gig drives to give me 1 TB of space. I plan on running a few virtual machines on this rig as well.
 
Last edited:
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
I'd go with this board. Same thing, only without the DDR3 support. If you really want the ability to add DDR3, then you could go with the current board you've selected. I've read that people have had various issues with boards that have both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers.

Everything else looks great, IMO. BTW, are you gonna OC the processor? If so, look into an aftermarket heatsink/fan. The Zalman 9700 is good (and really loud), but there's several others.
 
tlarkin

tlarkin

VIP Member
Now that I think about it, I may as well get an SLI ready board just in case down the road I want to add another card. I don't think I will, because I think SLI is sort of a waste of money because it doesn't offer that much real world boost in performance, but you never know.
 
mep916

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
tlarkin said:
Now that I think about it, I may as well get an SLI ready board just in case down the road I want to add another card. I don't think I will, because I think SLI is sort of a waste of money because it doesn't offer that much real world boost in performance, but you never know.
Click to expand...

Right, that was my point. I feel the same way about SLi, but, down the road, you may be able to find one really cheap, like $100 or something. I'm a member of other forums, and there's some highly reliable sellers that resell their hardware dirt cheap as well, so, if you were ever interested in that, I may be able to find you a good deal. The 750i is a good chipset.

So...are you interested in OC'ing at all? With better cooling, you can easily get that chip to 3.2 - 3.4 GHz.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top