chefben2

Hello all,

I've been slowly making my way through all of the excellent information available on this site and I would like to submit my potential build and see if I am on the right track.

This computer will be used for:
Gaming (Crysis, Titan Quest, Bioshock, etc. and eventually Starcraft 3 and Diablo 3).
Some Photoshop work, not professional level.
Music storage and encoding (CD to MP3).
Listening to music on very high quality headphones and good quality speakers (sound quality is very important to me).
Movie storage and encoding.
Main link for Windows Media Center, using Xbox360 as media center extender.
Microsoft Office applications (mostly Excel and Word but hoping to learn Access).
Browsing the Internet and medium-large dowloading.

My goals for this system are:
-Do all of the assembly myself, after learning as much as I can beforehand.
-Stay in a budget of $1200.00-$1400.00 total.
-Get every component I will need except for a mouse.
-Leave enough headroom in the case, motherboard and power supply that future upgrades of CPU, GPU, Cooling, etc. are easy.
-Plan on eventually using a quad core CPU
-Be able to use water cooling at a later time.
-Initally use a computer monitor at my desk but down the road use a 32-37" LCD television in my living room.
-Be able to tweak the system (overclocking the CPU, GPU, M/B, and RAM) while maintaining reliability and stability.
-Be able to use a RAID HDD set-up and Crossfire setup down the road.
-Have a lot of fun.

With these uses and goals in mind, here is what I have come up with (most prices are from Newegg, except for cases of large price differences and I did not include mail in rebates):

Case: Aplus Monolith full tower $130.00
Power Supply: 600 Watt Xion Supernova $90.00
Motherboard: DFI LANparty DK790fx-m2rs $135.00 ($85.00 open box)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64x2 5000+ Black Edition $80.00
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 $54.00
GPU: Sapphire Toxic HD3870 $170.00
Northbridge Cooler: Thermaltake CL-C0034 $19.00
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200RPM $80.00
RAM: OCZ Reaper 2x2GB PC6400-800MHZ $91.00
O/S: Windows Vista 64 bit home premium $100.00
Monitor: Samsung 22" 1680x1050 $270.00
Soundcard: Creative X-Fi Gamer $91.00
Keyboard, thermal paste, dvd drive, surge: $100.00
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Total before tax and shipping: $1416.00

Well that's what I have come up with, I would appreciate any and all comments. I really don't want to waste any money or make too many mistakes with this build.
Sorry this is so long, just wanted to make sure all of the information is here.

Thanks,
Ben

DesertRat

Well, welcome to OCN!

1st off the bat most of the stuff you've picked out is last gen stuff and aren't going to satisfactorily run what you want to...

I'd suggest a p*5 motherboard, a q6600 or e8400, and a 4850 right off the bat w/o even looking @ ur list in detail. lemme hop up on newegg and put ya together a quick build w/in your price range

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The Duke

And the Intelerits begin the onslaught!
Please be sure to state whether or not you want Intel recommendations! Otherwise most of the replies will be about Intel even though this is the AMD Section.

If you plan on stying wit AMD, the AM2+ MBs should support the new 45nu Quads that will support AM2+/AM3 memory controllers. That is the they will have support for both DDR2/AM2+ and DDR3/AM3 and be revers compatible with AM2+ ... unsure on the AM2 MBs though!

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DesertRat

umm.... is it just me or is OCN freking out? 1st it wouldnt show i posted here and it showed the duke's post and sum1 elses' then I reload the page and it's jsut my orig. post and duke... huh? sry for the offtopic there...

well ya for the money intel beats out AMD most of the time as of late. Now AMD GPUs on the other hand...

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chefben2

Thank you.

Are the Asus motherboards good? Is the BIOS fairly easy to use and overclock?
The PQ5 pro is reasonably priced at 150.00.
switching to that motherboard, an HD4850 and an Intel E8200 would put me about 160.00 over my budget. Would the price differene be worth the performance increase?

DesertRat

ya ASUS boards are(or at least used to be) some of the best.

And yes. The 4850 is most definitely worth it and the CPU should also see performance gains...

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The Duke

You were in his "double post'' before which has been removed.
My bad, I should of merged them then cleaned up the doubles

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B!ol

You can save some money by getting a cheaper case. The Coolermaster 690 or 590 are nice choices.
For the CPU cooler, the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 should also be cheaper than the Zalman and perform better. Going with a P5Q motherboard, you won't really need that Thermaltake northbridge cooler either.
These changes won't completely save you the $160 you're over by, but it'll help a little.

Chozart

I'd drop the soundcard. Onboard sound isn't that bad nowadays, and with modern CPUs, you don't have to worry too much about CPU usage.

And this is what you can get:

• Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $119.99
• DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $134.99
• VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail $309.99
• CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail $119.99
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF - Retail $99.99
• G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail $83.99
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $69.99
• Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 B2L-00047 Black USB Ergonomics Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM $21.99
• SAMSUNG 2043BWX High Gloss Piano Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height & Pivot Adjustments and 2-port USB Hub - Retail $269.99
• LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04 - OEM $23.99
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM $99.99
• OCZ OCZTVEND2 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail $49.99

Total: $1,404.88

If the onboard sound annoys you too much, a soundcard is easy to add later on.

EDIT: An Intel solution will add $30 if you choose an E7200 and an Asus P5Q motherboard.... I'd say that both have advantages and disadvantages (Intel the faster CPU, AMD the faster platform).

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chefben2

Sorry for the double post, I accidentally hit back and signed in again.
Well it looks like I can come pretty close to my budget switching to an Intel motherboard. Anyone have an opinion on Biostar motherboards? the I45 seems like a good option that would fit my needs. The only issue seems to be fitting an aftermarket CPU cooler in it. Also I am not sure if it is capable of RAID or not.