Comments on: Building a PC January Progress http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/ A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:13:38 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Jojo http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-232588 Jojo Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:22:47 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-232588 Here's an online calculator for PSU wattage that may be helpful: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp Here’s an online calculator for PSU wattage that may be helpful:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp

]]> By: nobody http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-232422 nobody Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:29:14 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-232422 Man, you're not really rolling with the times are you? Core 2 Duo is so last year, go with the Q6600 instead. Get a better MB too, although the MSI board you selected is great you should spring for something more stable like the P6N SLI Platinum to give yourself more options. Dump that AeroCool crap while you're at it, get a CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX for a few more bucks... believe me, you won't regret it. Here's my recent Q6600 build for a customer: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 6400) MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 520W EVGA GeForce 8500GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD This baby ROARS! Sad thing is, although the client wanted everything to be high-end components, he's mostly going to use it to work on spreadsheets. Life's not fair. Man, you’re not really rolling with the times are you? Core 2 Duo is so last year, go with the Q6600 instead. Get a better MB too, although the MSI board you selected is great you should spring for something more stable like the P6N SLI Platinum to give yourself more options. Dump that AeroCool crap while you’re at it, get a CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX for a few more bucks… believe me, you won’t regret it.

Here’s my recent Q6600 build for a customer:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 6400)
MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel
Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 520W
EVGA GeForce 8500GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16
Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower
SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19″ 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD

This baby ROARS! Sad thing is, although the client wanted everything to be high-end components, he’s mostly going to use it to work on spreadsheets. Life’s not fair.

]]> By: Jojo http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231328 Jojo Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:09:55 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231328 A 500 watt PSU is NOT enough for today's new machines. 8800 series cards draw a lot of power. Don't be penny wise & pound foolish. Get at least 700 watts. And make sure you have enough amps for the 12V rail. Why are you buying a 65nm CPU when the 45nm models are coming out now or shortly (Phenom)? They will use less power and perform better. In mobo's, the X48 models should be out prior to your build date. P35 will be 2 release old by then. I like the Enzotech Ultra-x cooler for about $60. It has copper pipes and a 120mm fan that blows down into the board, which helps cool not only the CPU but also the board components such as the northbridge. I would suggest hanging out for a few weeks at the mobo support forum for the board you choose. You will see what problems are being reported and what components are causing problems. You might decide to change your choice of boards even. I built a new IP35 machine a few months ago with he following components: Cooler Master 690 case Abit IP35 Pro mobo Intel Duo-Core E6750 Enzotech Ultra-X CPU cooler 2 GB Corsair HDX 6400 RAM BFG 7950 GT OC 256MB x256bit bus graphic card Pioneer 18x SATA CD/DVD DL Corsair HX 620 watt PSU MY old LSI Logic I/O board w/2 U320 SCSI 10k RPM disk drives 1 old 300GB Maxtor SATA 1 drive 1 old Hitachi 75GB PATA drive I just added 1 new Seagate SATA ST303204N1A1AS (320GB) drive I have had nothing but problems with the Abit board. I went through 4 mobo's. The first board kept getting C1 memory errors. The 2nd through 4th boards have a problem with ONLY ONE SATA port and the Maxtor drive (no problems on this port with the Seagate drive). I'd stay away from Abit boards. Abit boards (new ones at least) are having a lot of problems. Their direct technical support in the USA sucks. Their user forum is helpful though. You should read the review sites to help you choose components. For example: http://www.pcper.com/index.php http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/ http://www.frostytech.com/ http://www.extreme.outervision.com/ http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/ http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/ http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/ http://www.legionhardware.com/list.php http://www.legitreviews.com/index.php http://www.guru3d.com/ A couple of good forums are: http://forums.guru3d.com//index.php http://www.rhcf.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi A 500 watt PSU is NOT enough for today’s new machines. 8800 series cards draw a lot of power. Don’t be penny wise & pound foolish. Get at least 700 watts. And make sure you have enough amps for the 12V rail.

Why are you buying a 65nm CPU when the 45nm models are coming out now or shortly (Phenom)? They will use less power and perform better.

In mobo’s, the X48 models should be out prior to your build date. P35 will be 2 release old by then.

I like the Enzotech Ultra-x cooler for about $60. It has copper pipes and a 120mm fan that blows down into the board, which helps cool not only the CPU but also the board components such as the northbridge.

I would suggest hanging out for a few weeks at the mobo support forum for the board you choose. You will see what problems are being reported and what components are causing problems. You might decide to change your choice of boards even.

I built a new IP35 machine a few months ago with he following components:

Cooler Master 690 case
Abit IP35 Pro mobo
Intel Duo-Core E6750
Enzotech Ultra-X CPU cooler
2 GB Corsair HDX 6400 RAM
BFG 7950 GT OC 256MB x256bit bus graphic card
Pioneer 18x SATA CD/DVD DL
Corsair HX 620 watt PSU
MY old LSI Logic I/O board w/2 U320 SCSI 10k RPM disk drives
1 old 300GB Maxtor SATA 1 drive
1 old Hitachi 75GB PATA drive
I just added 1 new Seagate SATA ST303204N1A1AS (320GB) drive

I have had nothing but problems with the Abit board. I went through 4 mobo’s. The first board kept getting C1 memory errors. The 2nd through 4th boards have a problem with ONLY ONE SATA port and the Maxtor drive (no problems on this port with the Seagate drive). I’d stay away from Abit boards. Abit boards (new ones at least) are having a lot of problems. Their direct technical support in the USA sucks. Their user forum is helpful though.

You should read the review sites to help you choose components. For example:
http://www.pcper.com/index.php
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/
http://www.frostytech.com/
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/
http://www.legionhardware.com/list.php
http://www.legitreviews.com/index.php
http://www.guru3d.com/

A couple of good forums are:
http://forums.guru3d.com//index.php
http://www.rhcf.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

]]> By: John http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231278 John Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:57:48 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231278 Why not get a quad core q6600? You can get so much out of it. Yes most programs don't utilize it but think of the future. Also you can overclock that beast to 3.6ghz stable. Why not get a quad core q6600? You can get so much out of it. Yes most programs don’t utilize it but think of the future. Also you can overclock that beast to 3.6ghz stable.

]]> By: Ace_NoOne http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231203 Ace_NoOne Sat, 05 Jan 2008 19:40:54 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231203 Sorry for double-posting - it didn't seem to work the first time around. (This theme's confirmation messages - including "awaiting moderation" - don't seem to be reliable.) Martin, could you delete the first version please? Sorry for double-posting – it didn’t seem to work the first time around. (This theme’s confirmation messages – including “awaiting moderation” – don’t seem to be reliable.)
Martin, could you delete the first version please?

]]> By: Ace_NoOne http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231174 Ace_NoOne Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:48:46 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231174 About the SSD: $700 for 32 GB, that's insane - and definitely not worth it. Nevertheless, why 32 GB in the first place? 16 GB should be plenty, as long as it's only used as boot/OS partition. As for HDD storage: If you can afford it, get a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drobo" rel="nofollow">Drobo</a> (though you'll still need the HDDs) - GeekBrief.tv has been <a href="http://www.geekbrief.tv/gbtv-0195-geekbrieftv" rel="nofollow">raving about it</a> for months, and I trust their judgment on this. By the way: I have decided that my next computer will not be a desktop PC anymore. Instead, I will buy a laptop with a docking station - that way I can have the desktop experience (two regular monitors, mouse and keyboard) at home, while I can always have my data with me (no more sync'ing Thunderbird, or anything!). However, that's only possible because I'm not a PC gamer anymore - I don't believe laptops are gaming-ready yet. About the SSD: $700 for 32 GB, that’s insane – and definitely not worth it. Nevertheless, why 32 GB in the first place? 16 GB should be plenty, as long as it’s only used as boot/OS partition.

As for HDD storage: If you can afford it, get a Drobo (though you’ll still need the HDDs) – GeekBrief.tv has been raving about it for months, and I trust their judgment on this.

By the way: I have decided that my next computer will not be a desktop PC anymore.
Instead, I will buy a laptop with a docking station – that way I can have the desktop experience (two regular monitors, mouse and keyboard) at home, while I can always have my data with me (no more sync’ing Thunderbird, or anything!).
However, that’s only possible because I’m not a PC gamer anymore – I don’t believe laptops are gaming-ready yet.

]]> By: Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231125 Martin Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:13:51 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231125 Kevinn you are right, I overlooked that the card is only having 256 Megabytes. Will have to change that because I want to go for a 512 MB card. The PSU is highly effective and should not have difficulties handling the needs. Kevinn you are right, I overlooked that the card is only having 256 Megabytes. Will have to change that because I want to go for a 512 MB card.

The PSU is highly effective and should not have difficulties handling the needs.

]]> By: kevinn http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231102 kevinn Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:36:09 +0000 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/01/05/building-a-pc-january-progress/#comment-231102 I'd say drop the SSD for now... at that price, you won't gain anything. Why did you settle for the 256mb 8800 GT? Where the standard 512mb part would give you more headroom in the long run. BTW, these cards would need 550w PSU as a bare minimum. I got a 750 watter, just to be sure. I’d say drop the SSD for now… at that price, you won’t gain anything.

Why did you settle for the 256mb 8800 GT? Where the standard 512mb part would give you more headroom in the long run. BTW, these cards would need 550w PSU as a bare minimum. I got a 750 watter, just to be sure.

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