Advice Needed With Specs For My New Pc

[Trav33]

What makes a good case? I initially started the cheapest midi tower, and then worked out i need front USB (preferably up high/on top for easy access), and firewire. Dont need any fancy lights or clear panels.

[R31Nismoid]

The parts master has spoken, the T is the DDR3 i take it?

[R31Nismoid]

What makes a good case? I initially started the cheapest midi tower, and then worked out i need front USB (preferably up high/on top for easy access), and firewire. Dont need any fancy lights or clear panels.

airflow

but then you aren't overclocking so you dont need a really $$$ case (mine was $200, but has a billion fan slots, HDD trays etc)

The CM 690 should have what you need?

checkout www.pccasegear.com.au

They have probably the biggest range, you'll spend hours looking through them all as each is different

[prae]

What makes a good case? I initially started the cheapest midi tower, and then worked out i need front USB (preferably up high/on top for easy access), and firewire. Dont need any fancy lights or clear panels.

I reckon build quality, and like Nis said, airflow.

The parts master has spoken, the T is the DDR3 i take it?

Yup, I'm no master but.

General advice for buying/building a new system:

1. Determine what the system will be used for, and a budget.

2. Research as much as you can about all the parts you intend to buy, and alternatives if the shop doesn't have the item in stock.

3. Try to stick to your budget.

4. Research.

5. If it's your first time building, read the manuals and look at youtube tutorials, and don't force anything in. Pretty much everything's been designed to go in one way, and if you're forcing it in then you're doing it wrong. If you're still not sure, pay the shop or find a techy mate to build it for you. Physical damage is not covered by warranty at most shops.

6. Research.

7. If you're going to be buying parts from MSY Clayton, PLEASE LINE UP IN THE CORRECT LINE.

I built myself a system for about 1350-1400 odd (staff prices and excluding monitor) a few months ago, before the price hikes. I had a general idea of what I wanted to get but now, thinking back, it was such a waste of money.

Intel E8500 (probably the best decision I made while building this system)

ASUS P5Q-Pro (probably not that great a choice for crossfire, being P45 chipset and all)

4gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 800 kit

WD 160gb + WD 640gb

2x 512mb ASUS HD4850s (getting two was waste of money, I don't game often anymore so one card would have been enough)

Antec Nine Hundred case (ricey case ftl, should have waited and bought an Antec P182)

Antec TruePower 650W (good unit, but I wish I got the NeoPower for the modular cables)

The case and PSU were impulse buys, without proper research. Bought the case because what I wanted wasn't available, and I needed a case then and there. The PSU was because CPL didn't have the Corsair HX620s in stock

Oh, advice #8: Don't be impulsive and agree to what the salesman says unless you've researched it beforehand.

Edited January 14, 2009 by prae

[Howie]

ASUS P5Q-Pro (probably not that great a choice for crossfire, being P45 chipset and all)

Just a word of advice.

If you get this board, get the latest firmware (Dec 2008) for it. Our latest builds of the P5Q Pro at work have been cactus.

[prae]

Cheers Howie, I've been told that by the technician at my work as well. I'll probably sell off my 4850s and rebuild the system with new case, graphics, and probably a GB EP45-UD3 or similar after I change cars.

Trav33, I'd recommend against the non-reference cooler ASUS HD4850 and HD4870s. The fans on these units ARE known to fail often and they do run hot, and being summer and all, this is not a good thing.

Edited January 14, 2009 by prae

[Mayuri Krab]

4GB Ram is generally ok but if you need the 8 for things like video editing well thats up to you, but i guess the higher standard these days is 4GB RAM providing you are running Vista because if memory serves me correct Windows XP only recognises up to 3GB.

32bit OS can only addresses up to of 4Gb of memory (which is mainly made up of your system Ram + video card ram), so if you have a 1Gb video card, windows will "see" a max of 3Gb system ram. If you want more than this 4Gb limit you need a 64bit OS which is either Vista or XP 64bit.

Maybe a i7 fanboy can come outta the woodwork and make this thread really interesting

No i7 fanboy's yet!...

I'll try & be the fanboy then , buy/bulid a i7 based system coz I'm getting one sometime soon & if no one gets one & I'm the only one, then that makes me look like a moron...

nah, but seriously theres very little point in upgrading to i7 atm...

What makes a good case? I initially started the cheapest midi tower, and then worked out i need front USB (preferably up high/on top for easy access), and firewire. Dont need any fancy lights or clear panels.

Like what R31Nismoid said, airflow is one. Another very important one I found is, if you are buliding the system yourself get atleast a 1/2 decent branded case otherwise buliding it is gonna be a pain in the a*se.

I didn't believe this, till a family friend asked me to bulid him a PC & he wanted to save $ on anything thats not "essential", so I made the mistake of buying a $35 no brand cheapo case...

Man that thing was a dam nightmare to work with, instead of using metal screws on the base of the case where the mobo gets screwed on, this cheapo case used some crappy plastic plug things, which break really easily & when I finally got most of these plugs in, the last hole didn't line up probably, so in the end I had to leave a hole unscrewed on the mobo as otherwise if I force it to fit, the mobo will bend. Along that, the other problems with the case included, holes for the screws for the PSU didn't line up right either, there is no way to just remove one front metal bar thing to install a Optical drive, instead I had to remove the entire front face to just remove that one metal bar so I can install one optical drive...

In the end, it took a whole days of work to get that PC assembled when I thought at most it should have only taken a couple of hours at most.

[jaschippy]

Here is a bit more for you to look at - honestly just focus on the i920 as the rest (as you'll see below, is not within your reach)

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showd...i=3448&p=18

But then as part of the final words of the review:

So as i was kinda saying, a bit more cost for gain of... is questionable the i920 really isn't worth the $$ for gain as Nehalem (Core i7) really only hauls ass with the 940/965 punch for punch.

CPU

i920 - $470

i940 - $950

i965 - $1600

Mobo

Gigabyte x58 - $360

Ram

G.Skill 6G Kit(3x2G) DDR3 1333 - $335

This is compared with what i put up earlier

CPU - Intel Q6600 - $290

Mobo - GB EP45T UD3R - $187

G.Skill 4GB Kit (2x2G) DDR2 1066 - $120

(total 600)

Core i7 setup prices with difference to Core2

i920 - $1165 - Diff $565

i940 - $1640 - Diff $1045

i965 - $2295 - Diff $1695

Honestly, yes I'm trying to talk you out of i7 as for what you want/need its a waste of money simple as that. If you ran a business that depended on outright processing power and so on then i would reccomend otherwise.

I went through all these ideas myself about 3 months ago (knowing i7 was coming and i couldn't honestly see the value)

You are better off buying middle/high end mature gear than low end new gear.

All of the above does change if you overclock the system, but for the sake of the argument im assuming you want a turn-key system minimal fuss/setup as overclocking can take a bit of work depending on what you want.

Maybe a i7 fanboy can come outta the woodwork and make this thread really interesting

You want a I7 fan boy ill give u one lol. Nah I got a I7 and what are u on about the 920 doesn't haul ass. A I7 920 for $450 can out perform a Qx9770 worth $2000. If u can afford it then go I7 it is worth it if u do a lot of video editing/ encoding way faster. If u only wanna spend $1500 go a E8500 overclock it to 4ghz and get a 4870 graphics card for gaming, for video editing and multi tasking get a Q6600 and a 4850 graphics card.

Edited January 17, 2009 by jaschippy

[R31Nismoid]

The % performance difference from a Q6600 vs i7 920 is not worth the $170 difference in CPU and then the, + mobo/ram extra costs, amounting to a total of $550 or so (over 30% more $$$)

Yes it is faster, i never said it wasnt. However its $$ vs performance here as there is a budget.

The only real FAST i7's are the ones that cost money, unlike the 920 which is cheap and slowish.

The user is also not overclocking, which means you must approach from stock specs.

http://www.hardware.fr/news/10062/baisse-quad-intel-18.html

^^

Also see here, with a 40% price reduction coming as of next week to the Q9650, i cannot see any reason to get a i7 920 anymore.

Infact i would swap out the Q6600 now i listed due to the 40% price drop of the Q9650 which will put it only marginally more expensive than a Q6600 currently is.

Im actually thinking about upgrading CPU myself to a Q9650 and putting my E8400 in a media box or something.

[Trav33]

I did a quick search, and cant find a list of the processors available in the Intel Quad-Core range.

I'd like to know the full specs of the Q9650 (its not listed listed on my pricelist, only the QX9650)

Intel's own page only shows 5 models: Q6600, Q6700, Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550.

http://www.intel.com/en_AU/Consumer/Learn/...-au+c2q_desktop

[25GTT]

Q9650:

http://www.netplus.com.au/products-detail....PINPC4D%2DQ9650

[omega36]

I built myself an i7 system... i7 920, Gigabyte X58 board, 3x 2GB G.Skill DDR3 with a Radeon 4870.

Quite an awesome system, really fast. Hopefully I won't have to upgrade for a while However, I'll be replacing

the Gigabyte X58 board with an ASUS P6T Deluxe and I'll replace the 4870 with something newer in a

few months as well. The specific X58 board I got, the X58-DS4 is very noisy and runs pretty hot (even

in a well ventilated case). I think the X58-DS4 Extreme offers better cooling.

I also have a Q6600 with 2x2GB OCZ Platinum RAM, it's a great system, but the i7 rig blows it away

[25GTT]

Ooooh nice how much did that system cost omega?

Keep us in the loop when ya ready to sell the 4870.... i need to upgrade my 9800GTX I have not seen much movement in card prices even though the new Nvidia range is out.

Whats even more funny is that the newer Nvidia range is for sale at a cheaper price than the old range! New technology, more performance yet retailers have not yet dropped the pricing of the older ones eg the 280 model is more expensive than the new 285 model!???

[R31Nismoid]

The pricing will drop, it just takes a little while to hit our shores are the new pricing comes through and stock is used up

[ChrisCross]

Hi guys, since we're on topic of building PCs...Im thinking bout building one again. Havent played with them for a good 6 years so not sure if all of this would work, but this is my idea.

Planning to spend around a grand, so a fairly tight budget and its mostly used for games, movies, internet and music...

Mother board - Foxconn P43A-S - $124 or Gigabyte EP43-D33R $189

CPU - Core Duo E7300 - $175

Memory - 4GB Kingston DDR2 1066 - $109

HDD - Western Dig 1TB - $155

Graphic - GeForce 9600GT - $145

Monitor - BenQ T2 Full HD 21.5" - $225

Plus other little bits n pieces (Software, Wifi,...)...These prices are off websites through staticice.com.au

Does this sound about right? Should i upgrade anything? I know its not anywhere near top-spec, but im not shitting money at the moment hehehe

Just after some general ideas, so yea. shoot

[R31Nismoid]

Whats the overall budget?

I wouldnt be spending $200 on a mobo if your only putting a 7300 in there

I think you could spend a tad more on the graphics card and get somthing just a little better to compliment the monitor better

[25GTT]

as 31nismoid said more $$ on grafix card, perhaps reduce RAm to 800mhz, may go for a 500GB Hard disk drive and just burn ya stuff to dvd (if you already have a dvd burner that is.

The near $100 you may have saved from that put towards a better graphics card, maybe even also go the next board down in the GIGABYTE range, Gigabyte motherboards have a very good following behind them so prob stick with them

[ChrisCross]

Rigthio, so more monies towards graphics n stick to the lower mobo.

Like this?

Mother board - Gigabyte EP43-DS3L $139

CPU - Core Duo E7300 - $175

Memory - 4GB Kingston DDR2 1066 - $109

HDD - Western Dig 1TB - $155

Graphic - Would it better for this to go to a "512MB GeForce 9800GT($180)" or "1GB GeForce 9800GT($210)" or "512MB GeForce 9800GTX+($250)"

Monitor - BenQ T2 Full HD 21.5" - $225

I'm quite happy with everything else at the moment...So would all this run good enough?? Also, do the prices sound good?

Edited January 26, 2009 by ChrisCross

[25GTT]

get the cheaper 800mhz kingston 4GB ram and then you can easily get that 9800GTX.

Read my thread that some of the buys helped me with in regard to 800mhz vs 1066mhz unless you are really going to be overclocking that thing to the max i wouldnt worry about the 1066 as the guys have mentioned other than that there is not a massive amount of difference. definately stick with 4GB worth just dop it down to 800mhz

Also as mentioned consider dropping your hard disk space if you need to.... 1TB is still alot.

Also as mentioned earlier in this post might also be good to wait about 4 more weeks as a whole bunch of newer high end graphics cards have just come out...... it may make the 9800GTX as it is mid range at the moment but still packs a punch ( i currently use one as still max out most games)

[ChrisCross]

cool thanks mate...Ill wait a few weeks then