Building a new PC

[lelorien]

Hello Blindnero! It sure has been a while I haven't posted ... Ok, so I worked all summer and got a healthy pay that I would PARTLY like to spend on a new computer. I know my friend built himself one with your help using my account about an year ago and the result was pretty good, so I thought of getting something similar performance wise UNLESS something new that's really worth it is out on the market. I'd like to get an idea of prices before deciding my budget, because I hope I won't spend everything in one shot. When my friend built his computer, I bought to parts for my old one that I would like to RE-USE in my new computer: a video card (ATI Diamond x4850HD) and a power supply (extreme power 500w from Coolermaster). The site I would like to use is http://www.ncix.com. Thank you!
P.s. I live in canada (for the currency)

[Blín D'ñero]

Hello there. What about this
chassis: Coolermaster cm 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case $85.81 CAD
motherboard: ASUS P5Q $132.25 CAD
memory: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit $68.69 CAD
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 $188.98 CAD
2 x harddiskdrive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 $82.99 CAD (x2)
soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium 7.1 Channel 24-BIT PCI-E Sound Card OEM $94.99 CAD
mouse: Logitech MX518 Gaming Grade Optical Mouse 1600DPI $62.79 CAD
keyboard: Steelseries Merc Stealth Illuminated Gaming Keyboard $89.09 CAD <-- i use this one, it's a great keyboard

[lelorien]

I already have a keyboard and mouse that will do the trick.
Motherboard: Looks good as long as I can eventually use crossfire on it.
Memory: Looks good too, does windows 32x still limit me at around 3.3 gb of ram??
CPU: Also looks good, is it worth going higher for the ghz? Or maybe even a quad core?
harddiskdrive: 2x640 is wayyy more than I would usually need, could we settle for something like: A 150 GB one for my windows, and a much bigger one (maybe 500?) for all my other personal things( documents, games, music, etc...)
soundcard: I don't really have a sound system on my computer: I use a headset that's relatively cheap (30$) so is it really worth it to get such a good soundcard?
chassis: I might browse a little
fans: will I need fans?
CD drive: Won't I need a cd drive?

Oh and are we sure all of these parts are 100% compatible with each other and with my video card and my 500W PSU?

[Blín D'ñero]

I already have a keyboard and mouse that will do the trick.

ok

Motherboard: Looks good as long as I can eventually use crossfire on it.

then take the P5Q pro board: ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 CrossFire $159.36 CAD

Memory: Looks good too, does windows 32x still limit me at around 3.3 gb of ram??

yes

CPU: Also looks good, is it worth going higher for the ghz? Or maybe even a quad core?

for games, the faster the better. this one is half the price of a quad of similar speed (q 9650). also you can overclock e8400 to 3.8 Ghz much more easily than a q9650, while keeping cooler, more stable, consuming less power (mind you have only 500w). On the other hand, if multitasking / videoediting is important to you, definately go quad.

harddiskdrive: 2x640 is wayyy more than I would usually need, could we settle for something like: A 150 GB one for my windows, and a much bigger one (maybe 500?) for all my other personal things( documents, games, music, etc...)

these have the best price per byte value. smaller hdd's are not much cheaper (and they often only have only 8 MB cache). You never want to have too little free space, if you download stuff etc. The WD's are also top notch quality and very fast. Or take this one (Caviar Black, is even faster and 32 MB cache): Western Digital 7501AALS Caviar Black 750GB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB $89.25 CAD
and a small one Western Digital SE16 320GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache 8.9MS NCQ Hard Drive OEM $59.16 CAD

soundcard: I don't really have a sound system on my computer: I use a headset that's relatively cheap (30$) so is it really worth it to get such a good soundcard?

Yes because the X-Fi software incorporates crystal clear sound enhancement for mp3, virtual surround for gaming, and via ALchemy you can restore hardware EAX in games which not only sounds better but also relieves the CPU from that audioprocessing

chassis: I might browse a little

because of your next point, take one that is relatively big like this one and already has good airflow, you then need no extra fans

fans: will I need fans?

see previous

CD drive: Won't I need a cd drive?

yes i forgot. Samsung SH-S222A/BEBE 22X Dual Layer DVD Writer Black IDE OEM $33.37 CAD

Oh and are we sure all of these parts are 100% compatible with each other and with my video card and my 500W PSU?

certainly.

[lelorien]

ok, so we basically have up until now:

Chassis: compared to other cases, the one you pointed out is much cheaper, unless you can recommend others, I'll go for that one.
motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 CrossFire I'll go for the pro
Memory: I'll stick with that one Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
harddiskdrives: I'll go for: Western Digital 7501AALS Caviar Black 750GB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB X2 since the there isn't any big price difference, is that a good idea?
soundcard: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium 7.1 Channel 24-BIT PCI-E Sound Card OEM
Cddrive: Samsung SH-S222A/BEBE 22X Dual Layer DVD Writer Black IDE OEM

Are we forgetting anything?

[Blín D'ñero]

Forgetting not exactly, but
if you overclock the cpu you should not use the stock Intel cooler but a better one: Zalman CNPS9700 for instance. they are on rebate offer now!
Or, if you don't want to overclock then better go for the fastest core2duo: E8600, don't overclock it (or just a tiny little) and just use the stock Intel cooler.

The 2 x 750GB Black edition WD's is a very good idea! :thumbup:

If you have money left, i'd say invest in a more powerful higher quality PSU. You said you have a 500w so i guess it's an old one? The brand Coolermaster is good, but they have much better models to keep your precious new stuff fed and stable at peak load, and you wanted to be crossfire ready. Unfortunately NCIX don't have the modular 850. But they have this Corsair HX750, tested as excellently:
Corsair HX750W Power Supply Review

paulktreg - August 2, 2009

Pros:
Excellent DC voltage load regulation
High DC quality
80 Plus Silver certification
Quiet
7 year warranty
Modular design


Cons:
None

and it's certified "GOLD" by the 80+ labs.

[lelorien]

No thanks, I won't get into overclocking right away as long as I'm sure my 500w can handle everything.

Um so everything is pretty much settled then, a few last questions:

1. Do you think it would be possible to change one of the 750 to a 320? (harddrives)
2. what REALLY is the difference between THAT soundcard and the other cheaper one my friend got, is the performance THAT much difference? If it's the sound that's actually better, I've heard his card and it's really great already. Oh and, if I want to get the sound from my card on my headset, do I absolutely have to plug the headset directly in the card instead of the front jacks?

[Blín D'ñero]

I see i talked about ALchemy but that's a Vista thing. You didn't even mention Vista! On XP the sound is directly processed by the X-Fi hardware; on Vista that path (HAL) has been taken away by Microsoft so you need ALchemy to restore that.
If you're going Windows 7 it's the same.
I had to add that, now to your post.

No thanks, I won't get into overclocking right away as long as I'm sure my 500w can handle everything.

Um so everything is pretty much settled then, a few last questions:

1. Do you think it would be possible to change one of the 750 to a 320? (harddrives)
2. what REALLY is the difference between THAT soundcard and the other cheaper one my friend got, is the performance THAT much difference? If it's the sound that's actually better, I've heard his card and it's really great already. Oh and, if I want to get the sound from my card on my headset, do I absolutely have to plug the headset directly in the card instead of the front jacks?

Oh yes your 500W is fine for the components we mentioned sofar, non-crossfire, non-overclock.

Certainly you can have the 320 GB + the 750 GB together, why not. It's just: the 320 GB is relatively expensive! But technically they go perfectly, don't worry. I have those WD's combined myself, the 320, the 500, the 640, the 640 Black...

[lelorien]

I'm staying xp, so what should I do?

[Blín D'ñero]

Oh i was editing my post replying to you.
What do you mean what should you do?
Your friend had what soundcard?
On XP definitely install an X-Fi!

The headphone: if you have a good speakersystem plug it in there, because that comes directly from the card. Your front-jack will do nothing as it is usually connected to the onboard audio. Which you should disable in BIOS if you're installing a dedicated soundcard.