Critique my system before I spend $2000 to build

[null_]

Here are the specs - I plan on using it for every day stuff like web and email, some coding, and a little bit of gaming here and there but overall I feel that these specs should do me fine -- your thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Antec P180 Case

Seasonic S12 ENERGY+ 550W ATX12V V2.2 20/24PIN Active PFC Power Supply

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT 256MB Dual DVI

2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive

1x Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200.10 8MB 8.5MS SATA2 NCQ Hard Drive

1x Western Digital 160GB SATA Drive

2x Dual Layer DVD?RW Burner/CD-RW

Hauppauge Wintv PVR-150 Media Center Kit MPEG2 PCI TV Tuner Retail Box W/ Certified MCE Remote

After taxes and shipping it comes to $2,000 CAD - I wanted to run it amongst you guys/gals before I go spend that kind of money, this is a serious investment...

Edited December 19, 2006 by iCeFuSiOn

[metallithrax]

You need nearly 900GB for everyday use and a bit of gaming

[null_]

You need nearly 900GB for everyday use and a bit of gaming

I plan on expanding my music collection and with the WinTV Ill need some space for the stuff I record from TV/VHS tapes/whatever. Hard drives are cheap :p

[Puggsley]

Looks good! I think 550 PSU is a bit risky, possibly go for a 650/700 and make sure it is a good brand like Tagon. Value PSUs WILL destroy you're system (I learnt the hard way)

[metallithrax]

I plan on expanding my music collection and with the WinTV Ill need some space for the stuff I record from TV/VHS tapes/whatever. Hard drives are cheap :p

Thats fair enough, but you didn't mention this in the initial post. :angry:

But don't worry, I'm in one of my moods where I pick faults in others posts :laugh:

Have fun with your new system (if you go for it).

[null_]

Thats fair enough, but you didn't mention this in the initial post. :angry:

But don't worry, I'm in one of my moods where I pick faults in others posts :laugh:

Have fun with your new system (if you go for it).

Haha no worries, I only noticed after you mentioned it - "Hmm, yeah, wait.. why do I need 900GB of storage.. OH YEAH! The WinTV!"

[halcyoncmdr]

If you are looking for a different PSU I highly recoomend Xclio. Despite what many people on here will say about Tagan, Antec, etc. those are not the only good brands. I have used Xclio PSUs in all of my builds and they have been stable and rock solid every time. Every review I can find is a good review; hence why I decided to try Xclio instead, and I have never been let down.

[obsolete_power]

I plan on expanding my music collection and with the WinTV Ill need some space for the stuff I record from TV/VHS tapes/whatever. Hard drives are cheap :p

Fair enough. The system looks very good, and you may want to upgrade the PSU, 550W is just enough power for the peripherals that you have but that's it. I would recommend at least 600W if not 650W.

[jking_84]

If you are looking for a different PSU I highly recoomend Xclio. Despite what many people on here will say about Tagan, Antec, etc. those are not the only good brands. I have used Xclio PSUs in all of my builds and they have been stable and rock solid every time. Every review I can find is a good review; hence why I decided to try Xclio instead, and I have never been let down.

Thanks for heads up :D

EDIT: OMFG!!!! I WANT ONE OF THOSE BIG CASES WITH THE BIG FO FAN IN THE FRONT!!! Everyone check out that link!

OnTopic: All looks great, although I would change the PSU as suggested.

[obsolete_power]

If you are looking for a different PSU I highly recoomend Xclio. Despite what many people on here will say about Tagan, Antec, etc. those are not the only good brands. I have used Xclio PSUs in all of my builds and they have been stable and rock solid every time. Every review I can find is a good review; hence why I decided to try Xclio instead, and I have never been let down.

I feel as though I must say something. Just because a few out of a batch happen to work well and be stable doesn't make a brand good. What makes a brand truly good involves more than that. It invovles track record, servicing record, manufacturing facilities, quality of the components, word of mouth etc...I work very closely with computers as I am a computer science major and I personally have never heard of Xclio. I am not saying it is bad necessarily but when you spend $2000 on a computer, the PSU can make a HUGE difference. If the PSU turns out to be rubbish, it can make you throw away $2000 in a hot second. I know this from personal experience :( When you spend a lot of money people tend to go for the components that are highly ranked simply for piece of mind. You spend more and most of the time you get more for the money, simple as that.

P.S. Looks like this Xclio is a Taiwanese company. To give you a little piece of advice, generally any component that comes from Taiwan or China is at the bottom end of quality, in other words it's crap!

[NienorGT]

:yes: good system, as from the PSU, keep this one, it's not a beat running on 8800's you don't need a mega PSU and this one is perfect for you.

[null_]

:yes: good system, as from the PSU, keep this one, it's not a beat running on 8800's you don't need a mega PSU and this one is perfect for you.

Are you sure? I'll bump it up to 600W if I have to, I'd rather get it done right the first time instead of having to swap parts out etc during the build process just because something was too weak :wacko:

[Rastereffects]

Why do you need to have 2 DVD burners?

Anyway, your configuration looks good! It's better than what I plan to have. Same CPU and Ram but with an SD37P2.

[jking_84]

I feel as though I must say something. Just because a few out of a batch happen to work well and be stable doesn't make a brand good. What makes a brand truly good involves more than that. It invovles track record, servicing record, manufacturing facilities, quality of the components, word of mouth etc...I work very closely with computers as I am a computer science major and I personally have never heard of Xclio. I am not saying it is bad necessarily but when you spend $2000 on a computer, the PSU can make a HUGE difference. If the PSU turns out to be rubbish, it can make you throw away $2000 in a hot second. I know this from personal experience When you spend a lot of money people tend to go for the components that are highly ranked simply for piece of mind. You spend more and most of the time you get more for the money, simple as that.

P.S. Looks like this Xclio is a Taiwanese company. To give you a little piece of advice, generally any component that comes from Taiwan or China is at the bottom end of quality, in other words it's crap!

Judging from that statement, what you really mean to say is this product is **** because you havnt heard of it before???

1. The Xclio Stablepower 850/1000W is $379 on newegg, as opposed to $349 for Tagan Turbojet 1100W, so your statement about them being cheap is invalid.

2. Ive checked out the reviews from ggl search and none of them say anything other than good things about this product, so your statement about them not having raving reviews is invalid.

The only thing that makes this PSU less attractive than the likes of Tagan/Seasonic/OCZ is the fact that it is an unknown brand... And the only reason it is unknown is because of brand-snobs like yourself who dont give newer companies a chance to prove their products.

I understand your point, but might I suggest you actully check the product in question out before ****-talking it? You never know you may be surprised and rewarded for giving them a go.

halcyoncmdr has helped me before, and I trust his judgement. Only wish Australia got as many new toys as US does! :D

[chconline Veteran]

P.S. Looks like this Xclio is a Taiwanese company. To give you a little piece of advice, generally any component that comes from Taiwan or China is at the bottom end of quality, in other words it's crap!

Ok... right. So you are implying that everything including Seasonic, Asus, Abit, DFI, MSI, and all the big name companies are at the bottom end of quality? I am sorry but over 50% of the things in your computer are based off those countries (Especially motherboards)

[Rage Of Fury]

Seasonic PSUs are one of the best PSUs you can buy today. Excellent reviews from the big technology sites such as anandtech, tomshardware and extremetech. So with that said, your PSU is fine.

The only thing I would change is the video card. Go for a 7950 GT because that 7600 won't get you far in the latest games such as Rainbow Six Vegas and the upcoming UT2007. :)

[NienorGT]

Are you sure? I'll bump it up to 600W if I have to, I'd rather get it done right the first time instead of having to swap parts out etc during the build process just because something was too weak :wacko:

It will be FINE, go buy a 600W if you fear it too mush. But it will be unnecessary with your current specs.

Funny, Few years ago, people wasn't taking care of the PSU.

Now people fear that a PSU is not enough even if it is.

I think tomorrow anyone will have a 1K PSU in a Barebone Shuttle.

Just go read that:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article656-page1.html

[null_]

Seasonic PSUs are one of the best PSUs you can buy today. Excellent reviews from the big technology sites such as anandtech, tomshardware and extremetech. So with that said, your PSU is fine.

The only thing I would change is the video card. Go for a 7950 GT because that 7600 won't get you far in the latest games such as Rainbow Six Vegas and the upcoming UT2007. :)

I haven't been keeping up with PC hardware lately, whats the huge difference between the 7900 GT and the 7950 GT?

It will be FINE, go buy a 600W if you fear it too mush. But it will be unnecessary with your current specs.

Funny, Few years ago, people wasn't taking care of the PSU.

Now people fear that a PSU is not enough even if it is.

I think tomorrow anyone will have a 1K PSU in a Barebone Shuttle.

Just go read that:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article656-page1.html

Thanks for the link, I had read over that review a few days ago when I was planning all this out and it seems like a very solid product.

[halcyoncmdr]

Judging from that statement, what you really mean to say is this product is **** because you havnt heard of it before???

1. The Xclio Stablepower 850/1000W is $379 on newegg, as opposed to $349 for Tagan Turbojet 1100W, so your statement about them being cheap is invalid.

2. Ive checked out the reviews from ggl search and none of them say anything other than good things about this product, so your statement about them not having raving reviews is invalid.

The only thing that makes this PSU less attractive than the likes of Tagan/Seasonic/OCZ is the fact that it is an unknown brand... And the only reason it is unknown is because of brand-snobs like yourself who dont give newer companies a chance to prove their products.

I understand your point, but might I suggest you actully check the product in question out before ****-talking it? You never know you may be surprised and rewarded for giving them a go.

halcyoncmdr has helped me before, and I trust his judgement. Only wish Australia got as many new toys as US does! :D

Well said jking. (Y) I was in a nice mood earlier and didn't want to accuse anyone on these forums of being "fanboys" or "brand-snobs", but I was waiting for it and hoping it didn't come. Many people on these forums are like this, and it really annoys me when people don't do any research about a product and still trash-talk it. I wasn't going to post any review links for the PSUs because I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested, but now I think I will anyway. Xclio is made by Meridian who is owned by Channel Well Technology. Just to inform others, some of Antec's PSUs are rebranded Seasonic and Channel Well PSUs basically.

ExtremeOverclocking 450W

TweakTown 500W

ExtremeOverclocking 550W

ProClockers 650W

ExtremeOverclocking 700W

PCPerspective 750W

Just to post a few. :)

[NienorGT]

I haven't been keeping up with PC hardware lately, whats the huge difference between the 7900 GT and the 7950 GT?

Thanks for the link, I had read over that review a few days ago when I was planning all this out and it seems like a very solid product.

7900GT < 7950GT

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?ca...4&card2=445

Same features, 100mhz more on the GPU, 40MHz more on the RAM and 512MB in standard vs 256.

But both cost way more than a 7600GT as you said in first.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?ca...4&card2=385

[null_]

I guess this really brings it down to the question of what video card should I get? :s

[halcyoncmdr]

I have a 7600GT and it can do anything that I have thrown at it so far. I don't play many FPS, but it will do DOOM3 on the extreme settings that the developers don't recommend. :devil: And I highly recommend eVGA for the card. If you don't plan on doing many high-end games then a 7600 is plenty for what you will be doing.

[null_]

I have a 7600GT and it can do anything that I have thrown at it so far. I don't play many FPS, but it will do DOOM3 on the extreme settings that the developers don't recommend. :devil: And I highly recommend eVGA for the card. If you don't plan on doing many high-end games then a 7600 is plenty for what you will be doing.

Really? Interesting. I was looking at EVGA in the first place, I've heard nothing but great things about them. Mostly I'm going to be working with Photoshop etc but as for gaming, I'm going to pick up Half Life 2 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and I already have UT 2004, not really much of a gamer - although you better believe it when I say I'll be picking up a copy of UT 2007 when its out. I like being able to play my games at the highest resolution of my monitor and usually on high settings... think the 7600 GT can handle that now and somewheres into the future?

[Rage Of Fury]

According to TomsHardware VGA Charts, in Half-Life 2, running at 1600x1200 with 4xAA and 8xAF, the 7600GT get's 28FPS while the 7950GT get's 56.7FPS.

In Oblivion, running again at 1600x1200 with no AA(game doesn't support it) and 8XAF, the 7600GT does 37FPS while the 7950GT does 65.9FPS.

All and all, the 7950GT gets close to double the number of Frames Per Second. :)

[NienorGT]

think the 7600 GT can handle that now and somewheres into the future?

Now, yes.

Future... herm... UT2007 (and Unreal 3.0 games) and ET: Quake Wars? Cannot be sure, but I doubt you will run them in full settings with a 7950GT, so don't even think the 7600GT for thoses.