New PC Specs

[humcheepeng]

Hi all,

I'm going to get a whole new system (sans monitor), and after looking up the prices, I have these components shortlisted:

- Intel DP965LTCK + Core 2 Duo E6600

- PC6400/800 DDR2 Corsair 1GB x 2

- Gigabyte FSCA1-ANS Aluminium

- XFX GeForce 8800GTS xXx 320MB

- Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer

- Western Digital Caviar SE16 160GB (8MB) + Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB (16MB)

- Sony DRU-835A 18x Lightscribe

- Microsoft Gaming Precision Bundle (Comfort Keyboard 2000 + IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0)

- Creative Inspire P5800 5.1

My budget is US$1500, and the above fits into it nicely.

My questions:

1. Is it fine to choose a chassis that comes with a power supply? Is a standalone power supply necessary?

2. Is the xXx version of the 8800GTS by XFX noticeable faster than the normal XFX 8800GTS?

3. I was also thinking of the Gigabyte 965P-DS3, and I'm wondering are there any considerable benefits of the Gigabyte board over the Intel. By the way, I'm not going to do overclocking.

4. Any 5.1 speakers that are in the similar price range as the Creative, and better sounding?

Any advice? Thanks in advance!

:D

[chconline Veteran]

It will be quite a waste if you aren't overclocking. I used to not overclock until I found out the joys of overclocking a Core 2 Duo.

As far as motherboards go, I would prefer the latest Intel chipset -- the P35. The Asus P5K-Deluxe is a nice board.

Swap the hard drives to Seagate 7200.10, great performance. RAM, the OCZ Platinum XTC Rev.2 are slightly cheaper. Drop the Creative soundcard, you don't need it.

I would also get a quality power supply for the system. Seasonic's the best in this area for efficiency, quietness, performance. The S12 and M12 are great choices, with the latter being a modular unit.

The XXX edition just means it's pre-overclocked out of the factory.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

1. psus that comes with a chasis are not the best. I've heard of several instances where the psu that came with the case died in 3 months, or fried the system. Get a seperate one, your computer will thank you.

[NienorGT]

Get the GA-P35-DS3R, better layout, better components than the Intel board, better stability.

Get a SATA DVD burner.

This case is nice (using one) but just telling that Hard drives are making vibrations/noise.

Get a Corsair 520/620 HX PSU or a Seasonic 550/600 PSU (Depending the price, Corsair PSU are made by Seasonic and usually cheaper for the same internal PSU)

[NextGen_Gamer]

I would make a few changes, and go with this setup:

ASUS P5K (Intel P35 Chipset) Motherboard - $150 at Newegg.com

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) - $266 (To Be Released On July 22nd)

2GB (1GB x 2) DDR2-800 OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 Memory - $120 at Newegg.com

eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Superclocked - $285 at Newegg.com

500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (7200 RPM, 16MB Buffer) Hard Disk Drive - $120 at Newegg.com

Lite-On LH-20A1L-06 Serial ATA CD-RW/DVD?RW/DVD-RAM Drive with LightScribe - $45 at Newegg.com

Most of these changes are not going to effect performance that much (excluding the CPU switch, of course), but are simply better brandnames (ASUS motherboard, eVGA video card, Seagate HDD, OCZ memory) and higher quality components.

I also put in a single 500GB HDD instead of the 160GB+400GB setup you had, since I don't really know why you would want two different HDDs in your system. To me, all that would create is more noise, more heat, and more possible points of failure. And as others have said, you should get a different power supply unit. You don't necessarily have to go all-out with Seasonic (since they are pricey), but I would suggest at least a 500-Watt Antec unit.

As for the speakers, I can tell you that Logitech's Z-5300e 5.1-channel setup is the best for the money. At $130, this is obviously more than you pick, but to me it would definitely be worth it. Unless of course you are living in a dorm room or an apartment, in which case you would probably never be able to experience the true power of the Logitech Z-5300e speakers.

[humcheepeng]

  NextGen_Gamer said:

I would make a few changes, and go with this setup:

ASUS P5K (Intel P35 Chipset) Motherboard - $150 at Newegg.com

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (3.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) - $266 (To Be Released On July 22nd)

2GB (1GB x 2) DDR2-800 OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 Memory - $120 at Newegg.com

eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Superclocked - $285 at Newegg.com

500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (7200 RPM, 16MB Buffer) Hard Disk Drive - $120 at Newegg.com

Lite-On LH-20A1L-06 Serial ATA CD-RW/DVD?RW/DVD-RAM Drive with LightScribe - $45 at Newegg.com

Most of these changes are not going to effect performance that much (excluding the CPU switch, of course), but are simply better brandnames (ASUS motherboard, eVGA video card, Seagate HDD, OCZ memory) and higher quality components.

I also put in a single 500GB HDD instead of the 160GB+400GB setup you had, since I don't really know why you would want two different HDDs in your system. To me, all that would create is more noise, more heat, and more possible points of failure. And as others have said, you should get a different power supply unit. You don't necessarily have to go all-out with Seasonic (since they are pricey), but I would suggest at least a 500-Watt Antec unit.

As for the speakers, I can tell you that Logitech's Z-5300e 5.1-channel setup is the best for the money. At $130, this is obviously more than you pick, but to me it would definitely be worth it. Unless of course you are living in a dorm room or an apartment, in which case you would probably never be able to experience the true power of the Logitech Z-5300e speakers.

Thanks to all for the feedback!

1. Is it really necessary to avoid the Intel mainboard if I really have no intent on overclocking, now and in the future? I was aiming for a plain P965 board to keep costs down. I won't be needing the overclocking bells and whistles. Also, what does a P35 chipset have over a P965 other than the support for newer RAM?

2. I suggested a 2-HDD setup as I had planned to designate the smaller capacity one as my C: for the OS and programs, and the other for D: to store my data, and more importantly the swap file. I thought that placing the swap file on another physical drive from the OS is supposed to speed things up? Can anyone tell me if I'm mistaken?

3. Point taken for the PSU. I'm looking at an Antec 550W as it falls within my budget. Antec is a reliable brand for PSUs, right?

4. Point taken for the SATA DVD writer. Any brands in particular to recommend?

5. What is the best brand to get a 8800 GTS 320MB that is factory-overclocked?

Once again, thank you for your time!

:DD

[NienorGT]

Get the GA-P35-DS3R, better layout, better components (ie: Solid Capacitors, better CODEC (WTF is Sigmatel?)) than the Intel board, better stability (due to solid capacitors and layout) more than 4 SATA (Hey, you want 2HDD and 1 DVD you just have 1 SATA remaining for the future?), Board is BLUE!!! OMG! A Green Mobo in 2007 :rofl: (Idiotic argument).

P35 is cooler (only 18W), 3% faster specially in USB IIRC.

Antec good PSU are True Power Trio, NeoHE and for cheap, Earthwatts. All made in Seasonic workshops.

Pionner and Liteon. Samsung as some compatibility problem with some DVDs (Brought 16x DVD and saw as 8x DVDs).

eVGA as the best support, so it get my point. I'm getting a 8800GTS 320MB Superclocked as soon I can.

[dr.bisho]

1-----intel were good, not avoid them, they work really....but its better to get GigaByte

2-----true....

3-----i agree

4,5---iam not sure what to recomend, i mean here in kuwait we get different brands, soem that you guys havent heard off, same thing, you guys talk about brands i never heard of..anyhow...i cant help you with that ...but HP dvd writers are good

[humcheepeng]

  Nienor said:

Get the GA-P35-DS3R, better layout, better components (ie: Solid Capacitors, better CODEC (WTF is Sigmatel?)) than the Intel board, better stability (due to solid capacitors and layout) more than 4 SATA (Hey, you want 2HDD and 1 DVD you just have 1 SATA remaining for the future?), Board is BLUE!!! OMG! A Green Mobo in 2007 :rofl: (Idiotic argument).

P35 is cooler (only 18W), 3% faster specially in USB IIRC.

Antec good PSU are True Power Trio, NeoHE and for cheap, Earthwatts. All made in Seasonic workshops.

Pionner and Liteon. Samsung as some compatibility problem with some DVDs (Brought 16x DVD and saw as 8x DVDs).

eVGA as the best support, so it get my point. I'm getting a 8800GTS 320MB Superclocked as soon I can.

I've checked out the specs and reviews for the GA-P35-DS3R, it seems great and more future-proof! Thanks for the advice.

I'm getting the sound card because I've heard about all onboard sound having the problem of crackling sounds and hisses when the hard disk is being read. True?

This is my current to-get list:

- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R + Core 2 Duo E6600

- PC6400/800 DDR2 Corsair 1GB x 2

- Silverstone TJ08 (Black)

- Antec TruePower Trio 550W

- eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB DDR3 SuperClock

- Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer

- Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB (8MB)

- Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB (16MB)

- Asus 18X Lightscribe (SATA)

- Microsoft Gaming Precision Bundle

- Creative Inspire P5800 5.1

Any further advice?

[NienorGT]

I stop you right here. The TJ-08 is a mATX Case only, no support for ATX Mobos. Sorry to brake your fun. :spell:

Also Silverstone cases are too priced, don't buy this unless you have lot of money.

If you use front audio plug I have heard small noise when moving the mouse. Nothing about HDD. With direct connect, no problem at all.

[GreatShamanGT]

I'm using onboard audio right now with my Logitech x540 and there has never been any problems. The only time there has been a problem is when I was using crappy speakers. I also recommend the logitech x540. It's great. 2.1channel audio, but there are 5 speakers and 1 base. I also don't think you need to go all the way and get PC6400. I think something lower will do just as fine. That's just me though.

[J400uk]

I woudlnt reccomemnd logitech x-540 unless your desperate for sorround, I think its better to go for a *good* 2.1 setup like the Z-4s or Z2300

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

whats wrong with x-540? It plays 5.1 sound on 2.1 Stereo..

[chconline Veteran]

  GreatShamanGT said:

I'm using onboard audio right now with my Logitech x540 and there has never been any problems. The only time there has been a problem is when I was using crappy speakers. I also recommend the logitech x540. It's great. 2.1channel audio, but there are 5 speakers and 1 base. I also don't think you need to go all the way and get PC6400. I think something lower will do just as fine. That's just me though.

That's 5.1 audio.

Actually, go for some quality audio... Logitech speakers, in general, sucks :p

[NextGen_Gamer]

  chconline said:

That's 5.1 audio.

Actually, go for some quality audio... Logitech speakers, in general, sucks :p

I'm assuming that must have been sarcasm, as the Logitech Z-5500 speakers are regarded by me, along with millions of others and every single PC hardware review website or magazine in existence, as the best 5.1-channel surround sound setup money can buy for the PC, with the only possible exception being the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 system.