Does this look good?

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:11 pm

In the market for a new box, here is what I came up with. Any ideas on how to get the same performance for less?

1 Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$149.99

1 BFG Tech BFG680i SLi LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$279.99

1 EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
$299.99

1 Thermaltake Toughpower 850W W0131RU – NVIDIA QUAD-SLI APPROVED, FOUR +12V RAIL READY - Retail
$274.99

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
$314.00

1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
$204.00

1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$69.99

1 LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model LH-20A1H-185 - OEM
$35.99

1 ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
$47.99

Subtotal: $1,676.93

Rotorblade · Post by **Rotorblade** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:26 am

Rhino wrote:In the market for a new box, here is what I came up with. Any ideas on how to get the same performance for less?

1 Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$149.99

1 BFG Tech BFG680i SLi LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$279.99

1 EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
$299.99

1 Thermaltake Toughpower 850W W0131RU – NVIDIA QUAD-SLI APPROVED, FOUR +12V RAIL READY - Retail
$274.99

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
$314.00

1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
$204.00

1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$69.99

1 LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model LH-20A1H-185 - OEM
$35.99

1 ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
$47.99

Subtotal: $1,676.93

My opinion would be to build the system for now, and not for later when things will be cheaper and better. Save money!
Another thing is, why go all the way with one part if you aren't going all out on the whole system?

You could get this guy for a lot less and have the same performance if you want. Regardless of what parts you do go with it will be a high performance system.

Changes I would recommend and others have taken and not regretted:

- $80 430-500w Power supply would do instead of $250
(I recommend finding a quiet one, its a perk)

The below graph shows that the 8800GTS uses less power than the X1900XT and I have that card. This shows that my 430w quiet power supply does do the trick if i were to get a 8800GTS. Therefore I would not recommend spending $250 on a powersuppply. I paid $80 for mine and its working fine so far, even for overclocking.

- $124 motherboard Asus P5B was $279
(Racer went with this board and is super happy, i have the p5b deluxe and I realize the p5b would have been just as good and cheaper)

-$222 intel e6400 was $304
e6400 vs e6600
This thread shares the same thoughts that i have developed from reading reviews that the cache doesn't make much of a difference.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1089149

$34 case was $149
I admit $34 is cheap and you get what you pay for, but how often are you going to move your case. Why pay $149 for a case that doesn't come with a nice powersupply? Check out what Aerocool has, they got one that looks like a jet engine on the front and its far less then $149.

Total saved $560

I think the ram that you have selected will do the trick, and especially if you decide to overclock. This system will easily be able to attain 2.9 ghz @1333FSB which then gets you the CPU power of the X6800 for far less. You can get to 1333FSB easy with the P5B and e6400. And if you wanted you can go right for 1600FSB without any issues. All this can be done on air cooling. The bus speed is where you get the real performance increase versus just having a faster processor.

If you have zero plans of overclocking, i would say skip the zalman heatsink, because the stock cooler does very well. And you could get cheaper 2gb of memory as well.

If you do plan on overclocking a little bit, I would recommend a sweet heatsink like the zalman that you have picked, and the RAM that you have selected. For me it was a toss up between Zalman and Scythe Ninja's large and quiet coolers. I went with a 12 heat pipe Scythe Ninja, it is super quiet and works great at 3.46GHZ, but i run at 2.8 @1604FSB

Another thing I can recommend that you should price this rig up on www.Newegg.com and seeing if you can make it for any cheaper.

If you do go with the Asus P5B series motherboard and if you need help overclocking I would be more than happy to post more information and screenshots on recommended BIOS settings.

In Closing, some things a person could spend $560 on:

- $250 Cougar
- $450 FSSB R1
- Car payment
- Rent
- almost half the price of a $1000 computer
- Watercooling for the computer. ( Gigabyte has one that is pretty nice)
- Corsair memory Cooler $20 (super quiet, i got this with mine)
- extra fans (don't go crazy, the more you get the louder it gets)
- $5 good CPU paste (excellent choice)
- $560 could get a nice display or a few

- $560 could buy a nice used high resolution projector off of ebay
- the list can go on.

Enjoy the new system Rhino, the Core 2 Duo is a significant performance increase over other CPU's and coupled with the 8800GTS will make for a killer rig.

Cheers!
Rotorblade

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:36 am

Thanks for the input Rotor. Cinch and I sat down last night on ven and with his help, were able to knock off a few things, like a lower power supply, and i got rid of the ram, because i have ram here i can use from my other box (2 GB). So with that money saved I ended up going with the 8800 GTX, and also will be the proud owner of a new X-52 Pro!

Here is what it ended up being/ended up getting-

VGA EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR 8800GTX R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$559.99)
CPU INTEL|C2D E6600 2.4G 775 4M R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$314.00)
HD 160G|WD 7K 8M SATA2 WD1600JS % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$52.99)
MB EVGA 122-CK-NF68-TR NF680I 775 - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$224.99)
PSU BFGTECH|BFGR650PSU 650W RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$114.99)
FDD 1.44MB NEC|FD1231H-302 BK % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$5.99)
HD 40G|WD 7K 2M ATA100 WD400BB % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$39.99)
DVD_BURN LITE-ON|LH-20A1H-185 BK % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$35.99)
CPU FAN ZALMAN|CNPS9500 AT RTL - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$44.99)
CASE ANTEC|NINE HUNDRED BK RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$149.99)

Comes out to around $1,500.

Again, a big thanks to Mike "Cinch" Perry for helping me out with this last night, you sir are "a gentleman and a scholar".

Rotorblade · Post by **Rotorblade** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:49 am

Going to do some fraps with the dual hard drives?

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:22 am

Why yes AND the 200GB Maxtor external that I have right now. We all have our "Dreams".

Tailhook · Post by **Tailhook** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:13 pm

Rhino wrote:1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
$314.00

1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
$204.00

lmao. same stuff i am buying!

Ageis · Post by **Ageis** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:31 pm

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/inffsx.asp?v=d

Burner · Post by **Burner** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:55 pm

Ageis wrote:http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/inffsx.asp?v=d

Great example of why you should build your own PC if you have the know how.

Kind of a neat paint job on the case though. But for the money you save building your own you could have any image you want professionally printed on sticky backed vinyl and still save hundreds.

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:22 am

so the update is that i can get it to boot, but it wont run with the vista disk, it just sits on a blank screen with a teel/blue/green mixed color screen and the mouse freezes....any ideas?

Burner · Post by **Burner** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:53 am

There are many possibilties. Have you tried an XP disk. Are you running a RAID-0.

Give us a full run down of exactly how you have the system configured and I'm sure we can help.

Rotorblade · Post by **Rotorblade** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:34 am

Start with the basics. Read the manual and or start searching Google for your motherboard and others who have tried to do what you are doing.

Burner · Post by **Burner** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:41 am

Rotorblade wrote:Start with the basics. Read the manual and or start searching Google for your motherboard and others who have tried to do what you are doing.

That's pretty much how I do 90% of my trouble shooting with new hardware.

Rhino · Post by **Rhino** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:58 pm

Looks as if I've got it fixed........in fact am typing this post from it! I was really disappointed though because the manual comes on a disk, there is no manual in the box, only a "quick install" guide. Now i just have to figure out how to make the wiring issue go away because this thing looks like a rats nest with all the wires going everywhere, not to mention a lot of them are as far as they will go with the massive 8800 GTX, which goes an inch past the motherboard!

Rotorblade · Post by **Rotorblade** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:26 pm

Cable ties, Velcroe, Zip ties.

What was the fix?

Tailhook · Post by **Tailhook** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:28 pm

Rotorblade wrote:Cable ties, Velcroe, Zip ties.
What was the fix?

The holy DUCT-TAPE

Does this look good?

Does this look good?

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Re: Does this look good?