Mid-Range General Usage Build

[Alto101]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. I do some of everything including light gaming, working from home and video editing. I would like to be able to watch HD movies on my computer and I can not with my current system.

2. What YOUR budget is. I already have the case (Antec P182SE). I am looking to spend around $850 on the rest.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. Current system is AMD but see no good reason to stay with AMD. Planning on Intel this time around.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. Already purchased the Antec P182SE locally. I also plan on keeping my current Dell 2405 monitor. I do not need a new mouse, keyboard or speakers.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. Yes

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. I would like to overclock moderately. Maybe to 3.5GHz or so.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it? I would like to order the parts within a couple of days.


I am considering the E7200 and E8400 processors. I am leaning towards the E7200 currently due to the price difference but am looking for suggestions. I plan on purchasing 4 GB of RAM now and mayble doubling to 8 GB later. (Therefore I plan on purchasing Windows Vista Premium 64-bit).

The main priority for this new buid is to minimize the heat and noise generated by the system. I am not looking for a completely silent PC but am aiming for an almost silent system.

I could use some help picking out a video card, RAM, harddrive, power supply and DVD burner that are consistent with my budget and goals for this system. The video card has to have 2 DVI ports since I plan on hooking up a second LCD monitor shortly.

Are the fans that come with the Antec P182 quiet? If not, can someone recommend replacement case fans which are quieter? How many case fans do you think I should run in this case?

I need to be able to access my current hard drive on my new system so the motherboard needs to have at least one IDE port on it.

One last question for now - will the stock Intel HSF meet my needs for quietness and overclocking or should I be looking for an afermarket cooler? If so, which ones?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Alto101]

If anyone can help me out with even one question that I have I would appreciate it. Maybe I should have split out all of my questions into multiple posts?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I don't overclock so I can't help with parts, just some suggestions: check threads in CPUs & overclocking, and check the heatsink, fan and PSU reviews at SilentPCReview.com.

Some of the Video reviews at the main AnandTech.com site go into the differences in HD decoding support betwen different nvidia and ATI chipsets. If you might add a blu-ray player then you'll want a card that supports HDCP and possibly one with a HDMI port depending on your monitor.

Right now the best deal on a moderate gaming card is the nvidia 8800GTS 512. Newegg has several brands for under $200 (after rebate), some with bundled games.

 

[DSF]

Ok, $850 for everything but the case...

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R ($120)
There are plenty of other choices out there. If you don't need the additional bells and whistles this board gives you over some of the base models, check out the EP35-DS3L and Abit IP35-E.

CPU: Intel E7200 ($135)

RAM: 2x2GB Mushkin DDR2-800 ($73 AR)
Any decent DDR2-800 is going to be fine for taking you up to 3.5GHz. Since that's as far as you're planning to go, I would stay with the E7200 over the E8400 and save yourself $60.

Video Card: Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB ($170-230) OR XFX 8800GT 512MB ($150)
For light gaming, the 8800GT is probably fine. The 8800GTS is a little bit more powerful, but it's also more expensive.

PSU: Corsair 520HX ($110 AR)
Definitely shop around on this one. Buy.com frequently has better PSU prices than Newegg. The only thing I would double-check is that the 4-pin power connector on this PSU is long enough to reach from the bottom of the P182 to the top. I've seen a lot of people using the two together, so I think it's fine, but I would double-check.

Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint f1 750GB ($120) or Western Digital Caviar 640GB ($115)
The Samsung probably has the slight edge in terms of low noise and high capacity, while the Western Digital is slightly higher performance. Both are nice, speedy drives though, and you wouldn't go wrong either way.

As far as DVD burners, I have the Lite-On LH-20A1S ($26) and it's pretty quiet, except when spinning up or burning. A lot of people have chosen the Samsung SH-203B ($25) lately, but I have no idea what the noise level is like. Honestly, there isn't any particularly quiet DVD drive out there that I'm aware of. They all produce a certain level of noise during the more intense tasks like burning.

Everybody's taste in noise is a little bit different. Most people who want their Antec cases to be as quiet as possible end up replacing the stock fans. Since your overclock is fairly mild, I would use low RPM Scythe Slipstream models. I have one of the 800 RPM Slipstreams ($9) as the exhaust in my Solo and it's inaudible.

That list comes out to $753 after rebates assuming you choose the 8800GT, Samsung HDD, and two Slipstream fans. I didn't discuss CPU coolers because I haven't kept up on the latest and greatest.

 

[Ichigo]

What does the 'E' add to the odd P35 boards from Gigabyte?

 

[Ichigo]

woops *editz*

 

[BlueAcolyte]

E is energy saver

 

[Sharkie13]

Those are good processor choices. They should run cooler, but i would always recommend an aftermarket cooler, especially if you plan to overclock at all. Thermaltake makes some good coolers, myself I am looking at the Max Orb, the V1 also seems to be a popular choice but it costs a tad bit more. The better the cooler, the more you'll be able to overclock. Still, don't expect to be able to oc a 2.5Ghz processor all the way up to 3.5 without running into problems. 3.2 should be safe and doable. But I don't have that processor so what do I know?

Unless you're doing heavy gaming or engineering or having a thousand and one windows open, there is no need to have more than 4 GB of RAM. Insead, settle on 4GB and look for faster ram instead of more of it. Try to get a 1066Mhz set if you can.

Your case seems to use all 120m fans which are slower than 80mm, which is a plus. They should be quiet enough, and if they aren't your case has a fan controller on the back you you can turn down the RPM granted your components are cool enough. And if that isn't quiet enough, THEN you opt to buy more silent fans.

As far as the mobo is concerned, I've heard good things about the intel P35 if you plan on using one graphics card. Im not too familiar with intel boards so you'll just have to look at the various options and see which ones have what you want.

For a great budget graphics card that will be able to handle most games at pretty playable framerates, go with the Nvidia 9600GT. The bang for the buck on this card is great. Look at some benchmarks on it, and if that card won't cut it for you, get the 8800GT, but its a bit more expensive and the differences shouldn't be huge. For your purposes, anything better than the 8800GT would be overkill. Also don't spend your money on a pre-overclocked card, just OC it yourself.

And for hard drive, just get whatever fits your budget, but i've heard that the WD Caviar 640GB is a good deal.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Sharkie13
Unless you're doing heavy gaming or engineering or having a thousand and one windows open, there is no need to have more than 4 GB of RAM. Insead, settle on 4GB and look for faster ram instead of more of it. Try to get a 1066Mhz set if you can.

I have to disagree with this. RAM speed has essentially zero real-world effect on performance. No reason to pay $20-50 extra for something that isn't actually going to improve your computer.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Sharkie13
Unless you're doing heavy gaming or engineering or having a thousand and one windows open, there is no need to have more than 4 GB of RAM. Insead, settle on 4GB and look for faster ram instead of more of it. Try to get a 1066Mhz set if you can.

Tell that to Windows Vista. Vista will eat up all the RAM you can give it and feed it in to SuperFetch. Many forums users here have mentioned seeing a noticeable boost in performance in day-to-day use of Vista with more than 4GB of RAM. There's no such thing as too much memory, especially seeing as he can use all of it with x64.

However, it's a waste of cash to buy faster memory that he may never use the headroom on. The DDR2-800 is the best bet for now.