New build, mid-budget

[rodrigu3]

Hi everyone,

This is one of my first posts on Anandtech, but I've been reading the site religiously for a couple years now. I used to build rigs before when I had time, but college rolled along and that was the end of that. Now that I have a bit of extra time and money in my pocket, I've decided to build a new one from the ground up and would like some input as to the quality of my build.

I noticed there were some questions I should answer first so here goes:

1. Used for gaming (lower resolution - 1280x1020), surfing, listening to music, and business. Maybe a couple dvd's here and there but no HD necessary.
2. Budget is about $1500. I've picked the parts out and will list the price of each - maybe someone will know of a better deal.
3. Buying from US.
4. Brand name preference: not really, just want the best for my dollar.
5. Like I said, building from the ground up, so all new parts, except for a keyboard I have lying around (Logitech) and an external hard drive (WD 750GB).
6. Done plenty of research on the parts I might get, including these forums.
7. Yes, I will be overclocking.

Now here is a list of the parts I've picked.

Case: Antec P180 - Silver ($119.99)

Case fan replacements: 5 Scyteh S-Flex 120mm SFF21F ($70.00)

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 610W Silencer ($122.99)

Motherboard: Abit IP35-E ($89.99)

CPU: Intel E6750 ($189.99)

CPU Cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme + Scythe 120mm Fan + Arctic Silver 5 ($77.85)

Memory: G.Skill F2-6400PHU2 2 gigs ($144.99)

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb Superclocked ($288.99)

DVDRW: Asus DRW-1814BLT 20x SATA ($32.99)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10; 160GB; 8MB Cache ($50.75)

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 940BX; 19"; 1280x1024; 5ms ($233.99)

Mouse: Logitech G7 ($66.99)

$1489.51 Sub total
+ $64.54 Shipping
- $92.50 Rebates
-------------------------
$1,461.55 Total

Let me know what you guys think - I'm pretty surprised I was able to get the price down this low. I actually started out with something like a $2700 budget, but then thought about what I really wanted and was able to negotiate down to what you see here. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[drextremeops007]

Hmm, looks fine.

a few changes though:

1. The memory is expensive. I think newegg has the crucial ballistix at $65-70 AR. Almost guaranteed D9 chips which will aid your OC.
2. I got good performance off a samsung sh-183 SATA burner and its about the same price.
3. O well, 160GB seems a bit small for me, I recommend at least 250GB nowadays. You can really fill up your HD very quickly.
4. After going with a modular PSU, I would probably always go with it for my future build. I think you can get a 620W Corsair modular PSU at abt the same price as you listed.
5. Not very sure on that monitor. others would probably chip in.

 

[Ika]

Just some recommendations and thoughts.

-A 19" non-widescreen monitor that uses a TN panel? I'll pass.

For that price, you can get a decent 20" widescreen monitor; the resolution is higher at 1680x1050, but your video card will definitely be able to handle it. To be honest, once you go widescreen, it's really hard to go back. Plus, widescreen works really well with movies and DVD-watching.

-You can also get a nice 2x1gb memory kit for a little over $50 after rebate. Check NewEgg's listings.

-If you're diligent in checking bargain sites (slickdeals, AT Hot Deals, fatwallet, xpbargains, etc etc), you can find a very large hard drive for a very small price (they aren't necessarily the best, but for the same amount of money you have a shot at a 400gb HDD).

-I think your CPU's supposed to be an E6750

-why do you need 5 of those case fans? and if you'll let me make a recommendation, I'd tell you to go with Yate Loon D12SM or SH fans. They have a great performance/noise ratio, and are cheap to boot Get them here, if you're interested.

-about the PSU - nowadays, I hardly see people recommending PC Power & Cooling anymore... for that price, you can probably find a nice Corsair HX620W, which has been lauded as an excellent PSU. It's modular, too, which helps with cable management... a LOT. I'm pretty sure I can't hear my own HX520 in my system.


Remember, though, these are all recommendations, and some of the parts I chose are just my personal favorites (like the Yate Loons). Feel free to heed my advice or disregard it completely. As much as I like having people follow my recommendations, I can't make everyone's choices

 

[fujimitsu]

As long as you mean e6750 its not looking too bad.
I'd do what the others said, get memory thats got an MIR or something to save $80.
Get a better monitor for the price tag.
Get yate loons instead, those scythe fans arent worth the extra $$$.
Like aflac said, I'd reconsider PSU for that price.

I have only two things to add:
why do you have an 8mb cache hard drive? you can pick up a 500gb 16mb cache for like $99 if you shop around.
Superclocked cards IMO are a waste of $$, you can get an EVGA 8800gts 320mb for around $260 AR, if you wanna spend 10% more for an overclock you could do yourself I guess that's your choice.

 

[rodrigu3]

Thanks for your recommendations, oops I did mean E6750 (sorry, late-night writing - I was back and forth between that and the Q6600, but decided I didn't need the extra 2 cores right now).

I think I will go with the 20" widescreen, I'll start looking around for one. I was just worried that some games don't support widescreen, but now I realize that all the newer games will support it.

Probably will look around for some cheaper memory - but I've heard I should stick with D9 memory, since it can improve OCing. Any recommendations besides the crucial ballistix?

Will go with the yate loons. Need five of them because the P180 comes with three tricool fans, which IMO are inferior to the yate loons or s-flex fans. So I need to replace the three that come in the case and there are 2 other locations that can have 120mm fans to blow air across the GPU so that's why there's 5

I trust samsung more than asus when it comes to removable storage, so thanks for the heads up, going with the samsung.

I've read that the interconnects on modular PSUs increase the resistance across the wires and decrease the amount of voltage delivered. Is this true? Nevertheless, the P180 case is humongous and I'm pretty sure that cable management will not be an issue. As to why I'm going with a 610W PSU - using a PSU calculator (I know they are not accurate, but at least it will give me an idea) I found that at max, my system would need approximately 350W. PSUs are most efficient when operating between 30-50% load so I went with a larger PSU to have maximal efficiency. According to reviews, the corsair is less efficient than the silencer by about 5% and at the same price, I'll have to pass.

Will look around for a larger HD. I don't need 500G at all, though. Currently I'm on a laptop, and the 80Gb I have is enough, especially with my 750Gb external HD. Probably will go with 250Gb instead of 160.

I don't really mind paying 20 dollars to have someone OC the evga card for me to a stable, yet significant level (+under warranty), so I think I'll stay with mine - but thanks for your opinion.

 

[rodrigu3]

By the way, Aflac, I'm UPenn class of '06. Go Quakers!


After doing a little bit more research, there seem to be people with issues with D9 ram at the 70-100 dollar pricepoint. The ram I chose doesn't have any negative reviews at all and has won 4x in a row at newegg.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: rodrigu3
By the way, Aflac, I'm UPenn class of '06. Go Quakers!


After doing a little bit more research, there seem to be people with issues with D9 ram at the 70-100 dollar pricepoint. The ram I chose doesn't have any negative reviews at all and has won 4x in a row at newegg.

Well, if you're looking for D9 memory, buying used is a good way to ensure that you have D9, as long as you buy from a reputable person who is literate and has either a lot of heat or a LOT of posts. I got my D9 sticks from a forum member here. Do a search for "D9" and browse through the threads in FS/T. You're probably looking at somewhere around $100 for a 2x1gb kit of D9.

and go quakers! :wavesflag;

 

[rodrigu3]

So I've reassessed parts that I need and I've come up with the following list:

PSU: Corsair 620HX Modular - good power, good connection, and efficient despite the modular connectivity. $110.99 after rebates @ ClubIT
Case: Going with my old Apevia X-SuperAlien. Good airflow, wiring possibilities, etc.
CPU: E2180 (B0 stepping). After reading some reviews and benchmarks (of the 2160, which is similar), I think I'll be happy with the performance I get OCing this to about 3.2 / 3.4GHz. $92.99 + free shipping @ Newegg
HSF: Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme + Yate Loon 120mm, 88CFM + Arctic Silver 5. $66.44 + $7.89 S/H @ Jabb-Tech
Motherboard: Abit IP35-E. $79.39 shipped after rebates @ MWave.com
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 PC2 6400. $62.99 after rebates + free shipping @ Newegg
HD: Already have one.
DVDRW: Got one too. (Happy with their performance)
Video: eVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 320Mb. $279.99 @ Buy.com
Monitor: Going with a new 1280x1024 screen I have right now. It's actually my wife's but she doesn't use it. I don't really need widescreen right now anyway. I'd rather wait for a good 24 to come along by which time I'll be upgrading the rest of my machine as well.

Altogether, the system ranges from $800 to $900 shipped, depending on rebates. I think I'm gonna act on the memory and cpu because nearly a $50 rebate on good corsair ram is fantastic. I think I'm gonna wait till more rebates resurface on my other choices because the september rebates are just expiring, and they total about $46.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Ika]

Everything looks good. You may want to pick up some extra Yates, because they're cheap and useful (replace your case fans, maybe?). Since you're getting the high-speed YL, you may want to try out the low-speed one for $3.50... it may be enough for you and will be quieter.

Oh, and as for the good 24"... you may want to keep a lookout for the Soyo 24" monitor that went for $300 at Office Max. It's a *va panel, which is nice, and the price is great. I think the deal's over now, but it'll probably be back occasionally... keep an eye on the Hot Deals forum or FatWallet. This is the monitor, I think, and here's the FW thread about the recent deal.

 

[rodrigu3]

thanks!

 

[Rage3kMoiz]

There's an OCZ Platinum 2GB kit available on Newegg for about $52 after a $40 rebate. It has timings of 4-4-4-15. A better deal than the Ballistix kit IMO.

 

[Nurn]

You might want to double check whether your case can take the height of the 120 cooler. Consider the Ultima 90, which isn't quite as tall, but cools almost as well.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Nurn
You might want to double check whether your case can take the height of the 120 cooler. Consider the Ultima 90, which isn't quite as tall, but cools almost as well.

no... That HSF is CRAP.

I have both, Replaced that thing so fast you wouldnt have time to say OMGWTFBBQ.

Go with the Ultra120Extreme if its in your budget. But make sure you lap it. The base is terribly unflat due to the bigger pipes and weld process. I dont know if they fixed it.

Do a razor test on it when you get it. Put the sharp end of the razor flat against the base and see if any light passes though.

 

[rodrigu3]

my case is an oversized mid-tower, almost a full tower... I am certain I could fit two 120s one on top of the other in it... well maybe not that much but I can sure fit one in there. And as you can see above, my choice is the 120 extreme. I was planning on lapping it anyway, but I'll use that razor test to check. thanks!


edit: looks like they did fix it... pix from xoxide.com of the 120 extreme show a pretty nice finish: http://customerpics.xoxide.com...php?sku=130961&id=1386

 

[jw0ollard]

Originally posted by: rodrigu3
edit: looks like they did fix it... pix from xoxide.com of the 120 extreme show a pretty nice finish: http://customerpics.xoxide.com...php?sku=130961&id=1386

That has to have been lapped. Machine milling can't possibly produce finish like that.

The most recent NewEgg reviews still say that the bottom is really gross, IIRC.

Those pictures make me scared to get one now, I was thinking about it for my next build, but I didn't realize how truly gargantuan that thing is from the pictures I've seen.

 

[rodrigu3]

it is a beast... but it's the best performer out of all the ones anandtech has tested... and they've tested a lot. doesn't weigh too much though - I used to have one that weighed almost 1.5kg. Needless to say, it cracked my cpu.