Building a computer / decisions on components . . .

[daedalus]

Hey, y'all. Sorry to bring back up a topic that's been discussed a time or two before but we (my girlfriend and I) intend to build a new computer soon (she's been jonesing to play The Sims 2 since before it was released) and it'll be the first one I will be trying to build. Since I have not been keeping up with news and what not, I was hoping to get some opinions as well as critiques on the choices we are working on (not to mention objective eyes, in case I missed something or chose poorly). I'm working off the list I see in this thread since it seems a solid base to start from.

Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5, $79.99 - I know nothing about this case other than I recognize the name Cooler Master and it seems reasonably priced. Would love suggestions on any other good and affordable alternatives.

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+, $162.00 - The next step up (3200) seems a solid jump in price and I'd rather spend the extra money elsewhere in the system, I think.

Motherboard: MSI "K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI", $189.00 - Seems to be a nice feature set on a solid price with PCI-e, which is the direction I think I'd like to go with. MSI is solid?

RAM: 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200, $135.40 - I don't know that I would want to go under a gig with XP. And, as desperate as my girlfriend is to play The Sims 2, I'm almost as bad in wanting to play Football Manager 2005 (formerly Championship Manager) and RAM is a big deal with that one. I don't know anything about what else to look for with regards to details on RAM, though.

Video Card: MSI nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB, $187.00 - Based on past posts I've seen here, the 6600GT sounds like a good choice. As is the fact that it's PCI-e. I know nothing about which company to look for, however. Any suggestions or ideas on what other company to look for with regards to video cards?

Hard Drive: Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA, $91.95 - 80 seems like a decent size drive (at least until we move on up to DSL and she starts downloading Sims-related things in earnest, I suppose). I've used Western Digital and Seagate in the past and seen folks mentioned that they like Maxtor. I don't know what the current vibe is with hard drives, though.

CD/DVD Drive: Lite-On 16X DVD Dual Drive, $58.99 - Based on what I've read here, Lite-On sounded like a solid choice for drive, both for quality and price. Hopefully, that hasn't changed.

Monitor: ADVUEU 17" LCD Monitor, $222.99 - Ummmm, commanded from higher power (She Who Must Be Obeyed). Her requirements were: 1) must play The Sims 2 well and 2) "I want LCD!" This would be number 2.

OS: Windows XP Professional, $147.95 - I want to get back to programming again and, if I understand correctly, I need the pro to do that. Don't remember the details exactly, though.

That comes out to $1,275.27, before tax (unfortunately, I'll get taxed with CA shipment, meh) and shipping. I'm not too concern about keyboard or mouse, at the moment. If nothing else, I'll grab some cheap keyboard and mouse until I see the MX1000 or the cordless set in a good deal somewhere. If it isn't too much trouble, I would love some opinions or ideas what I can change or improve (or save money on!) or what I forgot.

Thanks much.

(I still wish I had access to RM9's thread on GG when he was building the SFF computer so I can check out the components but whatever.)

[ChrisGrenard]

Hey, looks good to me. Only change I'd like to recommend is getting a Lite-On DVD burner instead of just the reader. It will cost you an extra 20 bucks, and they are great for backing up massive amounts of data.

I know nothing about that monitor, so I can't help you there. Let Newegg user reviews be your guide on that.

[ChaoZ]

80GB isn't enough.
At least 160gb, 250 if you can afford it.

[disarm]

that's a pretty good start, but there are a few things that come to my mind that you may want to think about a little more...

the case...that CoolerMaster isn't bad, but the included power supply is only 350W. i think that would probably work with the rest of your components, but you won't have a lot of room for upgrading later. adding a faster video card or additional drives in the future may be a little too much for that PSU. your options would be to swap that PSU out for a bigger one (easily done but will add to your cost), or buy a different case and PSU.

the DVD drive...that Lite-On is a pretty good drive, but you could do a good bit better for only $5 more. i'd suggest looking at the NEC ND-3520 for $62.99...it's a considerably faster drive (4X-DL, 16X+R/-R, 8X+RW, 6X-RW) and considered to be one of the best DVD burners available. while the NEC's CD burning speeds are the same, it will burn just about any DVD format in less time, and with good quality.

the hard drive...80GB is more than enough for a lot of people, but if you like having a lot of games installed or saving music/video, it will fill up quickly. you could double your storage for a relatively minimal cost difference. just something to think about...

and finally, if you go with that CoolerMaster case (or any black case for that matter), i'd highly recommend looking for drives with black faceplates. they're widely available from Newegg now and usually go for the same price. in fact, you can find the black version of that Lite-On drive you listed here. they'll look a lot better than a white/beige drive in that case 8)

[Rich in KCK]

I agree with disarm about switching to a NEC drive and I think the Samsung 160g SATA drives like this one linked below would be a better choice as well as a little quiter.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDe ... 015&depa=0

[RunningMn9]

Definately go with the biggest hard drive you can get.

Regarding the video card. I've only looked at PCI-Express cards for about 8 minutes, but from what I can tell, ATI is (or was) making better PCI-Express offerings (using the RADEON cores with native PCI-Express interfaces).

I've been a big fan of both nVidia and ATI though, so I wouldn't complain either way.

I would recommend the 1GB RAM because it's cheap - not because Football Manager is going to need it. You'd be fine with 512MB of RAM, but as always, more is betterer.

I have a personal interest in you not buying an AMD processor, but I won't give you too much flak. I'm holding out for the Intel VIIV.

Well, that's not totally accurate. 3 days ago I bought a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 550 - so NOW I'm holding out for the VIIV.

(NOTE: My use of the VIIV logo is not an endorsement that this is what Intel is going to call the 64-bit chip. Smoove_B sent me an article the other day that noted that Intel recently registered that as a trademark, and so we are guessing, along with the author that VI-IV is the new logo for the 64-bit processor. If you are my boss, and reading this, thinking that I am divulging company secrets - I'm not - please don't fire me.)

[RunningMn9]

(I still wish I had access to RM9's thread on GG when he was building the SFF computer so I can check out the components but whatever.)

My bad, I didn't even see this request. I duplicate the component list here for your viewing pleasure. But recall that this machine was built more than a year ago - so it's not exactly state-of-the-art anymore.

CASE: Shuttle XPC SB75G2
Motherboard: Shuttle SB75
Processor: Intel P4 w/HT @ 3.2GHz
RAM: 1 GB Corsair TwinX Extreme Memory Series PC3200 DDR
Video: ATI RADEON 9800XT 256MB 8x AGP
Audio: Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS*
Optical: Lite-On LDW-811S DVD+/-RW
HDD1: 250 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM S-ATA
HDD2: 160 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM ATA/100 (external)
Monitor: Samsung 191-T+ 19" LCD Flat Panel
Speakers: Altec-Lansing VS-2121 2.1 speaker system
Keyboard: Wireless Microsoft Natural keyboard
Mouse: Wireless Microsoft Optical Explorer mouse

Everything is black. *-recent addition

Current Benchmarks:
3DMark2001 SE: 19,343 3DMarks
3DMark2003: 6,713 3DMarks
3DMark2005: 2,953 3DMarks
PCMark2004: 5,046 PCMarks

Starting to show it's age - but not bad for being a year old.

[Faldarian]

The Radeon X700 Pro is similar in price, and is an outstanding card. I don't know of its comparison to the 6600GT, but I was really impressed with how well it ran the things I threw at it. Ran EQ2 like a champ at 1280x1024 with plenty of graphical options turned up, which seems like a great test... it did as well or better than my AGP x800Pro at the same resolution.

[EvilHomer3k]

The 6600 GT is faster than the X700 Pro. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2297&p=2
There is also the option of running the 6600 GT in SLI mode. There is absolutely no point in getting an SLI capable motherboard if you're going to get an ATI card.

As for cases, the Antec Sonata and 3700 BQE are wonderful cases and are very quiet. They would also have a better PSU than the coolermaster. The coolermaster is a very solid case, though.

While the pc's I own are both intel chips (Pentium M and P4 3.0c), I'd be inclined to go with AMD at this point. You can buy an SLI motherboard for a cheaper for AMD and AMD chips are faster performing in gaming. If you're going to do mostly cpu intensive multitasking, you'll be better off with an Intel chip. It isn't that the A64 can't do multitasking, it just isn't quite as snappy as a P4.

MSI makes great boards and they have some very good utilities for their boards, too. Their live update actually works and corecell is pretty cool (allows for overclocking and dynamic fan speed adjustment).

Overall, you have mad some very solid choices.

[Rich in KCK]

Something you might want to check on if you plan on going SLI, I'm not sure if it is true or not but I heard that not all of the new NVIDIA cards are capable of SLI, that it is an option. Meaning there can be a 6600GT and a 6600GT SLI card. I was told this by someone who did build a SLI system but so far that's the only place that I have heard it from.

[daedalus]

First of all, all y'all rock. Majorly. The responses were so quick, it was amazing, and they are greatly appreciated. My girlfriend said thank you to y'all.

I went with the suggested NEC ND-3520 (with a black plate, $62.99) because that was far more intelligent choice than the original idea I came up with. And because She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) said, "they're right."

Since y'all are right, I switched to a Western Digital 160GB drive ($98.00) per suggestions. I was looking at the Samsung but, uhh, the conversation went:

"What do you normally use?"
"Western Digital."
"How come you're looking at the Samsung?"
"They, umm, said it was good."
"Go with what you know."
"Yes, dear."

Yes, I'm whipped. It happens.

Plus, uhh, it's her dime.

When I went back, the Kingston RAM I was looking at were out of stock (back in stock now, gosh darn it). So I switched over to a set of Geil ($148.00) instead. Of course, I know nothing about them but the heat spreaders are very pretty. That and it seemed to have the best looking latency thing amongst the same price range (and still be dual channel). Whatever the latency thingie mean.

Also picked up a set of wireless keyboard and mouse 'cuz, umm, I was told to.

The case arrived yesterday and the rest got here today (Thursday). I was hoping to get done putting it together and report back with good success story. No such luck. As I was putting it together, I came to realize that I forgot about thermal paste (the plan is to go with the stock heatsink/fan, hopefully that will be good enough). So that will be part of my trip to CompUSA tomorrow morning.

I wish I had seen your comment about the Sonata before I ordered, Homer. I've heard of Antec being quality before but the name completely escaped me when I was looking. Duh, me. I totally agree with your comment about the 350W power supply being too small for long term use, Disarm. My original plan was to use that for awhile before upgrading to a more powerful one and hand-me-down the 350 to my old computer, whose PSU, I *think*, is on its last leg since I just noticed its fan being out of service. There are somethings to be said about the best laid plans, y'know . . . the PSU comes with a 20-pin connector. The motherboard would prefer a 24. D'OH! That's the OTHER part of my CompUSA trip tomorrow morning. Heh.

Again, thank you all very, very much. I'm such a clueless putz, I would have been completely lost without your input.

[daedalus]

(I still wish I had access to RM9's thread on GG when he was building the SFF computer so I can check out the components but whatever.)

My bad, I didn't even see this request. I duplicate the component list here for your viewing pleasure. But recall that this machine was built more than a year ago - so it's not exactly state-of-the-art anymore.

That's mucho awesome, RM9. Even if not state-of-the-art, it looks like it'd handle what we're likely to throw at it with aplomb (The Sims 2, Football Manager 2005, WoW once we get DSL). More importantly, with your post, I think I'll now be able to go the SFF route with our next machine without having my sanity be questioned (more than usual). After all, if it works for someone more serious about gaming than me, it'd probably work for me*!

* I'm joking about the SWMBO, of course. I think it's just easier for her to digest the idea with being able to read it (visually) rather than just hear it (aurally) when I'm babbling about it.

[RunningMn9]

I am torn on the SFF issue. I love my little Shuttle case. It's like the size of a shoe box, and it packs quite a bunch. But having just bought my wife a new PC, when I cranked it open - I had a very healthy appreciation for the amount of free space inside.

A lot of my decision will depend on whether or not I want to do RAID. Although, Shuttle has redesigned their cases for better airflow. So who knows?

Good luck.

[daedalus]

Woohoo! Up and running! After a trip to CompUSA to find that they didn't have an ATX PS with 24 pins and a walk over to Circuit City to find that they had some nice looking Antec PS but none with 24 pins either, we took another walk to the local PC Club and got a 485W Enermax PS there. Interestingly, it was actually cheaper than at NewEgg. Doesn't have the "Fan Only" connector like the Cooler Master unit that came with the case but there are enough connectors that I'm happy with the unit. Don't know anything about the quality of Enermax power supply, though.

Had to go back to CC to snag the Thermal Compound there, though.

Thank you very, very much to all you folks for the help.

The girlfriend is now able to play The Sims 2 and is quite happy that we didn't go the Dell route as she originally wanted to (we had some major annoyance with them over the phone to help her change her mind). And I can eventually look forward to trying out R:TW and WoW (when we get broadband). Yeehaw!

Next up is trying to get the new computer networked with the old one (on W98SE) so I can do the activation, update and get on the internet (I swear I've seen a thread on that here before). Didn't bother to get a modem for it since it seems an overkill to have one for both. Didn't snag a floppy drive, either, so when I saw some of the drivers being on floppy I was getting ready to freak out. Luckily, they also came on the CD (drivers for the onboard sound and networking). Wish me luck!

[dobberhd]

You might want to just activate over the phone and wait till you get broadband for the updates. If you already have sp2 on it, without an internet connection you probably won't gain much.