Is My Build Ok?

MicroVirus · 04-03-2008, 04:33 AM

Hello

I think its about time to upgrade my computer and ive decided that building it will teach me something and be fun. edutainment :) Anyway this is the first time ive ever considered anthing like this and ive studied up lots so hopefully it will all go smoothly. I havnt chosen all my parts yet but i have the vital parts chosen.

Can you guys inform me of anything i could improve on for roughly the same price, really bad parts or any comments? I would really appreciate it, kinda scared ill waste all my money :p I use australian ebay too so ill be showing some things im looking at on ebay.com.au

So far ive got..

Tower

Ive been thinking of a thermaltake soprano case, preferably with a clear side. I like the..

- The Soprano VB1000SWS

Motherboard

- ASUS P5K Pro - this motherboard is a bit cheaper but doesnt support DDR3 RAM which i might use in the future so i also found
- ASUS P5KC Which supports both DDR3 and DDR2 RAM

CPU

- Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz -
Ive always wondered, my current 5 year old computer Is a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz - 3.2? does that mean its faster than this one?

RAM

Corsair XMS2 2 GB PC2-6400 (TWIN2X20486400)
This is DDR2 RAM

Power Supply

- OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W
- Antec trio 430/500/600W (these are pretty expensive but seem to be very good, i dont want overkill on anything though)

My CPU seems a bit underpowered so any suggestions for anything would be welcome. Once i get these main parts figured out ill worry about my hard drive etc.

Thanks!

ShosMeister · 04-03-2008, 06:38 AM

I'll leave the absolute pro/con of items to the really smart guys, but, my opinion, based on my own build, was the mother board that supported DDR2 and DDR3. Why? I'm thinking I can upgrade the RAM in a few years when DDR3 comes down in price without having to purchase a new mother board.

MicroVirus · 04-03-2008, 02:49 PM

yeah thats why i was thinking of spending a bit more o have a more versatile motherboard, anyone else?

**forcifer** · 04-03-2008, 03:35 PM

the OCZ will work great. i have its little bro and its a beast. as for cpu, thats an amazing one. will blow away most (NOT ALL) competition. for comparison to your current one, there isnt one. it is that much faster. for video card, either the 8800GT 512, 9600GT, or 3870. im just guessing basing off what you have posted. for the motherboard, im getting the P5K-E in my next build and would recomend it to you. ive heard it clocks great.

good luck, and if you need links just post :)

**TheMatt** · 04-03-2008, 09:06 PM

DDR3 is way ahead of it's time. My only concern is that it will become mainstream, thus making a future RAM upgrade difficult if you are restricted to DDR2.

If you plan on getting more than 2GB of RAM you can safely stick with a DDR2 board. Otherwise, get a DDR2/DDR3 board. The P5KC is a good option, but I would personally look at the Gigabyte P35C-DS3R or EP35-DS3R.

That CPU there will definitely blow away a Pentium 4 of any speed many times over.

Forcifer made some good video card recommendations. Pair it with an Antec Trio 650W or the OCZ GameXtreme 700W and you have a good setup. Also look at the PC Power & Cooling 610W.

**1 g0t 0wn3d** · 04-03-2008, 09:14 PM

just to show you howmuch of a p4 you wpuld need i would estamate you would need a p4 clocked at 19-20ghz (impossible)

the conroe's take netbursts lunchmoney

**TheMatt** · 04-03-2008, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1 g0t 0wn3d

the conroe's take netbursts lunchmoney

**forcifer** · 04-03-2008, 09:29 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315 - 3870 and i CANNOT believe its price. $160? wow.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130334 - $150 for the 9600GT. this card and the 3870 split most benchmarks. the 3870 has the advantage of being able to crossfire on stable, overclockable motherboards however. for raw performance, you wont notice much though
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130334 $170 for 8800GT. this card splits a few benchmarks with the 3870 but wins a few more. again, you wont see much difference.

those 3 cards are all but equal, with the 8800GT being an FPS or 2 ahead. now, if you can afford it, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127325 will beat all those cards by quite a bit.

however, i must reiterate that with intel chipsets (excluding skulltrail but that doesnt matter right now), you CANNOT go SLI. however, you can go crossfire.

MicroVirus · 04-04-2008, 12:06 AM

Thanks for the replies guys, im glad that the parts that came out after all my studying seem to be good :D

So far im pretty sure ill be getting

- OCZ GameXstream 700W power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002

- ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131188
(i looked at the other suggestions but the p5kc seems better with its 2 pcie slots and 2 types of ram etc.)

- Radeon HD 3870 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315

- Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030

- Corsair XMS2 2 GB PC2-6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145177

Not sure if they will all fit together and nothing much has come up about the tower so ill still leave that up for discussion, So if my memory serves me right ive still got..

-Tower (preferably with a clear side)
-Hard Drive (200gb or so would do)
-CD/DVD burner/reader

If anyones got suggestions about those parts or any part please post

Thanks for the help so far!

**forcifer** · 04-04-2008, 06:08 AM

only thing i would change is ram, and that would be to save money. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145175 is virtually as good (only difference is CAS) for alot cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136113 is a pretty good hard drive by a pretty good brand.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118002 cheap SATA dvd drive

for case, thats really a personal decision. ill post a few recomendations but thats as far as i can help =/

MicroVirus · 04-04-2008, 02:24 PM

ill have a look at them, thanks for the reply!

**forcifer** · 04-04-2008, 03:55 PM

how much would you want to spend on a case? i take pride in my cases but not everyone does (case modding ftw) but anything really will work. heck,

was my case at one time. it worked though :)

MicroVirus · 04-04-2008, 06:04 PM

100 aussie dollars sounds good to me, and im looking for one with less of a cardboard look and more of a metalish look :p

Also does anyone know of a website where i can buy computer parts that get delivered to australia? i was going to buy my parts off newegg.com but they dont mail overseas :(

**TheMatt** · 04-04-2008, 11:46 PM

I knew a few but I can't remember the URLs. Hopefully Blackduck will jump in here and recommend some stores.

rrr1992 · 04-05-2008, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicroVirus

Hello

- Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz -
Ive always wondered, my current 5 year old computer Is a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz - 3.2? does that mean its faster than this one?

Thanks!

The Intel core2duo E6550 is a duel core CPU which means your getting 2.33GHz*2
which is 4.66GHz
which is faster then your old 3.2GHz

**forcifer** · 04-05-2008, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrr1992

The Intel core2duo E6550 is a duel core CPU which means your getting 2.33GHz*2
which is 4.66GHz
which is faster then your old 3.2GHz

not quite. for every clock on a core 2 duo, it will do about 10 operations. on a p4, it will do about 2. you would need a 10 ghz p4 to get close to c2d...

**1 g0t 0wn3d** · 04-05-2008, 11:18 AM

i figured it was
4 netburst
6 Amd
8 conroe

**TheMatt** · 04-05-2008, 12:12 PM

It depends what kind of instructions. Simple load/store and arithmetic (ALU) operations will have the least performance increase. SMID (SSE) operations will however will see a much bigger performance increase. Load/store operations will also be better for large chunks of data in AMD (K8 and above) processors.

If you guys want, I can get out one of my microprocessor books and tell you exactly how much faster every type of instruction will be on the P4, C2D and K8 processors (in another thread of course).

**1 g0t 0wn3d** · 04-05-2008, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMatt

It depends what kind of instructions. Simple load/store and arithmetic (ALU) operations will have the least performance increase. SMID (SSE) operations will however will see a much bigger performance increase. Load/store operations will also be better for large chunks of data in AMD (K8 and above) processors.

If you guys want, I can get out one of my microprocessor books and tell you exactly how much faster every type of instruction will be on the P4, C2D and K8 processors (in another thread of course).

Sure just to let me know how much my cpu sucks lol

MicroVirus · 04-05-2008, 05:01 PM

lol ok now im completely sure its faster. Ive chosen everything with the help of you guys apart from the case (im hoping they will all fit together) im still open to suggestions about online aussie shops but yeah ive decided im getting..

- OCZ GameXstream 700W power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002

- ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131188

- Radeon HD 3870 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315

- Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030

- Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145175

-Western Digital Caviar SE SATA Hard Drive 250gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136113

- Lite-On LH-20A1S DVD/CD burner/reader
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057

and then a case of some sort.

Can someone confirm that they will all fit together?
Also i seem to recall that there are 3 case sizes, a small standard and large size i think, which one would i get to store these components?

04-03-2008, 04:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Is My Build Ok? Hello I think its about time to upgrade my computer and ive decided that building it will teach me something and be fun. edutainment :) Anyway this is the first time ive ever considered anthing like this and ive studied up lots so hopefully it will all go smoothly. I havnt chosen all my parts yet but i have the vital parts chosen. Can you guys inform me of anything i could improve on for roughly the same price, really bad parts or any comments? I would really appreciate it, kinda scared ill waste all my money :p I use australian ebay too so ill be showing some things im looking at on ebay.com.au So far ive got.. Tower Ive been thinking of a thermaltake soprano case, preferably with a clear side. I like the.. - The Soprano VB1000SWS Motherboard - ASUS P5K Pro - this motherboard is a bit cheaper but doesnt support DDR3 RAM which i might use in the future so i also found - ASUS P5KC Which supports both DDR3 and DDR2 RAM CPU - Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz - Ive always wondered, my current 5 year old computer Is a Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz - 3.2? does that mean its faster than this one? RAM Corsair XMS2 2 GB PC2-6400 (TWIN2X20486400) This is DDR2 RAM Power Supply - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W - Antec trio 430/500/600W (these are pretty expensive but seem to be very good, i dont want overkill on anything though) My CPU seems a bit underpowered so any suggestions for anything would be welcome. Once i get these main parts figured out ill worry about my hard drive etc. Thanks! Last edited by MicroVirus; 04-03-2008 at 04:35 AM.

04-03-2008, 06:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
ShosMeister Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Harpers Ferry, WV Posts: 400 OS: OS X 10.4.x	Re: Is My Build Ok? I'll leave the absolute pro/con of items to the really smart guys, but, my opinion, based on my own build, was the mother board that supported DDR2 and DDR3. Why? I'm thinking I can upgrade the RAM in a few years when DDR3 comes down in price without having to purchase a new mother board.

04-03-2008, 02:49 PM	#3 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Re: Is My Build Ok? yeah thats why i was thinking of spending a bit more o have a more versatile motherboard, anyone else?

04-03-2008, 03:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
forcifer ole' Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,631 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Is My Build Ok? the OCZ will work great. i have its little bro and its a beast. as for cpu, thats an amazing one. will blow away most (NOT ALL) competition. for comparison to your current one, there isnt one. it is that much faster. for video card, either the 8800GT 512, 9600GT, or 3870. im just guessing basing off what you have posted. for the motherboard, im getting the P5K-E in my next build and would recomend it to you. ive heard it clocks great. good luck, and if you need links just post :) __________________

04-03-2008, 09:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Is My Build Ok? DDR3 is way ahead of it's time. My only concern is that it will become mainstream, thus making a future RAM upgrade difficult if you are restricted to DDR2. If you plan on getting more than 2GB of RAM you can safely stick with a DDR2 board. Otherwise, get a DDR2/DDR3 board. The P5KC is a good option, but I would personally look at the Gigabyte P35C-DS3R or EP35-DS3R. That CPU there will definitely blow away a Pentium 4 of any speed many times over. Forcifer made some good video card recommendations. Pair it with an Antec Trio 650W or the OCZ GameXtreme 700W and you have a good setup. Also look at the PC Power & Cooling 610W. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

04-03-2008, 09:14 PM	#6 (permalink)
1 g0t 0wn3d TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Sedona, az Posts: 6,528 OS: Vista basic 32bit My System	Re: Is My Build Ok? just to show you howmuch of a p4 you wpuld need i would estamate you would need a p4 clocked at 19-20ghz (impossible) the conroe's take netbursts lunchmoney __________________ Bench Test \| PC Wizard \| System specs \| PSU info \| PSU calculator \| Memtest86+ \| Speedfan

04-03-2008, 09:29 PM	#8 (permalink)
forcifer ole' Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,631 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Is My Build Ok? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315 - 3870 and i CANNOT believe its price. $160? wow. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130334 - $150 for the 9600GT. this card and the 3870 split most benchmarks. the 3870 has the advantage of being able to crossfire on stable, overclockable motherboards however. for raw performance, you wont notice much though http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130334 $170 for 8800GT. this card splits a few benchmarks with the 3870 but wins a few more. again, you wont see much difference. those 3 cards are all but equal, with the 8800GT being an FPS or 2 ahead. now, if you can afford it, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127325 will beat all those cards by quite a bit. however, i must reiterate that with intel chipsets (excluding skulltrail but that doesnt matter right now), you CANNOT go SLI. however, you can go crossfire. __________________

04-04-2008, 12:06 AM	#9 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Re: Is My Build Ok? Thanks for the replies guys, im glad that the parts that came out after all my studying seem to be good :D So far im pretty sure ill be getting - OCZ GameXstream 700W power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002 - ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131188 (i looked at the other suggestions but the p5kc seems better with its 2 pcie slots and 2 types of ram etc.) - Radeon HD 3870 512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315 - Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030 - Corsair XMS2 2 GB PC2-6400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145177 Not sure if they will all fit together and nothing much has come up about the tower so ill still leave that up for discussion, So if my memory serves me right ive still got.. -Tower (preferably with a clear side) -Hard Drive (200gb or so would do) -CD/DVD burner/reader If anyones got suggestions about those parts or any part please post Thanks for the help so far!

04-04-2008, 06:08 AM	#10 (permalink)
forcifer ole' Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,631 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Is My Build Ok? only thing i would change is ram, and that would be to save money. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145175 is virtually as good (only difference is CAS) for alot cheaper. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136113 is a pretty good hard drive by a pretty good brand. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118002 cheap SATA dvd drive for case, thats really a personal decision. ill post a few recomendations but thats as far as i can help =/ __________________

04-04-2008, 02:24 PM	#11 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Re: Is My Build Ok? ill have a look at them, thanks for the reply!

04-04-2008, 03:55 PM	#12 (permalink)
forcifer ole' Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Kansas City kansas Posts: 3,631 OS: Vista Premium 32 My System Blog Entries: 1	Re: Is My Build Ok? how much would you want to spend on a case? i take pride in my cases but not everyone does (case modding ftw) but anything really will work. heck, was my case at one time. it worked though :) __________________

04-04-2008, 06:04 PM	#13 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Re: Is My Build Ok? 100 aussie dollars sounds good to me, and im looking for one with less of a cardboard look and more of a metalish look :p Also does anyone know of a website where i can buy computer parts that get delivered to australia? i was going to buy my parts off newegg.com but they dont mail overseas :( Last edited by MicroVirus; 04-04-2008 at 06:28 PM.

04-04-2008, 11:46 PM	#14 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Is My Build Ok? I knew a few but I can't remember the URLs. Hopefully Blackduck will jump in here and recommend some stores. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

04-05-2008, 11:18 AM	#17 (permalink)
1 g0t 0wn3d TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Sedona, az Posts: 6,528 OS: Vista basic 32bit My System	Re: Is My Build Ok? i figured it was 4 netburst 6 Amd 8 conroe __________________ Bench Test \| PC Wizard \| System specs \| PSU info \| PSU calculator \| Memtest86+ \| Speedfan

04-05-2008, 12:12 PM	#18 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Is My Build Ok? It depends what kind of instructions. Simple load/store and arithmetic (ALU) operations will have the least performance increase. SMID (SSE) operations will however will see a much bigger performance increase. Load/store operations will also be better for large chunks of data in AMD (K8 and above) processors. If you guys want, I can get out one of my microprocessor books and tell you exactly how much faster every type of instruction will be on the P4, C2D and K8 processors (in another thread of course). __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

04-05-2008, 05:01 PM	#20 (permalink)
MicroVirus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 74 OS: Windows XP Home Edition	Re: Is My Build Ok? lol ok now im completely sure its faster. Ive chosen everything with the help of you guys apart from the case (im hoping they will all fit together) im still open to suggestions about online aussie shops but yeah ive decided im getting.. - OCZ GameXstream 700W power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002 - ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131188 - Radeon HD 3870 512MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127315 - Intel core 2 duo E6550 2.33ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030 - Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145175 -Western Digital Caviar SE SATA Hard Drive 250gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136113 - Lite-On LH-20A1S DVD/CD burner/reader http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057 and then a case of some sort. Can someone confirm that they will all fit together? Also i seem to recall that there are 3 case sizes, a small standard and large size i think, which one would i get to store these components? Last edited by MicroVirus; 04-05-2008 at 05:09 PM.