ramrod66

hello. i was referred here by some one that said i could get some feedback and input on building another computer. this will be my 3rd PC, second build. i built my first PC in '04 with stuff bought on newegg and everything went well. i have since only put another hard drive in and upgraded to windows xp. i'm building a new PC mostly for internet surfing, some general (not professional) digital picture editing/creating, and some non professional audio creations. here are the answers to the 15 questions as stated in the sticky...

1. Budget: i've already priced out some components and with some of what i'm re-using from my old PC, it looks like i'll come in between $500-$600

2. Brands: my last build was a pentium 4 with an Abit MB, worked nice but i'm not dedicated to one brand. i had an AMD processor in my first PC and it worked too, i'm not picky except for it functioning and being reliable for the next 3-5 years.

3. Multitasking: not sure exactly what this refers to. i would like to use it for amateur image editing and audio editing, as well as internet and home PC use like word documents and listening to music. is that what you're looking for?

4. Gaming: i am not a gamer. i probably won't install any games on this PC.

5. Calculations: i do a lot of audio editing, larger files, most around 700MB or maybe more. i haven't had much trouble doing this with my previous computers, but it does take some time to load and apply certain operations to the files, perhaps something to speed that up or enable me to work with even larger files would be nice. i also encode mp3s of all my cds that i own, that's about it.

6. Overclocking: not interested in overclocking, i'm fine with the speeds i can get with the processors as is.

7. Storage: i will be using my old hard drive, a seagate SATA 500GB hard drive, and i also have a 200GB external usb hard drive as well. i will be storing mostly digital pics, mp3s, and wav files until i can compress them to flac or shn and burn discs.

8. Legacy Support: hmmm, i have a regular old keyboard and a usb optical mouse. not sure if those fall into this category or not. let me know.

9. Operating System: i'll be using my windows xp from my previous computer.

10. Case: i'll be reusing my previous ATX case.

11. Accessories: nope

12. Recycled Components: i have a Sata 500GB hard drive and a PCI audio card i'll be using again. the ATX case will be used also, as well as mouse, keyboard and monitor. so i'm replacing the motherboard, processor, ram, and graphics card.

13. Monitor: i'll be re-using my old monitor.

14. Stores: i've dealt with newegg and was very happy with them. as for local stores; there is a best buy, officemax, and staples locally as well as one very small computer store that is not well stocked.

15. Location: i live in the USA


and to wrap this all up... basically i want what i had before with maybe a little more room to play with and possibly a bit faster. what it boils down to is, i want a decent computer to do the daily stuff like internet and office tasks but also have the ability to edit images and large audio files as a hobby. i have put together a small shopping list so far that sounds pretty decent, but i would like second opinions to see if it will do what i want and most importantly, be compatible with the hardware i'm saving from my previous computer build.

wish list:
* PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W
* GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-DS4H
* AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz
* CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin
*and i would like suggestions on a video card around $100 or less, preferably one with an S-Video output to eventually put on my TV down the road.

Re-use:
-my ATX case
-Sata 500GB internal hard drive
-USB 200GB external hard drive
- PCI Creative Soundblaster Live sound card
-DVD Rom and DVD RW drives
-all peripherals

thank you so much for your help, i appreciate it very much. :D

patrick

Jtsou

Unless you are an absolute sticker for AMD, I would go Intel for what you are using the PC for. Not that theres anything wrong with that AMD proc.

Let us know.

ramrod66

nope, i have no brand allegiances. i saw the price tag and some features that sounded like it would work with some good new stuff and also be compatible with my sata hard drive as well as the PCI slot for my creative audio card i want to re-use. i was also looking at some of the reviews (there are good and bad for everything so it's a little confusing when you don't know what to look for specifically) and i saw some that said that AMD processor was just as good as the newer intel stuff that was out and significantly more expensive. perhaps that was just a few opinions or bots trying to hype the product?

i'll keep looking around some more, any suggestions are welcome and very much appreciated. thank you :D

wchen64572

Will amd is going to be cheaper in some situtations. But are you planning on doing many tasks at the same time like watching a movie and editing photos or videos at the same time?? Also i would go with xfx 9800 gt. Right now you can it for 100 dollars on newegg unless you want to run crossfire on your motherboard. Tell us what you plan on doing with this computer

Jtsou

wchen, he already told us what he planned on doing with it above.

As for the Intel/AMD thing, AMD is not necessarily cheaper. I think the Q6600($195) will give you everything you want while the Phenom is $30 more. As for the Graphics card, I totally agree with wchen, the 9800GT series is a great budget card and it is somewhat high end.

You make the final decision on what you want this system to be built upon, Ramrod.

Also, I forgot to mention above,

Welcome to TSF, ramrod66.

ramrod66

thanks for the welcome to the site, i'm sure i'll be around to learn a lot, probably not much to contribute though :D.

as for the multi-tasking question... the most i'll multi-task is probably something like, surfing the internet while i'm encoding some mp3s or something. when i do the audio stuff i do with the large wav files, it's usually just using that one program and nothing else, all my time is devoted to those tasks and no multi-tasking with other programs open except maybe windows explorer. i do want to be able to watch movies on this PC, but again, i'll devote all my attention to that and not have anything else running when watching the movie.

thanks for the suggestions on the video card, sounds unanimous so far that it's the best for your buck type of card. i'll do some more price comparison with the processors and see what i come up with. i'll give it another week or so to do some research and maybe post another wish list and see if you all think it looks ok for a second opinion, and to see if i missed anything compatibility wise.

thanks again for all your help, it's much appreciated

Jtsou

I would look for a good heatsink for that Phenom also. If im right black editons don't come with heatsinks, or didnt use to.

Jtsou

As far as I can tell everything that you have listed looks pretty much in line. But as you said you need a graphics card.

Jtsou

That is by no means a bad PSU, but IMO it is a little low wattage.

If you want, i can recommend the Corsair 750W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

I thought I had a $20 off promo code ill see if i can find it.

ramrod66

thanks again for the info Jtsou. i was looking around on newegg for heatsinks and i'm a bit confused. i think i'm just going to stick with that amd phenom setup, so i'm not quite sure how to find a heatsink that fits that processor. how do you know if a heatsink is compatible with a certain processor? i've clicked on several that say they are great for a pentium, but i don't want to click on every single product to find the one or two that will work for this AMD processor. any tips or recommendations? i won't be overclocking on this machine, so i don't need anything super fancy but i don't want to have another fried CPU either :D

also, i decided to go with that corsair power supply but i have yet another question. the motherboard i've settled on says it takes 24 pin power, the corsair says it's 20 + 4. from what i've read it seems like this will work, the 20+4 was just for older motherboards with the 20 pin. could you just confirm that i am correct thinking the 24 pin MB is compatible with a 20+4 PSU?

i'm also getting that 9800gt video card. has the s-video out so i can hook it up to my PC and it gets good ratings and you all think it's good stuff so i'm sold. seems new egg has several versions of the gt, the only thing i can see different is that some come with different games as a bonus and the price reflects that. not being a gamer, i'm going with the cheapest price

thanks again for the input on this, it really helps. i'll probably be asking about fans for the case in the near future, i'll have to measure and see what my case takes as it has 6 places for fans and i'm sure there are at least two different sizes to deal with.

it's getting close to order time, i'm getting butterflies about building but i'm half sick about the number shown in my shopping cart too, but with the rebates (knock on wood that they don't get "lost" as i've seen in some of the reviews) it should help take the cost down to a level that a bit easier to swallow.

wchen64572

I think all processors that are retail come with heat sinks. But if you want to upgrade to a better look for heatsinks that are compatible with AM2/AM2+ sockets. Also with the power supply you'll be fine with the 20+4 pin. Its just there if you ever want to use that power supply for an older motherboard. That's the type of pin configuration
that i have in my power supply Also if you live near an microcenter you should get your processor from them is relatively cheaper there, but if you can price match items from newegg to their items with rebates its also alot cheapers. Good luck building your computer

wrench97

Most AMD Black Box edition CPU's do not come with a Heat and Fan they have unlocked multipliers and are made for overclocking because of this the stock heat sink is not good enough so it is not included, On Newegg if the fan comes with it, the specs page will list a fan.

ramrod66

ok, so i had some stuff saved on newegg to buy and when i logged in today it was gone. guess they discontinued the items or the combo sale or something. so, i was practically back to square one. did some browsing and here's what i came up with, let me know if anyone sees anything incompatible or something bad with the components i've chosen. i've gone with a 2.66Ghz processor because it's cheaper and i'm not going to overclock and it seems plenty fast to me anyway. here's what i've got so far:

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
Video Card: XFX PVT98GYDLH GeForce 9800 GT
*i'll be re-using my sound card which is a standard PCI, and using my old SATA hard drive, re-using my dvd drives, monitor, keyboard/mouse.

as far as i can tell the mobo is for an Intel 775, fits my ATX case, uses DDR2 1066 240 pin, has PCIe and standard PCI slots, and has a 24 pin for the PSU. the Intel E7300 is a 775 socket, the Corsair RAM is DDR2 1066 240 pin, the 9800 GT video card is PCIe, my sound card is PCI, hard drive is SATA, and the PSU is 24 pin. i think that covers everything as far as i can tell.

looks like it has onboard LAN, plenty of USB ports, a firewire port; pretty much everything i can think of.

any thoughts on this setup or negatives about what i've chosen? if not, i'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger before anything else goes out of stock or deals expire this time around. whew! man, you've got to act fast on this stuff huh?

thanks again for any and all feedback everyone, you are definitely helping to make this an easier and less stressful decision knowing i have some PC gurus to turn to. :D

Jtsou

Everything in that list looks good to me.

wrench97

Consider using the integrated sound on the board it is pretty good.

ramrod66

just wanted to say thanks again for all your help everyone. i ordered the parts, they got here this past wednesday, and i was back up and running on thursday night!

here's what i ended up getting, some due to items going out of stock suddenly:
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
Video Card: XFX PVT98GYDLH GeForce 9800 GT


everything was the same except for the processor, they went out of stock before i could hit the checkout button. the one i got was a little more expensive but it was the closest thing to the previous selection that was in stock and worked with everything else.

it all seems to be working smoothly, no problems except for having to re-install windows again to get things rolling. i'll probably end up doing a clean install pretty soon anyway, and i might splurge for another HD for a raid backup just to be safe. that corsair power supply is great, looks nice and has all kinds of extra power connectors for future upgrades! i haven't tested out the 9800GT yet, but i will give it a shot with the Call Of Duty game they threw in, that should be fun.

otherwise, i'm sure this will serve every purpose it should in the coming years no problem. thanks again!

wrench97

Good to hear you have it up and running:)