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Time for a new computer...

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  • ......
    Looks nice, especially the case and 8800. Question, isn't Conroe the 'old' size? Whereas Penryn is (afaik) the new 45nm architecture.
  • ThaedThaed
    I'd substitute this chip for the one you've identified. Buy a Zalman fan and you can overclock it somewhat without any brain damage. Even if you don't overclock, the entry level quad is the way to go. If you buy two small Raptors as your boot drives and you hook them up in RAID 0, you can get very fast boot times. Then you could use the drives you've picked for data only. New Egg had a Blu-Ray drive on sale last week. Not sure if it's still there, but it's a cool option.
  • ZeehatZeehat
    Wait until February. Prices will probably drop on certain things then. As for the monitor, I've heard too much greatness about the Dell Ultrasharp. However, it is substantially larger in price.
  • AprecheApreche
    Wait a month for Penryn to fill the warehouses. Then either get one of them, or let prices on everything else go down.
  • AndrewAndrew
    Wait a month for Penryn to fill the warehouses. Then either get one of them, or let prices on everything else go down.
    That's the plan. In fact, I'll probably get this chip or a better one depending on the market.
  • VhdbloodVhdblood
    edited January 2008
    I actually just built a system very similar to this. The same stuff, except had a Gigabyte P31 Mobo, which was a mistake, and I used an ATI Radeon 3850, which I love to death.

    I was able to get everything for just under $1100, which is great as far as I can tell.

    Also, check this out for your CD/DVD drive, ASUS CD/DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe. It's a few bucks cheaper and has lightscribe.

    Also-Also, you might want to pick up a cheap floppy to install your SATA Drivers. That's if you're using Windows of course, but Newegg has a $20-$30 one with a card reader in it. May be worth looking into.
    Post edited by Vhdblood on
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Couple things

    1. CPU - You've chosen a fine chip, but as others have said, the entry quad is just better. Also, you can get an entry level AMD quad for the same price as the chip you've selected. Something to consider.

    2. Motherboard - You've got a AMD/ATI Crossfire board paired with a nVidia card. This is just a waste of money. Either get a single slot Intel chipset board for $100 less or opt for a nVidia chipped SLI board.

    3. Memory - You can get 4 gigs for ~ $100-110, I'd go for it.

    Other than those things, you've got some great parts selected there and good luck with it. :)
  • AndrewAndrew
    1. CPU - You've chosen a fine chip, but as others have said, the entry quad is just better. Also, you can get an entry level AMD quad for the same price as the chip you've selected. Something to consider.
    I'm not sure how I feel about the quad-cores. Gaming is going to be one of the primary features for this computer. The problem is that the developers have just started developing for dual-cores, let alone quad-cores.

    2. Motherboard - You've got a AMD/ATI Crossfire board paired with a nVidia card. This is just a waste of money. Either get a single slot Intel chipset board for $100 less or opt for a nVidia chipped SLI board.
    I can't find any MOBO's with the X38 chipset that supports SLI nor any with just single PCI-E 2.0 slots. I'm not planning on getting a second video card to SLI either. One problem that I did find is that the motherboard's large heatsinks prevent most third party CPU heatsinks from fitting. I think I could remedy the heat issue with this case though.
  • AprecheApreche
    Don't bother with silly third party heat sinks. Overclocking is a waste of time, if you actually plan on using the computer for real things, and overclocker's heat sinks are typically loud beasts. Buy a retail CPU, instead of OEM, and it will come with the perfect heat sink that will be very quiet and quality.

    Also, a USB floppy drive is not a bad idea. I've been thinking about getting one myself.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    I'm not sure how I feel about the quad-cores. Gaming is going to be one of the primary features for this computer. The problem is that the developers have just started developing for dual-cores, let alone quad-cores.
    Games are only moving toward more threads of execution, ever play Supreme Commander? I got an AMD dual core a year and a half ago when everyone was saying, "a dual core, that's silly, games can't use those." And look where we are today. And it's not like you're losing anything by getting a quad core, you just get two dual cores instead of one. If you're going to spend $200ish on a CPU, why not get the most for your money.
    I can't find any MOBO's with the X38 chipset that supports SLI nor any with just single PCI-E 2.0 slots. I'm not planning on getting a second video card to SLI either. One problem that I did find is that the motherboard's large heatsinks prevent most third party CPU heatsinks from fitting. I think I could remedy the heat issue withthis casethough.
    I think the X38 might just be a Crossfire chipset, ditch it. You're paying $100+ for technology you don't want. Get an EVGA 650i motherboard, that's the SLI chipset minus SLI, those boards go for about $100 last I checked. Use the money you saved on the quad core. ;)
  • AndrewAndrew
    I updated the list with several changes.
    • Changed to the new Wolfdale E8400 processor which is 3.0 GHz with 6MB of L2 cache, 1333 MHz FSB and uses the new 45 nm architecture
    • Decided to go with the Gigabyte P35-DS3L mobo because of the amazing price! No RAID or SLI, not that big of deal though.
    • Because of the lack of RAID, I decided to grab the Raptor 150 GB 10,000 RPM drive.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    I still think you should go for 4 gigs of ram, more is better and it's not much more.

    Here's some.
  • AndrewAndrew
    edited January 2008
    I still think you should go for 4 gigs of ram, more is better and it's not much more.

    Here'ssome.
    If you look at the list you will notice I put down two 2x1gb Ram sticks...
    Post edited by Andrew on
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    If you look at the list you will notice I put down two 2x1gb Ram sticks...
    Ahhhhh, I see now, but I wouldn't do that. There's something about motherboards where they don't like it when you fill all the dimm slots with ram...sometimes. I wouldn't risk it, but that's me.
  • AprecheApreche
    If you look at the list you will notice I put down two 2x1gb Ram sticks...
    Wouldn't it be better to get one pair of 2g sticks if the motherboard can handle it?
  • AndrewAndrew
    If you look at the list you will notice I put down two 2x1gb Ram sticks...
    Wouldn't it be better to get one pair of 2g sticks if the motherboard can handle it?
    I always thought it was better to have as many modules as possible. Eh, it's probably just an old wives tale...
  • AprecheApreche
    edited January 2008
    I always thought it was better to have as many modules as possible. Eh, it's probably just an old wives tale...
    This is how it works. On most motherboards these days you want to have two. That's why everyone sells pairs. The reason for this is because having two sticks allows dual channel to be enabled. This effectively doubles the bandwidth to the RAM. Having four sticks instead of two won't enable quad channel or anything. It's dual channel or single channel. So having two 2 gig sticks is just as fast as four one gig sticks, only it is better because it gives you two empty slots for expansion in the future.

    On the Mac Pro they did something interesting. The Mac Pro has two riser cards for the memory, with a total of 8 slots. You can do dual channel on each card. To get maximum memory bandwidth on the Mac Pro you want to have at least four sticks, two on each riser card.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_channel
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • AndrewAndrew
    This is how it works. On most motherboards these days you want to have two. That's why everyone sells pairs. The reason for this is because having two sticks allows dual channel to be enabled. This effectively doubles the bandwidth to the RAM. Having four sticks instead of two won't enable quad channel or anything. It's dual channel or single channel. So having two 2 gig sticks is just as fast as four one gig sticks, only it is better because it gives you two empty slots for expansion in the future.

    On the Mac Pro they did something interesting. The Mac Pro has two riser cards for the memory, with a total of 8 slots. You can do dual channel on each card. To get maximum memory bandwidth on the Mac Pro you want to have at least four sticks, two on each riser card.
    So having two modules with slower timings is better than four modules with faster timings? Won't you still be able to benefit from dual-channel with four sticks as well as two? If that is true, then why not use four sticks with lower timings. Sure, it could be a little unstable, but I'm not looking to OC these so I doubt I would run into that many issues...
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    So having two modules with slower timings is better than four modules with faster timings? Won't you still be able to benefit from dual-channel with four sticks as well as two? If that is true, then why not use four sticks with lower timings. Sure, it could be a little unstable, but I'm not looking to OC these so I doubt I would run into that many issues...
    Timings really mean jack. And it's not a risk of instability more of a risk that four dimms straight up won't work. I've been building computers since the P3 days and ram has only gotten more fickle.
  • AprecheApreche
    So having two modules with slower timings is better than four modules with faster timings? Won't you still be able to benefit from dual-channel with four sticks as well as two? If that is true, then why not use four sticks with lower timings. Sure, it could be a little unstable, but I'm not looking to OC these so I doubt I would run into that many issues...
    In all reality, dual channel barely even makes a difference, and timings make even less of a difference. Memory timings and such are mostly just a way for RAM producers to justify selling some sticks at a higher price point. The quantity of RAM you have is what makes the most significant difference. Having open slots to allow for future expansion is much more valuable than having better timings or enabling dual channel.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_channel
    You didn't read the bit titled "Actual Results".
  • AprecheApreche
    You didn't read the bit titled "Actual Results".
    In all reality, dual channel barely even makes a difference,
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited January 2008
    My bad. In an attempt to stop myself looking like a complete twit, I have a question about graphics cards.
    I have decided to get a NVidia 8800GT at some time in the mid to distant future. I have read that the GT gives great performance for the price and all I need to do is play HL2E2 without it lagging and so my sister can play The Sims 2. I was looking on scan.co.uk and there are at least 20 different configurations. I wanted to know what are the most important factors (vram size, GPU clock speed, etc..) for a graphics card?
    Post script: This newegg thing you have is really useful with the ratings and customer reviews. I've heard rumors they might be trying for a British market but they're just rumors.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • AndrewAndrew
    I have decided to get a NVidia 8800GT at some time in the mid to distant future. I have read that the GT gives great performance for the price and all I need to do is play HL2E2 without it lagging and so my sister can play The Sims 2. I was looking on scan.co.uk and there areat least 20 different configurations. I wanted to know what are the most important factors (vram size, GPU clock speed, etc..) for a graphics card?
    Grab the 8800GTS with the new G92 chipset. It is significantly faster (almost as good as the 8800Ultra) than the GT and only a little more expensive. It's worth the price jump in my opinion.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Thanks, It's probably going to be a while before I upgrade. Japan is calling.
    Also, does anyone know where the thread this picture came from is?
  • AndrewAndrew
    Ok guys, I just pulled the trigger on this rig here. Hopefully everything will go smoothly...
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Very nice. :)
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