Advice on a custom-build

[hitchcock4]

I am custom-building a system here. Although I have built several machines before, it has been more than 7 years and the technology changes quick enough that I wanted some advive.

Now, let me say first off that the following system will not be a screamer by any means. I am not a gamer -- but on occasion I will transfer video (via Firewire) from my camcorder and edit home movies. Not the hardest thing to do, but on my current machine it can be tedious (the editing that is).

With the above said, let's also say that I am budget-minded and would like to keep this under $450. (items listed below total $448.92 without tax)

Case:

Cooler Master Elite 330 Black ATX Mid-Tower Case ($39.99 at tigerdirect)

Motherboard and CPU:

EVGA nForce 650i Ultra Motherboard - T1 Version,

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor 2.20GHz

I like the fact that my current hard drive, which uses Ultra DMA 133, can be used in this system. Plus I will buy a SATA drive. ($189.99 bundle at Tigerdirect)

Video:

XFX GeForce 7200 GS Video Card (PCIe)- 256MB DDR2 ($27.99 at NewEgg)

DVD: Lite-On PLDS DVD-ROM/CD-RW Retail Combo Drive - 52x32x CD-R/RW, 16x DVD-ROM ($24.99)

Inexpensive internal. I have an external DVD burner that I bought for the LightScribe ability, so I don't need a second DVD burner.

SATA drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB(price=$65.99 at NewEgg)

RAM: Buffalo Select 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 (2 sticks for 2 GB) ($29.99x2)

OK, to be honest here I haven't kept up with memory and can't even be positive that this memory will work in this machine. If you have any advice on the RAM, please let me know.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...p?EdpNo=3053834

Power: Thermaltake PurePower 430Watt ($39.99 at Tigerdirect). It provides connectors for PCI-E and 2 for SATA. 9 Molex connectors.

Additional items: I will install two items that I already own: a firewire card and a PATA hard drive. It is possible that in another year I would decide to add a 3rd hard drive (if I get a new one it would be SATA). These are in addition to the Seagate SATA drive I am purchasing at NewEgg.

--

Question 1) Let's assume that I don't plan to overclock this machine. Do I need additional cooling for the CPU? I would assume yes, but as I said, I haven't built a system in 7 years.

Question 2) Let's say that I do want to overclock the Intel E4500 a bit. What is a safe speed? And what type of cooling? [i don't need to max it out, but another 10% speed increase would help with certain computing tasks].

Question 3) Is 430 Watt enough power? Based on previous experience it is, but I don't know about modern motherboards and the power consumption.

Question 4) As I said above, does this RAM seem adequate (PC5400)?

Question 5) I see that the EVGA nForce board provides for RAID 1 and other RAID support. Anyone know if this support can include 1 drive on PATA and 1 drive on SATA in a RAID 1 array?

Question 6) Has anyone had a had experience that they would like to share with one of the above components?

Thanks for any advice!

BTW, If anyone has a question about the OS I will use, I am going to stick with 32-bit. I plan to have XP Professional on 1 disk and Vista 32-bit on another (probably Home Premium but I am not sure yet).

[jcarle]

I can't recommend an nVidia Chipset based board for what you want to do. I'd suggest you get yourself an Intel based motherboard instead.

[puntoMX]

Welcome to THE forums hitchcock4,

So, you want to OC your system if it’s almost safe to do it? If you stay on stock volts your sure safe.

I made a list for you and later I’m going to explain why:

Good old 800MHz DDR2 2GB package, nothing special but works great. Even if you OC your FSB to 1600 (4x400) it will work fine.

Corsair XMS2 DHX 2048MB Dual Channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB), 54 USD.

Combo driver are slow and sloppy, not to talk about the old design. Combo drives are known to be returned more for RMA so get your self directly (also) an internal DVD-RW.

Lite-On LH-20A1S SuperAllwrite SATA OEM DVD Burner - 20x DVD±R Burn, 16x DVD±R Read, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL, 12x DVD-RAM, 48x32x CD-R/RW, No Software, 33 USD.

Case is personal; Coolermaster is known for good cases so nothing will be said bad about it.

Cooler Master Elite 330 Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB and Audio Ports, less then 40 USD.

The CPU you already picked, but be aware that ONLY he boxed version, so including the cooler, will give you 3 years warranty. Just don’t forget if it dies to return the CPU with the cooler (Intel could check if the cooler has been used but that’s a problem for later when the CPU dies (prob not)).

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor BX80557E4500 - 2.20GHz, 2MB Cache, 800MHz FSB, Allendale, Dual Core, Retail, Socket 775, Processor with Fan, 130 USD.

Forget your old PATA drive, go directly with one SATA drive, or when you like buy a second one too. Your older PATA drive will be the slowest part in your system and much features suck as AHCI will not work on PATA.

Western Digital / Caviar SE16 / 250GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / Retail / Hard Drive about 80 USD.

A little bit better then Asus; The Gigabyte DS3 series motherboards can’t be beaten for it price by ANY other brand! So, you gave us the question about RAID and I gave you this nice, with all solid capacitors, motherboard as the best option.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail, more info here, for 130 USD.

Thermaltake does it right this time, a solid powersupply without the noise. Technically the PSU is outdated, it has a 65% efficiency compared with the newer, up to 85% PSU that are placed in a way higher pricerange. Note: The PSU has no LED fans (no lights). Tigerdirect are just sales people, what do they know .

Thermaltake / PurePower / 430-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm LED Fan / 20/24-Pin / SATA Ready / PCI-E Ready / Power Supply for 40 USD.

You just need a simple video card, and if your monitor has DVI I would go for a cheap 20 USD card and swap it out later for a dual DVI/VGA when you want a second screen.

ATI Radeon X600 SE Video Card - 128MB DDR, PCI Express, DVI, TV Out, Video Card for 20 USD.

To OC your CPU, you need a better cooler with a better thermal compound paste:

Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler - Socket 754, 775, 939, 940, AM2, Copper Heatpipe for 50 USD.

Well, that´s it, total of 577 (+shipping/TAX) USD incl. the extra cooler for Overclocking. If you have any question, fire at will .

Ps. Newegg is cheaper…

[Zxian]

I like punto's parts list, but I'd make a few substitutions if it were my system:

1) I'd pick up a Pioneer DVR-212D in place of the Lite-On drive. I've installed several of them in various systems, and they're rock solid stable. The difference between 18x and 20x burning speed is rediculous, and if you want a quality burn, you shouldn't be burning faster than 8x anyways.

2) The Scythe Ninja is a much better heatsink than the CM Hyper 212. It can cool just as well with a much slower fan - meaning your computer will run quiter.

3) Get the Corsair VX450 PSU. It'll be a little bit more expensive than the Thermaltake, but the PSU is one component that you don't want to skimp out on, and Corsair PSUs are very high quality (i.e. worth every penny).

4) If you want to edit video, I'd suggest a video card from the ATI X1000 lineup. They've got built-in hardware encoders, making your video production much faster than without it. You can still find a good X1300 or X1400 for not too expensive.

5) Buy your parts from NewEgg. They generally have better prices and customer support than TigerDirect.

[hitchcock4]

I can't recommend an nVidia Chipset based board for what you want to do. I'd suggest you get yourself an Intel based motherboard instead.

Jcarle, can you tell me a little more - do you think I will run into hardware problems, or is this more a speed issue that I would have with nVidia chipset?

Thanks.

[jcarle]

I can't recommend an nVidia Chipset based board for what you want to do. I'd suggest you get yourself an Intel based motherboard instead.

Jcarle, can you tell me a little more - do you think I will run into hardware problems, or is this more a speed issue that I would have with nVidia chipset?

Thanks.

I say so because you said "I am not a gamer -- but on occasion I will transfer video (via Firewire) from my camcorder and edit home movies.". Since you're not a gamer, it means you'll value stability and compatibility over speed, and if you choose to overclock, you'll still value stability and compatibility over speed. Since you seem to be an intermediate user with average home requirements, I wouldn't recommend nVidia based chipsets due to their qwirkyness, partial instability and sometimes incompatibilities with certain hardware combinations which make that only advanced users are comfortable tweaking around such machines. Intel chipsets are reknown for their compatibility and stability with almost all hardware and software. Including legacy stuff.

Edited January 13, 2008 by jcarle

[hitchcock4]

Thanks, guys.

I'm definitely going to switch my selection to the other motherboard [GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard]. I will be considering some of the other parts, as well as go with Corsair memory.

Cheers.

[fivestars]

It is better for you to use the intel mobo.

[jcarle]

It is better for you to use the intel mobo.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Intel motherboards, they're too uptight with hardware compatiblity. Intel Chipsets are great, their boards, not so much.

[puntoMX]

It is better for you to use the intel mobo.

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Intel motherboards, they're too uptight with hardware compatibility. Intel Chipsets are great, their boards, not so much.

Not so much? How about they are almost the worst you can pick... They work, but I’ve seen too many with bad capacitors on them and that’s not years ago...

[nitroshift]

I second puntoMX's suggestion for the Gigabyte board. I've had it for some time now and can only appraise it. It's VERY stable, no issues and it has all-solid capacitors. Plus it offers a great flexibility in terms of overclocking (I'm running an Intel E6600 @ 3.6GHz from 2.4 stock, obviously not with the stock cooler ). See my signature for my system details.