Best computer for the money?

[Seraphic]

How is the E6750 vs Q6600 (G0 Stepping)?

 

[Someguyperson]

These moniters have a contrast ratio better than the 20" monitor you posted at the same price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116075

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014146

And this monitor is significantly better than the 19" you posted, as it has a better contrast ratio and is bigger for only $20 more, but you still need speakers with all of the choices.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005096

I would go with a monitor 20"+ because you will get a 8800GTS (the 40% increase in price for the 640Gb only gives a 5%-10% increase in preformance atresolutions you won't use for a 20" monitor)

 

[Seraphic]

someguyperson,

How much of a performance boost does the 8800GTX 768MB have over the 8800GTS 640MB?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130079

 

[rockyjohn]

You might want to consider an Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU. I just purchased one online from Frys on sale for $49.99 - NO rebate required - marked down from $89.99. A real deal.

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5086635

The sale started Friday so it might be ending soon.

You might also find this link helpful: Recommended Sub-$150, high-efficiency PSU's

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460

You will see the Antec Earthwatts PSU on the list and at the above sale price it is 1/2 to 1/3 of most other items listed.

That same website also has a review on this PSU:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=51&page_num=1

 

[aevm]

someguyperson,

How much of a performance boost does the 8800GTX 768MB have over the 8800GTS 640MB?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130079

It can be huge, depending on resolution and game and settings.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=707&model2=706&chart=297

If you go with E6750/8800GTX or even better Q6600/8800GTX I'm sure your games will run very nicely for at least 2 years. However, you'd need a more powerful PSU, for example a 620HX. Also be careful with the 8800 GTX because it won't fit in some cases, it's 11" long.

 

[Seraphic]

Hi aevm,

I would be using this computer for maybe one or two games. The rest of the time it would be for high definition video capture/editing 720x480p/1280x720p/1920x1080i. Along with image/sound recording/editing.

Was thinking about a Q6600 (G0 Stepping) with the 8800GTX. (As you know, the other cpu you talked about has more FSB but less cores). As for the PSU, wouldn't a 750w or higher be better? I was planning on doing lots of OCing to the CPU/RAM. Was looking at four sticks of this ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

 

[Sparky6string]

And this monitor is significantly better than the 19" you posted, as it has a better contrast ratio and is bigger for only $20 more, but you still need speakers with all of the choices.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005096

I would go with a monitor 20"+ because you will get a 8800GTS (the 40% increase in price for the 640Gb only gives a 5%-10% increase in preformance atresolutions you won't use for a 20" monitor)

Think I'm going with this one here. It's a little bit more but looks to be worth it. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[aevm]

The Q6600 would be perfect for the video editing, much better than a dual-core CPU.

Does 1920x1080i mean you need a monitor with a width of 1920 pixels? Those come in 24" sizes or more, and they're still expensive. A monitor like that does need an 8800 GTX for some of the more demanding games.

That memory sounds like a great deal. Nice price, great brand. I suppose you need to find a friend to order half of it to actually get rebates on both pairs of sticks, but I'm not sure. Maybe find something that comes in 2GB sticks, to allow upgrading to 8 GB later? It depends on the motherboard, of course.

My PC includes a Q6600, BFG Geforce 8800GTX OC2, PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W Silencer, GA-P35C-DS3R. It works really nicely. You could get the GA-P35-DS3R and save $30 over the P35C. The Silencer is the best 750W PSU in the world as far as I know. Look at www.anandtech.com in the PSU section, great reviews there. Highly recommended, especially if you plan to add lots of TV tuners and hard disks.

About the motherboard - one thing I really like about the GA-P35C-DS3R is that it allows a 8800 GTX and 3 PCI cards to be used at the same time. I don't know of others that can do that. For example some Asus models have the PCI slots too close to the PCI-E 16x and the video card blocks a PCI slot. You may not have a modem or an X-Fi but you will have TV tuners, I guess. When I install the TV tuner I'll actually have all 3 PCI slots in use.

I'm guessing that the video editing will require tons of hard disk space. The PC P&C has enough connectors for 4 SATA hard disks and a SATA DVD-RW. I think it can handle more if I buy some splitters but I'll worry about that next year.

 

[eric54]

pc p&c is loud. Keep that in mind, as far as it being the best in the world its hard to beat the enermax galaxy series. Yes the rails are stable but there is a fair amount of ripple on the P&C's, in any case it is excelent but in terms of noise generated it ranks among the loudest, ever.

 

[aevm]

Well, I did say best 750W PSU. Yes, the Galaxy is better, but it comes in 850W or 1000W versions (at least that's what I found at newegg) and that's overkill for a single-card system. They're rather expensive too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand every good PSU will get loud when pushed close to the limit. It has to, because the alternative would be to keep the fan moving slowly and allow heat to build up. I can't hear my PC P&C, but I haven't pushed it much so far, true.

Is there anything under, say, $150, that you'd recommend here?

 

[Someguyperson]

A PSU for under $150?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

How about one from PC P&C?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

This might not have enough voltage, but it is a modular PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

I wold also highly recomend a Q6600, if your budget allows. With a G0 steping it can hit 3Gz on stock cooling and voltage, but the one with B3 steping hardly works on stock. MAKE SHURE YOU GET A G0 ONE. As for VGA, the 8800GTX costs at least $500 whereas a 8800GTS 320Mb costs at least $280 ($250 after rebate), so for nearly double the price, you get a ~50% increase in preformance. the GTX is still a good choice, but it doesn't quite have the bang for buck the GTS 320Mb gives.

 

[tlmck]

Found this PSU deal last night.
http://www.compuplus.com/i-OCZ-Technology-OCZ600SXS-StealthXStream-600W-Power-Supply-1009803~.html?sid=x3k1fxn6xr84253

 

[Sparky6string]

Ok after making some updates this is where I'm at now.


$239.99- LG L206WTY-BF Black 20" 2ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor W/ f-Engine and Tilt Adjustment 300 cd/m2 3000:1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824005096

$74.99- Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136074

$79.99- CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX ATX12V V2.2 450W Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817139003

$84.99 ($45 rebate)- XION Stacker XON-791B Black Steel Chassis with Aluminum Front Door ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811208022

$34.99- PHILIPS 2-Tone 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827248008

$109.99 ($40 rebate)- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146565

$94.99- GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128059

$89.99- Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16832116056

$204.99- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115029

$49.99 (-$15.00 combo break)- Rosewill RCX-Z3 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835200013

$279.65- eVGA GeForce 8800GTS Superclocked 320mb PCIe
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A0973891


Comes to about $1470 shipped. I still need to choose a keyboard/mouse combo too but this is most of it.

 

[lunyone]

You could go for the combo deal here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082&SubCategory=48&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1
Gets you 8800gts 320mb and Antec 550W PSU for $370 - $20 MIR = $350!!! Nice deal if you ask me.