Opinions/Advice on this build?

[fueled_by_ramen]

Finally time for a new system to replace my dying P4. Budget is a big concern, and I didn't want to go over $800-ish while maintaining high performance for gaming sprinkled with some video editing and multitasking. I'm not planning on switching to Vista for a little bit so it kind of sucks that there aren't any good DX9 GPU's out anymore for a decent price. But at least I'll be ready for DX10 when I do finally make the OS switch.

If there is something that everyone thinks I should replace but costs a little more, that's fine. I can also downgrade a little on something like the optical drive or hard drive, or maybe even the GPU with a GTS, to balance things out if needed. But I really don't want to have it much higher than around $800. Of course, if there is an alternative that costs less yet is just as good, that's even better!

I'm sure some people will want to suggest (some more aggressively than others) that I wait for the new penryn CPU's. I would be more than happy with that as long as there will be a model for under $200. Otherwise it'll jack up the total cost too much.

Thanks for looking and any advice you guys may have.


Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz ------------------------------------------------ $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115030

ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX ----------------------------------- $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142

A-DATA Extreme Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ----------------------------- $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211174

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit ---------------------------------- $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache ------------------ $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

ASUS Black 20X DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM -------------------------------------- $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135157

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power 550W Power Supply ------------------------------------ $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171016

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black ---------------------------------------- $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068

TOTAL: ~$795

 

[aevm]

Nice choices IMO, except for mobo and PSU.

GA-P35-DS3L is cheaper and based on a newer chipset than P5N-E.

I'd change the PSU to a Corsair 550VX. It costs more but it's safer.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

Thanks for the response.

I actually was considering the GA-P35-DS3L for a couple of reasons. The price is good and as you said, it has the P35 chipset. But the P5N-E is SLI capable (in case I wanted to add another 8800 at some point down the line) and has an onboard firewire port in back. I know that may seem like a trivial thing, but I use firewire extensively with external HDD's for video editing as a scratch disk. Granted, I can always pop a firewire PCI card in there for cheap, but that's just an extra thing I had to do and since I'm lazy, well, you know.

I dunno, I may end up doing that since everyone seems to be recommending the DS3L.

Is the P35 that much of a better choice than the 650i chipset?

And is there something in particular about the PSU that I picked that isn't good? Just curious.

Thanks again!

 

[tlmck]

The only quality power supplies that Coolermaster offers are the Realpower Pro series. The rest are garbage as far as a high end system is concerned, and I would not even use them on a low system.

Don't be fooled by thinking more wattage equals better quality. It has to do with efficiency, and quality of components inside. While not your specific model, this review is typical of yours, and other low end power supplies. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu_6.html

Right now, Corsair VX series is the best bang for the buck PSU out there. Antec Earthwatts is another good choice, although not quite the quality of Corsair.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

Well, I totally get that more watts =/= better quality. I just figured that CoolerMaster PSU would be sufficient for what I need without going into OC'ing at all for the time being. The +12V rail power seemed, to my amateurish calculations, to be enough. But I can totally understand if the consensus is that CoolerMaster PSU's generally aren't good. Anyway, was just curious if there was something specific about that PSU that was bad or if it was just a general "no no."

I have no problem switching to the Corsair PSU if they are considered to be good. I might switch to the DS3L MoBo which is cheaper than the ASUS I posted, and if I do that'll balance out the price to keep it close to $800 still.

Does anyone know if the DS3L has an onboard firewire header so I can at least use the firewire port on the case? It doesn't say in the specs but I'm hoping it does. Even though I hate to have permanent devices hooked up in the front of a case, I'll just have to deal. Probably will pick up a PCI card at some point later.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[chuckm]

The 450 watt psu would be enough for now.
http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-450w-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205466485.html
For built in firewire your going to have to go with one of these;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131180
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121313
The Intel is very picky about ram. So far the price of your system has gone up,you could always do the gigiabyte MB with a F/W add in card. The only other place to cut cost would be the CPU, but with no OC'ing you've made a good chice,

 

[systemlord]

And is there something in particular about the PSU that I picked that isn't good? Just curious.

You could say that again! Have a look at the tier rating, you buy a cheap PSU then your asking for a meltdown of your entire computer. Get a Corsair 520HX, you won't be sorry.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001&Tpk=corsair%2b520hx


http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon

Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED
A-TOP Technology
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Cooler Master
Coolmax
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
EagleTech
FOXCONN
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Wintech
XClio
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----x-----

 

[aevm]

I didn't realize you needed FireWire. There's a GA-P35-DS3P that has Firewire, but it won't do SLI and it's rather expensive.

OK, if you want SLI capability without spending 200+ on the mobo you should stick with the P5N-E after all. A P5N32-E SLI would give you better performance because both cards would run at x16, but it costs more.

Make sure you pick a PSU that can handle two video cards. That 520HX is a good example.

 

[tlmck]

No FireWire on DS3L.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

Thanks for the info all.

Honestly, I'd rather get a MoBo that has firewire than SLI. I was thinking that SLI would be nice if I ever decided to go that route down the line.

I'm apprehensive about using an add-in PCI firewire card because it would be limited by the PCI's low bandwidth, right? Sure they have PCIe x1 firewire cards but those cost ~$30 and up, so I might as well put that towards a better MoBo if that's the case. A PCI card can cost as low as $8 but again, PCI = slow = counter productive for firewire.

Maybe I'm wrong about that?

Most of the P35 boards that have firewire are quite expensive. It seems more common with nForce boards. Is the 650i that bad of a choice when compared to the P35? Does it not OC as well?

It's just pretty aggravating that firewire isn't as popular as it should be. Sure USB can be faster but only in one direction, firewire is best for 2-way.

 

[aevm]

AFAIK, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is based on 650i and it overclocks like a champion. I guess this means 650i can OC all right.

I prefer P35 to 650i because P35 is guaranteed to work with future CPUs like the Q9450. If you intend to use your E6550 for two years or more then you don't have to care about this. Two years from now, new CPUs will be incompatible with both 650i and P35 anyway.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

Sooo ok. I think I'm just going to get the P5N-E for $114 on newegg...just an easy solution since my head is starting to hurt.

For everything else, I think I might stick with what I had originally in my first post, with a couple of possible changes that I wanted to get some input on.

I went down to my local CompUSA since they are closing down and I figured they might actually have some good prices now. For the most part, they were still more expensive than newegg except for a few PSU's, they are actually cheaper at CompUSA.

Here are the best ones I found at the store. Can someone recommend the best one? Preferably as cheap as possible and still good to run the system which will consist of a C2D E6550, ASUS P5N-E, 2 GB DDR2-800, either the 8800 GT or 8800 GTS, 1 SATA HDD, 1 SATA DVD/CD Burner.

Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W
Keep seeing people recommend earthwatts so it should be good right? @ CompUSA for $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

Antec NeoPower 650 Blue ATX12V / EPS12V 650W
@ CompUSA for $108
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371010

Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 ATX12V 550W
@ CompUSA for $78, but I'm pretty sure the Trio isn't good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371002

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W
@ CompUSA for $108, I was looking at the 450 and 550 W Corsair for $79 and $99 respectively on newegg, but this monster caught my eye while at the store. Any good? Or am I better off with the 450 or 550?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[aevm]

I like the 620HX most from that list. The Earthwatts is very good too but it will leave you less room for future upgrades.

 

[tlmck]

The Corsair 620HX is one of the most revered PSU's on the planet. Never seen a bad review/test anywhere. Nothing but praise.

It is expensive, but it will last a long while. Remember, newer components are requiring less power than their predecessors.

 

[fueled_by_ramen]

I honestly wouldn't plan on upgrading the CPU or GPU any time too soon, but I would be inclined to add another HDD or optical drive within a few months at least.

So besides the 620HX, the next best choice would be the earthwatts?

From what I figured, it should have 34 amps on +12V rails which, if this is right, is pretty decent for an 8800 GT or GTS right? Can someone double-check me on that? Still not to comfortable figuring PSU amperage and what not.

 

[tlmck]

The Earthwatts is perfectly good as well. just not as good as the Corsair. The reason Earthwatts is so cheap is that it is a no frills SPU. No fancy casing, standard wires, etc...

Here is a good review of the Earthwatts, as well as the 620HX.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=35
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=21

Here is another trusted site for such reviews. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/reviews.html?cat=NDUsUG93ZXIgU3VwcGxpZXMgLyBQU1UsaGVudGh1c2lhc3Q=