Please review - proposed first build

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ajsellaroli

ajsellaroli

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Dec 14, 2007
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Hello again

this is a continuation of a thread you can find Here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/247281-31-building-base-computer-expand-later

I have a basic sense of what it is I want to get now, thanks to several members of this board including roadrunner, caamsa, lunyone, eric, and tlmck. They're all great guys.

My goal is to build a photoshop / video editing machine for around $650. I would like to overclock, and this is my first build. Here is what I'm thinking of building:


Processor: Intel core 2 duo e2180
$90
I chose this processor because it is cheap, I can overclock it, and it is what I can afford. When I can afford it, I'll buy one of the new Penryn quads.

Motherboard: MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120
I chose this motherboard because it can overclock (supposedly) and because it will work with Penryn's when they come out.

Case: I like the Centurion 5.
$50
It looks good, seems to be well-recommended on here.

Ram: 4 gb ram (GeIL Value Series 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 800)
$120
I could go with less, but is this a good brand? (for video and photo, I probably only need 2 gigs, right?)

DVD burner: Sony NEC Optiarc 20X SATA DVD±RW Burner
$25
this doesn't really matter, they're all so cheap...


Graphics card: any suggestions?
someone suggested: HIS Hightech H260XTF512DDN-R Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Supported Video Card
$90
I'd love the nvidia 8800 gt, should I keep this in mind when looking for PSU?

PSU: No idea

Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA
$100
I really want alot of space. This one seems to be a good choice.

Fans: I don't know..Are there any special fans I would need?



All that came out to about $595, and that's not even including the Power supply yet. What do you guys think?
 
 
I don't think that board has onboard firewire if you need it for something like a camcorder. This ASUS does but if you don't need firewire, that board got a good review. If you're editing video, you don't need an 8800GT. If you want to go with nVidia you can an 8600GT for that price with rebates or a 7600Gt would work for video. Either of these PSUs would work. Might want to consider a smaller hdd, an 80GB Seagate for about $44, for the OS and programs. Will save you a lot of grief when you have to reinstall Windows. What your doing is really CPU intensive and if you need to save could do with 800GB of RAM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371004
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131180
 
Get the Asus Maximus formula, even if you got to save an extra month.
The one click upgrade kicks ass. Later you can upgrade to a lowend quad penryn and one click it to the $1400 version just by clicking. I'm buying this board 100% from now on.
 
While there is nothing wrong with the ASUS Maximus I think you'd be better off putting the money towards a CPU rather than a mobo given what you'll be doing. Your talking $125 to $15o more for the Maximus
 



It would cost $130 more for the board. He is new to overclocking and the Maximus lets you overclock jusy by picking what Cpu you wish you had, then the board sets it to that speed up to e6850.

It would cost $185 dollars more to but the e6850 instead of e2180.
CPU isnt future proof.
Mother board will accept new Penryn quad cores when he feels the need for one.
He might fry something overclocking the other board manually.

You can get the maximus and still be in the $660.00 range. I'll even give him a Vista OS disk I got from M$, to help make it happen.
 
i someone still dont think "ignorance" is worth 185 dollars, get a ds3l or a p5k board, and just start reading ur butt off until you are satisfied with urself that u can overclock, or use ur old system and start overclocking that and get urself familiar with certain terms and such, although the "1 touch overclock" feature is really nice to me its not worth the extra cash on a budget build
 



I agree by all means if your are confortable overclocking old school buy a cheaper board. Mine is a P5K SE. $104.00
Some people dont have the skill to play in a Bios no matter how much they read. If the OP thinks he can do it after reading then Ya any P35 should work nicely.

Now that I found this one I'm gonna use it in my systems that I sell so customers can get system to OC or I can OC it for them and get it set up lots faster then trial and error.
 
lol a "friend" of mine offered me 200 to build him a budget comp, which prob means around 500 dollar computer for him, and i wouldnt even have to overclock it
 
I could build a quad core with that board a q6600 and a 8800gts (92) 2 gigs ram, 500g HD, DVD burner, for $1200.00 and over clock it to QX 6850 specs. I bet it could sell for$1600 on Ebay. You buy a stock quad core from a retailer and it gonna cost over $1750 and up for stock speeds. Prices based on similar setup on newegg.
 
Hey - Ok, something I read has me a little worried.. turns out I might not have an operating system after all. I have an unused windows xp disk meant for (as in it came with) my dell pc. I never used it, but would it work in my own build?

Other than that, I like your suggestions. why do you guys suggest other motherboards though? Chookman, you chose the GA-P35-DS3L. Why is it better than the one I chose? G-paw, you chose the asus p5k. Why is that better? Oh, and roadrunner - I actually think I want to learn to do the overclocking myself first. That motherboard sounds really cool, but a little too expensive.


I like the suggestion about using two separate hard drives - I'm definitely going to do that.
 
well there are slight differences in whats on the motherboard such as raid or esata or 1394a optical inputs, and then there are bios differences such as different terms for the main settings and other changeable settings, you basically pick the board that has everything you want for the price you want, a motherboard is the one thing were many are very similar and you choose more on preference, and then you can also read reviews and if your interested in overclocking you read what others have been able to do with the board you want and if it will be able to do what you want it to, granted even the exact same motherboard brand and type can have slight differences in preformance becuase really no chip is perfect all the time, if it were mean and your trying to stay in your budget go with the ga p35 ds3l cause its cheap and it doesnt sound like you want raid, and you can be a 1394a card for cheap if you actually do need it, its a good preformer and a good reliable brand and its ez on the pocket at clubit its only 85 bucks which is cheaper then newegg
 
While monste4321 is right, you can always add a firewire card if you need one, the problem I see is that at most you'll get 3 PCI slots. If at some point you want a wireless card, that's one slot, a sound card and that's 2 leaving one free for an eSata or something else. For what ever reason, mobo mfg insist on no more than 3 PCI slots and there are very few PCIe cards out there right now. That being said, there is no reason to pay for firewire or anything else if you'll never use it. Agree with everyone that it comes down to what features you need and your budget given there really isn't a lot of difference when you look at good mobo mfg such as ASUS, Gigabyte, or MSI. The reason I brought up the firewire in the first place is that you're doing video editing and a lot of camcorders connect via firewire
 
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