New PC time

gti138 · August 4th, 2008, 01:36 PM

I've been hanging onto the old desktop box for what seems years - Athlon XP 2600+ based system.

Anyhow it's time for me to go out and build a new PC - despite working in IT I haven't kept in touch with what's the goods in the retail PC market for a while..

What I'm looking at the moment is the following:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
Asus P5Q Pro Mainboard
Gskill 2x2GB kit DDR2 1066
2x Samsung 640GB HD642JJ HDD's (running in RAID 1)
Gigabyte 9600GT 512Mb
Pioneer SATA DVD/RW

all wrapped up in a Thermaltake Matrix case w/- 430 watt PSU

I'm not a huge gameplayer (still play GP4 with the 2007 season update on it though) so blistering graphics arent a huge priority - I will be doing some video editing though

Any thoughts on the above? If all goes to plan I'm going to head out and get it all in a day or so.

My budget is around A$1100 for the box....

Lilleput · August 4th, 2008, 01:55 PM

I'd get a Higher wattage PSU 550+

Buba · August 4th, 2008, 02:16 PM

I'd get a really good PSU @450 Watts...
And right now, if if you are an ATI Hater, you gotta go for a 4850... or 4870.

cvrefugee · August 4th, 2008, 07:18 PM

Replace the Samsung 640GB HDDs with Western Digital 640GB HDDs (they're just as fast as my Raptor). And like Buba said, ditch the 9600GT and get a 4850.

devil500 · August 4th, 2008, 07:45 PM

Get a 4800 series card you'll love it images/smilies/smile.gif

fluke667 · August 4th, 2008, 08:00 PM

The Samsung & WD HDDs are both two platter drives so there shouldn't be a great difference.
A 550 watt PSU is overkill 400 watt is more than enough (i'd recommend corsair) and i agree on the 4850.

I've build myself something similar (Q9450/8800GT) 2 month ago to replace my AMD64 3200+/7800GT system and sometimes i'm still surprised how much faster it is. You'll have fun doing video editing with it.

jeffy777 · August 4th, 2008, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

And like Buba said, ditch the 9600GT and get a 4850.

Agreed. 4850 is the way to go right now.

MadCow809 · August 5th, 2008, 11:34 AM

ditch the 9600gt, samsung crap hdd and the puny 430w PSU

instead.. get the Hd4850+Seagate hdd and a 500+W PSU

awdrifter · August 5th, 2008, 11:48 AM

Sounds like a good built, the Q9450 is blazing fast. I wish I can afford it too, I just ordered the older gen Q6600. Anyways, since your motherboard supports Crossfire but not SLI, I would suggest the HD4850 too. If that's a bit too expensive, at least get the HD3870 so you can add another one in Crossfire if you decide to play more games.

klankymen · August 5th, 2008, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadCow809

ditch the ..... the puny 430w PSU

Why? The whole computer will draw no more than 200 Watts. Ever.

EDIT: However, don't get a crap Thermalfake PSU.... get a seasonic or corsair or antec (all rebadged seasonics)

MadCow809 · August 5th, 2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klankymen

Why? The whole computer will draw no more than 200 Watts. Ever.

EDIT: However, don't get a crap Thermalfake PSU.... get a seasonic or corsair or antec (all rebadged seasonics)

why? because when you add in another gfx card or more hdds in the future, you won't have to worry about buying another psu.

A good 500+W psu isnt expensive anymore, so why not spend a few more bucks and get a good, solid psu?

fluke667 · August 5th, 2008, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klankymen

Why? The whole computer will draw no more than 200 Watts. Ever.

I hate oversized PSUs but 200 watt is too low.
My PC uses ~130 watt idling and ~250 watt while running 3dmark06 (Q9450/8800GT/2xHDD/7xCasefan/DVB-C card/DVD-RW)

Don't get a PSU that comes with the case, those are 99% crap. Seasonic, Corsair,Tagan are all ok imho just stay away from BeQuiet they all die because of crappy fans.

Vambeer · August 5th, 2008, 12:46 PM

Just to be on the safe side you should get a 450-500Watt PSU. any of the manufacturers fluke667 said are very nice. Also i agree...ditch the 9600 and get yourself a 4850. In any other aspect it is very nice!!!

gti138 · August 5th, 2008, 02:09 PM

Thanks guys - I'll probably get the new PSU after SWMBO gets over the shock of me actually buying a new pc - (give it a few weeks)

I'll look at the ATI card - but I'd almost guarantee there's no chance of me running dual's in the future as I just don't play that many games.

At the moment my focus is on a good CPU and RAM so I can do video editing etc. I think the Q9450 fits the bill there images/smilies/smile.gif

Should go pick up all the bits tomorrow or thursday (when I can get down to the store)

I'm going with the Matrix case as it's one of the least "wanky" looking cases I could see. I don't want windows, cold cathodes etc I just want something to hold the bits together effectively.

One last Q - Vista Ultimate x64 or x32? I'm leaning towards x64 but am thinking I could even dual-boot both - seems like an unnecessary PITA though!

MPowered · August 5th, 2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gti138

One last Q - Vista Ultimate x64 or x32? I'm leaning towards x64 but am thinking I could even dual-boot both - seems like an unnecessary PITA though!

If you're putting in 4gb of RAM, you'll have to go with Vista 64. I've been reading that Vista 32 is having issues fully recognizing 4gb of memory although Microsoft says that it's fully compatible. I'd load up 64 just to be safe.

http://www.vistaclues.com/reader-que...-windows-vista

TopGearDog · August 5th, 2008, 04:21 PM

About PSU power, remember that PSU's dont have 100% efficiency, so a 500w PSU is never going to supply 500w to the system. I'd say just get a 500w from a quality maker and you are set for a while.

And definately get a ATI 4850 card, cheap, fast and with sound over HDMI, great for a 2nd monitor with HDMI or a LCD HDTV.

Vette Boss · August 5th, 2008, 05:08 PM

Efficiency isn't how much it gives, but how much it gives relative to power drawn. However, it is true that low-end manufacturers overrate their power. For instance, a cheap 600w PSU may struggle to provide half or three-quarters of its rated output.

Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, Seasonic (who make Corsair), PC Power & Cooling, all make good stable units. I'm a bit partial to Enermax. I've got one and it's a right old war horse. If you'll give us a price figure to work around, we'll help pick a good PSU.

Crazyjeeper · August 5th, 2008, 05:28 PM

I can vouch for SeaSonics reliability. One of my friends had a 420w that he bought in 2003 and up until a week ago was using it to run 7 hard drives, an E6300 and an 8800GTS 320m.

cvrefugee · August 5th, 2008, 07:45 PM

I thought Vista Ultimate came with two discs, one 32-bit and the other 64-bit. Maybe that's on the retail version. Either way the key works with both versions.

Paco · August 5th, 2008, 08:36 PM

Other than a few server OS's, 32-bit operating systems have no way of using more than 2gigs. It is an architectural limit that prevents it from reading memory addresses above a certain range. There are a few tricks you can do to have 3gigs show up in your system properties (PAE, /3G, etc.), but it still won't actually use more than 2gigs.

The retail packaging of Vista Ultimate is supposed to have both 32-bit and 64-bit discs, if you buy any of the other versions and want x64 you can go here and have a disc sent to you for shipping costs (mine was $10 in US).

Also, here's my $.02 as far as a good PSU is concerned: images/smilies/love.gif

Antec

August 4th, 2008, 01:36 PM	#1
gti138 Joined: Apr 26th, 2005 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: Adelaide, Australia Age: 33 Posts: 393 Car: Peugeot 206 GTi Rep Power: 17	New PC time I've been hanging onto the old desktop box for what seems years - Athlon XP 2600+ based system. Anyhow it's time for me to go out and build a new PC - despite working in IT I haven't kept in touch with what's the goods in the retail PC market for a while.. What I'm looking at the moment is the following: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Asus P5Q Pro Mainboard Gskill 2x2GB kit DDR2 1066 2x Samsung 640GB HD642JJ HDD's (running in RAID 1) Gigabyte 9600GT 512Mb Pioneer SATA DVD/RW all wrapped up in a Thermaltake Matrix case w/- 430 watt PSU I'm not a huge gameplayer (still play GP4 with the 2007 season update on it though) so blistering graphics arent a huge priority - I will be doing some video editing though Any thoughts on the above? If all goes to plan I'm going to head out and get it all in a day or so. My budget is around A$1100 for the box....

August 4th, 2008, 01:55 PM	#2
Lilleput Evo-less Joined: Jun 10th, 2005 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: United Kingdom of Denmark Age: 25 Posts: 2,982 Car: Ford S-Max Titanium - 268hp Rep Power: 71	I'd get a Higher wattage PSU 550+ __________________

August 4th, 2008, 02:16 PM	#3
Buba Wants Rick Astley's Babies Joined: Nov 12th, 2004 Last Online: 06:22 AM Location: Regensburg, Bavaria Age: 27 Posts: 6,028 Car: Golf LFS Status: Rep Power: 40	I'd get a really good PSU @450 Watts... And right now, if if you are an ATI Hater, you gotta go for a 4850... or 4870. __________________ [18:11] MXM: it means buba is better than you now [18:12] sam-l: In what way? [18:12] Slycer: longer penis

August 4th, 2008, 07:45 PM	#5
devil500 Joined: Aug 8th, 2007 Last Online: 02:26 AM Location: NYC Age: 16 Posts: 549 Car: Got teh permit, but MTA still going my way Rep Power: 8	Get a 4800 series card you'll love it __________________ Happy 1984...Ermm oh yeah 2009..

August 5th, 2008, 11:34 AM	#8
MadCow809 Joined: Feb 23rd, 2006 Last Online: 02:20 AM Location: Durban, South Africa / Los Angeles, California Age: 23 Posts: 3,117 Car: 2007 E87 BMW 130i LFS Status: Rep Power: 32	ditch the 9600gt, samsung crap hdd and the puny 430w PSU instead.. get the Hd4850+Seagate hdd and a 500+W PSU __________________ Supporting : A.Priaulx, Kimi Räikkönen, J.Button, R.Kubica, P.Solberg, M.Hirvonen, J.Plato & M.Jackson FinalGear's Car/Bike Register 08/09 Currently looking for a car, got any suggestions? 08 Honda Civic Coupe 06 BMW 130i 05 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS 05 Ford Bantam 1.3i 95 Mercedes Benz E320 Sportline Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 @ 3Ghz (333 X 9 @ 1.44v ~ 35°c with ZEROtherm BTF90/92mm Cooler) \| DFI INFINITY P965-S \| Corsair XMS DDR II 800 6 Gb \| GeCube ATi HD3850 512mb @ 800/1000Mhz \| Seagate 500Gb + 500Gb + 750Gb + 1000Gb\| LITE-ON 20X DVDRW \| XION 600W PSU \| Logitech Z-2300 \| Logitech MX1000 \| Logitech G25 \| Dual 22" LCD Display @ 3360 x 1050 + Toshiba 40" HDTV @ 1920 x 1080 \| CoolerMaster Centurion 590 \| Vista 64 Ultimate \|

August 4th, 2008, 07:18 PM	#4
cvrefugee Joined: Aug 16th, 2004 Last Online: 02:15 AM Location: Corona, CA Age: 28 Posts: 3,450 Car: 2005 Scion xB Rep Power: 60	Replace the Samsung 640GB HDDs with Western Digital 640GB HDDs (they're just as fast as my Raptor). And like Buba said, ditch the 9600GT and get a 4850.

August 4th, 2008, 08:00 PM	#6
fluke667 Joined: Nov 1st, 2004 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Stuttgart - Germany Age: 34 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 31	The Samsung & WD HDDs are both two platter drives so there shouldn't be a great difference. A 550 watt PSU is overkill 400 watt is more than enough (i'd recommend corsair) and i agree on the 4850. I've build myself something similar (Q9450/8800GT) 2 month ago to replace my AMD64 3200+/7800GT system and sometimes i'm still surprised how much faster it is. You'll have fun doing video editing with it.

August 5th, 2008, 11:48 AM	#9
awdrifter Joined: Aug 29th, 2004 Last Online: 04:38 AM Posts: 1,549 Rep Power: 26	Sounds like a good built, the Q9450 is blazing fast. I wish I can afford it too, I just ordered the older gen Q6600. Anyways, since your motherboard supports Crossfire but not SLI, I would suggest the HD4850 too. If that's a bit too expensive, at least get the HD3870 so you can add another one in Crossfire if you decide to play more games. __________________ TP

August 5th, 2008, 12:46 PM	#13
Vambeer Joined: Mar 27th, 2006 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: Greece Posts: 244 Car: FIAT Punto Sporting 95HP Rep Power: 14	Just to be on the safe side you should get a 450-500Watt PSU. any of the manufacturers fluke667 said are very nice. Also i agree...ditch the 9600 and get yourself a 4850. In any other aspect it is very nice!!! __________________ Revving matters...

August 5th, 2008, 02:09 PM	#14
gti138 Joined: Apr 26th, 2005 Last Online: January 6th, 2009 Location: Adelaide, Australia Age: 33 Posts: 393 Car: Peugeot 206 GTi Rep Power: 17	Thanks guys - I'll probably get the new PSU after SWMBO gets over the shock of me actually buying a new pc - (give it a few weeks) I'll look at the ATI card - but I'd almost guarantee there's no chance of me running dual's in the future as I just don't play that many games. At the moment my focus is on a good CPU and RAM so I can do video editing etc. I think the Q9450 fits the bill there Should go pick up all the bits tomorrow or thursday (when I can get down to the store) I'm going with the Matrix case as it's one of the least "wanky" looking cases I could see. I don't want windows, cold cathodes etc I just want something to hold the bits together effectively. One last Q - Vista Ultimate x64 or x32? I'm leaning towards x64 but am thinking I could even dual-boot both - seems like an unnecessary PITA though! Last edited by gti138; August 5th, 2008 at 03:30 PM..

August 5th, 2008, 04:21 PM	#16
TopGearDog Joined: Feb 20th, 2007 Last Online: January 4th, 2009 Location: Iceland Posts: 392 Car: '98 Ford Escort 1.6 Rep Power: 13	About PSU power, remember that PSU's dont have 100% efficiency, so a 500w PSU is never going to supply 500w to the system. I'd say just get a 500w from a quality maker and you are set for a while. And definately get a ATI 4850 card, cheap, fast and with sound over HDMI, great for a 2nd monitor with HDMI or a LCD HDTV. __________________

August 5th, 2008, 05:08 PM	#17
Vette Boss Joined: Nov 14th, 2004 Last Online: 06:20 AM Location: United States, Britain, in time Age: 23 Posts: 3,027 Car: Nissan Altima 3.5-litre SE Rep Power: 36	Efficiency isn't how much it gives, but how much it gives relative to power drawn. However, it is true that low-end manufacturers overrate their power. For instance, a cheap 600w PSU may struggle to provide half or three-quarters of its rated output. Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, Seasonic (who make Corsair), PC Power & Cooling, all make good stable units. I'm a bit partial to Enermax. I've got one and it's a right old war horse. If you'll give us a price figure to work around, we'll help pick a good PSU. __________________ 2003 Nissan Altima 3.5SE SHIFT_the future

August 5th, 2008, 05:28 PM	#18
Crazyjeeper Joined: Nov 29th, 2006 Last Online: 05:16 AM Location: Texas Age: 19 Posts: 2,792 Car: 1985 Jeep CJ7, 1997 Ford F150 Rep Power: 54	I can vouch for SeaSonics reliability. One of my friends had a 420w that he bought in 2003 and up until a week ago was using it to run 7 hard drives, an E6300 and an 8800GTS 320m. __________________ Toy: 1985 Jeep CJ7 Lifted and Locked Daily Driver: 1997 Ford F150 4.6L with a massive 220hp EVGA 780i, E8400 @ 4.0ghz, CM Hyper 212, XFX 8800GT 512mb Extreme SLI, MSI 8400GS, 2x1gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, PC Power & Cooling 610w EPS12v, 1.6tb of HDD, CM Centurion 690.

August 5th, 2008, 07:45 PM	#19
cvrefugee Joined: Aug 16th, 2004 Last Online: 02:15 AM Location: Corona, CA Age: 28 Posts: 3,450 Car: 2005 Scion xB Rep Power: 60	I thought Vista Ultimate came with two discs, one 32-bit and the other 64-bit. Maybe that's on the retail version. Either way the key works with both versions.

August 5th, 2008, 08:36 PM	#20
Paco Joined: Jun 12th, 2007 Last Online: Yesterday Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 291 Car: MKV VW R32 Rep Power: 18	Other than a few server OS's, 32-bit operating systems have no way of using more than 2gigs. It is an architectural limit that prevents it from reading memory addresses above a certain range. There are a few tricks you can do to have 3gigs show up in your system properties (PAE, /3G, etc.), but it still won't actually use more than 2gigs. The retail packaging of Vista Ultimate is supposed to have both 32-bit and 64-bit discs, if you buy any of the other versions and want x64 you can go here and have a disc sent to you for shipping costs (mine was $10 in US). Also, here's my $.02 as far as a good PSU is concerned: Antec

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