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#1
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New System Build - Want Opinions
Ok I am getting ready to build a new PC. First question is should I
build now or wait a bit more? I have to have the new PC built before Labor Day. Take a look at the system and options below and please give me some feedback. Money is not a big deal but I don't wnat to waste it either. So if you see anything that looks stupid let me know. Primary things that will be done with the PC: Games, Databases, Image Editing (flatbed and film scanners attached), web page creation, plus all the normal web surfing and word processing type stuff. I am hoping for no heavy number crunching at home, though I may need to do some FEA or MATLAB work at some point. I generally don't overclock and just buy new stuff when the old gets too slow. Maybe retail instead of OEM CPUs? Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra * KB/Mouse: Logitech MX Duo * Soundcard: SB Audigy 2 ZS * SCSI Card: Adaptec AHA-2940AU * - For Film Scanner Video Card: 6800GT (probably eVGA since they are available) Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB Case: Antec P-160 w/window Power Supply: Antec 480W True Blue CD/DVD: NEC 2510A Floppy: TEAC Case Fan: Antec 120mm Blue LED CPU Cooler: Thermalright SLK948U CPU Fan: Vantec Stealth 92mm Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5 Memory: Corsair XMS PC3200 XLPT Twin Pack - 1 GB total CPU/MB 939 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ OEM MB: Asus A8V Deluxe CPU/MB 754 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ OEM MB: Asus K8V SE Deluxe * - Existing / Stuff already bought for this PC but currently being used on the old one Existing stuff that will be hooked up: HP LaserJet 5L, Canon S9000, CanoScan FS4000US, Epson Perfection 2450 Photo, Saitek 45, External Zip Drive, APC BackUPS XS 1500 Suggestions on where to buy stuff would be appreciated as well. I have been primarily looking at NewEgg for pricing. |
#2
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Andrew Littlefield wrote:
I generally don't overclock and just buy new stuff when the old gets too slow. Maybe retail instead of OEM CPUs? The stock retail HSF should be fine unless your case has a cooling problem. The OP of a previous thread (try groups.google.com) indicated he had trouble with overheating in his P160. |
#3
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Everything looks good exect a couple of things:
I generally don't overclock and just buy new stuff when the old gets too slow. Maybe retail instead of OEM CPUs? Get a retail, even if you dont plan on using the retail HSF you get a better warantee. One of my friends just had a 2800+ go south even with a complete retail setup. Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB High failiure rate. Get another disk, i recommend a Maxtor, somewhere in the region of 100-200Gb for backups and storage. I believe they have a 1 in 5 chance of failiure within the first year. hamman |
#4
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Well from the looks of it, you're building yourself one kick-ass system. If
you have to have it built by Labour Day I'd say there isn't any harm in buying now as prices aren't likely to drop much in only a month and a half. The only suggestions I could make are perhaps go with the 3500+ instead of the 3800+, it'll save you money and you'll still get really good performance. Or, if you want to save even more money, just go with the Socket 754. You system would still be able to handle anything. Also if you're planning on going top shelf with the graphics card I'd recommend going with an ATI X800 Pro instead of nVidia as it performs just as well (and better) and it's a lot less power hungry. That's really all I can offer you, I don't know if I could help you out with pricing as I live in Canada, you could try www.ncix.com and see if that does anything for you, but they're Vancouver-based, so I don't know. Good luck with that. "Andrew Littlefield" wrote in message ... Ok I am getting ready to build a new PC. First question is should I build now or wait a bit more? I have to have the new PC built before Labor Day. Take a look at the system and options below and please give me some feedback. Money is not a big deal but I don't wnat to waste it either. So if you see anything that looks stupid let me know. Primary things that will be done with the PC: Games, Databases, Image Editing (flatbed and film scanners attached), web page creation, plus all the normal web surfing and word processing type stuff. I am hoping for no heavy number crunching at home, though I may need to do some FEA or MATLAB work at some point. I generally don't overclock and just buy new stuff when the old gets too slow. Maybe retail instead of OEM CPUs? Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra * KB/Mouse: Logitech MX Duo * Soundcard: SB Audigy 2 ZS * SCSI Card: Adaptec AHA-2940AU * - For Film Scanner Video Card: 6800GT (probably eVGA since they are available) Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB Case: Antec P-160 w/window Power Supply: Antec 480W True Blue CD/DVD: NEC 2510A Floppy: TEAC Case Fan: Antec 120mm Blue LED CPU Cooler: Thermalright SLK948U CPU Fan: Vantec Stealth 92mm Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5 Memory: Corsair XMS PC3200 XLPT Twin Pack - 1 GB total CPU/MB 939 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ OEM MB: Asus A8V Deluxe CPU/MB 754 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ OEM MB: Asus K8V SE Deluxe * - Existing / Stuff already bought for this PC but currently being used on the old one Existing stuff that will be hooked up: HP LaserJet 5L, Canon S9000, CanoScan FS4000US, Epson Perfection 2450 Photo, Saitek 45, External Zip Drive, APC BackUPS XS 1500 Suggestions on where to buy stuff would be appreciated as well. I have been primarily looking at NewEgg for pricing. |
#5
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"Hamman" wrote ...
Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB High failiure rate. Get another disk, i recommend a Maxtor, somewhere in the region of 100-200Gb for backups and storage. I believe they have a 1 in 5 chance of failiure within the first year. I have yet to hear of a Raptor 74 failure, and have heard plenty of Maxtor failure stories. Where did you get your info? |
#6
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The Newegg price for the retail 3800+ is over $700. Consider that you can
get an Opteron 248 for less than that (or a 244 or 246 for MUCH less), get a dual-CPU MoBo, and add a second CPU when you feel the need later (good for Photoshop!). The ASUS K8V you picked goes for $152, and an equivalent dual 940 MoBo would go for$260 (Tyan Tiger K8W 8151) to $380 (Arima HDAMB) to $435 (Tyan Thunder K8W S2885ANRF), depending on your needs, from www.monarchcomputer.com. BTW, I would go with the retail CPU unless you plan on something fancy like water cooling. John Weiss Nuc Eng RPI 74 "Andrew Littlefield" wrote... Ok I am getting ready to build a new PC. First question is should I build now or wait a bit more? I have to have the new PC built before Labor Day. Primary things that will be done with the PC: Games, Databases, Image Editing (flatbed and film scanners attached), web page creation, plus all the normal web surfing and word processing type stuff. I am hoping for no heavy number crunching at home, though I may need to do some FEA or MATLAB work at some point. I generally don't overclock and just buy new stuff when the old gets too slow. Maybe retail instead of OEM CPUs? Video Card: 6800GT (probably eVGA since they are available) Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB Case: Antec P-160 w/window Power Supply: Antec 480W True Blue CD/DVD: NEC 2510A Floppy: TEAC Case Fan: Antec 120mm Blue LED CPU Cooler: Thermalright SLK948U CPU Fan: Vantec Stealth 92mm Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5 Memory: Corsair XMS PC3200 XLPT Twin Pack - 1 GB total CPU/MB 939 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ OEM MB: Asus A8V Deluxe CPU/MB 754 Option CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ OEM MB: Asus K8V SE Deluxe |
#7
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"John R Weiss" wrote in message news:JTxKc.111862$%_6.36899@attbi_s01... "Hamman" wrote ... Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB High failiure rate. Get another disk, i recommend a Maxtor, somewhere in the region of 100-200Gb for backups and storage. I believe they have a 1 in 5 chance of failiure within the first year. I have yet to hear of a Raptor 74 failure, and have heard plenty of Maxtor failure stories. Where did you get your info? Spending far too many hours on usenet. hamman |
#8
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On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 16:50:49 GMT, "John R Weiss"
wrote: "Hamman" wrote ... Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB High failiure rate. Get another disk, i recommend a Maxtor, somewhere in the region of 100-200Gb for backups and storage. I believe they have a 1 in 5 chance of failiure within the first year. I have yet to hear of a Raptor 74 failure, and have heard plenty of Maxtor failure stories. Where did you get your info? From what I've seen the Raptors fail about 2-3X as often. Check some forums or places like Newegg's user ratings. |
#9
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Bear in mind that at the moment the Socket 939 Athlon 64s are
disproportionately expensive when considering price to performance ratio, because they represent the cutting edge. A Socket 754 Athlon 64 system will offer extremely good performance anyway, so that is the one I would go for. The only reason not to choose Socket 754 is that processor upgrades may not be available, because AMD will be transferring its Athlon 64 upgrade path to the Socket 939. Whether it is worth paying so much today for Socket 939 is still questionable though. Rgds Accelerator ============== Posted through www.HowToFixComputers.com/bb - free access to hardware troubleshooting newsgroups. |
#10
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kony wrote in
: On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 16:50:49 GMT, "John R Weiss" wrote: "Hamman" wrote ... Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74 GB High failiure rate. Get another disk, i recommend a Maxtor, somewhere in the region of 100-200Gb for backups and storage. I believe they have a 1 in 5 chance of failiure within the first year. I have yet to hear of a Raptor 74 failure, and have heard plenty of Maxtor failure stories. Where did you get your info? From what I've seen the Raptors fail about 2-3X as often. Check some forums or places like Newegg's user ratings. Here are the Newegg customer reviews for this drive: http://secure.newegg.com/app/Custrat...tem=22-144-160 It looks like about 5 reviewers out of 119 or so had drive failures. |
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