A Noob's first sytem... advice?

[Dan Brown]

Hello All-

I'm running a 5 year old dell laptop, and I'm thinking about building myself a new system. I have been reading information here and have put together this list. Please let me know if you think I should change anything. I will probably purchase this over a 3-4 month period and piece it together.


MB: EVGA nForce 680i SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=1533) $225

Case: Ultra Black Aluminus ATX Full-Tower Case (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... u=ULT31824) $50
CPU:  Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... No=2280512) $240
HD: Seagate / Barracuda 7200.10 / 500GB / 7200 / 16MB  (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... TSD-500AS2)
$120
RAM:  G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231098)  $90
GPU: Open for suggestions, will probably be the last part purchased in order to get the best product at the time
DVD Burner: Open for suggestions, would do DVD R and a separate CD RW if recommended
Fans: 2 x 120mm, haven't nailed that down yet.
PSU: Undecided
OS: Windows XP Pro (already own a brand new copy for very cheap, may upgrade to VISTA but not initially)

My budget is not set in stone, but I'd like to stick to $1000 USD for the computer. I will be buying a new monitor someday (seperate from this $1k budget). I have FS9 and would like to run that very well maxed out, maybe upgrade to FSX. I need this for my daily computer where I run Outlook, iTunes, AIM, Quicken, etc. I do not watch movies that much, and I game about 2 times a week.

Also, do MB's come with their own back panel? The case I'm looking at shows a panel that does not seem to match the back of a lot of the MB's i'm looking at.

I would not be opposed to paying a little more money up front for an upgradeable system (for instance, I would like a quad core capable mobo so I could upgrade in the future). Let me know what you guys think, thanks for your help.

-Dan

EDIT: Also thinking maybe this for the MB:  MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813130081)  $145

Seems like it's a better deal than the one I posted..... looking for input

[Triple_7]

First of all...excellent choice on the case.  Building my new system at the moment with that very same one, lots of room and easy to work in.

Motherboard...Seems nice but also seems like its a little bit expensive.  THIS  is the motherboard I bought.  Same CPU socket, many features, lots of expansion options...best of all its only $130.  Doesn't support SLI though...but who really wants to spend money on 2 graphics cards.

RAM...$130 after a mail in rebate...bit more pricey and not compatible with the motherboard your looking at.  But THIS is what I just ordered.  PC2 8500 DDR2 Dual Channel.

CPU...WAIT...at least till the 22nd.  Intel will be releasing a new line.  I'm waiting on the Core Duo E6850  3.0 GHz.  Will be only about $260 when released.  Other prices will drop as well on that date.  The E6850 also takes advantage of the 1333 Mghz FSB.  Even if you go for the E6600 wait till the 22nd since its price will be dropping dramatically.

Windows version...XP will be nice for now...but if your looking into future expansions Vista might be the way to go.  Direct X 10 is not supported by XP.  

Graphics...if sticking to XP you will want a DX9 card.  If you decide to go ahead with a new Vista system then HERES the new DX 10 card I just ordered.

Fans...THESE are the ones I used.  The front one is a little harder to install in this particular case since there is no screws needed, just 4 pegs to slide it onto.  Don't know if an actual Ultra brand fan would fit in easier or not.  Also the front fan in this case will not slide in all the way.  About half is left sticking out...this is normal.

Hard Drive...only going for a 160 GB in this system...$60...don't really need much extra space but nice to know its there.  Could probably even survive on a 60 GB if I had to.

Estimated price of my build with a new copy of Vista Home Basic will be around $900.  But should make FS2004 cry and possibly make FSX sweat a little but not bow down and kiss your feet.

But...my new system is still in the works and will not fire up for the first time till late this month or early next month.  So...cant say how it does till after I actually get it running

[jimcooper1]

My budget is not set in stone, but I'd like to stick to $1000 for the computer. I will be buying a new monitor someday. I have FS9 and would like to run that very well maxed out, maybe upgrade to FSX. I need this for my daily computer where I run Outlook, iTunes, AIM, Quicken, etc. I do not watch movies that much, and I game about 2 times a week.

Also, do MB's come with their own back panel? The case I'm looking at shows a panel that does not seem to match the back of a lot of the MB's i'm looking at.

I would not be opposed to paying a little more money up front for an upgradeable system (for instance, I would like a quad core capable mobo so I could upgrade in the future). Let me know what you guys think, thanks for your help.

-Dan

These components are way over the top for FS9 but right on target for FSX.
You'll have a hard job coming in at under $1000.

[ctjoyce]

My Suggestion for a $1K system.

Gigabyte GA965P-DS3
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420
Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400C4 (2x1GB)
ATi Radeon X1950XT or nVidia eVGA 8800GTS 320MB
Western Digital 320GB SATA3 Caviar
Samgsung DVD burner
Thermaltake toughpower 700W PSU
Thermaltake Soprano DX Case
Zalman CNPS-9500Cu heatsink + Artic Silver 5 Thermalpaste
Windows Vista Home Premium OEM

That would run FS9 maxed with just about any payware correctly tweaked at about 45FPS over any major city. FSX would probibly run decently too.

Cheers
Cameron

[HugoCampos]

Your system seems ok. I would change some things though. For the motherboard I would get the ASUS P5N32-E SLI. It has the same characteristics as the STRIKER EXTREME, which is the best Motherboard out there (n680i, 2 PCI-E 16x, etc) only it comes with less software and overclocking utilities and is much cheaper...  I'm sure you can get it for like $200 or less. For the processor I would wait until July 22nd when Intel will release new processors. That will make prices drop. After July 22nd the Core2 Quad Q6600 will cost about $250 which is really really good for a quad core. If you don't want a quad-core, I'm sure core2 duo prices will drop soon, too.
For the grafics card, go for a Nvidia 8800GTS with 640Mb (makes a big difference at higher resolutions and more demanding games... like in FSX) or the HD2900XT. A lot of people say the HD2900 sucks but it's actually a really good card and it will become even better as new drivers are released by the DAaMit (AMD/ATI) team.
Finally, the PSU should be capable of handling at least 700w.
Appart from what I said, I think the components you chose are pretty good. Oh, try checking some other DDRII modules too... the ones you chose have a good price and seem to be good but just in case check some other brands too like Kingston.

I am also on the process of choosing hardware for my new computer and I know it's really hard and confusing to choose the right components for our budget so I hope I was of some help to you

[ctjoyce]

The ASUS P5N32-E SLi is a good board, and I personally thought about getting one, however if you don't think you will go SLi (which on a $1K build you really can't) a P965 or 975X chipset are really a better choice, as they offer better overclocking, and are much more RAM friendly.

As for the PSU needing to be a 700+W again this depends. For what I recommended if you don't overclock at all a 620 with a good solid rail would do the job. When you OC, add cathodes, add a crap load of drives, or a second GPU thats when you need all that power.

Cheers
Cameron

[GunnerMan]

You wont even need 620. A 500-550 with good rails(over 20A) would be more than adequate for that system with overclocking. My system although not as new as all yours can still compete with power useage. I run 3 HDD, DVD burner, 2 led 120mm, 2 high performance 120mms, fan controller, 7800gtx(491/1400), Opteron 180 overclocked to 2.8 Ghz at 1.325 volts.