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building a computer - quad


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I'm in the process of building a system [pugetsystems] and would like to have some feedback from you:

Asus P5Q-E

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 Quad-Core 2.33GHz 95W

Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800 2048MB (2)

XFX GeForce 9800GTX+ 512MB

Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB

Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB

3.5inch 1.44 Floppy Drive (black)

Pioneer 20X DVD-RW SATA DVR-216DBK (black)

Pioneer 20X DVD-RW SATA DVR-216DBK (black)

Antec NSK4480B (black) Mid Tower

Corsair TX 650W Power Supply

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (775)

Windows XP Pro OEM SP3

AVG Antivirus Installation [NO SUPPORT]

OpenOffice Suite Installation [NO SUPPORT]

CDBurnerXP Pro CD/DVD Burning Software [NO SUPPORT]

CTL 190LX - LCD 19 inch: Black w/ Speakers

Warranty: Lifetime Labor, 1 Year Parts

(when you see two lines of the same item means that two of them will be used)

Thanks a lot!

Myrna Figueiredo

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Look at other vendors. I tried going to that web site and putting in a config a friend is building for $1200 using an i7 920. Puget's price was over $2400.

 

If you feel adventurous enough to try this yourself, or know a geek who will help you for beer, the details are here

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I just been giving out same advice to someone, so will post it here too...

 

Why the 8200 over the q6600...ditch the Westerndigitals get Samsung 1TB's, everything else looks ok.

 

 

OK this quote was for audio workstations on a budget in the UK.

--------------------------

Link to the quote, http://www.visual-image.co.uk/pdf/BeatSkool.pdf

 

I put together a quad machine last year, paid 167 for 4 gb of ram, bought a more expensive mobo, about 150, and a 100 quid case, and a 700wattPSU (which if i did over again I would go for smaller Quieter one, as I dont have crossfire or SLI), so total with monitor was 1000, there was a test on 1066mhz ram, and they reckon for the extra cash vrs speed it was not worth it...so 800 is fine and 4gb will cost 50 quid, a decent 24in mon is no more than 250.

 

3TB of samsungs for 180 (hell jut get 4 of them at 70quid each), these drives are great, better than Raptor's (IMO), I had a mate who swore by Raptors, I used to think He was a ****, because they where only any good when everyone was on SCSI, these days sataII raided is fast.

 

I had a more expensive Mobo the ASUS IP35 PRO (or Abit)...I figured go for the best at the time, but it died after about 11 months....it was recomended, but anyway SCAN replaced it No Quibble. they have 3yr warranty on most stuff 24 Months on some.

 

I want another system, before HyperINF' but want to go with just a cheap 50 quid mobo. Stock cooler is fine, if not OC'd but this q6600 chip is great for overclocking upto 3.2Mhz.... but I don't feel the need to, its doing just fine for my needs.

 

it was available for 100 quid but its crept upto 150inc vat, Now the i7 is out the price should be dropping, but I want to get another before they drop it, I would hate to be forced to go i7 route.

 

The graphics I have is only radeon 2600, its fine, there's a lot of bullshit around about GFX cards...

 

ones to watch 1650, 1950, 2400, sapphire's, now I might get the piss taken out of me for recomending such lowly cards, NVidea would be nice for 3D, so an 8800, has been mentioned, cuda would be nice to have but I reckon it will still be a little while before it settles down???, but I was just reading an article about graphics cards the other day...I will have to dig it out for you.....

 

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/mistakes-when-buying-video-card/

 

 

Anyway its all personal choice at the end of the day, hope it helps.

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I was just running Max on a Core Duo laptop today with a Radeon Mobility 1600 and it was fine. Renders 1/3 as fast as my desktop, but the editor runs fine.

 

But the 8800GT/9800GT (you can't tell the difference apart from the label) is better for more complex scenes, and it's only about $100. I've seen mice cost more. Beyond that, unless there's some specific need the price curves up a lot more steeply than the performance and there's not much point in spending more.

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...If you feel adventurous enough to try this yourself...

 

would you recommend any books for that 'adventure'?

I found "Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) by Mark L. Chambers"

and "Build the Ultimate Custom PC by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes" but I'm not sure about the currency or depth of their contents... any thoughts on that subject?

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thanks again to all!

I reached a quasi-final config.:

TigerDirect.com

 

XFX GeForce 9800 GT PVT98GYDLH Video Card

$99.99

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply

69.99

Corsair XMS3 Tri Channel 6GB PC10666 DDR3 Memory - 1333MHz

169.99

Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz

299.99

Logitech Media Keyboard

18.99

Hitachi 7K1000.B Hard Drive - 1TB

99.99

Prolynkz PLM-618 Laser Mouse - 6-Button

11.99

Pioneer DVR-216DBK High Speed Dual Format OEM Drive with SATA

34.99

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit DSP OEM DVD with SP1

189.99

Asus P6T Motherboard - LGA 1366

259.99

Diablotek CPA-801 ATX Mid-Tower Case

19.99

Acer H213H bmid Black 21.5" 5ms 16:9 Widescreen LCD Monitor

199.99

 

1475.88

 

 

but now I have a question. in reading a bit about the Hyper Threading capability I found some controversy i.e.:

..."Queen CPU test

 

This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic "Queens problem" on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example -- with HyperThreading disabled -- the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. However, with HyperThreading enabled the picture is controversial, because due to architectural bottlenecks the Northwood core runs out of internal resources and slows down. Similarly, at the same clock speed AMD K8 class processors will be faster than AMD K7 ones due to the improved branch prediction capabilities of the K8 architecture. "... from ASUS P6T DeLuxe review - X58 motherboard

By: Hilbert Hagedoorn | Edited by Ian R. Barling | Published: November 6, 2008

and other sites mentioning that the HT should be disabled for better something or other.

 

my question is:

(Given that my focus is not gaming) is this configuration efficient for the use of Adobe CS4, Revit and a bit of 3ds Max - no big animation movies needed.

 

Thanks

Myrna Figueiredo

Edited by myrnaf
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this Hyperthreading information you have is 5 or 6 years old, it is related to old cpu architecture, mainly pentium 4, the new i7 cpus have much improved Hyperthreading, and they are the way of the future. they are getting 5 stars out of 5 in all reviews, and the 2.66 GHZ model you selected is the best price wise. So I say it again: this info is old and obsolete, the cpu you selected will help you do amazing things. Get it you won't regret it. I want one myself!

 

just an update: the i7 core is Nehalem, just to prove it is not included in the old test you mentioned above.

Edited by ihabkal
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Here is a link to an article regarding building your own computer. It's 1.5 years old, but it's free and you may find it helpful.

 

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1444&page=1

 

I built one myself with no previous experience or background. I was pretty nervous about getting $2,000 worth of parts and not having it work out but it wasn't that hard. It still works too . I got allot of help specing it out from the fine people on this forum.

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It's not too hard building your own system tbh. Most things should come with manuals and if you take it slow and lay all your parts out and find out where they fit then it shouldn't be too hard. I have built several systems and the components are quite resilient.

 

I can really recommend this computer forum if you get stuck or want advise:

 

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/index.php

 

If you need some help you can PM me on here as well. Just don't forget your motherboard stand offs, you forget them and you may well have big problems.

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Interesting choices, did you build this yet, the one in my quote was built for 410 plus Vat, it would be interesting to see if yours is 300% faster than my machine, as it is 300% more expensive. I will be building 9 more over the coming week, to start off a new audio/media facility. http://www.beatskool.co.uk

 

XFX GeForce 9800 GT PVT98GYDLH Video Card

$99.99

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W Power Supply

 

69.99

Corsair XMS3 Tri Channel 6GB PC10666 DDR3 Memory - 1333MHz

169.99

Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz

299.99

Logitech Media Keyboard

18.99

Hitachi 7K1000.B Hard Drive - 1TB

99.99

Prolynkz PLM-618 Laser Mouse - 6-Button

11.99

Pioneer DVR-216DBK High Speed Dual Format OEM Drive with SATA

34.99

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit DSP OEM DVD with SP1

189.99

Asus P6T Motherboard - LGA 1366

259.99

Diablotek CPA-801 ATX Mid-Tower Case

19.99

Acer H213H bmid Black 21.5" 5ms 16:9 Widescreen LCD Monitor

199.99

 

 

1475.88

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