Intel based build suggestions needed!

[camaroguy1998]

A friend of mine has asked for help choosing and building his first computer rather than buy another Dell(About Time I Say!)
Since I built my first AMD based system I haven't looked back and now I need help choosing parts for an Intel system.

My friend has only a few must haves, they are INTEL, must be close to "Top Of The Line" one or two steps down is where he'd like to be with the possibility of future upgrading, and future multiple GPU capability. I have not asked whether he'd like to go with Nvidia or ATI yet but I will this weekend and I'm betting on Nvidia.

I am an ASUS fan but these boards seem to be good candidates for current and future compatibility.
EVGA 780i
I also like the Foxconn X38A with the DDR2 and DDR3 memory capability. LegitReviews Foxconn X38A
Any other suggestions are welcome and encouraged!

Ok, he needs everything, case to cables! The only thing separate will be monitor(s) we'll figure that out a little later!
Cost is a concern but not the biggest!
With that in mind lets hear it!

Edit by the staff, once again we are sorry your thread went down that road

[maj0r_pawnage]

wait like two weeks and get the new lineup of nvidia GPUs and Intel CPUs? why would you want to buy now, just before a new lineup is released lol

[dicecca112]

Q6600

Raptors

Corsair HX620

[camaroguy1998]

The PSU you suggested Dicecca is my 1st choice also!
As far as drives go I think one Raptor for the OS and a second large drive for storage. I dont really see a need for RAID, with him it would be a waste, he'd never make use of it.

maj0r_pawnage....I am not in any hurry, I figure at least a couple weeks before this all comes together.
With that in mind I would think the current boards and CPUs would drop in price as the new ones hit the market!?!

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming!

[Zertz]

Raptors

SSD IMO

[DMB2000uk]

Skipping over the turmoil Nein always seems to create...

camaroguy1998:

I'd have personally suggested the X38 over the 780i as it is much cooler running, and if he is planning on going quad core then the X38 will support it (and overclocking it) better. But that does lose the ability to go SLI at a later date.

What resolution monitor does your friend plan on gaming at?

I still think that SLI isn't really needed besides at the high end resolutions (1680x1050+), and as you are probably aware the 780i / X38 board choice will be settled by if he wants to go nvidia/ati with dual gpu's. And most of the people that I know that have said they were going to go SLI at a later date have just ended up buying the product refresh (i.e. buying a 8800 instead of sli'd 7900's). So unless his resolution is high, put it to him that he wont really need SLI.

OS choice is an interesting one, does he have an XP licence already? As he's bound to want Vista for DX10, but I wouldn't be able to put up with all it's quirks for day to day use, so if he has a copy of xp, then set up a dual boot.

Case: This comes down to personal preference, so pick out a few that are recommended, or even just go through the whole lineup of a couple of decent manufacturers to see what he likes best.

RAM: For a pure cost effectiveness it's going to have to be DDR2, 4GB of 800Mhz will work just fine. But you can go faster if he wants to, you won't really notice a whole lot of real world difference between the speed boosts, but the higher speed memory will give you more play when it comes to overclocking (unless you go unlinked RAM overclocking in your mobo, in which case it doesn't really matter what speed you get).

I think pretty much everything has been covered so far, so happy hunting

Dan

[Alathald]

I agree with Dan here, put the most you can afford into one slot rather than dividing it up among two so you can easily upgrade in the future. As far as RAM, I'm quite happy with my 4Gb of 800MHz Supertalent (2 of which I got here) which is sufficient and can be gotten quite cheaply now (put the money somewhere else) and easily upgraded in the future.

[kenc51]

@ camaroguy1998, Go for an X38 motherboard as previously suggested. P35 Chipset if it's out of your budget

I would also got for some DDR2 PC8000 or faster ram. Cas 4 if you can afford it, but it doesn't really matter in the long run.
The P35 & X38 have removed support for the 533MHz divider, so faster RAM will help when overclocking.

If you can wait about 8wks the new Quads will be available. You could pick up a cheap C2D to keep you going till then.
Otherwise I'd go for a Q6600.

Get a good air cooler, so if not overclocking you can have low noise.

I wouldn't bother with the Raptor dives. They are very noisey, the price per Gigabyte is terrible and you can get 500GB+ HDD's which are just as fast.
If you have the cash a SSD drive is the only solution where the performance gains (almost) justify the extra cost. The only problem is that current SSD's are not too fast in sustained throughput.
You have to get the newest SSD's to get the ~100MB/Sec speeds and these are VERY expensive. The price and availability of the newer generation SSD's will get better soon though.

@ Nein & everyone else!

Nein, As I said before you are more than welcome here. I have no problem with you, but can you try to select "Preview" before you post and proof read what you type?

It's not what you say but how you say it.

For those of you who are having a go at Nein, you're just as bad and perpetuating this even further. The guy has his opinion so respect it, even if you don't agree with it. He is trying to explain his reasons and that's perfectly fine.

And no, this thread will not be locked! If any thread crapping goes on, I'll just delete your posts.

[camaroguy1998]

Ok, I like my OCZ PSU it performs flawlessly! The biggest downside is it's not modular. This presents a wire mess inside my case thats hard to hide.

Nein... Thank You for pointing out the Corsairs weakness, I didnt know that! I will keep that in mind when I recommend a PSU to my friend!

As I stated in my original post he wants the option for multiple GPU in the future, he will probably use it. My bet is he will buy an 8800 series card now and within the next year buy a mate for it! I didnt read the Foxconn review as close as I thought I did and didnt realize it does not support multi GPUs. < My Mistake!

At first I suggested he go with a high end C2D and upgrade to a quad later but I'm betting he's going to want a quad right away. He's kind of funny that way, if theres something thats better he wants it! He's the kind of person who will keep a computer and upgrade it a few times over a 5-6yr period or longer. So, being able to upgrade is worth the extra cost, at least in his mind!

[camaroguy1998]

unlocked because I want to know what faults you are talking about with the Corsair PSU series...

With understanding and comprehension of the HX620 design weakness you can repeat the failure over and over every time.

Unfortunately many 20+ years PSU experts can't even comprehend 6th grade PSU explanations.

Nein,

If you don't mind please give me a 3rd grader explanation as to what the design weakness is and how to repeat the failure over and over...

My apologies to Camaro for a hijacked thread, but I'd like to see Nein back up and show his claims.

No Apology needed!
The PSU is an important part of any build but my need was more aimed at the Intel factor. What Mobo's and CPU's, as I stated in my original post I havent followed Intel's offerings as closely as I have AMD's and I need a little bit of guidance. I really want to make this first build for my friend a pleasant and enjoyable experience so he will never look back to a mass produced computer again!

Dan, you raised a good question about what OS! My pick is XP Pro as you said Vista is not quite ready yet.
So here's my question or situation as it may be.
He does have a current system with XP but it is a DELL so I am curious if that will work on a custom build?
I've had a little experience with Dell's and I would think that it would not be transferable to a non Dell system.
Does anyone know for sure?

[DMB2000uk]

Glad I can reply, I was a little worried that you'd be stuck with any questions with the lockdown.

Unfortunately the licence with the Dell PC would be an OEM one, which means the licence stays with the hardware and shouldn't really be transferred. Not only that, but the dell version of Xp tends to have applications bundled with it that you don't really want (It's how they keep costs down).

However generic OEM versions of Xp, which you are entitled to buy when you get a hard drive or motherboard or some other PC hardware, are the cheapest way to buy the OS. So look into those when you are pricing things up.

I didnt read the Foxconn review as close as I thought I did and didnt realize it does not support multi GPUs. < My Mistake!

To reply to your previous comment, the X38 board does do multi GPU, but it is Xfire only. If your friend is set on SLI then it will have to be the 780i, but like I said, they tend to limit the overclock ability of quad cores and run hotter.


I would suggest getting an E8500 ($266) if dual core is the way, as they are out within the next week, 20th here in the UK, or if you can delay the build by a month or so, and quad core is really wanted a Q9450 ($316) would be the best choice.

I still think that it the extra heat from the current gen core 2 quads (conroe, Q6X00 range) isn't worth the performance advantage of having the extra cores (Unless video editing or running a lot of other heavily multi threaded apps). The core update to the penryn (Q9X00 range) should address the heat issue some, so I would be happy getting/reccomending one of those quads.

Dan

[bubba]

What is your buddy wanting to spend on the case? An Antec P182 it is very similar to the P190 in layout, would have plenty of room for the stuff you have talked about so far, and its easy on the eyes.

[Zertz]

E8500
X38/780i board
HD3870X2/SLI 8800GTS
4x 1GB Crucial Ballistix

[martini161]

E8500
X38/780i board
HD3870X2/SLI 8800GTS
4x 1GB Crucial Ballistix

I pretty much agree, but go with 2x 2gb instead. much more stable, future upgrade capability, and just as much. i recomend this kit http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6820145176 they are the ones in my sig so you can see they oc very well and can do much tighter timings than they are rated for.

[kenc51]

I've heard of horror stories with Crucial Ballistix RAM.

FZ1 here and others (on other forums) have had sticks die on them.
Others got spectactular overclocks only to find they then needed high voltages to keep them stable at 800MHz.

[camaroguy1998]

Bubba....The P182 is going to be one of the cases I recommend, if it wasnt for the wife I'd like to have one myself!(P182SE)

kenc51....I plan on recommending both Corsair and OCZ! I really want my friend to take an active roll in parts choice.
I figure it's just as beneficial for him to learn about whats he's assembling as much as how to assemble it!
Anyone can put the parts together, its the choosing of those parts that takes some thought!

martini161.....Corsair is a definite recommendation but, I wish I had known about that deal earlier, the $40 rebate runs out today

zertz.....I'm pretty sure he will go with an Nvidia video card(s) and probably a 780i Mobo, this raises a future problem! The 3-way SLI offered by the 780i boards is only supported with the 8800GTX or Ultra series cards. If he decides that only 2 cards will ever be used the 8800GTS will also be on the recommended list!

[Indignity]

I'd say get a dollar amount from your friend before beginning. The suggestions that are here are real solid in my opinion.

I've gone down this road with many people & in the end, didn't want to spend "that much" on a PC build. All too often, they usually go to get a "canned" system in the end anyways.. that's why i've never chosen to start my own biz. They don't know any better no matter how much education you try to give them.

I'd love to have one of them new seXah Foxconn boards that were at the CES http://www.legitreviews.com/article/637/1/


Built-in TEC.... OMG

If I were to do a build for myself right now, i'd probably do:

Q6600
EVGA 780i board
4x1GB PC2-8500 Crucial Ballistix (sorry, I luv mine)
Corsair HX620
2x EVGA 8800GT-OC
4x 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 in RAID-0
Although I'm into H2O cooling, i've read tons of people happy having a TRUE (ThermalRight Ultra-120 Extreme)
Casewise, I look for function over bling/quality :D

Oh yeah, I'd try & find a "cheap" way to stay on XP until SP1 comes out for Vista and if that resolves many of the issues of the OS.

Hope your bud will enjoy the build!

[Zertz]

zertz.....I'm pretty sure he will go with an Nvidia video card(s) and probably a 780i Mobo, this raises a future problem! The 3-way SLI offered by the 780i boards is only supported with the 8800GTX or Ultra series cards. If he decides that only 2 cards will ever be used the 8800GTS will also be on the recommended list!

3-way SLI just isn't worth it unless you run some insane resolution (30inch Dell/Apple display @ 2560 x 1600)

Also, the new GTS performs up to par with the GTX, so there's really no point in spend an extra 100$ on a GTX.

[martini161]

wait for the 790i to come out. the 780i im sure will be plauged with heat issues. and if im sure that newegg will actually lower the price after today. that kit has been dropping in price for about 3 months now.

[camaroguy1998]

When are the 790i boards supposed to hit the market!
I've been looking at the ASUS P5N-T Deluxe, which is the 780i chip set, I've always been an ASUS fan.