System Build - please review / advise

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  • Cyborg_Soldier

    #1

    System Build - please review / advise

    I've put quite a bit of research into this, but I would'nt be surprised if I missed something or if there were some better options. I have some lingering questions/decisions so any advice is appreciated. There are some links in here to some very informative sites.

    I have a fairly strict budget of $650.
    I already have a case, hard drives, and a floppy.
    Not planning on doing any substantial overclocking on this system.
    Not planning on running SLI.

    A priority of this build is upgradability --> Perhaps a quad core and a single high end video card down the line.

    CPU: $92 or $183

    Option 1. E6300 $183 shipped http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115005

    Option 2. 805D $ 92 shipped http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116001

    I really want the e6300. Compared to the 805D it's almost twice the processor at half the wattage.


    The only reason I'm considering the 805D is that I could use the almost $100 in savings to buy more ram.
    At $92 I would'nt have a problem dumping the 805D for another cpu within the next year.
    Does anyone forsee the 805D as having any substantial issues handling any current or upcoming gaming titles in the next 12 months?


    DDR2 MEMORY: $100 - $250

    Of course I want 2 gigs here, but if I go with the e6300 cpu I simply won't have enough in the budget.
    My initial idea was to get the e6300 and one 1GB stick of ram. I've come to understand that running it in single channel will result in a performance decrease of 10-15%, as oppossed to running two 512 sticks in dual channel. Input on that is appreciated.

    Ideally I want two sticks of 1gig in dual channel. If I went with two 512 sticks now and added more ram later all 4 dimms would be used and I'd like to avoid that (upgradability).

    So is it worth going with the 805D for the next 6-12 months in order to have 2 x 1gb sticks now or should I go with the e6300 and run 1x1gig (?) or 2x512mb (?)

    Not too worried about what specific ram I'm going to buy until I decide on cpu/amount of ram dilema.
    Will probably buy based on compatibility with motherboard and/or mobo manufactuers/forum readers recommendations.

    RAM SPEED: I'm thinking minimum 667 for upgrade purposes. 800 probably better if I want to OC mildly.
    Quad Cores FSB is 333 so the 667 ought to go 1:1 ratio as oppossed to 533.
    800 would be needed for mild OC in 1:1 ratio with quad core.


    MOBO: $123 shipped

    This is the board I'm leaning towards as of the moment.
    GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express

    Close to the same board as the DS3 without some of the bells and whistles. DS3 is $33 more.
    Definately want a 965 chipset here for future upgrades. (975 too expensive)

    VID CARD: $120 (144-30rebate+6shipping)

    BFG Tech 7600GT - still looking around, but so far I like this card.

    95% of 70 reviews 4-5 stars. Seems like a good deal.


    PSU: $73 shipped

    Enhance ENP-5150GH 500W ATX12V Rev.2.2


    This won't be news to those of you that are familiar with "striders", but it lead me to research the company. Turns out Enhance is one of the industrys best PSU makers.
    Several of the most respected PSU names are actually using enhance psu's. They just pretty them up and resell. I know this has been going on in many/most industries for years, from smoke detectors to sound cards, but I was happy to find out about this particular situation.

    Silver Stones ST50EF-PLUS is basically an Enhance 5150.
    http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/Element500/ ** great site **
    This is extrapolation, but I feel comfortable with it.
    Wish I could confirm if the 5150 is modular tho.. anyone know???

    In the same respect the Silverstone ST60F is really the Enhance ENS-0560G (both modular).
    So you can save 50 bucks if anyone reading this was interested in the ST60f.
    http://psu.thetruck.net/ see Load Chart ENS-0560G


    Using http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp I'm predicting a future quad core upgrade and high end video card would result with this system at about 420 watts peak = 32 amp load. I believe the 5150 has a 36amp max from 12v.
    I think I guessed around 140 watt peak for a quad core and used a 1900xtx 130 watt power pig for vid card example.


    DVD BURNER: $30 shipped



    ESTIMATED TOTAL: right around $650, a little more with the 2gig/805d option.

    Know of any great deals that might fit into this system?
    Any component recommendations?

    Thanks in advance for any advice you might have and for reading to this point.
    I hope you found some of the links interesting.
  • foxz88

    #2
    Re: System Build - please review / advise

    Look good. If you buy the 805D, overclock the hell out of it... But I would go for the 6300 ( and still overclock it! ). The video card (7600GT) might be a good choice if you plan to upgrade it later for a DirectX 10 compliant card. But if you can spend a little more, you should get a 7900GS or an Ati X1900GT.

    For the Enhance ENP-5150GH power supply it's 36A split on two 12V rails ( 2 X 18A.=36A ). I think the X1900XTX require something like 22A on one 12V rail and something similar for a 7900GTX. I choose a OCZ powerstream 520W for my X1900XT because it's 33A on a single 12V rail...

    And for a quad core CPU I don't think it's going the be mainstream/affordable/usefull for a good 3 years. See this article http://www.overclockers.com/tips01035/ for a couple of reasons.

    Comment

    • Cyborg_Soldier

      #3
      Re: System Build - please review / advise

      Hi Fox,
      Thanks for the reply.

      Concerning the 12v rail... are you sure about 22amp rating on a single rail? I'll look into it.. just want to know if you're 99% sure on that or more like 50%.

      check this out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104014 this 600w beast specificly mentions support for dual 7900gtx's.. it has 4 12v rails with 15 amps each... no single rail over 15amp.

      Comment

      • foxz88

        #4
        Re: System Build - please review / advise

        Give me a minute and I will find ATI recommendation

        Comment

        • Cyborg_Soldier

          #5
          Re: System Build - please review / advise

          Just took a look at an OCZ 700watt Gamestream... suppossed to be kick arse... it has four 12v rails each at 18amp.... I "think" when you see a recommendation for "30amp on the 12v rail" the 12v rail is a composite of all the 12v rails so to speak. not sure

          Comment

          • foxz88

            #6
            Re: System Build - please review / advise

            Power supply recommendation from ATI for a X1900XTX:
            450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended (assumes fully loaded system)



            But it's not specified if it's 30A on a single rail or multiple rail. I was reading a lot of posts in different forum and there is a lot of opinions on the subject...

            At my job, we are running a 7900GTX on a dual rail power supply ( 2 X 18A ) without any problems but I choose a single rail power supply on my home system because I prefer to be safe then sorry...

            Comment

            • Cyborg_Soldier

              #7
              Re: System Build - please review / advise

              gotcha.. if you get a definitive answer please let me know

              Comment

              • abtomat74

                #8
                Re: System Build - please review / advise

                When combining amp ratings of dual or more rails, it isn't a perfect equation. If each rail has 18amps(I checked their website), then the combined rating is more like 28-30.

                I have an Enermax 2x18 which = 29amps combined for example. ALL dual+ power supplies are like this...

                Also, it doesn't matter if the power is split over 20 rails...it alls comes from the same place. So when the card asks for "x" amps on the 12v rail, you DO take the combined total as your answer, whether you have 1, 2, or 30 rails.

                The whole reason dual+ rails exist in the first place is because someone decided one day to place a maximum amp rating on the 12v rail and call it a standard.

                As time progressed and comps got nastier and more power was required, more amps were needed. But because this invisible "wall" of max amps on the 12v rail was going to be exceeded, PSU makes simply decided to add a second rail.

                I believe this "limit" has been recently overturned as it was pointless to begin with...there is no need for dual rails anymore as long as the single rail provides enough amps. The problem is we don't see very many massive amp single rail PSU's...so we buy the duals.

                Comment

                • BOBSONATOR025

                  #9
                  Re: System Build - please review / advise

                  Go For the E6300, its worth it.

                  Comment

                  • scrogathon

                    #10
                    Re: System Build - please review / advise

                    my system in sig compared to my old p4 3.0e@3.4 1 gb ram and an x800xl is like night and day, def. buy the e6300 youll thank anywho who says so.

                    Comment

                    • Cyborg_Soldier

                      #11
                      Re: System Build - please review / advise

                      all of you that have commented on the 6300 - awesome - I've been hearing that alot!!!
                      I hate running only one gig of ram, but I can bear with it for awhile and pick up the 6300. God I love building a new rig - it's been 3 years.
                      Thanks.

                      Comment

                      • Murta

                        #12
                        Re: System Build - please review / advise

                        It looks nice to me cyborg, i would rather have a a better CPU then more RAM. Because you can always update the ram at a later date but if your updating the CPU at a later date you have to think about upgrading your motherboard once again, and then possibly your ram also...you get my drift?

                        The BFG 7600GT is a nice card but if you get the XFX 7600GT XXX PCI-Express version it's got way better clock speeds, 590mhz core clock and 1600mhz memory clock which is very good for the price of the card. look it up and tell me what you think.

                        Comment

                        • Cyborg_Soldier

                          #13
                          Re: System Build - please review / advise

                          Originally posted by Murta
                          It looks nice to me cyborg, i would rather have a a better CPU then more RAM. Because you can always update the ram at a later date but if your updating the CPU at a later date you have to think about upgrading your motherboard once again, and then possibly your ram also...you get my drift?

                          The BFG 7600GT is a nice card but if you get the XFX 7600GT XXX PCI-Express version it's got way better clock speeds, 590mhz core clock and 1600mhz memory clock which is very good for the price of the card. look it up and tell me what you think.
                          Like it (XFX 7600GT). Looks great, but already tough to stay in budget. It's $150 shipped and I'm looking at <$125 and hoping for close to $100 with rebates or something.

                          Comment

                          • Supermario

                            #14
                            Re: System Build - please review / advise

                            the 7600 GT is horrible my friend got it

                            Comment

                            • Cyborg_Soldier

                              #15
                              Re: System Build - please review / advise

                              Originally posted by Supermario05
                              the 7600 GT is horrible my friend got it
                              Thanks for that thoughtfull input Mario.

                              I can't spend more than about $125 right now on vid card. If you have a better card in mind for that money your suggestion would be appreciated.

                              The 7600GT will do alright untill the dx10 cards come out so I can live with it for 6-12 months.

                              Comment

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