Rate my new budget build system...

[glfredrick]

Not exactly sure where to put this, but I've had some major computer woes this past couple of months. Three complete melt-downs - two were hardware related, the third from a faulty download.

Now, it's time for a new machine, but money is tight...

I'm sticking together a budget build from Newegg, and I'll add my own drives, etc., to the system. What I'm looking for is an expandable system that is reliable, cost conscious, and able to run at a reasonable pace (non-stop for weeks on end).

You can click in and rate my system choices here:
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5195106

In particular, I need to run all three of my PATA hard drives, plus I'd like to move up to a SATA drive in the near future when I also move up to Vista.
I'll re-use my existing video card, opticals, floppy, and hard drives. The rest is new.

Check to see if everything I picked out is compatible if you would. That would be a great help. I used to build a couple of systems a year, but I've lost track of late -- lots of changes...

 

[11lariat]

looks like a good budget build! the core 2 duos are impressive chips, i have to say..

 

[Howard]

I would probably look for a better motherboard as the E6300 chip overclocks very well. eds of over 3 ghz are very achievable with the right board. Like Gigabyte's GA-965P-DS3 which is ideal for the job.

 

[glfredrick]

I would probably look for a better motherboard as the E6300 chip overclocks very well. eds of over 3 ghz are very achievable with the right board. Like Gigabyte's GA-965P-DS3 which is ideal for the job.

With so many choices out there, I missed this MB. Looks really good, but I'd need an IDE card to add further devices. That was the main reason for the ASUS MB choice - good value with 3 PATA ports + 4 SATA ports.

Checking prices on IDE cards to see if it is effective.

I have 3 DMA 133 HDs that I'm wanting to run, cause they're all full of stuff I need to sort out -- sermons, docs, pics, etc. That and the two optical drives eats up a lot of PATA ports...

 

[tipdrill]

P5LD2 will run core 2 duos?

i have a P5LD2 Deluxe and it works great... but a core 2 would be even better.

 

[old mechanic]

If you are only going to run it at default speeds and no O/Clocking then all you need is DDR-533 Ram which is (PC4200) although higher Ram would be more future proof.
Be carefull, some boards are very picky about using some high speed Ram. Also if the default operating voltage of the ram is above 1.9V some boards will not post. A very good stable mobo for a Core 2 Duo is the MSI 945P Neo 3F (i945P) for about $80.00. Just check to see if it has all that you need on it.
Your choice of a case is a pretty good one but if it were me I would get a much better cooling case seeing that you plan on running it 24/7. A great case and a great value is the Antec Sonata 11 for about $95.00. And it comes with 450 Smart Power PSU that will run your Core 2 Duo just fine as long as you don't plan on O/Clocking.
BTW: If you can wait till April to buy the E6300 the price of it will drop down about $20.00 to $163.00.
Also in April for the "same price-$163.00" you could buy the new E6320 which has 4MB L2 cache. The E6300 has 2MB L2 cache.

 

[glfredrick]

If you are only going to run it at default speeds and no O/Clocking then all you need is DDR-533 Ram which is (PC4200) although higher Ram would be more future proof.
Be carefull, some boards are very picky about using some high speed Ram. Also if the default operating voltage of the ram is above 1.9V some boards will not post. A very good stable mobo for a Core 2 Duo is the MSI 945P Neo 3F (i945P) for about $80.00. Just check to see if it has all that you need on it.
Your choice of a case is a pretty good one but if it were me I would get a much better cooling case seeing that you plan on running it 24/7. A great case and a great value is the Antec Sonata 11 for about $95.00. And it comes with 450 Smart Power PSU that will run your Core 2 Duo just fine as long as you don't plan on O/Clocking.
BTW: If you can wait till April to buy the E6300 the price of it will drop down about $20.00 to $163.00.
Also in April for the "same price-$163.00" you could buy the new E6320 which has 4MB L2 cache. The E6300 has 2MB L2 cache.

Good info! Especially on the price drop. I'll check out that Antec case (and some others).

I picked that Rosewill case for size combined with features. I probably looked at 100 or so first... Lots of bells and whistles, not always so much of what a guy needs. Part of the reason I like that one is the cover, which will cover up my oatmeal colored opticals. I'm not wanting to spend the money to replace them right away just to get black stuff. I see that the Antec case has the same feature, but no readily accessible optical drive, and you have to open the cover to turn on/off, or use the front USB ports (which I use often for my camera, etc.).

MB wise, I'm now fairly settled on the Gigabite selection. It is rated very well all over the place and I can live with the features as long as I get an IDE card to run my extra HDs. I can get one of those for $10 right now, so no real penalty.

will run core 2 duos?

i have a P5LD2 Deluxe and it works great... but a core 2 would be even better.

P5LD2 running a Core 2 Duo depends HIGHLY on when you purchased it! Beware of just slamming a Core 2 Duo chip onto your board. They upped the chip set architecture to handle the C2D CPUs when they came out. There are lots of warnings about that issue on the net. Scope out some of the overclocker sites, just do a search on dogpile.com for the model number of that MB and they'll pop up.

 

[glfredrick]

I did some more poking around for cases, looking through another hundred or so, and I settled on a different model of the Rosewill case. This one is almost identical to the one I had selected, except that it has a 3.5 floppy drive port built in right at the top of the case next to the USB/audio ports.

Perfect... I won't need to purchase an adaptor. Case is on the way...

I'll be adding a component every week or so until I finish this build, so I have some time to comparison shop.

I'm also now looking at a different PS unit -- the XCLICO Stablepower 460W. Not much activity on this PS yet, but reviews on the web say it is all that it claims and more. I'm looking for simple, pure, non-noisy power that matches my case selection and will work with my MB and drives. This one seems to fit the bill.

 

[TedJ]

Stick with Antec PSU's. It might work great now, but when it blows up and fries your mobo/ram/etc you won't be happy. I've seen too many psu's go bad and take down the rest of the PC with a nice big voltage spike as they die.

-Ted

 

[glfredrick]

Stick with Antec PSU's. It might work great now, but when it blows up and fries your mobo/ram/etc you won't be happy. I've seen too many psu's go bad and take down the rest of the PC with a nice big voltage spike as they die.

-Ted

Ordered the case and the Antec PSU. $40 rebate on the PSU brings it down to $29.95 - fantastic bargain.

Stuff is on the way.

Couple of weeks, MB processor and ram get ordered.

 

[TedJ]

Good choices all around. You should have a nice system

-Ted

 

[glfredrick]

Good choices all around. You should have a nice system

-Ted

That's what I'm hoping for...

I did a lot of careful shopping and I'll pick up stuff when it is best price-wise. Saved $10 on the case and $40 on the PSU today...

Now doing a price watch on chip and MB.

 

[glfredrick]

Well...

I've been shopping for parts since this post was last updated.

Here is what I've purchased:

CASE - Rosewill R-5601 BK Dual 120 mm fans ATX Mid-Tower
PS - Antec TP II 430 ATX 12v
MB - Gigabyte 965P DS3, rev. 3.3, bios v.10 MB, Intel 965 chipset, Gbe LAN 6 SATA 3 gbs/10
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor
CPU COOLER - Arctic Cool Pro 7
THERMAL COMPOUND - Arctic Cooling MX 1
VIDEO CARD - SAPPHIRE 100189L Radeon X1900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 VIVO
RAM - (2 Pair) A-Data 1 Gb DDR2 x 512 Dual (PC 6400) ADQVE1908K
SATA HD - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s w/16 mb cache
IDE OPTICAL DRIVES - DVD-RW, HP CD-R/RW
FLOPPY - Mitsumi
IDE HD - Western Digital - 80 gb
OS - XP Pro SP 2

Yet to come (most likely options are selected below):

OS - Vista Home Premium
2nd SATA HD - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s w/16 mb cache
3rd SATA HD - Backup - Western Digital Caviar SE WD320AS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s w/8 mb cache
IDE CONTROLLER - PROMISE ULTRA133 TX2 PCI IDE 66M PCI Controller

The build should be finalized tomorrow night.

 

[glfredrick]

Got my system built, now starting to load software.

OMG is this thing fast... Loaded a complete full house version of Office XP Pro (Word, Outlook, Access, Power Point, Excell, and all the goodies) in less than 5 minutes start to finish. Similar with Word Perfect Office 10.

Stuff just LEAPS onto the screen.