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The Geek's New Computer - Need Opinions

(35 posts)
  • Started 5 years ago by The Geek
  • Latest reply from jack7h3r1pp3r
  • Topic Viewed 17581 times

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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

I'm working on building myself a new desktop computer. I'm not looking for the absolute top of the line, but I'd like something I can upgrade over time. My main concern is having a quad core system with at least 4GB of RAM.

Here's what I'm looking at getting:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996587 - Retail

XION II XON-101 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply - Retail

ASUS Triton70 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

I've already got an Nvidia 7600 GT PCI-E 16 video card, and a 750GB SATA 32mb cache hard drive, which I'll be using.

So... opinions on any of it?

Posted 5 years ago #
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Aleeve
Aleeve
Posts: 2818

Nice there!
Large budget then!

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

Not really a large budget... since I already have two of the components, this will only cost me $550 more. I could probably pay a little more if somebody convinces me I need something better. =)

Posted 5 years ago #
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Aleeve
Aleeve
Posts: 2818

Oh right fair enough
Well I don't know how much you're into gaming, but have you heard of a fantstic game called Crysis - is brilliant but very demanding on the graphics card, so buy an ultra good one!
and a blu-ray drive, just for the hell of it.

sorry, i'm really not being very helpful here!
i'll let the 'more senior' (and mature) members of the forum continue!

<exits with a loud fanfare>

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

I'm not a big gamer... if I'm going to play video games, it'll be on the Wii that my great friend Scott bought me for xmas =)

I just noticed that I didn't include any dvd drive at all... I should probably add one. Good catch!

Posted 5 years ago #
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Aleeve
Aleeve
Posts: 2818

Oh right fair enough
Although Call of Duty 4 is brilliant and that will run fine on you new setup
Seriously, I know you said your not a big gamer, and neither am I if I'm really honest (I'm not particularly good, even if I like to think I am) but COD4 multiplayer is fantastic

I suppose Blu-Ray isn't really that necessary, it jsut depeneds how future proof you want to be but then again a decent DVD drive should be fine - lightscribe is good although the disks are expensive!

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

I've never gotten into those types of games... I've always been more of an RPG player, mostly on consoles.

I'm not really worried about blu-ray, they will eventually become really cheap. No reason to buy one now when they are barely useful.

Posted 5 years ago #
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Aleeve
Aleeve
Posts: 2818

fair enough!

Posted 5 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

The Geek: I see nothing wrong with this system. Excellent compute power and very affordable. If you do add a DVD writer, I would suggest a SATA interface. That way you can disable the IDE in BIOS and it's one less thing that Windows has to load drivers for.

Since you are getting 4GB of RAM, I'm guessing that you will be installing Vista x86-64 on it. No problem there. The only thing I see a potential problem with is the "upgrade over time" requirement. What are you planning to upgrade to? DDR3 memory won't fit on that board, not all Penryn core CPUs will be supported, start adding more hard drives or a power hungry video card and your 450w PSU may not cut it. Of course, all that can be replaced, but then it's more of an overhaul than upgrade.

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

I could upgrade the motherboard to one that uses the X38 or X48 chip, but those things are wayyy more expensive. I imagine for future upgrades, I'd add another 4gb of ram, and probably upgrade the video card to one of the newer cards. I suppose that would push me to get a new power supply as well...

Great tip about the SATA DVD, I didn't even think about that.

Is there much benefit to PCI express 2.0... and will a video card spec'd for PCI-E 2.0 work on my motherboard?

Posted 5 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

In my experience, by the time I'm ready to upgrade a system, the technology has changed so much that it's pretty much time to start over. CPU sockets change, motherboard chipsets, DRAMs, and adapter slots change. There's just no end to it. More RAM (but still DDR2) and a new graphics card is a reasonable expectation for future upgrades. That might not even push you to a new PSU.

As for PCI-E 2.0, I don't know much about but it seems you can't by a new motherboard without it these days. It allows more bandwidth and is fully backwards compatible according to PCI-SIG:
http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie2.0_faq/

Posted 5 years ago #
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jack7h3r1pp3r
jack7h3r1pp3r
Posts: 2815

i think that it looks good so far. but for the upgrade later to ddr3 you might need a whole new system for that. but with that being said right now it's not worth the upgrade and there really isn't much to do about that though.

Posted 5 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Regarding the processor: I just bought a Q6600 with 4GB of RAM. I am highly unimpressed though. My 4800+ with 3GB seems to run just as fast. This is not a scientific analysis, just a first impression (maybe Superfetch is not yet up to speed). Next time I would probably opt for a fast duo core (but not the 6000+ - too hot). This is another topic. The Q6600 runs at 40 to 45C on all cores at idle. The 4800+ runs at 10 to 15C.

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

I picked the quad core because I run an enormous amount of applications at the same time... and I like to run vmware as well. I figured that the quad core will work better for a larger number of running processes.

Posted 5 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

I figured that was your reason for the quad. I also took the 4GB for future VM. But the cores "only" have 2.4 GHz. I wonder though, whether a few additional applications make a big difference unless they are really CPU intensive. A single CPU intensive task like a system scan does not seem to benefit from the quad.

Posted 5 years ago #
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thegeek
The Geek
Posts: 2059

The quad core definitely won't increase the speed of most single applications, but then I've rarely needed anything to run faster, I just need more scalability after running too many apps.

I can also set the affinity of the vmware process to only use one or two of the cpus, which I think will help the system remain nice and fast.

Posted 5 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Looks like you got it all figured out. Maybe you can share an experience report with us once you have used it for a while. Not too many people may have experience with quads, but since they seem to be offered more and more, it may help in judging for which cases to buy one. I just bought it because I hate bit twisting and tuning - I rather throw muscle at the beast.

Posted 5 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

whs, I asked you about this before: you say the AMD 4800+ runs at 10 to 15C. Is that C as in degrees Celsius? 10°C is cooler than room temperature! Is that CPU *removing* heat from the surrounding area? If so, it could be used to cool other parts. I need a chip like that!

Surely, I must be making some mistake.

Posted 5 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Understand. Maybe you want to read this, especially the last paragraph under AMD. http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/howitworks.html#AMD

Posted 5 years ago #
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InDiSent
InDiSent
Posts: 1084

Hey Geek,

Your parts look good. I too use VMware and am putting together a new system. By putting together i mean specing out parts. I don't have any good reasons to upgrade any of the parts you have on the list. The only thing i would suggest is more RAM. Since windows Vista requires at least 2GB of RAM i am going to put 8GBs in my system, 4 for Vista Ultimate 64 and the rest is so that i can run 3 other VMs at the same time. I give my XP VM at least 1GB of RAM, but with the new machine i'll be able to give it more. As far as the CPU goes, here is the one i am looking at...not much more money and i think it would be worth it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....6819115043

Also, on a side note. I have found that running my VMs on an external HDD such as my WD Passport seems to make my current pc a little happier. Also, i can unplug the passport and take it with me to use on my laptop on the road or anything else. You can even keep a copy of VMware player on the external hdd so that if you are using a system that does not have VMware installed, you can still use your VMs.

Here is the RAM that i am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....6820231122

I hope this was helpful.

Posted 5 years ago #
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