New Gaming/Video Editing System... Review

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Cassius2117

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Joined

Aug 26, 2007

Location

Oregon, USA

• Aug 26, 2007

• #1

******** PURCHASED AS SHOWN *********

System Usage: Play new games(Bioshock, COD4, Dirt, Crysis, etc) at 1680x1050, Photo/Video editing, good overclocking ability.


Budget: ~$1000


What I have already:

WD 500GB SE16
Soundblaster Audigy2 (does this need upgrading?)
Keyboard/Mouse


What I need: (prices include shipping)

Case: Antec Performance One P180B ..... $149 - $40 rebate

Power Supply: Corsair 520HX ..... $108 - $10 rebate

DVD Burner: SAMSUNG Black 20X ..... $31

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 ..... $$$

Motherboard: Asus P5K-E ..... $162

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB)PC2-6400 ..... $115 - $40 rebate

Video Card: EVGA 8800GTS 320MB ..... $296 - $20 rebate (12/07 Stepped Up to 8800GT)


TOTAL: $861 - $110 rebates ..... $751 (without CPU)


******** PURCHASED AS SHOWN *********

Added Stuff

11/26/07:
Heat Sink: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm ..... $28 - 20%

Case Fan: Rosewill RFX-120 120mm Case Fan ..... $13 - 20%

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB ) PC2-6400 ..... $49.99 - 5%

12/12/07
Video Card: EVGA 8800GTS (G92) 512MB ..... $366.32 (w/Crysis)

10/19/08
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 ..... $75

2/4/09
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache ..... $69.99




.

 

Last edited: Feb 21, 2009

White_Pawn

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Joined

Jul 26, 2005

Location

Vancouver, Canada

• Aug 26, 2007

• #2

The gigabyte-P35-DS3R is cheaper than the asus p5k-e.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050

With the extra cash; (if you are willing to fork out some more) i'd go get a quadcore, like the Q6600 or the X3210.

The one thing that you MUST change however, is that psu. Do not trust a cooler-master one, i'd use it for maybe an old venice 3000+ or a P4, but there is nothing worse than your $1000 PC getting killed by your cheap psu.

I'd recommend the corsair 520HX.

 

OP

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Cassius2117

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Joined

Aug 26, 2007

Location

Oregon, USA

• Aug 26, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #3

Yeah I was wondering about that power supply, I saw in some other threads people recommending it as well. I see at buy.com its not too much more, but as you said probably worth it for sure to have a safer power source. I'll edit my post to reflect that change. Thanks.

 

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chrispycrunch

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Joined

Feb 21, 2005

Location

Toronto

• Aug 28, 2007

• #4

Would an Antec Sonata 3 (500w) be up to the task for that GPU?

 

batboy

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Joined

Jan 12, 2001

Location

Kansas, USA

• Aug 28, 2007

• #5

Now that you changed the PSU to the 520HX, everything looks great. You are gonna love that system. It will be a beast. If you plan on overclocking, you might include a good CPU heatsink for better cooling.

 

djrussell

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Joined

May 25, 2007

Location

everett, wa

• Aug 28, 2007

• #6

somebody remind me what resolutions the 320mb 8800gts is good for. i'm pretty sure the 640mb is better for 1680x1050 and above. something to look into.

other than that. it looks like a nice well-balanced system.

 

Morvak

Disabled

Joined

Jun 20, 2007

• Aug 28, 2007

• #7

+1 GA-P35-DS3R motherboard

-1 for $300 CPU - waste of money

8800 GTS 640 (money saved from motherboard goes here)

Case: Antec 900 or P180B, both are quiet, both are cool (temps).

DVD: Samsung - drop the Lite On, that's garbage.

 

Thund3rball

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Joined

Apr 17, 2007

Location

British Columbia, Canada

• Aug 28, 2007

• #8

Nice setup! Morvak beat me to my comment. Change the DVD. I'd recommend Pioneer for IDE or LG for SATA. Also might want to bump up that gfx card to the 640. If you are building this system for latest games and video that's a no brainer. Good deal from Dell right NOW. 8800GTS 640 ~$306 ( Thread link )

 

OP

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Cassius2117

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Aug 26, 2007

Location

Oregon, USA

• Aug 28, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #9

Thanks again for all the feedback, I'm really glad I posted here. So I just updated the original thread with different case, memory, DVD burner, and CPU. Now I need to consider that 640mb video card, its very tempting to just spend the extra money there. Also I will have to look at that gigabyte motherboard people are mentioning. For a CPU heatsink/fan what do you guys recommend? Is the retail HSF not capable?



EDIT: Bit the bullet and also changed to the 8800 640mb card. I've got a hookup for the CPU so that makes up for the price difference.

 

Last edited: Aug 28, 2007

Morvak

Disabled

Joined

Jun 20, 2007

• Aug 28, 2007

• #10

Cassius2117 said:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 ..... $145

Click to expand...

Am I missing something here? How are you scoring the Q6600 for $145!? I want in!!!

Or did you just forget to update price. ..

 

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Cassius2117

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Aug 26, 2007

Location

Oregon, USA

• Aug 28, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #11

Yeah ignore that price, I updated the post again.

 

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Cassius2117

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Aug 26, 2007

Location

Oregon, USA

• Aug 29, 2007

• Thread Starter
• #12

Ok, well I purchased the stuff as listed above. Unfortunately Dell didn't have the 640mb video card in stock and the ship date would have been 3 weeks, so I canceled that and went with the 320 from newegg. I'll hopefully use the Step-up program to get a better card in 3 months. Thanks for the feedback, I pretty much tweaked everything I originally listed. My final price leaves me room to buy a 2nd hard drive or something else too.