Another question for the PC Gurus

02/25/2008 05:19:14 AM · #26

I went back and forth on the build/buy thing and ended up buying. Not customized at all, off the shelf, has lots of features I'll never use, lots of wasted space, and most annoying, an analog monitor jack that's off by default which if you turn it on (via BIOS) it bypasses the video card. So I ended up buying a conversion thingie and a new cable to use both monitors on digital inputs. Ah well. But it's WAY faster with CS3 than my old (homebuilt) box and way way quieter. Oh, it's an off the shelf HP with too much processor for me, but hey - it was there, I bought it. I did enjoy building my own, but decided that the biggest PITA is the little stuff - seating the processor, heat sinks, pins, cutting my fingers on sharp metal edges, etc.

Anyway, if you can get one OTS that meets your needs, I'd say go for it. And Newegg rocks - excellent, fast, and reliable customer service. Can't beat 'em. Their prices are good, too.

ganders

Canon EOS-40D

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED

02/25/2008 05:27:55 AM · #27

That spec looks pretty solid -

kavey's new PC has the Q6600 and it's wonderfully fast.

Only two things spring to mind; first, if you're not gaming, that graphics card may be overkill. You could pick one for $100 less and you'd probably never notice the difference.

Second (and this is pretty minor) the Q6600 is happiest with slightly faster memory (1066 rather than 800) BUT (and it's quite a big but) the performance difference is marginal, you'd need to check if that motherboard would support the faster memory, and it can be harder work cooling the memory (which is why

kavey's machine is currently running the memory at 800 until I get around to fitting some memory cooling!)

Both are minor niggles, though - with 4gb of memory and a cheap quad core you'll get a machine with seriously impressive performance!

hanserik

Nikon D700

02/25/2008 05:40:31 AM · #28

About RAID:
RAID0: Striping. Speed. No security, if one disk fails, everything is lost. Minimum 2 disks. No loss in capacity.
RAID1: Mirroring. Security. One disk identical to the other. 2 disks. 1 disk capacity.
RAID5: Stripe with parity. Speed and security. Will recover if one disk fails. Minimum 3 disks. Loose capacity of one disk (3 disks->capacity of 2)
RAID10: Mirrored stripe. Speed and security. Will recover if one disk fails, in some cases, even if two fails. Minimum 4 disks. Loose capacity of half the disks.

I'd personally go for a RAID5. And buy something you can use as a backup device, you'll need it sooner or later!

02/25/2008 05:42:21 AM · #29

Thanks a bunch, Pete! I think I am ok with only $100 worth of overkill rather than a couple thousand. With that big screen, I just might be inspired to get a cool flight simulator or maybe some first person shooter. :)

And as for the memory - I am playing it safe on that one and am ok with the 800's. Good to know though.

Say hi to Kavita for me - I know she's been around but I haven't crossed her path here as often as I used to.

Message edited by author 2008-02-25 05:45:30.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

02/25/2008 05:44:57 AM · #30

Originally posted by hanserik:

I'd personally go for a RAID5. And buy something you can use as a backup device, you'll need it sooner or later!

I have a couple Maxtor NAS devices I use for daily backups. I am considering an external RAID box using the external SATA connector - what do you think about that option? For video rendering? Also for main data storage (backups still go over the network to a NAS device).

mjwood0

Nikon D200

02/25/2008 06:15:05 AM · #31

Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Hay thanks Sam. I actually spent nearly all day researching CPUs and desktops at HP, GW, and even several other systems at Dell (just can't help being attracted to the convenience).

I decided that I do want a quad core. I am convinced it would provide noticable improved performance and the cost is worth it. I will however, concede to a max of 2.4GHz because the price jump after that is too much.

So I was able to configure a Dell XPS720 for right around $2k and a Dell Precision T3400 for about the same. For some reason HP's website didn't hold my attention long enough to configure a system (if that is possible). Gateway is out because I can't customize much either.

Then I went to Newegg and spent probably 6 hours or more trying to piece a system together. I managed to put one together comparable to the Dell XPS, but with some pluses and some minuses - more pluses actually and all for about $500 less than Dell (excluding shipping and taxes). The Newegg option is also $2k LESS than the Dell order I canceled thanks to this thread! :D

So I am down to build it myself and save $500 or just order the damn thing and save maybe 4 hours of build time That's assuming everything goes well. If I run into problems building the thing, I might just snap. I don't have even half the patience I did when I was building PCs fairly regularly.

I'll think about it some more, but if Sam or Quasimojo want to check out my Newgg config and let me know if you see any red flags, I'd be very happy. :D

edit to add: Well it looks like shipping from Newegg would cost ~$18 for all that stuff as compared to Dell's $150 or so. Also, no State sales tax from Neweg, but Dell charges around $175, so that brings the incentive to build my own to $500+$150+$175 = $825!! That would almost pay for the 27" monitor.

Personally, I think you're on the right track there. I like building since you can always upgrade at will. Many of the Dells or HPs come crippled with what sorts of expandability they have.

Plus, this way, you know your system and know what to look at when things go wrong down the road. And as you said, you're spending less to get exactly what you want instead of close to what you want.

Good luck! You'll love it!

hanserik

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR DG IF-ED

02/25/2008 06:18:35 AM · #32

Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

I don't see any problems using the external SATA. Looks like a nice setup! Good luck!

zarniwoop

Nikon D50

Nikon AF Nikkor 35mm f/2.0D

02/25/2008 08:22:11 AM · #33

Looks good.

I am so envious of dollar prices.

pineapple

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

02/25/2008 09:18:58 AM · #34

Did someone say, if you're buying OEM hard drives, then also buy some SATA data cables. The PSU should come with enough SATA power cables.

Quasimojo

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/25/2008 11:59:54 AM · #35

Art -

That NewEgg config looks fine to me - nice setup. You may not need that XP license if you've already got one - just make sure you extract your XP key first (here's an app to do it) so that you don't get stuffed at install on the new machine.

Also, are you going with just the one drive on the new system? I'd strongly recommend two distinct drives just for performance (to keep pagefile, scratch etc separate from app drive).

As for RAID, personally I think RAID5 is a bit overkill for a home rig. Sure, you'll see some very nice performance increases from the striping...and it's a good reason to do it...but if it's just for backup/resilience mirroring is easier and more cost effective (but no performance increase). Just make sure you get two different manufacturers so that both drives don't fail simultaneously (can happen if you order two of the same from the same batch).

N

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

02/25/2008 01:44:41 PM · #36

Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

I'll think about it some more, but if Sam or Quasimojo want to check out my Newgg config and let me know if you see any red flags, I'd be very happy. :D

Art,

There are a few things that I would do/change on that, but overall it's very good!
1.) Dual hard drives at least. Pick up a 500gb or two since that 150 will run out real fast...
2.) Get the 8800GTS as opposed to the GT if you're wanting to play any kind of games (I HIGHLY recommend call of duty 4 by the way)
3.) You can save around $40-50 if you don't get the Corsair memory and go to OCZ gold or G.Skill. Both are just as good if not better, you are just paying for the Corsair name.
4.) Why do you need a floppy drive bracket?

That's all I got. I think you'll be very happy with this. And 4 hours to build?! I bet you can have it together in one. It usually takes me longer to install Windows than it does to assemble the thing.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/25/2008 03:24:25 PM · #37

Thanks Sam -

1) I ordered a 1TB secondary drive already from another source - that's why it's not in that list.
2) Ok, I took your advice and changed the video card to the GTS, but if anything goes wrong, guard your village. ;-)
3) Bah! I like the name Corsair - it just sounds faster. Besides, I can't give in to all your reasoned demands. ;-)
4) The original case I had selected had no 3.5in front bay for the card reader, so I included the bracket, then I changed cases, so I don't need it so thanks for reminding me to remove it.

Quas: I am not ditching my old PC (I never throw anything out (as evidenced by the 10+ PC graveyard in my garage). The Vaio still has lots of life left I think for a living room PC and I will keep XP Home on it, so I'll need the XP Pro from newegg.

I already placed the order at newegg, so PLEASE - don't anyone tell me I screwed up at this point. I'll be happy to hear "Good choice!" or "Sweeet system" though. :) Since I have not been much inspired to shoot photos lately, I think I'll do a photo journal of this build just for fun and will post it so hopefully it can benefit (or entertain) others.

THANK YOU to all for all your help! Now I am off to collect Riley's "Bob the Builder" toolkit, some duct tape, and a 12 pack of Redhook to prepare for this build.

Strikeslip

Canon EOS-5D

02/25/2008 03:29:44 PM · #38

Sweet system!

02/25/2008 03:47:11 PM · #39

Originally posted by Strikeslip:

Sweet system!

Don't you mean "Sweeet" system? Without the extra "e" in there, it's hard to believe you are not being disingenuous. :P

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

02/25/2008 03:48:19 PM · #40

Sweeeeet system!!! And I definitely want photos of the build. Preferably of case-cut fingers, and some shots of expletives being deleted, so I feel better about being lazy and impulsive. :-)

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

02/25/2008 04:31:37 PM · #41

While with the perfect setup im sure some people are okay/happy with windowsXP64 but I would rather run Vista 64 and thats saying something. The compatability and support for XP64 is no where near like the support for XP is.

Not sure if it has gotten much better but the initial offering sucked couldnt even get flash woking in IE64 and thats why by defauly it includes IE 32 bit. Drivers are a bit harder for some things, Have not run Vista64 since Beta 2 so i have no clue wether its driver support is any better yet?

SO anyways your decision to stick with XP is good. XP pro is a good decision for the new hard ware but XP Home is mainly limitd in multiple processor situations but being able to establish remote connects, work with dynamic disks, encryption and some other utilities is nice.

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

02/25/2008 05:59:27 PM · #42

Good luck with the build, glad we could all help you out and save you $800. Oh and I forgot to add this in before, but if you don't already have a good mouse I HIGHLY recommend the Logitech G5 Laser mouse. It's pretty much the best mouse I've ever used. A keyboard is a keyboard so whatever with that. You won't be disappointed by the GT > GTS move, the only thing better is the GTX for $500. Good luck again and hope it all comes together cleanly and without much injury.

soup

Canon EOS-30D

02/25/2008 06:01:55 PM · #43

get one of the static guard wrist bands !!!!

clip it to the case while you're putting things together and don't let it come off until you are done !!!!

Originally posted by Art:

THANK YOU to all for all your help! Now I am off to collect Riley's "Bob the Builder" toolkit, some duct tape, and a 12 pack of Redhook to prepare for this build.

see - i'm lazy too...

03/18/2008 06:20:05 AM · #44

UPDATE: I've had the new computer for a couple weeks now and finally threw together the photos I took of the build process. Nothing special - hastily thrown together here: //www.artroflmao.com/build_pc/

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with their advice! I am very happy with my new setup!

suemack

Canon EOS-20D

03/18/2008 06:44:07 AM · #45

Schweeeet photos of that ever-so-schweeeeet system Art!

SamDoe1

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT