• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Build Evaluation

K

Krig

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 31, 2004
Messages
68
It's been a while since I last built my own computer (who remembers socket 754?)

Anyways, I'm looking to build a computer that will handle some medium gaming, photoshop, plus some CAD work, with this in mind I would also like to be able to postpone upgrading for several years after building this. I'm not going to be doing much in the way of overclocking, so that isn't a factor for me.

So far:

Motherboard: ECS P45T-A LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard ($109)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 ($184)
Graphics: ASUS Radeon HD 4850 ($187)
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) ($79)
PSU: SeaSonic S12 ($99)
HDD: Western Digital SE WD1600AAJS ($43)
CPU Fan: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro ($26)
Case: RAIDMAX SMILODON ($94)

Plus DVD/Thermal Paste

I've based most of the choices off of reviews/price/needs, and with everything priced out I'm pretty much at my price limit ($900 w/ shipping)

I know that the case comes with a PSU, but I don't 100% trust it, and SeaSonic appears to be a reliable company.

I revised my graphics card from an 8800 to the 4850 after reading all the positive reviews it was receiving and how it was recommended so much. The maximum resolution of my monitor is 1600x1050, so I believe that the 4850 should be enough for my needs (I'm not planning on playing Crysis, or Conan)

I already have several hard drives, Vista, and a monitor.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
If $900 is your price limit, what bothers me is the fact that you're buying that Raidmax case for $94 with the Seasonic PS for $99. This right here is $200. Unless you really like that case, I would rather get The Antec Sonata III case with the Antec Earthwatts 500Watt PS included for $99. You save $100 here. As far as that ECS mobo, it's a cheap deal offering crossfire feature but, I don't trust that ECS brand and on top of that it uses part solid state caps with standard electrolytic caps. I would get a Gigabyte board instead that uses all solid state caps. The GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L for $95 is good enough and it uses all solid state caps on this mobo. Although you have extra HDDs, I still would get the WD WD6400AAKS 640GB for $85 which offer fast performance at a good price. The XIGMATEK HDT-S963 92mm Rifle for $25 with $10 MIR should do just as good if not better than the Arctic Cooler heattsink at a cheaper cost.

BTW, if you prefer that Raidmax Smilodon case, get the 612WB model this is basically the same case that you listed on your OP but, w/o the PS for $85 with $25 MIR. Then, pop in the Antec Earthwatts 500 watt PS for $60.
 
The motherboard and PSU are two components that can/will cause you the most grief if you cheap out too much. As it was said I would at the VERY least throw a new PSU in that case if you want/prefer it's look and feel, and swap out the mobo...there are so many other motherboards in the $100-$150 range you're really shooting yourself in the foot with that ECS board.

Overall the system would be a decent performer...but it's not worth leaving things to chance with a few of the lower quality parts you have listed.

My personal opinion...get the Antec Sonata III /w PSU...saves you enough money to get a REAL motherboard and you'll be happy you did.

EDIT: Just wanted to clarify that Seasonic isn't a bad make of PSU...but it'd be much more worth your while to save the cash on the Sonata III and go with a better board overall.
 
While it's important not to cheap out on the motherboard and the PSU, that doesn't mean that you should spend a lot of money on garbage. The ECS board isn't the most reliable board, especially when you could find two brand-name boards -- the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L and the MSI P43 Neo3-F -- available for under $100. If you want a board with similar features as the ECS board you chose for yourself, spend the extra money and get a better quality board like the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R.

I second the recommendation of getting a different case and power supply to cut costs. In addition to the Antec Sonata III/EA500 bundle that cornelious0_0 recommended earlier, you could also purchase the Antec Three Hundred case and the Earthwatts EA650 power supply separately. You'll need additional fans for the front of the Three Hundred (two) and the Sonata III (one) cases. Given the quality of the TriCool fans, though, I recommend replacing all of the 120mm fans with some Yate Loon low speed or medium speed fans. (If you go with the Three Hundred, you could keep the top-mounted 140mm fan.)

If you don't plan on overclocking soon, you could get away with using the stock HSF to save costs. Otherwise, I agree with HardwareGuru that you should get the Xigmatek HDT-S963 instead.

Which specific hard drives are you going to reuse? If that 160GB drive is slated to be your next OS drive, I recommend getting the 320GB drive instead. If you're lucky, you could end up with the newer single-platter model, which runs much faster than any of the other lower-capacity WD hard drives.
 
I agree, though I like the smilodon. There was a newegg promo for an additional $25 off, making it $45AR or something like that... soooo tempting. Oh wellz. Again, listen to what they've mentioned above.
 
I also concur with Tiraides' recommendations.
 
Thank you for the input, I'm not sure what I was thinking with the case/psu, it made sense at the time.

I've changed to the XIGMATEK, Antec EA650, Antec Three Hundred, and the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
 
So, I take it that your build looks like...

$60 - Antec Three Hundred case (free shipping)
$11 - Three Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm fans (@ $3.60 each) - for Antec Three Hundred
$70 - Antec Earthwatts EA650 power supply (free shipping)
$130 - Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
$195 - Intel Q6600 (free shipping)
$25 - Xigmatek HDT-S963 CPU cooler ($10 mail-in rebate)
$79 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 kit (free shipping)
$25 - Samsung SH-S223F SATA DVD burner (free shipping)
$65 - Western Digital 320GB SATA HDD (free shipping)
$190 - VisionTek HD4850 ($20 mail-in rebate)
=====
$850 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)
 
Krig said:
Thank you for the input, I'm not sure what I was thinking with the case/psu, it made sense at the time.

I've changed to the XIGMATEK, Antec EA650, Antec Three Hundred, and the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
Click to expand...

Good to hear...very good to hear.

The system is gonna turn out to be SO much better at this rate and I know you'll be happy with it.
 
The sale on the Earthwatts EA650 has ended, so get either the Corsair VX550 or the TX750 (whichever one you can afford) instead.
 
Krig said:
I will most defiantly post pictures for your enjoyment.
Click to expand...

Good to hear...I'll be looking forward to it, and remember not to skimp on wiring cleanliness just because it's not an overpriced super computer. ;) :D
 
... but mainly because it will impede airflow if you don't do some wire management.
 
Here is a quick picture of the build:

IMG_0499.jpg


I'm still waiting on the extra fans to arrive, so I'm not doing anything strenuous to the machine, yet.

I do have a question regarding fans, what do I want to achieve with the additional fans? I've got the two in the front, the side, the back, and the top. What direction do I want these fans to blow? I'm assuming the top and back should be exhaust, and the front to be intake, but what about the side? The fan will be pointing to the area between the GPU and PSU.

Thanks.
 
I suggest using the side fan as an intake fan so you could cool the video card. But that depends on whether it will be closer to the GPU or the PSU.
 
Nice!

I concur with Tiraides about the side fan orientation: Intake. Your other fan assumptions are correct.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top