Building a New System

[Floatcode1]

As maybe some of you may know from the one other post I made, I'm on a crusade to build a system that'll be able to play Oblivion with the works. So my question of the hour is: How will the following fare against this monster?

The Case:

-Rosewill Black and Silver Mid-Tower Case

The Mobo:
-ASUS P5LD2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard

The Processor
-Intel Pentium 4 531 Prescott 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor

The RAM
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB RAM (Will Upgrade W/ Another Stick Later)

The Video Card
-eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX Geforce 7600GT

I'll probably change the mobo and cpu for something more sensible if it won't do the job. I already have a suggestion or two for something else, but for now, I'm keeping it. Any nay-sayers?

 

[MetalX]

Change the Mobo to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131031

and the Processor to this(yes i know its out of stock try to find it somewhere else):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

 

[Floatcode1]

Change the Mobo to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131031

and the Processor to this(yes i know its out of stock try to find it somewhere else):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

For the price, the Mobo and CPU just don't seem worth it, especially when I hear others' harsh criticisms. Maybe there's something else that may be a bit cost-efficient?

 

[dmill89]

For the price, the Mobo and CPU just don't seem worth it, especially when I hear others' harsh criticisms. Maybe there's something else that may be a bit cost-efficient?

If cost is an issue here's a cheaper way of going to a core 2 duo

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
or a little faster
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
or faster and 4mb L2 cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Motherboard

Intel:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

or
If you want an asus board It'll cost a little more

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

 

[dmill89]

I also wouldn't trust the Cheap Powersupply that comes with that case.
I recomend you buy a better Case/PSU combo like these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129163
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129158

or get a seperate case and PSU like these

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125457
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811195023
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133174
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119094
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125436

Powersupply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103936
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103459
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103930
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194009
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S36ATX
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S47ATX
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S61EPS

 

[sw123]

Actually, his system looks ok. If he wants to play games, it's perfect. Would you like steps on building it?

 

[dmill89]

Actually, his system looks ok. If he wants to play games, it's perfect. Would you like steps on building it?

The prescott core is outdated and a substitute for a space heater (I know I have one (P4 3.4 ghz EE) unfortuinately) and it can raise the room temp by 10F when running at 100%. I would recomend a core2 duo If he wants a dual core cpu or an AMD Athlon 64 If he wants to stick with single core.

 

[sw123]

Well, ok a new processor, but dont get an AMD, it's probably incompatible.

 

[Superinc]

If cost is an issue here's a cheaper way of going to a core 2 duo

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
or a little faster
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
or faster and 4mb L2 cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Motherboard

Intel:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

or
If you want an asus board It'll cost a little more

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

+1

core 2 duo is a better choice.

 

[YosefM]

Oblivion is an extremely demanding game. It's capable of devouring whatever hardware you throw at it. Not even an X6800 with a pair of 7950GX2s can play it at native resolution on a 30" Widescreen with full eyecandy. Hopefully you're not expecting to do this for under $600?
This is a really bad time to upgrade - If you can wait 6 mos:
E6300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128012
X1900XT
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102025
G.Skill DDR2 6400 2x1G
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065
All of these prices should drop significantly by March 2007.
Add an AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF if you want to OC the E6300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134
==============

If you cant wait:

Go with the AMD X2 3800+ AM2 (OC's very well).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735
Use an AC Freezer 64.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125
The ASUS M2N-E GF 570 Ultra MB should work well - just choose your RAM well and be prepared to choose 1 step lower divider on it that it's rated for (you'll make it up on the OC).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131022
keep the 7600GT KO - a lot of GPU for the money.
Get the most RAM you can afford - you will want a 2x1G kit as Oblivion's performance will suffer otherwise. Might I suggest:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231055

Either way you'll want an OCers MB & HSF 'cuz you'll be wanting to push the processor hard.

The case is one place you can cut a corner as long as you're not schlepping it to the lan parties - just be sure to have plenty of airflow & a stable PSU. You can even pick up a good one for almost nothing at the local computer salvage store if you're really strapped & mod it for 120mm fans. Shoot for something like this PSU:
SILVERSTONE SST-ST50EF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256001


May as well take advantage of AMD's value pricing if you're putting together a value system. There are times when bucking the trend makes great sense. If you ignore the high end of both the Intel & AMD lines as being totally unaffordable, AMD gives you more power for the money. IMHO, that will only be true until Q1 2007.
Add some fans and this HDD
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144701
that's a lot of computer for $800.
I've shared the cart on newegg. Search for "Oblivion on the cheap"

Yosef

 

[Floatcode1]

Wow, thanks for all the support! I needed these kind of pointers, and I'm really getting an idea of what I'm going for. Thanks.

 

[Floatcode1]

SO, by combining some very wise suggestions from above, I'd like to know how this revamped set-up would work.

Cooler Master Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower
FSP Group PCI Express 400W Power Supply
ASUS Socket AM2 ATX AMD Moterboard
AMD Athlon 64 3800 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Cooling Fan w/ Heatsink
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 RAM
eVGA Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB PCI Express V. Card

For me, this has the perfect performance-to-price ratio, as long as it all works together.

And if it does all work together, are there any other fans or cooling devices I should throw in?

 

[dmill89]

SO, by combining some very wise suggestions from above, I'd like to know how this revamped set-up would work.

Cooler Master Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower
FSP Group PCI Express 400W Power Supply
ASUS Socket AM2 ATX AMD Moterboard
AMD Athlon 64 3800 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Cooling Fan w/ Heatsink
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 RAM
eVGA Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB PCI Express V. Card

For me, this has the perfect performance-to-price ratio, as long as it all works together.

And if it does all work together, are there any other fans or cooling devices I should throw in?

That case has all the fans you need (except for cpu) 1 80mm in front for the HDD and a 120 mm exhust fan. I like your choice of case. That case also has filters on the front pannel to reduce dust. That case has a side air duct allowing cool air to the CPU because of this I recomend a different CPU cooler so you can take advantage of that duct.

This CPU cooler should work and It's all copper so It should offer exelent cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106075

this is also good but has less heat pipes
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103157

this one should also work but it has no heatpipes so it will likely run a little hoter but it is all copper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106073

This one cools supriseingly well considering it's low price (Keeps the Athlon 64 3200+ in my server at 32C idle and 36C under a full load) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186126


And get some Artic Silver thermal Paste
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

A very nice system indeed. Especially when taking the total price into consideration. Good job Floatcode1. :grinthumb

 

[mailpup]

What about a hard drive and optical drives?

 

[Floatcode1]

What about a hard drive and optical drives?

Not a problem-- I'm scrapping an older system, and sticking the hard drive (which has more than enough space-- 160GB) and optical drives into the new one.

 

[YosefM]

Good choices

I like that case & the psu should be plenty as long as you dont try for a massive OC or upgrade to a very hungry vid card. FSP makes very good PSUs.
I would put a fan in the side duct.
I hope that HDD is SATA or you only have 1 optical. Otherwise you'll want to either add a PCI IDE card @ approx $30 or a SATA HDD @ approx $80.
Should be no compatibility issues in that system.

I still like an E6300 system, but:
1) Intel has yet to solve its supply problems keeping the price artificially high.
2) None of the MBs listing under $180 have been around for > 90 days (my guideline for making sure the BIOS is stable).
3) Comparatively limited chipset support - this should change in the next month.
So, the only danger in buying now is possible buyer's remorse/system envy when the post-xmas & new years sales come around . I do feel confident that your choices will let you drop in whatever Conroe-killer AMD retaliates with when they go to the .65nm process.

Now go build it :grinthumb

 

[MetalX]

Oblivion is an extremely demanding game. It's capable of devouring whatever hardware you throw at it. Not even an X6800 with a pair of 7950GX2s can play it at native resolution on a 30" Widescreen with full eyecandy.

But no sane person would try to play oblivion on a 30" widescreen native resoulution on full settings. A single 7900GTX could probably handle it on full settings at 12x10 as long as the processor was fast enough.

 

[YosefM]

Quite So

But no sane person would try to play oblivion on a 30" widescreen native resoulution on full settings. A single 7900GTX could probably handle it on full settings at 12x10 as long as the processor was fast enough.

I heartily agree. We should all bear in mind that most video card reviewers are quite mad - LOL. I was referring some to recent reviews of highest end cards where they attempted to do just that. They did not get playable frame rates on the outdoor scenes. On a more sane note, this comparison from Toms's Hardware is pretty good:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/25/sub_200_pci_express_graphics_card_showdown/

Choosing the "best" product is not nearly so important as choosing one that's "good enough" for you. Beyond that point, you throw more & more money at performance gains that are increasingly less relevant to your purpose.