selecting components & building a system

[Darth Mura]

This is the first time I’ve tried building a system and I need some advice.

First you should know that I’m not at all interested in the backend of computers, don’t like to tinker, and if I had my way would by a preconfigured machine. The problem is that here in Japan all preconfigured systems come with Japanese language software. The only options seem to be to build your own, or have a third party ship me a computer from NA or Europe.

I’ve found a company that let’s you build your own computer by selecting from a list of components. After a few hours researching parts, this is what I’ve come up with:

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Processor: AMD Athlon64 3800+ (939pin)
Processor FAN: Silent CPU Fan & Case Fan
Memory: DDR SDRAM 1GB (PC3200/512MB x2)
Hard drive: (200GB) Seagate ST3200822AS
Motherboard: (nForce4 SLI) ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Video card: nVIDIA Geforce 6600GT 128MB (PCI-E/DVI/TV-OUT)
Sound card: CREATIVE SB Audigy2 Value Edition (OEM)
CD-ROM/RW/DVD: DVD Multi Drive Panasonic LF-M821JD (DVD(+/-)R 16x/-RAM 5x/Ivory)
Power supply unit: EVERGREEN SilentKing3 500W
Hard drive (additional): (200GB) Seagate ST3200822AS
Firewire IEEE1394: LowProfile PCI IEEE1394 Card
Operating System: MS Windows XP Home Edition ENGLISH OEM

Unit price: JP¥ 211,478 / US$ 1,918.12
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Most of my choices were a couple of steps down from the highest performing and most expensive components. I’m not after a hot rod, but a dependable machine that will last me 3-5 years.

Two things I’d like to ask about:

1. Firewire – this is one of the options available but I can’t say I ever heard of it nor ever needed it. If I haven’t used it yet, is likely I’ll need to in the future?
2. Optical drive – I’ve gone after the biggest and best here, but what kind of drive should I get as a complement for copying cds/dvds?

Any comments, recommendations, warnings or advice would be greatly appreciated. And if you know of any other communities where I might post this enquiry, I'd appreciate hearing about those as well.

All the best from Japan,

DM

[ruperdupe]

nice configuration.

1. If you don't have any firewire devices then you on't really need to get it. If you ever get a firewire device you can buy and add on pci card. For the time being i'd use usb as the transfer rates are about the same.

2. Well if you want to burn cds and dvds then you'll need to get the appropiate drive. I'd look for one with a high write speed and buffer protection.
This is the one I have: Sony DRU-800 (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DRU800A&Dept=computers&CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PCAccessories_CD%2FDVDBurn_D VDBurners)

Hope this helps

ruperdupe

[hockey man]

If you aren't looking for a cutting edge machine then get a non SLI mobo. Just make sure it is still based on the nforce4 chip. Also, for you psu, look for a thermaltake or antec. Their better manufacturers-just get a 350watt+ one. If your looking to save some $ just go with onboard audio. It is getting really good. Also, xp-pro is much better at networking, unless it's your only pc and only used for surfing amd mail, I'd get pro.

[saphalline]

That mobo already has firewire. You don't need an expansion card.

That config looks fine... but we have no idea what you'll be using it for, nor do we know your budget. It's difficult to say whether or not you're spending your money in the best way possible without knowing these things.

[Darth Mura]

That mobo already has firewire. You don't need an expansion card.

That config looks fine... but we have no idea what you'll be using it for, nor do we know your budget. It's difficult to say whether or not you're spending your money in the best way possible without knowing these things.

Hi, and thanks for showing some interest.

The machine will be my main home computer. I'll be running a small business from it, perhaps networking with one other home computer. Most activity will be in email, word processing, simple audio editing and mp3 ripping, and some game play in my off time.

Budget is US$3000 with a 17-19 LCD monitor, which is not included in the config/price quoted above.

[Darth Mura]

nice configuration.

1. If you don't have any firewire devices then you on't really need to get it. If you ever get a firewire device you can buy and add on pci card. For the time being i'd use usb as the transfer rates are about the same.

2. Well if you want to burn cds and dvds then you'll need to get the appropiate drive. I'd look for one with a high write speed and buffer protection.
This is the one I have: Sony DRU-800 (http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DRU800A&Dept=computers&CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PCAccessories_CD%2FDVDBurn_D VDBurners)

Hope this helps

ruperdupe

Thanks for the reply, ruper.

The drive I've already picked out does all that. What I'm asking about is the second drive. Do you think I need two fully-featured multi-format drives?

DM

[saphalline]

Do you think I need two fully-featured multi-format drives?With a budget like that, why not?

And if you're going to rely on this system for a small business, keep the stock cooling for your CPU (ie get the retail version) and perhaps even consider dual-booting it. Gaming is fun, but if you experiment too much and play a lot of different games, it can sometimes screw up your settings. Or at the very least, get Acronis TrueImage or another imaging app for back-up purposes. And you've got the right idea with the multiple hard drives. That helps with back-ups and data security, as well.

Also, get yourself a Western Digital "Raptor" for your main OS drive. That sucker is fast and you've got the money! Just make sure the Power Management settings in Windows are set to NEVER turn off the hard drives.

For this type of high-end system, you'll need a better PSU! See if you can request a specific model. Antec's TruePower II series is very good, as is Enermax's NoiseTaker SFMA series. The best would be one of PC Power & Cooling's 550W or 850W SLI monsters, but those suckers are hundreds of dollars each! :eek:

A tangent off of the PSU issue is a UPS. Belkin and APC make excellent ones, and they really are a wise investment because they provide battery back-up in case of a power loss, heavy-duty power regulation, and surge protection all in one. Very handy to have!

Don't forget some good speakers to go with that sound card, too. Klipsch and Logitech make really good ones. Expect to pay $200+ for a good 5.1 (or more) speaker system.

What else?... Oh yeah, what games do you play? The 6600 GT is nice, but with that kind of budget, consider a 6800 GT instead. Make absolutely sure it's an SLI compatible model (it should be but don't let the shop take advantage of you!).

Oh, and make sure the A64 you get is a "Venice" model (aka E4 revision). No sense paying all that money for an older CPU! Then again, how much money do you have left in your budget? Perhaps an A64 isn't enough power? ;) Maybe look into the A64 X2's. The 3800+ model is sitting at a nice $400 price point right now. Not too shabby for a killer dual-core CPU!

Ok, I'll be quiet now and let you decide. :p

[pop pop]

get yourself a Western Digital "Raptor" for your main OS drive

Saph...what happened to "owning a Raptor should be a privilege, not a bragging right"? ;)

Seriously though...the basic system is good and the suggestions are better. My budget wound up being $3K and although I have an Intel-based system, I have a lot of what Saph suggests including the Raptor(s), Antec 550 TrueControl 2.0, and a Belkin UPS with VR. All thanks largely to his suggestions while I was building--or making the decision to build. You can't go wrong there if you have the money.

With that budget, all I might add is two things:

If you don't need 5.1 sound, the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is an absolute killer set for about $145 or less.

As for a monitor, I went with and recommend the ViewSonic 191B. It's 19" of pure pleasure. I paid over $500 for it but it's down to $429 now. AND just this month MaximumPC awarded it their "Kick Ass Product" award. It took them a while to wake up to what I already knew. :D

[saphalline]

Saph...what happened to "owning a Raptor should be a privilege, not a bragging right"?I put in my disclaimer! I ranted about the Power Management and the NEVER turning off the hard drives!

Or maybe I'm just getting soft... ;)

[Darth Mura]

Thanks for all the advice. It's keeping me busy doing research.

With a budget like that, why not?

But why spend the extra money? Where's the advantage?

And if you're going to rely on this system for a small business, keep the stock cooling for your CPU (ie get the retail version) and perhaps even consider dual-booting it.

Dual-booting was something I hadn't considered, but when I started to research this a question came to mind that I haven't yet seen discussed. Most of the material I've read on dual booting refers to drive partitioning and it looks like it's a lot more work that I really want to do. But, what I have been thinking is why not have Windows installed on both HDs? This way if one drive crashes, I can boot from the other right away. Does this make sense? Does anyone do something like this?

DM

[saphalline]

But why spend the extra money? Where's the advantage?Well, you said you wanted to do disk-to-disk copying, so it would help with that. Otherwise, it's only good for bragging rights! :D If you don't want to spend the money on two high-end (and expensive) optical drives, make your second optical drive a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive. That way it will be able to read anything and you can still burn two CD's at once. Quite handy, that. ;)



But, what I have been thinking is why not have Windows installed on both HDs? This way if one drive crashes, I can boot from the other right away.You mean have the same installation on both drives? That's called a RAID array. RAID 1, to be specific. A RAID 1 array is relatively easy to set-up (slightly easier than dual-booting) and allows you to have just one partition using up both hard drives. This means that if you have two 120GB hard drives in a RAID 1 array that you still have 120GB total. But both drives have the exact same data on them, so if one dies, the other one takes over.

Or were thinking of having two separate installations of Windows on two hard drives and then having one for back-up? If you do it that way, you'll need a way to switch between the two drives if one gets infested, and you'll also need two licenses of Windows (even if they're both the same).

There are many things that you can do, you just have to follow a couple basic rules for it to be legal. :D

[dlove]

Processor: AMD Athlon64 3800+ (939pin)
Processor FAN: Silent CPU Fan & Case Fan
Memory: DDR SDRAM 1GB (PC3200/512MB x2)
Hard drive: (200GB) Seagate ST3200822AS
Motherboard: (nForce4 SLI) ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Video card: nVIDIA Geforce 6600GT 128MB (PCI-E/DVI/TV-OUT)
Sound card: CREATIVE SB Audigy2 Value Edition (OEM)
CD-ROM/RW/DVD: DVD Multi Drive Panasonic LF-M821JD (DVD(+/-)R 16x/-RAM 5x/Ivory)
Power supply unit: EVERGREEN SilentKing3 500W
Hard drive (additional): (200GB) Seagate ST3200822AS
Firewire IEEE1394: LowProfile PCI IEEE1394 Card
Operating System: MS Windows XP Home Edition ENGLISH OEM

Unit price: JP¥ 211,478 / US$ 1,918.12


wow i thought it would be cheaper to buy in japan..the cost is high..just curious can you break down the cost for each item..


also why such a big power supply?

also that mobo has a built in sound card from CREATIVE check it out before you get the other...the onboard sounds nice!! you can always add on if not happy


and the 6600gt pci-e vid is fine and if you get two (sli) POW!!! theres not a game out there you couldnt handle.

are ya getting a tower?...

[saphalline]

also why such a big power supply?I suggest you start researching PSU threads here on the forums! 500W is certainly not out of the question these days, since 400W is what I would consider the minimum. And heck, when a cheap 500W PSU is less powerful than a high quality 400W PSU, well...

Let's just say that in terms of getting quality components, the PSU is one of the big two. The other is the mobo.

[dlove]

500W is certainly not out of the question these days

500w fine. Yes 400 is min in todays comp. But what he is putting together 400, 450 would be fine is all i meant. If the prices are about the same why not go with the 500. I guess i get into the mind frame of buying what is needed. Its like instaling the best mobo or vid card when all you do is e-mail...

[saphalline]

Buying only what you need is usually how I make recommendations, as well. But with such a huge budget as this, and with the PSU being so important, splurging on a bit extra is fine by me! Not to mention the fact that the PSU only draws as much power as the system needs. If the power draw is only 300W, the PSU provides 300W - no matter if the max is 500W or 5000W. Because of this variable nature of the PSU, getting more than you need isn't really getting more than you need... ;)