New build for my brother

[tyreman]

$800 cdn will get you a decent build, with some good current intel stuff(notI7) with nvidia card if you want.

[Lithotech]

+1 for going with NCIX rather than the Egg.

Single Vid is the only way to go. Unless you are buying a pair right off the bat, it will always be faster and cheaper to upgrade to a new model vid card than pair up an older one. What size/resolution is the screen you already have? A 9800GTX+ will handle lower resolutions, but will struggle with higher resolutions and all details cranked. You may need a GTX260 core 216, which might be pushing your budget.

Core i7 is a no go. The cost of the mobo/cpu/ram will exceed your budget. Unless you already have a case, PSU, HD's etc, not gonna happen.

Gigabyte's P45 boards are very popular and great prices. I like the Asus P45's more, slightly better layout and 3 year warranty. The Gigabytes are slightly narrower, not an actual full size ATX. But you can't beat their prices!

E8400 will be plenty of horsepower, will keep you under budget and it's an easy upgrade to drop in a Q9xxx quad later.

Be sure to pick up a heatsink fan for the cpu, especially if you are overclocking but even if you are not. Starting with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, super cheap, knocks a good 10 degrees off the stock temps, is very quiet in comparrison. Up from that is the OCZ Vendetta 2 at about double the price but cools better.

Don't think the Armor Jr is still on the market, great case, although I think there are better choices for the price it used to sell for. I don't like the big Armor, too plain and featurless. I don't like the Antec 900 either, it is too cramped but cools excellent. The case is very personal, might want your bro to look-see at a few and get his opinion. Your budget limits what you will be able to get anyway, but post your later choices here for some great critiques. I like the Antec 300 because of it's super low price, is basically the same as the 900 w/o a window and different bezel and top. The Sonata III is also a good choice, a little cramped but workable, cool and quiet, comes with a decent PSU making it's combo cheaper than the 750w you picked out.

The PSU is a sweet model, and way more than you need. But seriously, it is good to have some headroom in this area. Nevertheless, the Antec 500w in the Sonata III should be fine. If I had to choose one way or the other, I'd go with the 750w and an Antec 300 rather than a Sonata, but in a price pinch the Sonata will do.

[rjbarker]

Single Vid is the only way to go. Unless you are buying a pair right off the bat, it will always be faster and cheaper to upgrade to a new model vid card than pair up an older one.

Thats obviously a statement from someone whom has never tried out a Crossfire or SLI Rig. You can purchase a Single Card with plans on purchasing a 2nd Card "later on", don't know why you wold state that is better to purchase them at the same time? Provided the intitial Card has some longevity to it this is false.
As for wanting to upgrade and having two GPU's, simply sell one here to recupe some costs and use the other as a dedicated PhysX Card or use them in a 2nd Rig, personally between myself, my kids and my wife, (and thier PC's) their is never a shortage of what to do with PC componenets.
SLI is awesome (I'm sire XFire is the same) when it comes to gaming on 24" monitors and higher!

[Lithotech]

Not arguing here, the debate on this in ongoing and has been for a long time. I have sat on both sides of the fence, and currently I am on the single card side -- unless you start off with two cards or plan to buy the second within a few months.


I have SLI myself and have bounced back and forth between dual cards and a single card a number of times. Your statements have valid points, yet so do mine.

1. His budget won't allow dual cards at the getgo.
2. Using SLI means he needs an nVidia chipset, not what I advise for this build.
3. Starting with say a 9800GTX+, and pairing it up later for another $220+ isn't as good as getting a single GTX280 for less of a total cost and better performance.
4. Going with a crossfire system means upgrading the mobo, and introduces the same cost problem as above.

It is in light of this that I made my statement. There are obvious benefits to running dual cards, but for the most part you will get better performance for your dollar with a single powerful contemporary card.

When using large high res displays, you don't have a choice because even the most powerful single card solution will not produce smooth framerates in some games with all the details up and full AA/AF.

This is why I asked him what resolution he is running at.

My opinion of nVidia's chipsets stems from being stung with my 680i. When I first got it, it was fantastic, and liked the fact it was top tier with all the available options. About that time, intel's mainstream chipset was the P35. I got an EVGA because of the lifetime warranty, I planned to hold onto this board. Fast forward to the newer Q9xxx cpus, and all of a sudden I can't run them. I'd need a newer NV750 or better chipset. The NV top tier board is now $100 or more than what I paid for mine, and I don't want a lower end board that is missing a host of features. Add the fact that you could get stung again when newer CPUs come out, and all of a sudden I turn coat and hate nVidia mainboards. The fact is, the P35 boards will run Q9xxx CPUs just fine. It's simply a safer chipset to buy into. This is all changed now, as (IMHO) the NV7xx chipsets should be safe from being obsolete because the new CPUs are of a different socket, and current s775 CPUs should not change so much that NV 7xx boards will be useless. Nevertheless, I currently stand behind Intels chipsets unless one has a need for SLI.

I couldn't agree more about finding a use for spare components. Maintaining and upgrading my own families computers, I have found that I am always short of parts.

Originally Posted by rjbarker

Thats obviously a statement from someone whom has never tried out a Crossfire or SLI Rig. You can purchase a Single Card with plans on purchasing a 2nd Card "later on", don't know why you wold state that is better to purchase them at the same time? Provided the intitial Card has some longevity to it this is false.
As for wanting to upgrade and having two GPU's, simply sell one here to recupe some costs and use the other as a dedicated PhysX Card or use them in a 2nd Rig, personally between myself, my kids and my wife, (and thier PC's) their is never a shortage of what to do with PC componenets.
SLI is awesome (I'm sire XFire is the same) when it comes to gaming on 24" monitors and higher!

[UberMoo]

|Gigabyte's P45 boards are very popular and great prices. I like the Asus P45's more, slightly better layout and 3 year warranty. The Gigabytes are slightly narrower, not an actual full size ATX. But you can't beat their prices!| Quote

(sorry i do not know how to quote properly,)

well ive been doin a little more shopping, and been keeping up with the forum and what everyone has to say.

So far my build is:
dvd writer
cm c590 case
harddrive
evga geforce 9600gt
pc power/cooling silencer 500 watt
patriot extreme performance 4gigs ram
the e8400 wolfdale.

Ive been lookin at mobos still. although i liked the suggestion sswilson had given me, i had second thoughts. Since my brother is into film etc, im sure he'd get good use out of a firewire.(im pretty sure(almost positive) he has some stuff that uses it)

Ive come to two choices. (unless suggested something better or equally as good for cheaper, since.. were slightly over budget, which i don't mind too much chipping in *sigh*)

1.Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
or
2. Asus P5Q

There relativly the same price on Egg. (i plan on moving all the options over to ncix and price match etc to see if i can score a better deal) (just using egg atm since most of my list is set up, and just stays cleaner and more organized)


debate away, i need some opinions :) (a pre thank you to everyone)

[sswilson]

Is that a vanilla P5Q or is the Pro? I've been quite happy with mine, and it's a very popular board here on the forums.

[buzzkill]

I do second the ATI card idea, as there has been some great deals floating around lately, otherwise, if you do choose Nvidia, then maybe consider EVGA, if he saves his money, or your parents need a good present idea within 90 days, then you can step up the card too

[UberMoo]

besides the extra pci express slot (running at 8x) i don't see the difference between the pro and the vanilla p5q. But i was talking about the vanilla p5q.

edit: also, if i were to go the ati route, what cards would you suggest in comparison to the the 9600gt in price and preformance?

[Lithotech]

The Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R is a newer release P45, and I must say I am attracted to it. I like the cooling on it, and it is full size. The layout looks good, and it should have more advanced power savings features.

The P5Q Pro has better cooling on it than the vanilla. I believe it has a few more features too, but both flavors are very popular. The vanilla one is quite competent and priced nice.

Firewire isn't so big on the PC, like it is on the Mac. For an external hard drive, USB2 is almost as fast. It's ability to control things like video cameras, sound mixing boards and MIDI devices is it's real benefit. It can also daisy chain, run longer cables, and (I think, but might be only FW2) can carry power over the cable. USB3 and FW2 are coing out soon, and will have way more bandwidth and power features. You can always add a FW card to a board that doesn't have it built-in, they start pretty cheap but can get expensive for higher end models.

.

[The Notorious SMALL]

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg



I'd suggest this.