Dumb Questions...

[Davej]

Ok, I'm getting discouraged. I wanted to figure out a parts list for a
low-end E6400 gamer but I keep seeing comments here which break my
budget. Here are some questions that have me stumped...

1. Do I really need a $150+ case/power supply for a reliable system
(that will last for years)?
2. Is a 10k disk better/faster than two small 7200's?
3. How do I pick a motherboard when all I know is that...
-- I want reliability
-- I want several extra PCIx1 slots
-- Only slight over-clocking would be attempted
4. At what performance-point is a video card "overkill" for an E6400?


Thanks!

 

[spodosaurus]

Ok, I'm getting discouraged. I wanted to figure out a parts list for a
low-end E6400 gamer but I keep seeing comments here which break my
budget. Here are some questions that have me stumped...

1. Do I really need a $150+ case/power supply for a reliable system
(that will last for years)?

A good case helps maintain the life of the system by enhancing airflow.
That said, you can get a mid-budget case if it has good fan mounting
areas. I like to have 120mm fans front and back (I like vantec stealth
fans).

On a power supply, don't go cheap. If you need to get a few bucks back
sell the one that came with your case. Alternatively, buy an Antec case
with an Antec PSU. Not a budget breaker, but a good case and a good PSU.

2. Is a 10k disk better/faster than two small 7200's?

you said "low end" above. Go the SATA 7200s and save a few bucks.

3. How do I pick a motherboard when all I know is that...
-- I want reliability

Avoid SiS chipsets.

-- I want several extra PCIx1 slots
-- Only slight over-clocking would be attempted

Again, you said "low end", so I wouldn't bother overclocking it. You're
not going to get a tremendous boost and you'll increase your cooling
requirements. Go with a brand name board.

4. At what performance-point is a video card "overkill" for an E6400?

At the point it goes beyond your budget.

Thanks!

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply
Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor and literally save someone's life:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

 

[Paul]

Ok, I'm getting discouraged. I wanted to figure out a parts list for a
low-end E6400 gamer but I keep seeing comments here which break my
budget. Here are some questions that have me stumped...

1. Do I really need a $150+ case/power supply for a reliable system
(that will last for years)?
2. Is a 10k disk better/faster than two small 7200's?
3. How do I pick a motherboard when all I know is that...
-- I want reliability
-- I want several extra PCIx1 slots
-- Only slight over-clocking would be attempted
4. At what performance-point is a video card "overkill" for an E6400?


Thanks!

1) The case itself is about "beauty" and "convenience". Even a $20 case
will hold all the components. Cooling is not an issue, unless you're
building a monster system with a couple 8800GTX in it

You should spend the money on a power supply. Even a $50 power supply
can power an E6400 system, and give years of service. Just avoid
picking up a "500W $20" power supply, because that is false
economics. If it fries all your stuff, the $30 saving will seem
small indeed.

2) For gaming, once a level is loaded, you hardly care about disks. What
a 10K disk buys, is reduced seek time. Which is handy for making the
"find" command run fast, if your disk is not indexed. I would sooner
spend the money on two 7200RPM drives, one of which is used for
offline backups of the other disk.

3) There are two kinds of motherboards in the market. There are some
older FSB800 chipsets, which are being overclocked by the motherboard
manufacturer, to make FSB1066 motherboards. Those motherboards will
not overclock much further. While the motherboard may be a bargain,
it really only runs your E6400 at stock speed.

Chipsets purpose-built for FSB1066, cost a bit more. Intel has the
975 and 965 families. Nvidia has some recent product introductions.
And ATI has one chipset, if it ever sees the light of day (last
announcement was, that only DFI would carry it). You might look at
this one:

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Sale Price: $108.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813128017
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-128-017-08.JPG

4) Review sites don't typically provide that info. Because it is a
two dimensional test array (test all video cards, versus several
different speed processors, equals a *lot* of testing). This chart
is one of the few I know of, that demonstrates the issue. The gray
bars shows what happens to expensive video cards that are starved
for processor.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2003/01/20/vga_charts_ii/page5.html

You can look through the charts here, and see the breakpoints for
card families.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/

$200 buys a lot of video card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102070

Unlike 7900GT, I don't see reports of card failures for this 7900GS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16814130056

The usual benchmarks:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

HTH,
Paul

 

[Dave]

Ok, I'm getting discouraged. I wanted to figure out a parts list for a
low-end E6400 gamer but I keep seeing comments here which break my
budget. Here are some questions that have me stumped...

1. Do I really need a $150+ case/power supply for a reliable system
(that will last for years)?

Nope. Just about any mid-tower ATX case will do, no matter how cheap. More
expensive gets you thicker metal, or fancy unneeded features (windows,
lights, etc.). All you need to decide is how much you want to spend on the
case. You should be buying the power supply separately. The following is
very high quality and should handle just about anything you build, including
power for future upgrades:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101111

So you should be able to get case and power supply for about $100,
delivered. It will be reliable and last for years.

2. Is a 10k disk better/faster than two small 7200's?

NO! That is, unless you have an unlimited budget. For a low-end gamer,
7200RPM drives are the only choice.

3. How do I pick a motherboard when all I know is that...
-- I want reliability
-- I want several extra PCIx1 slots
-- Only slight over-clocking would be attempted

Depends on how much you value reliability. But if reliability is top of
your list, think AOpen or DFI or Intel. If you want something reasonably
reliable and maybe costs a bit less, look at Epox or Biostar or Abit. It's
hard to go wrong with any of those six brands.
On a side note, what do you have planned for the extra PCIx1 slots? I think
lots of USB 2.0 ports are more important. But anyway, stick to Intel or
nvidia chipsets and find one of the six mainboard brands above with lots of
USB 2.0 ports and PCIx1 slots, for a reasonable price, and you've got a
winner. Example follows, if you want to build with an E6400:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138034
but you can probably find something with more PCIx1 slots

4. At what performance-point is a video card "overkill" for an E6400?


Thanks!

You need to spend a little money on a video card for a gaming system, even a
budget gaming system. The performance-point tends to correspond pretty well
to the price point, usually. So it's going to depend a lot on what you want
to spend. But IMHO, anything better than the following would be a bit of
overkill to pair with the E6400:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150208

-Dave

 

[Fidelis K]

1. Do I really need a $150+ case/power supply for a reliable system
(that will last for years)?

The case doesn't really matter but you want a good PS.

2. Is a 10k disk better/faster than two small 7200's?

Not necessarily. Once a game loads, you don't worry about the HD speed.

3. How do I pick a motherboard when all I know is that...
-- I want reliability
-- I want several extra PCIx1 slots
-- Only slight over-clocking would be attempted

Intel boards are ultra reliable.

4. At what performance-point is a video card "overkill" for an E6400?

Anything over $200.