Scott said:
Hi, I'm interested in building my own PC - mainly because I can't find
a name-brand that's able to accomodate my needs. Please keep in mind
that this will be my first build...I'm perfectly comfortable
installing cards, etc. - but things like adding on the heat sink fans,
etc. scare the willies out of me...
In any case, I'm trying to build a PC for under $2,000 that has the
following:
1. Is a decent gaming computer. I do not need absolute top of the
line, nor do I want to either buy $500 video cards or risk
overclocking - I just want decent stuff that performs well without
overclocking.
2. A raid array. I do a mixture of database work (which needs a ton of
throughput), and I want to make sure my home video, pictures, etc. are
secure. What I'd really like is a 2 drive RAID 1 array, and a 4 drive
RAID 0 array - which would let me put the "secure" stuff on the RAID1,
and the "play around with but not important if I lose" stuff on the
RAID 0 array.
If no current motherboards support this, I could scale it back to
maybe a 4 drive RAID 0+1 or something.
p.s. I assume I'll use SATA II drives
3. A dual core processor. I assume that an Intel E6600 or the like
would take care of me, but if there is a big price savings to be had
going to AMD I could
Given the above, could anyone offer recommendations for:
a) Processor
b) motherboard
c) video cards
d) case to hold everything in (keeping in mind the large # of drives I
will have)
Also, if there are any type of processor / motherboard combos that
come pre-assembled, with all of the heat sink fans, etc. applied -
being a newbie, it would make things a ton simpler for me.
Thanks in advance!
Scott
The E6600 is a fine choice. The retail version comes with a heatsink/fan.
An OEM one would not.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003
The cooler that comes with the retail processor, should be fine for
stock operation. Core2 Duo processors have reasonable power consumption,
unlike the 130W preceeding generation. If you want to look at exotic
cooling, you can read this article, for comments on how easy it is
to install some coolers. The purpose of you considering one of
these coolers, would be for quieter operation, rather than some
crazy overclock. The CNPS9500 LED is mentioned as being easier to
install than some of the others. But read the entire article anyway.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/5-cool.html
The Zalman CNPS9500 LED, has an install movie on this web page.
(Just below the title, it says "click here".) You orient this
cooler, so the exhaust points towards your rear case cooling
fan. That helps move the heat from front to back, in the case.
Since your processor won't be getting that hot, you can turn
the CPU fan down with the provided FanMate speed control.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=165&code=009
A motherboard with ICH8R on it, should support the SATA RAID
arrays you want. Note that the six ports, support an array
with four disks, and a second array with two disks. Apparently,
according to a reviewer in the third link below, this limitation
is not documented. So you cannot expect to build a six disk array
at some future date.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N=2010200280&Subcategory=280&srchInDesc=ich8r
Asus P5B-E $150
http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1347&l1=3&l2=11&l3=307
Reviews
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16813131070
At least part of the selection process, is finding a motherboard
with the slot configuration you are after. SLI or Crossfire (two
video slots) is a different selection, than a board with room
for a single video card. A single video card means the simplest
setup, and perhaps better power consumption characteristics,
as you don't have two video cards idling all the time. And
having a single video card slot, could mean more PCI slots, if
you have some stuff you want to add later. Many boards have
pretty bad slot configs, so this can be a pretty annoying part
of the selection process.
(Asus master index)
http://www.asus.com.tw/products2.aspx?l1=3&l2=-1
(Just the LGA775 stuff - Look for "Core2" support or Quad Core keyword.
Avoid the boards with EZ-Backup, a SATA chip SIL4723 you don't want.)
http://www.asus.com.tw/products2.aspx?l1=3&l2=11
Gigabyte has a pretty extensive selection. Look in the 975X or the
P965 sections. (Site is too slow for me to waste more time on them.)
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...List.aspx?VenderType=Intel&CPUType=socket+775
For CPU performance, you can look at charts here. Many of the charts
take advantage of both cores, like I think this one does.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=432&model2=471&chart=158
For video cards, there is this chart and a table of properties.
The latest cards, like the 8800, draw up to 145W in 3D mode.
(And that is more power than your main processor.)
Other cards run at a lot lower power levels, like 50W or less.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/
Newegg lists 436 video cards with PCI Express x16 interfaces.
So the products cover quite a range. Prices vary from $33 to $800.
The cards occupy 5 web pages, of 100 cards per page. The last
two pages contain customer returns, which cuts down the amount
of stuff you have to look at. Even at the $200 level, you'll
find "runs hot" in the customer reviews. Below $200 you might
find something with lower operating temps, but lower performance.
While the 7900GT earns a "runs hot" in the Newegg reviews, you
can see the power numbers here look reasonable compared to other
cards. So the trick is, to find a video card that has a good
cooler, compared to its power level. Xbitlabs has done many power
measurements, but they don't use the Tomshardware approach of
putting them in a chart - means more advert revenue I expect.
But, in their favor, they have an excellent search engine, as
long as you set the selector in the engine properly.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7900gtx_6.html
Once you've selected some hardware, come back with a list of the
components selected, and someone can help you select a power
supply for it. It would be another 1000 word essay, to describe how
to pick a power supply
For a computer case, you want something without a lot of
restrictions on reaching inside. For example, this Coolermaster
CMStacker is pretty open. And plenty of room for two rear fans,
run at whatever speed you want to use. You could probably fit your
motherboard CPU heatsink, while the motherboard is outside the
case, and then drop it into place, with a case like this.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/11-119-092-09.jpg
A couple of these in the back of the computer, would be inaudible.
120mm fans come at up to 110CFM, but at the 110CFM level, you
could not carry on a conversation next to it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185004
Paul
