[ksmart]

Hello,

I am planning on doing my first build in about a week or so. I mainly surf web, watch movies, and encode alot of videos. I want to build a high end pc that will do everything I want with efficiency. I have done alot of research and put together a list of components for my build:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM: 2 x Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

HARD DRIVE: 1 x Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 R6PM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM &

1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GPU- EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

POWER SUPPLY - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail

CPU FAN - ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

I would appreciate it if anyone with experience could give me any input as to whether or not these components will suit my needs or if I should revise my list.

[taintedplay]

I reccoment a quadcore q6600, and the raptor imo isnt worth the money for the speed gained. The 8600 should work since your not gaming. I dont know about OCZ psu.

[vernong1992]

wow... where to start...

overkill on the PSU.. and it has ripples.. get Corsair 520
underkill on the GPU: get an 8800gt
get the q6600 instead of teh e6850
get the Ballistix over the tracer.. because its the same thing w/o leads...
get the Tuniq Tower 120 or TRUE 120 for the cooler... and go with Seagate for the HD, the Raptor isn't worth it... get 1 WD 750GB.. its one of the fastest 7200RPM Drive available.. almost on par with the Raptor Speeds..

[ksmart]

wow,

Thanks for the fast reply. Based on your input I have done a bit more research and revised my component list:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM: 2 x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail

HARD DRIVE: 1 x Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 R6PM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM &

1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GPU- EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

POWER SUPPLY - CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM: 2 x Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

HARD DRIVE: ??

GPU- EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

POWER SUPPLY - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V

CPU FAN - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - RetailZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler -

For the HD do you recommend a Seagate or a WD or both. Also, would you recommend 1 small HD for the OS and a larger one for storage. Or one large HD with partitions?

[ksmart]

Sorry about the last post - accidently hit the submit button

wow,

Thanks for the fast reply. Based on your input I have done a bit more research and revised my component list:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2, Ultra Cooling Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM: 2 x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail

GPU- EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

HARD DRIVE: ??

POWER SUPPLY - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V

CPU FAN - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - RetailZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler -

For the HD do you recommend a Seagate or a WD or both. Also, would you recommend 1 small HD for the OS and a larger one for storage. Or one large HD with partitions?

[vernong1992]

Seagates are slightly faster.. but for faster load times.. use a small Raptor Drive as your primary HD to install Windows, and another HD for everything else....

or you can go with a Giant Spaced WD 750GB HD

[aetherh4cker]

As already mentioned, I recommend the Tuniq Tower or the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme for your CPU Heatsink & Fan. The Thermalright one is better, but more expensive *and* you have to buy the fan seperate. The Tuniq Tower works just fine for most people.

Your X38 motherboard is new, and pretty expensive. You'd probably be just as well off with one of these P35 boards. Though, if you have the cash to fork over, then the X38 boards are the most recent. I personally recommend the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R as far as P35 goes.

For your hard drive, both Seagate and Western Digital are excellent brands. You'd be fine with either of them. Though, also as mentioned above, I do *not* recommend the 10,000 RPM drives. The (little) performance increase is not worth the price increase. You said you would be encoding videos? Put that extra cash towards a 500GB or a 750GB drive. You'll like the extra storage. You don't really need seperate drives for OS, Games, Data, etc. As you said, if you're picky enough to consider this, then partitioning will probably work just fine for you.

Good moves on the Q6600 and 8800GT. The quad core Q6600 will show huge increases in video encoding performance. The 8800GT is just an amazing card for a decent price. Should play any game on the market right now, most at high settings.

[vernong1992]

wait.. he didn't change the Cooler when i mentioned it.. so its a safe bet he's not overclocking... and i didn't mention the board on my first post... lol foolish me..

[Akubane]

My hd suggestions are
this 750gig Seagate - Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
or my choice this 1Tb - Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

someone else can suggest a WD drive, i've never used them

oh crap sorry ; ; im usually really good at catching myself ; ; wont happen again

[vernong1992]

might wanna change that bada** to that b4 a mod catches you and u get an infraction..