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chuck
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New build around Crossfire board

Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:43 am

Hi, I am about to build my first system. I was asking some questions in the storage subforum and a poster there recommended I post my components here for feedback. Any comments are welcome.

The purpose of the machine will be to give me a platform to get back into gaming, and to have a home computer to work on extending my CAD skills into the 3d realm - sort of a professional development sandbox.

Anyway, here are the major components:

<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240188">Abit AT8 Crossfire RD480/ULi M1575</a><br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&description=1900xt&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0">ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB</a><br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103584">AMD Opteron 175 Dual-Core 2.2GHz 1MB (per core) Socket 939</a><br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890">2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) DDR (400) PC-3200 OCZ Dual Channel Platinum</a><br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817711002">OCZ PowerStream ATX 2.01/EPS SLI Ready 520W PS</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=110407">Mitsumi FA404A/FA404M-Black 7-in-1 USB 2.0 Media Drive</a><br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160">Western Digital Raptor 74GB 3.5&quot; Serial ATA150 </a><br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100594-2">Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM</a> (two)<br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=140118">Antec Performance One P180 Advanced Super Mid Tower Case</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=170643">Liteon SOHD-16P9S 16X IDE DVD-ROM</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=173832">BenQ DW1655 16X Dual Layer DVD+-RW</a><br>
<a href="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373500">Zalman CNPS9500 LED CPU Cooler Retail</a>

My original budget was about $2500, and I am a little under that here. I'd like to leave some room for a new optical mouse and ergo keyboard. I was also thinking of a inexpensive input tablet, but that could come later.

I'd already had one person recommend changing the OCZ power supply out for a Seasonic 500w model. The OCZ seems well reviewed, and popular on a few other forums I've browsed, but if Seasonic's are better I'd make the switch. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks. :)
 
Flying Fox
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:58 am

Good tablet = not inexpensive. So be prepared.

Get the Raptor and 1 other drive for now, add the 2nd one later.

Unless you overclock, just get some value RAM.

PSU should be fine, but with all these budget savings you can go for the Seasonic. :)

Also, you may want to wait for the RD580 as for motherboard.

You should still be under budget, but remember those professional apps are not cheap (you do use legit versions, right? :wink:).
 
jss21382
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:06 pm

the ram kit you linked to is a 1gb set, also as fox said go with value ram, you can get 2gb of value ram for the price of the 1gb set you linked, perhapse more memory, like 4gb? not sure on the requirements of current cad programs...it's been a while since I've done any cad work. I personally would go with the 150gb raptor or forget the raptor to save money as they're not that much faster than the new 7200prm drives
 
chuck
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:32 pm

Flying Fox wrote:
with all these budget savings you can go for the Seasonic


Well I guess that means the Seasonics aren't cheap.

I would wait for the RD580, but I already bought the board a few weeks ago on the day they started shipping. I was going to buy everthing else, but the same day I took an unscheduled trip through unmarked lanes (that is, I hit ice and spun off the highway). Anyway, 2 grand later the car is fine but I needed to postpone my other purchases. I'd think the RD580 would have to be truly stellar to justify getting rid of what I already have in hand. Then again, I can be talked into anything.

As far as the apps go I am legal - so far :wink: .

jss21382 wrote:
I personally would go with the 150gb raptor or forget the raptor to save money as they're not that much faster than the new 7200prm drives


Storage is where my decision making has been tied up lately. At double the cost is the 150 worth it? As an OS/apps drive 74gb still seems like a lot.

Thanks.
 
Philldoe
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:47 pm

Personally I would drop the Hitachi drives and go with a Seagate or WD 7200RPM drive.

Maxtor is also a brand I recommend but many people here have had roblems with them in the past though I have never ahd a bad one.
Fastfreak39: I feel like they should change the phrase "jumping on the band wagon" to "sailing on the pirate ship"
 
jss21382
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:27 pm

Storage is where my decision making has been tied up lately. At double the cost is the 150 worth it? As an OS/apps drive 74gb still seems like a lot.


it is a lot money wise, raptors are more of a luxury thing now, the 74 or the 150 you're still paying a lot for not much more performance, but if I was buying one it'd be the 150, it's no longer like when the raptors first came out, the 7200 drives have pretty much caught up with them performance wise for a much lower cost/gb
 
Flying Fox
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:28 pm

chuck wrote:
Flying Fox wrote:
with all these budget savings you can go for the Seasonic

Well I guess that means the Seasonics aren't cheap.

No, they are not, but good PSUs are never too cheap anyways. Seasonics should be a bit more expensive than the OCZ, how much more expensive? I don't know.

chuck wrote:
I would wait for the RD580, but I already bought the board a few weeks ago on the day they started shipping.
Should have come here sooner, we would have told you to wait for the RD580. May be you can get someone to take the board off your hands?

chuck wrote:
As far as the apps go I am legal - so far :wink: .
Do you have the apps already or you still have to buy them? If you need to buy then it will eat into your budget, fast.

chuck wrote:
Storage is where my decision making has been tied up lately. At double the cost is the 150 worth it? As an OS/apps drive 74gb still seems like a lot.

Not really. VS.NET takes like 3 gigs if you install everything. Then add MSDN Library that's another 1.5 gigs. I would guess that the other packages that you are using will probably in the 3-5 gigs per app range. Games are like that too now, may be the 2-4 gigs range.

Apps: 5 apps x 4 gigs (average) = 20 gigs
Games: 5 games x 3 gigs (average) = 15 gigs

That's already 35 gigs, almost half a 74 gig Raptor.

If you do not move Documents and Settings, that can grow to virtually no limit. I typically see a gig or two there for my own profile, multiply that by the number of users that you have on the box.

If you do hibernation and not move the file, then that's another 2 gigs (same size as your RAM).

Some temp storage here and there, you can fill that thing up fast.
 
chuck
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 8:09 pm

Sorry for the delay in answering, I had to go help the wife pick out a dress for a wedding . . . in six months :roll: . Got one of those big soft pretzels at the mall, though.

Flying Fox wrote:
No, they are not, but good PSUs are never too cheap anyways. Seasonics should be a bit more expensive than the OCZ, how much more expensive? I don't know.


Actually, the prices seem about equal for the 520w OCZ and the 500w Seasonic s12 and the 600w Seasonic is acutally cheaper than the same from OCZ. Does anyone know if these work well in the Antec p180? The S12 models do not have fans on the rear or front of the unit, only on the top/bottom, so its fan would not be in line with the airflow in the lower PSU and drives chamber.

Flying Fox wrote:
Do you have the apps already or you still have to buy them? If you need to buy then it will eat into your budget, fast.


I have most of the apps I plan to run already, and what remains is "off-budget" as far as what I will spend on hardware.

The hard drive question seems to be getting more complicated. Do the Hitachi's have a spotty rep? And is a Raptor really worth it? Starting to get the feeling it might be a waste of money for me.

Thanks for all the responses so far, by the way.
 
Fighterpilot
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Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:14 pm

Hi,the choices you've made seem pretty good to me.I would agree however with changing the RAM you had in mind to a "value" rated RAM,there's no need for such high end stuff and you'll save quite a bit.
Id also stay with the 74GB Raptor,its a good drive for your games,OS and applications and you can use the big storage drives for everything else.
I also wouldnt be too concerned about the PSU,both the OCZ and Seasonic are good PSUs...either one would be fine.
Nice choice on the video card by the way..it will be great.
 
Flying Fox
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Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:03 am

chuck wrote:
The hard drive question seems to be getting more complicated. Do the Hitachi's have a spotty rep? And is a Raptor really worth it? Starting to get the feeling it might be a waste of money for me.

Not really that complicated IMO. If you have that feeling, that means $ reality sets in, and you are probably right. So the alternative suggestion: just get a couple of big, cheaper drives and see if you suffer. If you are not, then good. If you are, then you will be at your original plan of a Raptor plus 2 other drives anyway. :)

Just remember to either put the pagefile on the 2nd drive or spread it around, that's who you use multiple spindles to their advantage.
 
Firetech
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Progress?

Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:00 am

How's progress with this build? I'm thinking AT8 too....

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