The Ultimate Dream Computer

ohhhh and i just noticed i'm not on "newbie" status anymore woot!

so I guess, err, i'll have to post something serious so I'll post what I just ordered as my first build (more on the budget side of things, rather then the dream machine haha)

CPU: AMD ATHLON 64 3500+
MOBO: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
VID CARD: ATI RADEON X850XT
CASE: Thermaltake Shark Full Tower (silver)
TV TUNER: HAPPAUGE 150 PVR
RAM: CORSAIR TWINX DUAL CHANNEL 2048MB PC3200
HDD: SEAGATE 250GB SATA 3.0
PSU: HIPER TYPE-R 580W (blue)

hopefully all goes well!!! any last minute changes?

oh and everything else not mentioned (dvdrw drive etc) I'm moving in from my old computer

 

I think that would be w00t lol.
I can find no flaw with that setup AT ALL. Rock solid.

 

Not a bad budget build, but I would opt for a Maxtor HD with 16 MB cache (I bought a 250 GB one for $119 and now they're down to low $90's). If you get two of them, you can Raid them! But of course, I am still a newbie so I guess that means take my advice with a grain of salt

 

The grain of salt is that Maxtor drives are loud and lower quality than the near-silent Segates. I'd also advise against RAID, good though the performance is, it has too many disadvantages.

 

i had more problem with Segates then maxtor...now that Segates bought maxtor it will be western for me..from now out...

to me maxtors are much quieter then seagate,

 

Hmm fair enough. I can't really say about any drives other than that my old Seagate Medalist still works after 5 years of use and 8 years of existance. My WD drives have all been good, and even my Maxtor DM+8 has been OK, but the WD2000 wasn't strong enough to survive the massive surge my Qtec PSU created. (neither was high quality Samsung memory or a Panasonic floppy disk drive so this is largely irrelevaant) so I can't say I've never had one fail. However, the DM+8 was ready after a reformat (the FAT was razed but it was physically intact). The two WD2500s weren't formatted at the time, so I can't say, but they still worked. The drives are near silent and I've had no problems relating to workmanship as of yet. Can't wait to try out their Raptor series. However, IMO the best hard drives are Samsungs. When you sort case vibration out they are pretty much inaudible.

 

I usually listen to music or am playing games on my rig and I don't notice any "noise" so poeple that whine about noise must be hyper sensitive compared to me. I can't see why so many people care about having a "noiseless" PC. As I said earlier, mine is noiseless . . . to me. As for what is best: I like my raptors just fine. I have had a WD 80 GB HD go bad. I have had my Maxtor for about a year or so and it works fine.

 

I merely took the maxtor figure because it seemed to me that they've had a few more problems than most, but tbh all manufacturers have their bad times, It's the Caviar's turn at the moment, there's a recent influx of bad reviews on newegg. Before we know it, it'll have moved onto maybe Hitachi. It just happens. You're right about silent PCs, I don't care for silence, I'd rather have performance, but It's nice to have a PC that doesn't annoy you with its loudness, yours may not but some do.

 

looks like i started some drama in here with my mention of seagate HDD's haha... well I chose seagate because I've had several of their drives in the past (external and internal for ALOT of video storage from editing) and I've NEVER had a problem... WD is good too but I only had one of their drives and it started making weird wrrrrrrrrrrrrr noises....

AT SAMMORRIS: You better like that set up I got most* of those ideas from you! Thanks alot man I really do appreciate ur help!

 

All I hear on my PC is the 120 mm fan but that is not an annoying sound. It seems like some people have PC's within a warzone whereby, if their Pc's make a noise, then it gives away their position to the enemy resulting in them getting shot. I don't get it but maybe that's because my PC doesn't sound like a coyote in a trash compactor

Amd Athlon Barton 2600+, 250 GB Maxtor 16 MB cache, 1024 MB 3200 RAM, Sony DVD-Rom, NEC DL DVD-Burner, Sony floppy, Q-Xpack Micro Atx case (Blue), Biostar MicroAtx Mobo, and a GeForce 6600 GT. My next build: Amd Athlon X2 3800+, radeon X1600XT, 2048 MB Corsair, (2) WD 36.7 GB Raptors, External DL DVD-Burner, Green See-thru 520 Watt PSU, Q-Xpack MicroAtx Case (green), and Vista OS (just waiting til next year

 

redZone: lol yep I do like that setup, and would also recommend Seagate drives. As we said though, all manufacturers have their bad times.
zeph317: Lol, a 120mm fan isn't typically a problem. Oh, for your next build, go for an X1800GTO instead. Much faster, and not a lot more expensive. I can happily deal with the sound of my PC, though silent PC enthusiasts would say it's very raucous, but I wouldn't mind it just that wee bit quieter.

 

Thanks for the tip! I noticed on Newegg that there were some that were described as being "crossfire" ready. Does that mean that the others are not crossfire ready?

 

Well you see, Crossfire ready is a bit of a wooly term.
Most modern Graphics card types from ATI now support Crossfire, them being:
X800 series
X850 series
X1600 series
X1800 series
X1900 series

However, the X800, X850, X1800 and X1900 series use the first idea of Crossfire, which is a Master/Slave setup, where one special card has the ability to host the processes and the other normal one tags along with it. The X1600 series cards work on the SLi style principal of just using two of the same card, and that'll do.
Crossfire ready is any system, where a normal card can be added, and you can then start with crossfire, so this would only apply to the X1600 series, or a Crossfire master card. In any other case, you'd need to buy a special master card before you're OK for crossfire.

 

hi guys i should be getting my shipment of goods by wednesday and I was thinking... I ordered everything for my computer(you know, besides the DVDRW, floppy, monitor, etc), and I bought it all in retail packaging so will it all come with everything i need? I mean wires, and maybe some install instructions (especially for the mobo, psu)??? Just a thought cuz I've never built my own comp from scratch and dunno what to expect.... Thx!

I just wanted to know if I should go pre-shopping for anything else that may be a necessity, or highly recommended? If you're curious about what i bought scroll back i posted it b4!

 

if everything comes up as "retail" you'll get what you need. The A8N-SLi deluxe board comes with a huge amount of stuff.

 

heh, speaking of noisey computers, mine has to take the cake, im running 2 vantec tornados right now, 1 92mm, 1 80 mm , provides some of the best cooling ive ever seen next to water cooling. My pc sounds about like a vaccum cleaner when i turn it on.

edit by creaky, FartDude has requested his account be closed..

 

2 Vantecs? Ouch. Why?

 

my lastest rig shouldnt have to update for a little while i hope...

[bold]Lian-Li V1000 Full Tower/Antec-TruePower550-Watt/ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB Socket 939/ Seagate160GB Barracuda/ Westeren Digital Raptor 150 GB Sata/ATI-Radeon-X850 XT Platinum/ CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 433(PC 3500)/AMD Opteron 175 Demark Dual Core/Zalman CNPS-9500 LED/2-Plextor PX-716A Drives/Lite-On SHW-160P6S/View Sonic-VP2030b 20.1"LCD 1600x1200 res.8ms Respone Time[/bold]

 

wow aabbccdd how much did that build cost? it looks amazing

 

Yeah it'd be above my new build in some areas, maybe behind in others, but overall probably a better system.
I've bought a rig with:

X2 4200+ and Zalman CNPS7000-Alcu (for weight reasons over cost)
A8N-SLi SE and Arctic silver V for CPU and Northbridge (Akasa AK-210)
2x1GB Corsair Value Select PC3200
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3
Hiper 580W UV Power Supply
NZXT Lexa case with Ultraviolet lighting, cables and floorfan
WD 37GB Raptor and Seagate 250GB Barracuda, NEC DVD+/-RW and LG DVD-ROM drive, plus Aerocool II Panel

Should kick moderate amounts of ass I hope!