Building a new system

[Treehuggerish]

Right, I've been duking it out with design for quite some years now, but I have never actually scratch built a system. This time I am going to since I understand enough to know that the "prebuilt" systems I used to buy either have some really stupid bottlenecks, a crappy PSU that'll die before I can blink or are configured with parts that I really don't need.

So, Entering the hardware jungle is pretty much... freaking me out. billions of different types of RAM, way too many chipsets that all have features I don't know what is etc. Anyways, I'll start by answering all the questions asked in the sticky.

My pc will be used primarily for heavy duty visual work often including running photoshop, illlustrator and 3d studio / maya at the same time. Also some Avid editing will be done. Secondarily I enjoy playing a game from time to time, and since I have been forced to run everything in ultra-low for a while now I'd like to enjoy games with high settings that'd include new games too.

Another thing is that I would like it to be as quiet as possible. I realize that there is no way you can get a really powerful system whisper quiet, but I'm willing to pay more to get... schyte fans for everything, noise-blocker-foam-thingies, rubber-thingies to mount fans etc.

My budget is, hmm, it is hard to translate into dollars since exchange rates are varying and prices on components differ wildly between Denmark and the states but
I guess my budget is around 3000$.

I'm from Denmark so parts will be bought in Denmark.

I am not a fan of any brand, I don't really give a crap about brands

I will not be overclocking anything.

I will be building the system within a month or two, there is no real deadline but I'd like to get it done withing a coupple of months since my current system is.. more or less bandaged with duct tape, randomly shuts down, is slow as hell etc.

Right... now onto the thoughts I've been having, and your chance to ridicule my lack of knowledge

From the get go I have sort of, determined that I would like a quad core CPU, 8 gigs of ram and I'd prefer to use a single card solution (no SLI or CF). I'll be running 64 bit vista.

Where I really run into trouble is choosing the parts. I am easly lured in by hype telling me to get the greatest, most flashy, artsy mobo from ASUS, supre ninja extreme whatever RAM from corsair etc. I know squat about chipsets for the mobos and yeah.. I really need help

I allready have monitors and all peripherals I need, it is only the box itself.

So.. suggestions would be... extremely welcome.

Best regards
-Me

 

[Urtho]

Originally posted by: Treehuggerish
I will be building the system within a month or two, there is no real deadline but I'd like to get it done withing a coupple of months...

That's kind of a far off in the distance time frame for a new system build as quite a lot can change in 2 months time in both products available and the prices of those products. I'll give you some generic advice here, but you'll have to figure out exact pricing from wherever in Denmark you're going to be buying your items from when you actually decide to pull the trigger.

CPU - for your usage pattern, one of the new Peryn quads should suit you fine. Since you don't plan to overclock you'll probably need something in the Q9300 - Q9550 family. The latter two (Q9450 and Q9550) are VERY hard to find right now. In 2 months who knows? The market may be flooded with them and my points here will be invalid then. In any case, get the highest end cpu you can find and afford, Q9450 is a good middle ground. Figure at least $300 USD here.

Motherboard - Popular picks are the DS3L from Gigabyte, the IP-35 Pro from Abit, the P5K-E family from ASUS, and the Neo2 boards from MSI as well as others that get mentioned now and then. Pick one in your price range with features you need and you're set. ($90 - $150)

Ram - For your needs, 8GB is the way to go for sure. Pick up 4 x 2 GB sticks of some good quality PC6400 DDR2 - Geil, Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, among others are good choices. (~ $150)

Video Card - really hard to say what will be a good deal for this part that far out in time. Probably some varient of the 8800 GTS will still hold the price/performance crown but that's nothing but a wild guess really. Nvidia and ATI are rumored to be bringing out brand new parts around that timeframe so... ($150 - $600 depending on how hard core your gaming needs are)

Hard Drive - Storage space will be at a premium for you, so pick up as many hard drives as you think you'll need in the 500GB - 1TB range. Popular choices are the WD 640GB drive or the Spinpoint F1 750GB drive in the price/GB + performance area. ($200 - $600 or more depending on how heavy your storage needs are)

Case - Personal choice more than anything. Get something you like to look at that has good airflow with any extras you want such as external connector ports. For silence, the Antec Soyata III with an including 500W PSU has been mentioned before as a good choice. ($70 - $200)

PSU - a unit in the 500W - 700W range should be more than enough for this system if you don't plan on overclocking or adding an insane amount of hardrives. Popular brands are Corsair, Seasonic, Power&Cooling. ($80 - $150 or not needed at all - see above)

DVD Drive - anything is really sufficient here, you pick what you like ( ~ $30)

OS - Vista 64-bit Home Premium is a good baseline choice unless you really need the features that Business or Ultimate offer (read up) as it will make use of all 8 GB of your ram ($100 for an OEM copy)

Final totals give you a range of from ~ $1200 to ~ $2300 or more depending on your options. I suggest you find a store or stores you will be purchasing from in Denmark and then make out a parts and price list based on my outline here and what you really think your wants and needs are. That's when you're ready to buy or close to it of course. If you're not going to be buying until July well... come back in late June and ask again?

 

[Treehuggerish]

Excellent thanks. I'll go looking at the parts, and when the day comes I'll make up a list of parts and see what all you clever people think of it.

On a sidenote reading around this forum is great I'm learning tons of stuff by the hour.

Thanks for the long answer and one in a language that makes sense to my not-so-technical brain