Guidance required : Time to build a New PC !!

R

RenegadeRocks

Legend
Well, after spending money on games, I still managed to save some money for my new PC. I am not sure yet, but this is swimming in my mind :

Intel core 2 quad Q9300 6mb L2 cache
*please suggest a mobo for it
4gb DDR2 kingston RAM
Seagate barracuda 7200rpm 500gb SATA
9800 GTX (*suggest brand)
Razor Copperhead mouse

Thoughts and suggestions urgently required ! I will be using it mainly for gaming and lighting n texturing in Maya n Photoshop n some compositing in Fusion too.
 
Go with a Q9450 from MicroCenter instead. $279 for OEM, $299 for boxed. The 9300 is $249. May as well double that cache. Core is a cache-hungry architecture.
 
Switch to a WD 640GB drive. its quieter, faster. Price difference shouldnt be much. Also, why the 9800GTX are you working within a tight budget?
 
epicstruggle said:
Switch to a WD 640GB drive. its quieter, faster. Price difference shouldnt be much.
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Good point. I've never had problems with any WD drive I've owned, an I had 6 of them in my last system totaling 1.68TB.

epicstruggle said:
Also, why the 9800GTX are you working within a tight budget?
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Yeah, I'd go for a 4850 here as well. 98gtx's are nice, but the 4850 is just a better value with HQ settings.

Davros said:
little quote i found
X48 Roundup: ASUS, ECS & Intel - The ASUS Rampage Formula, which is by far the best board out of these three

http://techgage.com/article/x48_roundup_asus_ecs_intel/
Click to expand...

I thought about getting that board myself, but ended up with a cheapo Gigabyte EP35DS3L instead. 4+GHz E8400 and 88GT @ 700/1688/1980 ain't half-bad @ 1080P HQ settings ;)
 
And before installing, set your SATAs to AHCI mode. I believe some of the modern SATA features are not enabled otherwise.
Changing from IDE to AHCI mode after install is a (6 hour long) pain afterwards, at least on XP.
 
ShaidarHaran said:
Go with a Q9450 from MicroCenter instead. $279 for OEM, $299 for boxed. The 9300 is $249. May as well double that cache. Core is a cache-hungry architecture.
Click to expand...

Hmmm..Actually I was not sure what exact difference would that extra cache make, so I went for the lower price of 9300.So, what gain in performance does it make.I would really like to be educated on that front.

epicstruggle said:
Switch to a WD 640GB drive. its quieter, faster. Price difference shouldnt be much. Also, why the 9800GTX are you working within a tight budget?
Click to expand...

Ya, budget is already almost maxed out with these components, as I bought a Sony Bravia 32V300A for my monitor cum TV(ps3). Also, what are the other options ? ATI 4850 ..... How much more would it cost?Is it proven in the market yet?

I have the option of WD 500gb SATA or Seagate barracuda 500GB? Which one should I go for? I had a WD hardisk earlier, but developed bad sectors and had to be replaced. So, I was a little wary.

Also, what do you guys think of the Cooler Master Cabinets and SMPSs?
 
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Well, try swapping that 9800 GTX out for a 4850. Trust me, you'll be happier in the long run. They're both good cards, the 4850 is just newer and better.

For the HD, go with WD. Seagate was making good drives in the .9/.10 days, but the .11 series is crap, and even the .10 was easily surpassed by several WD drives in its day. I had 6 WD drives in my last system. Disk performance was through the roof in RAID 0 :D

Coolermaster makes good stuff. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend most anything they make.
 
If I go for 4850, then what about missing out on CUDA? Or is it something I don't have to worry about?

Also, going with Q9450, does 12mbL2 cache mean 3mb cache for each core?

I am gonna go seriously overbudget.Please recommend a motherboard which is midrange priced to go along with Q9450...!
 
RenegadeRocks said:
If I go for 4850, then what about missing out on CUDA? Or is it something I don't have to worry about?

Also, going with Q9450, does 12mbL2 cache mean 3mb cache for each core?

I am gonna go seriously overbudget.Please recommend a motherboard which is midrange priced to go along with Q9450...!
Click to expand...

CUDA can be thought of as a programming language for GPUs. Unless you'll be doing GPGPU coding it should have no effect on your purchase decision. The 4850 is a better card all around.
 
Thanx for clearing up things for me.So, as of now the config is

Intel core 2 quad Q9450 12mb L2 cache
*please suggest a mobo for it
4gb DDR2 kingston RAM
WD 500gb SATA
ATI 4850
COOLER MASTER CM 690 CABINET
COOLERMASTER EXTREME-600W-PCAR SMPS
Razor Copperhead mouse

Just one thing remains: Please recommend a motherboard which is midrange priced to go along with Q9450. I am going to run stuff at stock settings so overclocking endurance is not a criteria for me.
 
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RenegadeRocks said:
If I go for 4850, then what about missing out on CUDA? Or is it something I don't have to worry about?

Also, going with Q9450, does 12mbL2 cache mean 3mb cache for each core?

I am gonna go seriously overbudget.Please recommend a motherboard which is midrange priced to go along with Q9450...!
Click to expand...

While the 4850 is very slightely faster on average and also supports DX10.1 you have to consider the drivers as well.

ATI still doesn't support game specific image quality profiles. If you currently use these then losing them could be a major deal. Right now thats the biggest thing that would put me off an ATI card.
 
Guys whats the difference b/n DX38BT and DX48BT2 ?
Is it just the difference in mem speed? Coz I am anyways buying DDR2 800MHz, so it won't affect me , right?
 
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OK, So, still haven't got any replies on my Mobo queries:cry:.

Regarding Cabinets I want to decide b/n these two.If any of you has any experience with these please point out any negatives.I won't be using liquid cooling, but my PC will not be in an Air Conditioned room, so, I think air flow is important.

Cooler Master Centurion 590


or

Cooler Master CM 690

Centurion 590 is the newer one, is also a tad bit smaller.


Also, throw some light on my Mobo query:

Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 (Intel X38, 1600 MHz FSB)


I think it goes well with my Q9450 and HD4850.......any comments?
 
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