Seriously considering cutting my build short

J

javisaman

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 3, 2007
Messages
500
For the past 3 months I've been considering building a new rig. I've bought parts as they came one sale but have yet to buy a few critical parts (CPU, MB, Video card, PSU).

Here is what I have so far:

Older revision Antec P180 (should have waited a month for the newer one) - it is now painted (won't post pictures in Case Modding forum yet!) and will soon be chopped up for some wire management, fan mods, and watercooling.

Custom Watercooling Kit - Almost all swiftech parts, MCP355 w/ top and Triple Rad and 7/16" tubing.

2 x Seagate 7200.10 320GB HDDs

2 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC8000

All together I spent about $600 on this computer. After seeing some of the new hardware coming up I feel like I jumped the gun to early on some of the parts.

Here is my projected cost based on the parts that I need/ want:

Another set of 2GB Crucial Ballistix 8000 Tracer - Right now ram prices are at there lowest and it seems like I should probably get them while I still can. ~$150

A 500GB HDD - I need this for a backup storage and to load a linux distribution. ~$110

Intel Q6600 - Hopefully with July price cuts ~$266

eVGA Gefore 8800GTS 640mb - The GTX/Ultra's don't seem better for Price/Performance ~$325

Corsair 620hx - $150

Motherboard - $200

DVD-Rom drives/ etc ~$75

Total: $1276

Now here is where the my problem comes in. $1300 (not including the $600 I already spent) seems like a lot of money for a system that could be outdated in a couple of months.

By "outdated" here are some specifics I'm referring too:

1. My original plan was to get the AMD Phenom as a couple of months it was mentioned that they'd be appearing during July (hence the intel price cut). And I do have a significant preference for AMD as I have close family who works there. In addition, there is a good chance I can get an engineering sample of one, but I wouldn't know where to begin about getting it setup with current motherboards. Also I'm using PC8000 (1000Mhz) ram, the Phenom will use PC8000 (or 1066Mhz)

2. I'm using DDR2 ram. DDR3 is now out, though expensive, it seems like it'll be catching on soon. Especially since at this tech show it was mentioned that Corsair would release DDR3 2000Mhz PC16K during the August time frame.

3. The 8800 GTS seems like a poor purchase this late in the game. There have been no DX10 games available yet and the demos that have been release (Lost Planet?) show poor performance. Also nvidia will most likely be releasing its 9000 series cards Q4 '07, which apparently are more efficient heat wise and twice as fast as the current generation.

4. Intel may not actually have these rumored price cuts...and then I'd be completely screwed and I may just be stuck with a dual core system, which cost me $1900...


My proposed solutions:

1. Forget the rest of the parts, just move my current pc to the new case. Sell the HDDs/Ram here or on Ebay an cut my losses.

2. Sell everything here/ebay.

3. By a cheap current AMD AM2 system, and hope for a probable solution later. This includes using the eVGA step up program and hoping that the 9000s actually is released Q4. *Not my suggestion, but my fathers

4. Sell the ram and wait it out.

5. Stick with the plan. I've got the money, but no job (yet!) and I've got one more year of college left. I can't let this continue to bother me, especially when school starts again.


What should I do?

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for the suggestions.

And for the record I don't mean to offend anyone by using the term "outdated" on someone's configuration similar to mine.
 
What exactly were you planning to do with this new system that warrants an additional $1300?

I don't think you need a $200 motherboard and 4GB of RAM unless you're running a 64bit OS and doing some really intensive work like video editing. Also, do you really need an 8800GTS 640MB? How big is your monitor? In addition, do you really think you need 500GB extra storage when you already have a 640GB already?

I'm offering you a 6th option: cut back on non-essential and expensive parts and sell off that water cooling stuff. Air Cooling as gotten really decent at cooling these past few years and it's also becoming silent as well. Just go for cheaper parts and you'll be good to go.

Oh and DDR3 won't really be worth in terms of price and performance till Q2 2008. Even then, it probably won't really be widespread till late next year. Look how long DDR lasted after DDR2 was released. It wasn't until last year that DDR1 RAM truly began to die out when AMD released socket AM2 which supported DDR2.

So what exactly are you planning to do with this system?
 
Thanks for the reply...it's 3:30AM and I'm still looking at forums:confused:

Well I was planning on seeing what I can do with it as a workstation/gaming rig. Right now I do some development with parallel computing for biological simulations (for research and as a hobby). Furthermore, a year ago I also got into 3d modeling, but I found that my computer took a long time ray-tracing so eventually got out of it. The quad-core processor will also help out in my compiling times. But once again these are just hobbies...

Most importantly, as you'll notice from my sig, is that I like to keep my systems for quite a while (I'm running an AthlonXP for god sakes!) and upgrade parts as the become available and cheap. I want a solution that will last me for some time.

The 500GB hard drive is for backup as I plan on using the 320GBs in a RAID 0 configuration. I mean I got both of them together cheaper than a single WD Raptor 150GB. Also, I'd be using some of the space on the 500GB for a linux installation, as I do a lot of my code development in linux. I can't use the RAIDed 320s for two different operating systems.

The reason I considered the 4GB of ram is because DDR2 ram is probably the cheapest it'll ever be and I think if I plan on keeping the rig for 4-5yrs then I might as well get 4GB now. I'm aware I'd need a 64-bit OS to run more than 3.2GB, and that shouldn't be a problem ( I can order the Vista 64-bit media for free+shipping, and linux is already free).

The 8800GTS is just for the "gaming rig" side of the system I'm building...I am a college student. At the current prices the GTS 640mb is the best value in my opinion. The lower end dx10 cards are too expensive for the performance they offer. Right now I'm running a Samsung 224w at 1620x1050 and I'm assuming to be able to run most of the new games coming out I'd need at least a 8800GTS.

Now, the $200 motherboard is where I can probably cut down on. I really wasn't sure what good (decently OCable) MBs go for nowawadys? Should it be less?

Watercooling is something I probably shouldn't have spent my money on. I didn't realize it'd be soooo freaking expensive! It was more of a "wow" factor kind of thing to begin with, and it was rewarding setting it up. But the main thing that drove up the costs is it seems the only components people recommend on these tech forums are the high end ones. I don't think I'd sell it separately because I probably won't make that much money for used parts and would probably break even with some high end air cooling. So I guess I shouldn't have complained about the $600 I already spent. I should be just complaining about the $350 on everything minus watercooling;)

So if you didn't feel like reading all of the stuff above here is my main point I'm trying to get across: I want a system that is a good value and will last me for some time to come.

So does $1900 sound like a good value for a quad core, 4GB, 640 Raid 0, 500GB storage (1.1 TB!), Dual boot (Windows Vista Business 64-bit and Gentoo Linux 64-bit), 8800GTS, watercooled rig?

It sure beats a Dell right?! Please don't post any current Dell deals on a similarly configured system for much less!

I should stop writing some long posts...maybe its just the lack of sleep...

Thanks again!
 
Also I forgot to mention that if it wasn't for that damn free copy of Windows Vista Business I got from the Power-Together offer I wouldn't be in this predicament!
 
$1900 sounds about right. Since you do keep your system around for quite a long time, then go for it.

But I will recommend that you drop the 8800GTS. DX10 isn't widely the standard yet for video games. DX9 is gonna last at least another year or two. I recommend getting a mid-range card now, like an overclocked 8600GTS or ATI's HD2600XT when it comes out later this month, and then buy another mid-range card next year. I'm betting that by this time next year, ATI or Nvidia will release new mid-range DX10 cards that will outperform the 8800GTS. yes getting two mid-range DX10 cards is equal to one 8800GTS but you do get better performance in the long-run.

About the RAID: since you are a poor college student, do you really think you need RAID performance right now? I say just forget the RAID and just stick with two separate hard drives. This way you won't need to buy a 500GB hard drive now. Wait another year or so and prices will drop on 500GB drives. Last year I bought a 300GB hard drive for $100. Now you can get a 320GB drive for $70 to $80. Yes that's a only a saving of $20 but as a college student, every dollar counts.

As for overclocking motherboads, there are a ton of decent overclocking motherboards out there for around $100 to $140. Here are a couple of good overclocking motherboards:
MSI P6N SLI-FI NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI Motherboard - $110
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Intel P965 Express Motherboard - $116

Look around the net for more motherboard reviews.
 
Ok, you're posts are just way too long, lol. If any questions haven't been answered, could you summarize them? lol.
 
Will do.

All of my questions have been answered...I've decided to continue with the build. Hardware is always changing and it almost impossible to keep up.

Thanks for the help!
 
32 stream processors per 8600 GTS, running faster than the 8800 GTS, yes, but not that much faster. 96 stream processors per 8800 GTS. Even with 2 8600 GTS's, you're looking at 2/3rds as many stream processors. I don't see getting comparable performance -- at least not in shader-intensive apps.
 
I agree. All of the current gen midrange cards kind of suck. They don't seem to have good DX10 performance (but then again neither do the 8800s) and they run DX9 games slower than the high-end last gen cards. So I see no point in going with that option.
 
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