[Fadingz]

I'm building a PC for one of my uni best friends.

So far, I got:

$390 for
-ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
-Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
-Antec P183 (my friend insists on getting this one for the look)
-GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
-OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK


I yet need:

no more than $410 for
-HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card (my friend wants decent sound card, so creative cards are no go)
-CPU
-GPU

w/ SPU in mind (around $90), there will be $320 left.
So I'm thinking getting Q8400 with GTS 250 or HD 4770 might be a resolution around the limit.
The PC will be doing audio and modeling work, almost no gaming.
Hence, I'm also thinking about getting Q9550 with 9800 GT or something cheaper.


Anyhoo, any recommendation on CPU and GPU choice within/around $300 will be much appreciated.

 

[LoneWolf]

where is the proccy ?

 

[Cid Highwind]

Read, LoneWolf:

w/ SPU in mind (around $90), there will be $320 left.
So I'm thinking getting Q8400 with GTS 250 or HD 4770 might be a resolution around the limit.
The PC will be doing audio and modeling work, almost no gaming.
Hence, I'm also thinking about getting Q9550 with 9800 GT or something cheaper.


Anyhoo, any recommendation on CPU and GPU choice within/around $300 will be much appreciated.

I wouldn't go with the Q8xxx series unless you don't care about a high OC. My Q8200 doesn't go much higher than 2.8 GHz even though it's sufficient for everything. The Q8400 will probably go a bit higher. In this budget, why won't you consider getting a Phenom II or so?

Since he'll be doing modelling, would Cuda support be of any benefit?

 

[Mr. B]

Since he'll be doing modelling, would Cuda support be of any benefit?

Oh please >_>

In a GPU based raytracer scenario, it was tested that between GLSL, HLSL, and CUDA, it made no difference.

So where the hell did you get that information from?

 

[Cid Highwind]

I know it's highly application specific, but I don't know which apps he runs. nVidia often has slightly better acceleration support AFAIK, so it might have an added value as opposed to ATi.

 

[gamefreak94]

Q9450 + 9800GTX?

Read, LoneWolf:

I wouldn't go with the Q8xxx series unless you don't care about a high OC. My Q8200 doesn't go much higher than 2.8 GHz even though it's sufficient for everything. The Q8400 will probably go a bit higher. In this budget, why won't you consider getting a Phenom II or so?

Since he'll be doing modelling, would Cuda support be of any benefit?

He already purchased a socket 775 mobo

 

[Phil]

Fadz, trade out that PSU. You will be asking for trouble. Get a higher end Antec one or other brand, such as a Corsair HX

 

[Cid Highwind]

Q9450 + 9800GTX?



He already purchased a socket 775 mobo

Nevermind :heh:

But yeah, I'd suggest going for something similar as GF did above, perhaps with a 4890 if it fits within budget? On the other hand in that case it might be worth waiting slightly for the 5770 of ATi, it will run games just fine, but when it doesn't the idle use should be down to 20W or so if it's doing it as well as the rest of the HD5k series.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

TT or Corsair > Antec

 

[Mr. B]

I know it's highly application specific, but I don't know which apps he runs. nVidia often has slightly better acceleration support AFAIK, so it might have an added value as opposed to ATi.

True. However, it was proven on numerous occasions with purely GPU based raytracers, CUDA makes zero difference. Its on par with GLSL and HLSL. Which is truly saying something about its usefulness as a raytracing format. Sure, for encoding its great, but as a renderer means, its quite redundant.

The tests were done by someone I know who works for a living researching fractals, developing 4KB graphics demos and other things (Shash might know who I am referring to )

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

What's up with the huge wattage on that PSU...a nice Corsair HX620W should be more than enough.

Anyways 9800GT + Q9550 sounds like a good combination. Certainly enough for now and if down the line he suddenly feels more like gaming he can always fork out for a better GPU then.


You've got the wrong CPU cooler by the way, the Freezer 64 is the AMD version, you want the Freezer 7.

 

[Mr. B]

Anyways 9800GT + Q9550 sounds like a good combination. Certainly enough for now and if down the line he suddenly feels more like gaming he can always fork out for a better GPU then.

Personally, I am quite surprised a Quadro has not been suggested. Those things are made for raw rendering power.

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

At that price point a Quadro would not make sense.

 

[Mr. B]

It would.

You HAVE to make sacrifices. You can NOT expect a gaming card would work in a professional sense well! Are people that retarded?

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

A quadro that would make any sort of sense would cripple his budget too badly as far as the CPU goes leaving him barely enough for a dual-core pentium, and I have been told by someone who uses 3D modelling apps that such apps tend to benefit more from CPU Power, they even scale perfectly with two different systems working on the rendering, it's apparently the engineering apps which benefit from Quadros.
Also Fadz in the Engineering Biz (well studying to become an engineer) and he's got a quadro so he will know all about what's more important and there will be a reason he's looking at gaming cards.
Of course if that PSU get's scaled back to something more reasonable there may then be enough saved to perhaps switch to a Quadro to go along with that Q9550.
Plus of course as far as the audio work goes the Q9550 would be infinitely more important than whatever card the system has which will have no effect there whatsoever.

 

[Fadingz]

The reason why I got that PSU is because I got a deal for $89.99, while Corsair HX and ThermalTake ToughPower are all 100+ for 600W+
I personally never used Antec PSU before, but all the reviews I read say it's decent.
What kind of problem does Antec Earthwatt have? Since I can't seem to find them over the web.
They say the models with chronic problems are the SmartPower series.


I think I'll tag him a Q9550 with HD 4770 for $290. (additional $15 rebate, so $275)

Quadro is not something I would recommend to my friend, since he only needs it for uni.
He'll upgrade to workstation once he gets into professional career.

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

remember to change the CPU cooler...you've got the AMD version, you want the Freezer 7 Pro, not the 64.

 

[Fadingz]

remember to change the CPU cooler...you've got the AMD version, you want the Freezer 7 Pro, not the 64.

Yes, thank you!!


Reorganized a bit.

Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
-$45.00 Instant
$179.99
$134.99

Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5
$64.99

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
-$5.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card13-128-392
$84.99
$79.99

ASUS EN9600GT SILENT/2D/512MD3 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
-$5.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card14-121-324
$94.99
$89.99

HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
$89.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
-$60.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card17-139-005
$159.99
$99.99

CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5C G
-$10.00 Instant
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate Card20-145-247
$84.99
$74.99

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX
ZALMAN CNPS10X Extreme 120mm CPU Cooler with Worlds first PWM Fan Speed Controller
-$10.00 Instant
-$17.00 Combo
$239.98
$212.98

Subtotal: $847.91
Shipping: $27.09

Total mail in rebate: $55

Grand Total: $875.00
After mail in rebate: $825

How is this build?

 

[SCHUMI_4EVER]

hmm, you had forgotten about the HDD XD

Anyways that new build looks good, a little weaker than before, but as you had to make space for the HDD that's to be expected. Nothing that I can see that I would change seeing as I would only go for more expensive and the budget won't allow for that.

 

[Fadingz]

hmm, you had forgotten about the HDD XD

Anyways that new build looks good, a little weaker than before, but as you had to make space for the HDD that's to be expected. Nothing that I can see that I would change seeing as I would only go for more expensive and the budget won't allow for that.

Yes, I did realized that I forgot about the HDD, so I compiled the second build :x