Another help me build my computer thread

[diony]

I'l be getting a new computer. My current computer is from... 2002 or 2003.... specs:

 Computer:
      Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
      OS Service Pack                                   Service Pack 2
      DirectX                                           4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

    Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          AMD Athlon XP, 2200 MHz (11 x 200) 3200+
      Motherboard Name                                  FIC K7M-NF18G (AU31)  (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN)
      Motherboard Chipset                               nVIDIA nForce2 IGP
      System Memory                                     448 MB  (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
      BIOS Type                                         Award (11/04/03)
      Communication Port                                Communications Port (COM1)
      Communication Port                                ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

    Display:
      Video Adapter                                     NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU  (64 MB)
      3D Accelerator                                    nVIDIA nForce2
      Monitor                                           NEC MultiSync 50  (8Z10119YA)

    Multimedia:
      Audio Adapter                                     nVIDIA MCP2 - Audio Codec Interface

My major problem is that I multi-task ALOT... Right now im using up 800 MB of memory and no games or editing programs are even open. I usually have a large amount of different programs running at same time D:. I'm not a hardcore gamer, (just FFXI), but I might possibly pick up other games, so graphics aren't that crucial to me. The worst thing I've put my computer through is using up 1.8 GB+ of memory with 400 mb of ram... (FFXI + Adobe Flash, Photoshop, a compiler,a lot of firefox tabs, iTunes, AIM, MSN...).

I've been browsing the "build my comp!" threads, and browsing newegg, and this is the setup I've been looking at:

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM: (G-skill)
Can't decide between 2 GB and 4 GB... I heard something about Windows XP Home 32 bit not fully utilizing all the memory if you have over 2.7GB?

Processor:
Choosing between Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
and
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
Probably going to go for the quad... I hear it's very well worth it's price tag, and I've seen that sig of someone running an overclocked quad core and scoring 14k on the ffxi benchmark lol.

Case + power supply:
RAIDMAX Scorpio ATX-868WUP Blue Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply - Retail

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Burner/Reader (these read/write to both CD and DVD right?D
Sony NEC Optiarc Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

Video Card:
I have no idea honestly... I've dealt with an integrated GPU all the time heh, don't know what higher end video cards offer, unless someone wants to suggest to me a card that I should especially get / avoid, I might pick up any 50$ card that looks good and is compatible. Keep in mind I'm not a hardcore gamer... but I might want to try some softcore gaming on my computer down the long run (ie: random non-online PC games like a Tycoon game).

Audio Card:
N/A, generic headphones / speakers are all I'll ever use.

As far as I can tell everything is physically compatible with eachother... but I'm new to building computers, this will be my first. Can anyone review my items and see if they all work together?

Any input on items you would reccomend getting or reccomend to avoid would be nice, thanks!

[diony]

Secondary question:

When I build said computer, is it possible to take out the IDE hard drive, hook it into my new computer with the IDE cable that comes with the motherboard, and copy the OS and all my data over to my new SATA drive? Or will I have to find a copy of an OS somewhere (by means that may or may not be condoned by Microsoft <_<)? I plan on letting my mother use my old computer when the transfer is done.

[Avanarius]

Secondary question:

When I build said computer, is it possible to take out the IDE hard drive, hook it into my new computer with the IDE cable that comes with the motherboard, and copy the OS and all my data over to my new SATA drive? Or will I have to find a copy of an OS somewhere (by means that may or may not be condoned by Microsoft <_<)? I plan on letting my mother use my old computer when the transfer is done.

No to the first question (edit: more specifically yes you can, but you can't really make the OS run if that's what you mean, but you can copy personal files over and stuff), Yes to the second.

If your looking for playing ffxi and a maybe a few other games but nothing hardcore I would recommend something around the 8600 range as you can get it for under $100 if you're lucky. It will still play NEW games just not well, in case for whatever reason you end up with a copy of a game that you just want to try.

Edit#3 please for the love of god if you're going to put out the money for a new computer buy a good PSU. It's the most important part of the computer b-.-

[diony]

Edit: Ok, before I can choose the PSU I need to see how much power my card will be draining...

Looking for 8600 cards now...

[Epical]

500W should be more than enough for whatever you end up getting.

[Cjskater]

ib4that guy suggests that DFI board

As for your build, everything looks fine. In the *actual* $50 range of cards there is the x1650 and 8500 which is fine for older games. Not so much with new ones, would have to use low/med settings to play most (new). I doubt like say Crysis would be playable, could be wrong though. I would suggest going for a $100+ card if you have the money.

[levish]

a x1650pro I believe would be a decent choice a bank breaking 59$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102098

[Cephius]

We really need a sticky on building computers...

Your setup looks good for what you want to do. The Q6600 is a pretty popular processor right now and for good reason. Just realize most programs won't fully utilize it, but you're essentially future-proofing yourself which is never a bad thing.

I'd go with 2GB of ram, 4 really isn't necessary for anything that isn't a server. Also, I realize you don't play many games outside of FFXI, but by skimping on the video card you pretty much assure yourself that if something new comes along that you want to play, you won't be able to. It may be worth it to spend an extra 100 bucks if you can see yourself trying a different PC game in the near future.

As for your question about moving your data from an IDE drive to a SATA drive, you can use an imaging program like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image to clone the hard drives. This effectively makes an exact byte-for-byte copy of one hard drive onto another. Though I'm honestly not sure how licensing Windows would work if you use both separately as an operating system.

[Cjskater]

a x1650pro I believe would be a decent choice a bank breaking 59$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102098

XT is $64 ;o
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814131074
although lower max-res (like most people go that high D

[levish]

the XT also has 24 pixel pipes vs the pro's 12 and it also has GDDR3 making it a much better choice for only 5$ more so go with the x1650XT

[diony]

We really need a sticky on building computers...

Your setup looks good for what you want to do. The Q6600 is a pretty popular processor right now and for good reason. Just realize most programs won't fully utilize it, but you're essentially future-proofing yourself which is never a bad thing.

Yeah, I know the quad-core's a bit overkill for me, but I never know what I'll do in the future with this comp.

As for the video card: I was looking at:
XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

since the previous poster suggested an 8600, and this one's gotten good reviews on newegg.

And case + power supply:
RAIDMAX Scorpio ATX-868WBP Black 0.8mm Japanese SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420watts PS2 ATX12V Power Supply - Retail

As for the OS thing... I was considering a pirated version of windows XP... but my computer doesn't always burn stuff to DVD correctly, and I don't like the idea of using illegal software. I was researching student liscences, and all I come accross is :
A) Get a liscence from my school, which is a no-no (my school is Mac only).
B) They only offer student liscences for upgrades.

So it looks like i'll have to buy the OEM version of Microsoft XP home or proffesional on newegg, unless someone has other options

[Cephius]

As for the OS thing... I was considering a pirated version of windows XP... but my computer doesn't always burn stuff to DVD correctly, and I don't like the idea of using illegal software. I was researching student liscences, and all I come accross is :
A) Get a liscence from my school, which is a no-no (my school is Mac only).
B) They only offer student liscences for upgrades.

So it looks like i'll have to buy the OEM version of Microsoft XP home or proffesional on newegg, unless someone has other options

What about the computer you're using now? Microsoft is surprisingly easy to deal with when it comes to activating Windows. If you still have the key from your current system, you can use that copy, call Microsoft and when they ask tell them you're moving your stuff onto a new computer and want to register it. They'll give you a number to type in and you're good to go. I did the exact same thing with a copy of Windows I had on an old laptop. You just need a Windows XP CD.

[Araius]

I just got that Quad about a month ago. Highly recommend it. Not much stuff can take advantage of it now, but that model is so inexpensive it's worth springing for. Make sure you get the one with G0 stepping, newegg had a little blurb about it I think.

Got the 8600GT as well, but I got the 256MB. Nice inexpensive card, but wish I'd gone 512. Wouldn't notice the difference in FFXI, but I play UT3 as well and I'm sure you would there.

[levish]

more video ram rarely if ever makes for more than a 5% difference at high resolutions.

5% of 40fps is 2fps so it won't make a game playable that wasn't before, what it might let you do is use high(er) quality textures instead of normal ones

[diony]

what games would utilize it fully?

[Cephius]

what games would utilize it fully?

I know Crysis does, and I believe the new Unreal Tournament game supports 4 cores as well. Most new (good, meaning not the stupid movie knockoff) games going forward will most likely utilize 4 cores.

[levish]

No games currently FULLY utilize multiple cores and most well coded games are actually more video card dependent than processor (to a certain degree)

[diony]

Oh, I'm sorry I was reffering to the video card ><

[Ryalena]

Sorry I didn't want to make a new thread just to ask this, but figured since everyone here is talking about building a new computer this would be a good place to ask. Everyone seems to be using the Newegg site when building their computers but I am wondering if there is an alternative site which services Canada as well since Newegg doesn't?

[Sonomaa]

Sorry I didn't want to make a new thread just to ask this, but figured since everyone here is talking about building a new computer this would be a good place to ask. Everyone seems to be using the Newegg site when building their computers but I am wondering if there is an alternative site which services Canada as well since Newegg doesn't?

futureshop.ca