A Rookie has landed

[Appoo]

Hi Rob,

I found your website and all the vast wealth of information. Thank you for all you do. I also found your forum and I like the no nonsense approach by you and all your members.

I ordered your book and plan to follow your instructions and suggestions to building a PC. I've purchased dozens of PC's in business and for family and have replaced or upgraded considerable parts. Now its time to build one from scratch.

I see you built your "super PC" using AMD processor. I am an old fan of Intel but always open to suggestions. Is AMD superior to Intel? If so, please explain.

After I put my parts list together, may I send it to you for checking prior to my ordering the parts? That would certainly be helpful to avoid all the incompatibility issues.

Best regards and thank you so much for your website, book and forum.

Appoo

[shyster]

Well not to steal Robs thunder, as I am not him clearly, but welcome.

That being said feel free to join us in the rest of the forum, we are glad to help as well, and especially Jamie, and WiseMonkey are very knowledgeable.

As it currently stands I would say AMD is a sinking ship, their new chips still use the 65nm architecture while the new Intel chips use the 45nm which means better cooling, more efficient, and better overclockablity because of the fact that they run cooler.

As for your parts list feel free to post it in the first build section of the forums and we will be glad to chip in with our two cents.

[Appoo]

Wow, not only do I have access to Rob, but also to Shyster and a wealth of other pc gurus. Thank you, Shyster, for the welcome! I will take your advice and post my parts list on this forum for all to comment or laugh.

[Rob]

Oh, yeah, the community here is first rate, I'm happy to say. I'll move this post to the general Build PC message board.

[chunkylover53]

Post your parts list out here on the BYOPC message board and we'll be happy to give it the once over!

[Appoo]

I've uploaded my first parts list to http://appoo.com/DaughterPC.pdf. This system will be for my daughter who is going back to college at age 36 for a master's degree. The monitor will also serve as a second TV in her home for her two children.

Please let me know if this list is complete and if the parts should work well together. Feel free to recommend changes or additions.

My PC is a Dell Precisions PWS670 with two Xeon CPUs (3.80 ghz) and 3 gb of RAM. How would this new system compare to my PC with regard to speed?

Thank you!!!

[shyster]

OK I just have to know is your computer actually running two different CPUs or does it have a dual core OC'ed to 3.80?

Secondly do you have a link to a page with the specs for your computer I just went to dell and could not find it.

Getting back on topic as to your question about the computer, what does she need it for.

You said master degree, but what kind of degree is it? If it is a degree in history or literature then all she would be doing with it is writing papers right?

If she is going for a degree in the sciences or engineering fields then she needs a computer that can run intensive software like CAD or something that can do number crunching, if she needs to do it at home for some reason instead of at the school.

If it is just writing papers getting a cheaper end laptop might be more useful to her, that way she can take it with her. This is not an attempt to dissuade you from building a computer if you want, but overkill is overkill.

Now getting back to your parts, if you still want to build a new computer.

Case: I have heard some people have problems with the power supply in that case, you might consider getting a new one. No firsthand experience with bad PSU in case just hearsay. Otherwise it is supposed to be a really nice case.

CPU: If she is doing intensive work with the computer I would have suggested getting a E8400 processor, but with the way the price has skyrocketed and with avalibilty is no supply, it might not be worth it right now. The other suggestion if she is doing video editing would be to possibly look into a quad core. I am not sure offhand if CAD can fully utilize the quad core, but most video software can I believe.

Motherboard: I am just mad at Asus right now so I will not comment or than to say that whatever ram you decide to go with make sure Asus supports on their site before you buy it.

RAM: I do not know if money is an issue for you but you might look into getting Jamie's ram of choice the corsair xms2 2x1GB. It is slightly cheaper and has more memory. Two links provided first is 800mhz and second is the same as cruical 1066mhz:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145033

Video: I would suggest getting the 8800gt 512 instead, they are actually better than the one you posted and you should be able to find one for about the same price or a little cheap as the one you posted.

TV: Wow, that is an awesome deal for one that big. I have no complaints for it as a tv, but as a monitor that thing will be daunting. Just as a note, tvs have a much lower dpi and refresh rate than monitors. This should only really be a problem if she is playing games on the computer though so it looks good to me.

Finally wait for a second opinion on anything before making a decision.

[Appoo]

My PC is a Dell PRECISION 670 WORKSTATION w/ DUAL 3.8GHz XEONS. If you go to www.dell.com, select the small business desktops and you will see the current 690 Precision Workstations. You can buy them with one or two cpus. I do some CAD work on my PC and a lot of graphics work. I bought this one on eBay as refurbished with a three year factory warranty. Its the best and fastest computer I have owned. Yes, I opened the case, removed the fans and saw both of the cpus.

Now back to my daughter. She's going for a masters in nutrition and sports physical therapy. So no need for CAD software. She has a slow laptop now and wants something faster with a bigger screen. She will be taking the classes online with internet feeds to the classroom. Hence the larger tv screen will help her see the class room, teacher and whiteboard. Besides, the TV will serve a dual purpose as a TV when not being used as a computer monitor. I personally use a TV as a monitor, about a 30", and have no problems with CAD, text or games. The TV listed has a 6 ms response and 6000:1 contrast.

I greatly appreciate your comments about the case, motherboard, cpu, video board and RAM. I await more suggestions to get a consensus.

What cases and motherboards do you prefer?

[chunkylover53]

That's a kick _ss xeon workstation ya got there. I'm curious to know what video card you have (if you went with something bigger than the stock NVS 285, which is a good quadro card in it's own right).

As for your daughter's machine...

Have the case, love it. Didn't use the PSU that comes with it (went with a Corsair 520HX). It's plain though, which is why I bought it. If she wants something more fun with LED's, let us know and you'll get plenty of recos back. I have the Crucial RAM, but I also have the Corsair memory that shyster recommends, and that is just as reliable. I'd go with that because it's cheaper right now.

There's some ASUS backlash on this forum right now, and rightfully so. Four out of the last five ASUS boards have had probs. That's a good board you chose, and with that CPU I don't think you'll have any issues, but if you want another reco this Gigabyte board gets good press.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128048

I think the E6750 is more than enough for what she'll be doing... not the latest (E8400:rolleyes:), not the greatest (my Q6600:p), but still a great chip. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Finally, I have this DVD burner, and it's great. If they get it back in stock, I'd recommend it over the LO unless she REALLY wants light scribe.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16827136120

[iiiprimeiii]

i used lightscribe for a while but it takes longer to burn a disc and can take a while if u want a really sweet looking cd/dvd. after using it and paying a lot of extra cash for the discs i went back to the plain ol discs and a sharpie. :D

[shyster]

Sorry I did not make that clear, but what I meant with my comment about the laptop was that you could have bought about a $1,000 laptop and still got the tv for her to use.

However if she is for the most part or entirely taking the classes online, and never attending a physical room, then yeah a desktop would probably be better in the long run.

Yeah as Chunky says, the E6750 would probably be more than enough to suit her needs.

So not to harp on this point too much, but is the 3.80GHz the combined speed of the drives, or is each that speed? Other than that what can I say that thing must be a beast with any program that can fully utilize those 8 (2 quads) processors in there.

[Appoo]

Thanks for the LightScribe comments. I have one and you are correct about the write speed. I also find the LightScribe program cumbersome to use so it takes time to design the CD cover. I often resort to a sharpie myself so your comment was well taken.

[iiiprimeiii]

yea i had to by the multi color sharpie pack!!! :D :D