My New Computer
Update: I forgot to mention that I’m running XP, not Windows Vista. I installed Vista RC2 first, but found that all the motherboard software and speedfan didn’t work correctly (for tracking the cpu and motherboard temperatures). Also, my attempt at installing World of Warcraft on Vista RC2 failed. I realize that these problems could have been overcome, probably, but I wasn’t in the mood to compromise with my brand new hardware.
On Friday, I built a new PC with parts I ordered from NewEgg.com. The components are listed at the bottom of this post. The total was well under $1500, including tax and shipping. The build procedure took more than 5 hours including the OS install – it was well worth it. My new pc is very fast and can handle all the games I tested at excellent speed with lots of beautiful graphics. Here are some thoughts:
- Second Life character animations are still choppy even with a fast CPU and Graphics card. Am I doing something wrong? I tried Second Life earlier this year and was turned off by the clunky look. I assumed it was my computer, but now that I know that’s normal, I guess I won’t be going back.
- Installing the heat sink/fan is much less stressful now than it was a few years ago. You don’t have to apply as much pressure. That’s a welcome change. When I built my AMD 2500+ based machine back then, I was afraid I was going to snap the motherboard because I had to press really hard, with a screwdriver, to get the heat sink set up.
- Battlefield 2142 is amazing.
- I haven’t tried Oblivion on this PC, yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
- World of Warcraft runs at 60 FPS with all settings on high in windowed and full screen mode.
- The case is very quiet. I installed a second 120mm fan and it’s still very quiet. The CPU and motherboard temps stay around 35-39 degrees celsius. The graphics card gets as high as 45 degrees under load.
- I bought a Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse last night. More on that later. I love mice.
- Haven’t overclocked anything, yet.
Components:
- Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply – Retail $99.99
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 – Retail $220.00
- eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR Geforce 7900GTO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – Retail $255.99
- OCZ Gold 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8001GK – Retail $119.99
- LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S – Retail $35.25
- GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail $146.99
- FLEXIGLOW FGMPXRBL X-Raider Pro Mouse Pad “Blue” – Retail $14.99
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM $79.99
- ARCTIC COOLING AF12025 120mm Fluid Dynamic Case Cooling Fan – Retail $5.99
- ViewSonic VA1912wb Black 19″ 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor – Retail $214.99
John Tokash 
Needs more RAM. Seriously. There’s no excuse for not having 2GB.
Hi Hans,
Unfortunately RAM prices are through the roof right now. What I WANTED was 2 GB of RAM that would be compatible with an E6400 Core2Duo while overclocked. RAM like that is currently REALLY expensive. So, I settled for 1GB of crappier RAM until prices fall again.
When that happens, I’ll buy 2GB of awesome RAM and move the crappier sticks to my old PC.
🙂
Gotta love those Core Duos. Awesome bargain of a processor.
RAM’s pricey nowadays, but storage is cheap. You could go with 2 more of those drives, giving you a RAID 5 for speed and redundancy. Or 3 more of them, and RAID 10 the hell out of it! Depends what the mobo supports, though, since good RAID cards aren’t cheap.
Grats on the new system. Fun stuff.
Hi Matt,
The motherboard has RAID 0 and RAID 1 support. I haven’t ruled out RAID 1, but it’s not the most economical way to go for backup/redundancy.