Final Parts Check

[Xiahou]

I use an X-Fi: Extreme Music card. (Extreme Music only because it was the cheapest of the X-Fi flavors) It doesn't seem to be widely available anymore, but it was basically the same as the Fatal1ty with less memory- which most games don't use anyhow, iirc.

The few games that I did play that fully supported it sounded pretty sweet.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Alright, I've got a question about the sound cards. Should I go with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio or the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card? The latter is about half the price of the former. Also, should I upgrade to the processor I mentioned in Post #12, or is it not worth it?

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz / 4MB Cache / 1066MHz FSB / Conroe / Dual-Core / Socket 775 / Processor with Fan (Retail)

Memory: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache Ncq

Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV

Sound: On motherboard, or one of the two choices.

Monitor: Hanns·G HW-191DPB 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 5ms, 700:1, WXGA+ 1440x900, DVI·D, VGA(D-sub), Black

OS: XP Home SP2 w/ original disc

Cooling: Ultra 80mm Dual Ball Bearing Fan (5-Pack)

Case/Tower: Apevia Black/Black X-Plorer ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Fan Controller, Front USB and Firewire Port

Keyboard/Mouse: Just something cheap but durable, not too picky. Can use the ones on my old computer, they work fine, and I'm used to them.

Motherboard: Asus P5B Deluxe / WIFI-AP Atx LGA775 Conroe 965P DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI 8 SATA2 Sound Motherboard

Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black

DVD writer/CD drive: Pioneer DVR-112DBK OEM DVD Burner - 18x DVD±R Burn, 16x DVD±R Read, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 10x DVD±R DL, 40x32x CD-R/RW, Black, with Software

[Lemur]

Alright, I've got a question about the sound cards. Should I go with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio or the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card? The latter is about half the price of the former. Also, should I upgrade to the processor I mentioned in Post #12, or is it not worth it?

When it comes to X-Fi sound cards, go with the cheaper option. Very few applications use the special RAM Creative puts on the higher-end cards, so unless you're creating a home music studio with pro applications, don't bother with the upscale stuff.

The 6600 is a pretty sweet CPU, what with 4 megs of shared cache. It used to be the cheapest 4 meg part you could get, don't know if that's still true. I don't think spending much more is wise, what with the law of diminishing returns.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Thanks Lemur, I'll stick with the first CPU then.

I think I'll add a soundcard later on, when I have the money. Is it hard to add a soundcard after I've built the rest of the computer?


By the way, costs total to 1157.11 Euro, excluding shipping and extra building costs, which is within my price range at the moment.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Out of curiosity, what is a realistic time for a person who builds computers for a living to put this together? I called a local business that says they can do it in an hour and a half. Is this unrealistic?

[Lemur]

That's pretty realistic for an experienced builder. The most time-consuming part, in my experience, is patching Windows, and that takes a long time, even starting with Service Pack 2. My brother is a bit more tech-savvy than I am, so he created a slipstreamed version of his Windows install disc, so that he can re-install and need almost no patching.

But for the physical assembly? Hour and a half sounds reasonable.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I got another shop offering me everything including Windows XP install in 2/2.5 hours, so I guess that's not far off. My average price is about 30-35 Euro per hour to put everything together.

I would do this myself, but I'd rather practice with a bare bones kit first, so this computer I'll just get someone else to build.

Is it hard to add a soundcard after I've built the rest of the computer?