Im thinking about building a tower pretty soon and i have some experience but i would like to know what route you guys would go with that are familiar with this. I dont really game that much but i want a pretty powerful system, i just need some ideas so i can know what to look for in purchasing which motherboard ect.

 

What specifically will you be doing with this PC if your not gaming that you need a pretty powerful system for?

 

Its more of just a preference, i download a lot and will be using it for my job drafting. I dont need one i just want something that will last for awhile without having to upgrade often.

 

May I suggest you check out sharkey extreme?

 

A lot of it is a matter of personal preference so you'll get a variety of answers. Here's what I insist on for every new box I build myself and family and try to convince others I might build one for.

Asus motherboard
Best Pentium cpu that's within the budget
Good quality power supply
Two gb kit of quality ram
Nvidia chipset video card (8800GT is a good buy right now)

Then get a
Fast hd for C:
Big hd for D:

The rest isn't all that imortant to me. A cheap DVD burner that works and sound that works. I would rather spend more getting a better cpu than a fancy case. I've used the same old Antec server case for my last 4 machines. Then I just buy a cheapo case to put my old guts in and resell if it's worth selling.
The above is what has always worked for me in the past and in the past 8 years I've only had one Asus board fail and that's because I killed it flashing the bios. I've never had any other problems that were caused by my first 5 choices.

 

What about this setup?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...08223&CatId=14

 

I agree with most of what Larry is saying. I guess mainly we differ on preferences (like he said). However, I would get fast HDD, period. If I'm building a multiple drive machine, I may get different sized drives, but I try to get similar speeds drives (5600 RPM, 7200 RPM, etc). My preference on HDD is Seagate. And I'm all about SATA. About the only thing left in my machine that is PATA is the DVD Burner. And I don't really know why I didn't go SATA on that.

Another place we differ is MoBos. I like Abit boards. I've been building my own for over 8 years now, and I've never had any trouble from the Abit boards I've used. Not even when they had the bad capacitors. My wife did get a second hand Abit board which had to be RMA'd for the cap issue. Abit fixed it, sent it back, and refunded her money she sent in for the RMA.

The rest of it, we are of like mind. I don't have a preference on video cards. I've never tried an Nvidia based card. Not for any reason. I've just always bought ATI.

For a bunch of ideas, you might want to review this thread. Several people put their current setups in there.

 

IF your not into gaming I would suggest a MAC. I dont game and my MAC is the best computer I have ever had, its super fast, saves LOTs of space, looks good, and has some of the best software on the market (depending on your needs)
I will never go back to PC after this, I highly recommend you look into a MAC.
The only downfall is IF I do get the urge for gaming I am pretty limited on whats available and device support is very limited for things such as GPS's, Truck tuners like EDGE evo....etc

 

We'd of course need to find out if his drafting software is MAC compatible.

I'm wondering if you really need a high powered video card for your drafting work. Certainly don't need it for downloading stuff. Heck, for just downloading you could get away with someone's onboard video.

RAM, lots of fast stuff and a fast processor will be your biggest friends for drafting software. Good fast hard drive after that.

 

Nope - the P5K3 uses very expensive DDR3 memory and you don't need a quad core processor.

I'd recommend a P5K-E and a 1333 FSB dual core. Also, stay away from Tiger Direct, look at Newegg.

 

I usually get my stuff from both newegg and www.zipzoomfly.com

 

Check the rating for zipzoomfly at www.resellerratings.com. I dealt with them once. Never again. First if they are out of stock, it is unlikely their site will show that. Second they will charge your card whether or not they have it in stock.

As far as building the computer, pick the CPU you are going to use, then build around it. As you do not want to do gaming, that eliminates the Extreme series from Intel. If you are going to do CAD or video, get the fastest quad core or Core 2 Duo you can afford you did say you wanted it to last awhile), then build from there. Picking a compatible MB, not all processors work in all MBs, you may even have to check on the version of the cpu, like 65nm or 45nm, memory that is compatible to the MB, again not all memory is compatible to the MBs in voltage, latency etc. Also at least 3-4GB of memory. A decent DVD burner, I prefer Lite-on. They make good 20x burners for cheap.
HDDs, unless you are going to do a lot of internal storage, you do not need anything huge. For programs and stuff, even and 80GB would be plenty. Although I would suggest SATA II. If you want a large amount of storage, go with a eSATA external enclosure and load in the HDDs as you need to expand. far faster than USB or Firewire. A decent case with plenty of cooling will be a must, although with the newer Intel CPUs, that is not near as big a problem it used to be.

Now if all you want to do is browse the internet, get the cheapest stuff you can find, as you will not need anything fancy. Even a Celeron would be plenty.

 

x2 on Newegg. What drafting package r u using?

 

When people ask me to build quality workstations, I use Intel Mobo's. If it's not a gaming rig, then overclocking and SLI are not likely to be desired, and I have found Intel's boards to be the most reliable. If I were putting together a nice workstation right now, I'd prolly start with the following:

Intel motherboard w/ICH9R chipset
Q6600 CPU
8600GT graphics (unless more is needed for application)
1 Raptor150 for OS
1 storage drive

Of course the case is important too, but usually needs to be picked out according the the buyer's tastes. Antec makes good workstation cases, but there are plenty of others that work well for this application.

 

Pentium CPU's are old technology, they run hot and slow. They don't even make them anymore and there's definitely a reason why lol. Even the Pentium D's are a dying technology while things going back to PIII's are rarely ever seen anymore, the last of the netburst architecture is the Pentium D's and they're no match for a Core 2 Duo, even a really low end one. Google it.


Get a low end Core 2 Duo like an E2200 or something if you're looking to go cheap, but if not look at an E8400 or something, those are the new 45nm quad cores, and a motherboard with X38 since that's the best platform to support the new Penryn Quad Cores. Going back to the less expensive route with an E2200 or something an ASUS P5K comes in a couple different editions with different features plus they have the P35 chipset which is second only to X38 at this point.




One of the most important things though, what is your price budget? I mean I could go crazy and make a $5,000 dollar list for you