Computer Ed's 2007 Build a PC Selections

[Computer-Ed]

Each year for our show we walk the listeners through part selection for building a PC. Iin the past we have done two or three different models based on pricing. This year we wanted to build the best all around PC would could that would fill all the needs of the average family, have room for upgrade and keep cost within reason.

The critera this year also included the ability to run in extreme room temperatures, as high as 90F, and as in the past only parts we could actually get our hands on for review made the grade.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred
One of the best air cooling cases money can buy. At lower fan speed settings it still provides amazing cooling and quiet operation.
PSU: Antec Truepower Trio 650
Very high efficiency and stable performance this PSU also provides us enough power to allow some nice future upgrades.
PSU Honorable Mention: Thermaltake Toughpower 1KW
This model was only beat out by one point, the price. The 1KW was a bit overkill on power and the price pushed it out. However this is a very high efficiency PSU and super stable, the modular cables are really nice. Definitely look at the lower wattage units of this line as an alternative to the Truepower.
CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6600
This chips stock speed puts in as serious competition for even the fastest X2 processors. As if that was not enough it had incredible overclocking ability and can in many cases achieve speeds faster than the highest end stock Core2Duo. This is the definite sweet spot of the Core2Duo line.
Memory: Corsair XMS2 800 (2x1gig)
This RAM is just as fast as all of the more expensive models at the same speed. Solid performance, great warranty and a good price makes this our must choice for RAM.
Motherboard: Gigabyte 965P-DS3
The 965 chipset is very mature and super stable. The Gigabyte board offers solid capacitors to make the board very durable, plus the board is a great overclocker. The board has support for the new generation of Core2Duo and Quad chips as well. Great buy for the single video card user.
Video: BFG 8800GTS OC 320 Meg
While DX10 games are not here yet, they will be eventually, and this card lets you be ready for them while providing super DX9 performance. In most cases the 320 meg cards perform as well as the 640 meg so the cost savings is very nice.
Video Honorable Mention: ATI X1950Pro
This card is old school compared to the 8800 and lacks DX10 support. However for DX9 games it provides great performance and a 512 meg model can be had for less than $200. If you are not even willing to consider DX10 right now then this is the perfect card.
Sound: Onboard
I know I am going to have a lot of people disagree but that is just the way it is. Currently on X-FI cards offer any real advantage in soundcards for gaming. In all other aspects the onboard sound is nearly on a level playing field with the discrete sound solutions. Throw Vista into the mix however and even gaming begins to move to onboard sound, not for speed or sound quality but for driver support. Creative is really dropping the ball with driver support and thus are hard to recommend to anyone.
Hard Drive: Western Digital RE 320 Gig
The RE and the SE16 are equal in price, both have 16 meg of cache, however after that the RE leaves the SE16 behind. Offering a 5 year warranty and being rated by WD with faster write speeds the RE is the better choice.
Optical Drives: Lite-On DVD Burner SATA w/ Lightscribe
PATA is dead long live SATA! Well that might be a bit premature but for our system design it is true. In testing the SATA optical drive proved much quicker, using a SAT drive I did a Vista install in 12 minutes, same machine with a PATA drive did it in 16. That’s pretty hefty difference. Not sure that the PATA interface itself was the factor but no reason to use old tech when new works as well if not better.
Lightscribe is not needed by anyone but is a neat feature and with it not really adding to the price of the drive it was worth adding.
Monitor: BenQ FP202W
This is an incredible monitor for the money providing wide screen goodness at a reasonable price with good size. With prices coming down and 20" now below $200 this is the smallest monitor I would get.
Speakers: Bose Companion II 2.0
Bose is known for great speakers, but also for silly high prices. The Companion 2 however fit into the same price point as a number of other high end 2.0 speakers. We chose 2.0 speakers do to space restrictions of many computer setups. Surround sound is great IF you can properly place the speakers which most home PCs cannot. 2.1 is nice but some desk setups might lack the floor space. These 2.0 speakers sound as good as ANY 2.1 speakers in the same price range, delivering incredible sound for a 2.0 speaker set.
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX
The use of a thrid party CPU cooler means the system will run extra cool with our case and make sure that high room temperatures are not an issue. The Big Typhoon VX is one of the best on the market and does an incredible job of cooling. The use of the Intel 4 Pin mounting system means this is easy to mount, no extra mounting hardware needed.
CPU Cooler Honorable Mention: Zalman 9700
The 9700 is an incredible cooler that deleivers efective cooling. The cooling difference between the VX and the 9700 is not enough to matter so in the end this became a pure choice based on price with the VX winning.
If you choose a different case with a CPU vent the VX will really shine compared to the 9700. If however your case choice has NO side venting then the 9700 is the better choice.
Conclusion:
The above system is not inexpensive, coming in at around $1600 before shipping. A few good sales and rebates can drive that price down to around $1400.

However the experienced gained from building your own PC will be well worth the cost and the system as configured will run anything on the market today well and has enough horsepower and upgrade potential to have a lot of future life left in it.

[Quakindude]

I'd of chosen some different parts for very different reasons.

There's a couple things I'll elaborate on here. First is the sound. Onboard audio from Realtek sucks right now. Yes, primarily for gamers, but come on. Games drive the market. Even though the majority of folks just check the 'Net, email, spreadsheets and play Solitaire, if those folks are turning to a computer to research their next build, you can bet your butt they're playing more than just card games. Or, they're looking for something for the kids to play their games before they do their word documents for work.

The Bose speakers may well have the Bose name on them, but I've heard that set. I'll take my Z5300's any day of the week. Bose may make kick-ass stereo components, but from my experience, they need to leave the computing speakers alone.

I'd also disagree with the HDD choice. The RE series is ok, nothing wrong with them, but with capacities already hitting 1TB, the 250GB YD isn't going to cut it for me. The YS and YR drives (RE2 series) are better performers in an all-around package and they offer NCQ whereas the YD series of the RE line do not.

Of course, I wouldn't have picked a WD drive at all. The SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB offers 180GB more space, faster over-all performance, better features and for just $20 more? That's a better bargain IMHO.

[Dr. V]

The parts in general aren't too bad, but can definitely be improved upon as well. Categorizing the parts would help too. There will always be different recommendations for different levels of builds (budget, mainstream, enthusiast as we put it in the hardware recommendation list on the homepage).

In any case, I agree with pretty much everything quak said, but I'd substitute the hard drive for a Seagate Barracuda. Also, the Cooler Master GeminII is simply the best cooler on the market now - it should be on any list.

Edit:

Speakers: That Bose set vs my Logitech X-530 set, or even the 2.1 version (X-230) I would take the Logitech any day. Yes, Bose is awesome but it's meant for HIGH end.

[garetjax]

Good post. Hard to read white text on grey background though. As voiced by others here, Bose really needs to leave the computer speaker arena alone and concentrate on shilling people out of their hard earned money with their mediocre home audio stuff. Personally, I like the HD choice, but as Quake said, larger capacity of nearly 200GB more for only an extra $20? Yes please!

[PrOLifIC_onE]

I don't want to jump on the sound card bandwagon for long because it would be like a pot calling the kettle black (because I use onboard sound on nearly all my systems). BUT... I do have difficulty understanding how you would select a higher-end video card that's primary use would be for gaming, yet you don't select a gaming sound card. I guess my suggestion would be to add one more 'honorable mention' in the mix, giving the reader two options for sound.

[Computer-Ed]

Hey guys solid suggestions all:

One of the critera for our selections on the show are that we have to have hands on to suggest. We send out literally hundreds of emails, make phone calls and try to arrange for review samples or even lower costs samples for reviews. As such some good products mighjt be not listed but that is many times due to no response from the company.

In the case of the Bose speakers we first set a crtiera of 2.0 speakers, as mentioned above, thus eliminating many of the choices listed. Next we got high end 2.0 systems from Logitech and Creative. (Klipsch was going to participate but never followed through) In subjective testing of these 3 higher end 2.0 speaker sets the Bose was a clear winner.

On the sound card we did a impromptu subjective test while we had our panel for the speaker testing. Using the Bose system after it was announced as winner we testing using my onboard Realtek and an ExtremeGamer. In music testing the panel felt there was no real difference and the same in DVD play. In gaming the panel gave the edge to the Realtek because of a driver flaw in the Creative which causes some stactic in Supreme Commander during heavy explosion action.

After the test I contacted Creative support about the issue and they laid it fully at the feet of the game. However when I mentioned that the realtek did not have this issue a song and dance begin which ended in an admision that is was a driver issue.

As for the choices, in the radio segments we actually covered 3 or 4 choices for each segment. I got a lot more than is listed in for review, however to post the whole thing would have taken forever so I just posted the finalists.

[Panda Man]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

Throw Vista into the mix however and even gaming begins to move to onboard sound, not for speed or sound quality but for driver support. Creative is really dropping the ball with driver support and thus are hard to recommend to anyone.

I disagree, as of late their vista driver support has finally gotten on the ball.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Panda Man

I disagree, as of late their vista driver support has finally gotten on the ball.

Ya know, there are several other add-in sound card manufacturers besides Creative...

Vista driver support is still shaky across the board with everything from video cards to printers, so singling out certain manufacturers or products isn't always cut and dry.

[Yellowhello]

I'm just saying what everyone said before me......... Catagorize and include some good parts that need menition. Very nice list as of far, though!

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by Computer-Ed

One of the critera for our selections on the show are that we have to have hands on to suggest. We send out literally hundreds of emails, make phone calls and try to arrange for review samples or even lower costs samples for reviews. As such some good products mighjt be not listed but that is many times due to no response from the company.

It's a decent selection of parts, considering the criteria limitations, which also serves as the main drawback. Anytime a recommended list based on a limited selection of parts is posted on a diversely represented computer forum, it's going to undergo some additional scrutiny. While you're bound by what you've been able to obtain through your radio show, our readers are going to account for a wider base of parts experience. And if it's something they haven't personally used, chances are, HardwareLogic has, and they've either read about it here, or talked about it with us if we haven't formally reviewed it.

In short (oopsy, too late!), decent list and writeup for the radio show (I don't think there's many that would be disappointed with such a setup), with room for improvement on a computer forum/site.

As for the onboard sound issue, that's really going to vary from person to person, including gamers. I have no problem cutting some slack here, as today's systems (including the above spec'd) are plenty powerful enough to compensate for any performance drawbacks, and sound quality is subjective. Some can tell a difference between onboard vs add-in, some can't, and it also depends on the speakers (I havent auditioned those Bose, and can't comment on whether it's suitable for taking advantage of a dedicated soundcard or not). It should be mentioned that Realtek struggles with EAX effects (they're basically broken) and some surround sound placement (which isn't an issue on a 2.0 speaker-set), and I wouldn't have chosen it over onboard in a head-to-head, but I could make a case for sticking with onboard (to shave costs) with a gaming oriented rig.