Processor
The processor choice determines our motherboard and GPU selection. Personally, I like both Intel and AMD for processors so I have an open mind on this subject. I use a mix of Intel and AMD processors at home and work. Both companies make excellent products so choosing either one is a win/win situation. If I were building a gaming rig or dedicated audio/video workstation, I would lean strongly towards an Intel Q9450 or E8500 as my processor choice, although a Phenom X4 9850 is a solid option for those in the AMD camp. Those recommendations are based on having a different budget so when looking at the lower end of the price spectrum, it becomes obvious that AMD has a stronger selection of products.
Our systems will see a variety of usage that includes web creation, audio/video encoding, gaming, HD playback, and of course heavy communications work. As such, a dual-core processor is a basic requirement and for the audio/video encoding and multimedia work, quad-core would be nice. Clock speeds are somewhat important so our two Intel choices come down to the Q6600 at around $219 (over budget) or the new E7200 at a relative bargain price of $131 for the latest 45nm technology. I seriously considered the E7200 matched with an Intel branded G35 board and would not hesitate to recommend that combination for others. Nevertheless, something else caught my eye - or more like I already knew what I wanted but was afraid to admit it.
On the AMD side of the fence, we have the new 45W processors that include the 4850E, which is a match for the E7200 in most of our applications while offering very good power dissipation numbers. However, looking at our usage patterns, one processor stood out to me. Maybe I like being quirky or notice the ugly ducklings with potential, but the new Phenom X3 series seemed like a perfect match for future needs even though the budget would suffer. Also, they have proven to be relatively overclockable, which will come in handy if additional CPU power is required.
The Phenom 8750 is overpriced in my opinion at $195 and the 8450/8650 at $145/$165 dollars is right on the verge of being annoying to accept looking at the price/performance ratios. However, I found an autographed Bee Gees album in the closet of lost dreams. That should get me the extra $20 I am going to spend on the Phenom 8650 with its 2.3GHz clock speed. Honestly, that is the absolute minimum speed you want to have with Phenom.
This CPU choice gets us the latest AMD technology (Intel fans can insert a variety of sarcastic remarks here) but more importantly an extra core. That extra core actually comes in handy during heavy multitasking, especially if you stick with an IGP solution like the AMD 780G or NVIDIA GeForce 8200 as you can watch an HD movie with full post processing and still perform tasks in the background - something that brought our E7200/G35 system to a standstill. However, this will not be as important to us since we are using discreet graphics cards with HD playback capabilities. As a side note, after working with both configurations, the X3 definitely is better at multitasking under heavy loads, the type of loads these systems generally see on a daily basis.
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PCMerlin - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Lightning, looking through the article he mentions Vista drivers, media streaming and other features that one would assume is only available in Vista Ultimate Edition (64-bit, of course with 8GB of RAM). Being that it is not included in the budget, one must also assume that he is transferring the OS from the original PC's, which indicates that he is using the retail, and not the OEM version.Armed with that info, users who want to build a system just like this should add another $269 to the total, based on average retailer figures.
Note: As the cost of the case is note mentioned as well, those trying to replicate the total cost of the system would need to compensate for that as well.
darkmarc - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Good article, I also went down SFF SG03 route - with Nehalem just around the corner and my ageing amd X2 creeking away, I wanted a system that wouldn't suffer obsolescence to quickly. The SFF is a great intermediate solution, once Nehalem has matured I can then turn it into home server. I went for the Asus P5E-VM mobo with Q6600, 8gb ddr2, 8800GTS (as it runs cooler then the GT) a Creative X-Fi sound card that I canabalised from my old system and two Samsung 1tb hhd's. I kept the stock cooler, went for the 600w Silverstone psu and two Noctua fans keeping it cool at the front. The Asus board lets me run the Q6600 at 3ghz without a problem so with the 8gig of ram it's great for running VM's. I have the LG GGC-H20L drive for all my Blu-ray/HD-dvd needs, hooked up to a Hyundai 24" panel. It is very quiet and has all the power I need and I don't have to worry about upgrading it as it will fulfill a secondary role.Viditor - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
In most all of the build articles I've read, the one thing everyone forgets is to add the price of the OS in. Even though it's the same, many people forget that cost when they plan their next system (leads to disappointment from the unitiated).amphionuk - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - link
Why pay for your OS?If you don't want to play the latest games, you can install Ubuntu or one of the other Linux distros for free.
drfelip - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Good article, I think SFF computers are a good option for most users, and I like the small cases a lot, but sometimes it's difficult to find reviews and comparisions of SFF cases micro-ATX boards and barebones. I think this is an area to expand!Visual - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
A very nice looking case recommendation for the next part of your guide: GMC AVC-S7http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=5...">http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=5...
Not for everyone, obviously, with its single PCI card limit. But some people like smaller is better. If you go with integrated video and all you need is a tuner, this is as small as you can get. It's also possible, though more hassle, to get this with a pci-express riser instead of pci riser, so you can have a graphic card.
DXRick - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
The Silverstone SG03 takes micro-ATX mobos. Why limit it to uATX?Visual - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
I'm confused... uATX is micro-ATX. So what are you asking, again?Flunk - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
The official short for for micro-ATX is mATX. Sometimes the greek ltter µ (Mu) is substituted for the word micro, particularly for scientific purposes. Sometimes people use u as a substitute for µ because it doesn't appear on the standard keyboard map. This is confusing (as evidenced above) and inaccurate.DXRick - Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - link
I looked it up on Newegg before replying (try it sometime).Micro-ATX is 9.6 x 9.6.
uATX is 9.6 x 8.4.