Advice with my new first build please!!

[Voronus]

Hi all, im about to undertake the task of building myself a new core 2 duo system. My current pc is nearly 4 years old now so it really needs to be replaced with something a little more 'modern'. I will be using this system to play games (mostly multiple concurrent instances of everquest plus oblivian, quake4 etc). I would like to try overclocking a little but nothing serious.

Below I will list my preliminary component selection and would appreciate any advice, criticism, free gifts etc that you would like to give me. PS sorry in advice for making another one of these topics, but its a hell of a lot of money which I could be spending in all the wrong areas without your advice. So here goes:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 6600

Motherboard: Gigabye DS3

RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 or
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5

Graphics card: 1Gb XFX 7900GX2

PSU: 750W Xclio X12S4P4 Modular

Sound card: Onboard is fine for me

Case: Akasa Eclipse 62

Hard disk: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB (two, non raid)

CPU HS/FAN: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro

Monitor: Viewsonic VX2025wm 20" Widescreen LCD

plus a generic DVDRW.

Basically, this is going to cost around £1500, so I want to get it right with such a large amount of money at stake.

Here are some clarifications on my choices:

I chose that graphics card because it is on offer at scan for only £300, and the PSU is thrown in free; hence my PSU choice.

I have read about many issues with DS3 and RAM, but i think the GSkill NR is problem free (according to one of their technicians who posted over on xtremesystems). Is the DS3 and 6600 a good combination or should I just go with the 6300 and overclock it a bit?

Thanks for all the insight your about to give me!

 

[muffins]

the corsair RAM should run fine with that, and its better anywho

 

[Doughbuy]

Hmmm, well... Lets see...

First off, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro is only for AMD. You need the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro for LGA775. No biggie though, its probably one of the best HSF out there right now.

I would go with Seagate HDD's just for the 5 yr warranty, but usually price determines what HDD's I buy. If thats the cheapest PPG (Price per gig) then get it. If there's cheaper PPG, get the cheaper one.

I think the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe mobo is the best one out for the Conroe right now, especially because it uses the 975 chipset and better OC'ing features.

Corsair ram is fine, I would stick with that. Haven't heard much about that PSU, might want to do some research online to see how well it performs, although 750W is a beast.

Stick with the E6600, and OC it 4GHZ. Then you have something you can brag about.

-Signing off

 

[muffins]

I think the Asus P5W-DH Deluxe mobo is the best one out for the Conroe right now, especially because it uses the 975 chipset and better OC'ing features.

i agree

 

[Voronus]

While im sure the Asus is a great motherboard, its also £70 more expensive than the DS3. As overclocking will not be a huge priority for me I think I might try and save some money with the Gigabyte. I think the general consensus on these forums is that the P5W and DS3 are the best overclocking boards available right now. Its just the gigabyte RAM issue does concern me a little.

As for the powersupply, I did some research and its manufactured by the same people who make Antec PSUs, and there are some good reviews on the internet on XClio PSUs. Plus its NVIDIA vertified for quad GPU so it cant be that bad.

I came to the hard disk decision by reading some reviews in CustomPC magazine. They found it had the fastest access time of drives around the same price point (or something like this).

Thanks for the replies!! Keep em coming please.

 

[Doughbuy]

I find that HDD's are pretty similar in performance across the board, and most things these days aren't really HDD limited anyways, gaming wise or just application wise. I just believe in total amount of storage over seek time, as thats what I use it for. But thats my choice.

Gigabyte is a good company, you can't go wrong with it. For the 70 "pounds" price difference, it would be better, but I believe the Asus has more features. Oh well, we are on a budget aren't we... All mobo's have compatability problems... not much you can do about that...

And for the case, are you really set on the Akasa Eclipse 62? Actually, I don't know if they sell it here in the states, and haven't read any reviews on it. If your not sure on a case, here are some suggestions. TT Shark, NZXT Lexa, Sunbeamtech Transformer, Gigabyte Aurora. Take a look, I like all of those cases.

 

[Voronus]

Well my hand was forced with the case choice. Basically the graphics card i chose is absolutely huge, so i need a case that will fit it in. I was recommended the Akassa and its got some good reviews on the net so I went with that one.