x2 need help building hdpc

[r3zza]

ok my head hurts im tired of reading i just really need help... @ first i wanted an 805 for o/c now with everything im reading everyone says go do something else get amd or this and that.. and i also wanted a sapphire x1900 xt and well no one has made any negative comments about that yet... keep in mind this IS hooking up to a 32" Samsung HDTV in bedroom

Budget 1k give or take

List (so far)
Cooling: Koolance Exos $310.13
video: Sapphire x 1900 xt $326.12
Case - already have
Sound- already have

Need
Memory: i hear 2 gig is the way to go
M/B: your choice
CPU: something i can semi o/c
PSU: something to power this sucker


i know this is my second post today.. i really though i knew what i wanted up until i started reading TIA !!!! !!!

 

[Onthefarside]

805 is fine and a really nice budget chip, btw is your water cooler and vid card included in that 1k? you really dont need WC to O/C new conroe chips, you could get an artic freezer 7 or zalman 9500, whichever one looks prettier to you. For the money you save not buying the WCing system you could get an e6400 right there. With saving that, you can buy a nice motherboard like the ASUS P5B(130), 2 gigs of nice DDR2 800 RAM (180ish), and a decent 500+ watt PSU( 50-70) and thats your budget there, personally I think 2 gigs of ram doesn't really do much at this time, perhaps a good option is to get 1 gig now and then another later on when vista comes out or when you have more money and really need a performance increase., in that case you can get a nicer MB (in the 200+ range and really play with OCing) and spend 90 on a 1 gig stick.

Really it's all up to you, you could get an AMD but you'd probably get more out of this set up, if you really want AMD I think a X2 64 3800+(150), ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (150), and then whatever memory. But I think you'll see more performance from the conroe, whatever fits your fancy

 

[r3zza]

805 is fine and a really nice budget chip, btw is your water cooler and vid card included in that 1k? you really dont need WC to O/C new conroe chips, you could get an artic freezer 7 or zalman 9500, whichever one looks prettier to you. For the money you save not buying the WCing system you could get an e6400 right there. With saving that, you can buy a nice motherboard like the ASUS P5B(130), 2 gigs of nice DDR2 800 RAM (180ish), and a decent 500+ watt PSU( 50-70) and thats your budget there, personally I think 2 gigs of ram doesn't really do much at this time, perhaps a good option is to get 1 gig now and then another later on when vista comes out or when you have more money and really need a performance increase., in that case you can get a nicer MB (in the 200+ range and really play with OCing) and spend 90 on a 1 gig stick.

my biggest concern is getting everything to mate up.. i have not built a damn computer in SOOOOO long, hell today i just found out what SLI shit was... so pretty much everyone has to spell out every word for me to get it... too much new stuff man, and THANK YOU for your quick reply... i have the biggest headache ... i have been going @ this for at least 12 hours straight.. i hardly worked today cause i was reading and trying to figure out what i needed...

But what your saying is get a conroe cpu.. and a good fan heatsink eh? can you recommend a cpu model / mb that'll work with the 1900, also about w/c ... man im super anal about keeping shit cold, in my room alone when i sleep it has to be below 70, also lol its cool on this forum how not many people get ragged on for being noobs haha, on another forum i'm on (bimmerforums.com) people get slammed all the time, its pretty funny but we were all there once haha

Thanks again!

 

[Onthefarside]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail ($250)

(you could use stock cool, people are getting like 30-50% overclocks on it, but I'm a fan of Artic Cooler 7 or ZALMAN CNPS9500. The AC7 is cheaper($30 vs. $60) and they pretty much do the same exact thing.

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail ($150)

G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

COOLMAX CR-550B ATX 550W "140mm Fan" Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CSA, FCC, TUV - Retail

I think that's about your price range, if not, you can just cruise threw Newegg.com, its really easy to browse and such. As Far as worrying about matching up what to what, its not too bad, For new C2D, you need a motherboard that has a 965 or 975 Chipset, the nforce 5xx series havent come out yet, so we're stuck with intel chipsets. Most of these boards support DDR2 800 (PC6400) memory, and you should check the voltage of the memory the motherboard supports if you change your mind and get one of the cheaper boards.

 

[nikolokolus]

heh, you sound pretty stressed out. Take a deep breath

You don't even really need an aftermarket cooler with the new core 2 duo chips, but hey, it sure couldn't hurt. I've used zalman all copper coolers in the past and they run very cool and very quiet.

As for the mobo, anything will work with a single video card setup. the Gigabyte 965p-DS3 or DS4 would be a very good choice (nice layout, good feature set, decent price point) If you decide to go the multi-GPU route then you have some decisions to make SLI for nvidia or crossfire for ATI. Personally I think SLI/Crossfire is a total waste of money unless you are gaming at resolutions higher than 1600X1200. A single X1900XT will be more than adequate to the task.

I'd also go for 2 GB of mushkin, corsair, Kingston, value DDR800. Unless you plan to Overclock there is no real advantage to the "extreme" versions; true the tighter timings yield better performance, but only marginally so, especially considering the price premium. The other advantage of a 2X1GB RAM configuration is the ability to take advantage of dual channel memory and also a little bit of future proofing for Vista (should you ever choose to fall vict . . .er . . I mean take advantage of it).

Water cooling is great; it runs almost dead silent, cools your system like mad, but there is some definite upkeep and risk associated with it. I love my swiftech water blocks, and pumps, but I don't recommend it to everyone. Read up on it, educate yourself.

And finally don't skimp on the power supply. This gets overlooked all the time, I'd budget around $80 to $100 for a well respected brand. FSP, Tagan, Antec, Sparkle, Mushkin, OCZ, and Seasonic are all great brands with quality, rock solid Power supplies.

 

[Mondoman]

...You don't even really need an aftermarket cooler with the new core 2 duo chips, but hey, it sure couldn't hurt. ....

I agree with n's excellent comments (especially dump the water cooling or up the budget), except to note here that the Intel Socket 775 thermal spec expects the hsf to be blowing air onto the MB *in all directions* around the CPU, so adjacent components get cooled.
Very few aftermarket 775 coolers do this (neither the Artic Cooler 7 or ZALMAN CNPS9500 do, but the Zalman "flower" 7000 and 7700 do), so I'd stick with the stock Intel hsf for now (hey, it's free, too!).

 

[r3zza]

Well thanks everyone! yeah i was stressed out haha, i just now woke up and i could hardly sleep last night i was thinking too much about intel and amd... it was BAD haha

E6400
1 gig DDR2 800
550W+ PSU
x1900xt
artic cooler 7


well lets say in the future i do want 2 x1900xt's i look for a mobo with crossfire? and as far as sli/crossfire goes do the video cards have to be from the same manufacture or can they just have the same chipset.. for instance if i got a sapphire 1900 and a msi 1900 ( think msi has a 1900) ? Don't worry i'll read up on it as well. Thanks everyone again.

 

[Onthefarside]

I would stick with one for now, a new generation of video cards utilizing Direct X 10 will be coming out in the future. for now one card will do very well, especially a 1900. Personally I'ma big fan of ATI's All in Wonder Series that comes with a slightly stepped down version of the 1900XT and much more support for HDTV and essentially a tuner card. So for now I'd stick with the cheaper board like the Gigabyte DS3, when in the future Xfire or SLI becomes a more effective technology, invest in it

 

[waylander]

While the cost difference between an E6300 and E6400 isn't that much it can still save you $40 and an HTPC (Home Theater PC) doesn't require a great cpu.

On that note if you aren't going to play games on it, I'd go with the AMD X2 3800+, then you save $100 compared to the E6400. If you are going to game then stick to one of the C2Ds.

Keep in mind that the most important components for a HTPC is hdd space and tuner card, the rest of the components are just there to support them. If on the other hand you are just using the 32" HDTV as your monitor then your build is fine so far.

Upgrade to 2gb of ram and if you still want to water cool then one of the better budget packaged systems is the bigwater 745 for $150. The list of psu's given is fine but don't overlook Enermax and Silverstone as well.

Don't bother with SLI or CF at this point as they only make sense with the top end cards and with DX10 coming out it doesn't make sense to spend $600 + on video cards.

 

[r3zza]

Thanks for the replies fellas,

E6400
Gigabyte DS3
Debating 1 or 2 gigs of ram ocz most likely

Onthefarside are you talking about the aiwx1900?
http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/simprod.asp?pid=13713&ad=pwatch

Waylander
you say if im stubborn and want to o/c then go with the bigwater 745? or look also into enermax and silverstone, do water systems allow you to cool multiple things? such as cpu / gpu / ram?

Thanks people!

 

[Onthefarside]

Yeah I just made a PC for my old man, and made him get one of these because he wanted a tuner card and i was like dont waste money get this. Has all the outputs for HDTV etc and is nice when I'm home from school and want to game.

Even if you want to OC on the C2D you dont need Water cooling at all, these things run soooooo cool you could get 3Ghz on air.

 

[r3zza]

OK so far
what is for sure:

Motheboard: Gigabyte DS3
CPU: Intel E6400 & Artic Cooler 7
Video: Sapphire x1900xt or AIWX1900 (which one?)
Memory: 2 gigs? (what brand & 2 x 1gig or just 2 x 512?)
PSU: Recommend other PSU's

1k or less limit

 

[jaguarskx]

Before I make any suggestions that will actualy be different from everyone, what is the purpose of this PC? Is it for both gaming and watching movies?

The reason my suggestions will be different from the others is because if you want to watch movies and/or listen to music then you may want to make the PC as quiet as possible depending on your budget. I, for one, find it very annoying if I can hear the fans spinning while I'm using my HTPC to watch movies or listen to music.

Also what resolution will you be gaming at (typically)?

 

[r3zza]

Before I make any suggestions that will actualy be different from everyone, what is the purpose of this PC? Is it for both gaming and watching movies?

The reason my suggestions will be different from the others is because if you want to watch movies and/or listen to music then you may want to make the PC as quiet as possible depending on your budget. I, for one, find it very annoying if I can hear the fans spinning while I'm using my HTPC to watch movies or listen to music.

Also what resolution will you be gaming at (typically)?

No gaming, and when fan db starts to become an issue, i need to turn up the volume on the tv , also i will be using this for a photoshop'n

 

[jaguarskx]

No gaming, and when fan db starts to become an issue, i need to turn up the volume on the tv , also i will be using this for a photoshop'n

The X1900XT is an overkill for non gaming usage. I think you can save a lot of money by going with an X1600XT or 7600GS or GT. Any particular reason for the X1900XT?

Depending on the size of the case you are using, I would recommend using the Scythe Ninja HSF. If you will not be overclocking the Conroe to more than 2.4GHz then you'll be able to use it passively to cut down on noise (i.e. no fan).

For the PSU, I highly recommend a Seasonic S12 since they run cool and quiet, and is also very efficient. An Antec NeoHE PSU is also good too. But I won't recommend a particular model until all the other components are fleshed out.

 

[r3zza]

No gaming, and when fan db starts to become an issue, i need to turn up the volume on the tv , also i will be using this for a photoshop'n

The X1900XT is an overkill for non gaming usage. I think you can save a lot of money by going with an X1600XT or 7600GS or GT. Any particular reason for the X1900XT?

Depending on the size of the case you are using, I would recommend using the Scythe Ninja HSF. If you will not be overclocking the Conroe to more than 2.4GHz then you'll be able to use it passively to cut down on noise (i.e. no fan).

For the PSU, I highly recommend a Seasonic S12 since they run cool and quiet, and is also very efficient. An Antec NeoHE PSU is also good too. But I won't recommend a particular model until all the other components are fleshed out.

I understand what your saying... and a AIWX1900 what do you think of that.. i mean its sort of a made for what im doing correct?

 

[jaguarskx]

I understand what your saying... and a AIWX1900 what do you think of that.. i mean its sort of a made for what im doing correct?

Yeah, it's made for what you are doing. It combines both a TV Capture Card and video card in one nice package.

You could also go for a separate TV Capture Card and a less powerful video card to save a bit of money. But the choice is yours.

 

[r3zza]

hmm aiwx1900 it is, now for ram what do you suggest? brand/quanity as well as a psu

 

[jaguarskx]

I think 2GB of CORSAIR ValueSelect DDR2 533 should be fine. If you plan on overclocking a little bit then you can use 2GB of Patriot DDR2 677 RAM.

As for a PSU I recommend the Seasonic S12 430 for $108. Or the Antec NeoHE 430 for $78. Even though the Seasonic is $30 more, that would be my preferred choice. But the Antec NeoHE is good too. Both are quiet (NeoHE is 1dBA or 2dBA louder), and very efficient (up to 85%) which means less electricity is wasted, and less heat is generated.

Here is an estimate of the power comsumption on the 12v rails where most of the power hungry components draws their power from:


Conroe E6400............................50w CPU Power Consumption Chart
AIW X1900................................109w GPU Power Consumption Chart - High Estimate - 109w is actually for the X1900XT
Typical motherboard...................20w (A bit high in my opinion. Mostly draws power from the 3.3v and 5v rails)
RAM...............................................0w (Power is drawn from the 3.3v rail)
Sound Card...................................0w (Power is drawn from the 3.3v/5v rail)
DVD-Burner..................................18w
300GB Hard Drive (x2)...............50w (approx. 25w each, another few watts from the 5v rail)
3 120mm Fans at full speed.........15w

Total Power Consumption............262w

Both Seasonic S12 430 and the Antec NeoHE 430 will provide 29 amps on the 12v rails or 384w (29 amps x 12v). More than powerful enough for this rig even if you overclock the E6400 to the speed of the E6600 (another 2w according to the chart, big deal).

Larger capacity hard drives consumes more power; figure a 400GB HDD will consume 30w and a 500w HDD will consume 35w. The WD Raptor 74GB (10,000 RPM) consumes around 40w.

 

[r3zza]

hows this look?

Fans, Heatsinks (Case, CPU, Chipset)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler - Retail
Model #:ACFZ7-PRO

Add this item to your cart $29.99

Memory (Standard System Memory)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model PDC22G5300LLK - Retail
Model #DC22G5300LLK

$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
Add this item to your cart $179.99

Power Supplies
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 COOLMAX CR-550B ATX 550W "140mm Fan" Power Supply - Retail
Model #:CR-550B

Add this item to your cart $79.99 -$10.00 Instant
$69.99

Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 ATI 100-714800 All-In-Wonder Radeon X1900 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #:100-714800

Add this item to your cart $219.99

Combo
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #:GA-965P-DS3

Add this combo to your cart $412.98 -$25.00 Combo
$387.98

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066MHz FSB LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
Model #:BX80557E6400

** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only.
SubTotal: $887.94

 

[jaguarskx]

Power Supplies
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 COOLMAX CR-550B ATX 550W "140mm Fan" Power Supply - Retail
Model #:CR-550B

Add this item to your cart $79.99 -$10.00 Instant
$69.99

Everything looks good, but I'm not a big fan of Coolmax power supplies. I rather go for well known brandnames who's PSUs have good track records of solid reviews from hardware sites (not user reviews). But they tend to be more expensive.

The nice thing about the Coolmax that you picked is that you can adjust the fan. Just be careful not to turn it down too low or your PC can overheat.

 

[r3zza]

I guess i'll look around and read a few reviews (not customer reviews) and see what people run. I just don't feel very comfortable getting a 430w psu, i would rather have at least 550+ just to feel more comfortable.

 

[r3zza]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937
good?
also can you throw me a link for good thermal paste? Thanks!

 

[waylander]

Antec is a good mid range (power wise) psu maker. As to thermal paste, moste ppl use Arctic Silver 5 (AC5).

I know most of the people here have discounted the water cooling because "you don't need it, you can OC with air", this is not the only reason to water cool. Water cooling will reduce the noise produced by your computer by replacing the two biggest noise sources (in terms of fans), the CPU hsf and the GPU hsf.

If you have a case with two 120mm fans, add another 120mm fan (single rad) and you have a damn quiet computer. At this point your hdd will be louder than all the fans combined.

 

[Onthefarside]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835100007

^ Artic Silver 5, live by it.