First Post - Any help much appreciated

[snooob]

Hey all,

You've probably seen a trillion of these 'New PC Build advice' threads,so sorry for adding to the list...

I wanna build a gaming pc in about a months time, I've built 2 budget pc's before, but that was ages ago so i'm still pretty noobish (apologies if I ask any stupid questions) and any tips would be appreciated, I just wanted advice on parts, im in the UK and my budget is about £1000 ($1800 ...ish), These are the parts I know i would like:


CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Retail)......Is the heatsink/fan included with the proc. OK?

Motherboard: Not sure whether I should go for SLI or not, but for now i'll stick with it and I've chosen the Asus P5N32-SLI deluxe (not sure if this is sata 2 compatible.)

Ram: I want 2Gb in 2x1Gb sticks, not sure on the brand though.... are DDR2 667 sticks ok?

Hard Drive: Any 300GB..ish 16mb, 7200rpm, sata 2 drive, any recommendations?

Graphics Card: NVidia 7900gtx...not sure which brand, or does it not matter that much?

Case: Thermaltake Tsunami Dream, (I've read that ppl have had problems with certain mobos, and Power Supplies fitting in to this case??)

Power Supply: Any suitable PS, Is 600W enough, any recomendations on a good solid (preferably quiet) power supply?


I'm planning on buying components online, from ebuyer.co.uk, novatech.com, dabs.com ....altho I've read many horror stories about faulty parts and returning items, (have any of you had any probs orderin from these places?)....I've checked my local parts retailer, but it would cost me about (£100-£200=$180-$360 more)

 

[nikolokolus]

Hey all,

You've probably seen a trillion of these 'New PC Build advice' threads,so sorry for adding to the list...

I wanna build a gaming pc in about a months time, I've built 2 budget pc's before, but that was ages ago so i'm still pretty noobish (apologies if I ask any stupid questions) and any tips would be appreciated, I just wanted advice on parts, im in the UK and my budget is about £1000 ($1800 ...ish), These are the parts I know i would like:

questions are what we homebuild geeks live for

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Retail)......Is the heatsink/fan included with the proc. OK?

Sounds great! and yes the CPU comes with a HSF; any retail CPU will, oem CPU's will not however.

Motherboard: Not sure whether I should go for SLI or not, but for now i'll stick with it and I've chosen the Asus P5N32-SLI deluxe (not sure if this is sata 2 compatible.)

As for SLI or not to SLI, it depends on what kind of resolutions your monitor supports; if you game at below 1600X1200 then dual graphics are kind of a waste of money . . . you'll see a little bit of difference but not enough to warrant the extra cost. Another thing, one 7900gt will beat two 7600 gt's for instance. If you get the P5N32-sli deluxe make sure you get the SE version of the board otherwise it won't work with core 2 duo. And yes it uses SATA II

Ram: I want 2Gb in 2x1Gb sticks, not sure on the brand though.... are DDR2 667 sticks ok?

Corsair is a good bet (mushkin, kingston, g.skill, and crucial are too; just be sure to check with Asus' compatiblility charts to see what sort of memory they support). I'd recommend DDR2 800; core 2 duo will like the extra bandwidth. Low CAS latency isn't as critical as it is with AM2 systems, but if you are planning to overclock try to get at least CAS 4 memory.

Hard Drive: Any 300GB..ish 16mb, 7200rpm, sata 2 drive, any recommendations?

Seagate has the best warranty (for the most part) at five years, Western Digital drives perform well and are pretty reliable.

Graphics Card: NVidia 7900gtx...not sure which brand, or does it not matter that much?

Brand isn't super important, though I've had good luck with Leadtek, BFG, and XFX.

Case: Thermaltake Tsunami Dream, (I've read that ppl have had problems with certain mobos, and Power Supplies fitting in to this case??)

I've never used that case, so I can't comment on it, just try to research reviews and check out the case forums for more specific advice.

Power Supply: Any suitable PS, Is 600W enough, any recomendations on a good solid (preferably quiet) power supply?

600 watts isn't a bad number . . . you could probably actually get away with as little as 450 watts (as long as the PSU is high quality and the +12 volt amps are good). For quiet operation I'd go with either a Seasonic, or possibly an Antec Neo HE (though my personal opinion is that seasonic is better) If noise isn't the most important factor, other brands to consider are: Enermax, OCZ, Mushkin, FSP, Tagan, PC power & cooling, and Silverstone.

 

[snooob]

Thanks for the reply, it cleared up quite a few of my questions.

With regards to the motherboard, do you kno any other good SLI models compatible with the Core 2 Duo, I picked the Asus because it was the only one I could find, and its quite pricey.

And with the RAM, I'm not planning on any major overclocking, altho it seems easier to do theses days, so i'll try max out performance if i can. I found a 2GB OCZ twin pack that were DDR2 800, it mentioned some stuff about timings, which i wasnt sure about, but its compatible with the mobo so i think its ok.

 

[nikolokolus]

A couple of things.

Intel's 975x chipset mobos are starting to support both sli and crossfire; for instance the new abit aw9d and aw9d-max motherboards (which should hit the shelves next week) advertise sli support . . . probably via chipset driver, which means it could work on just about any 975x mobo. you will probably see more motherboards come online with nforce chipsets in the coming weeks and months, it might be better to wait and see how things shape up if you are looking for a deal.

Secondly, OCZ memory and Asus boards with nforce chipsets are reported to have a lot of problems (a quick search through the forums would tell you this), my advice would be to check with whatever motherboard mfgr. you pick and see what memory they recommend.

 

[ChrisBond]

Well, the CPU is good. Ram, I would say go with Consair and get DDR 800. Hard drive, get the Seagate 7200.10 320GB, good performance and cheap. Graphic card, don't get 7900GTX, way too much money. Get X1900XT and overclock it to X1900XTX speeds. PSU, get OCZ GameXStream 600W Power Supply. And your all set to go but you might want to change your motherboard to a crossfire ready motherboard but you don't have to, if you don't want too. I would love to get the exact prices on these items but too many pounds signs. =[

 

[snooob]

is DDR2 800 a lot better that the 667? I wasn't going to do much overclockin or anything, and I've seen somewhere the performance boost fromm 667 to 800 is small, but it might have been for the e6400 or e6300, also with regards to RAM timings, what is its and what exactly am I looking for?

Cheers guys

 

[phreejak]

As far as PSUs are concerned, you owe it to yourself to do the research so that you'll be better informed and will be able to make your decision much more easily. Here are some reviews of various PSUs that should help you:

http://www.bytesizedreviews.com/?rev_id=302
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=1359&page=2

Belowe I've compiled a listing of some excellent PSUs that would be able to handle your components energy demands and have every good all-around features:

SeaSonic S12-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply ($129)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151024
dual 12v rail with good amps (17, 16 amps), excellent rep, Active PFC

SILVERSTONE SST-ST50EF ATX12V 500W ($89)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256001
dual 12v rails, strong amps (18 per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

Thermaltake W0057RU-01 PurePower TWV ATX 12V 2.0 500W ($129)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153031
dual 12v rail with good amps (18 amps per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W ($105)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194003
dual 12v rail with STRONG amps (22amps per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

XCLIO X14S4P3 500W ATX 500W ($95)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189012
triple 12v rails (18, 18, 16 amps), modular, Active PFC, Good Rep

ENERMAX Noisetaker II EG495P-VE ATX12V 485W ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194009
dual 12v rails, strong amps (22 per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104934
dual 12v rails, 15 amps per rail average, excellent rep, Passive PFC

 

[unsmart]

I just read on anandtech that the ASUS P5B's new bios unlocks the conroe multiplier. They could not get thiers to go up( only down) but some will go up they say, so you could get lucky.
I also agree with ChrisBond the x1900xt( or x1950) is the better card and the cost of a dual card settup is better spent on other parts.

 

[elbert]

Hey all,

You've probably seen a trillion of these 'New PC Build advice' threads,so sorry for adding to the list...

I wanna build a gaming pc in about a months time, I've built 2 budget pc's before, but that was ages ago so i'm still pretty noobish (apologies if I ask any stupid questions) and any tips would be appreciated, I just wanted advice on parts, im in the UK and my budget is about £1000 ($1800 ...ish), These are the parts I know i would like:

For a gaming PC you want to more GPU and off set the price with less CPU.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Retail)......Is the heatsink/fan included with the proc. OK?

E6400 has the gaming performance of the FX-62 and will save you over $100 for a better GPU.

Motherboard: Not sure whether I should go for SLI or not, but for now i'll stick with it and I've chosen the Asus P5N32-SLI deluxe (not sure if this is sata 2 compatible.)

Nice OC'ers mobo but a bit high priced. I would go for and Nvidia 570 or 590 mobo for about $139.

Graphics Card: NVidia 7900gtx...not sure which brand, or does it not matter that much?

For a gaming system go for the 7950 or wait for DX10 Nvidia's in about a month or 2. The 7900's performance will rate only mid range in about a month even in DX9.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-ATI-Launch-G80-and-R600-chips-28763.shtml

I'm planning on buying components online, from ebuyer.co.uk, novatech.com, dabs.com ....altho I've read many horror stories about faulty parts and returning items, (have any of you had any probs orderin from these places?)....I've checked my local parts retailer, but it would cost me about (£100-£200=$180-$360 more)

The price you pay for support. If you need it then it may be the best way to go. The horror stories mostly are buying OEM and not buying the extra part the supplier requires on the same purchase for the warranty. Example: Tigerdirect requires for any OEM CPU a purchase of a heatsink/Fan for the warranty. Retail parts are covered by the manufacture, again a higher cost and IMO worth the cost for none OC'ers, so you have an extra company to turn to if problems arise.