Creating a Conroe Computer - $1900

[Naomarik]

In brief it is Core Duo E6400 2.13 ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and ATI Radeon X1900XT. I'm upgrading from a 2.4C Pentium 4 oc'd to 3.2 ghz I built in 2003. Will be putting in a 74 gig raptor from my current computer for games and OS and the 400 gig hard drive will be for storage.

I intend on overclocking this system, that's why I bought the expensive ram and Zalman HSF. I've done a little bit of research before ordering parts for this computer, so I'd love to hear what you guys think. If there was a better way to utilize my money for this please let me know. I've been somewhat out of the tech loop for awhile.

Below is a more specific listing of parts. Sorry about formatting, copy-paste from Newegg invoice.

1 ATI 100-435801 Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814195002 $322.99
1 COOLER MASTER RS-600-ASAA ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 600 Watts Continuous Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817171011 $119.99
1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145038 $342.00
1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KD 400GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822144423 $139.99
1 LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW-160P6S-04 - Retail
Item #: N82E16827106013 $32.99
1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007 $5.99
1 COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 RC-830-SSN1 Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811119103 $239.99
1 ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131028 $219.99
1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115004 $235.00
1 ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail
Item #: N82E16835118223

 

[Eurasianman]

Core 2 duo overclocking guide

Go there... it tells you what to get. Personally, go for the Corsair XMS2 DDR 800 6400C4 Mine overclocks to 900 MHz and go with the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe mobo. You won't be disappointed. I got mine to overclock to 3.2 on air and stable. Other than that, get a SATA 2 drive and check link for CPU cooler. Have fun! :tongue:

 

[knupxfon]

You do know that you can get the x1900xtx for the same price, right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102037

 

[Naomarik]

You do know that you can get the x1900xtx for the same price, right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102037

Oops. Didn't know that. I didn't know about Sata 2.0 either. Will try contacting Newegg before my order gets packaged to see if I can swap the hard drive and video card.

 

[306maxi]

You do know that you can get the x1900xtx for the same price, right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102037

Oops. Didn't know that. I didn't know about Sata 2.0 either. Will try contacting Newegg before my order gets packaged to see if I can swap the hard drive and video card.

SATA 2 drive won't be any faster.


I'm somewhat confused by the fact that you ordered before posting on this forum. Usually it's done the other way round.

 

[rwaritsdario]

Definetly if you can still cancel the order please do so.
Itll boot and run of course but there are some mayor changes you should make.
If you can here is that I would change:
Upgrade the CPU to a E6600 (twice the cache)
Change the RAM to something non-corsair without lights...
Get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (arguably best conroe mobo)
Upgrade to X1900XTX for cheap
Get a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10

Im sry if im being rude. But I strongly suggest you to cancel the order if you can. Since those are alot of parts it wont process in a day or two so you must likely can. Trust me, here at the forums youll put together something thatll run more than optimal =]

 

[Eurasianman]

a little bird once told me, stick with ATI Video Cards that are built and made by ATI directly (in other words, the one that says ATI Radeon X1xxx. Another thing, there's no much difference between X1900XT and X1900XTX. Go google it. You'll see you can save yourself $50 if you just stick with X1900XT. And I take it someone has something against Corsair. Well, for that matter, just find RAM that's PC6400C4 or PC6400C3. Either one will do. And it's also true you wno't tell the difference between SATA 2 and SATA 1, but that's like, why not just get DDR instead of DDR2 (i know the mobo doesn't support DDR for some of you out there thinking I'm an idiot). Anyways, lastly, people are right in the forum as to, don't order before posting. Normally, it's post first, wait a while, see the results, then order Hope everything turns out well for you. And, on some websites, it's been said that the 2MB cache Conroes do overclock better. If you need, PM wusy

 

[knupxfon]

I've used many Sapphire ATI cards, and have never had a problem with any of them.You need to kill the little biridie that told you that for lying.

 

[306maxi]

I've used many Sapphire ATI cards, and have never had a problem with any of them.You need to kill the little biridie that told you that for lying.

No one sad anything bad about Sapphire cards.....

 

[knupxfon]

read the first line of the post above mine.

 

[306maxi]

read the first line of the post above mine.

He merely suggested that the ATI cards are the most reliable ones. Never said anything bad about Sapphire cards at all.

 

[Naomarik]

Wow thanks for all the feedback!

Decided to just bite the bullet and stick with what I got. Kind of bothers me that I could have gotten better for my money but the slight performance increase isn't worth the hassle sending the stuff back. Should still be a pretty solid PC especially since right now all I really play is World of Warcraft.

Edit: Eurasianman, the RAM I ordered is PC6400C4. Thanks for the positive post, I really hope this system will surpass my expectations.

Where does SATA 2's design utilize the extra bandwidth? I'm guessing SATA 2 is only better than SATA 1 in RAID configurations?

 

[angry_ducky]

Decided to just bite the bullet and stick with what I got. Kind of bothers me that I could have gotten better for my money but the slight performance increase isn't worth the hassle sending the stuff back.

Did you call newegg and try to cancel the order?

 

[Naomarik]

Decided to just bite the bullet and stick with what I got. Kind of bothers me that I could have gotten better for my money but the slight performance increase isn't worth the hassle sending the stuff back.

Did you call newegg and try to cancel the order?

Had to wake up very early for work today and when I got back home the order was on Step 5. Could have called them on my commute to work but decided not to.

 

[fonzy]

If your spending that much money then why not just wait for the DX10 video cards (R600) to come out? This way you can play Crysis and all the other new games that will take advantage of the extra DX10 effects.

DX10 video cards will be able to play DX9 games so your not missing out on anything!

 

[Eurasianman]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

 

[306maxi]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

XP will NEVER have DX10 support. Never.

 

[Eurasianman]

that's why I said, if we're lucky! Sheesh!

I'm sure someone also said that XP will never run on a MAC and look at it now! It's on a MAC! Imagine that! What's next??? MAC running on a Windows Box (and I'm not talking through a virtual machine either!)

Anyways, Microsoft's big problem is getting people to upgrade. Lately, they've tried to push that by cutting off support for everything below XP/2000. So, if they can't get enough people whining about how they don't want to go to Vista, they'll either lower the prices (undoubtfully) or let DX10 be released for XP (that's like saying a cat can breed with a dog and if you've seen this, um.... WTH ARE WATCHING?! )

 

[f1nal_0men]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

XP will NEVER have DX10 support. Never.

Since when is Microsoft final or honost about anything?

 

[306maxi]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

XP will NEVER have DX10 support. Never.

Since when is Microsoft final or honost about anything?

and this is a basis for drawing the conclusiong that XP will support DX10...... HOW????

 

[fonzy]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

XP will NEVER have DX10 support. Never.

Since when is Microsoft final or honost about anything?

I don't think it's possible to have DX10 on XP and even if it was Microsoft wouldn't let it happen because it's a major selling point for Vista.

 

[Talon]

I find it highly doubtful that Microsoft would let DX10 support go to XP. Having said that, never say NEVER. Stranger things have happened. But admittedly it'll be a hard enough sell for Vista as it is, with arguably the best features already cut from it, then if they allowed DX10 to XP who the heck would buy Vista then? There is also the offchance Vista sells so poorly they find themselves needing to integrate features further into XP. So in summary damn unlikely but not impossible.

 

[306maxi]

I find it highly doubtful that Microsoft would let DX10 support go to XP. Having said that, never say NEVER. Stranger things have happened. But admittedly it'll be a hard enough sell for Vista as it is, with arguably the best features already cut from it, then if they allowed DX10 to XP who the heck would buy Vista then? There is also the offchance Vista sells so poorly they find themselves needing to integrate features further into XP. So in summary damn unlikely but not impossible.

I think people are overstating the issues with Vista way too much. As with any new IT product the early adopters will carry it at first and as time goes on it will gain popularity.

 

[f1nal_0men]

if I'm not mistaking, they're not going to come out with DX10 cards till Vista comes out since DX10 is package in with Vista. If we're lucky, they'll release DX10 for XP.

XP will NEVER have DX10 support. Never.

Since when is Microsoft final or honost about anything?

and this is a basis for drawing the conclusiong that XP will support DX10...... HOW????

I can't prove that XP can support DX10, but can you prove that it doesn't?

Microsoft said XP wont have support for DX10, but I think it's possible that XP could run DX10 if they really really wanted to.

 

[CookieOfDoom]

Honestly, it doesn't matter that much whether it functions with the OS. The big thing is the video card. Definately hold off on getting that for now. I'd actually wait to do anything until November when Quad-Core's start coming out.