Homebuilding Qs/C2D Config Setup.

[DeviantAngel]

First off, I have never built a computer in my life, from scratch. I have done the simply stuff, like RAM, GPU, HDDs. But I am needing a new rig, and I don't wanna spend a load to have some company to do it when I can savea few hundred doing it myself. Do you guys recommend that I build a high perfomance rig, if its my first time building one? I don't think its much of a problem, everything seems plug-n-play...I am just confused about BIOS a bit I guess. Anyways, I am looking at this setup:

-Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
- GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
- SAPPHIRE 100168L Radeon X1900XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card
- CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Thats the barebone, I do not know if I should get new HDDs or swap from this rig, same with dvd drive, and floppy. And, since this would be my first time, do you guys think that if I do try to make this, that I should keep this rig running as my back up((Or in other words, don't swap parts)) until I get it up and running to not waste cash? I have anywhere from 1k to 2k to build this rig, and I want top of the line without the too heavy of a pricetag. Thanks!

 

[rwaritsdario]

Just follow a guide step by step and youll be fine. Your motherboard manual comes with everything you need to know about the basic BIOS to get everythign up and running.

The Abit AW9D-MAX or the Asus P5W DH are both very fine picks that are rock stable at stock speeds and excellent overclockers. Theyre both based on the 975X chipset wich will get BIOS revisions to support quad-cores.

Dont spend on Corsair premiun, unjustified price!
ANY brand of DDR2 800 with 4-4-4-12 timings will not over be overclockable to ~500Mhz CL5 but since theyll be using the same Micron chips are Corsair theyll perform very similar.

You should reuse your opticals and floppy.
What power supply are you using?
Are your HDDs SATA or IDE?

 

[DeviantAngel]

One is a SATA 1, other is SATA 2. My PSU is...Umm, the standard Alienware Area-51 3500 PSU, dumbest move I made, but I knew nothing about comps then, so worth the price then. And I believe it is a Enermax EG465P-VE 24P ATX 1.3 460WATT PSU

 

[rwaritsdario]

I checked out the PSUs specs and it should cut it for a single GPU config.
You can pick a mobo that has only one IDE connector (for your optical drives).
If you want faster, newer drives the Barracuda 7200.10 are the fastest in the market right now.

 

[DeviantAngel]

Alright, anything else I should know?
More than one person/expert/helper responding would be appreciated, xD

 

[rwaritsdario]

Alright, anything else I should know?
More than one person/expert/helper responding would be appreciated, xD

Haha, well it doesnt get much better than me

If youll be OCing youll also need a good aftermarket HSF. The Thermalright Ultra-120 or Scythe Infinity paired with a Silverstone FM121 fan is pretty much the best air setup you can have right now.

Oh and if you want real real solid OCs pick up the Geil or Patriot kits that are competitively priced in newegg.com

I strongly suggest the two mobos I mentions for premiun performance and futureproofability (not sure if its a word lol). You can the P5W DH cheaper at zipzoomfly.com

 

[DeviantAngel]

Well, I dunno if I wanna OC or not, heard it drains the life out of your system but makes it wtf, pwnage. And I am not that knowledgable in it...I kinda wanna keep this system for a few years, so ya....I may OC it, may not. Undecided/don't know enough pros/cons of it.

 

[rwaritsdario]

It will only decrease the life span of your parts if you give them alot of voltage or dont provide enough cooling.

Since it seems like youve got some money around for this setup I recommended the best OCing mobo but keep in mind that the farther something can OC the more stable it will be at stock speeds.

Look up for wusys C2D OCing guide in the CPU overclocking forums.

 

[DeviantAngel]

Wow, thank you. Alot. I thought that last post was like, "Bam, I just answered all your question noob-girl!" and was all happy, but something just ocurred to me...Vista is coming out in Feb(Still, right?) and instead of buying a new windows key/setup/whatever, should I just wait for Vista? They are beta testing it now so it shouldn't be as buggy as WinXP on launch....

 

[Storm1234]

Actually Vista will be out within the next month or 2 ( retail versions ), and with computer's beginning of the year.

Storm~

 

[rwaritsdario]

Actually Vista will be out within the next month or 2 ( retail versions ), and with computer's beginning of the year.

Storm~

Source please.

 

[Storm1234]

Don't feel like looking search around, its coming...


http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/10/06/microsoft_windows_vista_rc2/

Read bottom^^ That Toms acticle doesn't exactly say its gonna be released next month, but from what i have read from many places it will be released in november.


Storm~

 

[rwaritsdario]

I believe theyre still talking about yet another BETA version.
DX10 should arrive before vista, and thats just a couple of months away. So I highly doubt well have Vista before 07.

 

[rwpritchett]

The Abit AW9D-MAX or the Asus P5W DH are both very fine picks that are rock stable at stock speeds and excellent overclockers. Theyre both based on the 975X chipset wich will get BIOS revisions to support quad-cores.

Some P965 boards will support quad cores too:

Motherboards that work with Kentsfield

The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is on the list so no worries there.

rwaritsdario is absolutely right on about the RAM too. Get some decent (and cheaper) DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 settings. I highly recommend Patriot's line. Try to get RAM that uses 1.8V in any case because this forum is loaded with posts about people not being able to boot with high voltage RAM on conroe boards.

 

[DeviantAngel]

I tried searching all over, no one is actually give an official release date. MS is still hinting at Jan/Feb though. :/

Another noob question, I am fond of my Alienware P1.1 Chasis, makes my shit look bad ass. But ya, I dunno if I have enough room to fit that CPU fan in it...The Scythe Infinity. Will it universally fit all ATX full towers or will I actually have to measure? >.<

 

[rwaritsdario]

Definetly measure it. In the scythe-usa.com site there are pictures of it fitting in an Antec P180 so if your case is roughly as width it should fit. Motherboard incompatibilities arent common because the heatpipes give some clearance for the components.

 

[DeviantAngel]

Okay, but how do I measure it? Tried a search and no one actually says...Do I measure from the mount rack thing? Or what?

Side note: I think I will go ahead and get this rig, just put a free/cheap OS in it until Vista comes out, anyone recommend an OS thats cheap/free? Or a way I can bypass this MS code thing for WinXP...THanks again You guys are a great help to us noobs! xD

 

[DeviantAngel]

rwaritsdario is absolutely right on about the RAM too. Get some decent (and cheaper) DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 settings. I highly recommend Patriot's line. Try to get RAM that uses 1.8V in any case because this forum is loaded with posts about people not being able to boot with high voltage RAM on conroe boards.

Umm, thanks? This may be hella dumb of me...But I can't find any 4-4-4-12 timings on 1.8v DDR2 800 :/...Ya...Sorry if this was a noob post? >.<;

 

[rwaritsdario]

Okay, but how do I measure it? Tried a search and no one actually says...Do I measure from the mount rack thing? Or what?

Side note: I think I will go ahead and get this rig, just put a free/cheap OS in it until Vista comes out, anyone recommend an OS thats cheap/free? Or a way I can bypass this MS code thing for WinXP...THanks again You guys are a great help to us noobs! xD

No need for bypassing. What I did is that I simply never registered. Am im still getting automatic and everythign runs perfectly.
Just borrow a copy of WinXP from someone and you should be alright.

Since you already have the case in your hands it should be easier. Measure from the mountin rack to the case side panel and add maybe 2cm for the motherboard. Then see if it confortably considering the HSF's height. Wich fan do you plan on pairing it with by the way??

 

[rwaritsdario]

rwaritsdario is absolutely right on about the RAM too. Get some decent (and cheaper) DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 settings. I highly recommend Patriot's line. Try to get RAM that uses 1.8V in any case because this forum is loaded with posts about people not being able to boot with high voltage RAM on conroe boards.

Umm, thanks? This may be hella dumb of me...But I can't find any 4-4-4-12 timings on 1.8v DDR2 800 :/...Ya...Sorry if this was a noob post? >.<;

Yeah 1.8v on that isnt going to happend. I think it goes from 1.9v and up for these specs.
The reason why the lower voltage is better is not only to ensure motherboard compatibility (the only reason why Corsair is so worshipped) but because usually it indicates more headroom for OCing.

 

[DeviantAngel]

-I just opened this up and got as much info as I could..Its going to be 18 cm from Mobo to the chasis wall. That should be more than enough room, right? However, my case fan on that wall(meant for cooling RAM/Video cards I guess?) is, from the bottom of my case 10.5cm to 19cm, and relative to my mobo, my proc is from 21cm to 29cm, I know mobos vary where they put the proc but, if I was to get this 160cm heatsink, it would be extremely close to interfering with my side fan, no?

-And my current mobo is a ASUS P5GD1-VM/S, dunno if you needed that to get an idea of where everything would be laid out to see if it would fit or not.

-My side fan is a D80BH-12 DC 12v 0.18A which is a 5600 RPM, if I was to OC my video card, would I want to keep this? It is a 80mm fan.

-My chasis fan is a CHA 12012BB-A DC 12v 0.65A, couldn't find any information about this fan online, should I keep or replace it?[Side note, in my BIOS hardware monitor it says my chasis fan speed is ~1000, and its in red text, is that bad?]

-I also do not have any idea what combo I am going to use, I see that the heatsinks on Scythe are huge, but don't you want a fan too or does it matter?

-To not double post in regards to the RAM: Would a 1.9v work on a Conroe mobo? Is it a risk or what? I wanna get good latency but I want this stuff to work...Hah.

-I don't have any friends with WinXP discs? We all just got them preinstalled so...Ya, dunno what to do.

-If I would be OCing this thing, would it be wise to OC my GPU too? Provided I got it enough cooling. If so, should I use the SAPPHIRE 100168L Radeon X1900XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card, or get something else instead?

-Last bullet, will the SAPPHIRE 100168L Radeon X1900XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card be DX10 compatible or should I wait if I wanted to get a DX10 compatible card?

Thanks again :3

 

[rwaritsdario]

-I just opened this up and got as much info as I could..Its going to be 18 cm from Mobo to the chasis wall. That should be more than enough room, right? However, my case fan on that wall(meant for cooling RAM/Video cards I guess?) is, from the bottom of my case 10.5cm to 19cm, and relative to my mobo, my proc is from 21cm to 29cm, I know mobos vary where they put the proc but, if I was to get this 160cm heatsink, it would be extremely close to interfering with my side fan, no?

Itll fit just about 1cm to spare I think. The side panel fans usually are blowing at the gfx cards, not the processor, so it wont intervine. Remove it if it does.

-My side fan is a D80BH-12 DC 12v 0.18A which is a 5600 RPM, if I was to OC my video card, would I want to keep this? It is a 80mm fan.

A fan blowing sideways on a video card doesnt provide cooling enough for it to be more OCable. The purpose of this is to disipate the already blowed out hot air from the video card.

-My chasis fan is a CHA 12012BB-A DC 12v 0.65A, couldn't find any information about this fan online, should I keep or replace it?[Side note, in my BIOS hardware monitor it says my chasis fan speed is ~1000, and its in red text, is that bad?]

If thats a 80mm fan its spinning too slow and therefore not providing enough CFM. It would be just acceptable if its a 120mm one. If you cant make it spin faster from hardware I would advice you to replace it.

-I also do not have any idea what combo I am going to use, I see that the heatsinks on Scythe are huge, but don't you want a fan too or does it matter?

The Scythe Ninja Plus and Scythe Infinity already provide you with a fan. But if you want top performance (mostly with the Infinity) get a FM121. Its the best fan around.

-To not double post in regards to the RAM: Would a 1.9v work on a Conroe mobo? Is it a risk or what? I wanna get good latency but I want this stuff to work...Hah.

Itll be okay dont worry. Memory POSTs even at 2.3v stock

-I don't have any friends with WinXP discs? We all just got them preinstalled so...Ya, dunno what to do.

Keep looking. Otherwise youll have to buy an OEM version of WinXP (~$90).

-If I would be OCing this thing, would it be wise to OC my GPU too? Provided I got it enough cooling. If so, should I use the SAPPHIRE 100168L Radeon X1900XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card, or get something else instead?

CPU OCing and gfx OCing are completly independant. That card hits the X1900XTX speeds without any mods and stable.

-Last bullet, will the SAPPHIRE 100168L Radeon X1900XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card be DX10 compatible or should I wait if I wanted to get a DX10 compatible card?

Itll be compatible with Vista and no games will be exclusively DX10 compatible in the forseeable future (3 years if not much more).


Ive answered all your questions gladly because you did your hw with the space. Now order the damn thing and tell me how well it works! lol

 

[DeviantAngel]

LoL, alright. Soon, just one last thing, I have been searching product reviews and forums for these RAM related issues...Seems that ALOT of RAM has issues with Conroe mobos? Which would you recommend of these two? (Patriot seems overpriced and I heard their support is less than useful)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820144028
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231065

Seems the G.SKill can run at 2.0v-2.1v so, wouldn't it be better than the GeiL at 2.1v? Sorry, its just, I am using a student loan to pay for this, and don't have much money if it comes to replacing things. Rather get it right the first time, ya? xD

 

[rwaritsdario]

As my signature says those are the modules from Gskill thatll give you the most headroom for overclocking. A solid 520+Mhz CL5. But again theyre $30 more expensive than the GeiL ones.
Search on the GeiL ones look for reviews and overclockability and contact your motherboard manufacturer to see whats the highest voltage at wich the modules will post (im sure itll be something like 2.3v but its always better to check).

 

[DeviantAngel]

Well, I just spent about 2-3 hours trying to find what RAM voltage the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe uses...Can't get anything, only way to get intouch with them, any product services even, is to ALREADY own the product. And, in browsing ASUS forums, there is alot of compliant about the SB heat. Apparently they used some faulty grease or something, is there any fan I should attach to my front end intake to cool this? My HD cage is a 90 degree one, facing out from the entrance thing, I don't think I could fit anything larger than a 60-80 fan in there, but I doubt it would even be secure if I did so....Would the Silverstone FM121 solve this? I am just finalizing all this, I need a amount to fill out for my loan thing..