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ohwoojin   02-12-2007 at 02:13:03 AM

Hey everyone. My first post on toms hardware. Love the community here and have been reading it for ages. I've built systems before but theres a few things im a bit shaky about and plus would like your advice as to if theres anything I should change about my pc.

Screen 19" Asus VW192S Black TFT, 1440x900, 5 ms, 800:1, 330 cd/m2, Widescreen, Speakers
£132.76
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, Socket 775, 1.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail
110
MOBO ASUS P5B deluxe 120
GFX 256MB Asus Radeon X1950Pro, PCI-E(x16), Mem 1400MHz GDDR3, GPU 581MHz, 36Pipes

£125.71
RAM 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12
138.23
PSU 500W FSP Sparkle Blue Storm AX500-A, 12cm Fan ATX2.0 (20 + 4Pin) SATA/PCI-E
58
Case Coolermaster Cavalier 3 Silver Chrome Finish w/o PSU £42.88
HD 250 Gb HGST (IBM/Hitachi) 0A31636 Deskstar T7K250, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ 46
DVD drive Sony AW-G170ASV Silver 18x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer OEM
20
Keyboard Logitech Cordless Rechargable Desktop Black/Silver Keyboard + Optical Mouse
30.12
Carriage 12
TOT 835.7

I need the computer for general use. Im not really a gamer but would like to be able to play games like half-life 2 etc. I use photoshop/encoding dvds etc..

I dont intend to use Vista straight away but may migrate in 10months or so from XP Pro.

Should I go for a cheaper graphics card? I know there is no such thing as future proofing but would like to try and have a system that will last.

I havent overclocked before but am very tempted to with this. Is it ok to use the stock cooler? Do i need to buy such good RAM or could I save here. I think 2GB is probably the right around for me as I multitask. However I wasnt sure which frequency to get and to be honest really dont understand memory latency and what it does.

My budget is around £830.

I know it was a lot of questions! :D
Thanks in advance. Any suggestions are appreciated.

-Ohwoojin-

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cutthroat   02-12-2007 at 02:30:45 AM
- 0 +

You can likely get away with PC5400 RAM, you won't notice much difference with that setup. From reviews I've seen (but can't find now) memory latency means very little anymore, probably PC5400 5-5-5-12 would be fine.

Some people have found the stock hsf with the C2D annoying to install, plastic clips are hard to clip to the MB.

The Nvidia 7600 series video cards are a good value too.

Reply to cutthroat
akhilles   02-12-2007 at 03:20:21 PM
- 0 +

The cpu, mobo & ram have overclocking potential. You need to know the risks & trouble involved in o/cing. It's not flip a button & bang it's flying. It takes time, patience & constant stability tests.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/har [...] 97995.html

Heat has been & always will be the limiting factor in o/cing.

Reply to akhilles
ohwoojin   02-13-2007 at 07:19:11 PM
- 0 +

Thank you for your replies. For my over clock i was intending at around 3Ghz or maybe a bit less. I dont need too much power. Howver Im really confused about the RAM:


2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12

Should I go for this? Higher frequency but slower latency.

OR

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12

OR

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5300 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15

The first 2 are roughly the same price while the last one is about £30 cheaper.

Reply to ohwoojin
akhilles   02-13-2007 at 10:28:46 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

Please also use RAM that’s rated:
-DDR2-667 4-4-4-xx (good for ~400Mhz*)
-DDR2-800 5-5-5-xx (good for ~410Mhz*)
-DDR2-800 4-4-4-xx (good for 500Mhz+*) ->Best for E6300/E6400
-DDR2-1066 5-5-5-xx (good for 530Mhz+*)
-Or any other RAM of the above mentioned speed that has even lower timings
*refer to Part2 for maximum Mhz extraction under 1:1 operation
...
Part2. Memory Adjustments
**Expand options for Gigabyte BIOS under ‘M.I.T.’ by pressing CTRL+F1**
Gigabyte: Set ‘Memory Multiplier’ to 2 (1FSB:1RAM operation)
ASUS: Set ‘DRAM Frequency’ to DDR2-533 @266Mhz FSB (1FSB:1RAM operation)
As you increase the FSB, the RAM will follow in the pattern of 1:1 shown in BIOS.


Did you click the link I posted? Of those you posted, I'd get this:

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12

Then according to you, up the FSB from 200mhz for e4300 to 333mhz to reach 1:1 cpu/ram ratio which is the best. 333 x 2 = 666 or 667. 667 is the memory speed.

e4300 has a mutiplier of 9 & default fsb of 200. so 9x200=1.8ghz stock speed. Your goal is 3ghz-ish. So 9x333=2997 or 3ghz.

For overclockers, memory purchases largely depends on the target FSB overclock. For non-overclockers, it matters not.

Reply to akhilles
ohwoojin   02-14-2007 at 11:38:51 AM
- 0 +

Thanks for your advice. Yes I had checked the link but I looked through it too quickly. Since then though Ive been back and its very useful.

I have decided to go for the DDR2 800 5-5-5-12 rather than the DDR2 667 4-4-4-12 as if I plan on overclocking more in the future/need RAM with higher FSB this RAM is better. Also, running at the 333MHZ FSB would mean running the DDR2 667 outside its designed operating frequency. I know it can adjust by increasing the CAS but surely its better just to use the DDR2 5-5-5-12 which can handle up to 400MHZ with no overclock?

Reply to ohwoojin
yakyb   02-14-2007 at 12:36:04 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12

Should I go for this? Higher frequency but slower latency.

OR

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12



you'll find that they are probably exactly the same except at what they are recognised as in the bios if you relax the timings of the bottom one you'll be able to bump the speed up and vise versa

Reply to yakyb
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