New Build, Opinions Wanted!

[Big_Bear]

Hey Guys,

Been reading this forum forever, and am finally getting around to building my new computer its been forever. I have most of the parts picked out, and I plan to do a large overclock (300FSB or greater) eventually! Here is what I am looking at:

Case: Antec P180
CPU: E4300
Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra 120 (with Sycthe S-Flex 1600RPM Fan)
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
HD: 2xSeagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB (Possibly More for RAID)
Graphics: XFX GeForce 8800 GTS XXX 580MHZ 320MB 1.8GHZ (Possibly get base model and OC myself)

The 2 concerns I have are over my PSU and RAM

I am still deciding if I should get either:

Mushkin XP2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL 4-4-3-10
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=13000BD7763
OR
OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=13220BD3804&vpn=OCZ2P800R22GK&manufacture=OCZ

The difference being the OCZ is almost 100 dollars cheaper from directcanada.com, or for that matter anywhere I look, is there a problem with this OCZ RAM? Is there something I am missing?

For my PSU I am just looking for suggestions as to what is a good PSU with long enough cables for the P180? I was originally looking at:

OCZ GameXStream 600W or 700W but have heard the the cables were not long enough. Are these PSU Cables long enough or should I look at something like the:

Enermax Liberty ELT620AWT 620W

Anyway, any help or suggestions you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thanks in Advance

 

[Big_Bear]

Bump!

 

[jeff_2087]

The OCZ ram is fine, the Mushkin is a little faster and would overclock better because I believe all of Mushkin's XP series use D9s. But IMO it's not worth $100.

As for PSUs, I'd take the Enermax or a Silverstone or Seasonic or FSP Group over the OCZ.

 

[Big_Bear]

The OCZ ram is fine, the Mushkin is a little faster and would overclock better because I believe all of Mushkin's XP series use D9s. But IMO it's not worth $100.

As for PSUs, I'd take the Enermax or a Silverstone or Seasonic or FSP Group over the OCZ.

Okay, thanks for the advice

How about this Seasonic S12-600HT 600W?

 

[Nossy]

The component you have chosen indicates that you want to spend no more than $1000 I'm guessing

P965-DS3: a value mobo with great OC ability. The cpu fan doesn't come on right away which scared me a bit. If you really want to go extreme OCing (which looks like you want to especially when u are considering the Ultra 120 HSF), see if you can cough up another 60 bucks for a Commando.

I'm also guessing you dont look forward to SLI. Seasonic and Enermax PSU are good enough for a single GTS. 500-600W. I used a Rosewill 600W PSU SLI (~65) for a build with a evga 8800GTS 640MB + E6600 + Gigabyte S3 + stock HSF + 250GB Hitachi Deskstar for my friend and ran fine.

Not sure about using a 500GB HDD as your main drive - but oh well. Maybe a Raptor 74GB (Same price as a 500GB Barracuda) + Barracuda 500GB.

Any memory with Micron D9 chip are fastest. The mushkin are more expensive because of the lower timings (which is not really worth it for a budget build). I usually use Kingston, Corsair XMS2, and Crucial which is a bit more expensive.

 

[Big_Bear]

The component you have chosen indicates that you want to spend no more than $1000 I'm guessing

Well its in Canadian Dollars so its a little more expensive than that! I wish I had the american prices So far this system is going to run me around $1500 Canadian

P965-DS3: a value mobo with great OC ability. The cpu fan doesn't come on right away which scared me a bit. If you really want to go extreme OCing (which looks like you want to especially when u are considering the Ultra 120 HSF), see if you can cough up another 60 bucks for a Commando.

Alright I will shop around for one, The main reason I have chosen the Ds3 is the fact I wont be going after an SLI Setup as I personally feel I wont need it. The Commando seems to have a much better OC'ing ability and I may have to take a look

Not sure about using a 500GB HDD as your main drive - but oh well. Maybe a Raptor 74GB (Same price as a 500GB Barracuda) + Barracuda 500GB.

After reading the Toms review of Raptor's vs Value drive at raid 0 I decided that I could save some money and create a RAID 0 setup and get similiar performace. Though the 500GB are on Sale, and that is a main factor

Any memory with Micron D9 chip are fastest. The mushkin are more expensive because of the lower timings (which is not really worth it for a budget build). I usually use Kingston, Corsair XMS2, and Crucial which is a bit more expensive.

For maximum performace I am looking for CL4-4-4-12 sepcs, or does it matter if I go with CL5-5-5-12 specs on my RAM?

Kingston HyperX PC2-6400 2GB$303.61
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 $305.51
Mushkin XP2 PC2-6400 2GB $294.99
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB 2X1GB $261.90

All those sets are in the same price range except the Patriot, would I be better of with a particular one?

 

[Nossy]

THG had an article titled "Overclocking 9 Value-Priced DDR2-800 Kits" in late February.

"The PDP Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-6400 holds a commanding position based on its overclockability alone, and an ultra-low final price (around $200 after $50 mail-in rebate) is astounding. The rebate ends February 28th, with no word yet on future rebates."


So they really like the Patriot Memory.