Building new system - humbly seeking advice

[titansniper1]

Hello World.

Soon I will be embarking on building a new system based on Intel Core 2 Duo. While I have built custom computers before, the time of the last OEM I built was several years ago. I am now seeking any advice or pointers anyone may have in what I wish to do.

Here are the desired specs of the future machine:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz 2mb cache E4400
P35/680i/775 Motherboard - Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS
2 GB DDR2 800 OCZ
640 GB (320 x 2) Raid 0 Western Digital
8800 GTS 640 MB eVGA nVidia
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer*
Antec Treo Tru-Power 650 watt PSU*

Total cost = around $1100

_______
* - items already in inventory


Below I have a few questions

1. What do the following terms mean: P35/680i/775

How are they related
How are they different
Why is P35 the standard/most common term to refer to currently?

I would appreciate any clarification. The last motherboard I worked with was an ASUS A7N8-Deluxe when it was soup de jour on the menu. Geforce 4 Ti was literally the hottest thing since grated cheese. I will definetly appreciate any advice and information anyone has. I really feel like I need to get myself upto speed with all the new chipset terms and limitations before I begin. Also if there are any new challenges or important steps that have changed in installation regarding core2 duo that would not be obvious please share them as well.

Such as:

temperature concerns
cpu overclocking tolerances +/- 10%
or anything else I forgot to mention.

Stay tuned. I'll be back soon to see what the santa-geeks have left me for help. Hopefully my post was easy to read and may help some others as well in their near-future pc building goals.

Best Regards

Titansniper
New to toms' hardware forums / loyal tomshardware reader of too many years.

 

[conroe]

P35 is a new chipset form Intel, probably the best for now. 680 I Nvida's top chipset and it supports SLi. Both should support the same CPUs, at least rumors say the 680 will support Wolfdale/Yorkfield, P35 is official. 775 is the CPU socket, the number of pins.

Overclocking tolerances? 3-4GHz I guess. Reading temps with coretemp the CPU should start to throttle at 85c, any thing cooler and you will still be getting full performance. Intel rates max Tcase at 60c, Tcase is 10-15c cooler than the temps measured by coretemp. 70-75c is a safe max, most people run them cooler.

 

[emp]

with $1100 you can do a lot more than what you think.

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050&Tp k=ga-p35-ds3r

(GIGABYTE all the way for mobos)

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148069

(I like Crucial more than OCZ, but both are good)

(2x) Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136053

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071

Int el Core 2 Duo E6750 Dual Core Processor

http://computers.pricegrabber.com/processors-retail-box/m/37893017/ search=E6750

(will retail for about $180 after it's release on sunday)

Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154001&Tp k=Tuniq%2bTower%2b120

Total $1090 before rebates.

I saw that you were interested in OC'ing so I listed instead one of the new G0 Stepping Core 2 duos instead that are supposed to overclock to the moon, with the best air cooler and great memory for OC'ing.

 

[titansniper1]

to everyone who has replied:

reply #1: thank you soo much for clearing all the terms up. These terms make much more sense. I have a much better piece of mind with what I will choose now.

Reply #2) I am deeply grateful for this rig-list. I will consider the options and weigh them with what I have. Perhaps I did my math wrong but I appreciate anyone who is interested in helping me save money.

Kudos to you. I cannot say enough kind words for helping me with such detail

Both 1/2) Thank you both for all your help. I think I feel a lot better and even more ambitious about the new rig than even before. I have you both to thank for this

Best Regards

Titansniper

 

[titansniper1]

Also I decided to post my current rig-list that I had before writing this thread. If anyone would like to review and discuss pros-cons of this possible set-list vs. EMP's wonderful suggestion list. Feel free to break it down, criticize and by all means do not be shy to point out any pro's and con's.

Have at it. Thanks guys!

Here goes:

Motherboard: MSI P6N SLI Platinum: $149
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081

E4400 Core2 Duo CPU $129.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115014

Video Card: 8800 640 MB $370
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071

OCZ Ram $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227175

Harddrives (2 needed for raid 0) $149.99 (74.99 x 2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074

Case - not sure yet. just a sitting example $109
http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-nemesis-elite-case-black.html

Total cost is around $1066

Rip it apart boys. Feel free to tell me why EMP's rig is better. I'm all ears. This has been a great learning experience for me indeed and Im thankful.

Titan

Also I think EMP forgot to add 2 hard drives to the cost, not one: this makes the exact price : $1373

 

[emp]

What I forgot to add is the cost of the items you had already purchased, my bad.

First off that board is based on the 650i chipset (a more affordable version of the 680i, crippled too), the P35 on the other hand is a newer chipset and has officially being announced to have support for upcoming CPUs. The only thing that board has that the P35 doesn't is SLI, but it doesn't look like you're going to need SLI if you're not going for a GTX, single graphics card solutions are always better unless you have the top of the line.

That E4400 despite being a great CPU (around 3.2Ghz being a nice OC) and an amazing overclocker doesn't come close to the new G0 stepping CPUs (Around 3.8-4Ghz OC) and for the price difference which is about $50 or so, it's not even worth looking at something else, since the E6750 runs faster even at stock. We're entering in a whole new world of Core 2 Duo choices after July 22.

Overall what you chose will work well, but what I chose for you are newer parts that will not only last you longer but are overall better. Your setup would've been flawless maybe 2 months ago, but now the new Core 2s are the way to go, intel made sure of that.

Also if you need an affordable case (About $40-50) get the Centurion 5 or Centurion 534, if you want a more sophisticated case, then the Antec P180 or P182, or maybe the Thermaltake Armor. All great cases for the price.

 

[titansniper1]

EMP

thank you so much for all your kind advice. Again, all I can say is thanks. I do agree with the new chipset advice. So does everyone else I discuss it with. $50 dollars isn't asking that much.

Also, I do like your perspective on SLI as well. Don't you think most people do the SLI thing for mere bragging rights? Look real soberly at the facts.

If you stick a brand new eVGA 640MB 8800 GTS in a machine like the ones you and I are chatting about, you can't really complain about much unless you have a weakspot for being greedy.

It was only a few years ago that something as meager as the x800 was all we can dream of. By the whole gaming graphics hasn't advanced near as fast as the techology behind new gfx cards. The 8800 will probably be remembered as one of the biggest leaps in video tech advancements for quite some time. SLI then becomes almost overkill. Agree?

We have decided to wait a month or two even longer. I would not only love to have all the items above (your E6600 + P35) and I would really smile if I could see another $100-200 price drop because we were a little more patient. Everything good comes in time

EMP thanks again. If you'd like, you can add me on IM and I'd love to chat about anything-gaming whatever.

Here is my IM info. Just add me and don't be afraid to tell me who you are! I look forward to chatting with you

AIM: fueltronodb
Yahoo: titansniper1
XFire: titansniper (preferred)
MSN: gonzos_revenge@yahoo.com