Building a PC, Opinions and Advice please

[vermin]

About to build from scratch a PC and could use some opinions on my setup. Preferably looking for opinions/advice on conflicts on setup (if there are) as I haven't built a PC in a while and any suggestions for better bang for buck hardware then those I had listed. As of yet no current plans for OCing. PC will mostly be used for gaming and multimedia. And many thanks in advance :lol:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66Mhz
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS8700
RAM: 2x1gb Corsair PC5400 DDR2 667 (maybe 3x1)
Mobo: ASUS P5K-C P35 (for possible future upgrades DDR3 + Penryn)
Graphics card: XFX 8800 GT 512mb (kind of leaning on XFX, but ASUS and Gigabyte are available if they are recommended)
PSU: Silverstone ST56F 560W (I believe I saw this on the Tier 1 brands?)
Casing: Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower

Left out HDDs, Media drives and sound card.

Questions:
1) Could use some suggestions for thermal paste, I remember brands like quicksilver and such were the better ones some years back, and if they come in strips or tubes only.
2) And the same question from aadamszc's thread - "Would I see a huge difference in 667 mem and 800 mem if I have NO PLANS of OC ever? "
3) Should I bother with the 2 optional fans on the Antec P182 Casing - Front and Middle (VGA) and preferably a fan brand(reasonably quiet one please!) or would any 120mm fan do?

Since I live in S.E.A. and don't have proper access to online stores, my selection could be a little limited. The following links are price lists to some shops that I have seen with a good range of hardware, though suggestions don't necessarily have to come from these price lists.

http://images.lowyat.net/pricelist/pczone.pdf
http://images.lowyat.net/pricelist/czone.pdf

Many thanks again!

 

[Andrius]

1.) Just get a good brand cooler, like Zalman, Thermalright (comes with a syringe) and use that... or use Arctic Silver 5, Zalman ZM-STG1 if you can get it .

2.) If the price difference between 800 & 667MHZ is more than say 20% then buy 667. Otherwise don't bother. The only real difference is in benchmark scores.

3.) First you should see how the case performs without the 2 extra fans. If you discover potential airflow (hot running graphics cards or hard drives) problems, get the aditional fans. Otherwise don't bother. More fans equals more noise and dust.

Brand name fans are usually worth it (last longer, run quieter) but select low RPM silent models (around 1500 RPM is enough).
Cheap ones tend to be fine for about (half) a year then they start to whine so you have to take them apart and regrease them.

 

[g-paw]

If you're not overclocking the HSF that comes with the retail CPU should be fine. You're better off getting a retail rather than OEM CPU because the warranty is better. Antec cases have good cooling and if you're not overclocking shouldn't need the other fans

 

[geofelt]

Good advice from andrius and g-paw.

A P35 mobo is good, but don't pay extra for one with ddr3 capability. The board will be obsolete before ddr3 becomes economical.
ddr2 memory is cheap enough that 4gb is a good thing. 3gb may take you out of dual channel mode. You will see no difference between 667 and 800 memory.

xfx, bfg, and evga have a good reputation. The others would be ok too.

You may be able to find Yate-Loon 120mm fans they are cheap and good. They often come in orange(ugh!).

A tube of as5 might come in handy if you need to remount whatever cooler you have.

 

[vermin]

Thanks for the great replies. Gonna be switching the ASUS board to the P5K-R one, pretty much the same as the P5KC but with RAID capabilities and no penryn/ddr3 features.

Unfortunately 8800 GTs are pretty much sold out there

Oh and any particular brands/models for DVDRWs? A friend mentioned that some brands could be a lil picky when making coasters.

Thanks again!

 

[g-paw]

If you mean the DVD drives, I've had good luck with LG, Lite-On, and Samsung. Particularly like the Samsung, seems to be quieter than the others. If your talking about the medium, Verbatum is good and not over priced

 

[johnyeah]

Like others mentioned above, don't bother getting a motherboard that supports ddr3, it's a waste of money. The P35 chipset is definitely the best bang for the buck in terms of motherboards available right now.

In addition, you don't really need a tier 1 brand PSU, I use an OCZ SXS 600W and it is running perfectly fine.

Unless you're overclocking, the stock HSF (CPU Cooler) is more than enough to handle the loads (plus it already comes with thermal paste).

If you have no plans of OC, just get the ddr2 800 RAM, there is literally no price difference right now. Some brands I can recommend with confidence is A-data, Corsair, OCZ, etc.

 

[vermin]

Yeah I decided to go for the P5K, basically just the same as the P5K-C but without the ddr3.

There aren't a lot of PSU options for me to pick over here and I really like the efficiency on the Silverstone.

I was thinking of switching to a 3rd party CPU cooler since I live in a tropical country and room temps would be a little higher then of those living in the States or the EU. Probably would mean nothing but to add to my paranoia, but I guess I will get temperature readings before actually going for a 3rd party cooler.

DDR2 800 RAM unfortunately is still a little pricey over here, almost double I believe from 667 RAM.

Anyone know if the ASUS 8800GT is worth going for? At the moment shops are projecting they would get stock on the XFX 8800GT in 2 weeks while i could get the ASUS 8800GT sometime at the end of this week. Should I wait out for the XFX? Or just get the ASUS? Or Gigabyte too.

Thanks again!

 

[johnyeah]

If you can't wait, get the Asus 8800GT. It works exactly the same as any other stock 8800GT's. If you can refund your graphics card without any restocking fee (within 30 days), you might as well get it for now and refund it later when factory OC'ed 8800GT's are available.

If you check the efficiency of other decent PSU's, a lot of them are so called "80-plus" certified. Silverstone makes top of line PSU's, there's no doubt. Is it worth the cost compared to, say, tier 2 PSU's? It's up to you to decide. For me, tier 2 PSU's is as good as its tier 1 competitors and better because it's cheaper.

And yeah, if DDR2 800 RAM is still pricey, then the 667 RAM are still perfect match for the e6750 (assuming no overclock of the FSB). In addition the timing on the RAM is pretty important as well. So make sure you check up on it as well.

 

[nhobo]

Great build - big bang for the buck! The only changes I'd make would be a Gigabyte DS3L and an eVGA 8800. Forget RAID ... the WD 'KS' series drives are nice.

 

[vermin]

It's times like these when I still wished I was living in the States again. Refunding doesn't work here unfortunately, but I guess I'll just do with the ASUS 8800GT unless someone suggests the XFX 8800GT is worth waiting for. The only 8800GTs I have access to are ASUS, XFX and Gigabytes, not including some smaller brand ones which I don't quite trust, such as Colorful.

The pricing and selection here for PSUs are really strange. Some of the Tier 2 ones are of lower watt and of the same price (or even more expensive too) as the silverstone one. So for the price and power I get from the silverstone, not to mention being on a Tier 1, it would be the best when compared to the other selections I have available. You can check the selections I have on the links I posted on the thread post, incase I might have missed one though.

Johnyeah mentioned timings for RAM is important as well, but I had thought they were only useful when OCing. But anyway the RAM I'm currently looking at is the Corsair Twin 2x1024-5400C4 DDR2 675 with timings of 4-4-4-12.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-13

I have never used a Gigabyte mobo before and the suggested Gigabyte DS3L does look promising indeed, not to mention quite a bit cheaper then the ASUS P5K. Could anyone offer more opinions?

 

[Arctucas]

As far as GPUs go, the reference cards are all the same.

I personally look at the warranty, and eVGA has the best!

 

[geofelt]

The gigabyte ds3l looks like a good fit for your needs. Go to their web site to verify that it has all the features that you want. It has no raid capabilities, and only 4 sata ports.

Corsair 667 should be good. Go to the corsair site and use the memory configurator to verify that the memory is compatible with your selected mobo. I have no doubt that the 667 memory will be fine. The lower timings sometimes require a bit more than the standard voltage, but I would not worry about it if the memory runs properly. The timings make very little difference, what is really important is that you have enough memory to avoid hard page faults.

An aftermarket cooler can be helpful in keeping your temperatures under control with less noise. If you are inclined to use one, I would suggest that you do it initially. Many of the better ones have a back plate that means that you must install the cooler while the mobo is outside the case. Even the 4 pin models are better installed out of the case, so you can verify that it installed properly.

I like the Samsung SH-203B sata drive, particularly because it is quiet. Can't comment on burning quality.

 

[jsc]

I have a Samsung SH-183 in my new box - so far, so good. I have had good success with Verbatim DL media and not so good luck with Memorex DL media.

After you get all of your parts, I recommend breadboarding them to test the parts before you install them in a case.

Memory modules - whatever you choose, install them in pairs to be able to use the dual channel mode.

HSF's - Zalman's sure are pretty - I have a 9500, used from eBay on my knick-knack shelf. But there are others that work as well for less, or better for the same price. If you are not going to OC, the stock HSF is good enough. For a moderate OC, you can't beat the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro for the money. If you plan on pushing the OC as far as you can, you are going to need a really good HSF - Tuniq 120 (??) or Thermalright Ultra 120. The TR Ultra 120 does not come with a fan. A lot of us like the S-Flex fans.