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My turn, Sanity Check - First New Build

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After months of lurking and a nice tax return on the horizon I'm finally building my first system from the ground up.
Planning on running XP Pro which I already have. 22" Samsung or LG which I will buy from a local store to ensure no Dead Pixels. Primary use will be gaming, think Crysis, WoW and any other new games that catch my eye. Not planning SLI. Maybe some minor OC'ing in the future. Budget is around $1100-1200 USD, but higher for good reason.
Can some of the pro's on here give it a final look before I buy, hopefully today or tomorrow while 8400's are in stock at newegg. *Knock's on wood*

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

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

XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply - Retail ($119!)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail ($34 after MIR)
-Can't beat the price, but I'm thinking with the cheap RAM now maybe I should just get 2x2GB in case I upgrade to Vista 64.
Alternate Memory:
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400ELK - Retail **Suggestions on better performance/value 2x2GB RAM??**

**For OS(Maybe partion for Vista Premium 64 and XP Pro**
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
**For Music/Videos/Storeage**
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail
**Can someone please confirm this comes with good thermal paste pre-applied?**

I belive that is everything. This is my first build so if there is anything else I need to worry about or buy please let me know. PS cable extension since RC-690 has bottom mounted PSU? Cable adapters?

Wrist wrap to prevent static discharge - I've seen mixed responses on this. It seems like as long as your not in a 0% humidity environment on a carpet then this is not needed.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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To OP: That's a fantastic build and should last you for quite some time. I also imagine that it will play Crysis and respectable settings. (If / when you get it, check this out for great config files: http://crymod.com/thread.php?threadid=12717 ) This one in particular claims to improve graphics quality while also increasing performance.

Quote:
I belive that is everything. This is my first build so if there is anything else I need to worry about or buy please let me know. PS cable extension since RC-690 has bottom mounted PSU? Cable adapters?
I have the Silencer 750 and a bottom-mounted PSU case, and mine cables all reach just fine. I'm not sure if the 610 has the same cable lengths, but figured I'd mention it anyway.

Quote:
Wrist wrap to prevent static discharge - I've seen mixed responses on this. It seems like as long as your not in a 0% humidity environment on a carpet then this is not needed.
Wrist straps are cheap, so it wouldn't hurt if you're still new to building. You're right about carpet though, avoid it. Try building on wood or tile.

Quote:
I use Patriot RAM.. with 4-4-4-12 timings.. it's awesome for the price.

I've been building pc's for years now and have never owned a static wrist strap..
I use Patriot 4-4-4-12 as well and never had any problems with it. I have to agree on the price as well. ($36.00 for 2GB of 4-4-4-12 DDR2 800 after MIR!!)

Funny, I own a static wrist strap, but I only use it when working on other's computers. Just so I can cover my butt in case they say I fried something.

Thank you for the prompt replies coronaz and rgeist. Based on your recommendation's I think I may go with the 4-4-4-12 Patriot 2x1GB memory, but still think that going right to 2x2GB might be a good option based on the good prices out there. I know with 32 bit XP I won't get the full 4, but if I ever go to Vista 64 it would be worthwhile.
There is a set of 2x2GB Patriot on newegg but I saw some reviewers listing problems with actually getting 4-4-4-12 timings. Suggestions on a reliable set of 2x2GB would be appreciated.
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Going with 2x2GB of RAM is still a good decision if you're ever going to use Vista, even if you don't see the immediate benefits in XP. Also, 2x2GB frees up another two DIMM slots in case you want to expand more in the future.

Quote:
I know with 32 bit XP I won't get the full 4, but if I ever go to Vista 64 it would be worthwhile.
There is a set of 2x2GB Patriot on newegg but I saw some reviewers listing problems with actually getting 4-4-4-12 timings. Suggestions on a reliable set of 2x2GB would be appreciated.
This could be due to novice overclockers being too aggressive when setting their RAM timings. This will happen with just about any RAM.

Looks very good. Get a Retail version of the optical drive in order to get all the software needed to use all of its abilities; e.g. you'll need a decoder in order to watch movies.

PhoenixRzn - "Even after upping the voltage, this memory would not run at 4-4-4-12 @ 800Mhz, which are the advertised timings. It was only stable at 5-5-5-12 on my Abit IP35 Pro. I don't think it was the motherboard because I bought the Geil 2x2GB package afterwards and it worked great at advertised timings. If you must have Patriot, buy the cheaper CAS5 memory. It will save you $30 and give the same performance."

"In my opinion... it needs too much voltage. At the specified voltage @ 2.2v these chips get hot. Maybe I'm getting too focused on silence/low noise system cooling... The performance boost doesn't seem worth the extra heat, and then extra cooling (higher fan speeds) required."

"This wasn't really worth my money, but I wasn't able to get 4-4-4-12 @800Mhz on this to boot. (even after setting apropriate voltage)."

Can't support the WD selection.....to my mind the 7200.11's from Seagate and the Hitachi 7k are *the* drive choices at the moment. WD's been slashing the Caviar prices recently in an effort to compete but to my mind $15/$20 difference is washed by the warranty diffenece alone.

1. The Seagate is not only faster than the 7,200 rpm Caviar but also the 10,000 rpm Raptor.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/05/the_terabyte_bat...

"Hitachi and Seagate battle head to head when it comes to winning the heart of the enthusiast who wants as much performance as possible. The Deskstar 7K1000 still does okay in the access time and I/O performance tests, but it loses ground when it comes to transfer rates. The Barracuda 7200.11 offers the best low-level benchmark results, jumping over 100 MB/s read or write transfer rates and accessing data in an average of 12.7 ms. With the exception of access time and I/O benchmarks, it also clearly beats Western Digital's 10,000 RPM Raptor, and sets the new standard for desktop hard drives."

and

http://www.barefeats.com/hard94.html compared the Hitachi, versus the Seagate versus the WD drives and writes:

"AND THE WINNER IS....
... the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 One Terabyte 3G SATA drive (ST31000340AS). It out-performed the other three 1TB drives in 7 out of 8 tests. It's pretty amazing to see a 7200rpm drive transfer at over 100 megabytes per second. Eat your heart out, Raptor 10Ks!

The Seagate 7200.11 is available in smaller capacities (500GB and 750GB) which feature transfer rates equal to those published here."


2. WD has shorter warranty (3 years versus 5)

3. WD has 16 MB cache versus 32 MB

Only other thing I'd mention is that I have always found Asus MoBo's to be a bit more friendly to the new system builder with regard to OC'ing.

Thanks for all the great responses.

I'm still a bit torn on what to do with the RAM. Based on the reviews mlaporta posted I don't plan on getting that 2x2GB Patriot memory. So I'm seemingly left with a few options:
1. Different Brand of Memory, maybe Crucial Ballistix.
2. Settling for CAS 5 memory with the 2x2GB option
3. Go with 2x1GB and get 4-4-4-12 timing.
Please help!

Regarding the HD's that JackNaylorPE mentioned, I may switch both over to the Seagate 7200.11 for the larger cache and better warranty. Not sure about switching the MB to Asus though, I've heard too many good things about the DS3R and OC'ing.

I have a floppy drive on my current system that I will use for flashing the BIOS.


Honestly, it doesn't matter what brand of RAM you get, your motherboard is going to default it to whatever it is most stable at.

Crucial Ballistix is a pretty good brand as well, but that being said, I don't think you notice a difference between either. Just go for the best price, imho.

Phoenix:

What I meant about the Asus is that they been doing just about about "1 click overclocking" for quite a while now. Not having used anything else of late, nor seen anything in the trades, I'm not aware that the other manufacturers have caught up in this arena. Maybe someone who has done recent builds can chime in here.

Since this is your first build, you may find that having various "preset" options where they do all the BIOS adjustments and essentially all you do is "click on an option" like "OC by 10%", will let you ease into this stuff.....starting with the presets and then tweaking manually later on as you begin to understand the various options.

As for the RAM....I have no favorites tho generally stick to either OCZ or Corsair's high end stuff.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$34 (after rebate) for 2 x 1 GB at 4-4-4-12 is perty good

The mushkin 2 x 2 GB has 5-4-4-12 at $95 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

here's a gSkil at 2 x 2GB fpr $115

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Geil has several options on new egg at 4-4-4-12 but there's a lotta complaints in the reviews.

Check out this sale combo with gigabyte MoBo...saves ya $10 ..... good quality vendor but with 5-5-5 timings

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

can get the 4-4-4 timings with OCZ here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

4-4-3 timings with OCZ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


4-4-4-12 with some decent reviews on this set from geil and $96 bucks to boot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


Finally Mushkin's 4-4-4-12 at $149.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Jack,

Thanks for the advice on the Asus, I see what you are saying. I'm kind of a glutton for punishment, and if I choose to OC I want to understand all of the changes that occur so I'm actually planning on going through the process of changing settings manually to get it to work. So I really don't mind not having the "one-click OC" option. But I will certainly look through some Asus boards and see if any appeal to my needs.

Many thanks for the list of RAM options, that is certainly helpful.

Question on the Seagate 7200.11's
After doing some digging I am seeing a significant amount of RMAs from drives clicking or failing in the reviews on the 'egg. Seems like a quality assurance issue. Anyone have any information on this?
Has this problem been remedied?
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