New Build, Advice Requested

goony20

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E7400- 119$
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel- 135$
Cooler Master Centurion 5- 55$
GIGABYTE GV-R485ZL-512H Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16- 135$
BFG Tech GS-550 550 Watt ATX12V v2.2- 50$
Corsair 4G (2x2G) DDR800- 52$
Seagate Barracuda 7200 Sata 3G/s 80g- 35$
Seagate Barracuda 7200 Sata 3G/s 640g- 70$
Sony Optiarc 24x CD/DVD Burner- 24$
Vista SP1 64-Bit- 100$

Total approx. 750$

Building my second system, but it's been about 5 years since my first and I wanted to seek advice from the always helpful tom's forum members.
-Not sure if the E7400 would be that much better than the E5000 series. Dual core good for me or quad core q6600?
-Gigabyte or similar Asus board (P5Q series)?
-BFG psu was recommended on web.
-Always used kingston memory, how about corsair or ocz? Also, should I use ddr2 800 or ddr2 1066?

The build will mostly be for gaming (Total War series mainly with many units to render at advanced speeds, possibly some new games as well like Starcraft 2) and other everyday use, ie macromedia, low end video editing/formating. There's really no budget involved, but I've always preferred not to spend too much on my builds and get the most for under 1000$. I'm not the most hard-core gamer, but I'd like to play the games mentioned above on the highest settings and be able to advance battles at max speed in Total War with large armies without any noticeable lag (hope this helps, specific, but I know not everyone is that familiar with Total War).
Any recommendations would be much appreciated.
 
It looks good, in general.

I wouldn't bother with the smaller HDD. Too expensive per GB and slower than more modern disks. Just make an 80GB partition on the bigger drive if you want the OS separated from the rest.

Q6600 would not do much for you in those games, but it's more future-proof. That is, if the developers later release a patch for those games to support 4 cores, you'll be awfully sorry you didn't get a quad. Of course, that may never happen. You decide.

That GA-EP45-UD3P is one of the best boards out there. Stick with it. With that card and PSU and MB you can even do Crossfire later if you need it.

DDR2-800 is fine. DDR2-1066 is for people who buy aftermarket coolers and overclock.

I'd change the case to Antec 300. Same price, bigger fans.
 

goony20

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I will be downloading a lot of stuff, that's why I went with the two HDD. I've been researching different setups and many seem to prefer putting the os and other programs on a different HDD to avoid slow speeds and clutter.
As for the case, I'm still up in the air. The antec seems decent, but most reviews I've read say it isn't very queit; considering this will be in a two man barracks room, that could be an issue.
Also, I haven't overclocked in the past, but I do plan on learning to do so with this build, or maybe my previous build to learn the ropes and get the most out of my budget pc.
 

TechTony

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Normally when people talk about Boot Drives, or second hard drives that house the OS and other Programs, they are referring to a faster hard drive, such as an SSD or a Velociraptor. If all you want is a different place to store your OS and programs, just partition the larger drive.

if you are going to Overclock, you will more than likely need an after market cooler for your CPU.

Edit: I am a horrible speller.
 

Kill@dor

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Cooling: After market CPU cooler...Zalman 9700 CNPS or better

Power: Slightly better PSU. 550W is fine, but i think 650W should hold out longer. I have a 700W Coolmax and its bad a** (You don't have to change this tho)

RAM: DDR2 1200 or 1066 is what i would recommend (if you are overclocking)
 
I'd get this RAM then:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166
(look at the reviews, 1233 of them, LOL)

This is a good cooler for OCing, for example:

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003&Tpk=HDT-S1283
I know it fits in the Antec 300. Don't know about the Centurion 5.

This is even better, and quieter too:
Scythe Mugen 2 $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185093&Tpk=Mugen 2

I found a user review for the Mugen where the guy was using it in a CoolerMaster 590 case, so we know it fits in that case. That's a good case too for $65, take a look.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152
Again, I don't know if this fits in the Centurion 5.

About the case noise - between Centurion 5 (one 80 mm fan and one 120 mm fan) and Antec 300 (one 140 mm fan and one 120 mm fan), my guess would be that Antec's 140 mm fan is quieter than CoolerMaster's 80 mm fan. Just a guess though.


 

goony20

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Will I need an aftermarket cooler for moderate oc? The money's not really an issue, but I've read that some of the aftermarkets make it difficult to fit stuff on the mobo and in the case. I imagine an aftermarket cooler would just be the smart choice though, better on the cpu and longer life?
I was reading and article on ddr2 800 memory and the specs for patriot memory look pretty good, even for overclocking and the latency was heralded as being low. Is 1066 or 1200 that much better for mild oc? Also, I've read a little about low latency, but what does it really mean in layman's terms? How much better is Cas4 compared with 5 and 6?
 

goony20

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Would I actually notice any benifits from getting a SSD or velociraptor drive? Perhaps a 10000 or 150000 rpm drive compared to 7200rpm? Or is putting os on a faster drive more of the high end enthusiast thing?
Also, I was looking into the psu issue raised by kill@dor, and I was wondering what psu brand come highly recommended? I've read that BFG have been popular lately and they have done well in a lot of articles on overclocking builds. I prolly won't run sli or crossfire, but I'd like to be able to if desired in the future. Is a 550 watt supply with the volts stated above not good enough? Or is it more of an oc thing, will I need a bigger and better psu to have a wider range of oc capabilities?
 

hundredislandsboy

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Don't bother with the e5000 series CPUs. You'll want a higher FSB so yes the e7400 is at least 20 faster, especially if you run it at 1333 FSB. $135 got the 4850 isn't as much value an GTS 250 for the same price.
 
True, if the HD 4850 and the GTS 250 are the same price in your area then the GTS 250 is the better deal because it is a bit faster.

However, on the GA-EP45-UD3P the HD 4850 is more future-proof because that MB supports Crossfire (i.e. two HD 4850 cards working together on the same monitor). It doesn't support SLI (i.e. two GTS 250 doing the same thing). If you get the GTS 250 and want the option to add a second card later, then change the MB to something based on 750i.
 

goony20

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Concerning the gsu, how reliant is the total war series and new games like starcraft II on the video card? I don't think fps is as much of a factor as it would be in games like farcry, crysis, etc. What will noticeably enhance gameplay at a good value: slight upgrade in vid card (say from approx. 120-175$), more ram (i've been told 4 gigs is more than enough even with 64 bit vista), or a faster cpu (e7400 to q6600)?




I was reading and article on ddr2 800 memory and the specs for patriot memory look pretty good, even for overclocking and the latency was heralded as being low. Is 1066 or 1200 that much better for mild oc? Also, I've read a little about low latency, but what does it really mean in layman's terms? How much better is Cas4 compared with 5 and 6?