New Build with spare parts - Watching Movies, surfing the net

[kxracer]

Approximate Purchase Date: In 2-3 weeks

Budget Range: Homeless guy cheap...omfg omfg can you buy me the parts cheap! :lol:

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Watching 1080P movies, surfing the net, some light gaming of older titles.

Parts Required:GPU, Monitor(not needed immediately, can wait for a good deal)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.memoryexpress.com, for the GPU I'll consider any online retail site in canada.

Country of Origin:Canada

Overclocking:Maybe(not a deal breaker)

SLI or Crossfire:no

Monitor Resolution:1680x1050 for now until I find a good deal for a 1920x1080(Will not buy monitor online)

Additional Comments:Silence is important

Ok here's the deal boys, I've been running on a P4 1.4 ghz, pc133 ram(Yes I know the n00bness of this build, I didn't buy it nor knew anything about computers back then) computer to surf the net and watch movies. But lately it's been frustrating sometimes surfing the net waiting for pages to load(my gaming machine loads em quick I tell ya!). And using msn, skype and flash/java chat, listening to music at the same time is just far too taxing and my computer gets really sluggish. I was gonna wait for ivybridge/Llano but I just started getting too frustrated so I'm creating a stopgap with spare parts I have.

Here's what I think my build will look like:

Antec 300 case
Thermaltake W0131 850W PSU
Asus P5G41-M LE
Core 2 Duo E6300 SL9TA
Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 mhz
Video Card????
500GB SATA Hard Drive
250GB PATA Hard Drive
160GB PATA Hard Drive
WinXP SP3

My spare parts: W0131 850W Thermaltake PSU, Corsair Dominator(2x1gb) DDR2 1066mhz 5-5-5-15 @ 2.2V, E8500 Intel Stock Heatsink, Arctic MX-2 Thermal Paste, 2 PATA Hard drives, antec 120mm tricool fan

Parts I've purchased already: Antec 300 case, used C2D E6300 SL9TA, SATA Hard drive

motherboard
For motherboard I'm looking at the cheapest thing available at my local store as I do not want to buy online and risk having to send it back so my only option is this board:
Asus P5G41-M LE
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX26401(ME).aspx


Video Card
For GPU I'm looking for the latest and greatest in HD decoding. Fanless design is a must. I was looking online and researching stuff and found out most of AMD's line only supports UVD 2.2, only the 6800, 6900 series supports UVD 3 according to here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder

I then looked at nvidia cards and found this nvidia card:
ZOTAC ZT-40601-20L GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) Zone Edition 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500175

Is zotac a crap brand? I've read bad reviews for their motherboards but how are their videocards? Sadly this is the only fanless design that I've found online for the GT 430.

I assume AMD will release lower end fanless designs in their 6000 series with UVD3. How does UVD3 compare to Purevideo? When will AMD start releasing their lower end 6000 series?

I'm willing to wait assuming the G41 chipset's onboard x4500 graphics can handle HD content decently, If not I'll probaly just go for that GT430 card.


Heatsink
I've got an intel E8500 stock heatsink(the short version without the copper base). Can I use this on an C2D E6300 SL9TA cpu with arctic MX-2? And if I can, can I overclock this a bit to say about 333mhz from its original 266mhz? I don't think the motherboard can go much over this from reviews I've read. Does heat only increase when vCore is increased or does increasing the FSB create more heat?


Case Cooling
I am going to remove the rear 120MM tri cool fan and put it at the front and use a spare 120MM tri cool fan from a P182 case and put it at the front as well. I will set all fans on low including the 140MM fan at the top. So I will only have the top 140MM as an active exhaust. If this is insufficient exhaust, I'm willing to purchase one the following fans: Scythe GT, Scythe S-FLEX, Zalman SF3.


monitor
I can live with my 16:10 monitor for now but eventually I'll go for a 16:9 monitor. I'm just looking for ideas right now. What sort of things should I look for on specifications and what are good values of those specifications?


System Sound
So that's what I will be running, will the intel stock heatsink be the loudest thing in my case if I use it? If it is, would it be unbearable?


My apologies for this being long winding post, and thank you for having the patience of reading it all.

 

[sandybridge]

Stores: I recommend ncix over m.e. cuz they price-match every other store as long as the item is in stock. On some sales, they offer a few bucks shipping for under 100lbs of goods. Unless you live in the same province as M.E. newegg.ca has the best customer service. They'll refund even taxes & shipping if you reject a shipment due to delay. Their free shipping means express & paid-for ground means 1-2 weeks. Go figure.

CPU/RAM/MOBO: No, don't buy LGA775. It's effectively dead in that Intel won't release many new cpus for that platform. They're focusing on Sandy & Ivy Bridge. The best bet would be a SB build. However, there's a bug that degrades SATA overtime after 1-2 years by a few percent. FWIW, I've been running a SB 2500K build flawless for a few weeks. *knock on wood* I do full virus scan every day. The bug affects only SATA2 ports. I'm using the 2 SATA3 ports. No one other than Intel has been able to reproduce the bug. Intel has fixed the H67/P67 chipsets, but they will resume the sales of flawed chipsets.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/intels-fixed-chipsets-to-ship-as-early-as-next-week/44562

The IB cpus will be compatible with P67. Maybe Intel is taking a page from AMD with their backward compatible AM3/2 cpus.

GPU: Your usage won't need that powerful a card. A GT210 1GB will more than suffice. Or one with GDDR3. GDDR2 may be too slow for full-screen HD playback. Now if you go with Sandy Bridge, you can use the integrated graphics build into the cpu for HD. Yep, the Intel GFX can do light gaming at low res.

HSF: Yes you can do any LGA775 cooler on E6300, but your build will be outdated before you buy it. No point in overclocking, the only thing you accomplish is to waste electricity. Your usage won't make use of the extra speed.

LCD: No, don't buy a 16:10 only to upgrade to a 16:9. A waste of money. Go straight to 16:9. You're watching HD video, no? Not much to look for. All cheap monitors are TN panels. You don't have the money for IPS which is superior to TN. Just look for a Samsung. Remember you're buying a panel, not features. Don't get distracted by features. Buy the best looking one. See 'em in person. You can check out any big box retailers and compare the screens. My preference is a HDTV with 1080p HDMI input(s). I can switch between TV & PC at will.

AUDIO: The stock fan is audible, but I'm used to it. If you've been hearing the P4 stock fan, you'll get used to the new SB fan. If you're watching videos, you should sit back and not at arm's length.

 

[kxracer]

Alrite I knew I wrote a confusing post so I'm just gonna clarify a few things.

I live in the same city as Memory Express so I can go in person to pick up which is what I prefer. I don't want to have to pay for shipping if I can get something locally.

I had spare DDR2 ram and a spare PSU at hand so I decided to build something around these two parts. I decided to go the intel path, I'm not entirely sure it was the right path but that is already done as I purchased a used E6300 chip for 30 bucks. As for motherboard I'm just picking up the cheapest 775 board at Memory express.

as for the gpu I read the 210 had problems playing 1080p HD, it could be as you said because it was a DDR2 chip and it was too slow. But since I'm going to have to buy online to find a silent option I don't want to take the risk of purchasing a 210 and having to pay to return and worse pay a restocking fee.

I'm not buying a 16:10 monitor, I have a 16:10 monitor that I will use for now until I get a 16:9 monitor. I'm not really sure what I'll get, but the GT 430 can bitstream lossless audio thru HDMI whereas the GT 200 series can not. This could be of interest to me in the future.

When you say P4 stock fan, are you referring to the older square heatsinks with a 60mm fan mounted on to it or the circular ones like the LGA775 cpu's?

 

[sandybridge]

No, I said LGA775 fan will fit LGA775 cpu. Period. However, whether that is enough for an overclocker cpu is another store. I don't o/c anymore and don't recommend it.

 

[kxracer]

Just to make sure we're on the same page, you're aware that the 65nm LGA 775 C2D chips came with a larger stock heatsink than the the 45nm LGA 775 C2D chips which came with a shorter heatsink(half the height of a 65nm stock heatsink). I have the shorter heatsink and want to put it on a chip that comes with the larger heatsink.

Like this here: http://www.dvhardware.net/news/intel_wolfdale_hsf.jpg

I've got the heatsink on the bottom left in that picture. The heatsink on the bottom right is the heatsink that normally comes with a E6300 C2D chip.
Sorry if that's what you said just wanted to make sure.

 

[sandybridge]

You'll void the cpu warranty if you don't use the original hsf. Other than that, you'll just have more heat from the cpu. And therefore, limiting your overclocking.