About to click buy

weringo · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:03

Im about to purchase this rig, I pretty much chose everything days ago but the Corsair PSU just went out of stock so I chose the Enermax 500W instead, is that a good choice?

Im just about set on everything else so it will take a lot to change my mind

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail 1 £99.99

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard 1 £74.99

Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink 1 £30.99

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) 1 £91.99

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black 1 £49.99

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail 1 £221.99

Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU 1 £59.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM 1 £51.99

Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE Cable (0.45m) - Black 1 £2.99

Akasa AK-TK-01 Cable Tidy Kit 1 £3.90

Shipping: £10.95
Vat: £122.46
Total: £822.22

Ill try & post some pics when I get it if I can get my phone camera to work with Vista

phi1 · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:05

looks good to me!

sahjin · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:06

and me... very nice rig there..

tem07 · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:07

For that specification, I'd recommend you'd get atleasat 550w+, haven't really heard anything about the current PSU, the Corsair's seem to be the best atm.

Nice spec

But I'm not too keen on the 500w Enermax :/ Don't think it will cope, get the 620w instead, or, you can wait and get the Corsair if you wish.

mishima · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:09

Another decent spec, very good selections there. For the PSU I think its fine, if doesn't give you as much headroom to overclock if you plan on doing some overclocking I would be tempted to up it to around the 550W mark at stock though that PSU will cope fine with those components.

NOTE: For another four quid you could get an Antec Truepower Trio 550W

weringo · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:46

I decided to get the Enermax because I cant really push my budget any higher, it was either between that or the Tagan 530W which was only ATX 2.01 (whatever that means).

The Antec didn't have modular cables which was one of the main things I was looking for in a PSU.

Hopefully the Enermax can get my E6300 up to 3Ghz which is all Im planning to do.

mishima · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:48

It shouldn't be too demanding, all the best with the build

melbourne720 · 11 Apr 2007 at 11:56

Looks fine to me but...

Why the IDE cable?
No DVD drive? (I may have answered my first question there)
You might want to spend more on higher clocking RAM (such as cellshock, on special at the moment) as that OCZ may limit your CPU overclock on that motherboard slightly (as the FSB will only go as high as the RAM will, and the 6300 has a x7 multi).

mishima · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:00

Off topic: I keep tryin to track you down in threads Melbourne but you must miss me - How are those Yate's? Working fine?

weringo · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:03

melbourne720 said:
Looks fine to me but...

Why the IDE cable?
No DVD drive? (I may have answered my first question there)
You might want to spend more on higher clocking RAM (such as cellshock, on special at the moment) as that OCZ may limit your CPU overclock on that motherboard slightly (as the FSB will only go as high as the RAM will, and the 6300 has a x7 multi).

Already got a DVD drive as you guessed, just wanted a round IDE cable for it. For the RAM can't I set a divider so it runs at DDR667 and then overclock it from there?

melbourne720 · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:04

Hey Mish

I haven't got them installed yet TBH. I have to put a Sharkoon 80mm fan into my in-laws PC to stop it overheating (damn Prescott core CPUs!). I'll let you know how it goes, and when I install the Yate Loons. There are 2 fans that still need replacing in my P180, hopefully that will get my temps to tumble a bit more.

semi-pro waster · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:04

weringo said:
I decided to get the Enermax because I cant really push my budget any higher, it was either between that or the Tagan 530W which was only ATX 2.01 (whatever that means).

The difference between ATX 2.01 and ATX 2.2 is minor to say the least, that is why it is a .X amendment rather than an X. amendment, you can find out the differences from this PDF but I'd only suggest it if you are an insomniac.

As melbourne720 states you will get an IDE cable with the motherboard. Other than that it looks fine.

melbourne720 · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:08

weringo said:
Already got a DVD drive as you guessed, just wanted a round IDE cable for it.

Fair enough

weringo said:
For the RAM can't I set a divider so it runs at DDR667 and then overclock it from there?

Assuming you overclock the CPU, and you run the RAM at stock, then the RAM will be a 400MHz (800 DDR). On the P965 chipset, the FSB will not run faster than the RAM. So if you push the FSB up to 400MHz, then the CPU will hit 2.8Ghz (7 x 400). If you want to overclock the CPU further, then you will have to overclock the RAM, which you may or may not have success with.

semi-pro waster · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:20

As a couple of further options. You could go for the Asus P5N-E 650 SLi though which costs about the same but the Ram can be unlinked from the FSB and it may help you get further if the Ram is not much cop.

Alternatively you could pick the 4300 which has a 9x multiplier.

weringo · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:24

melbourne720 said:
Assuming you overclock the CPU, and you run the RAM at stock, then the RAM will be a 400MHz (800 DDR). On the P965 chipset, the FSB will not run faster than the RAM. So if you push the FSB up to 400MHz, then the CPU will hit 2.8Ghz (7 x 400). If you want to overclock the CPU further, then you will have to overclock the RAM, which you may or may not have success with.

Atm I have an E6400 running in my other PC so I could put that into my new PC as currecntly its running on the mobo in my sig which is useless for overclocking. Then Ill have an 8x multiplier which would be easier to overclock with the RAM I have I assume?

weringo · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:25

semi-pro waster said:
As a couple of further options. You could go for the Asus P5N-E 650 SLi though which costs about the same but the Ram can be unlinked from the FSB and it may help you get further if the Ram is not much cop.

Alternatively you could pick the 4300 which has a 9x multiplier.

I have already ordered so that isnt really an option unfortunately.

semi-pro waster · 11 Apr 2007 at 12:38

weringo said:
I have already ordered so that isnt really an option unfortunately.

My apologies, I didn't see that. In that case swapping for the 6400 that you currently have would be the best option, with the 8x multiplier and running the Ram at it's rated speed 3.2ghz is entirely possible and possibly more.

melbourne720 · 11 Apr 2007 at 13:40

weringo said:
Atm I have an E6400 running in my other PC so I could put that into my new PC as currecntly its running on the mobo in my sig which is useless for overclocking. Then Ill have an 8x multiplier which would be easier to overclock with the RAM I have I assume?

Nail -> Head

i.e. Yes, you are correct.

weringo · 12 Apr 2007 at 13:39

Im trying to attach my heatsink (Noctua) to the mobo and I have screwed in the backplate and the mounting bracket as well as the fastening brackets. When I try to screw the fastening brackets to the mounting brackets the screw & spring doesnt seem long enough to get through the fastening bracket to the mounting bracket, theres about a 3mm clearance between them. The screw will get through without the spring attached but that won't secure the heatsink. It seems that the CPU is too high or the mounting brackets are too low or the fastening bracket won't reach low enough.

What am I doing wrong?

Heres some pics of what I mean