Intel Conroe spec check.

Berserker

Berserker

Berserker

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Joined
4 Nov 2002
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West Berkshire
Bits I've chosen to get started...

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99 (£82.24)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99 (£204.44)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £9.99 (£11.74)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £114.99 (£135.11)

Case, DVD, HDD, cables: from spares - not required.

I'm after reliability first and foremost, so I'm unlikely to overclock. The CPU will not be idle. Ever. Just doesn't happen in this household. However, the graphics card is just the cheapest non-Turbo Cache I could find. I'll trawl MM later for something cheaper.

Now the questions. Firstly, I have one of these spare. I'd rather save my pennies, so is that going to be good enough to power everything above plus six hard disks and a caseload of fans?

Secondly, is this a good selection? Anything I should change, anything likely to be overkill?
 
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That PSU should be more than enough for what you want to run.

Looks good to me, take it your housing it in a generic case?
 
Phewie, I orginally put stacker, then replaced it with generic case.

My cooling concerns are no longer valid, have fun with the new rig. :)
 
Fair point. I'm not going SLI nor getting a QX, but it doesn't give me a lot of confidence.

Feel free to recommend something else - just remember that reliability is important to me. I'm scared of overclocking and tend to run a mile at the mere mention, but I do like boards that perform well. Personal preference works against Asus, Abit and MSI, but I wouldn't say an outright no.
 
680i if not going SLi is not worth IMO. You can still get a P5ne-sli which clocks AMAZING and easily with SLi still. Also you could consider the DS3 which is based on the Intel 965 chipset.

Also not forgetting they are 100 pound cheaper on OCuk

I recently couldn't decide and plumped for a P5NE-SLi after putting up a thread asking for the pros and cons of both. Click my profile to find it!

Good luck with whatever you choose
 
My artic 7 i decided to try and fit in the case, I broke two legs on it.... anyone know if you can replace them?
 
Berserker said:
Any motherboard comments please?
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Well since you're not overclocking, what sort of features do you require of a motherboard? I'm tempted to say get the DS3 as it's well-made, popular, and should hold up quite well with its solid capacitors.
 
680i out, DS3 in. Will update first post.

Heatsink needs to be installable one-handed (I'm not joking). Freezer 7 appears to be a good fit. I'm happy to change it, but only for a heatsink that is easier than the Freezer 7 to install. :)

Any more for any more?
 
Methinks pretty much all LGA775 coolers will be similarly difficult to install. If in doubt enlist an assistant like I had to do when I had a broken wrist. ;)

Woman! Come over h'eah and hold this a minnit.
This metal thing?
Yup. Just hold it steady while I futz with these thingamadoos. :p

My only gripe with the DS3 is that it doesn't have a firewire controller. It's a cracking mobo otherwise, though.
 
I have a spare PCI firewire card. No biggie. :)

Though I might not bother with it.

I have no women in this house to help me hold metal things. Shame. :(
 
Berserker said:
I'm scared of overclocking and tend to run a mile at the mere mention
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:eek:

Its a crime punishable by roasting over a pit of fiery overclocked Prescotts not to clock a conroe don't you know. This madness must stop.
Thou shalt overclock thine cpu and thou shalt receive free performance gains for nothing!

Van Diemen said:
I would drop the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro & get somin like a Tuniq, much better performance
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Well i guess if he's really not going to clock it the tuniq would be a waste... the freezer 7 is amazingly good value for money.

mattpj said:
My artic 7 i decided to try and fit in the case, I broke two legs on it.... anyone know if you can replace them?
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Probably not, but with these things going for about a tenner now thats probably what you'd end up paying if they did do spare brackets, so if i were you i'd just pick up another one.

Berserker said:
Heatsink needs to be installable one-handed (I'm not joking). Freezer 7 appears to be a good fit. I'm happy to change it, but only for a heatsink that is easier than the Freezer 7 to install.
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This is more a problem with the mounting mechanism of the socket itself than the cooler, but coolers such as the ninja and the thermalright coolers (hr 01, ultra 120, 90) use their own brackets i think, and the thermalright mounting mechanism in particular was praised by reviewers for its ease of use. However i don't think its worth a £25 price premium considering you only have to install it once.
If you think the price premium is worth it i'll dig up some info on the thermalright mounting mechanism.
 
Knock thyself out. ;)

Worth a look anyway. Are you saying the standard mounts aren't as easy as I thought.

Last time I did one, I chickened out and got someone else to do it (and paid more than few £££ for the privilege), so getting a good system will be worth it, whatever the cost.
 
Berserker said:
Are you saying the standard mounts aren't as easy as I thought.
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I'm only familiar with the the ACF7. You have four posts on the corners that need to be pushed through the motherboard then locked. It's not hard to do but it might be tough trying to line it up and push with the same hand.

Perhaps an OcUK DC contributor might be local and would be willing to volunteer his time. If I was on the same continent I'd drive over and lend a hand as necessary. ;)
 
For no overclocking just get the retail HSF. It attaches easily to the DS3 (or S3 in my case) and provides excellent cooling - even for a modest overclock (of 75%).

I second the recommendations for the Gigabyte DS3 having just built an S3 (which is near identical, just no 5 year guaranteed solid state capacitors).
I have a massive respect for the solidity of Gigabyte boards in general having had them (and built numerous for mates) since 2000. There features are normally stability first and overclocking second.

With the DS3 it just so happens that they have a massively reliable Board that has support for the latest and greatest chips, that also allows complete control over the FSB, so nothing has been wasted in adding overclocking gizmos and geejaws.

Much discussion here

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17610180

Setup for OC here - read this for optimal BIOS settings and troubleshooting

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17636047
 
If it's that easy, I'll give it a mild overclock. I'd prefer a good (a.k.a. efficient) cooler anyway and it's not going to break the bank. :)

Just waiting for an expert to happen by and explain the differences. I'd like to order this afternoon so they'd better be quick (thread in Motherboards). :)
 
Berserker said:
Just waiting for an expert to happen by and explain the differences.
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Between the DS3 and the S3? That's an easy one. The only difference is that the DS3 uses solid capacitors whilst the S3 uses liquid-filled capacitors. Solid capacitors in general last longer and are more stable when stressed. Liquid-filled capacitors are cheaper.
 
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