My first self-build...

WhiteKnightUk

WhiteKnightUk

WhiteKnightUk

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Joined
30 Apr 2007
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8
Hey all, I plan on building my own rig in the next week or two, and as you lot seem to have a near infinite knowledge, what better place to aim all my questions and queries!

Right. I'm going to be using the PC for lots of media (films, music), and gaming. I want the PC to handle Oblivion, C&C3, BF2, and Crysis when it comes out. Though, it doesn't have to run them at top spec, just a decent level. My budget is around £700. Ignore monitor, keyboard, mouse.

So, my spec is something like this...

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £129.24

Zalman CNPS7000B-CU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail - £22.31

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £88.11

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit - £82.24

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - £190.34

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74

Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM - £21.14

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) - £70.49

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card - OEM - £18.79

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - £64.61

Total: £746.01

REMARKS:
Firstly, yes I realise this rig is almost identical to another on another thread, but hey, I think it fits my needs perfectly.

I don't intend on overclocking it, since I've never delved into overclocking before. But... tbh I can only assume I will be in 6 (or 4 or 2 or 1) months time.

QUESTIONS...
Will the E6420 do? I was considering the E6600 for a long time, but it's quite possible that the E6420 will be sufficient for my needs.

Motherboard/Memory - good choices? I was considering Corsiar memory, bit more expensive, but you guys seem to praise the Crucial (plus on sale). Also, I was considering the Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) since it's cheaper, but is it worth getting the Gigabyte?

Graphics - hmm I really don't know whether it's worth shelling out for the 8800GTS, I know the 8600 range is a bit pathetic for what it's worth, but getting a high end DX9 card would bring the price down a fair bit, which would be nice. 8800 would no doubt find its way next year or so.

PSU/Fan - Sufficient? And quiet? I would appreciate a quite system a fair bit.
Any opinions on the OCZ GameXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2, as it was another choice?

Soundcard - I imagine this is good enough... is it worth shelling out a bit more for the X-Fi range? (considering I want to keep the price down)

Case - This seems to be a popular choice... I can only assume it's good?

Oh yeah, and just a quick mention of the monitor... Asus widescreen 19".

Right, I reckon I'll keep this thread going throughout my whole build process, as no doubt I'll have a lot of questions. I've helped my dad build PCs before, but not build one solely on my own.

Thanks so much for all help in advance!
 
The E6420 will be plenty.

Change the Cooler to this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-NC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=821

Good motherboard for the price, should not have any problems with it. The memory cant recommend it enough for that price.

The 8800GTS great card, great price

Stick with the Corsair 520, awesome PSU very quite.

Great Sound card.

Case is up to you but i would recommend this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-038-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187

Build quality second to none, fantastic case.

Great Monitor, bought exactly the same one about 2 months ago.

Just like to say its really nice to see someone doing their research first. Bravo to you. :D

Ahhh made a bit of a mess of this post. :(
 
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Motherboard looks good, CPU looks good (better if you overclock it though ;)), RAM looks good, GPU looks good, HDD looks good, PSU looks good.

I'd consider a different CPU cooler. The Noctua NH-U12F is only a little more and is a more effective cooler, especially when overclocking. If it were me building I'd get a SATA DVD drive rather than a PATA one like the one you've specified. The cabling is a lot neater and PATA is on its way out, with most new motherboards having just one slot for these drives anyway. If you really value your sound output a discrete sound card is good but for most the onboard Intel HD audio is more than satisfactory. Also, reconsider on that case. I suggest the Lian-Li PC-7 as it's cheaper, more elegant, cools just as well if not better, is loads easier to work in, is quieter, and is all-around more scrupulously engineered.
 
:eek: My god you guys reply quickly!

Thanks for the awesome responses. Yeah that cooler looks the works, definitely worth the small extra cost. Though I've heard good things about Lian-Li, I would prefer a black case. *has a look* doh, out of stock. What about:
Lian-Li PC-60 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black - £70.49
Or maybe is it worth waiting for stock of the PC-7 case? I assume it'll hold the 8800?

NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £21.14
Will that do the job? Thanks for the info concerning PATA and SATA.

Maybe I wont get a soundcard straight away then. I'll be wearing Sennheiser headphones for games, so 7.1 etc. isn't crucial.

Hmm, I reckon I'll go for the 8800GTS then, especially if I don't get a soundcard straight away and get a slightly cheaper case. Awesome.
 
WhiteKnightUk said:
Maybe I wont get a soundcard straight away then. I'll be wearing Sennheiser headphones for games, so 7.1 etc. isn't crucial.

Hmm, I reckon I'll go for the 8800GTS then, especially if I don't get a soundcard straight away and get a slightly cheaper case. Awesome.
Click to expand...

Theres always the onboard sound :-) Its not bad if you get the drivers setup correctly.

8800GTS definitely right choice, definitely :D
 
I'd wait for the PC-7 to come back into stock. They must go through loads of them so i imagine they'll be quick to restock. If you can't wait and don't mind spending more you could nab an Akasa Eclipse 62, a fantastic case and possibly the best air cooling case available.

That DVD drive will do just fine. :)
 
If your not overclocking what rong with the stock SPU cooler? save yoursefl £20 and then buy when needed thats what im doing with my 6300. Also a small problem with the case and that GFX card I belive it is a bit of a tight fit as the 900's are not as big as they look. I would deffo have a 62 over anything. you have to tidy your 900 up inside if you want it to look slick, you dont with the 62 unless you have a widnow ;)
 
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Thanks for the replies.

Hmm. Will the 8800 fit inside the Lian-Li PC-7? The Eclipse 62 looks awesome, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much on a case.

Any idea how long it should take for the PC-7 to be back in stock?
 
Should fit into the PC7 and the 63 no problem. You may not notice any difference but the build quality is better and little things like removeable hbays and mobo trys makes installation better, and also if you pay more then they are usually made out of better materials and reduce noise.
 
Looks like a good build, i would personnally opt for 6400 ram as there is minimal price difference, personnally i would also keep the stock cooling unless overclocking.
 
Hmm, so good I get away with stock cooling, if I went with the 62 case? Then in the summer, when I get my job (internship) I can put in the Noctua NH-U12F and overclock it.

I think I will go with the 8800GTS now, I was a bit reluctant at first, but I would only have wanted to upgrade it in the summer. Hopefully I'll be ordering all this later today... :D
 
Just found out fans aren't included in the Eclipse 62, bit of a shame, price wise. Kind of tempted by the PC-7 (or very similar), since it's slightly smaller as well as being much cheaper.

Would stock cooling do, until I get tempted by overclocking?
 
WhiteKnightUk said:
Would stock cooling do, until I get tempted by overclocking?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. The stock coolers really aren't that bad at all, even with a bit of modest overclocking. If you do want that edge though, a decent air cooler like a Tuniq tower, a Scyth Ninja or a the new Zalman 9700 is money in the bank. Though a 6420 will be fine at stock, you'll appreciate a 40-50% overclock across the board, especially in some RTS games like Supreme Commander. Your kit, stock heatsink apart, should be capable of getting that CPU to 3ghz+ without too much hassel.

All in all a very tidy little build. Even without overclocking it's a match for my current rig, and all for just over £700.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
Rumor has it the 62s OcUK have been selling lately come with fans installed, even though the description says otherwise.

Stock cooling will do. :)
Click to expand...

Okaaaay. Do I trust you on that one? I reckon I'm about to order :D Or i could wait til tomorrow and give them a call...?

Something like this...

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £129.24
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - £88.11
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit - £79.89
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - £190.34
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - £58.74
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU - £93.99
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) - £70.49
NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £21.14

Total: £731.94
 
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OK, final questions before I buy this! (honest)
First, the Crucial Ballistix memory is no longer on sale ( :mad: ) - but should I still go with it, despite it being almost £10 more now? (it's now £88.11)
How about this:
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) - £82.24 ???

Also, the Eclipse 62 - does it have a headphone socket? How am I supposed to have sound, if I don't have a soundcard?
 
The motherboard will have onboard sound you can use, it wont be quite as good as a sound card but onboard sound is actually pretty good these days,

Also about the ram, i think it is something similar to mine but mine has the big heatsinks and 4-4-4-12 timings (i think thats the only difference really) and mine handles anything i can throw at it
 
SuBsTaNcE said:
The motherboard will have onboard sound you can use, it wont be quite as good as a sound card but onboard sound is actually pretty good these days,

Also about the ram, i think it is something similar to mine but mine has the big heatsinks and 4-4-4-12 timings (i think thats the only difference really) and mine handles anything i can throw at it
Click to expand...

Ah right, thanks for clearing that up about the sound.

You talking about the Corsair? It just looks to me that the Corsair has better specs than the Crucial Ballistix (er I think), and it's a bit cheaper = appealing.
 
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