New Conroe Setup - Spec Investigation Please..

st@rsky

st@rsky

st@rsky

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6 Aug 2005
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Hi Guys,

Looking at going the conroe route but need a heads up with regard to the specs I might be buying.

Here goes:

* Thermaltake VB1000SWS Soprano SuperMidi Tower - Silver (CA-014-TT)
Price: £42.95 (£50.47 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* Tagan TG480-U01 480W ATX2.0 SLi Compliant Silent PSU (CA-000-TG)
I currently have this PSU ^ - Is it good enough to cope with a new conroe system?

* Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-150-AS)
Price: £129.95 (£152.69 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-137-IN)
Price: £136.95 (£160.92 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR) (MY-014-GS)
Price: £119.95 (£140.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT)
Price: £194.95 (£229.07 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 200GB ST3200820AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-085-SE)
Price: £45.95 (£53.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

I'm looking for advise on whether:
- It all works together
- What you would recommend if the above isn't correct
- CPU Coolers, what's the recommendations ?
- PSU, see above, do I need a new one? I quite like the OCZ Modstream PSU's..
- Whether I'm getting my bang for my buck ect..

Oh and feel free to spec something different. (Mobo, CPU, PSU, G/C, HDD, & Ram for £800 :D )

Hook me up guys if you would..

Many thanks in advance :)
 
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Yes it will all work together, the PSU is fine for the purpose. The Scythe Ninja seems quite highly thought of, I'd also look at the socket 775 Zalman cooler for around the same price.

You could buy a cheaper X1900XT although that one might have a slightly quieter cooler than stock. :)
 
The PSU should be fine but here is my experience:

I had the following rig:

Opty 170 , 2Gb Ram , 36Gb raptor, 250Gb maxtor, optical drive, x1900XT , DFI Ultra D , Tagan 480w U01 (original version of your psu)

This pc was completely rock stable even oc'd and served me well for a few months.

I changed the mobo only to an Abit AT8-32X ATI RD580 Crossfire and even at stock speeds My pc was unstable - this was with a completely new installation of windows and reseating every connection and every add in card.

The ONLY thing I could put it down to is the high current drain of the X1900 series which is legendary

As I was going Xfire anyway I bought a 700w xfire accredited psu and this made the same pc rock stable even after clocking - so I personally think it was this combo that caused the problems

Now admittedly you have a later generation of the same psu but even so I would change it for a slightly higher rated one.

Apart from this one "issue" I would rate tagan PSU's very highly indeed - my one lasted two years on my main rig and I still rate it highly
 
OK so maybe the PSU needs changing.

Which would you guys say out of these two:
* OCZ ModStream 520w ATX2.2 Power Supply (CA-017-OC) Price: £54.95 (£64.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)

* Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG) Price: £61.95 (£72.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Tagan is slightly more expensive but if it's considerably better I would rather go for that.

What do you guys think of the Mobo & Ram ? From what I've read recently its a toss up between the Gigabyte DS3/DS4 and the one I have chosen and either Geil or G.Skill ram. Opinions?

Many thanks as always.. :)
 
I would be tempted to get

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)

works out cheaper, but performs very well.

For the cooler, everyone seems to suggest the ninja!
 
Tagan or OCZ are great and with that little in it I would go for the cheaper OCZ

your choices of mobo are great - really depends on what stuff onboard you want compared to each offering

I have read the Gigabyte / Gskill combo is tricky but you can read more about that in mobo / ram sections
 
hyper_piper45 said:
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (MY-058-GL)

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)

Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
For the cooler, everyone seems to suggest the ninja!
Click to expand...
Yeah this is the other system (the cheaper one) that I had budgeted out. I've had a Gigabyte before and had endless problems with it so am a little cautious about getting another.

Although the E6300 is tempting I'm quite happy to spend that bit extra and get the E6400. I've never been a huge overclocker so I'm more than happy pottering with my E6400.

Which is the Ninja cooler that I've heard quite a few people mention? (Link me up)

Thanks for your comments FrankJH - Definitely the OCZ or Tagan. I like the look of your system btw.. reminds me of what I shall have pretty soon. :)

Thanks for your comments so far guys, very helpful..

Look forward to any further assistance you guys can give.. ;)
 
semi-pro waster said:
The Scythe Ninja is the second one on this page as is supposed to be pretty good :)
Click to expand...
I see, looks rather bulky! :rolleyes:

I was thinking of going down the Zalman route, in particular:
Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower (Socket 775) CPU Cooler (HS-020-ZA)
or
Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)

What do you guys think?
 
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Sad to hear you have had problems with gigabyte. I have had a few boards from them and they have been top notch.

The Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower is a good cooler and has even beat the ninja in some test, although it doesent happen very often!

If you are not goin to oc why don't you just get a retail processor and save a bit of money?
 
hyper_piper45 said:
The Zalman CNPS9500-AT Aero Flower is a good cooler and has even beat the ninja in some test, although it doesent happen very often!

If you are not goin to oc why don't you just get a retail processor and save a bit of money?
Click to expand...
Yeah that Zalman is the one I have been looking at. :)

I am going to oc, isn't the retail processor more expensive? (The retail is £180, the OEM £160) :confused:

Unless I'm missing something?
 
st@rsky said:
Yeah that Zalman is the one I have been looking at. :)

I am going to oc, isn't the retail processor more expensive? (The retail is £180, the OEM £160) :confused:

Unless I'm missing something?
Click to expand...

The retail usually costs a little more because it includes a heatsink and fan(but it is usually cheaper than the overall cost of CPU and cooler) plus you normally get a longer warranty 3 years compared to 1 year for the OEM in AMDs case.
 
semi-pro waster said:
The retail usually costs a little more because it includes a heatsink and fan(but it is usually cheaper than the overall cost of CPU and cooler) plus you normally get a longer warranty 3 years compared to 1 year for the OEM in AMDs case.
Click to expand...
I see.. :)

I think I'm pretty much decided then.. :D
 
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