Please can you give me your expert advice on my suggested New Build

SteveyB · 24 Jan 2007 at 00:19

Hi everyone, My first post on these forums ! After much research I am ready to put my order in for a new PC. As you can see by my sig - I have not built a PC for a while !

Please can you comment on the following spec, I really need a new PC. I have Battlefield 2, Oblivion and FEAR sat on my shelf waiting to be played (current PC is not giving the best experience of these games!

)

Anyway - How about the following ? :

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £171.99(£202.09)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £129.99(£152.74)
CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit £186.99(£219.71)
Sapphire X1950 Pro ULTIMATE SILENT 256MB GDDR3 - Retail £119.99(£140.99)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £87.99(£103.39)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA-II 16MB - OEM (x2 RAID 0) £113.98(£133.92)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler £28.99(£34.06)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.99(£22.31)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail £47.99(£56.39)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £45.99(£54.04)

TOTAL £1,134.86

I would like to overclock eventually - What kind of speed could I expect with this setup ? Would I make 400FSB x 9 (3.6 Ghz) ? I also hope to have a quiet PC.

Things I am not so sure about :

1) Motherboard - Way too much to choose from ! I chose the P5W as it has good reviews and sounds solid. I contemplated a 680i board but is it really worth the extra money ? And I also see they do not have such good RAID performance.

2) Memory - Not sure about this one either. I see quite a few have opted for the CellShock - I also considered G.Skill and Crucial. I guess it is best to get the one that matches the rest of the setup and allows the best overclock.

3) Graphics card - Tempted by the 8800 GTS (I could afford one if its really worth going for one now). My thinking is the X1950 will be more than enough for a while. When ATI gives Nvidia some competition and Vista/DX10 games becomes mainstream, I will buy a DX10 card for not-so-silly money. (My monitor is 1280x1024). I assume the power supply would cope with these next gen cards ?

4) Am I missing anything ? Do I need extra fans / Thermal paste etc ??

I am open to suggestions for changing components and value all your expert opinions.

Many Thanks,
Steve.

SteveyB · 24 Jan 2007 at 20:28

Anybody ? Pleeeeeese.

steve258 · 24 Jan 2007 at 21:53

Welcome to the forum! Looks perfectly fine 2b honest:

1) P5W (975 chipset) is perfectly fine with that CPU, it should reach 400FSB no problem but not much further, whereas some 965 based mobos can go as far as 500FSB+. But if you're only aiming at 3.6Ghz then the P5W will do fine. 680i is a lot cheaper now but i'd only consider it if you want a decent SLI board, although I have to say the new ASUS P5N-E 650 is looking very good indeed so the choice is yours.

2) That Cellshock is fine, other equivalents like Crucial Anniversary, G.SKILL HZ, & Corsair PC6400C4 are all very good RAM that I am aware of. You can also save a bit and go for Geil PC6400C4 or the OCZ Plat. XTC - cheap and highly ocable.

3) Depends which game you play really and at what resolution, if you are only playing at 1280*1024 then the 1950pro or perhaps the XT will do you just fine, but if you have a big screen atm and want something that will keep up then you should go 8800.

4) hmmm perhaps a tube of AS5; not sure if that tuniq tower comes with any thermal material pre-applied. other than that your mobo and case will come with more accessories you will ever need. I have that lian li PC7 and it comes with 2 120mm fans so no need to get more unless you want something that are truely silent to replace the stock ones.

Your CPU should reach 3.6Ghz no problem you just need to put more volt through it.

SteveyB · 27 Jan 2007 at 01:14

Hi Thanks for the advice - I have amended the MotherBoard, Ram & Graphics

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £171.99(£202.09)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99(£82.24)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Tenth Anniversary Dual £169.99(£199.74)
Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £219.99(£258.49)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £87.99(£103.39)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA-II 16MB - OEM (x2 RAID 0) £113.98(£133.92)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler £28.99(£34.06)
Pioneer DVR-111BK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM £18.99(£22.31)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail £47.99(£56.39)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £45.99(£54.04)

TOTAL £1,164.24

I guess this will be a bit more future proof for only £30 more.

Will this get me to 3.6Ghz on the components I have selected ? I guess the 8800GTS is a significant upgrade over my original spec.

I see the the P5N-E SLI has great reviews but I see it also runs very hot. Is this going to be a problem ? Anyone out there with a similar setup ?

I can't really see the point of stretching to the 680i for the extra money, especially as the 650i seems identical in reviews. Also - Is it worth going RAID 0 on the 650i ?

I will be clicking buy on Monday ready for Tuesday delivery so any more suggestions / advice will be useful.

Thanks,
Steve.
(I hope I see a significant performance increase from my previous PC :rolleyes:

)

SteveyB · 30 Jan 2007 at 01:13

Gone for it !!

I decided on the system above. Hopefully the 8800GTS will last me a bit longer and allow me to play DX10 games when they arrive. :cool:

I have clicked buy. Can't wait for it to arrive so I can start to build it.

I am hoping to install Vista & XP. Is there a recommended order to install these to ensure the boot menu is configured correctly ?

Steve.

Fuzzo · 30 Jan 2007 at 01:40

I would stick with XP until DirectX 10 comes along, especially if your wanting to play DX9 Games.

FrankJH · 30 Jan 2007 at 07:33

Fuzzo said:
I would stick with XP until DirectX 10 comes along, especially if your wanting to play DX9 Games.

DX10 is inbuilt with Vista, now if you meant "until DX10 games come along" then I agree with you - but depending on what you do, you may think it worthwhile to do dual boot with XP and Vista as I plan to