New Build - What Board & Ram?

[stavr0s2k3]

Hi all,


finally decided ive had enough of the crap box im on, and gonna buy another

could really use some input though cos im quite behind on stuff lol

ok some of it i've already got so cant be changed, the rest can be obviously
I also better mention i wont be using SLI or overclocking.


Antec P180 - Got
Intel C2D E8400 6MB Cache - Got
3x 320GB WD - Got

Board im really struggling on lol

every one/where says different

my current choices are (btw the board must have Firewire)

Abit IP35 Pro
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

as i said main reason for these is Firewire and good layout
ive got quite a few USB devices aswell so 12 ports will be handy.


ram something else im not sure on
Crucial or Corsair?
2GB or 4GB depending on suggestions if its cheap i may aswell go for 4


BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 - Not got it yet but im 90% sure on it


Creative SB XFI Xtreme Music - Got it

Hiper 580 PSU got it but is it enough?


Monitor

19" Iiyama or 20" Samsung - not decided


fire away with all your suggestions please!


thanks

[staffsMike]

Well I wouldn't trust the Hiper PSU, but if it's working for then you then I guess you could run it til it blows up lol.

If you aren't overclocking you might as well save the money and get the corsair ram and the abit IP-35 dark raider (has firewire) which is often around £60.

The PRO is really only useful for overclocking.

I would take Abit over Gigabyte any day of the week.

[stavr0s2k3]

thanks for your reply

Hiper has always been ok for me, still got an old one working atm, but i just found a corsair 650 on offer so might go with that, let me know what you think,
case has alot of fans and i might buy more hd's in future so guess its better to have spare power than not enough!

still undecided on the board, people keep saying dont skimp on the board lol.

i cant seem to find the dark raider is there a different name or code i can find it under please?

[staffsMike]

I've done builds with the dark raider and it's certainly not skimping

It's got a great layout and it's put togther really nicely.

All the things that the PRO offers are only benefits for overclocking, you wouldn't notice a difference between them if you dont want to overclock.

I'm a big fan of corsair power supplies and I won't be using anything else until one lets me down. The 520W HX is the sweet spot. You don't need more power than that, which is why the hiper is porbably fie, but the corsair willl be more stable and efficient as well as being damn near silent.

[stavr0s2k3]

damn thats annoying

so your saying a a 520w corsair is better than 580 hiper?

and i cant send it back now because ive had it a while, and even though its unused its opened, i only went with hiper because my other one was.

[staffsMike]

Well we have heard a fair few hiper horror stories over the past couple of years. Some people get away with them other people dont get so lucky.

The one good thing about them compared to really bad PSU's is that when they blow up they don't take anything else with them as far as I have seen.

So either use it and take the risk or maybe sell it on ebay or something.

[Fraz]

It's not a bad PSU, but it isn't great either.

I ended up giving my Hiper 580 Type-r away to someone and putting in a Corsair 520 HX in it's place. There were two main reasons:

1) It wasn't at all "whisper quiet"... even with a power draw of only 200 Watts at the wall socket.
2) Not only was it not quiet, but at a certain threshold (i.e. when I started up a game and my graphics card started drawing more current), the transformer inside it started squealing like a pig was stuck inside the PSU.

I have to say, other than the shiny connectors on the Hiper (which I don't really care about anyway - if connectors work, they work), the Corsair is superior by a large margin in every respect.

[looney]

the gigabyte p35-ds3 are supposed to be good boards

[pav]

I'm also building a new system, again also with a E8400 CPU, but can't decide between the Asus P5K Premium or the P5K-E.

With regards to Power Supply, I went with the Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 650W which was on Scan's Today Only page a couple of days ago.

It got a better review than the Corsair 620W by Custom PC.

[cotswoldcs]

The more forums, websites and magazines you read the more you realise that everyone has their own opinions. Motherboard wise I believe the following are excellent boards

Abit IP-35 Pro
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P
Asus P5K Premium

I personally wouldn't recommend the Dark Raider (keen as I know StaffsMike is) as it doesn't support eSATA and for me that makes the extra spent on the Pro worthwhile. Whether you go for Abit, Asus or Gigabyte is more tricky and down to personal preference. Personally, I've read a huge amount of information on these boards and have been looking into the subject for several months now. I've decided that the Asus P5K Premium is the one for me but don't let that stop you going for something different.

PSU wise, having read SilentPCReview I'm going for an Enermax Modu82+ over the Corsair HX series. Both are excellent but reading their in depth review suggested to me that the Enermax is fractionally better than the Corsair.

Memory wise, I've been a fan of Corsair recently but still use Crucial as well. For my next build I'm going with OCZ as I believe it's fractionally better than others. You can't go wrong with either to be honest but whatever you decide go for 4Gb - you won't regret it for the money.

[cotswoldcs]

BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 - Not got it yet but im 90% sure on it

Good choice. I'm after an 8800GTS 512Mb and have shortlisted BFG & EVGA as my favourites. However, Scan have had an Asus 8800GTS on TodayOnly for £153.93 and I've been mightily tempted. Where will you get your BFG from?

[stavr0s2k3]

probably from dabs as i like free delivery at weekends, but at the moment im struggling to decide on monitor and board :/

[Pob255]

the dark raider is a added name ABit gave to the IP35 motherboard is seperate it from the Pro, E or V versions
In terms of extra functions and cost it goes
ip35-Pro > ip35 > ip35-e > ip35-v

Can I throw a curve ball here? Foxconn
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
Lots of connectors, the layout looks very nice, if you're not overclocking should be fine.

2nd curve ball, MSI Neo2-FIR (not the F or FR as they don't have firewire)

[dagger_meerkat]

Get the BFG OC .. its only about £10 more at Scan over the Asus. Got the same card myself last week.

[Andy3536]

probably from dabs as i like free delivery at weekends, but at the moment im struggling to decide on monitor and board :/

The simple fact is most of the boards in the Abit/ Asus/ Gigabyte P-35 range are very good, you would have trouble going wrong with any of them.

Put all the ones you like that meet you specs and price range and put them in a hat, the one you pull out is the one you buy. Garrantee you won't be dissapionted.

[stavr0s2k3]

Get the BFG OC .. its only about £10 more at Scan over the Asus. Got the same card myself last week.

i think what i said previously is an OC so dabs description is wrong because when i checked bfg's site all i could see was the 8800GTS 512mb OC there isnt a non OC version