My new rig need some TLC

[Hidden Hippo]

I'm looking at building my first rig (it's in my sig) and I would like some advice on what to change/throw away etc. Here it is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3
2GB G. Skill NR PC2-6400 RAM
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT
250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
Lian Li PC7 Plus
Seasonic S12 430W PSU

The only bit I'm really worried about is the PSU. Is this enough to run the monster that is the X1900XT?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me.

[Madafwo]

Stump up for either a 500W or 600W PSU if you can afford it, I can't remember off the top of ym head byt X1900's suck up a hell of a lot of power.

[ParoXoN]

430W isn't going to be able to run that rig assuming you want any sort of optical drive or anything beyond the components you've listed.

I'd swap the PSU for a 500/600W Enermax Liberty or an Antec TruePower unit.


As for the ram, I'm unfamiliar with the brand you've listed, but I personally have been quite happy with both Mushkin, OCZ and Corsair in the past. Give those brand some consideration if you're wondering about RAM.

[amjedm]

430W isn't going to be able to run that rig assuming you want any sort of optical drive or anything beyond the components you've listed.

I'd swap the PSU for a 500/600W Enermax Liberty or an Antec TruePower unit.


As for the ram, I'm unfamiliar with the brand you've listed, but I personally have been quite happy with both Mushkin, OCZ and Corsair in the past. Give those brand some consideration if you're wondering about RAM.

Why not the Seasonic 500/600W?

DavidStone is running the following off a Silverstone Fanless 300watt psu - http://forums.silentpcreview.com/vie...3075&start=150

[Hidden Hippo]

Thanks for the responses. I have considered some OCZ or Corsair XMS2 RAM, but decided due to some of the reveiws I've seen that the G. Skill should be pretty good for overclocking at a fairly reasonable price. The alternatives are some Corsair XMS2-6400 RAM or some OCZ PC2-5400, which is slower, but should manage to overclock to 800MHz without too much hassle.

As for the power supply, I'm considering upping to a Hiper 580W modular PSU. Are these a reasonably high quality brand of PSU? I know that Antec and Enermax both make very good PSUs but that comes at a fairly hefty price (£73.70 for an Antec TPII 550W compared to £59.89 for the Hiper model).

[ParoXoN]

Why not the Seasonic 500/600W?

DavidStone is running the following off a Silverstone Fanless 300watt psu - http://forums.silentpcreview.com/vie...3075&start=150

I suppose a Seasonic PSU would work, but I've never heard of that brand before... Antec and Enermax are two brands I've had good experience with and heard good things about, thusly I recommend them ^.^

<Edit>
Evidently I live under a rock. I thought Seasonic sounded kind of familiar, but dismissed that to the words 'sea' and 'sonic' being fairly common. Turns out their 600W PSU won best efficiency in a shootout of 19 PSUs as tested by Toms Hardware. My bad

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/...st/page30.html
</edit>

[Hidden Hippo]

At the moment, I expect I can splash out a bit more on the PSU. Currently I am using about &#163;925 of my &#163;1000 budget, not including delivery but with VAT. My alternatives are the 500W Seasonic for&#163;76.32, the Antec TPII 550W for &#163;73.70 and the Hiper model, which is in the lead due to the power output and the modular design system. Is Hiper a good brand, or would I do better to get a weaker, non modular PSU?

[-ChEM-]

this is much better than all of those and modular but its only on special offer for a short while
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=439004

[Hidden Hippo]

That is a nice PSU. How long does the offer last and are Silverstone a reliable brand? I heard somewhere that the best 3 brands were Antec, Hiper and Enermax. This may be wrong, but I want to make sure that the power being delivered is constant (and the PSU won't blow up).

[-ChEM-]

nah there are much better brands than those, hiper is pretty bad imo for their problems with basic protective features in several reviews, it makes you wonder where else the quality is lacking, enermax list their specs higher than they should do and antec dont seem to take as much care with their oem partners as they used to so you have to make sure you buy the right ones

have a look here, this guy does the most thorough testing i have seen, everyone else seems to do things in a stupid way like that tomshardware thing testing ripple on the 3.3v rail... why not just do the same damn test on the 12v rail seeing as thats the source of power for the cpu and graphics cards and just about everything else?
http://www.jonnyguru.com/PSU/ST60F/

[Hidden Hippo]

Well, I've decided on getting the Hiper 580W modular (blue or black dependent on the colour of my case, blue for silver, black for well, black). Would anyone say that spending the extra money on the 6600 is actually worth it. Does the size of cache make that much of a difference in gaming today? My other question is will any of the current SKT775 coolers (HS + Fan) fit on the conroe, or is there a different bracket? Thanks again.

Edit: Another question, which OS would be better, XP Home or x64? I am able to get a copy of x64 on the trial for 120 days for free, but the OEM copy of XP Home is about &#163;55. Would I see much difference in gaming between the software or are they pretty much the same? Also, for buying the OEM copy of software, does a power supply count as an essential non-peripheral component? I assume it does. Thanks.

[mallett]

all current skt775 HSFs will fit on to the conroe, the chip is exactly the same, in terms of size shape ect, as the old P4s and the Ds so there is no problem with the compatability

but its also good to note that the conroe chips will run a lot coller then previous chips as there so much more efficient so you can either use a smaller, cheeper HSF like the freezer 7 pro (although this still is not small, actually far from it) or if you get something like the scythe ninja or the Thermalright XP-120 for a bit more, then the overclocking ability is high as its still easy to run the chip cool

[Hidden Hippo]

Thanks. I'm thinking of downgrading to the E6300/6400 and overclocking it. The only difference will be the cache size. Would the cache make much of a difference anyway? Thanks for the response to this question.

What about the OS, is x64 worth it or should I splash out on XP Home? Also, does anyone know where I can get an X-Fi Fatal1ty OEM in the UK? I can only seem to find the Xtreme Music version as OEM, the Fatal1ty is always boxed with some random other stuff.