First Build! Advice Please!!

[mikedabest]

Right guys...its time to build my first PC from scratch methinks! Unfortunately, as a student, I don't have the money to do this more than once, so I'd like to do it and have a stable, yet bloody good, system! Baring in mind i know a fair amount about computers, but have never built one and am wanting to learn to overclock, below is my spec and I just wondered if you could share some light on it please! Thanks!!

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (what heatsink and cooling would you recommend (cheap but effective) as I've heard that these can get warm when overclocked!)
Memory...possibly 2 * 1Gb Corsair XMS2 PC6400...but this is where I'm not sure.
HIS X800XL IceQ II 256Mb
Hiper Type-R 580W PSU
250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 SATA2 7200rpm

and monitor, speaker e.t.c!

Any advice would be greatly appreaciated!
Thanks again, Mike!

[Queelis]

You didn't say what size of monitor you wanted, and one flaw: do you really want a previous generation graphics card in your build? That's a fast CPU, good memory, and then there's that old card. At least take 7900GT/1900GT or XT.

[Noni]

CPU- Good

MB- Conroe does not have a wealth of motherboard, but the motherboards have a wealth of problems. I have no idea as to what is the best Conroe motherboard so ask around.

Memory- Sounds good.

Graphic card- Boo! Go for either a 7600GT, 7900GT or a 1800XT 256mb

PSU- Boo! Enermax 535, Enermax Liberty, Tagan Easycon, Seasonic 500W are better.

HD- Nice.

Whats your budget?

[Rack]

Motherboard: Asus P5B-Deluxe... it'll be worth it.
Gfx: depends on pricepoint: £100: 7600GT, £140-150: X1900GT, 7900GT, £200+ X1900XT
Mem looks fine, they all clock up to 800MHz, and you won't need more than that with a 6600.
Tagan, Enermax, Silverstone, etc etc, 500W+ is a good idea. I'm sure I've heard of issues with Hiper-R before, but hopefully resolved.
Samsung HDD drive for silence. I think seagate has 5-year warranty, could be an alternative.
19" wide monitor from Scan for £120-130!

CPU, good choice. :-)

Cooling - get the Tuniq Tower120 or Scythe Ninja!

[Steve B]

the x800 is shader model 2 so wont stand a chance against any modern games, go at least for an x1800 if its a high end system. the 6600 is a good chip, but again, a slight reallocation of your budget may require dropping to a 6400, which is an equally good chip.

The DS3 is a nice board, still needs a bit of BIOS tweaking, but thats Gigabytes problem. Cooling, i'd go with an arctic freezer 7 pro, a tuniq tower 120 or a scythe infinity. the latter are rare so if you can get your hands on one, then go for it! Hard drives dont really matter, anything around 250 gigs and they're all the same really. i prefer samsung spinpoints as theyre very quiet. The hiper psu is good, ive got one

memory looks good, definitely get 2 gigs, corsair stuff is good, if a tad on the expensive side, as their screening is much tighter.

Monitor go for 20 inch plus, widescreen defo. paired with a good graphics card and ur onto a winner

Speakers depend on your budget. A nice set of logitech or creative ones will do the job.

Keyboard and Mouse, go for logitech again. ive got an mx1000 paired with the media keyboard, and it does the trick for me.

Cases, bigger is better! The more room you have the easier it is for cable-management and air-flow. Lots of fans is good to shift all the heat to the outside. Ive got the stacker and its very roomy. It really depends on your budget though!

Cheers,
Steve

[Steve B]

dagnabit, that one took me too long

[mikedabest]

Right guys...its time to build my first PC from scratch methinks! Unfortunately, as a student, I don't have the money to do this more than once, so I'd like to do it and have a stable, yet bloody good, system! Baring in mind i know a fair amount about computers, but have never built one and am wanting to learn to overclock, below is my spec and I just wondered if you could share some light on it please! Thanks!!

Right then...better you reckon?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3+Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7
2 * 1Gb Corsair XMS2 PC6400 / 2 * 1Gb OCZ Platinum PC6400 (any better memory for same money or cheaper memory that'll do the job?)
Right...graphics card?? best one to get for around £100ish and where can I get it?
Hiper Type-R 580W PSU
250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 SATA2 7200rpm
19" 5ms Widescreen Belinea Monitor
MX1000 Logitech laser mouse (actually had this on my shopping list if budgettin goes alright! )
Any advice would be greatly appreaciated!
Thanks again, Mike!

Budget is probs around £900ish

Cheers for the advice so far people!

[Noni]

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£209.99 £209.99
MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)
£91.99 £91.99
MY-017-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK) (MY-017-GS)
£124.99 £124.99
GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-046-WD Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£44.95 £44.95
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£19.99 £19.99
CA-038-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Silver Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-038-LL)
£47.95 £47.95
CA-005-SK FSP Sparkle AX500-A Blue Storm 500W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-005-SK)
£49.99 £49.99
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM (SC-043-CL)
£44.95 £44.95
Subtotal £709.75
VAT £124.21
Total £833.96

Add another £300 for a Dell 2007FPW.

Thank you!

[mikedabest]

Cheers Noni...but where do you get all that stuff so cheap? Been looking for ages and the cheapest I can get an e6600 for is £235 and the motherboard £98. If you could put a link to a website alongside each thing you do not know how greatly appreciated that would be!!!

[mallett]

for 100 notes on the gfx go with the xfx 7600gt xxx version from scan its just over the 100 i think but its a very good card and comes pre oced making it less needed for you to do it (wow thats bad english)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=458375

[mikedabest]

right...sorry noni...i see u've added the VAT on at the end! cheers steve and mallet!

[mikedabest]

Right...for the nearly £80 price difference in the E6400 to the E6600...am I really gonna notice the difference a massive amount? Like the sound of the G-Skill Ram to be honest! Any compatibility issues with this motherboard? I really do appreciate the help guys!!!

[Noni]

The £80 is for the 2mb L2 extra cache too.

[mikedabest]

Yeah...fair point! Just gonna have to decide that myself i suppose! So this is my revised setup!

XION II Black Steel Mid Tower Gaming Case
Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz / Core 2 Duo E6400 2.16Ghz
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
256MB XFX 7600GT XXX
G-Skill 2*1Gb PC2-6400 CAS4
250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 SATA2 7200rpm
Hiper Type-R Modular PSU - 580W
LG GSA-H10BAL Black DVD +/-R/RW
Belinea 1925S1W 19" Widescreen 5ms 850:1 (1440 X 900)

Just hope it works!

[Steve B]

i'd say ur gonna notice a bigger difference if you get the E6400 and spend the extra cash on a better graphics card, but thats just my preference. Tbh, the extra 2 meg cache doesn't make that much difference i dont think. not enough to justify me spending an extra 80 notes anyway

[owen1978]

The E6600 and DS3 dont go together well, get the Asus 975 version P5WDH i think...