First Build, Advice would be Greatly Appreciated!

[Matt18]

Hi everyone, I am doing my first build and stumbled upon this forum. I have been researching parts and reading reviews for about a month now. I think I have my mind made up. What do you think?

Case: Rosewill r604tsb 120mm fan + 450w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147031

Mobo: ASUS p5b LGA775 w/ Intel P965 Express
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131030
I wasn't sure if I should go w/ the 965 chipset or the Nvidia 680i, If there is a better motherboard for the money I would switch.

Processor: Intel C2D E6600 2.4ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 320gb SATA 3gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140

RAM: Not sure yet, any reccomendations would be great. I would prefer not to spend an arm and a leg on it. I haven't made my mind up on 1gb or 2gb.

The following parts I am going to pull from my current machine:
Floppy drive(I think I need this to update BIOS and other things during setup)
DVD: Samsung Super-WriteMaster DL dvd burner
VIDEO: GeForce 6200 OC PCI 265mb DDR (I know I need a PCI express, but I going to use this initially to keep costs down)

Is there anything else I will need to order? Fan's heatsinc's etc. or is this everything I will need for my build?

THANKS

 

[DR.Death]

no it looks good i don't know how the psu will hold out

 

[anticlutch]

The PSU will be fine as long as you don't put in a high-end card any time soon. When you do decide to upgrade your graphics card, remember to upgrade the PSU as well

 

[kwchang007]

are you going to get vista? if so 2 gb of ram, if you go with xp, 1 gb is ok, but 2 gb is really starting to become more and more normal. and how much do you have to spend on ram? i know you can get 800 mhz 2 gb ram for under $200

 

[Matt18]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

I am going to put xp pro on it for now. I can spend about another $150 on ram. The specifications on the mobo say the following:

Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.

Does this mean the ram has to have timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6? I thought this was something that was set in BIOS. Can I get ram that is over 1.8v?

By the way, Is that a decent motherboard? Should I spend a little extra and get something nicer?

 

[anticlutch]

Maybe the Gigabyte 965P-DS3? Those motherboards overclock pretty well

 

[kwchang007]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130082 have you looked at that motherboard? you may not want sli, but it should be a very good board. My friend is actually building with the board, i could tell you how it is after it's done.

 

[Kursah]

I have an Asus P5B Deluxe with G.Skill DDR2 800...2 gigs of it. It'll run at 1.8, it's spec'd at 2.0-2.1v..you just adjust it in bios. Currently I'm OC'd to DDR2 960, 2.25v, 4-4-4-5 timings. Great board, great memory! I got it for $230 on Newegg...last I saw they had a special on it for around $190-200.

 

[Matt18]

SLI and the P965 was a big debate for me. I'm really still not clear on the benefits of either. I had read the p965 chipset worked well w/ the C2D's. What is the benefit of one chipset over the other?

 

[Matt18]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130082 have you looked at that motherboard? you may not want sli, but it should be a very good board. My friend is actually building with the board, i could tell you how it is after it's done.

I was mainly looking at boards that supported the core 2 quad. I want to keep this system very upgradeable. Other than that it looks like an awesome board, it has good reviews too.

 

[Kursah]

You need to figure out what you want, what you need, what you expect out of your PC. And stick by the demands of your build. The p965 is a good chipset for C2D's for sure, I love my board, some like p975's...some go for 680s. I'm not big on SLI or CF ATM because the next wave of video cards (and the 8800 of course) are going to beat current gen SLI/CF setups. And if you can afford two good cards in SLI/CF, you genrally spend the same (+/- xx dollars depending on the situation) on a single more powerful/capable card.

I don't plan on using Crossfire on my board, and even if I did the second card would only have 4x capabilities...sure I'd still see some extra performance, but I'd rather have one card that is more capable.

 

[Kursah]

I did a lot of research to find what I wanted for this build...and most everything met or exceeded my expectations! I wanted a cheaper c2d that would clock to 3.4-3.5, I hit 3.36...I can go higher, but the jump in voltage isn't worth the extra heat. I wanted a fast, oc-able, upgradable, stable rig. The M/B is great, no issues what-so-ever. My first batch of ram was Buffalo Firestix...they burned up. So the G.Skill I replaced them with that I have now are perfect, tight timings, more OC on less voltage, cool running. Video, I wanted to be faster than my x850xt pe (modded x850pro...full 16p), I am averaging 2x + the frames/speed with my x1950 pro.

Matt18..note down what you like as far as hardware, different brands of the same product, go out and research..if you find more good than bad, good reviews, tweaks/oc that sound like they fit with what you want, then it's only a matter of choosing what you want, buying it, setting it up. I bet I spent a good 20 hours researching every component I put into my current build, and I'm happier because of it since I got what I paid for, and am able to tweak/oc to my heart's content (save for the video card, still OC-able, just not as far as compared to my x850), and get it stable, cool running and fast as hell with a decent OC.

So maybe give us a list of what you want, how well you want it to perform (possibly compared to what you have), what features you want, what you don't want. This forum is awesome for help, I've used it for a long time now. Props to Tigger69 for helping me through the many steps it took me to get my decision made up when I was in the decision making process.

 

[Matt18]

Kursah:
Thanks for your responses.
I also did alot of research which is why I listed these components. The only thing I was having doubts about was the motherboard. I just can't find anything better for the price.

I am looking for an all around good computer that will be very upgradeable. The computer will be used for gaming and alot of multi-tasking. I want to be able to burn a DVD while browsing the internet and listening to music. Anything will be faster than what I have now so a comparison is not really important.

No one has had anything bad to say about the setup i picked out. That was my main concern.
I've been shopping components for nearly a month now, I'm getting an itch to get this build started

 

[FOXCONN1115]

Get a 975 chipset board... and patriot memory is decent, heard it OC's well. If you want a better quality PSU check out Antec.. they have nice stuff for cheap usually.. 500watt 3 12v rail psu for like $75 or something like that. Or you can just buy one of their Case/PSU combo for like.. $120. The hard drive you selected is awesome, and so is the CPU..

 

[Matt18]

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it. I placed my order yesterday. I should have it Monday. I'm sure I will be posting again during the install
I went ahead and ordered a Floppy and a dvd drive because they were so cheap. I decided on a different case as well.
Here is what I ended up ordering:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail

Rosewill TU-155 Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply - Retail

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

Sony NEC Optiarc 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model AD-7170S-0B - OEM

 

[kwchang007]

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it. I placed my order yesterday. I should have it Monday. I'm sure I will be posting again during the install
I went ahead and ordered a Floppy and a dvd drive because they were so cheap. I decided on a different case as well.
Here is what I ended up ordering:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail

Rosewill TU-155 Black 0.8mm SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply - Retail

ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

Sony NEC Optiarc 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model AD-7170S-0B - OEM

oh man, too bad i wasn't on early, the mobo i showed you is quad core compliant, it was perfectly fine also when my friend got it, runs perfectly.

 

[FOXCONN1115]

not bad.. how much did it run you...? also what are you gonna do about a graphics card?

 

[Matt18]

I have a video card from my current system I am going to use for the time being:
GeForce 6200 OC PCI 265mb DDR , I am going to get a pci express eventually.

The total was $730.00 before shipping.

 

[TUngsten]

You won't be disappointed w/ the P5B, very nice OCing board - it'll support 1333fsb and quadcore with the latest bios update I believe.

The ram is nice too, I am looking at replacing my OCZ with the same G.SKill set. Look for a decent aftermarket CPU HSF as well, the stock ones are adequate but not optimal for OCing.

 

[Kursah]

I use the AC Freezer Pro 7, and it works great and is cheap! And it comes with MX-1 pre applied, and it's supposed to be pretty good stuff. I have my CPU fan set to performance mode so it's not alwayse full blast and it keeps my CPU cool and it stays quiet! Which even at full blast it's not loud, but you can hear a lot of air moving!