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davidlem

Gawd
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
670
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Some gaming (year-old titles), some Adobe apps, daily web browsing.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$300

3) Where do you live?
Florida

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, RAM, Mobo

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
ATX case, Thermaltake TR2-430w PSU, Radeon X800GTO PCIe, NEC DVD/RW, 2xWD2500KS 250GB

6) Will you be overclocking?
Perhaps, looking to get 3.0 on air

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dell 2405FPW 24" DVI

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Today

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Firewire, 4+ USB ports, 2+ SATA ports

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, WinXP 32bit and Linux
 
I'm currently running:
Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS s939
AMD Athlon X2 3800+ OC @ 2.5GHz
GEIL 4x512MB PC3200 400MHz
same case and PSU as listed in OP

Had nothing but trouble with this mobo. At first, before any OC, the onboard NIC crapped out - just out of warranty. Next it would have trouble seeing the DVD/RW on IDE1. Now (a year later) it's to the point where I have to power the machine on/off 10-20-30 times before it'll boot. Generally just gives me a black screen w/ no signal to monitor. When it does work, it's stable. I have also since re-flashed the BIOS and reset to default settings (no OC) and it makes no difference. Vid card, RAM, PSU and CPU have all been tested in another config without any issues. Also tried an Athlon 64 CPU in my config and got the same result. Removed all but minimum necessary components and same thing. Fairly certain the issue is with the mobo.
 
This is what I've come up with



G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK $54.99

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $134.99

Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E5200 - Retail $72.99

That puts me at $270 shipped via 3-Day
 
1) Find the G.Skill 800MHz version for like $10 less
2) Gigabyte UD3R
3) S1283 to screw around overclocking with. 3GHz is Tostito mild.
 
lowteckh thanks for the reply.

1) I was thinking the 1066 would guarantee me solid reliability over OC some 800 stuff. For $10...
2) I did notice there's a P/R. What's the diff? Both have great reviews. I can't see any diff in the pics and I don't see a comparative thread anywhere.
3) 'S1283'?

thanks...
 
1) The E5200 doesn't need DDR2 1066 RAM for overclocking. Stick with the cheaper DDR2 800 kit.

2) The -R model board has onboard RAID and only one PCI-E 2.0 (x16) slot, whereas the -P model board has onboard RAID, two PCI-E slots (and dual x8 CrossFire support), and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports. Essentially, lowteckh is trying to tell you to go with the cheaper board.

3) The Xigmatek HDT-S1283... though you could get away with using the HDT-S963/HDT-S964 for overclocking the E5200. However, to make mounting the CPU cooler easier (and to make it more secure, I recommend picking up the ACK-I7751 retention bracket as well.
 
That kit should be good, too. CL timings dont matter much, but its the same price, so might as well go for it.

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings:
c × [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = cpu multiplier)
2 × [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed
4 × [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

E5200: 12.5 × 200 = 2.5Ghz, DDR2-400 << STOCK, but lowest chipset will go is DDR2-667
E5200: 12.5 × 266 = 3.3Ghz, DDR2-533 << Good OC
E5200: 12.5 × 300 = 3.7Ghz, DDR2-600 << Great OC, near max on good air cooling
E5200: 9.5 × 400 = 3.8Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max on good air cooling

You won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, its negligible), so don't pay much of a price premium for lower latency.
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/
 
thanks for the tips, enginurd. I placed my order w/ rush processing - hope to have it this week.

I haven't built an Intel system before. I started with AMD Duron twice, then Athlon XP twice (one still running daily), Athlon 64, and lastly my current handicapped Athlon X2.

The prices on the Intel stuff have come down so much, and with cheap RAM prices I just couldn't resist!
 
Thanks, it has been a while LOL. I'll see if I can find the other attachments for my Big Typhoon - it's supposed to work on 775 also.
 
You can probably buy them if you can't find them. Check with the thermaltake site.
 
I got the cooler from their clearance page, awesome deal at $20 two years ago.

Then I went to blow the dust out of my machine a couple months back and left the air compressor regulator on 120psi...literally blew the blades right off the fan! oops...

Ordered a new TT variable speed fan with this order :) Next time I'll check the regulator first.
 
Thermaltakes are loud, and variable fans are annoying like hell. Nothing like the constantly changing tone of a whirring fan to kill your ears. Stick with a fixed speed fan.
 
Brought it up to 2.91 (233x12.5) after running it for over 24 hours - temp doesn't even flinch! 3.33 is gonna be cake!
 
uber? hardly. I actually used to have all the cables tucked up and running behind the mobo tray, then coming around the edge of the mobo with just enough length to plug in. Only visible cables were power to optical and 2 HDs and 2 SATA cables that were wound into a coil like a watch spring. It was pretty darn tidy!

Then when I started having mobo problems I removed and replaced it all and never had the heart to repeat the work.

When putting these parts in I figured I might want to pull it in the future to install the Big Typhoon backing plate so I didn't go into any great effort.

Here it is now with the Intel stock HSF.

IMG_2319.jpg
 
LOL!

Nice pics!

But oh dear lord you have a TR2 430W. You might want to replace that PSU ASAP. It's 18A on the +12V rail coupled with the huge probability that it can't provide that much amperage on the +12V rail is not a good combo for a PSU for that system.

I recommend picking up this PSU since it has 30A on the +12V, has been shown to be fully capable of providing its rated amperage and would give you some headroom for future upgrades:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

Use the promo code "Mar20" to drop the Corsair 400CX another $10 for a total of $45 out the door. There's also a little $10 MIR that drops the PSU down to $35 AR.
 
Yeah, I know it's not a [H]awt PSU :( Worked great on my Athlon 64 and never changed it out. Place I used to work had 15-20 machines of various configs running that PSU and we absolutely punished them. Turning them on and off quickly, unplugging components while running - all kinds of other abuse - 5 days a week for years and they never choked. When my Allied PSU (yeah, i know!) crapped I was already ordering something from Amazon so since the TR2-430 was on sale I grabbed one having used them so much.

Thanks for the link I might go ahead and grab that Corsair.
 
Power consumption on the X800GTO is low, thats why that PSU works fine for your system. Your system, OC'd to 3Ghz, should be using less than 250W at full load. However, there's only 18A on the +12V rail, so I suspect that your PSU is near capacity, since most power is drawn from that rail. It would be best to replace it sooner, rather than later.
 
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