Building new pc need help/suggestions

J

Jay Buchanan

n00b
Joined
Nov 1, 2007
Messages
44
Hey all I am finally going to build a pc for the 1st time and my budget is quite limited due to me buying my monitor,mouse and keyboard before I start on anything else.... I live in the UK an my budget is about £800 for all the below I plan on gaming on my pc and doing very little but some multimedia.

As this is my first time buying a gaming pc I don't know if all the parts are compatible or fit etc so any help and suggestions are greatly needed and appreciated. I plan on buying my system at the end of this month

Once I have spent the £800 I have I do plan on upgrading components and on a Quarterly to 6 month basis such as adding more ram or a new Graphics Card etc so please put this into consideration.

CASE : Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Full Tower Case

Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor

DVD Drive : LG GSA-H66NBAL 18X SATA DVD±RW/DL/RAM

Cooling : Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler

Graphics Card : Asus 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTVOut PCI-E Graphics Card (would probably go for an EVGA Superclocked version ?)

Hard Drive : Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM

RAM : Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 XMS2 Dominator Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-15) E.P.P. DHX Technology Lifetime Warranty

Sound Card : Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional Series Soundcard - INCLUDES FREE CREATIVE FATAL1TY PRO HEADSET

Motherboard : Recommendations please as I dont know what would be compatible with what I have chosen etc


all comes upto £612
 
Where are you buying your parts from?

For a first time, no bad. But it can be improved:

First, I'd ditch the AC7Pro. It's not up to the job of cooling a Q6600, even a G0 stepping.

Second, ditch the Dominator RAM. They're horribly overpriced and are simply not worth it. Just go for the cheapest DDR2 800 RAM you can find and you'll be set. RAM manufacturers to look for are OCZ, G.Skill, Crucial, Geil, etc.

Third, here's a list of well recommended mobos here on the forums for you to look through. Find the one that best fits your needs. Note that links are to US sites but thats to help you look find out what features the mobo has:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $86
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P6N SLI-FI nForce 650i SLI Motherboard - $109
Abit IP35 Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $130
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $145
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $168
EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 NForce 680I LT SLI Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $175
EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 NForce 680I LT SLI Motherboard - $199

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports or legacy ports, then the IP35-E is a good choice. If you need legacy ports, than the DS3L. If you need firewire and RAID, than the IP35. If you don't need firewire but want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports, than the DS3R is a good choice.
 
thanks for the response I am buying my parts from ebuyer.com a uk site with typically high uk prices :mad: thanks for all the recommendations will look into now :)
 
I agree with Danny's recommendations.

Other sites to shop at are scan.co.uk an overclockers.co.uk.

Alternative coolers are the Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B, Tuniq Tower, Ultima90 + 92mm Panaflo Hydrowave fan, or the crowd favorite, Thermalright Ultra120 eXtreme + Scythe S-Flex fan.

There's no need for DDR2-1066 with a Q6600, and here's why...

Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
(CPU Multiplier) x [Base FSB speed] = CPU Clock speed
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = Effective FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate)

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):

Q6600: 9 × 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 × 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756 << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping

As you can see, even if you OC to 3.6Ghz, around the max for the chip you want, you still won't need ram faster than DDR2-800. Also, you won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, unless you're running benchmarks (and even then, its negligible), so don't pay a huge price premium for lower latency.

If you're not an audiophile, you can try the onboard HD Audio first, and then decide if you need a soundcard or not.

What size monitor are you getting?
 
I already have a 20'' HP Monitor HP w2007v

1680x1050

thanks for your suggestions and your reasons for why I should not over spend on the ram:)

just bought the case a couple of hours ago.
 
I need some serious help with the motherboard I dont know which one to get I am a total noob sorry lol.


my cpu will deffo be a Q6600 (may upgrade to penryns or w/e else is better in 2008/2009)
I will be using 4GB ram ddr2 at 800mhz would be good


I dont know what would be compatible with what etc but I have checked out the motherboards linked in this topic but how do I know it will work with what I want ?
 
Every single mobo that I recommended will work for you. All of them supports the Q6600 and DDR2 800 RAM. All of the P35 chipset motherboards will support Intel's new Penryn CPUs coming next year. The 680i mobos lets you have SLI but you don't need it since you're not gaming a 1920x1200 Resolution and it will not support Intel's new Penryn CPUs.

Now just find the mobo with the features that you want. Like RAID, Firewire, # of USB ports, # of SATA ports, eSATA support, etc.
 
Danny Bui said:
Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports or legacy ports, then the IP35-E is a good choice. If you need legacy ports, than the DS3L. If you need firewire and RAID, than the IP35. If you don't need firewire but want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports, than the DS3R is a good choice.
Click to expand...

I have a copy/paste phrase similar to this, but since Danny already mentioned it, I figured I'd quote it.

Other good alternatives for high end would be the Asus P5K-E (great bang for buck), Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, and the crowd favorite, Abit IP35 Pro.

Remember, figure out which features you need most. To help you compare features, use newegg.com's power search. ;)
 
Hence I want to go sli eventually is this a good motherboard


Asus P5N32-E SLI NF680i SLI


With an Intel Q6600, 4GB Ram and two 8800Gt's


if the answer is yes I will be buying it within the next 8 hours... :)
 
Jay Buchanan said:
Hence I want to go sli eventually is this a good motherboard Asus P5N32-E SLI NF680i SLI

With an Intel Q6600, 4GB Ram and two 8800Gt's

if the answer is yes I will be buying it within the next 8 hours... :)
Click to expand...

No. If you want SLI, stick to the eVGA boards instead, NF67-A1/T1 or NF68-A1/T1 -- they seem to have less problems than the Asus boards.

Will you be gaming at 1920x1080 or larger? If not, then don't bother with SLI.
 
I will be gaming at 1680x1050 and I want to run Crysis very well if thats achievable with 1 8800 GT at 1680x1050 Im happy then :) but would still like an SLI Board just incase I ever got the urge to go that way...

ok I will be looking at the boards you have just recommended Its just an important decision and I want it to be the right one thanks for answering my Q

is there a motherboard like the above with wifi ? or do i need to get it seperately?
 
onboard WiFi? probably an asus, but I havent checked. If there is a high probability of you going SLI, then get an SLI board. If you'll most likely not even use SLI, then don't bother with it. The P35 boards are much more stable, especially when OC'ing quadcores.
 
enginurd said:
onboard WiFi? probably an asus, but I havent checked. If there is a high probability of you going SLI, then get an SLI board. If you'll most likely not even use SLI, then don't bother with it. The P35 boards are much more stable, especially when OC'ing quadcores.
Click to expand...

Yeah I dont want to Overclock as this is my 1st build I will have no clue what to do maybe in 2-3 years when I have vastly more knowledge and money I will definetly do it..

I guess I will have to get an asus but will have a look around for what u recommended hopefully with wifi :)
 
can I use the ASUS wifi mobo's with the 8800GT ?

ASUS P5K E WIFI AP AiLifestyle Series P35 Socket 775

?
 
Yes, you can use any nvidia PCI-E video card, including the 8800GT, on any p35 motherboard, including the Asus P5K-E. The only thing you can't do is SLI.
 
ive decided on this mobo


Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E x16, DDR2 1066/533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX


anyone know of good ram at 2x2GB windows vista ultimate..

changed my mind on the mobo have decided on this after hearing theres trouble with 4x1GB ram with the gigabyte mobo's


Abit IP-35 Pro is now what im going for
 
Jay Buchanan said:
changed my mind on the mobo have decided on this after hearing theres trouble with 4x1GB ram with the gigabyte mobo's
Click to expand...

Its not isolated to just gigabyte boards only, lol. You have a higher chance of problems if you use high voltage sticks. So, if you can, get some standard 1.8v sticks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top