Getting back into building.. how's this?

C

CardiaK

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Messages
153
I've been out of the PC building game for a while, just upgrading one piece here or there, and my knowledge, especially on CPUs and Mobos, is behind.

I did some reading and here's what I'm putting together for my major upgrade, just looking to see what you guys thought and if I'm missing out on an important piece of knowledge:

(I'm currently running an old socket 939 AMD X2 4200+ on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum with 2GB of DDR800 RAM)

Planning to keep from my current box:

VIDEO - eVGA nvidia 8800 GTS 640MB
HD - Newer Seagate 250GB SATA 3gb/s HD & Older 250GB WD SATA HD
PSU - PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI
MONITOR - Westinghouse 37" LCD @ 1920x1080

New Purchases (From ZZF, Newegg didn't have 8400/8500s in stock):

CPU - Intel e8400 3.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
RAM - 4GB (2 x 2gb) OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 DDR2-1066
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Rev 2.0 mobo

I'll be buying new optical drives, a sound card, and other stuff too, but I'm more concerned about how the cpu, mobo, ram, video, and psu are going to get along.

Do I need a new PSU? I don't plan to SLI (hence the one x16 slot mobo) or watercool, and I know the PC Power & Cooling ones are pretty beefy, but now people are talking about 1kW PSUs, so I'm not so sure anymore.

My aim with this box is to have it easily handle WoW in a raiding environment (25+ players and enemies with full spell effects); and I'd like to get into CoD4, and I'd like that to run well at 1920x1080.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
Also, any suggestions for a cooler? I'm just going to go with air, if I do any overclocking it will be minor. Under $50 would be nice too.
 
Consider a Q6600 and reuse your existing 2GB of ram with 2GB more if you find it necessary. You could probably reuse your current DDR2-800 RAM even with the E8400. WoW will be happy on either processor even with 2GB of RAM.

Stock (retail box) cooling would be sufficient, otherwise get an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
 
Thanks for the advice!

Just curious.. why would I want to go with a Q6600 (2.4Ghz 65nm Kentsfield) over an E8400 (3.0Ghz 45nm Wolfdale)?

Is there really that big of a difference in performance between Quad core and Dual core?

From what I've read, I heard that very little software is written to take advantage of 4 cores.

The RAM from my current box is getting used in another application; and WoW (especially during raids with the 50+ addons I use) is a RAM hog as it is.
 
True, but multi-tasking should work better on a quad core. Surely you're running other software while raiding. Q6600 chips can be found for very good prices right now. E8400 certainly will have higher performance in a game though.
 
dhc014 said:
reuse your existing 2GB of ram with 2GB more if you find it necessary. You could probably reuse your current DDR2-800 RAM even with the E8400.
Click to expand...

CardiaK said:
(I'm currently running an old socket 939 AMD X2 4200+ on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum with 2GB of DDR800 RAM)[/I]
Click to expand...

He has DDR, not DDR2. :)

troisanh, why should he get a new PSU? His PCP&C 510W should be more than enough.
 
Thanks again for all the advice, and I truncated the sig, you're right it was a beast. :)

As for the Mobo, I read about it in a thread here, but when I went on ZZF to look at it, the specs on their site say that the max fsb supported is 1066, while the e8400 operates at 1333 @ stock speed, right?

Should I go with a different mobo? The MSI Neo2 maybe?
 
CardiaK said:
I've been out of the PC building game for a while, just upgrading one piece here or there, and my knowledge, especially on CPUs and Mobos, is behind.

I did some reading and here's what I'm putting together for my major upgrade, just looking to see what you guys thought and if I'm missing out on an important piece of knowledge:

(I'm currently running an old socket 939 AMD X2 4200+ on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum with 2GB of DDR800 RAM)

Planning to keep from my current box:

VIDEO - eVGA nvidia 8800 GTS 640MB
HD - Newer Seagate 250GB SATA 3gb/s HD & Older 250GB WD SATA HD
PSU - PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI
MONITOR - Westinghouse 37" LCD @ 1920x1080

New Purchases (From ZZF, Newegg didn't have 8400/8500s in stock):

CPU - Intel e8400 3.0Ghz Core 2 Duo
RAM - 4GB (2 x 2gb) OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 DDR2-1066
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Rev 2.0 mobo

I'll be buying new optical drives, a sound card, and other stuff too, but I'm more concerned about how the cpu, mobo, ram, video, and psu are going to get along.

Do I need a new PSU? I don't plan to SLI (hence the one x16 slot mobo) or watercool, and I know the PC Power & Cooling ones are pretty beefy, but now people are talking about 1kW PSUs, so I'm not so sure anymore.

My aim with this box is to have it easily handle WoW in a raiding environment (25+ players and enemies with full spell effects); and I'd like to get into CoD4, and I'd like that to run well at 1920x1080.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Click to expand...



2 things to add.. 1) get an aftermarket cpu coooler... intel stock one sucks.


second, what sound card? if you are using vista, steer away from creative x-fi. it cripples them
 
CardiaK said:
As for the Mobo, I read about it in a thread here, but when I went on ZZF to look at it, the specs on their site say that the max fsb supported is 1066, while the e8400 operates at 1333 @ stock speed, right?

Should I go with a different mobo? The MSI Neo2 maybe?
Click to expand...

All P35 boards support 1333Mhz FSB QDR. Don't trust a retailers specs, go to the manufacturer's site. The DS3L is a good board, but the MSI Neo2-FR is better because of its NB/mosfet cooling solution. How far do you plan on OC'ing? If you want to reach over 3.8Ghz, you'll be better off with the MSI Neo2-FR unless you get the DS3L and add a fan to its northbirdge.

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c × [Base FSB speed] = CPU Clock speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 × [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 × [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):

E8400: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << STOCK
E8400: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Nice OC
E8400: 9 × 445 = 4.0Ghz, DDR2-890 << Good OC
E8400: 9 × 500 = 4.5Ghz, DDR2-1000 << Possible?
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/
 
I'm not planning on pushing it with the OC, I'm just going to buy a decent aftermarket air cooler (any suggestions?), spread a lil arctic silver on it, and see what's stable.

After thinking about it some more, I probably will go with the Neo2, I read some articles that say that it's basically a restickered Platinum with a couple things neutered.

This box isn't going to be folding or doing anything more hardcore than WoW/CoD4 gaming, and some Video Editing in Adobe Premiere.

As for sound, I hadn't decided yet, but I do plan on buying a Vista 64-bit Disc (I read some comparisons, and I really don't think I need anything more than Home Basic or Home Premium, right?), so thanks for the suggestion to stay away from Creative. I've had Audigies for years; and in all honesty, I don't even know who makes good sound cards besides Creative. Any suggestions?

I was thinking about the Asus Xonar DX (the little brother to the D2X)
 
CardiaK said:
After thinking about it some more, I probably will go with the Neo2, I read some articles that say that it's basically a restickered Platinum with a couple things neutered.
Click to expand...

Thats what all lower end boards are... neutered versions of the higher end boards. ;)

Here are some HSF suggestions:

$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF (optional $5 Thermalright LGA775 Bolt-Thru-Kit)
$37 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
$50 - ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler ($10 MIR)
$59 - Noctua NH-U12P Universal heatsink
$57 - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU HS + Scythe S-Flex Fan SFF21E ($15)
 
CardiaK said:
As for sound, I hadn't decided yet, but I do plan on buying a Vista 64-bit Disc (I read some comparisons, and I really don't think I need anything more than Home Basic or Home Premium, right?),
Click to expand...

Don't get Basic, you want home premium.
 
Ultimate OEM can be had for under $200 so I think it might be worth considering.

I have the Xonar DX's big brother and am happy with it thus far, could already tell a difference with my old Altec Lansings but I'm looking forward to seeing how it sounds on some decent speakers in a couple weeks.
 
Thanks again for all the advice.

I'm zeroing in on what I'm going to order, and I see now that Newegg has the e8400s back in stock, so I'll probably go with them, since I'm built my last 3 or 4 boxes from Newegg parts.
 
i recommend the noctua cooeler, it has a wierd colour scheme but it is an awesome cooler...

what are you gonna do with your old stuff, i might buy your old cpu if your selling it...
 
My old parts are actually going to use; I'm going to Frankenstein another box from my old parts and a friend's old box.
 
Here's my Newegg Cart; I decided to get a new HD just so I could keep my mobo/proc/ram/hd all intact in my current box and not have to reactivate my XP install when I put that stuff in a different case/psu setup. (I'm at the point now where I have to call them every time I do it :rolleyes:)


Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $99.99

ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Retail $89.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail $89.99

MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $109.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail $199.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM $109.99

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail $31.99


I read a lot of folks complaining about some of the other HSFs being so big that they had to remove case fans and such, so I was a bit leery about some of the really big ones.

I heard some good things about the Arctic Freezer; so I thought I might go with that.

Besides the popular push-pin mount that everyone seems to complain about, does anyone have any experience with the Freezer that says I should stay away?
 
Get the WD6400AAKS instead of the 'cuda.11. Its faster because it has higher density platters.

The AC Freezer 7 Pro would hold back an OC that would take advantage of that DDR2-1000 RAM, IMO. So, either drop down to DDR2-800 or get a better cooler. The Ultima90 is smaller and lighter than the big tower coolers, but performs nearly as good as them.

With my F7Pro, I could only reach 3.6Ghz (1.45v) on my E6750 before temps would reach low 60's. With my Ultima90 + Panaflo, I can reach 3.8Ghz w/ 1.5v, and it idles at 28°C and reaches 52°C during prime testing.

If you end up sticking with the Freezer 7 Pro, get the $5 Thermalright LGA775 Bolt Thru kit, listed in one of my earlier posts.
 
Thanks again for all the help; i'm looking to finalize and pull the trigger either today or tomorrow!
 
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