• A Great friend to the HardForum with a great kid that he is trying to get a scholorship to continue his schooling. Please give hime a vote! Only 24 hours left! Thanks.
    If you have an VOTE FOR KEENAN!

New build

C

Cally

Gawd
2FA
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
512
Seems like a couple of months now to finally decide on this build order. Let me know what you think or of any changes I should make before I place the order. I posted this on another board but never received any feedback. I am just curious if these parts are compatible and will they work well? I am not looking to OC anything. I have never had a Biostar MB and wonder about how it will last.

BIOSTAR TPower I45 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138118

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115036


CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145215


XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233003


XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233019



ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186020

Transcend JetFlash V10 2GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) AES Encryption Model TS2GJFV10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820208092


$542.94 + shp


I have 2 new HD and a new DVD player/writer only 2 months old. Replacing them is what is behind my desire for a new build. I will be using my existing Evga 8800GTS 640MB card and my current PSU OCZ Modstream 520W. Next year I will upgrade the video card and PSU.
 
Everything is compatible, but may I ask why you chose the Biostar TPower I45? You could save some money by taking advantage of the E8400 and the Asus P5Q Pro bundle (at NewEgg for $275) and getting a 4GB DDR2 800 RAM set instead of the more expensive DDR2 1066. If you have no intention of using most of the features on either board, you could drop down to the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L or the MSI P43 Neo3-F. (Regardless, swap out the E8500 for the E8400; at stock speeds, there's little difference performance-wise between the two.)

You could also omit the MX-2 thermal compound, as the TIM that comes with the HDT-S1283 is more than enough for your needs.
 
tiraides said:
Everything is compatible, but may I ask why you chose the Biostar TPower I45? You could save some money by taking advantage of the E8400 and the Asus P5Q Pro bundle (at NewEgg for $275) and getting a 4GB DDR2 800 RAM set instead of the more expensive DDR2 1066. If you have no intention of using most of the features on either board, you could drop down to the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L or the MSI P43 Neo3-F. (Regardless, swap out the E8500 for the E8400; at stock speeds, there's little difference performance-wise between the two.)

You could also omit the MX-2 thermal compound, as the TIM that comes with the HDT-S1283 is more than enough for your needs.
Click to expand...

I have never has a Biostar board before. This one came suggested as a solid P45 performer. The reviews I read on different sites seemed to say the same thing. The layout was ok the mats used in the making of the board were good and it had proven itself under pressure of heavy OC'ing.
The express gate feature on the Gigabyte board worried me from the reviews I read. It seems many prople had trouble with it, I was just trying to ignore those problems.
Switching out the 8500 for the 8400 is ok as they are about the ame speeds. I chose the higher memory just in case I found myself wanting to OC some time in the future. I am thinking as the system gets a little older I may want to have ram that could oc easier.
 
I had to search for the 8400 & Asus combo. It wasn't on either of the pages of the cpu or MB. But I found it listed in a combo search. Now that I found it I am going to change my order. I'll be saving $93.00 Thanks
 
Cally said:
I had to search for the 8400 & Asus combo. It wasn't on either of the pages of the cpu or MB. But I found it listed in a combo search. Now that I found it I am going to change my order. I'll be saving $93.00 Thanks
Click to expand...

Cally...by the way what case are you going to use cause that Xigmatek hdts1283 120mm cooler is pretty big and it barely fits in my son's Antec 900. Great choice of components.
 
Express Gate is on Asus boards, and its easy to ignore if you don't plan on using the onboard Linux OS.

Here's why you don't need DDR2-1066, OC'ing or not, with either of those CPUs you were contemplating about:

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

E8400: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << STOCK
E8400: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Nice OC
E8400: 9 × 450 = 4.0Ghz, DDR2-900 << Good OC
E8400: 9 × 500 = 4.5Ghz, DDR2-1000 << Great OC

E8500: 9.5 × 333 = 3.1Ghz, DDR2-667 << STOCK
E8500: 9.5 × 400 = 3.8Ghz, DDR2-800 << Nice OC
E8500: 9.5 × 433 = 4.1Ghz, DDR2-866 << Good OC
E8500: 9.5 × 500 = 4.7Ghz, DDR2-1000 << Great OC

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.
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/
 
ajkev24 said:
Cally...by the way what case are you going to use cause that Xigmatek hdts1283 120mm cooler is pretty big and it barely fits in my son's Antec 900. Great choice of components.
Click to expand...

I have an 3 yr old Antec Sonata I think there is plenty of room in there from the measurements I can find.
 
That Express gate really worried me as I have only built 2 computers. Now I know I don't have to bother with it I am much happier. Advice taken on the memory I changed my order. Now I guess I am GTG? I really appreciate the help this board had given me.
 
I have to say that ExpressGate is the one of the most impressive whiz-bang motherboard features I've seen in recent years.

The I45 though is very popular for its overclocking prowess given its price. Not that the P5Q boards are slouches (far from it,) but the I45 is proving popular with benchmarkers who want to see how far they can take an FSB without worrying about number of SATA ports available, RAID options, etc.

You can't go wrong with either board.
 
Not sure how to post pics but better late than never right?
Lightedcompletedbuild.jpg


CPULabel.jpg


Goodiesastheyarrived.jpg


That's my build it has been running very well at stock. I didn't have any problems once I got rid of the 4850 card. I don't know from looking at the cpu label which stepping I got but it runs very well. Hope you enjoy the pics.
 
Nice! Thanks for the pics. What did you replace the 4850 card with?
 
I replaced the 4850 with my old 8800GTS 640 card. I had so much trouble with the Visiontek card I just returned it. I'll wait until the end of the year and get a 260 216 I think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top