The (new) Official PC building thread!

sam and I both have corsair DDR2 6400 memory only ours is a little better, we have cas 4 as opposed to cas 5. I have 2 x 1gb sticks. I'm not sure if sam has 1gb or 2gb. I'm pretty sure sam started with cas 5 but upgraded to cas 4.

 

I believe you're right Mort but I just had to post that deal for the US. It's not like that RAM is crap just not cas 4.

When and if I ever get to build an Intel C2D system I'm sure I'll get cas 4 and either Corsair or Crucial. I've read plenty about how good those 2 companies are with most of the mobos out there. Well and most of the "positive" responses from the fellas here too.

....gm

 

Silly double post, remove if necessary.

....gm

 

This seems just abit TOO cheap for just over a grand for a machine that laughs at my setup

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-052-OK

Edit - Sorry did not realise it was JUST FOR the system, did not include the monitor, mouse etc. OC kinda trick you(read the small print at bottom)

 

At first I thought it was 900 dollars! I was like screw building yourself. It turned out to be GBP though

I think it's a couple hundred dollars cheaper if you build it yourself.

 

Wow Mort, your memory's good! I started very briefly with 1GB of CAS5 that I still own, but very soon (within a week) upgraded to 2GB of CAS4 which is what I currently use.
As for the small print on that article, that's another one of the reasons I don't buy stuff from OcUK any more, they'll go out of their way to con people.

 

Man my googling abilities and reading abilities are a little weak today. Thanks for that find Mort81.

..gm

 

I have almost all the parts assembled for my first biy pc, and I anxiously await arrival of my E4500 core duo cpu (any day now). I have a couple of questions that I hope someone could help me with. Motherboard is the gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l. I have 2 gb crucial ballistix ddr2 6400 memory and I just saw a sale ($20 after rebate) for another 1 gb of the same memory. I know that windows xp, which I'll be using, can't recognize a full 4 gb, but is it worth getting the extra ram? Or will I regret getting two sticks of 512kb in case I want to upgrade someday to a 64 bit os, or for some other reason? I'm not a gamer, but sometimes when downloading headers in newsgroups, things slow to a crawl after several million headers downloaded (currently have 1.5 gb ddr ram).

My other question concerns power supplies and cases, but I think I'll get the specs together first as it involves comparing and choosing which is best between two.

Thanks for your help, guys.

 

It's perfectly acceptable to use 3GB of RAM, and XP will recognise the full amount of it. It could come in handy if you play the latest games at high detail. However, bear in mind your overclocking potential may be somewhat stunted if you use 4 sticks of RAM.

 

schpoogle,

it is fine to go with 3gb or 4gb of ram. just be sure to keep the sticks in an even number so that the memory will run in dual channel (3gb = 2 x 1gb sticks + 2 x 512gb, 4gb = 4 x 1gb or 2 x 2gb).

greensman,

if you like or don't mind silver, look at this deal COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 RC-830-SSN2-GP Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

even though I'm not doing a build right now, I think I'm gonna pick one of those up for a future build. WOW

 

Whilst the Stacker is a good case, just beware that the fans included with Coolermaster cases are usually pretty awful, they're far from silent and usually push hardly any air. Fortunately there are only two included as standard, so you're not throwing away quite so much...

 

sam,

part of that statement is correct. the oem cooler master fans don't move much air but they are very quiet. I consider the fans a bonus as I would/will replace them anyway. a person should never have to fill that case to max fan capacity anyway. 3 or 4 good fans will be sufficient. maybe only 2 if airflow is unrestricted and good fans are used.

 

Thanks, Sam and Mort

Is the overclocking stunted because the sticks are different sizes, or even if I had 4 sticks of 1 gb each, it would have less potential? With such great deals on crucial memory these days, I'm thinking it might be wiser to wait and pick up 2 gb more at some point, even though xp won't recognize it all, since I may upgrade to a different os later (or use the next 2 gb to start building another system - ha).

As for overclocking, I don't need to squeeze every last GHz out of the chip, and losing .2-.3 GHz potential wouldn't matter as much as making the overclocking procedure easier for a newbie like me.

 

Thanks for the quick lesson on RAM there Morty!! I thought it should work that way but was to lazy to look it up since I don't have over 2 Gigs of RAM anyway. lol.

GREAT deal on that case!!!! Man to many options now!!! lol.

Found this deal while browsing for a P/S!! Pretty temping but I'll not use that much power ever, I'm sure. ;p
CM 850 Real Power Pro $89 after MIR

 

I was just wondering, is the Arctic Silver 5 stuff worth the £7?

If so, what else can i use the stuff on besides CPU?

 

AS5 is all I use and recommend. you can use it on any heatsink contact surface. I use it to do mods to all my mobos. by mods I mean remove the NB and SB heatsinks, thoroughly clean off all the oem thermal paste or thermal pad and then reseat them with AS5. this alone lowers the mobo temp several degrees centigrade.

 

Ah cool. Good plan with the NB and SB. Do anything with the GPU heatsinks?

 

AS5 is GOOD stuff!!

Mort if I can talk the little lady into that case, it will be my Christmas present....HO-HO-HO....lol

What do you think about this P/S?? Good reviews from independent sources... I still don't think I'll use that much power but I know that I'll OC a little bit and will run at least 5 ODD's and maybe a new HD3850.

....gm

 

I just got my PSU, and it's Heavy. Also my case is 42 lbs alone. This is gonna be one heavy PC.

 

abuzar1---You'll have to tell me if you find anything odd about that case because though I've had it over a week, I havent opened the box since I wont be building for another month or 2. When I get more time I will check and make sure all the contents are in there, but I figure its so heavy, I cant be missing much...