The (new) Official PC building thread!

That OCZ reaper looks like it has overclock potential.

 

greensman,

go with 4-4-4-12 timings or better. you know me, I'm a corsair fanboy

 

OK I've narrowed it down to these. link I left the "Reaper" in because abuzar liked it so much. The rest have at least 4-4-4-12 timings. Is the G.Skill (F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK...last one on the list) REALLY 4-4-3-5 ??? That seems pretty impressive. ;D

Anyway some insight to the different RAm and why if you don't mind. In the meantime I'll do some searching of me own and see what I find. Again tia fellas.

Mort81 thanks, and I know you is a Corsair FANBOY....lol.

....gm

btw I got the Cooler Master 850W in today and it's HEAVY. About 20% BIGGER than a stanard size P/S. I can't wait to purchase a mobo, cpu, and RAM for this new build!!! ;D

 

Oooh new build. Good luck!

The reaper seems to have nice cooling, but if the G.Skill can do timings like that go for it!

Also maybe you should look into the MSI P35 Platinum as your new mobo. I might switch to that!

 

An 850W PSU? Why? Why would you do that?
On the RAM I agree, don't settle for anything above CAS4.

 

sam I know it's overkill but it was an incredible deal and one of my very respected friends has 2 HIGH end builds with the same P/S and 2 in the closet for 2 more builds. lol. He also has a build with the Cooler Master 1000W unit. I got the P/S delivered for $135 and after MIR it will be $75. A great deal in my book. Someday I want to build a Full Tower with 7-9 ODD's and all types of other goodies. lol. If that build happens in the near future then I'll need more than 500-550 max of power. Anyway it was there and for a GOOD deal now it's here in my house.

Thanks for the CAS4 comment but more input in that area would be great.

....gm

 

I don't really rate coolermaster units to be honest, they're fine for most gaming units, hence why your friend rates them, but I wouldn't expect that unit to put out anywhere near 850W. Sorry for my scepticism but there are very few units that can put out that much power. All the 800W OCZ units for example fail and shutdown after about 750W, no matter how highly they're rated, 800W or 1200W. They just can't handle that much load.
As for the RAM though, I'm also a bit of a Corsair nut (although I do support using other brands). XMS2 PC6400 CAS4 is dirt cheap now, so you may as well grab some of that, it performs well.

 

saw an ad in staples flyer this week. 229.95 for a samsung 205bw. not the biggest or nicest monitor, but sounds like a decent deal. is this a decent monitor? im gonna get one and hook it up to my laptop, cuz i spiderwebbed the screen a while back.

 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help me. I want to build a pc for the first time and I came up with a list of parts but I don't know if they are compatible with each other so if anyone can help me.

Here is the list.

Tower: http://scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=452016 @ £58.36

PSU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114945 @ £63.31

CPU: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(19964)Intel-CPU-Core-2-Duo-E6750-266GHz-1333FSB.aspx @ £115.14

MOBO: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129126 @ £90.56

RAM: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(14777)Geil-Ultra-DDR2-20GB-PC6400-Dual-Channel.aspx @ £46.06

Hard Drive: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16077)500GB-Samsung-SATA-II-300-Hard-Disk-Drive.aspx @ £60.51

DVD Writer: http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(18002)Samsung-DVD-RW-SHS203-BEBN-SATA-Black-20x.aspx @ £21.13

DVD Rom Drive: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=635009 @ £11.20

OS: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114048 @ £51.15

Then the following items I'm not so sure about if I need them.

Graphics Card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-073-PC @ £76.36

CPU cooler: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116413 @ £23.81

Will I need a graphics card if I dont play games at all but watch alot of movies and series on the PC or is the integrated graphics card on my motherboard enough, also is it necessary to get the CPU cooler since I intend to overclock. Also is it possible to have two internal hard drives instead of just the one.

For the monitor, speakers, mouse I would get it according to my preference. So is there any other parts I need to make a complete PC?

So generally how is this list and is there a way to minimise cost so if there is a part too advanced for my needs then I change it accordingly.

Thanks.

 

@Greensman
The OCZ are identical except for the color of the heat spreaders...these are the cheapest before & after rebate...and the only ones with FREE SHIPPING...
OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
$69.99 ($34.99 after $35.00 Mail-In Rebate)
Free 3 Business Day Shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227198

 

I think the color of the head spreaders tels you how much they can OC.

 

@abuzar1
So...the Colors are kind of like our Homeland Security Threat Level?..LOL..so now...Which Color is Safe?..&...Which Color is your Scr@wed?..

 

novadrago,
I like these parts a little better. I would go with Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, or G.Skill RAM before GEIL. imo these companies are the only ones to go with for RAM, there are exceptions but very few.

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1024) Platinum Series DDR2 PC6400

I'm not a big fan of the case you chose but again I'm not an Apevia fan either. lol.

You might go with M$ XP Pro if you can, I think it's better than HOME by far.

You picked a great cpu hsf!! NO need to think any further there.

edit#2:
nova you might look at this mobo as well. Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R... http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131173 Lots of people are liking these and I'm considering it as well.

Also this memory but that company was OUT OF STOCK: Corsair 2048MB TwinX XMS2 6400 C4 DDR2 4-4-4-12 800Mhz http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(27139)Corsair-2048MB-TwinX-XMS2-6400-C4-DDR2-44412.aspx

.....gm

edit:
@Lp531,
So the OCZ you linked me to are VERY OC'able?? I might push this next system to the limits. ;D With the exception of video card it'll have all HIGH end parts, well for me that is. CPU, RAM, P/S, MOBO and HSF are gonna be GOOD so daddy can have some fun. I'll post some "results" when it happens.

 

eirvine: The 226BW is far beter than the 205. try and get that if you can, I don't think it's much more than $230.

Novadrago: Avoid the Samsung DVD drive (but the hard disk is fine), and indeed MicroDirect. Try to get all the components from one or two shops if you can, to save on shipping costs. The rest of the components are fine.
You will still need some form of graphics card, as most motherboards in that price range don't have integrated graphics.
it's possible to have several internal hard drives.

 

sam why are you telling him to avoid the Samsung DVD burner? It has pretty good reviews and most of the people that I've talked with or seen on forums LIKE the Samsung SH-S203B. It's rated as one of the best SATA DVD burners out there. btw I have one and it does just fine. Although the first one had some issues. Of course the EGG replaced it with NO questions asked. I'm one of the people that believe you get good and bad with every company.

nova there are a few companies that make acceptable DVD drives. Lite-On, LG, Sony, Samsung, and Pioneer to name a few. NOT all of their line is GOOD tho just remember that.

...gm

 

Well indeed, you had issues with yours, so it's not all good is it? I just hear several cases of Samsung DVD burners not burning stuff properly. However, I agree with your point about good and bad from every manufacturer.

 

I hear you and agree to a point. lol. Will I have another one, maybe, maybe not BUT the fact still remains that it's a good drive and burns stuff FAST and ACCURATE.

I think that Lite-On is a good choice for ease of f/w updates and "unofficial" f/w to aide in many aspects of the burning process plus there is other 'software' available for them. Pioneer imo is one of the best drives on the market and with the "BUFFALO" f/w they perform great. LG builds some awesome drives too. Like all products you have to find the "one" that you like and performs the way you want it too.

NOT unlike RAM, MOBO's, or CPU's you have good and bad in all arenas.

....gm

 

Well electronics do have a certain failurre rate. Can't do anything about that, some things just don't work. It's ok as long as they fix it right away.

 

I like LG, had several of their drives and never had any issues. As for Pioneer I only know one person who's had one, they said it was quite good, but had a few little problems.

 

I finally managed to get my HD 3870's shipped. After 10 hours of misery I got the things working in crossfire on my Phenom build. Here's the 3DMark06 score:

The single card, non-overclocked score was 10,394.

I have the Phenom overclocked from 2.2 to 2.3 and the "display" video card overclocked to 805/1206. Overclocking improves the score by about 375 points.

All I can say is that I've never had a PC fight me as hard as this one did. Just trying to get the drivers to work was difficult. It would do things like kick itself off the wireless network, delete my audio drivers, freeze on windows boot, lock up for no apparent reason on the internet. start itself back up after being shut off. At one point it got so bad and I got so pissed I just reinstalled the operating system and started over. Finally this morning I was able to get everything working by uninstalling all the drivers again and reinstalling all the current Catalyst stuff from ATI. Funny, I did the same thing earlier and it didn't work. Got "Failed to initalize 1ex09800000c000" or some crap like that.
As far as I'm concerned this thing kinda sucks. Get a C2D, a single Nvidia card and enjoy life. Oh yeah, and put it all in a nice big aluminum case that you can actually work in and move.