The (new) Official PC building thread!

Welcome to our crazy little building thread. stick around and you will learn alot. i know i have.

and as for your build you have achoosen almost the same stuff i have. except i have the E8400. same mobo same mem

i will comment on 2 of your choices. the crucial ballistix mem. if it were me i would not buy them again the DDR2 1066(PC2-8500)
go with these here.
Dominator
and the PSU. make sure you get one with at least 600w
PSU
the mem and cpu and mobo are some good high end parts and require some good power to work properly

i see your across the pond from me..lol and newegg wont be your choice of supplier but you can see whta im talking about...
im sure sammorris or a couple of the other fellas would be able to link you to sites you can get you stuff from.

if you can get it i would try the E8400 cpu. i actually got lucky and got mine for less than the E6750 that i was gonna get first.

if im wrong in anything ive suggested here guys please correct me, cause you all know im still learning myself...lol

man i feel a cool breeze comeing on

 

oh yes there's a big difference.with the 1066 mem you really dont need to worry about OC'ing it it comes out of the box ready to run circles around the 800 that would have to be OC'd to get up to the preformance of the 1066.

but as you said you dont plan to do any OC'ing right away so some good 800 mem would be fine. but let me tell ya, isaid the same thing, and the third day after i got my build up and running i was OC'ing...lol

heres a good tip also.. get what you can afford and are happy with right now. and dont worry about what might be comeing soon.. cause as we all now in this PC building world the day after you buy something there is something bigger and better.

2gb of mem is perfect .unless you plan on useing 64 bit vista OS you wont be able to use any more than 3gb of mem

 

Thanks all for the quick responses...

I'm hoping that my Thermaltake Xaser V case will be sufficient for airflow etc...I think I purchased it about 2 years ago.

Do the processors come supplied with an adequate heatsink?

 

to be honest i havent used my heatsink that came with the E8400. some say they do a ok job of cooling but for 20-30 bucks you can get one that will do more than wat you could want it to.
the artic cooler 7 is a real good/great cooler and as GM pointed out at newegg its only $27.

as for yor case. can it handle some extra fans? or how many fans do you have in it now? size?

you want a good amount of airflow to these parts. good airflow that is..lol
at first i didnt have that good of a airflow and my temps were 5-8c warmer than they are now after i got my fans set right. exhaust-intake.takeing out more than pulling in.

is this your case?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133160&Tpk=Thermaltake+Xaser+V

 

If your not overclocking the stock heatsink that comes with a CPU is normally sufficient - of course you wont get the best temps or have any scope for OC'ing in the future if you wish.

I would recommend getting one of these:-
Freezer 7 Pro

They are fairly cheap and much better than the stock cooler, which will give lower temps and scope for the future.

 

My case has room for five fans but as yet I haven't checked how many of those are intake/exhaust.

So as it stands...
Processor - 1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 / 3 GHz ( 1333 MHz ) - LGA775 Socket - L2 6 MB

cooler CPU Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro PWM Socket 775

Gigabyte GA P35-DS3R ATX Motherboard - Intel Socket 775 DDR2 & DDR3

CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

BFG nVidia GeForce 8800GT OC 512MB, PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card

Corsair HX Series 620 Watt Modular PSU

Roughly coming in at £460

 

looks pretty good to me...hold on that looks like mine...lol just jokeing.

i dont know where your at but it might be hard to find/get the E8400.
you shouldnt have a problem finding the GA-P35-DS3R

all in all thats a real nice set of parts you have there.
speaking from experience with that mobo. if/when you try to do some OC'ing it is easy to do and is real idoit proof(not that im calling you a idiot. lol) just that if you do something and it doesnt agree with it or might hurt the mobo it will shut down and reboot back at default settings..trust me i know ive done it..lol

these parts are good parts, but like everything else there is better. these are just good (high end in my eyes) at a real good price.

 

Cool. Are you planning on Overclocking at all - if not the 800Mhz (PC6400) ram will be more than sufficient for your needs, I have the PC6400 Corsair XMS2 and an e8200 overclocked by 20% and its running well within its limits (also when I was looking at buying it I read a review - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ddr2-800_2.html#sect0 that showed me I didnt need the PC8500). This will obviously save you some money.

Can you list the individual prices so we can see if we can save you any money?

Also if your in England - Aria.co.uk currently has the E8400 for £133 inc vat.

 

Wololo,
Here's a link to different GPU's. linky for 8800GT I would look at the XFX cards and see how they compare to the BFG. sammyboy you need some input here. Out of most of the folks in this thread he can recommend a place and product for you.

 

yea SAMBO does seem to find some things at real good prices for the lads over yonder..lol

OMG i just got the BSOD.....

 

I can also advise on English prices

 

where you at pepp? thouhgt you was in the states...lol opps

guess i should have put 2+2 together. you getting the E8200 cause the E8400 isnt around? i havent seen the E8200 here. not that i was looking real hard for it.

can someone tell me why i might have gotten the BSOD? i wasnt doing anyhting other than talking in here and surfing puter part sites.
i was opening a file on the other puter through the networking ifle shareing??

 

ok here goes...

CPU = £134.36
Cooler = £9.90
Graphics = £163 (Amazon because I have £55 vouchers)
Motherboard = £74.48
PSU = £83.98
Memory = £44.78

Total £510.05 minus £55 vouchers = £455.05 if you follow my logic!

 

is there a VGA chart out for 2008 yet? I need to decide on whether I want to go with a 8800GTS, 8800GT, 9600GT, HD 3870, or HD 3850. they're all really more than I need since I don't game. what happened to the sapphire radeon 2 slot external exhaust cards. all I see know is single slot internal exhaust cards.

I'll probably go with a HD 3850 but I would like to compare it to a 9600GT.

 

ok the big red machine is getting shut down for upgrade purposes..installing a couple 140mm aero cool streamliner fans.going in the top of the CM RC690 case as exhaust. the 2 that are there now 120mm will go on the side panel. giveing me a total of 6 fans not counting the one on the CPU cooler.or video card.

 

Bring up the Control Panel, double-click on "Administrative Toools", double-click on "Event Viewer", click on "Application" and/or "System". Take notice of the date and time, and click on any red circles, and look at the Description, if not explainable than Google the explanation.

Best of luck

 

Rob - Im based in London mate hence me always linking to english products and moaning at the cheapness of American prices

Mort - A couple of links

9600 v 3870

9600GT

Examples from that review:-

F.E.A.R. 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
8800GT > 9600GT: +7.4%

CoH DX10 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
8800GT > 9600GT: +27.7%

Oblivion 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
8800GT > 9600GT: +20.4%

Crysis DX10 High 1600x1200
8800GT > 9600GT: +12.4%

Bioshock 1600x1200 4xAA/16xAF
8800GT > 9600GT: +16.4%

3 Way shoot out

 

thanks for the info sytyguy. ill do that once i fire it back up..

i got a brain cramp here. im puttingin these monster fans i want them as exhaust. do i put the so called guards up top(they are going in the top of my case) and the blade part on the inside of the case? does that make sense?

 

Nope that doesnt make sense to me lol sorry.

 

the case fans have 2 sides. the one that the blades are open then the other side has like guard on it. i have the guard part faceing the top of the case now im thinking this will make them exhaust.