First Computer Build Help Please

[sativa1874]

Hi this is my first post, looks a great site.
Im a bit of a noob so please go easy

This is my first build so some critique and advice would be appreciated.

Heres what ive bought so far still waiting on a couple of parts should be this week.


Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU (added the 2 optional 120mm antec tri cool fans ) £85

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache Retail £240

ASUS ASB-P5B i965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II RAID, ATX,Supports Core 2 Duo Processors £100

256Mb XFX 7900GT Extreme,Mem 1500 MHz, GPU 520 MHz, 24 Pipes, Dual DVI-I HDTV £210

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM £100

160 Gb Western Digital WD1600YD Caviar RE, SATA150, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms - £50

2 x Western Digital Secure Connect Serial ATA Cable's - £15

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400 TwinX (2x1GB) - £147
or
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) - £127

not sure will it be worth the extra £20 ?

Sony 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive Black - OEM - £5

Antec NeoHE 430W Modular ATX2.0 PSU - £45

I bought a tube of Artic silver 3 paste is that suitable or will i be best going for the supplied one?

I will be adding a dvd dual layer burner as well still not decided.

Have i missed anything?

This machine will primarly be used for games, Battlefield 2, counter strike etc

im a bit worried that the psu could be bigger what do you think?

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[Bobthelost]

If you're gaming then you're overspending on the Motherboard and CPU. If you go for a budget Conroe board you can save £40 easily, a cheaper 6400 will save you £70.

Congratulations, you've now got a X1900XTX (edit) Or a 7900GTX for that matter.

The next place to think about saving money is the hard drives. The raptor will speed up your load times, but is that really worth dropping from a 6600 to a 6400 (rember that you won't be CPU limited, this is just to torture you). Oh and check out overclockers.co.uk. Samsung Spinpoint 250GBs for £52 or so inc. vat.

I'd be looking at the 6400 RAM, but the performance increase isn't much at all, think it's in the region of 0-5% some programs dont' see any improvement, some a few %.

If you're buying retail then if you use the stock cooling you can just use the supplied thermal paste/pad. If you're overclocking then you might drop a degree or two using AS5 or ASC, but it's not worth losing sleep over.

As it is that PSU is plenty, if you went for a X1900XTX i might start thinking about a 450W or 480W, even then it'll probably work on the 430W one. Have you thought about a P150? It's a smaller case but probably easier to work in and cheaper than the P180 (quieter too).

Edit2: Don't waste money on those secure connect things. £15 for something that doesn't increase performance, lower noise or make your machine prettier?

Edit3: You've got the prices the wrong way round on the RAM

 

[Bobthelost]

Summary of that god awful post of mine:

Current build
6600 Core 2 Duo
ASB-P5B i965
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-5400 TwinX (2x1GB) or Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
256Mb XFX 7900GT
Western Digital Raptor 74GB
160 Gb Western Digital WD1600YD
Sony 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive
NeoHE 430W
Antec P180
Optical drive: BenQ are top notch. NEC are withing spitting distance.

My recomendations:
6400 Core 2 Duo
Cheaper motherboard to be chosen at random
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
7900GTX (http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/105988 £70 more than your 7900GT :Q)
Hard drives: Your choice, many ways to skin a cat
P150 with bundled Antec NeoHe 430W.
Sony 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive
Optical drive: BenQ are top notch. NEC are withing spitting distance.

Should be around the same price or less, and far more powerful for gaming.

 

[sativa1874]

Thanks for the reply
Now im confused already got case and raptor so cant change them,
I also bought the Antec neo 430W psu and i could send it back but i already installed it in my case as im getting a bit carried away and cant wait to get started.
The conroe and mobo should come in the next couple of days, i really fancy the conroe 6600 it sounds great value for money.
The asus boards sound a bit easier to work with as well, can you reccomend any others?

Are the samsung drives better than the western digital caviar ones i dont know nuch about them?
Are ATI better than Nvidia i always seem to go for Nvidia cards?

Sorry for all the Questions i just really want to get it right

 

[Bobthelost]

Okey dokey. I know the feeling about wanting all your parts NOW DAMMIT :|

So, case and PSU are already done, as is the raptor. Makes life a bit easier.

The 6600 Is a great CPU, of that there is no doubt, i wish i could justify getting one, but i can't. However you've got to think about your priorities, if you've got a choice between a 7900GT/7900GTX then it's going to be a massive difference in comparison to a 6400/6600. Going for a cheaper motherboard mostly means that you can't overclock as much, but since CPU isn't all that improtant anyway... *shrug* You could use the one you picked out, no reason not to, but it's one place to save money.

ATI have a slight edge in performance (if you ignore the 7950GTX) and equal (if not better) image quality. They draw more power, make more noise and have a few nifty features (AA+HDR). Looking at the prices on ebuyer the 7900GTX i linked to is hard to turn down.

Where are you getting the prices from at the moment?

 

[sativa1874]

Antec p180
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/100727/rb/20425610336

conroe
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605806

mobo
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605825

gfx card
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=358819

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=602472
Western Digital Raptor SATA/150 74GB 10000RPM

caviar drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Western_Digital_SATA.html

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=291363

psu
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Western_Digital_SATA.html

what if i keep the conroe and get a cheaper mobo ditch the sata connectors and get the card you recommend will i get better results than the system i had in mind and will i need a better psu to power the card.

The link you gave me to the card in ebuyer was to the 7800gtx is that the right one ?

I have trawled the internet for a about 2 weeks now sitting into the early hours reading reviews and looking for prices i just want it all its doing my head in looking at the case with a psu and a raptor in it

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: sativa1874
caviar drive
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Western_Digital_SATA.html

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=291363

what if i keep the conroe and get a cheaper mobo ditch the sata connectors and get the card you recommend will i get better results than the system i had in mind and will i need a better psu to power the card.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94404
250GB Caviar for the same money.

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605705
Ordering your RAM from here means that you can save on shipping. Since youre now only buying from Ebuyer and techheads that's ~£20 saved.

You won't need a better PSU, a 6400 or a 6600 with a 7900GTX can be run by a 430W PSU, the Neo HE is a nice design (very well suited to the P180 layout too).

If you can afford to keep the CPU if you get a cheaper motherboard then do it. If not then sacrifice your 6600 for the 6400 and you will still get much better performance. Hell you might be able to get a better board and overclock far beyond 6600 speeds (won't do anything to gaming, but it'll make you feel more manly or something)