Looking for help building a computer...

[thelaird]

I'm putting together a parts list for a computer I'm hoping to build in the next couple weeks and I was hoping you guys could lend a hand with a few questions I have.

First, here's what I'm working with so far.

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6400
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
Memory: see below
Hard Drives: 160 GB WD Caviar SE + 2 presumably generic IDE drives I plan to take out of a couple external cases for another 440 GB
Video Card: eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtreme
DVD-RW: Some SATA job
Case: No idea.. suggestions?
Power: Corsair 520 HX


A few questions...

1) How much does overclocking affect the longevity of a CPU? I like the idea of getting more performance for my dollar, but if I have to replace the CPU in a year, I'm not really saving all that much money.

2) What kind of RAM should I be getting if I decide to overclock and if I don't?

3) How much RAM? I plan to use the computer for music, video, and gaming (typical stuff). I would imagine at least 2 GB, but is 4 overkill?

4) Do I need that much power? I tried one of those online power supply calculators but it really just confused the hell out of me.

5) Is everything balanced? I'd like to make sure I'm not wasting my GPU's potential because I'm not spending enough on the CPU, for example.

6) And I guess most importantly, is it all compatible?

If anyone could answer these questions for me (or offer any other comments or suggestions), I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tlkki]

cheapest DDRII-800 is good bang for the buck
forget the 160gb HD. 500GB is much better bang for the buck
2GB ram is good
Corsairs fine PSU
C2D can be OC'd (do it)

GA-965P-S3 is cheaper and basically the same thing.

 

[Jeff7181]

1) If you're conservative in your overclock (not increasing the voltage) you shouldn't notice a difference in longevity. If you do, I'd be inclined to say you had defective silicon to start with and it would have failed regardless of overclocking.

2) Unless you're really looking to squeeze performance out of it, go with cheap stuff. Doesn't have to be the bargain bin PNY crap you find in the weekly ads from Best Buy... but you don't need to spend $300 on 2 GB of high performance memory.

3) 2 GB would be adequate. You might want to go with 3 (2x1 GB + 2x512 MB) to be a little more futureproof. I say 3 and not 4 because 32-bit versions of Windows won't make use of the full 4 GB due to other memory sharing the same 4 GB total memory address space.

4) You probably don't NEED 520 watts for that setup... but it's best to err on the high side. If your PSU is only required to run at 60% of its capacity it'll be more efficient and last longer than if it's forced to run at 90% of its capacity.

5) Your hard drive arrangement sounds extremely odd. I'd leave the external drives alone and just get a 400-500 GB internal drive.

6) I don't see any compatability issues... haven't kept up to date on motherboards, but as long as you stick with well known brands like you have listed you should be fine.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: Tlkki
cheapest DDRII-800 is good bang for the buck
forget the 160gb HD. 500GB is much better bang for the buck
2GB ram is good
Corsairs fine PSU
C2D can be OC'd (do it)

GA-965P-S3 is cheaper and basically the same thing.

the DS3 and S3 are not the same, the DS3 offers all solid capacitors for higher quality and more stability

 

[JimiP]

Everything on your list seems to be A-OK. There should be absolutely no compatibility issues whatsoever. However, I'm a little confused as to why you would want to buy an IDE HDD when you can buy a SATA3.0GB for around the same price.

One reason I like to use SATA HDD's and CD/DVD drives is not only because it's possible to get a faster connection without sharing... But the actual SATA cable is much smaller than an IDE and can help you keep your PC cool as they offer ease of cable hugging. They have rounded IDE cables as well but they're still not as small as SATA.

 

[stoma]

That setup will be fine. 2gb ram is plenty. I have yet to have a cpu quit on me from overclocking, overvolting and all. I usually hold on to my cpu's for 3-4 years as secondary pc's. The PSU should be fine. Like someone else said...go SATA, either raptor or the 3gb/s if your board supports it.

 

[chynn]

IDE drives and 965 chipsets don't get along very well. The IH8R (or whatever it's called) controller on 965 mboards is aimed at SATA drives. It has little (or no) support for IDE drives. OTOH, the IH8R is the fastest SATA/RAID controller available at this time.

You have listed a bunch of IDE drives as possibilities. The IDE drives won't work with a basic 965/IH8R chipset because there is no controller support for that many IDE drives.

Many vendors use alternative chipsets to provide one or two IDE channels (2 or 4 IDE drives). You should check motherboard capabilities closely. But I wouldn't use IDE drives because they are definitely obsolescent technology.

 

[thelaird]

Thanks for all the replies, you all have been a great help.

I'm very relieved about the overclocking issue. It's something I definitely want to do, but I was worried that I'd be significantly shortening the life span of my CPU. So it's good to get that cleared up.

I should have been clearer about the hard drives. Right now I'm rocking a laptop and I've got two externals plugged in that store all my music and videos. I know IDE is on the way out, but I was hoping it'd be easier/cheaper to crack those open and plug the hard drives into my new comp instead of buying a new large drive and transferring all the data. But getting a large SATA drive isn't a big deal.

And thanks chynn for bringing that up, that's something I never would have thought about.

 

[zylander]

Make sure you read up a lot on OCing before you start playing around. There are some good threads and links in the CPU section with beginner walkthroughs that are helpful. Just be patient and go slowly. Ive had my current CPU OCed for close to 2 years now, raised the voltage to 1.5 and have everything else running at the highest stable speed. Never had any problems and it runs fine in games and stress tests.

 

[Nathelion]

As to lifetime degradation due to OC... the designed lifetime of most processors is 30 years, and I can practically guarantee that you won't be using that computer in even 10 years. So long as you don't raise the voltage excessively, lifetime degradation is really not an issue.