Need Help with Conroe Build

[savvy]

This is a gaming/heavy multitasking system. But I need to tone it down somewhat to keep it affordable. Please make some suggestions. I plan on safely overclocking after seeing what others are getting out of their systems, as more people get Conroe and new benchmarks arrive. I plan to order parts soon and I want to check to be sure that everything is compatible. Thanks. The part listed first is what I want and the things in brackets are questions/parts I may switch with to keep the price down. Sorry for the long post and so many questions, but I want to be able to be absolutely sure about everything before I start the build to be trouble-free later on.

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6700 Retail Box Processor [or should I downgrade to E6600? Also, where is a good place to buy Conroes (that aren't super price gouged) and when will they be in stock?]

Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH DELUXE, INTEL 975X LGA 775 CORE 2 DUO Mobo [When are the SLI motherboards coming out? Should I switch this motherboard or is it sufficient? It will not need to have a BIOS update, right?]

GPU: eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX Geforce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card - Retail [Also, why is that there are so many 7950 GX2's manufactured by different companies? (You can see here.)]http://tinyurl.com/mhejl)[/L] What is the difference in them besides the price? Ranging from 499 to 599 with the 609 being the Xtreme.] [Is MSI RX1900XTX-VT2D512E Radeon X1900 XTX PCI Express 512MB DDR3 Video Card w/TV-Out, Dual DVI, & Video-In Retail ***Free Shipping*** from ZipZoomFly a comparable video card, since I would be saving close to 200 dollars with the rebate that comes with it? OR Should I get a mid-range card and wait to spend money on DX10?]

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory ? Retail [or perhaps OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory ? Retail (slightly cheaper) which do you recommend? If I bought two of one of the above mentioned memories, would the 4 GB RAM be overkill?]

Monitor 19? Widescreen [Might upgrade later to take advantage of video card.]

Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Cordless Internet Pro Desktop 967461-0403 Black 104 Normal Keys 8 Function Keys USB RF Wireless Slim Desktop Mouse Included ? OEM

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive x2 [Will configure in RAID 0 probably.]

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ? OEM [For OS and games.]

PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240V ? Retail

Case: NZXT LEXA-NP Black/ Silver Aluminum Construction Plastic Front Panel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ? Retail

Headphones: Syba CL-ME-620 3.5mm Connector Supra-aural Stereo Headphone with Microphone - Retail

Speakers: Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker ? Retail

Other Drives: LiteOn LightScribe Dual Double Layer DVD Burner & SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

OS: Windows XP Professional or perhaps 64 bit Professional [I might not get 64 bit pro because of all those driver issues I hear about.]

Also, if I dual boot with Linux, will the graphics card be recognized and will there be any trouble elsewhere? The onboard sound with the motherboard is pretty good, right? Also, I won't need any additional cables or anything for the hard drives and such, correct? (I heard round cables are much neater and easier to handle, can anyone recommend me some from newegg?) And finally one more thing, what's a good heatsink/fan for the processor for overclocking, better than the stock heatsink/fan?

Thank you very much and I appreciate your suggestions. (Please suggest anything that may help me!)

 

[savvy]

I accidently double posted my topic. I apologize. Please use this topic and ignore the other one. Thanks.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: savvy
I accidently double posted my topic. I apologize. Please use this topic and ignore the other one. Thanks.

triple actually

 

[savvy]

Wow. You're right. :x

 

[Lord Evermore]

You've run into the nightly "slow way the hell down so people can't tell if the server is responding so they click the button over and over" issue.

The E6600 seems like a better value. Based on Intel's pricing of 316 and 530 dollars, that's a 68% price increase for an 11% speed increase.

19 inch widescreen: keep in mind the vertical height is closer to a 17 inch screen's height. For me personally, that makes widescreens dumb.

Why get the two Seagate drives and put them in RAID, then put your OS and games on a Raptor? Just do one or the other. Or if you need the space, get a larger secondary drive and skip the RAID.

Powersupply is probably overkill, but oh well.

Oh yeah, and the formatting looks horrible, and makes it hard to read. Big random highlighted areas doesn't really do anything. Highlighting is to draw your attention to a particularly important point, but in this case, we need to read everything, not just the highlights, which make no sense by themselves.

And there is also an HTTP link insert button in the posting window, so that you can put a URL in with a text link displayed. That way you don't have to use tinyurl, which many people don't trust since you can't by default see where it leads.

You should also go back and edit the duplicate threads, remove the text and change the topic title to DELETE or duplicate.

 

[Tig Ol Bitties]

If you need to save some money, downgrade that CPU to a E6600 and overclock the sucker...the extra 200MHz for the E6700 doesn't justify the $200+ price hike. I would also personally go for a X1900XT and OC that to XTX speeds. Awesome deals on them at newegg, MSI and Connect3D have them under $300 after MIR, while Sapphire has them for $310 after rebate. The choice is yours though.

 

[savvy]

Lord Evermore, I marked them to signify duplication. Thanks.

Tig Ol Bitties, thanks. I will probably end up doing that. Thank you as well.

 

[savvy]

The major parts of the system looks like this now:
-E6600 (will overclock)
-ASUS P5W DH DELUXE
-X1900 XTX (350 from zipzoomfly or will overclock X1900XT to XTX speeds as suggested)
-CORSAIR XMS2 2GB DDR2 800 PC2 6400
-Perhaps I will then get a 20" 1200 by 1600 resolution , as those are ideal for gaming instead of a widescreen 19". (But the price of a 19" widescreen sure is nice if you can find the right deals.)
-Seagate Barracuda 320 GB x2 in RAID 0
-OCZ GameXStream 700W (may downgrade)
-NZXT Case
-LiteOn LightScribe Dual Double Layer DVD Burner

Can someone recommend me a heatsink/fan/cooler?

 

[athfbum]

Thermaltake Mini Typhoon

Zalman CNPS9500

 

[savvy]

What is a good thermal paste/compound? One that doesn't void a warranty :x

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: savvy
What is a good thermal paste/compound? One that doesn't void a warranty :x

AS5 does not void your warranty with AMD...not sure about INTEL

 

[bamacre]

You may want to wait until this board comes back in stock...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247091

 

[zainali]

have you considered the 24inch dell lcd? its usually around 6-700.

do u have a frys around u? they usually have great deals on some of the stuff like memory and hard drives. might want to check that out to save a few dollars.

 

[savvy]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: savvy
What is a good thermal paste/compound? One that doesn't void a warranty :x

AS5 does not void your warranty with AMD...not sure about INTEL

I guess I'll try to check that out then.

Originally posted by: bamacre
You may want to wait until this board comes back in stock...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247091

Perhaps. Thanks for the suggestion. What does anyone else think?

 

[savvy]

Originally posted by: zainali
have you considered the 24inch dell lcd? its usually around 6-700.

do u have a frys around u? they usually have great deals on some of the stuff like memory and hard drives. might want to check that out to save a few dollars.

Hmm... $600-700 is a bit steep. I am not so sure, but yeah, I have a Frys around me. I'm going to check the prices of things on Newegg, Tigerdirect, and Frys, and probably a few more stores to make sure I get the best deal.

 

[zainali]

http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/...cer-debuts-22-flat-panel-lcd-07191022/


if you have the bestbuy 30% off back to school coupon , with a little bit of luck you might be able to get the acer 22 inch lcd for 279. its 399 msrp. i think costco also carriers it.

 

[savvy]

Originally posted by: zainali
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/...cer-debuts-22-flat-panel-lcd-07191022/


if you have the bestbuy 30% off back to school coupon , with a little bit of luck you might be able to get the acer 22 inch lcd for 279. its 399 msrp. i think costco also carriers it.

Unfortunately I already tried that with another monitor. I even had to embarrassly sift through a large stack of coupons to get the 30% off. But when I finally tried to buy the monitor, they said a monitor was not a "computer accessory" since it wouldn't be scanned and read by their computers up front. The manager wouldn't override it, like I heard about somewhere here. =( I was pretty mad.

 

[vhx]

I have a 19" Acer widescreen (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009073) and widescreen's are amazing, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Sure it's a little less taller than a regular 19" but what it makes up for in length, makes up for in width.

It feels so great you can work with so much more area and not be confined. They are also great for gaming since you can see more on each side. I am considering buying another one for a dual monitor setup.

Of course my monitor was cheap, but for the price it's amazing. Came with no dead pixels but is only VGA, and not really any high adjustments. I'm sure you could spring a little more cash for a DVI 19" widescreen w/ more features.

Summary: Widescreens are amazing, get one.

 

[savvy]

Yeah, in Best Buy they were out of the 19" Westinghouse Widescreen (digital). I don't think they take rainchecks on items on sale though. It was 159.99 only.

 

[savvy]

Now I need a place that will ship Conroe soon and has them in stock. ._. Also, I am looking out for that motherboard.