New PC build - almost all hardware arrived

[perplekks45]

Hey guys,

as it's time to upgrade my PC (see sig) I decided to get some tips.

Budget: ~1.000 €
CPU: Conroe
GFX: best value
HDD: min 200 GB, no Raptors as they're too expensive
MB: best value, not too fancy about SLI, 8x SATA2 and stuff
RAM: DDR2-667, if in budget 2 GB

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

[klikkzero]

CPU: Conroe 6600
GFX: Nvidia 7950 GT
HDD: Western Digital Cavier SE 250 GB 16 MB cache 7200 RPM
MB: Asus P5B deluxe wi-fi
RAM: Corsair 2 x 1 GB DDR2 SRAM 800

About $1100 USD on newegg so less than $1000 euros.

[perplekks45]

1057€ over here. I hate Germany... sometimes.

But thanks for the list. That's about what I thought it might look like.

[Gravemind123]

If you wanna save a few bucks, the Asus P5B-E has less features then the P5B Deluxe, but is still a great quality board. There are some 975X chipset boards at the same price as the P5B Deluxe, which you may want to consider.

[pillow]

what about dx10?

[perplekks45]

Not affordable at the moment. 8800GTS @ 500€... turned $ to € those bitches.

[Bbq.of.DooM]

POWER SUPPLY

Asus P5W-DH is a good choice.

PSU, go with a Corsair HX 620.

[ethanator]

conroe e6400, good heatsink and overclock. Cheaper and faster

[trig]

e6400 is allendale...

[perplekks45]

Originally Posted by trig

e6400 is allendale...

Yep, I don't want to go 2x1MB. I waited so long to upgrade and when I do this it better be lower high-end or close.
Yea, PSU is something I forgot... another 100€ off the budget. Or less.
Isn't the Corsair HX 620 overpowered? Do I really need a PSU that powerful? Don't think so. But I'm open to anyone who knows better.

[biff]

Originally Posted by aon`aTv.gsus666

Isn't the Corsair HX 620 overpowered? Do I really need a PSU that powerful? Don't think so. But I'm open to anyone who knows better.

My uneducated opinion says it's more than enough. I think people get a little too typed about the size of the PSU... mind you it's never bad advice as your PSU can never bo too powerfull.

I'm using an original Antec true control 550W on my C2D sytem with a x1900xt and have no problems even with overclocking. IMHO the quality of the psu is a more important factor than the rated Watts. What do you have now for a psu?

[perplekks45]

At the moment I'm running a Levicom Visible Power 450 Watt: passive PFC / +3.3V: 26A / +5V: 28A / +12V: 30A / -5V: 0.3A / -12V: 0.8A / +5Vsb: 2A / ATX / 450 Watt.
Not the best around there but as budget been tight when I bought it... you know the story. And it runs my system without any flaws. But I don't think it's powerful enough to power the new one PLUS there's an anoying noise when running under full load. And yea that noise just happened to come like 5 days after MRA was over.

[13000]

You'll be able to use your current PSU and hard drives. Is there any reason why you want/need a new hard drive?

[perplekks45]

Yep... they're IDE... UDMA/133 anyone?
And what about IDE on 975/965? Do they support it natively? Or do I have to look for a MB that has some 'bridge' chip or similar installed?

[Bbq.of.DooM]

Uh, NO. Your current power supply is a pile of over inflated dog ****. Don't use it in your new rig unless you like burning electronics.

[Renoir]

Originally Posted by aon`aTv.gsus666

Yep... they're IDE... UDMA/133 anyone?
And what about IDE on 975/965? Do they support it natively? Or do I have to look for a MB that has some 'bridge' chip or similar installed?

The 975 (actually the ICH7 south bridge that accompanies it) supports 1 parallel ata channel natively while the 965 (ICH8) doesn't support any. However just about every 965 mobo uses an additional controller chip that adds a pata channel so you don't have to worry unless you have more than 2 pata devices.

With regards the psu as mentioned it's not all about the total wattage. The main thing is actually the amount of amps it supplies on the 12v+ rails as well as the general build quality which will effect voltage regulation etc etc. The best place I've seen for psu reviews is actually silent pc review and I'd like to reiterate what they often emphasise in their reviews which is that most systems don't come close to requiring 500+watts.
Although it's a popular opinion to say the psu can't be too powerful there are benefits to getting a psu that's not too far away from your actual power requirements as described here

e6400 is allendale...

I believe the 2MB cache core 2 duo's are actually conroe's but with half their cache disabled. Allendale will be their native 2MB cache cpu's scheduled for some time in 1st half of 2007. Perhaps someone can confirm this?

[Gravemind123]

Originally Posted by Renoir

I believe the 2MB cache core 2 duo's are actually conroe's but with half their cache disabled. Allendale will be their native 2MB cache cpu's scheduled for some time in 1st half of 2007. Perhaps someone can confirm this?

That is correct, the E4000 line will be the Allendales, the 2MB ones are still Conroe and use the 1066Mhz FSB. Allendales will use an 800mhz FSB.

Your power supply should be fine, 30 amps is fine.

[biff]

Renoir, technically you are correct but I think this little detail may be a bit exaggerated in their article. At worst case the PSU is only forced to dissipate an extra 8W or 9W, and according to their graphs becomes negligible at and above the 200W mark. For a 600W(or so) PSU that is designed to handle a lot of heat and would surely have a large fan, this fan would I'm sure still be turning at it's minimum RPM at this point, or at least very close to it. The down sides to a "too big" PSU that I'm understanding from that article is that there will be more power drawn with the bigger PSU over the smaller one at lower power usages. Meaning this would result in a few pennies extra on the hydro bill or the PSU being required to expel excess heat requiring more air movement and thus more noise, which I'm sure is their primary concern.

Again, yes you are correct but I think it's nit picking.

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A few of the recomendations I've seen say that a PSU with a minimum of 33A on the 12V rail are recommended, and you're not too far off that. I'd give it a go and see what happens, the worst that can happen is your system becomes unstable or if the "noise" in your PSU drives you nuts then get another one. FYI my PSU AFAIK is only rated for 24A on the 12V rail and does just fine. But if you do decide to get a new one I'd get a 700W(ish) PSU of high caliber. Yeah it's way over kill now but it will save you having to buy another larger unit for many years.

Just my 2cents.

[Bbq.of.DooM]

Wrong again !!

1. The power usage, assuming 300w, and a 75% effiency, will draw 400w. So assuming you have a 500w psu, you will be drawing 400w. If you have a 1kw psu, you will still be drawing 400w. Efficiency has nothing to do with bigger power supplies.
2. Power supplies, even if it's 33a, it's still a quality issue. Most, if not all, crap psu's will not do anywhere near what they are rated. Example: Powmax 580. Crap, and it doesn't even push out 300w without severly exceeding the maximum ripple and 5% voltage regulation. That Levicom you have, is made by Taiwan Youngyear. So you can pretty much expect it to be rather ******.

HX 620 is totally worth it. It's been tested to be able to handle a quad core, SLI of 8800GTX's (with adaptors), and a ton of drives, with PLENTY to spare.

Not all "700w" power supplies are made the same. Back to the powmax 580 case: It'll do about 300w before it blows up. Now a "520w" Corsair HX, will do the full rated 40 amps. That's 480w on JUST the 12v rails. Add in everything else, and you have one mean power supply.

[biff]

Bbq.of.Doom, who are you talking to... me? What do you mean wrong again?

As for your #1 point, if you read the article Renoir linked to you'd see that typical power supplies have different efficiencies dependent on the output watts so labeling a PSU as being xx% efficient across the board isn't realistic. They do mention that their are PSU's that are nearly consistent in their efficiency but this seems to be a special case. I did state that the article seems to be accurate albeit IMHO too much like splitting hairs, but I don't know what you're trying to argue here.

Your #2 point... Where it's made doesn't mean much. Who it's made for determines what parts are used by what manufacturer and in what configuration and it's up to their QC to make sure it was made to their specs. A wire wrapping machine I'm sure does just a good of job sitting in Taiwan as one situated in Japan and the same goes for wave soldering. These companies don't get contracts for building something that the customer didn't order.

Nobody has suggested that Levicom is a top notch PSU and no one has suggested buying a lesser quality PSU either. Maybe the PSU won't come close to it's rated specs but it's still worth a try as there's nothing to lose since he already has one, if his system is unstable then fine go for a bigger one. Just because he doesn't have a Corsair HX 620 doesn't mean his computer won't work.

I think you're getting a little too worked up over this PSU thing.