Just trying to order all the kit I need now but have a few last questions and I am desperate for a bit of advice. Below are the parts I am planning to order for the build, and my questions are as follows: 1. I can't get the Gelid Tranquillo where I am living in France. Would the Hyper 212+ do a good job or perhaps the Arctic Freezer 7 ? Or anything similar - I can get most stuff here apart from the Tranquillo. 2. The case has a 120mm fan in the front - do I need additional fans, and if so, what position in the case would I mount them and which fans would you recommend. By the way, does anyone know if it is a horrible case or OK for £25 ? Wasn't sure if I should find another £15 for the Antec 300. 3. Do you have any alternative recommendations to the PSU 4. Will I need to order any extra cables (to connect everything) or will they all come with the various items ? 5. Is that Crucial RAM OK ? Big thanks in advance - I really appreciate it. - i5 750 CPU - GA-P55M-UD2 motherboard - ATI 5770 Sapphire Vapor-X GPU - Crucial DDR3 1333 Ram - 4 GB - OCZ ModXStream 500 w PSU - Cooler Master Hyper 212+ cooler - Xigmatek Asgard case - Samsung F3 Spinpoint 500GB hard disk - Samsung SH S223C optical drive - W7 OEM 64 bit o/s - LG W2261-vp LCD monitor 1920 x 1080 - Edimax wi-fi card - Logitech S220 2.1 speakers - Microsoft Intellipoint 3.0 mouse - Logitech 250 deluxe keyboard - arctic silver thermal compound
Can you get the superior Titan Fenrir instead? BiT reviewed both the Arctic Cooling and the Hyper and weren't very impressed by the latter; the former they use only in the cheapest builds. I'd try to get ahold of a Fenrir. The case looks alright, but the sad fact is that a £25 case will only give you what you paid for and frankly £25 is not very much in terms of an entire case. I would definitely try and upgrade to an Antec Three Hundred, but even for that it would be best to grab two cheap 120mm fans (one for the HDD and the other for GPU exhaust) to keep things as cold as possible. You don't need them immediately but they don't cost very much; I would definitely try and find some. I don't think the case you've specified has the same cooling options, but would still look to require two intake and one exhaust fan; you will have to make up the difference for whatever's not supplied. The Corsair HX450W should be around the same price, or a bit cheaper, and is highly recommended. It isn't as highly rated as the Antec, but unless you're planning X-Fire in the future it will be just fine, and it doesn't suffer the same component-destroying ripple as the Antec does. Retail motherboards come supplied with all the relevant cables. For 1156, RAM must be DDR3, dual channel, and draw less than 1.65v (preferably 1.5v). To comply with large CPU coolers (like the Fenrir) on mATX motherboards (like the UD2) it will also need to be standard height - no silly tall heatspreaders or anything. If yours complies with all of those, it will be fine. Are you sure you can't get it up to 1600Mhz CL9 for a few euros? Hope that helps.
If you can run to buying an Antec 300, you'll appreciate it. 2x120mm fans at the front, 1x120mm at the back and a 200mm top fan. The inside will be pretty cool. I have used Artic Freezer Pro's for a few years, I have no problems. I got an E8500 3.16Ghz cpu running perfectly cool and stable at 3.89Ghz with one. But, it's down to personal preference. I will say I've had no problems with memory clearance, although that may be more down to mobo choice/design.
Thanks for the advice - I've ordered everything except the extra case fans so will only have the one in the front supplied with the case to start with (couldn't get the Sharkoon Silent Eagle fans here at a decent price). I'll be downloading the newbies guide to building a system now and no doubt I'll be back with more questions in about a week when it all gets here. Thanks again
Core i5's are in no way comparable to a socket 775 dual core... You'll want the Fenrir if you plan to do some overclocking.
You've got me worried now ! I couldn't get the Fenrir here (easily) so went for the Hyper 212+, but only after reading a few reviews where they tested CPU temps at stock rates and overclocked to 3.8 If I overclock it will only be to about 3.4 ish, and very conservative. Maybe I made a mistake already before I've even got the parts. Are you suggesting that I don't even install the Hyper 212+ if I am doing a mild overclock ?
it will be better than the stock cooling, so i would mount it for the time being. In a preferable scenario however the Fenrir would make a big difference to your temperatures at all frequencies. Remember that higher temperatures are always a negative for the components.
If you can send it back and get a Fenrir, I think that would be immensely preferable. The Bit-Tech review wasn't promising;
I agree with DK63. The antec 300 is the best budget case in the world as far as i'm concerned. And if you can grab the Coolermaster n520. I use it and it's a great cooler for the price (40$ USD). A little difficult to install but manageable none-the-less. I overclocked my dual core in my sig from 2.8ghz and i barely make it to 50c when running intensive games. I know it's only a dual core but there's a real world example. Great rig btw. The new i5's are great budget chips compared to the 1,000$ i7. And depending on what games you are playing the 5770 will run anything you throw at it with more than 40fps. Except Crysis of course. But it's great if you use "High" settings instead of "Very High" And the speakers.... If you listen to a lot of music or play lots of games, I would upgrade to the Logitech S-240 2.1 speakers. You can find them in the sub 50$ range and they came with a subwoofer and an ipod/zune dock. I bought them and they are great. Anyway, Good Luck!
