First time builder with some questions

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rush4093

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Mar 11, 2009
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I'm looking to order parts hopefully within a week or 2, with a budget of right around $1000.
It will be used mainly for gaming. I don't need monitor, keyboard, mouse or speakers.
I don't plan on overclocking right away but eventually I will probably will.

So far I've picked out:

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

First question, I will be picking up a 22" monitor so should I go with this video card or would the 512MB card be a better option?

Secondly, I'm not real sure on the power supplies. I would like to have one that will be able to handle the higher end cards if/when I do decide to upgrade that. Is there a better option?

Third, is it worth the extra cost to go with the E8500 over the E8400?

Fourth, I don't really understand the timing of the memory and what that affects. Is this the correct memory or is there a better option?

Lastly, I would ideally like to be able and hook everything up without having to mess with the BIOS very much as I'm not real comfortable with that, unless it's relatively simple. Will everything work together without any issues or is there anything in general that should be swapped out for another part?

I'm not opposed to going slightly over $1000 if the change is parts is worth the extra but i would like to keep it right around that price. Thanks in advance.
 
First off this is a great build, looks like you took some time to read through the site and make some good choices. Only thing I would change is the PSU to a Corsair 650TX. Its a better quality product and will let you use any GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650tx

I would stick with the 1GB HD4870, its only $20 more and will give you the option of maintaining FPS on a higher resolution should you upgrade monitors down the road.

I think the E8400 is plenty and will overclock very well. The difference of 160 mhz is not worth the added cost, unless you are trying real hard to break a certain mark during overclocking.

Lower timings on RAM yields better performance. The G.Skill PI Black you picked out is the fastest and lowest voltage RAM, making it a great choice.

Everything should work fine right after assembly. Generally you will want to just navigate through the BIOS to see if it recognizes everything, but there isn't anything that you are required to do before installing the OS.

If you want to make a couple changes to give yourself better upgrade ability, swap out the motherboard for the Gigabyte UD3P, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

Its only $15 more, but it gives you the extra PCI-E x16 2.0 slot for Crossfire. This will let you add a second HD4870 down the road. If you do choose to do this, I would recommend getting the Corsair 750TX, so you can power the 2 HD4870s should you go that route, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=750tx

Both those upgrades will only cost $35 more, and they will allow you a lot more room to expand.
 
+1 ^^ I agree completely. You made very good parts selections. The E8400 will overclock like a champ, no need to go to the E8500 for .5 multiplier boost. Both of them will OC pretty similarly and reach past 4ghz.
 
Yeah, on the intel side of things thats the system I would be happy with. If you want to consider an AMD solution the 720BE paired with a Asus/Gigabyte 780G/790GX $80/$140.

The 720BE is going to be easier to OC (although intel isn't challeging by any stretch) if your not comfortable with OC and tomshardware posted a guide detailing how easy it is.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-overclock-athlon,2161.html

The thing I like about the unlocked mulitplier CPUs is that you really don't have to worry about the quality of your memory since you don't have to touch you memory settings when overclocking your CPU if you don't want to.
 
What is much better? In Tomshardware AMD overclocking guilde they took the 720BE to 3765MHz which is ~1Ghz OC with a Xigmatek HDT-S963 which isn't quite as good as the Xigmatek DK.

Mileage will vary from CPU to CPU with that said the difference couldn't be defined as "much" but closer to little, if any. In addition the 720BE is a tripe core CPU and application and games that take advantage of multicore CPUs give a clear advantage to the 720BE vs E8400.
 
I wasn't saying the 720 is bad by any means, I too think its a great buy. Most games don't use multicore processors though, only 2 do that I am aware of; FSX and GTA4. The Intel chip is more powerful clock for clock as well, so even if frequency isn't that much higher on the e8400, it will have more performance gain per clock cycle.
 

I'm inclined to attribute the differences of .12 FPS seen in those results to chance error...those benchmarks are bottlenecked by the GPU...I would be interested to see the results using a dual gpu setup. The 720 is also being used in the new AM3 platform and gets DDR3 memory (which adds like $60 to the price for mobo and ram), which I think accounts for a little bit as well. The E8500 does better than any of the other CPU's listed in far cry too if you want to split hairs of 38.99/53.76 E8500 vs 38.04/52.40 720 but honestly thats nothing. If you look at the other games that aren't as limited by the GPU, the E8500 is clearly better than the x3 720, although the 940 seems to stomp all over it in WaW...
 
Back to parts selection:
I have an Antec 900 case. I pretty much like it . For me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the 900 does not come with a case speaker. If anyrthing goes wrong with build, you will need a case speaker.


 
Looks like a very nice build, good job on doing your research!

That video card will last you longer with more memory in it, I'd stick with it for the price difference since Crossfire probably won't be an option down the road on a P45 motherboard with a 4870.

PSU: Never skimp out on this, it's the most important component of your build. Antec, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling are who I would buy from in the 600w - 650w range. All those brands have strong amps on the 12v rail(s) which is much more important than actually wattage.

The only reason you would buy an E8500 over the E8400 is because the E8500 has a slightly higher multiplier, which means it can reach a higher-end overclock. You should just stick with the E8400. With that memory you have selected, you will be able to achieve an over clock of 3.6Ghz without having to overclock the memory itself. That's a good, safe overclock.

That memory is a pretty good choice. Memory "timings" relates to how "fast" it is, so 4-4-4-12 is faster than 5-5-5-15. The other number, DDR2-800 vs DDR2-1066 is simply how much overclocking you can do with the memory. With DDR2-800, you can take the E8400 to 3.6Ghz as I mentioned. With DDR2-1066, you could technically get it to 4.7Ghz although clearly that's not realistic. So stick with what you have.

You shouldn't have any compatibility issues, and will only need to bother with BIOS once you start to overclock. Which is way easier now than a few years ago. Simply do a search with your processor and motherboard on how to overclock, and you'll find lots and lots of step-by-step guides.

One note on the Heatsink, I'm not familiar with that particular one- but the original Xigmatek did not come with a backplate/bolt-thru kit and only used the Intel Pushpins to stay on, which are crap- especially if you move your tower around at all. I'd recommend either buying Thermalright's $7 bolt thru kit or looking at something like Sunbeams Core Contact Freezer that comes with a half-way bastard child of a bolt thru kit that uses the push pins. Direct Touch heatpipes + Backplates/bolt thru kit are most important to me when buying a heatsink.

Luckily with the E8400 at 3.6ghz, you won't have TOO much to worry about as long as the case has good airflow - which reminds me, add a couple 120mm Scythe Fluid Bearing fans. Quiet and last a long time.

Cheers and good luck!
 
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