Going with Core 2 Duo E6400, What else?

[nickd22]

Hey everybody,

I'm building a new rig, since my socket A has been long outdated.

I'm going with the Core 2 Duo E6400, but am stuck at what else. Does the MSI 975X Platinum work well as a supporting motherboard? Is there anything better for the price?

I'm open to suggestions for video cards, but keep in mind I am not a hardcore gamer, just counter-strike here and there. What do you guys recommend for the best bang for the buck? (under $100)

Also, will my old hard-drives be compatible with this new mb/cpu combo? It's 80gb 7200rpm. Am I still in the stone age with this? or does it not really make a difference?

Thanks for sticking with the post, I know its boring, but,

HOW big of a PowerSupply should I purchase? Should 450w be sufficient with just 1 optical drive, 2hdds, 256-512mb PCIe video card, 1-2gb of DDR2, and just a few case fans? Should I go higher? Maybe 500-550w?


Anyways, any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

-nick

 

[Xazax310]

Why got for the E6400? the E6420 cost just as much and that extra 2mb Cache comes in handy.
For what your going to do i would recommend this eVGA 650I 80$
Maybe not the Best OCer but i trust EVGA and for that price its pretty good.
For a good GFX a 8600GT will be great, you watch alot of media? do decoding?, it will be great in that area along with playing CS:S at max settings.
(i would recommend a the usual 7600GT but seeing as its as much as the 8600GT(which has more efficient architecture SHR 4.0)
Your old HDD Maybe, but im guessing it IDE and thats pretty much stoneage now, not to mention you would have to reformat them.
I recommend the 74GB Raptor 134$ unmatched for year, still my favorite choice no matter what other sites may say.
NEVER skip on the PSU, you want a ROCK, SOLID, STABLE, and RELILABLE brand. my pick the Corsair 620W 150$
Lastly 2GB of DDR2 800MHZ ram is dirt cheap. Corsair 5-5-5-12 800Mhz ram 84$


186$ E6420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016

80$ EVGA 650I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017&Tpk=EVGA%2b650I

100$ 8600GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085

134$ Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033

150$ Corsair 620W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002&Tpk=Corsair%2b620W

84$ 2GB corsair 800mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

Total without a case(you find the one you like of course!)

738$ thats a Raptor, 8600GT, Excellent PSU, E6420, 2gb of ram.

Kicking butt system for under 800$ all from newegg.com! gotta love newegg!

These are my suggestions pick it apart and put what you what as you like, the only thing i strongly suggest you must buy is the Corsair 620W PSU.

 

[foz]

You will want to get the e6420 instead- about the same price, double the cache.
What is your total budget?
What all do you want to keep from your current comp.?
Video Card- At under $100 this is your best solution- EVGA 7600GT:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130017

 

[lmimmfn]

Well isint it better to have the best option for the future in case the next counterstrike competitor comes out?
I wouldnt go with the e6420 if you think you might be overclocking in the future, the e6400 OC's better, if you dont plan on OC'ing then the e6420 is fine. Wait until intel reduce the prices on July 22nd
Id go with the EVGA680i, ive had 2 asus P5N32-E SLI mobos with post issues and settled on the evga680i, at least if it fails to post you have an LED to tell you why, great for self builds and trouble shooting. Also lifetime warrenty, and i just disabled a few things and set the FSB to 1750( CPU@3.5GHz ) out of the box no messing or retries, i reduced it to 3.3 in the end cos i didnt like them temps being a little high

I wouldnt recommend an 8600 if you plan on playing DX10 games, go for an 8800GTS at least, costs a little more,but a lot more future proof

All the above is rubbish including my own stuff if youre not into gfx or CPU intensive tasks, in which case id recommend an e4300, cheap intel 965mobo, DX9 1950pro, and cheapest 633 2 gig ram

 

[Xazax310]

Well he said he only wanted to spend 100$ on a GFX a 8600GT is the best bet, Hes not trying to run DX10 he just plays CS:S which a 8600GT can easily handle.

Imimmfn for what he does your suggestion is OVERKILL, a 650I will be fine no SLI, maybe moderate OC if any at all.
667(633 which doesnt exist) its pretty worthelss IMHO when DDR2 800MHZ has more agressive timing and is pretty much the same price.

 

[nickd22]

awesome guys, thanks a lot for the help.

xazax, i'll definitely keep your PSU advice in mind.. I've had 2 of them fail out on me in the past 24months.

I'm going to read up on overclocking, as i'm not very familiar with all of the procedures, but I DO know that I won't be pushing any limits. If I overclock, it will be very moderately done to ensure low-risk. In that case, I'm leaning towards the E6420.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[scifiguy]

E6420 OC's just fine with the proper motherboard and cooling. Stock HSF is good to about 3.1, water cooling or high end aftermarket air cooling is needed to go any higher with some degree of safety (sanity??)

 

[nickd22]

Hey all...

So, since I wanted to make 100% sure what I was doing before I bought everything for my new box, I researched a bunch, and put together this list of items to go into my machine which I will be ordering tonight probably.


-ASUS V2-P5945G Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel Core 2 Duo Intel 945G 4 x 240Pin Intel Extreme Graphics 2 Barebone http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16856110072

I will probably be adding a few 120mm fans on the case, as it will probably lack proper airflow. I'm also worried, where are the slots to seat the hd's? I wish the floppy slots weren't there.

-Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115016

-EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130062

This card seems to be the best bang for the buck from all of the reviews i've read...

-(2 of these) CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146580

The 2gb pack of the same ram is 10 dollars more than if I just buy them separately..

- COOLER MASTER Real Power RS-450-ACLY ATX12V 450W Power Supply 115/230 V Nemko, TUV, cUL, CE, CNS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817171001

I was really struggling to find the best powersupply for my usage and for the best price, so I read a ton of reviews on tons of powersupplies. This one got great reviews both from newegg buyers and xbit: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu_5.html#sect0

What is the best hard-drive to buy for the buck? Should I go with SATA? I have 2 old IDE harddrives that I will be keeping around just for music storage and etc, but what should I use for my primary disk?

Timely responses are much appreciated as I would like to order this tonight. Thanks again for your help guys!