Yes for your processor temps of 50ish idle are not good at all. Please listen to what people are trying to tell you reading this thread drove me so crazy I had to go look up my account info to come and post. Building a pc is not really all that hard.
1. Don't buy a box unit again you're throwing away your money.
2. If your heat-shink isn't properly attached you shouldn't be trying to overclock until that is fixed.
3. The thing where people were writing this:
"Although the CPU's are compatible between AM2/AM2+, the additional character rendered all coolers incompatible. Fortunately, AMD engineers found a workaround, if you simply draw a '+' on your cooler with a sharpie, it will now fit the new AM2+ socket." they are talking about heat sinks for AM2 being compatible with AM2+ not AM2+ cpu's being able to go into AM2 boards.
4. Just because you have a power supply that puts out 1000w (600w for you) doesn't mean that the motherboard you have is capable of running a cpu that uses 95w, 125w etc.
5. Never use power tools in a computer, many times the screws are made of a metal that is stronger than the material that is holding them in place. For example screwing steel screws into a plastic back plate or copper back plate. This results in the back plate being stripped and is then ruined.
6. You never said what resolution you are trying to play crysis at. That would be important information to have since many cards on the market can't play crysis or C:warhead at decent framerates no matter what cpu you have. So if you are trying to run it at 1920x1200 or 1680x1050 drop your resolution down and lower the quailty settings to medium. This is especially important when you are playing the game in Vista since dx10posts lower framerates by a significate margin 10fps or more on the same system vs running the game in XP.
7. Why would you buy a Dell and then spend $XXXX upgrading the psu the ram the video card etc? My roommate bought a Dell for $1900 when I priced it on newegg including OS it would have only cost him $1400. But he wanted dell "support" he said then when he had a problem and needed to restore the system dell charged him $40 to tell him to hold down F11 during start-up.
8. Just to be perfectly clear an AM2+ socket mobo is compatible with AM2+ and AM2 cpu's an AM2 mobo is compatible with AM2 cpu's, assuming that you are using a mobo with the proper socket wattage
9. When you use thermal paste you should use it sparingly. If you apply too much you will reduce the thermal transfer due to less contact with your heatsink. Apply a small amount and spread it out across the cpu if it splatters out to the sides then you used TOO MUCH!
While I support much of what the previous repliers have posted I wouldn't recommend geting the foxconn mobo. I would go with something that will be forward compatible and if you are sticking with AMD cpu's wait until feb when the AM3 sockets and cpu's come out. Restore the dell you have to as close to stock as you can and see if you can sell it and then put the money to a nice mobo with a good feature set and start working on building a system. What I usually recommend to people that i build pc's for is to get a 1(case/hdd/psu/dvd drives) then work on selecting a 2(mobo/ram/cpu), and always get a 3(graphics card) last. The reason is that the items in group 1 usually see the least amount of price fluctuation and new items coming to market, then work on getting items from group 2 as the market varies much more and there are new releases in cpu's and price reductions. Then you are free to get a video card since in only weeks you can see dramatic price changes in cards and huge changes in graphic proccessing power. Quick example on 10-30-07 I bought a 8600gts card for $199 not you can get a 9800gtx+ or 4850 card for the same price. By feb you can prob get a second 9800gt card for 80% or less of what you paid and run them in sli for a decent boost in performace as well.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram