New to Computer Building
Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - New to Computer Building
Welcome to the forums Vitaminx!
First off, I have to plug my favourite case: Coolermaster 690, great for cooling and it will save you a bit of cash too. But to each their own, the Antec 900 is my 2nd fav 
I agree on getting the E8400, though their availability is somewhat limited right now.
For the memory, you may want to make a quick visit to the support forums of the respective manufacturers to see if there's any glaring issues people are having. Otherwise, any DDR2-800 from OCZ, Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, and some Patriot ones are your safest bet for compatibility. Just try and find the lowest timings you can for the price (ie, 4-4-4-12 is slightly faster than 5-5-5-15).
That 610W PSU from PCP&C is great, and since you wont be pushing it's load the 80mm fan shouldn't be that loud. Another excellent and very efficient PSU is the Antec 650 Neo Blue and it can often be found on sale for around $120ish.
Probably the IMPORTANT recommendation I can make is that you don't get a nVdia motherboard, especially if you don't plan on going SLI. The boards are generally more unstable with less driver support, have more memory issues, and run hotter when overclocking. I'd only recommend them to users who are familiar with troubleshooting PCs and BIOS tweaking, and who really want to go SLI.
Instead, I would get a P35 motherboard like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L. It has all the features you will need, is very stable, and overclocks well. And it's only like $100 You don't need to think about X38 boards unless you want to Crossfire two ATI cards.
The Ultra-120 is pretty much the best Heatsink out there, but does require a 120mm fan (I like Yate Loon or Scythe). Another heatsink that performs very well is the Tuniq Tower 120, which does come with a 120mm fan so I would probably recommend that for you if you plan on doing some overclocking. I'd also get some seperate compound like MX-2 that is non-electric/conductive so that there's no risk of currents making any show-stopping jumps (ie, short circuits if the past leaks a little) and it doesn't need to "burn in" or settle for ~200 hours like a lot of the other brands before you know how good a job you did and what temps you can expect.
Hope that sort of helps, good luck with the build!
If you can't get the E8400 right away another option in the mean time is a E2160 for around $80. They overclock really well and should hold you over for the next 3-4 weeks, mid Aprilish seems to be when we can expect to see large quantities of E8400's shipping..
There's nothing wrong with Artic Silver 5, it's a very good compound. But if you look around at some reviews and forums, you'll find MX-2 is becoming very popular because it's a bit easier to apply, there's no wait/setting time after applying it (AS5 = ~200 hours before you know if it's a good job or not), and it's non-conductive as an added safety bonus. If I had any AS5 laying around I would use it before buying MX-2, but if I needed to get some new compoud it would definately be MX-2. Most reviews even put it at 1-3 degrees cooler, but IMO thats a really tough thing to consistently benchmark and wouldn't put too much weight into it.
I'm sure most people around here would agree that if you aren't going to use SLI then generally the nVidia chipsets are way more trouble than they're worth 
I understand how EVGA's warranty is appealing, but honestly I don't know anybody or can even think of hearing about a situation when someone has needed to RMA (return) their motherboard after having it for a few months.. Generaly, it will either arrive borked or it should last until whenever you decide to build again.
The Gigabyte boards have a 3 year warranty I believe for comparisons sake. You may or may not be building again in 3 years, but again I can't imagine what the odds are of having a board failure of some kind after a year or two of no problems (that's actually covered under warranty...ie, not cause by you forcing a video card into a memory slot).
Yep, that's definately high end! PC Power and Cooling are among the best in the business It's 12V rail is awesome, which is the most arguably the important part of a PSU.
Hmm Vitaminx, if you want to stick with the nVidia video card I'd recommend you get a P35 board because the main reason to get an X38 over a P35 is that the X38 allows for 'full speed' Crossfire on BOTH video cards. The P35 just has one 'full speed' (ie x16) PCI-E slot, the second is only x4 speed which does gimp today's cards. A simple board like the Gigabyte P35-DS3L is very stable and overclocks well, and it's great value at like ~$100.
Otherwise, if you want to stick with the X38 IMO you need to consider getting ATI cards so you can Crossfire them (at some point, if not right away). For example, a 3870 now and then a 3870x2 in a few months or during a sale, or visa-versa: a 3870x2 now, and then add a second 3870x2 during a Black Friday or Boxing Week sale next year. We'll need to upgrade the PSU if you want to do that path, though. (Likely an Antec Quattro 1000W for price/performance to make sure it's not fully loaded in a two 3870x2 CrossfireX system. A PCP&P 750W would likely be good for a 3870 + 3870x2 system).
EDIT: Doh, clicked submit prematurely...but that happens to a lot of guys.. right??? haha
I'd grab the E8200 over the E6750 also beacuse the chip's architecture is just better (cooler, less energy, OC's better) and has 6MB of cache (E6750 = 4MB I think) so that's better for gaming.
I think the CM 690 case has lots of room and fans, and the price is awesome. JSC made a good point that it's not a bad idea to install the CPU + Heatsink before you install the motherboard. I don't think it makes a huge difference having the PSU on the bottom of a case as long as the cables that come with it are long enough. I guess maybe the PSU would last longer since hot air rises and the PSU wouldn't be exposed GPU/CPU heat in the bottom of a case.
If you aren't going to overclock then the Heatsink that comes with the CPU should be fine. I'd recommend you give it a go though, read some reviews (google your CPU and maybe motherboard in the search with overclocking) and I'm sure you'll come across lots of guides and info. It's really not that bad, and you can get good performance boosts out it Just start low and work your way up!
Sorry to the throw the wrench into the build with the X38 and ATI/nVidia thing, just want you to get the most value out of the build!
Message edited by jevon on 03-14-2008 at 09:23:17 PM
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