E6600 Build Compat check/revew

[joseverde]

With a nice budget and school coming quickly, I’m ready to build my Conroe System. I’d like your recommendations/advice/reviews for this build, it will be my second.

The goal for this system:

1. Longevity
2. Upgradable

I’ll be using it for everything from some gaming (BF2, HL2, etc.), to browsing, writing papers, and Photoshop, and I do not plan on overclocking.

So, onto the system. The budget is around $1800 after getting a printer and speakers and I’ve configured all the values to fit within budget on each item.

[CPU]
Intel Core Duo E6600 OEM
Bought and on the way.
$375.00

[Mobo]
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131025

Price range: 240-260 whenever it comes back in stock.
Pretty certain on this.

[RAM]
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820145015
Price range: 180-20

I like Corsair, they’ve served me well.

[Case]
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811119068
Happy with the looks and feel of this case, pretty certain on this item.
Price range: 40-60

[Monitor]
ViewSonic VX922
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16824116375
Very excited about this monitor.

Price range: 250-270

[HDD]
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822144701

Price range: 60-90
Happy with the looks of this boy, WD has been good to me in the past, but open to suggestions if there is anything better in the price range.

[DVD-R]
SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model SH-S162L - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827151118
Looks good and great reviews, good price and nice features. Open to better suggestions below 40 though.

Price range: 40

[GPU]
I’m pretty sure I want to go with an nVidia Geforce 7900GT, but I’d appreciate some advice on which make of it to get, nVidia has treated me well in the past as well.

Price range: 300<

[HEATSINK]

Looking at:
Thermalright Ultra-90
Price 35<

[PSU]
Looking at SeaSonic S12-430 430W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151023


Price range: <110

[Thermal grease]
Advice needed here as well.

[MISC]
Anything else needed, everything crosschecked to work? Would I need any extra case fans?

Speaker/printer/mouse/keyboard covered.



With these price ranges set, everything should meet the budget and leave around 100 in it for shipping.

Thanks!

[Mr.Ferrari]

Few suggestions, I would opt for the seagate 7200.10 sata over the western digital.

On the heatsink. I would get the Ultra 120. Or the xp 90c. If your going for compact and perforamance mind as well choose the older xp90c. Which in performance is equivilent to the ulltra 90, and has a lower profile. But thats up to you. But dont forget the fan for the heatsink.

And I woudl get a liteon or nec retail drive instead of the samsung. But the samsung does come with nero software, so you should be ok.

The build looks great.

And that powersupply looks very nice, the quietest, and some of the most reinforced psu's out there. But I would personally choose the Forton Blue Storm 500W over it, for your kinda build.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104934

And on thermal compound, best would be arctic silver 5.

On the fans, your case says it comes with a 120mm exaust and 80mm intake (i cant see but im guessing its situated in front of the hdd's or that blowhole). I think this should be decent for a stock setup.
Not knowing how many cfm or noise that 120mm or 80mm is pushing out I really cant suggest to much of a alternitive.

But if that 120mm fan becomes too loud for your or too underperforming for you the one I would suggest would be this.
http://jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm-...2-pr-3009.html
Great price
Great cfm/noise ratio
truthful specs
great quiet fan

Since your not overclocking you really shouldnt be worried.

[jayb1234]

Take a look at The Antec TPII 550W psu, 80 bucks as good or better quality and 120 more watts than the Seasonic. Better voltages on the 12V rails than the Fortron where you are basically paying an extra 20-25 bucks for the pretty lights.

Check the QVL list at ASUS to get the exact part number for the approved RAM.

Check with the school to see what version of windows they want you to have, some of them require XP Pro, and they will probably have the best price or even free to students.

Download the parts manuals and read through them to see if you will need a floppy during setup, or later on. They are handy to have for diagnostics anyway.

[glc]

I'd get DDR2-800.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Originally Posted by jayb1234 Take a look at The Antec TPII 550W psu, 80 bucks as good or better quality and 120 more watts than the Seasonic. [/LEFT]

Seasonics quality is > then antecs. They do silent right. Not just sticking a low cfm fan in there without taking care and making sure that they properly beef up the capacitors. Seasonics quality and efficiency is ranked higher then most other psu's. Nearing pc power and cooling quality. Infact they used to produce pc power and cooling's silencer line.
And the forton doesnt have any lights, it comes in a blue color and fully sleeved. They are designed from the ground up to be used with a silent fan.

For overall efficiency and power I choose forton.
Since he isnt going sli. Forton unit will serve him much better, it is a very tough psu that will out do its ratings. I only suggest that 550w when you need a good budget sli psu.

Dont get me wrong, antec makes excellent powersupplies.
Antec has a excellent design, but they could make it even better by backing up the internals a little bit more.. Not saying that they are bad psus. They are very very decent. But they arent the best. For the price although, I really dont think you can get a better dual card psu.

He wont be sad going with the forton or the antec. Both superb choices
While that 430w isnt exactly underpowered, you always want to go a little above your current power requirement.

[anomie]

I'm a newb but this was brought up when I was designing my conroe build. I think it was Ferrari who said that Intel only supports crossfire, not SLI, so I asked this in my thread but my assumption was that I should get an ATI card when going Intel in case you wanted to make use of crossfire in the future.

Am I wrong?

[Mr.Ferrari]

If your going with a intel chipset then yes. People have done sli on their boards, but that was through hacked drivers. If you really want to go sli then wait for the nForce boards that should be coming out if im not mistaken in a month or two.

[jayb1234]

Checking the stated goals in joseverdes first post longevity and upgradability are what he wants.

It doesn't say anything about quiet or blingy features.

That Fortron does in fact have an LED power switch that puts out a significant and potentially annoying amount of light.

The photoreactive cables and sheathing serve no major functional purpose other than as eye candy and allowing them to charge about a third more than for comparable PSU without them.

The sheathing can in fact cause difficulty in routing the wires and making connections due to it's stiffness and larger diameter.

The Antec has the same or significantly higher Amperages on every rail than the Fortron.

The Fortron has 1 pci-e connector, the Antec has 2; Fotron 2 Sata, Antec 4.

The Antec allows much more upgrading than the fortron.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Yes valid points. But in truth, the forton is a unit of higher build then the antec. Both are great. But if its not for sli use, I would always prefer the forton. Not because of bling. And those sleeved cables also alow for easier wire mangement, but thats secondary. And ive owned 2 antec units in the past. Served me really well. But when you really put on the load, the rails in my opinion start to lose stability and droops. And I even tested it with a digital multimeter. Once again, im not saying the antec is a bad unit. The only unit under 120 bucks I would recommend for sli. But the forton isnt of lower quality is all im saying .

[joseverde]

Thanks for the great replies so far. I like the looks of the Fortron you suggested, the lights really won't bother me and sometimes a little bling can be a good thing. It's a closed case anyways and I don't think I'll really notice it.

Now then, with most everything addresed, I've been really trying to figure out what 7900GT to go with. There are a lot to choose from although I think eVGA does the best. Some advice and rec's here would be awesome.

also, I've been looking around and I keep seeing socket LGA775 and socket 775. What is the difference between them? The e6600 is LGA775 right?

[Mr.Ferrari]

Same thing. Sometimes its referred to as Socket t, lga 775, or socket 775, all the same thing.

But if you do plan on going with a dual card configuration in the future, I do suggest you take the antec instead. Otherwise looks fine.

[blue60007]

The Antec is way more powerful than that FSP you linked to. Take a look at the 12V specs. 30A on the FSP versus 39A on the Tp 550 (both same price). Same deal with the Seasonic's (more $$$). Don't get me wrong - they're all quality units. Also, the TP-II 550 is probably just as quiet as the others - you won't hear it over the other fans/hard drives in your system.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Oh yes of course. Dont get me wrong the antec is of higher power, just saying that it doesnt mean forton or seasonic is of lower quality.
Sorry if I came out rude or anything but that totally wasnt my directive.
Cheers m8.

[glc]

Let's be reasonable here - I'm as anal as anyone about PSU quality, but arguing Antec vs. Seasonic vs. Fortron is just ridiculous. All 3 are top quality units.

[BlackKnight]

Well it looks like I'll be getting good power either way I go.

So, everything looks good to build and order?

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari Oh yes of course. Dont get me wrong the antec is of higher power, just saying that it doesnt mean forton or seasonic is of lower quality. Sorry if I came out rude or anything but that totally wasnt my directive. Cheers m8.

All quality units, definitely. I wouldn't be surpirsed if the Seasonic/FSP are actually under-rated.

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari Sorry if I came out rude or anything but that totally wasnt my directive. Cheers m8.

No no no - definitely not - sorry if I came off the same way.

[BlackKnight]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari Few suggestions, I would opt for the seagate 7200.10 sata over the western digital.

You were talking about this model

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822148140

correct?

[JBDreamerie]

hey

i'm practically in the exact same situation. i've bought all the parts, but am just waiting for a phone call from my nearest micro center to get my hands on an E6600. just to make sure all the parts would work, i bought a cheap 50 celeron D processor to plug in for the moment.

i put everything together yesterday, but when i tried to turn it on, lights, fan, etc came on, but there was no output on the screen.

anyways, i'm still trying to figure it out, and find a way to make it work. my laptop's dying, so i'm really trying to get this together as fast as possible.

but this is my setup for the moment:

processor (will be): E6600
case: Antec P180
Motherboard: Asus P5 DH Deluxe
Video Card: ATI X1900GT
Memory: OCZ OCZ2G8002GK
Hard Drive: Seagate ST3320620A
DVD Drive: Lite-On SHW160P6S04
Power: OCZ OCZ520ADJSLI PowerStream 520W
Fan: Thermaltake CL-P0114

if anybody has any suggestions (this is my first time building my own computer), please let me know (email me); btw i did try to hook it up with just the basics, but still nothing...

[Mr.Ferrari]

There could be numerous reasons why. All the way from something being shorted to bad components. I think it would be better if you start your own thread, so you wont crowd up this one and get more answers too.

Btw. Excellent build. Great part choices.

[blue60007]

Which Celeron is that?

EDIT - you really should start your own thread rather than jumping on this one.