Specs for first time builder

[davea33]

First, I’d like to thank everyone who contributes to this board as it provides an invaluable service to people building PC’s. Secondly, I plan on a building a PC and would like feedback on the specs.

The PC will primarily be used for business, however there will be some photo-editing and game playing. The most important attributes of the PC is reliability and ease of putting together. After that is performance. I also want to be sure the case and motherboard will support plugging in old IDE drives. I will not be over-clocking. Fast boot-up time is important and having AV, etc software running without effecting performance noticeable would also be great. A quiet PC that can be on for weeks would also be a plus. I’d like to spend no more than $1400 however reliability and ease of building the PC trumps price.

My biggest concerns are - is the case I picked big enough, quiet and cool enough and whether I should use Vista or XP. Right now I am leaning towards XP as I don’t want any surprises when putting this together.

Ok, here are my specs and many, many thanks in advance for any comments –

HDD:
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136012

PSU:
HIPER HPU-4K580-MS ATX12V v2.2 580W Power Supply 100 - 120V - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817128002

MoBo:
Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121059

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

CPU Fan:
ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118004

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145015

Video Card:
EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130066

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068

Optical:
SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner With LightScribe Technology - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151141

[Cricket]

Looks okay...but you don't need the Zalman heatsink if you're getting the retail CPU, it already comes with a heatsink. If you really want the Zalman, get the OEM processor that comes with no heatsink. The advantage of going with the retail processor and supplied heatsink is you get the full 3 year warranty.

You may want to look at the Lite-On optical drive instead of that Samsung...Samsung opticals have reliability issues.

And I'm not sure how good that power supply is...you may want to do more research on that brand before you buy.

Cricket

[Khalil]

I would go wirh an Asus P5B motherboard over that Intel. You can't ever oc the Intels and they are limited on features.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Khalil I would go wirh an Asus P5B motherboard over that Intel. You can't ever oc the Intels and they are limited on features.

davea33 already said he will not be overclocking and ease of setup is important to him...that said, the Intel motherboard is a good a choice for him.

davea33: That Cooler Master case is a fine choice and I would stick with WinXP for now...you can always upgrade to Vista down the road (after most of the bugs are taken care of with the release of the Service Packs).

Cricket

[Mr.Ferrari]

The Intel badaxe 2 is actually very overclockable. Intel has changed on their policies on their higher end boards. It is still, as cricket said, very stable and easy to use.

Also that Zalman is for AM2 platforms, you need the 775 version. I would still agree on what was said above that you dont need the extra heatsink. The one that comes with the CPU should be fine.

[newbuilder14]

That CPU cooler is for AMD platforms, stick to stock cooling.

Hiper power supplies are okay, a Corsair HX520 would be better.

The Raptors are nice drives; you could save some money with a Seagate 7200.10 SATA

Corsair ValueSelect DDR2-667 is all you need if you aren't overclocking.

Lite-On optical drives are good; go for a retail one so you get software.

Everything else looks okay. Welcome to the forums, and good luck.

[davea33]

You guys are quick

Why do I need the Lite-On software. Won't XP recognize the drive and then I can just burn to it?

[davea33]

Why wouldn't I just stick with the RAM I picked, the difference is only $5.00?

[newbuilder14]

It's nice to have software to burn DVDs, such as Nero that Lite-On retail drives come with. Samsung drives are not noted for being high quality.

You could stick with the RAM you picked, the ValueSelect was just a suggestion. You could even go for DDR2-800 memory if you wanted to.

[glc]

You can burn CD's with XP but not DVD's. You need software. This is the drive you want:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=175510

The Bad Axe is not a good choice if you need a lot of IDE - and neither is any 965-based board. They only have one channel. The Asus P5W DH Deluxe has 2 channels, that would be my choice.

[davea33]

by saying one channel I take that to mean you have one IDE ribbon that you can connect 2 IDE drives. if so that should be sufficient for me. i have an IDE zip drive that I would like to connect and an IDE HDD drive. does this seem plausible?

also, i have been debating on whether to get the Corsair DDR2 675 or the 800. any opinions on this? is it worth the price difference $30.00 from NewEgg (rebate right now for the 800)

again many thanks.

[LeftyAce]

1 channel means you can connect 1 cable with two drives.

The 800 is only worth it if you are planning on overclocking. Otherwise you will see no speed benefit.

[newbuilder14]

The DDR2-800 memory will automatically be downclocked to DDR2-667 memory per default. You may be okay using IDE drives on the P965 chipset, it is often hit or miss. Check out GLC's reference thread: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=174257 I'd also see what GLC says about those particular drives.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Originally Posted by newbuilder14 The DDR2-800 memory will automatically be downclocked to DDR2-667 memory per default.

Ddr2-533*

[glc]

The IDE channel on the Bad Axe is native. It has no issues. The P5W DH has one native channel and one JMB channel.

[davea33]

First thanks for all replies. I will wait until April to order as I believe it has been posted the CPU should be cheaper. Below are my new specs based on the feedback I got and a couple more questions -
With the parts I have will I need to tweak the BIOS, if so how?
I assume I'll need to download the latest drivers for most of these parts, is this true?
Reading all the posts from people that have problems putting together systems has me a little concerned. I have done a ton of reading and it seems with the parts I have building this should be a snap, of course the caveat is that all the parts work. Any comments?

Once I build this I will post my experience.

Again Thanks.

HDD:
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136012

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001

MoBo:
Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121059

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

RAM:
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

Video Card:
EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130066

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068

Optical:
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with Replaceable White Front Panel - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106046

[Alaron]

That looks good for now. The BIOS should auto configure everything. You'll only need to tweak if something doesn't look right. For drivers, the motherboard will come with a driver CD to setup the onboard devices like sound and LAN. It would be smart to download your video card driver from www.nvidia.com because the one on the CD can be outdated.

Don't worry too much about the build. Just go slowly and ask questions. We recommend that you follow this procedure to make sure the system works before getting everything into the case. http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

And don't forget we are a help forum, so naturally you see plenty of posts with issues. But plenty of people have great experiences with their builds.