First Build

[Bob123]

I had a post earlier while i was deciding on parts and was waiting for the new x48 motherboard and I think i got it down. Thanks for the posts before but i need to know if this build is good (if everything supports everything) that kind of stuff. All Posts will be apreciated here is the parts ill be getting:

ASUS P5E3 PREMIUM/WIFI-AP @n LGA 775 DDR3 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131276

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115039

OCZ Platinum 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227286

DIAMOND Viper 3870PE4512SB Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail (Two of these)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103050

ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118223

Arctic Silver ASTA-7G (2-PC-SET) Premium Silver Thermal Adhesive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100005

COOLER MASTER Stacker RC-832-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119121

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan - Retail (two of these)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185005

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, RoHS - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341011

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X 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 – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106072

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140

Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836121120

SAMSUNG 245BW Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustment 400 cd/m2 1000:1 (DC 3000:1) – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001234

Logitech 920-000325 Black 104 Normal Keys 14 Function Keys USB Wired Ergonomics Wave Keyboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823126035

[Alaron]

I would rethink the motherboard. DDR3 offers nothing over DDR2 right now, and it is ridiculously expensive. It is just too early to adopt it. Stick with a more proven setup using the Asus P5K series and DDR2-800.

I'd suggest going with a Retail CPU instead of OEM. The Retail units come with a heatsink/fan unit and more importantly a full 3year warranty instead of 30days. You also don't need any thermal paste with a retail chip, its on the heatsink already.

We don't encourage SLI or Crossfire setups. The payoff just isn't worth the cost. Plus it is much more economical to buy a new card later then trying to stretch out the life of a dual-card setup. The Geforce 8800GT 512MB cars offer a great bang for the buck.

Your case has a couple fans already. I'd start with them and add extras only if necessary.

Great power supply for the current setup. Using a single card would allow you to trim back to a 550-600watt unit though.

The rest of the list looks good.

Do you need a copy of Windows?

[Drunner611]

Originally Posted by Alaron I would rethink the motherboard. DDR3 offers nothing over DDR2 right now, and it is ridiculously expensive. It is just too early to adopt it. Stick with a more proven setup using the Asus P5K series and DDR2-800. I'd suggest going with a Retail CPU instead of OEM. The Retail units come with a heatsink/fan unit and more importantly a full 3year warranty instead of 30days. You also don't need any thermal paste with a retail chip, its on the heatsink already.

Agreed, save some of that money. It always feels good to have cash in your pocket.
With all the money you could save you could get a mean watercooled setup :up:

On another note, at least grab 7200.11 Seagate if that's what your set on. Otherwise get a Samsung F1, or even a raptor for a boot drive!

[Bob123]

Originally Posted by Alaron I would rethink the motherboard. DDR3 offers nothing over DDR2 right now, and it is ridiculously expensive. It is just too early to adopt it. Stick with a more proven setup using the Asus P5K series and DDR2-800. I'd suggest going with a Retail CPU instead of OEM. The Retail units come with a heatsink/fan unit and more importantly a full 3year warranty instead of 30days. You also don't need any thermal paste with a retail chip, its on the heatsink already. We don't encourage SLI or Crossfire setups. The payoff just isn't worth the cost. Plus it is much more economical to buy a new card later then trying to stretch out the life of a dual-card setup. The Geforce 8800GT 512MB cars offer a great bang for the buck. Your case has a couple fans already. I'd start with them and add extras only if necessary. Great power supply for the current setup. Using a single card would allow you to trim back to a 550-600watt unit though. The rest of the list looks good. Do you need a copy of Windows?

Thnak you for responding. Well i want the dd3 mobo because i believe that its the way of the future. Im getting most of this so it has lots of opening for improvment in the future. Well i will look in for the processor and see about the boot drive. Keep coments coming please.

[Katreat]

Originally Posted by Bob123 Thnak you for responding. Well i want the dd3 mobo because i believe that its the way of the future. Im getting most of this so it has lots of opening for improvment in the future. Well i will look in for the processor and see about the boot drive. Keep coments coming please.

I agree DDR3 is the way of the future but not with the 775 Intel socket boards. Given the fact that the advantage of DDR 3 lies in its speed it will not reach its future potential until processor speed is increased. Considering that Intel has already anounced that the 775 socket will be discontinued and a new socket introduced this year it is very doubtful that you will see many, if any, faster processors being produced for the 775 socket. So, the DDR3 you are paying big bucks for will just step down to the processor speed and perform almost exactly like lower speed DDR2.

I would save DDR3 for your next build after Intel changes the socket.

As for SLI or CF I agree with Alaron. On a 24" monitor you might see slight improvment in resolution but you could achive the same thing with that monitor with just a faster card. You might even look at the 3870X2 which achieves about the same results with a single slot and much lower power requirements. I personally would not recommend going SLI unless you have resolution problems related to very large monitors where the SLI technology shines.

I also agree with the recomendation for the 7200.11 HD. It may be a bit larger than you need, think they start at 500 GB, but the extra cache should help seek times.

Kat

[dad25]

Originally Posted by Alaron I would rethink the motherboard ... Stick with a more proven setup using the Asus P5K series

I am also planning a new system using a Q9450 and I am considering a P5K. However, in reading extensively on forums I have found that that CPU does not appear to work consistently with ASUS's P35 boards. The supposedly supported Bios version is beta and the forums seem to highlight numerous problems. Are you sure that a P5K will provide the stability the OP is seeking?

[Alaron]

With new CPU architectures on the market, motherboard builders are going to be scrambling for compatible BIOS versions. There are always kinks to be worked out, but I would hope that Asus would release a new version soon with better stability.

I would also still consider the P5K series over the P5E3 series because of the DDR3 memory issue Katreat explained above.