First build in 5 years...

[ibuprofen]

The last desktop I built was back in 03’; It was a single core AMD. I bought a laptop last year and gave my dad the desktop, so I decided it was time to finally build a new one.

I did some quick research to try to catch my tech knowledge back up a bit, so this setup is a result of that and money. (All linked to Newegg for convenience)

cpu: Q9400 (2.66ghz Quad)
mobo: Gigabyte - GA-EP43-UD3L
ram: G.Skill 4gb DDR2 1066 6-6-6-18
gpu: EVGA GeForce 9500 GT 512mb
hdd: Western Digital 320GB 7200
psu: BFG Tech - 550w
case: Rosewill Conqueror
os: Windows Vista x64 Home Prem.

Purpose: Multi-media (Games being the most demanding probably), 3D Design (Mechanical not Graphical)

Basically I was wondering if I could risk some O.C. with stock fans & heatsinks, also any suggestions for future upgrades? Feel free to rate the above also, thanks in advance!

[shadowpr]

would get ddr2-800 ram. cas 5 insteadof 6. That will still allow you to have room for a moderte overclock, which is what you will probably get with stock heatsink.

I would also get the caviar black hard drive if possible.

don't forget the dvd drive either.

and depending on the games you want to play, you may want a better video card.

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCMech.

I'd go with a better quality power supply. This Corsair 650 is a great price and gives you plenty of room for future upgrades: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%20650w

Also, the 9500GT is going to be a weak card for gaming. I'd step up to the Radeon HD4830 for a great bang for the buck card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102822

[ibuprofen]

Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah I knew the ram/psu was kinda weak but I was impatient and wanted to build quick but leave a lot of leeway for future upgrades so as to not be stuck with less desirable components.

Nice find on that video card too. (only downside I noticed is it take up two expansion slots but meh well worth the trade up and price though)

[ibuprofen]

I was looking into some 800 ram and was wondering what you thought of this compared to what I had above.

[glc]

Not a good value - you don't need CL4 high voltage ram. Look at this.

[ibuprofen]

wow nice price for that too, so I decided I'm going to RMA the ram and video card once I get them today and order corsair ram and the HD4830, as for the PSU I'll just use what I have for now and upgrade it after.

I'll let you know how it runs in a week or two when I get the cpu.
thanks everyone.

[not important]

Be cautious if your PSU is a low quality unit. I've never heard of BFG but they may be OK.
It would be a shame to cook your new hardware.

[glc]

BFG power supplies are made by Topower. They are a top tier manufacturer but that doesn't necessarily mean they use top quality components in the ones they build for BFG. You should be okay.

[ibuprofen]

So everything came in and I set it up yesterday, only ran into one unresolved problem (aside from the annoying-to-install CPU fan and the fact the monitors wouldn’t recognize the output at first, that one solved itself so w/e).

Before I installed xp on it it would keep shutting off and then turning back on. I thought, crap psu or ram is shot, but the pc was nice enough to let me completely install xp. Which I then figured it would be easier (at least for me) to find out what the problem is.

After getting the OS up it only shut down on me once, and the odd thing is that it shutdown properly; as if someone hit the power button. This would lead me to believe some faulty wiring in my case but I’m still not sure. Any ideas / suggestions would be great.

Oh as a side note xp picked up the ram as 3.25gb which I can only imagine is because it is a 32 bit version (unless one of my sticks is shot). It also said only 2gb somewhere, though I can’t quit remember where… it could have been some utility that came with my mobo, I’m not currently home to check either.

Thanks in advance!

(All specs are currently listed above in the first post, until I decide to upgrade later)

[glc]

The CPU fan may not be properly installed - make sure all 4 pins are completely snapped in and locked. Install the monitoring software - what temperature is the CPU running at?

[ibuprofen]

Okay I'm going to install the software to check that, but the bios said 31-33 c .

[glc]

31 to 33 at idle is fine, but you need to check temperatures under load.

[ibuprofen]

This seems strange, I have core temp running now nothing else running aside from IE temps are 28 40 31 34. Is that normal or is that 40 a little high?

[glc]

That's plenty cool. Your issue is not overheating.

[ibuprofen]

well that's a relief, it hasn't happened again and I've had the comp on for at least 8 hours. I'm really starting to lean towards that power switch thing.

Oh under load (just WoW and an episode of ghost hunters streaming) the core temps went unchanged.

[ibuprofen]

So it's been awhile since I posted anything; the computer hasn't shutdown on me once since.

I've been leaving it on over night and at work occasionally while I'm dling some torrents and it's been running cool.

Oh and as a side note I got a nice gpu upgrade for free. My g/f was given a

BFGE88512GTOCE (higher end 8800 gt than my 9500 gt) for her computer that one of her friends didn't need anymore. It didn't fit in her hp so I gave her mine and took hers, yay.

Thanks for all the help.