New pc could use some advice ;)

[nastrow]

Hey

i'm planning on buying a new pc and building it myself.
Since this is the first time for me i was wondering if u guys could check out the parts that i have selected and maybe give some advice where needed.

i put my hardware list together from the Azerty onlineshop

case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced 74,02 €
motherboard: MSI P55A-GD65 - Moederbord - ATX - iP55 132,16 €
cpu: Intel Core i7 i7-870 244,65 €
cpucooler: Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B SCMG-2100 36,18 €
memory: Corsair XMS3 - Geheugen - 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB 79,88 €
DDR3 - 1600 MHz / PC3-12800 - CL7 - 1.65 V
psu: Corsair TX850W 112,94 €
harddrive: OCZ Agility 2 Series 40gb 285/275 MBps 96,75 €
secondharddrive: 320gb 7200rpm ( from old pc ) 0,00 €
gpu: nvidia geforce 9800gt 512mb ( from old pc ) 0,00 €

total: 776,58 €

note: this pc is commonly used for schoolwork, surfing, watching movies, little bit of gaming, listening to music, i'm also planing on using this pc for a long time ( i have selected a bigger powersupply for possible upgrades like my videocard or extra harddrives and i'm also planning on overcloking the cpu)


grtz Nastrow

[RossJansick]

Looks like a pretty solid box. I do prefer AMD over Intel, but looks like you got a decent build going here

[nastrow]

thx although i have 1 question, is there thermal paste included with the cpu cooler or is it already on the cooler or do i have to buy it separatly ?

[David M]

Look for an Asus board, more reliable.

The Corsair brand is fine, but get 4 gigs of 1.5 volt 1333. You will not notice any difference in overall speed.

The CPU cooler you chose is quite interesting. It rates right up at the top in terms of the lowest temperatures.
Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler Introduction :: TweakTown USA Edition
Be sure your case has enough clearance for the CPU coolers height. You also do not want to choose RAM with tall cooling fins because of possible clearance problems with this CPU cooler. The review I linked did not show this CPU cooler as coming with any thermal paste. Add some Arctic Silver 5 to your order.

The PSU you chose will power any two graphics cards except for two 5970's. You could get by with a TX750....both are good PSU's

[nastrow]

i can't seem to find a 1.5 v ram kit

memory : Corsair XMS3 - Geheugen - 4 GB
DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10666 - CL8 - 1.65 V € 65,46
coolingpaste: Arctic Silver 5 Premium Silver 3.5g € 6

i've just seen that the case has gone up 10€ in price :s so i was wondering which is
the best case that i can get ( midi tower) around +-75 euros ?

also i've seen 2 motherboards of asus - ASUS P7P55D-E € 117,73
- ASUS P7H57D-V EVO € 134,98
what is the difference between them, i know the exapensive 1 has the Intel H57 chipset and the cheaper 1 have an Intel P55 chipset and they both have usb 3 and sata 600.
What is the difference between these chipsets ?

[RossJansick]

everytime i have bought a processor it has come with thermal paste, but you may want to buy some as a backup

[glc]

The P7P55D-E is the one you want. The H57 is capable of interfacing with the integrated graphics in the i3 and i5 processors that have that feature.

Processors do not come with thermal material - heatsinks do. When you buy a retail boxed processor that comes with a heatsink, the material is preapplied to the heatsink.

If you are planning on overclocking, DDR3-1600 would be preferred.

Corsair Dominator Geheugen :: Azerty

There are several other models of the Coolermaster CM690 listed on that site - some of which are under 75 euros. I don't understand Dutch so I can't advise you on the differences.

[David M]

I believe he said he was interested in overclocking the CPU but said nothing about overclocking the RAM.

Nastrow, with the P7P55D-E, 1600 RAM would need to be overclocked. I don't know if that's something you want to do or not.

[glc]

I believe he said he was interested in overclocking the CPU but said nothing about overclocking the RAM.

When you run an i7 at stock speed, the ram speed defaults to 1333, no matter what speed the ram actually is. When you overclock the i7, the ram speed is going to try to follow unless you prevent it. That's why you should have ram rated faster than 1333 if you are going to overclock an i7. It's only at stock speeds where ram faster than 1333 has no advantage. I didn't say anything about overclocking the ram either - but I'm actually trying to prevent that from happening!

Nastrow, with the P7P55D-E, 1600 RAM would need to be overclocked.

No........when you overclock the CPU, 1333 ram will try to overclock itself! With 1600 speed ram, you have some headroom there before you have to start cranking the ram speed back down from what the CPU wants it to run at. The memory controller is now in the CPU, not on the motherboard. That's why you can get DDR3 all the way up to 2133 now - so the extreme overclockers will have ram that will keep up with the CPU.

[David M]

Not meaning to confuse things but there are also memory dividers that change the CPU/DRAM bus frequency relationship so one can overclock the CPU FSB without needing faster RAM.

[glc]

True, but overclocking the CPU on one of these things can TAKE ADVANTAGE of faster ram - and this particular 1600 is 1.5 volt and should be very stable.

[nastrow]

i'm planning on overclocking the cpu

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/6...rdwarelist.jpg

this should be the total hardware list then ...
does the ram heatspreader block the cpu cooler ?

[glc]

I don't know - but what you could do is order the parts without the cooler and use the stock cooler for now. Then you could take measurements before you order a cooler and overclock. The stock cooler should be able to handle a mild overclock.

[David M]

What others have done where there is a clearance problem is to cut off the heat sink vanes only where there is a clearance problem with a heat pipe. I don't necessarily recommend this but I would imagine you could get away with it provided you do not cut off too many heat vanes.

I would just get RAM without heat vanes because overclocking RAM does very little for speeding up a computer. The only way to see any difference is to do a benchmark. The difference is only a few percent. That's why you don't notice any difference. If you want to overclock the CPU then used the RAM dividers properly so you don't need to have any heat vanes on your DIMM's.

My Corsair 1600 RAM has no heat vanes and is rated at 1.65 volts...it works good enough.

[nastrow]

What is the difference between kits which are working on 1.5v and kits which are working on 1.65v because the 1.65v kits are cheaper

[David M]

Spend the extra money and get the 1.5 volt RAM. The voltage means it will meet its specifications at that voltage. Lower voltage means less heat is produced which lengthens its life.

[Nikon]

on the i7-870 in my antec 1200, i OCd to 3.3 GHz on the stock cooler and ran the prime95 torture test and saw temps about 85c. definately warm, but still has a bit of room. i wont push it more than that without a better cooler.

[David M]

85C for a CPU is really pushing it. I would say it has no more room. It does not matter which HSF you put on it, temperature is temperature as far as the CPU is concerned.

The actual temperature that Intel or AMD recommends is listed in its data sheet.

Thermal Management for the Boxed Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor, Boxed Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor and the Boxed Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor

[nastrow]

hey

thx evryone for the advice i have just put the list together and bought it

gtrz nastrow