My first build.......EVER!!!

[Merlin7777]

CPU: E6600
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH
Ram: 2GB Team Group DDR2 667 3-3-3-8
Heatsink:Ultra 120 + Panaflo Medium Speed: 89cfm 35.5 dBa
Video Card:x1900xt 256mb or 7900GTO if available for cheaper than the ATI
HDD:Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb 16mb cache SATA 3.0
Case:Antec Super Lanboy
Monitor: Benq 19", 1280*1024, 2ms response, 700:1 contrast ratio
Sound Card: X-Fi Xtreme Music
DVD drive: NEC 3550, fastest thing on disks interms of DVD ripping.
EDIT: PSU: Fortron 700w GLN or GLX, I can't remember.
So, what do you guys think? Have I forgotten anything?

[Captain Helghas]

Yeah, update your sig. ;)

I think you might find a better responsiveness with a second 7200.10 rather than a sound card.

[redrumy3]

CPU: E6600
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH
Ram: 2GB Team Group DDR2 667 3-3-3-8
Heatsink:Ultra 120 + Panaflo Medium Speed: 89cfm 35.5 dBa
Video Card:x1900xt 256mb or 7900GTO if available for cheaper than the ATI
HDD:Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb 16mb cache SATA 3.0
Case:Antec Super Lanboy
Monitor: Benq 19", 1280*1024, 2ms response, 700:1 contrast ratio
Sound Card: X-Fi Xtreme Music
DVD drive: NEC 3550, fastest thing on disks interms of DVD ripping.

So, what do you guys think? Have I forgotten anything?
congrats wish i can go core2duo =[ lets good to me i would get x1900xt :)

i would get the 320gb version of ur hdd

[RangerXLT8]

Is it built or are you about to order the parts? I say get the P5W64-WS instead of the P5W DH. Much better MB.

And yes I'm hatin' on the P5W DH even though I use it because it refuses to run stable over 400FSB, when far cheaper boards like the DS3 run 500FSB out of the box. 400FSB is enough for most people, BUT for a benchmarker it's just not enough.

[wa77ss]

P5W DH doesnt have enough FSB for the 6600 if you want to overclock it. P5B would be a better choice, or better yet, the P5WS64 as Ranger said :D

RAID 0 HDD's > XtremeMusic

[Merlin7777]

Well, I have ordered most of the parts except that ram, motherboard, and HSF. I have looked at the p5w64, but I am not so sure. I am new to overclocking as well, so I went for features vs fsb. Let me take a second look.

So another/different harddrive huh? Well I will eventually, Im sure, but I am still a senior in high school, working one day a week, so am creating my base right now =)

And one hell of a base it will be!

Let pull up that motherboard. Hold on a sec.

[Merlin7777]

One thing with raid 0 is that i have never done it before so it scares the **** out of me. But I might go with it, I am not sure yet.

[Merlin7777]

Holly Crap! That p5w64 adds another $100 to the hole shpeel. The thing is, I am going for one video card right now, and probably no more than two into the future. So I don't need 4 pci-e slots. Plus, again, it is frackin' expensive! Maybe, in a year or so, if i need it and the price has dropped at least $150, then I will upgrade to the asus p5w64. But right now, I am looking at staying under $2000. $1900 preferably.

[Brando]

Check out the benq dw1655 for a dvd burner. Congratulations on the new computer btw. My first build was this lousy single core AMD. I'm jealous.

[wa77ss]

P5B Deluxe would still be a better choice than the P5WDH. I had one, and it barely had enough FSB for a 6700, much less a 6600.

Dont let RAID 0 scare you, its a piece of cake. P5B is about the same amount of money as a P5W, so id go for that instead.

Cheers for a fellow senior :beer:

[Rattle]

nice selections man !

you may want to consider this ram here to save a few buxs its the same ram really.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820148017

if your getting a 6600 then the pw dh deluxe's 400fsb is plenty
400x8 3200 or 400x9 3600 which wont happen anyway lol
If you want a better ocing motherboard which will run kentsfield later than the p5b deluxe is cool too but with 6600 I doubt you'll use all that fsb especially when anything after 400 on the ram isnt anything but a number anyway.

we also have 2 new boards on the horizon ....

right now you can get 2x250gb perps for $160 or 2x320 for $190
I would get 2 for raid 0 !

Just my 2 cents.

[Merlin7777]

Check out the benq dw1655 for a dvd burner. Congratulations on the new computer btw. My first build was this lousy single core AMD. I'm jealous.
Ha, see that is what you get for buying to early! Patience is the key.

P5B Deluxe would still be a better choice than the P5WDH. I had one, and it barely had enough FSB for a 6700, much less a 6600.

Dont let RAID 0 scare you, its a piece of cake. P5B is about the same amount of money as a P5W, so id go for that instead.

Cheers for a fellow senior
Seniors Rule! Also, I think that the P5B is cheaper, but how is it on features?


Also, Rattle, is that ram practically the same? Will it overclock as well as some of the results recorded on the forums for the Team Group ram? It looks to have practically the same specs, except 3-3-3-12, but I don't even know what that last number means anyway.

EDIT: I looked at the P5B delux, and it is cheaper, but it uses the 965 chipset, which I heard somewhere that it performs worse per clock. Is that true?

[wa77ss]

Ya, Rattle is right. 400FSB is plenty for daily use, more than enough. But if you want more (IE benching/phase change) I doubt the P5W would be enough.

last number in timings (3-3-3-12) is called Tras. It doesnt have much affect on performance at all. When looking at RAM, the most important timing in my mind is the first one, aka CAS (3-3-3-12).

P5WDH or P5B Deluxe. If you want two vcards, P5W is better because it has two 16x PCIE lanes, versus the P5B's 16x8x.

[Merlin7777]

Yeah I am going more for a 24/7 clock. I am not trying to push just for benchies. I am a video encoder so I like my rock solid speeeeeeed! Otherwise, problems occur. I am only going for the single card right now, but I might upgrade to 2 in the future. However, I doubt it. I am not that hardcore a gamer and I can get by on 30fps, as I have done for years now. So again it is stuck between the P5B Delux and the P5W DH. The only real reason the P5b is still in the race is because it costs less.

I still think the P5W DH will outperform clock for clock, so I am leaning towards it currently. Although, I have heard people getting 445 fsb from their p5w dh's. I am planning to do the AS5 + 40mm fan mod on it as well, for maximum stability. And overclocking I suppose.

Also, keep in mind I will only be running this thing on air. No water. Atleast not right now.

On a seperate note, that ram look great! thanks for the deal guys! Saved me some bucks!

[Rattle]

my rig does 3.0 on stock volts and this board seems quicker and boots better than the other 4 boards I have played with... and its the old rev also.

[greenmaji]

Whats your Vcore and Coretemp limit goal when overclocking?
That should answer the usefull FSB question :)

[Merlin7777]

Well, interms of Vcore I would start to get a little scared going over 1.55v
Core temp is another matter. I plan on lapping both the HSF and the CPU eventually, one I have the balls. So my temps will range up to anything in the high 50's or so. I believe those are pretty safe stats. Please, correct me if I am wrong though.

[Merlin7777]

Okay now I am leaning towards the P5B, after reading this here:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Ridiculously-Confused-C2D-offerings-ftopict205871.html
975 has better Crossfire, native IDE but is an older chipset.
The ICH8/ICH8R southbridge paired with 965 is faster than the ICH7/ICH7R with 975 & you get more SATA & USB ports.

Also, I will still be able to use my DVD drive on that ATA 100 thing right?

EDIT: I just wish there were more DVD drives at a decent price with SATA 3.0 on them.

[Rattle]

i wouldnt go by what they say toms was saying that a x2 4800 was faster than a fx-60 for him too lmao

i have had raid on the ICH7R and the ICH8R they perform identical with these drives, as far as anything else pertaining to the southbridge they were saying HD transfer and USB transfer was faster on the p5b simultaneously over the p5w and I dunno what else could be faster or slower... I ahve identical performance bewteen 2 p965's and this 975x as far as I can tell.

[Merlin7777]

who cares !
I care!

Just kidding. I want good performance at a price I can afford. Huh, I sound like a car commercial. Anyways, that is besides the point. It looks like the P5B is the board for me right now. I can curse not getting the dual video cards later, if that ever happens. Thanks for your help guys!

Any other thoughts/suggestions?

[greenmaji]

1.55Vcore.. tops OC ~3.7 and thats giving you a few mhz
411FSB
The DH should do ya.
(and if your reading that and you bought your DH before you could buy a retail C2D, your boards FSB doesn't count :p J/K )

[Merlin7777]

Ha! It is funny you should say that, after I got all decided on the P5B. Well, it costs less and I can easily reach that FSB so it looks like the P5B. So, no remote control for me. I didn't really need it anyways. I mean, I am going to be withing touching distance of the rig whenever I am in the room anyways.

Thanks, by the way, Greenmaji. And who knows, maybe ill up the voltage somemore later on.

[Rattle]

1.55Vcore.. tops OC ~3.7 and thats giving you a few mhz
411FSB
The DH should do ya.
(and if your reading that and you bought your DH before you could buy a retail C2D, your boards FSB doesn't count :p J/K )


haha I actually traded my p5b deluxe wifi for this board, just to play with it, and I had dreams of x1900 crossfire for a short time.

with these new boards coming I feel this one will be traded soon also

[reboot]

dont be sceerd of any raid, dude

The mother board manuals give you a step by step install guide, not much is different then regular sata, except a driver, pressing f6 durring the windows install, and installing a matrix raid software when you are in the os. The toughest thing is to know to pick a large stripe, imo.

Its less scarry then puting any creative labs software on your pc, thats for sure :P

[batboy]

P5W DH doesnt have enough FSB for the 6600 if you want to overclock it.

This statement is utter nonsense. The Asus PW5 DH will easily do 420-425 FSB. That's about 3.8 gig with the E6600. Most people with air cooling are getting stable overclocks of about 3.2-3.6 gig with the E6600. Even 3.6 gig is only 400 FSB. I have watercooling and I can only get 3.6 gig stable with sane voltages on my E6600 (I can do 3.8 gig with really high voltages for short benching sessions). Unless you are using super cooling, the PW5 DH or AW9D will work just fine. Plus, the i975 chipsets are proven to be a little faster than the i965 versions.

[Merlin7777]

the i975 is a little faster than the i965?
By how much? Because if i am just going to overclock the sucker, than I can sacrifice a few points in some benchie if it saves me $>40.

Thanks for the info BatBoy. What kind of voltages are you running? Or anyone for that matter.

Edit:Now that I take a second look at the P5W DH, it doesn't seem to have any features that appeal to me besides 2 IDE ports, and the Intel 975X chipset, which I am not quite sure on in the first place. That Ez Backup thing is kind of cool to, except I look at it as the cheater's raid. I think I will do some more research on raid right now, just to brush up.

[deathman20]

Its like 1-3% difference between the chipsets in benches, real world who knows.

I was deciding between the 2, I chose the P5B more or less to have more flexability if I decided on different chip or something in the future or to run low multi high FSB. Besides I got my P5B-Wifi when there was a discount so I saved like $60.

Both boards are good, crossfire can happen if you really want that option in the future even with the P5B (just will be slightly slower then on the P5W boards).

If you want to save a few bucks definatly get the P5B. I love it personally, even though I second guess myself here and there about the P5W for benching purposes :)

[batboy]

The i975 benches about 2-3% faster over the i965. Not a lot, but I like snagging anything to gain a little more performance. If you are on a tight budget, then cheaper is better for you (if it has all the features you want).

I'm not saying anything bad about the P5B series mobo, they are good overclocking boards. Just wanted to correct a fallacy about the P5W DH paired up with the E6600. Now if you were getting the E6300/E6400, then I would advise against the i975.

Nothing wrong with the i975 chipset, it's been around for a while and is far more mature than the i965 chipset. Another option might be the Abit AW9D for $200 at Zipzoomfly (if you can live with only one PCI slot). I have the Max version of that mobo (see siggy).

By the way, I use 1.525v (BIOS setting, 1.5v actual) to run 3.6 gig. The later E6600 CPUs available now seem to be overclocking a tad better than mine.

EDIT: I swear I didn't see Deathman's post before I posted. Almost a carbon copy. ;)

[deathman20]

EDIT: I swear I didn't see Deathman's post before I posted. Almost a carbon copy. ;)

LOL Scary thinking alike or your reading my mind...

[greenmaji]

Something to consider, 3% of 3.6Ghz is 108Mhz!! :eek:

[Rattle]

lol maji you kill me

[Merlin7777]

Thanks for you input guys. I went for the P5B-Deluxe, mostly because of budget and (3%?) performance delta is no real biggy. Also got that Crucial ram plus a second 7200.10 250 gb for Raid 0. I went over some old CPU magazine articles on the subject of setting up raid and now I am no so scared. Thanks agian guys.

Now the only thing I have left to order is graphics card and lapping kit.

[batboy]

Looks good.

[Merlin7777]

Muchas Gracias!

I need to jump on that Heatsink right now though. I am kind of being lazy.

[greenmaji]

lol maji you kill me

I try :beer:

And looking good Merlin7777 :thup:

[wa77ss]

This statement is utter nonsense. The Asus PW5 DH will easily do 420-425 FSB. That's about 3.8 gig with the E6600. Most people with air cooling are getting stable overclocks of about 3.2-3.6 gig with the E6600. Even 3.6 gig is only 400 FSB. I have watercooling and I can only get 3.6 gig stable with sane voltages on my E6600 (I can do 3.8 gig with really high voltages for short benching sessions). Unless you are using super cooling, the PW5 DH or AW9D will work just fine. Plus, the i975 chipsets are proven to be a little faster than the i965 versions.

Ya, Rattle is right. 400FSB is plenty for daily use, more than enough. But if you want more (IE benching/phase change) I doubt the P5W would be enough.

Now was that really necessary ?

[greenmaji]

P5W DH doesnt have enough FSB for the 6600 if you want to overclock it. P5B would be a better choice, or better yet, the P5WS64 as Ranger said :D

RAID 0 HDD's > XtremeMusic

WaTTz, this is the post he was refering to, and yes you ended up correcting yourself but the flow of convo. had already gone in the DH is not good enough direction by then. He was just trying to clarify that its plenty for reasonable 24/7 overclocks with a E6600.

[Merlin7777]

And looking good Merlin7777 :thup:

Thanks man! I can't wait to finally put this thing together. I wish that the shipping companies shipped over the weekend. And newegg processed. Oh well, got to be happy with what you got I suppose.