Need some Advice and Feedback from a New Builder

[thechemist]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this world of building my own desktop PC, and I have been doing a lot of research, yet there are some aspects I am still unsure of. The ultimate purpose of the computer will be do do some moderate gaming (I would like to play Prince of Persia, Mirrors Edge, and in the future, Diablo 3), with Itunes, Office Suite (Word, Excel), watching movies as normal uses. I am on a budget in Canadian dollars (**** the exchange rates!), around 850.00.

I've read enough to know that I would probably like to get an CPU that I can do a small to modest overclock, and either a ATI 4850 (if budget permits).

CPU - E7300
Motherboard - ASUS P5Q-Pro
DVD-Rom - LG GH22NS30 Black DVD+RW 22X8X16 DVD-RW 22X6X16 DL 16X/12X 2MB SATA OEM
Hard Drive - Seagate 500Gb
Video Card - HIS4850
Powersupply - Corsair TX650W
Ram - ?? (Mushkin, G-Skill, Corsair?)
CPU Cooler (????)
I have a CM690 case already from a friend.

My questions are what is a good set of ram that is fool-proof in setting up (or does not need to be setup), and what is a good inexpensive CPU cooler which would allow me to overclock the E7300, or do I even need a CPU Cooler to overclock it, as is the stock CPU cooler is good enough to do some overclock?

My second need for advice is not about putting together the computer as I am not intimidated by that, but the overclocking the BIOS and anything that is related to the software setup.

1) Once the computer is all put together, do I have to touch the BIOS initially, or do I just load the Operating system and then barring any obvious hardware faults, then I go into the BIOS to start tweaking the settings?
2) If i only want to overclock the CPU, do I have to touch the RAM timings or is the RAM simple enough that once I put them into the slots, I can just leave them?
3) Is it hard to do simple overclocks since I don't really understand all the terminology 100%.

Should I be intimated by overclocking, BIOS and anything related to stress-testing?
Are there any guides to setting up the BIOS and a to-do list for what to do after you build the computer? I appreciate any advice and feedback.

 

[rave_tech]

i would not get a E7300 for the price you should just spend like 40 more and get a E8400
wolfdale is a great processor from what i have heard and seen...as far as memory, get gskill they make great stuff....don't buy a seagate hd....i have heard nothing but problems with them, and western digital makes better stuff...as well as better reviews all over the web ....get the 32 mb cache caviar black from western digital, its on sale at newegg for like 80 bucks....

as far as video is concerned....i like my 8800GT's which are almost the same as the 9800GT's.....

however....after looking over lots of information over the last few days i have come to realize that ATI has come a really long way and the 4870 is a REALLY amazing card, and you definitely should get it!!

the 4870 from what i have seen looks like the most powerful card yet (alongsidenvidia 260 GTX core)

but the 4870 is on newegg for 199, thats a great deal.......

 

[saltynay]

Rave he is working in canadian if you looked at the site you would see there is a $120 difference which is quite significant, and he can't use newegg as its Americans only. There is a Canadian newegg though but different prices

We have quite a few canadians on here so they may see this and reccomend you to specific deal but working from the site.

Cpu is good choice
That motherboard is good especially as it has free shipping bundled. However it is listed twice......
NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 CrossFire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard - P5Q Pro In Canada.
NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 CrossFire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard - P5Q Pro In Canada.
But thats due to your added promo code right? which btw you probably shouldn't post online we are a public forums and if that code is one time usage someone could steal it.
Everything you have chosen is really well picked really can't see any blatant flaws in it.

This is a killer deal after the mail in rebate they are practically giving it away and its not bad memory I have 2 sets of it in my pc atm ram never needs "setting up" its plug an play usually there are a few exceptions you don't have to mess around with the settings unless your overclocking your ram which as a casual user you won' be
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory - TWIN2X2048-6400C4 In Canada.
If your using vista then 4gb is needed and it needs to be vista 64 bit if its xp then 2gb is enough and getting more will give little significant performance increase in games

Cheap and cheerful = NCIX.com - Buy Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro LGA775 2500RPM 45CFM - FREEZER-7-PRO In Canada.
If you want to get that E7300 upto 3.6-3.8ghz though this is one of the best
NCIX.com - Buy Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA775 Heatsink *Fan Not Included* - ULTRA-120-EXTREME In Canada.
It is excessively large though so check case compatibility through looking up case reviews and test rigs. You also need to buy a 120mm fan seperately to clip onto it.

At first boot you need to go into the bios and set the boot priority to the cd drive then put the OS disk in, save settings and restart
Ram you can just put in a leave doesn't have to be fiddled with
Overclocking is easy quite simple just change the fsb in around 5-10mhz increments and the multiplier will convert that into big leaps I think the E7300 has a 9 times multiplier so a initial 10mhz clock will give you a 2.75ghz cpu then run stresss test like prime 95

 

[2142Lifer]

I have always used Seagate hard drives and never had a problem. In fact, they are more RELIABLE than any other hard drive. The WD hard drives have a higher sustained transfer rate usually, but the failure rate on WD is higher as well.

Anyway, for memory to OC with, get CORSAIR (DHX) or CRUCIAL Ballistix (recommend 4GB)
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.ca - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

A less expensive and just as good cooler is from Arctic
Newegg.ca - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

That should leave you about $100 cad left over, so now you can upgrade the CPU to this one:
Newegg.ca - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

If you insist on WD, then:
Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

BTW, I built a shopping cart on Newegg's Canada site, with your complete configuration, using the CORSAIR 4GB kit, and the E8500 CPU, and a WD hard drive, the total came to $972.28

Also, Asus MB's have an automatic overclock function you can set for 5,10, 15, or 20%.
Thats the simplest way.

Usually the biggest drawback is having memory that can handle the OC. The DHX series doesnt have a 1066 version, so use xms or xms2, i posted the link for the original xms.

 

[rave_tech]

I have always used Seagate hard drives and never had a problem. In fact, they are more RELIABLE than any other hard drive. The WD hard drives have a higher sustained transfer rate usually, but the failure rate on WD is higher as well.

Anyway, for memory to OC with, get CORSAIR (DHX) or CRUCIAL Ballistix (recommend 4GB)
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.ca - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

A less expensive and just as good cooler is from Arctic
Newegg.ca - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

That should leave you about $100 cad left over, so now you can upgrade the CPU to this one:
Newegg.ca - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

If you insist on WD, then:
Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

BTW, I built a shopping cart on Newegg's Canada site, with your complete configuration, using the CORSAIR 4GB kit, and the E8500 CPU, and a WD hard drive, the total came to $972.28

thats for you, but if you look on newegg, wd has better reviews and all seagates have the same problems, blowing up...you just got lucky, mine blew up both times, about 15 at my local store blew up over the last 2 years.....never had 1 single problem with WD and i have 5 of their hard drives here, and 1 of them is 7 years old LOL

 

[Puddle Jumper]

thats for you, but if you look on newegg, wd has better reviews and all seagates have the same problems, blowing up...you just got lucky, mine blew up both times, about 15 at my local store blew up over the last 2 years.....never had 1 single problem with WD and i have 5 of their hard drives here, and 1 of them is 7 years old LOL

The last time I checked Seagate had the lowest failure rate of any hard drive manufacturer. I have several negate drives and they all have performed flawlessly. Don't go by newegg reviews, allot of them are written by people who have no clue what they are talking about.

 

[thechemist]

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback! I will go for the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro HSF for the setup, and I'll probably go for the Corsair, G-Skill or Mushkin memory!

I just have a couple more questions for overclocking. For the P5Q-Pro, looking at the BIOS, how do I make sure that when I overclock the CPU, that the memory does not overclock as well, because looking at an image of the Bios overclocking page I don't see where you can Unlink the RAM and the CPU so that only one will overclock and not the other? What would I do? As well. In general could someone explain what the difference and the relationship that FSB Frequency and FSB speed (i think that's correct), because if you have a FSB of 300Mhz and multiplier of 10x you get 3Ghz, but if you can the FSB to something higher, it changes the clock speed higher,like, 1066 will go up to some corresponding number, and vice versa, if you change 1066 to something higher, your FSB to something else. What doe they mean, and what do I have to know to make sure that the motherboard keeps on working.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

You can't unlink the the ram, as you increase the fsb the ram speed will also increase. To keep you ram running at the right speed you have to adjust the memory divider. In that BIOS It looks like you just adjust the DRAM Frequency to get your ram to the correct speed.

This cooler is as good as the AC freezer 7 pro but is cheaper.

Newegg.ca - Rosewill RCX-Z775-LX 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

 

[Michowski]

Every WD drive ive owned ive had gone bad. Same goes for my brother in law and dad. Between the 3 of us, well over a dozen sent back. Then the switch to maxtor (now seagate), I think 2 have gone bad. Im still using mine from years ago before sata became popular and ide was the way. There externals now and still performing flawlessly. All our WD drives have just gave garbage men a job to go to.

 

[rave_tech]

Every WD drive ive owned ive had gone bad. Same goes for my brother in law and dad. Between the 3 of us, well over a dozen sent back. Then the switch to maxtor (now seagate), I think 2 have gone bad. Im still using mine from years ago before sata became popular and ide was the way. There externals now and still performing flawlessly. All our WD drives have just gave garbage men a job to go to.

well then you got lucky because i have a 7 year old WD here right now and its great, i have used WD for years never had a single problem not once...

i can easily prove that seagate a garbage....