upgrading computer/first build

[alanj]

Hey guys, my first post here. Sorry for the long post, but I have a few questions about my new ish build, and im pretty excited to finally have some money to finish everything to the way I want it.
My friend helped me build a computer (my first custom build, he works tech so he does this for a living) and it was a budget build, but now that I have some money I want to upgrade a few parts, but am not sure of compatibility/fit/opinions.

What im running now:
Raidmax Tornado case w/ crappy free psu
MSI P43 Neo3-F
2X Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 2GB
2X G. Skill 1GB
an old hand me down graphics card
Intel Celeron 2.4 ghz with stock cooler
250 gig WD HDD
Win 7 X64 ultimate

Right now I am happy with the way things are, however I just bought L4D2, and plan on playing Half life and half life 2, so moderate gaming and plan on buying a blu-ray drive and tv tuner card to turn my pc into a slight gaming, mostly entertainment machine.

what I want to upgrade is the CPU cooler so I can OC my CPU to somewhere around 3ghz, upgrade the graphics card and PSU, and buy a tv-tuner card and new case. My questions are,

1) I was thinking of buying either the Antec Nine Hundred, APEVIA X-SNIPER, or AZZA Fantom 900 cases to go along with either the Thermaltake V1, ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7, or the Thermaltake DuOrb coolers.
Which of these combos would fit together (hsf will fit/not fit in a case) and which would you recomend both for a case and for a cooler

2. Will the DuOrb fit on my mobo, im mostly worried about it fitting over the mushkin as its pretty tall.

3. I bought the ZALMAN 9500A cooler, but I cant for the life of me get it to fit on my mobo. The push pin for the n. bridge is directly in the way of the push clip thing for the hsf. Is there a way/should I try to make it fit? or just get a different cooler?

4. Any suggestions for a good graphics card? I was thinking about something in the Radeon 5 series (would the SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) card be good for what im trying to do). Is the 5 series a good way to go or would you guys suggest something different.

5. Would it be worth my time to invest in an audio card? or is the onboard audio good enough? I like listening to music and watching movies, but superb clarity and definition are not necessary

6. What would be a good PSU to get? Im not sure of what wattage I have now, nor what i may need .

Budget wise, anything within the price ranges of what I listed above is where im looking to spend. Like I said, im going to be using my machine mostly for watching tv/blue-ray movies, some moderate gaming, and some very very basic graphic designing.
Thanks in advance for any/all help

 

[zedman3d]

Your motherboards not very very old, my advice is to get rid of the celeron cpu completely as its not even worth overclocking. As for the cooler, the DuOrb is a load of rubbish so dont go for that. You will also need a new PSU for sure, no if's or but's. The case you can keep if you want, doesnt make a difference apart from airflow, i would upgrade the rest of the pc first and only if you have enough money then upgrade the case.

Here are the reccomended options:

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
PSU: Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies
VID: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

If you dont have that much money, then:
CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 Wolfdale 2.7GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
PSU: Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply - Power Supplies [SAME]
VID: Newegg.com - XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[alanj]

Thanks, ill look into those. newegg gave my processor pretty good reviews, and the reviewers said oc'ing up to 3.3 was pretty easy without increasing the voltage. This started out as a budget build so thats why I got that cpu.

Im mainly worried about a cpu cooler, as like I said the zalman I bought just flat out wouldnt fit on my board, so every cooler iv looked at has been push pins, or at least nothing sticking out which pretty much eliminates most of the zalmans. The thing is I dont want to buy another cooler and have it fit on my board, but end up not fitting in my case. But I guess its just trial and error

 

[Fat.Clown]

Intel Celeron E3200 Wolfdale 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
^
is that the one you have?

if you are okay with the temperatures you have right now with the stock processor
you should be able to overclock to 3.0 Ghz easily, no voltage increase = no heat increase

seeing as the e3200 have 12x multiplier

just go into BIOS, raise fsb to 333, drop multi down to 10 and BAM 3.0ghz

-hd 5770 is a good one

-audio card, if you are okay with the sound now then don't get a new sound sound

if you do get one, you need good speakers/headphones to enjoy better sound from new sound card... so if you have crap speakers, it's going to sound like crap anyway

-the power supply zedman pointed out is pretty good, especially if you use the $15 dollar off promo code

brands I like for power supply: Antec, Corsair, OCZ, Enermax, Seasonic, PC power and cooling, Silvestone, Sventeam (there is a few more...)

anything above 380W from any above brand should be able to handle your PC with ease
if you plan on using more than 1 video cards in the future, I suggest something with at least 500 watts










zedman, you forgot to list a number to call for crime stoppers

 

[alanj]

Intel Celeron E3200 Wolfdale 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
^
is that the one you have?

Yeah
Newegg.com - Intel Celeron E3200 Wolfdale 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Stock temps are good. Im not sure how to check them, but i remember when my friend first checked they were good (he said room temp) But that wasnt under any load, so thats why I was looking for a good aftermarket cooler cause Im looking into getting moderately into gaming. Thanks for the OC'ing info, that was going to be the first thing I did once I placed and recieved my new order soon.

Iv narowed down my case choices to either the Antec 900, NZXT Tempest, or APEVIA X-SNIPER. All have really good reviews and have many fans for cooling. Im just debating between the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7, or the Thermaltake V1, its just a matter of if the V1 will fit into what case .

 

[baih777]

microcenter has the antec three hundred on sale now.

Micro Center - Three Hundred ATX Case