First Time Builder - New Build Advice

[Newbieclocker]

Hi all, nice forum!

I am planning a new build. It will be my first. I am interested in getting into the OC game so I chose the components with that in mind. I have never built before and never OC’d either, but am very enthusiastic about beginning. Here’s a list of what I have come up with so far. I am planning on starting my purchases in about two weeks time (hopefully the q9450 and the GTX will be out by then; if not I’ll wait) Does this look all right? Is there anything that I am missing or that won’t play nice together, or that maybe I should do differently? I am interested in having plenty of leg room with regards to how much I can overclock and also in ease of overclocking. I chose the nVidia chipset so I can grab a second card later when the prices drop a bit. I keep changing between the 790i and x48… I can’t decide which one I’d rather go with. I am thinking the 790i so I can at least have the option to go SLI later if I want to. I am still unsure though. I chose that memory because it is only $10 more than the equivalent Corsair DDR3 1333 set. I am very interested in any advice I can get. Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to ask: I have been wondering for a while about BIOS changes and multiple OSs: If I dual boot XP 32, and Vista 64, will the BIOS changes I make to overclock work with both OSs? Or will I need to constantly change BIOS settings to fit whichever OS I plan to boot to? Or is this not really a problem?

CPU: Q9450

EDIT: LOOK WHAT I FOUND: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115039

Memory: CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145200

Mobo: EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813188025

GPU: 9800 GTX

PSU: Thermaltake W0106RU, 700W

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817153039

OS: Vista 64, and XP 32, (dual boot)

CPU fan: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118020

GPU fan: I’ll get one that is meant for the GTX

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811133021

HDD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136012

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148288

Thanks

 

[NobodyNowhereNothing]

Hi all, nice forum!

I am planning a new build. It will be my first.

Great! Well here's a Warm welcome c3d:

(hopefully the q9450 and the GTX will be out by then; if not I’ll wait)

I dont know about US but yes the Q9450 will be out soon,

I chose the nVidia chipset so I can grab a second card later when the prices drop a bit. I keep changing between the 790i and x48… I can’t decide which one I’d rather go with. I am thinking the 790i so I can at least have the option to go SLI later if I want to. I am still unsure though. I chose that memory because it is only $10 more than the equivalent Corsair DDR3 1333 set. I am very interested in any advice I can get. Thanks!

Well .. You have to get a nvidia based board if you are looking to SLI anytime soon .. here are some cons:

1- A little worse overclocking than X38 or P35 based mobos! ( However this has been improved a little on 790i! )

2- Its new, not too many choices!

3- Price! Almost 2 times than a P35 or X38

4- DDR3 - Which is too expensive for the peformance ... DDR2 is great right now! You can get a 4GB 1066mhz OCZ KIT (2*2GB) for less than 150 USD! Which can be overclocked nicely!

Pros:

1- SLI!

EDIT: I forgot to ask: I have been wondering for a while about BIOS changes and multiple OSs: If I dual boot XP 32, and Vista 64, will the BIOS changes I make to overclock work with both OSs? Or will I need to constantly change BIOS settings to fit whichever OS I plan to boot to? Or is this not really a problem?

The Bios settings will be saved and will work with whatever OS you have or will install or etc!

CPU: Q9450

EDIT: LOOK WHAT I FOUND: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115039

I am waiting for 2 of those too! Great CPU .. GREAT Price! ( I have to pay 220pounds meaning about 440 USD for it!! ... Welcome to UK! )

Memory: CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145200

Good memory .. But again its DDR3 .. for half of the price you can get some decent 1066mhz ram .. The real world speed difference will not be that much!

GPU: 9800 GTX

I cant Really comment about that! I have a 8800GTX and it is SWEET!! See this thread .. it will help :

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=21236

PSU: Thermaltake W0106RU, 700W

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817153039

I would change that as my personal experience with them was not so good! ... Go with something like : Corsair TX650W .. it will be enough for your current setup!

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB

http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...to overclock the PC! -- I hope i could help!

 

[Phoenix]

Well, NNN basically said it all, but imo I would have bought a bigger PSU, just for future upgrading purposes (2xGFX, more HDD's etc). And I'd kick the Seagate for a Western Digital any day. I've had plenty of HDD's, but WD is the one that never disappoints. EVER! A bit more noise I hear people complain about, but let's face it, 1-2db more for a disk that will outlive any other brand out there. I've had a 100GB WD-disk for about 9 years, still going stronger than ever.

And if your budget allows it, I say go with the 790i/DDR3.

 

[Newbieclocker]

Forgot about the cooler

Thanks for the responses. I guess I totally spaced the CPU cooler. I thought I wrote it down, I guess not. The one I was planning on was the

ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler – Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835118020

I have had 2 western digital drives myself, and I have to agree that they do seem like excellent drives. I have not had any experience with any other drives to compare with, but I think I will take your advice NobodyNowhereNothing and go with a WD drive for storage too. The reason I chose that particular Seagate was because it had a 32 MB cache instead of the normal 16. I honestly don’t know what good that would do, but I figured it was a bit of future proofing. I like the prices of the DDR2 right now, but I went with DDR3 because I really wanted to go with either the 790i of the X48 platform, and they only take the DDR3. That memory set that I chose is only about $300 after the rebate for 4 GB of PC 12800, so at least it’s not super expensive.

Phoenix, you make a very good point about the PSU, and one that I really hadn’t thought of to be honest about the future upgradeability. I will almost certainly be adding more hard drives later as I need more space. I hadn’t considered needing a bigger PSU because of that. Also, if I ever get a bigger screen (1360 x 780 now) I will want to get a second GTX and that would need more power too like you said. Any advice on just how much bigger I would need? If I wanted to be able to run 2 GTXs and say aobut 5 or 6 HDs? I am interested in a PSU with modular cables. Any advice on a good one? Thanks

 

[Phoenix]

My rig consists of 4 harddrives, 1 optical, 2x8800GTS, a few fans and mobo, cpu and that stuff, and I'm powering it with an Antec TruePower Quattro 1000w PSU, and it works for me. There's power enough for plenty more disks and such, I would believe. But believe me, it sucks when suddenly one day the PC won't start, and you begin scraching your head trying to figure out why, and the PSU is blown. Been there.

 

[Phoenix]

Btw, cache is like a quick access storage. It allows recently used files to be stored in the cache for faster access.

 

[Rastalovich]

Normally I`d be prepared to burst straight in here pronouncing "WWooooaahhh!!! 700W is more than enough".

But you think you may end up with 2 x 9800GTX ? - what sort of power consumption is that on it`s own ?

Either way, 2x 9800GTX with a full game spec`d pc, if you need much more than 800W - I want some serious answers.

I`m sporting 600W atm, with a fair number of drives, plenty of cards and oc`ing, and a *cough* meger 8800GT.. but the power consumption of the 9800GTX isn`t something I know much about. Doubt it would be 50W more than a 8800GT tho.

And possibly more to the point, u`ll need a psu with all the lovely connections. Typically the gfxcards will have adaptor dongle things, but even then, u`ll need molex connectors to plug into them.

 

[NobodyNowhereNothing]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I totally spaced the CPU cooler. I thought I wrote it down, I guess not. The one I was planning on was the

ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler – Retail

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835118020

That is a very good Cooler but if you do want extreme cooling which means better and more overclocking and you can afford it i would go with a ultra 120 extreme! ( Anyone disagrees ?? ) It should cut the temps by almost 10C with a good fan!

-- NNN

 

[nepas]

phoenix should know about hdds see his thread(sorry mate)

as for the psu,if your gonna get a tt get a toughpower as those seem to be a bit more stable,otherwise a tagan or pc&p(did i get that right)

as for the mobo:if you are thinking of sli somewhere down the line then I would deffo reccomend the evga,they have the best after sales and trouble desk bar none(wish I had got an evga instead of asus)

EDIT:bugger forgot to mention the cooler the best choices are the T.R.U.E (as NNN says) or the tuniq tower.imo there are no better coolers than those

 

[Newbieclocker]

That is a very good Cooler but if you do want extreme cooling which means better and more overclocking and you can afford it i would go with a ultra 120 extreme! ( Anyone disagrees ?? ) It should cut the temps by almost 10C with a good fan!

-- NNN

That cooler looks great. The Extreme cooler you mentioned seems to out perform most all the other ones, including the one I was planning on (by 6 C!). Unfortunately for me, the thing is so tall that it will not fit in that monster Thermalake Armor case . Well, I guess it fits, but only after removing the 25 cm side fan that comes with the case I wanted. I found this out by reading the reviews at Newegg for the non extreme version of this cooler . The extreme version is the exact same size I guess, just with 6 pipes instead of four. I wish it would fit, because that sort of extreme option is exactly the type of thing I would like to have in my rig. Thanks for the heads up though :hands:. I wasn’t aware of that particular cooler. I might consider a new case. I really wouldn’t mind getting one that had a motherboard tray actually. But man, this rig is already getting pretty expensive; if I chose a different case, it would have to be about the same price (or less) which is around $160 US (and looking good wouldn’t hurt either! ) Anyone have any suggestions?