Conroe Build

penguin001

New Member
i'm going to be building a new computer fairly soon and was thinking about going with a conroe processor. To start off i dont really know anything about intel builds and parts that are compatible with them so i come here for some advice. My budget is about $2000. I would mainly use this pc for gaming and multi-tasking.

processor: i was thinking about getting the E6700

Mobo: i have no clue what is compatible w/ that and what isnt

Ram: again, no clue about compatiblity issues and which one would be the best, but i do want to get 2gigs of ram

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130016

PSU: not sure which ones are good and which ones aren't.

OS: i want windows media center but i dont know if thats compatible with everything

Case: maybe the p180, not sure yet

HDD: any suggestions on this would be great too.

well that about covers everything i have in mind. i already have a monitor and keyboard and mouse so suggestions on those arent necessary. thanks for helping me out too.
 

34erd

New Member
My take on things :p

  • Intel D975XBX "Bad Axe" - $259.99
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 - $568.00
  • G.Skill DDR2 800 2GBHZ - $239.99
  • Sapphire Radeon X1900XT - $319.99 after $30.00 MIR
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB (SATA 3.0Gb/s) - $94.99
  • OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt - $139.99 after $20.00 MIR
  • NEC 3550A - $30.99


  • Total - $1653.64 after MIR

I left out things like the HSF, case, and OS but you have plenty of room left in your budget for them.

Some notes; Wait untill monday before you buy, newegg should start selling C2D by then. Also, the motherboard I picked out is a good overclocker but its a bit lacking in memory voltage options. You can do a pencil-mod to fix that but if you dont want to void your warenty and possibly harm your motherboard go with the mobo in monkeysims' build.
 

m0nk3ys1ms

Active Member
34erd said:
My take on things :p

  • Intel D975XBX "Bad Axe" - $259.99
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 - $568.00
  • G.Skill DDR2 800 2GBHZ - $239.99
  • Sapphire Radeon X1900XT - $319.99 after $30.00 MIR
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB (SATA 3.0Gb/s) - $94.99
  • OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt - $139.99 after $20.00 MIR
  • NEC 3550A - $30.99


  • Total - $1653.64 after MIR

I left out things like the HSF, case, and OS but you have plenty of room left in your budget for them.

Some notes; Wait untill monday before you buy, newegg should start selling C2D by then. Also, the motherboard I picked out is a good overclocker but its a bit lacking in memory voltage options. You can do a pencil-mod to fix that but if you dont want to void your warenty and possibly harm your motherboard go with the mobo in monkeysims' build.

Hmm, or what about my build, but with your memory?
 

penguin001

New Member
thanks for the replies. im not much of an overclocker, mainly because i have no clue how to go about doing it, so i think im gonna go w/ the asus board. also is the ati card a much better choice than the nVidia? Also one more quick question. i've always wondered how having two hard drives works, for example i understand that when u install games u pick where u want it to go, but what about files that dont allow u to choose and they just save automatically, which hard drive would they go to? not sure if that makes sense.
 
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bball4life

New Member
monkeysims said:
Hmm, or what about my build, but with your memory?
Definately not your psu, that OCZ is a great psu. And you really don't need a raptor harddrive, and if you do you really only need the like 74gb version. But other then that either build would be very good.
 

baballin328

New Member
penguin001 said:
im not much of an overclocker, mainly because i have no clue how to go about doing it, so i think im gonna go w/ the asus board.
If you don't overclock go with the bad axe. its cheaper. if you decide to overclock you can just volt mod it and it will overclock well. Also the x1900 is slightly better than the 7900.
 

Bobo

banned
bball4life said:
Definately not your psu, that OCZ is a great psu. And you really don't need a raptor harddrive, and if you do you really only need the like 74gb version. But other then that either build would be very good.
Well the OCZ has 72A....and the XClio has 54A. I would go with the OCZ

Hmm, or what about my build, but with your memory?
34erd's memory is better.

thanks for the replies. im not much of an overclocker, mainly because i have no clue how to go about doing it, so i think im gonna go w/ the asus board
I would also do the same.

also is the ati card a much better choice than the nVidia
It's really a tossup, but I would go with the ATI cause it's cheaper.

Also one more quick question. i've always wondered how having two hard drives works, for example i understand that when u install games u pick where u want it to go, but what about files that dont allow u to choose and they just save automatically, which hard drive would they go to? not sure if that makes sense.
You don't pick a hard drive. There are things called partitions, which are logical hard drives inside the real ones. Look here for some info.
 

34erd

New Member
If he's not going to be overclocking theres no real need for either of those motherboards, or the RAM I suggested.
 

JG30

New Member
1.) Don't get a motherboard until the nForce 570 and 590 boards come out. Right now you will be paying $250 for a board that should cost $100. The 570 and 590 boards will be $150-$200 and should be out soon enough.

2.) If you go with an nForce 590 based motherboard you want RAM with EPP as it takes advantage of this a LOT. The Corsair RAM listed is better for this reason (or at least from what I can tell because the GSkill does not say it has EPP). For a short list of RAM so far with EPP go here and look....http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html

3.) If you are following what I am telling you then you will have Nvidia Sli (Dual and Quad) support on your motherboard. For that reason I would go with an Nvidia GPU.

4.) Get a powerful PSU now so you won't have to worry about it later. Your going to have to decide how far you are going to go with this computer. Like if your going to upgrade to somethign better later. If so take this into consideration. I would at LEAST recommend an Sli certified PSU since from a money comparision there is not much of a difference and it allows you to upgrade. If you think your ever going to go Quad GPU then take that into consideration now and save yourself moeny down the line. I don't thik either PSU listed is SLi certified.

5.) For a hard drive there is really no reason to get a raptor 10,000 or 15,000 RPM drive. They are more likely to go bad faster and cost more for less space. A good SATA hard drive would be sufficent. What I would look for is a large hard drive with 16MB cache SATA 3Gb/s. Newegg has a GREAT assortment of sizes on these all at VERY good prices.

6.) If your not going to overclock then your really going to sell yourself short. Overclocking is NOT that hard. It's simply going into the BIOS and messing with Front Side Bus (FBS), sometimes your multiplier which simply is the number your multiplying your FBS by to equal your processors speed, and then more advanced messing with voltage numbers. You can get a TON of more power out of all these chips just by messing with the multiplier and FSB which is as simply as a few few strokes and about 5 minutes. You should really look into it or your not going to be as satisfied with your computer as you think. The Conroe is all about overclocking. I might advise you to look at something else if you don't. If you go conroe and you have the money stay at or above the E6600 for the 4MB cache.

7.) The p180 is a nice case especially for the money. But don't sell yourself short. Remember a case can last you forever if you pick one you really like.

8.) Media Center will work fine. Any OS based for windows systems will work. You will probably want to check out Windows Vista once it comes out as well as it will offer everything media center does and more. For now I'd say find ways around actually buying a OS...at least until Vista comes out. No point in wasting money if your gonna want to upgrade it anyways.


Those are some of my thoughts. Take them how you want and good luck.
 

34erd

New Member
2.) If you go with an nForce 590 based motherboard you want RAM with EPP as it takes advantage of this a LOT. The Corsair RAM listed is better for this reason (or at least from what I can tell because the GSkill does not say it has EPP). For a short list of RAM so far with EPP go here and look....http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html
EPP has absolutely no performance improvements. It autosets RAM latency's, something which most people are capable of doing themselves, and something which overclocker will tweak themselves. If anything the G.Skill RAM is better because its got Micron D9 IC's, not worse because it doesn't have EPP. Of course if hes not overclocking he might as well go with the cheaper set...
 

JG30

New Member
Im sorry but I completly disagree with you. EPP does make a tremendous difference ESPECIALLY in increasing your overclocking abilities.

Believe what you want I have no time to argue.
 

34erd

New Member
How will it increase your overclocking ability? If your an overclocker your generally gonna be setting timings to what you want, experimenting, tweaking... I see no advantage. Regardless of EPP the G.Skill RAM will simply clock further. EPP is meant for people who dont want to mess with voltage, timings etc.
 
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