Building my first desktop...help! - Page 2

with a fan controller, either that they remain at full speed unless they are 4 pin fans.

I recommend the Zalman cooler I posted (9700) over that artic freezer.I have pulled 3.85GHz off of air with that cooler & Zalman is a highly recommended HS manufacturer.

Yes if you buy a CPU through newegg it will come with a stock HS w/thermal paste already applied to the base of the HS. It will run warmer than it would w/a 3rd party HS, but it would be fine as long as you don't oc more that a few hundred megahertz. In addition, under load the CPU fan will be louder because it is a smaller fan running @ a higher RPM.

Remember Desktop procs have very different temp tolerances than laptop procs do. A high temp on a desktop proc is 60c, 65c is getting dangerous.

W/ a fan controller your fans are going to run on high all the time unless they are 4 pin fans.

As far as quad core, overall Dual Cores are faster in single threaded apps, OC better, and are generally all you need. Unless you are doing some crazy multitasking or high end graphics rendering you don't need a QC. 95% of the time half the cores are just going to remain idle.


If you don't go SLi a full tower is still fine. A mid tower will work, you just need to make sure the lower drive bays are removable, both for installing the 8800 & to help with cable management. If you do not go SLi, there are some great boards out there that are highly rated (P5K-Deluxe w/Wifi) that offer exceptional performance & upgradability.

That viewsonic is a very beautiful and impressive monitor. I wish I could afford one lol. Anyways as far as a soundcard goes why is no one interested in the Creative X-Fi series?
Here's a good deal on one with a dedicated onboard proc.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006

Not bad considering the Elite Pro version is $260 w/ the I/O breakout box. I have that same soundcard and its great!

The reason I did not grab an X-fi is simple, the audigy 2 provides all you need & you can get one for around $20 lol.

The thermaltake armor will be a great case. I am going to be using that for my system as well and it really seems that airflow couldn't get any better. Also sol, after reading about your 9700 zalman CPU fan, I find that I can't resist going for it. I'll be going with the Q6600 as my processor just because it's going for cheap right now and if apps begin hiking up into multiple cores, I'll last longer without having to go in and playing around with things.

Also, the sited X-fi card you recommended is probably what I was going to get but should I really just go for the audigy ZS? I'm not sure now

Yeah, that should be fine for quad core without SLI. Enjoy your upcoming system. Should be awesome!

yeah it should be more than powerful enough to power your system.

As far as the Audigy, go for the cheaper one. I have yet to see a real benefit in the newer models. The audigy 2 ZS platinum is a great card.

also that mobo you picked is a mini-atx board. you need to look at the PK5/PK5 Deluxe
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...overclock.html

There is one review. just type P5K review & you will see a ton of reviews, all of them good. It offeres excellent upgradability. It is future proof, being able to support the new 1333 FSB procs & 1333MHz + memory in it's native mode.

you can get the regular p5k which drops wifi & a few other small things. You can run comparisons on the Asus website.

Asus P5K-VM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131187
I just picked the cheapest one. Could someone please explain the difference between all of the P5K's? Which one is the best? Whats the difference?

-See my previous post

Case
Thermaltake Armor Series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133154
Good reviews? Anything cheaper I could get?

-Solid case

PSU
OCZ 600W GameStream
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002
Good reviews? Anything cheaper I could get?

-that should work just fine

RAM
Patriot Extreme 2gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220144
Is this quality RAM?

-yeppers, OC's great, runs 1066 @ 5-5-5-15/800 4-4-4-12

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115029

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144415
Basic HD that I can always upgrade later

GPU
EVGA GeForce 8800GTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130072
Its all about the 28"[/quote]

yes, it's called uATX It is a small form factor board. trust me you don''t want it, it has onboard video. (G33 chipset). The motherboard is the last place you want to skimp. Everything rides on the performance & upgradability of it. It is a budget board. I do not recommend it.

Form factor
uATX 9.6" x 9.6"


Form Factor
ATX 12.0" x 9.6"'

2.4"x9.6" is a lot of real estate on a mainboard.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but on the topic of motherboards...Sol, would you recommend the basic P5K board, or do you think I really need to jack it up to a P5K deluxe?

1) Wifi adapter ( can act as an AP)
2) Black PCB
3) Advanced BIOS Options
4) 6 internal Sata Ports vs 4
5) 10 USB ports vs 12
6) Bigger HS solution
7) Dual LAN
8) ICH9R
9) Better Audio Codec + Optical Audio Jack
10)RAID controller
11)2 external eSATA ports
12) **Most Important I would say** Better OC?

lol I think thats it.

I'm just following the link you provided in your first post which is a uATX (mini ATX) board

Motherboard:
Asus P5K-VM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131187
I just picked the cheapest one. Could someone please explain the difference between all of the P5K's? Which one is the best? Whats the difference?