New on the forum

[Turner]

Just need some advice please. Been a little out the loop on building computers for the last few years, normally an AMD fanboy but at the moment Intel seem to have the better offerings.

I've just put together a new spec just wondering if you guys could give it the once over.

Antec Three Hundred Cool and Quiet Gaming Case (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+Three+Hundred+Cool+and+Quiet++Gaming+Case+?p roductId=31087)

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 95W G0 Stepping (Retail 775) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Core+2+Quad+Q6600+2.4GHz+95W+G0+Stepping+%28 Retail+775%29+?productId=28356)

Samsung 20x Lightscribe DVD-RW SATA Black (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/Internal/SATA/Samsung+20x+Lightscribe+DVD-RW+SATA+Black+?productId=32533)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Socket+775/Arctic+Cooling+Freezer+7+PRO+?productId=20729)

1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 SATA2 7200RPM 32MB cache (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/1TB+Samsung+Spinpoint+F1+SATA2+7200RPM+32MB+cache+ ?productId=30998)

Asus ATi Radeon HD 4850 512MB PCI-E2.0 (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+4000+Series/Asus+ATi+Radeon+HD+4850+512MB+PCI-E2.0+?productId=32374)

OCZ 600W StealthXStream PSU (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/500w+%2B/OCZ+600W+StealthXStream+PSU+?productId=26933)

Asus P5Q-E iP45 Socket 775 Motherboard (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5Q-E+iP45+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=32296)

OCZ 2GB PC2-8500 Fatal1ty Edition (2x1GB) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+1066+%28PC8500%29/OCZ+2GB+PC2-8500+Fatal1ty+Edition+%282x1GB%29+?productId=32236 )

The only thing I'm not really sure on is the mobo, other than that I'm pretty sure that's a solid spec.

Will probably be looking to upgrade the ram and possibly another 4850 in the future.

[wonderlust]

Hello and Welcome,

Waht about an OS?

[Turner]

Was just going to use my current one for now got windows XP Pro 32bit

Would it be worth moving up to XP 64bit or even Vista 64bit? Not really a huge fan of Vista though.

[wonderlust]

If you are planning going over 2Gb then I would suggest getting Vista 64.

Xp64 isn't well supported when it comes to drivers etc. Obviously major manufacturers have drivers but some of the smaller companies don't.

Vista is fine SP1 and time (so the hardware manufacturers can get used to the new driver model) has sorted almost all of the issues.

You will also get better use from your Quad in Vista as it has better "thread management" than XP

[mlb07165]

If you don't already have fans then throw in a couple for the front of the case. I'd recommend the nexus real silent (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Case+Fans/120mm+Case+Fans/Nexus+Real+Silent+120mm+Case+Fan+?productId=28883) :thumbsup:

[marsey99]

nice looking build.

you might have clearence issues with the heatsink and the nb as asus do big chipset heatsinks.

easy fix tho, small bend on the lower fins and your clear just do it before you fit it.

welcome to the forum too :D

[mlb07165]

I've got the same mobo and heatsink, but instead of bending the fins i turned it so it was blowing air to the hole in the top of the case. Didn't want to ben the fins incase i broke something lol.

[alexnifty]

I've got the same mobo and heatsink, but instead of bending the fins i turned it so it was blowing air to the hole in the top of the case. Didn't want to ben the fins incase i broke something lol.

If you want it blowing from front to back then you will be needing to bend the bottom fin down and snip away the bottom left corner of the plastic fan mount of your heatsink. Thats what I did.

EDIT: And as far as 64-bit OS is concerned then I think you should go for it now, no reason not to unless you really cant afford to. Games [GTA4] are starting to recommend 2.5GB RAM when running Vista and 2GB for XP, we all know you need more than what they recommend.

[coiler]

i didn't get that heatsink/fan as i seen the pics of the bending etc required to fit it, i'm running the stock intel chip which offers the 3 year warranty and its quiet and cools fine.

Good specs by the way.

[Turner]

Thanks for the pointers, will probably go for 64 bit when I upgrade then. Looks like I'm going to have to wait till after Christmas till I get it now, just had to fork out a load of money my car!