Replacing the noise machine for something decent!

yellowbeard · Post by **yellowbeard** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 4:24 pm

Hi all

This is my first post having discovered the site about 2 weeks ago. Its a great site and i have learned so much already.

I have decided to replace the wind tunnel/jet engine i call my pc having run out of ear plugs! I'm not OC'ing or a gamer but would like to be able to play the occasional shoot-em up (and maybe run vista at somepoint in the future)

PLEASE CAN YOU TELL ME IF THERE IS SOMETHING MISSING OR IF CERTAIN BITS WONT FIT IN THE CASE OR SOME OTHER MAJOR MISTAKE LIKE IT WILL OVERHEAT TOO EASILY.

So here's what i think i'm off to buy during the holidays; all advice welcome:

CASE
Antec Solo

PSU
Seasonic S12 430W

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
2 x 2.13Ghz 2Mb Cache 1066 FSB

Motherboard
ASUS P5B-E Motherboard

RAM
Corsair Memory PC4200 2x1GB

HDD
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C 250GB

External HDD (for backing up files + photos)
Western Digital 80GB Portable

Graphics
NVIDIA Fanless 7300GS 256MB/512

DVD Writer
Sony AW-G170ASV 18x DVDÂ±RW

I am new to this so please comment (even if its obvious!)

Thanks YB

Vaiski · Post by **Vaiski** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:21 pm

I'd perhaps change graphics to something like 7600GS. It also comes with passive cooling (Gainward for example) and has a lot more power than 7300.
On the other hand, it costs almost twice as much as 7300..

I also wouldn't pay for factory overclocking (ie. I'd switch e6400 to e6300) and perhaps rather take PC6400 (800MHz) instead of 533MHz sticks, depending on price difference.

The I · Post by **The I** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:27 pm

Pretty much anything looks fine: good case with hdd-suspension, good psu, cool-enough processor, fanless mb and gfx. The only thing I'd advice you is to switch the spinpoint for a wester digital caviar SE16 - it's both quicker and more silent, according to silentpcreview's review.

Other than that just get a good heatsink like the Scythe Ninja. The c2d is quite easy to cool in my experience (at least mine runs very cool even in a sub-perfect case, airflow-wise) and I think you'll be able to do fine even with the ninja run 'passively', that is only with the chassis fan pulling air over it with no fan mounted on the heatsink itself.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:41 pm

Welcome to SPCR!

Looks good to me. The video card suggestion made above seems sensible, too.

yellowbeard · Post by **yellowbeard** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:11 am

thank you for the advice. i was looking at the WD SE16 but read somewhere that the samsungs are a tad more reliable - is this correct or hearsay?

re: cooling via a ninja - can i get away without this for a bit and add it later?

The I · Post by **The I** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:36 am

yellowbeard wrote: re: cooling via a ninja - can i get away without this for a bit and add it later?

Well, that's up to you I guess. But I think that if you use the standard heat-sink that's going to be the part in your computer that you're going to be able to hear (read: want to silence). On the other hand you'll probably come to appreciate the ninja much more if you've been listening at the intel solution for half a year first....

yellowbeard · Post by **yellowbeard** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:29 am

i'm going for the ninja, but have since changed my mind on the motherboard

looking a abits!

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:21 pm

It might not be a bad thing to go with the 7300GS now, since beefier DX10 cards will be out shortly. Also, it never hurts to have a spare cheapo video card lying around when you need a sanity check.

That being said, if you know you're going to be gaming, forget about the 7300 and get a 7600GS or GT. I've been gaming with a 7600GS, and I've been very happy with it.

ronrem · Post by **ronrem** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:00 am

yellowbeard wrote:thank you for the advice. i was looking at the WD SE16 but read somewhere that the samsungs are a tad more reliable - is this correct or hearsay?

re: cooling via a ninja - can i get away without this for a bit and add it later?

Recently had a Western Caviar die after just a bit over a year installed.
My Quantum,actually running the OS,software,has 3 yrs on it and was more active than the Western. Had a small,older Seagate last. I'd try a Samsung over a Western or Maxtor with Seragate a close second.

yellowbeard · Post by **yellowbeard** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:08 pm

cheers beyonder & ronrem, i was told that the 7300 will upgrade itself to 512 with 1gb of ram. as i'm having 2gb this should happen right?