Will this PC work if I buy all the parts ...

[TheWakeUpCall]

Heya,

I will appreciate any help so thank you in advance. I am supposed to be advising my friend on how to put together a gaming PC, and I just wanna get it right so that I haven't wasted his money. I have bought components and stuff before, but I've never put together a new PC from scratch before.

Ok right, these are the components and their specs, so please tell me if they will work. Thanks for any help.

Processor:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 S775 3.0ghz 4mb Cache 1333FSB

Motherboard:

Gigabyte S775 Intel P35 Express ATX Audio Lan -

url: Click Here


Audio Output

Audio Codec
Realtek ALC889A

Compliant Standards
High Definition Audio

Sound Output Mode
7.1 channel surround

Type
Sound card

Cache Memory

Type
None

Header

Compatibility
PC

Model
GA-P35C-DS3R

Packaged Quantity
1

Product Line
Gigabyte

Key Information

Audio
High Definition Audio (8-channel)

Network
Gigabit Ethernet

Storage
ATA-133
Serial ATA-300 (RAID)

Storage Ports Configuration
1 x ATA, 8 x SATA

USB Ports Configuration
12 x USB

Mainboard

64-bit Processors Compatibility
Built-in

BIOS Type
Award

Chipset Type
Intel P35 Express

Compatible Processors
Celeron D
Core 2 Duo
Core 2 Extreme
Core 2 Quad
Pentium 4
Pentium 4 Extreme Edition
Pentium D
Pentium Extreme Edition

Data Bus Speed
1333 MHz

Form Factor
ATX

I/O Controller
Intel ICH9R

Multi-Core Support
Dual-Core / Quad-core

Power Connectors
24-pin main power connector
4-pin ATX12V connector

Processor Socket
LGA775 Socket

RAID Features
Intel Matrix RAID Technology

Supported RAM Speed
PC2-5300
PC2-6400
PC2-8500
PC3-10666
PC3-6400
PC3-8500

Supported RAM Technology
DDR II SDRAM
DDR3 SDRAM

Mainboard Features

Additional Connectors (Optional)
8 x Hi-Speed USB

BIOS Features
ACPI 1.0b support
DMI 2.0 support
SMBIOS 2.3 support

Hardware Features
Chassis intrusion detection
DualBIOS
Q-Flash
Ultra Durable 2

Hardware Monitoring
Chassis fan tachometer
Chassis temperature
CPU core temperature
CPU fan tachometer
CPU overheating protection
Power supply fan tachometer
System voltage

Miscellaneous

Compliant Standards
Plug and Play
RoHS

Modem

Type
None

Networking

Data Link Protocol
Ethernet
Fast Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet

Network Controller
Realtek RTL8111B

Type
Network adapter

Processor

Installed Qty
0

Max Supported Qty
1

RAM

Features
Two DDR channels

Installed Size
0 MB

Max Supported Size
8 GB

Storage Controller

Controller Interface Type
Serial ATA II

Video Output

Type
None

Windows Vista

Readiness
Certified for Windows Vista

RAM:

Crucial CT2KIT12864AA667 2x1GB PC2-5300 NonECC CL5

Graphics:

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB PCI-E 16x Dual-Link DVI

Hard Drive:

Western Digital Caviar 500GB S300 16mb 7200rpm SATA300

OS:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit OEM DVD

DVD Drive x 2:

LG Electronics DVD+-R/RW 18x RAM 12x IDE SATA Black - Drive Only

Floppy:

Sony 1.44MB Internal 3.5" Black

Case & PSU:

Dabs Value Midi Tower 400W - Black LCD:

Cabinet (Chassis) Form FactorMid tower Mainboard Form FactorATX Miscellaneous ColourBlack Power Device Power Provided400 Watt24 pin and 4 pin power connectors for the motherboard.


Monitor:

Samsung SM204BW 20" Widescreen Gaming TFT Monitor 1680 x 1050 700:1 6ms DVI Black

A few of the things im concerned with are that the motherboard doesn't state if that RAM will work or not. Also, the graphics card doesnt specifically say it will do 1680 x 1050, so does that mean it won't support it, since it does have a huge list of resolutions it will support, many higher than 1680x1050. Also does the motherboard have the slots for the floppy drive, and also would it have slots for a card reader with a usb slot on the front. Thanks in advance.

Also will this play all the latest direct x 10 games at full specs? That is probably the most important thing.

This build is about £830.

 

[witchy]

Very nice machine, drop the floppy though you'll never use it

If your GFX card can't output to the max res of the monitor then there's really no point in paying extra for a top end card since you won't be able to see it running in full glory at it's maximum resolution.

Your choices are..

1. make sure the max res of the card an monitor are the same
2. spend less on your GFX card if your monitor cannot keep up (many cheaper cards will perfom just as well as the 8800 at lower resolutions)
3. spend more on your monitor to get it up to the max res of the GFX card.

 

[TheWakeUpCall]

I find floppy drives very useful when your computer decides that it doesn't like you and it won't boot. That's the only reason I have it, plus it's £4, so might aswell.

Another question is that I can get a 2.4Ghz Quad Core processor instead of the dual core 3.0Ghz for the same price. I've read that the dual core is a better option, is this true?

 

[dave24]

i would personally get a branded PSU,nothing like a £10 component taking £500 worth of hardware with it.

 

[Ja8on]

I agree with Dave. 400w psu might not be stable enough, look into a 600w with good amps on the 12v rails. Maybe Xilence or Hiper The board does support your ram, not sure if it supports 1333 fsb though. Graphics card is good but not brilliant. if you want high resolutions and high quality settings then I think you need to look at a GTX and on that note if you're gonna run a nvidia card you would be better pairing it with a mobo running an nvidia chipset.

 

[biffo1]

defo get a 600 power supply @ least i paid ove 60 quid for mine well worth it , basically if u have a good speed processor 2 gig of ram a decent graphics card that is compatable with all games , that way u can max out the games , just remember turn off all the fancy crap off vista or xp that u dont need running and u should be ok , i built a top pc for my bro , cost him just over 2600 well worth it to him as he played a lot of games , so dont skimp on parts , and just remember b happy with it as they soon become out of date and would cost any 1 a lot of money to keep up to speed on things
just my opinion

 

[madnlooney]

yeah the gfx card will take alot so upgrade the power to about 600W. also personally id keep the floppy just incase

 

[TheWakeUpCall]

Thanks for your help everyone, greatly appreciated.

 

[d99]

i would try and get at least cl4 ram and not cl5 just to squeeze out a bit more performance

also echo whats said above about generic PSU's being a big no no especially for a gaming rig

 

[TheWakeUpCall]

i would try and get at least cl4 ram and not cl5 just to squeeze out a bit more performance

What does the CL5 and 4 do? I've never really understood it, every time i've bought RAM before my motherboard only supported one type of it. What is it?

 

[mask]

wrong o.s.
xp will be much faster - vista will wreck gaming.

also, try www.ebuyer.com
they will be cheaper than dabs.

 

[TheWakeUpCall]

wrong o.s.
xp will be much faster - vista will wreck gaming.

also, try www.ebuyer.com
they will be cheaper than dabs.

I looked at ebuyer and dabs seemed cheaper.

Also Vista has direct X 10, so it will make gaming especially now that the direct x10 games are starting to be released.

 

[d99]

What does the CL5 and 4 do? I've never really understood it, every time i've bought RAM before my motherboard only supported one type of it. What is it?

CL stands for CAS (column address strobe) latency, which is the number of clock cycles it takes before data starts to flow after a command is received. Low CAS latency at a given frequency is faster than high CAS latency at that same frequency.

The numbers are often written in different orders, but usually the first number is the CAS latency (if it's between 2 and 5, anyway) and that makes the biggest difference out of the 4 numbers.

4-5-4-15 is better than 5-5-5-12

 

[TheWakeUpCall]

ok thankyou

 

[T4i]

I looked at ebuyer and dabs seemed cheaper.

Also Vista has direct X 10, so it will make gaming especially now that the direct x10 games are starting to be released.

'MS is screwing its customers to force an upgrade and you are a pawn in their revenue generation scheme.'

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40913

I'm a gamer but cant stand Vista, it magically turns my very responsive XP system into a Vegas on LSD crawling slug.

I'm reading more and more reports from IT pros that they have 'upgraded' from XP to Ubuntu etc, this is the same reason I dab with Linix now - trying to get a feel before I am forced to stop using the greedy M$ brand.

I didnt know Vista is known in the industry as 'ME II' - LOL! Just compare OpenOffice to M$ Office.

Fast and free or slow and expensive? I feel like more of a pawn using M$ day by day.

 

[mask]

I didnt know Vista is known in the industry as 'ME II' - LOL!

didnt see that,
i did see an italian journalist piss microsoft off by refering to it as a "crome-plated turd" though! LOL