New build

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by DeanOlicious

The intel Proc I've decided on comes with one, so it's not an issue anymore ;)
I'll worry about cooling later down the road when I do start tinkering.

Aye, I think that is the best route, really. Because until you start messing around with overclocking, you won't know for sure just what kind of particular avenue you want to go down when you are shopping for cooling equipment. These days, there are just so many options to explore, so there is no reason to tie yourself down now with one and then find out later you really should have sprung for that phase-change setup instead. =)

[DeanOlicious]

yup, I don't think I'll be doing any drastic tweaking, but I'll definately be asking questions when I come to that road.

[extremely_volatile_ant]

watch newegg.com and your local tech store ads (bestbuy, staples, office max, circuit city, etc.) for deals on HDDs. a good price would be right around 30 cents/gigabyte. if your lucky you can snag a drive for less, though. the sweet-spot seems to be between 250 GB and 350 GB for $100.

[screwballl]

I am building myself a PC here shortly after Christmas (as long as I can sell one I got ready)


This is my wish list so far, there will probably be a few things change dhere and there

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion...e=Late06+build

the cpu and memory will probably change... looking at the E6400 now instead of the Xeon 3040 Conroe chip.. and memory prices hopefully will go down shortly before/after Christmas

[extremely_volatile_ant]

if you can, pick up speakers/HDDs and sound cards up locally unless they are cheap enough online to offset the shipping cost.

(it also saves the environment, but you dont have to tell anybody.)

[drew and not u]

Originally Posted by extremely_volatile_ant

(it also saves the environment, but you dont have to tell anybody.)

how do you figure?

[Blondie]

Originally Posted by DeanOlicious

Thanks for the info on the PSU, it's actually the same price for the 700w Gamextream, plue a 25 dollar rebate, so it works out cheaper and better. I'm going to go with the intel core 2 duo based on what you told me, the price difference is negligible since the other board is cheaper anyways. Total price for everything is $801.95
Not bad in my opinion. Any other suggestions are welcome. I'll be ordering in the next three weeks most likely.

Can you post you're final parts list?

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Ditto. I would like to see your components.

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by DeanOlicious

The intel Proc I've decided on comes with one, so it's not an issue anymore ;)
I'll worry about cooling later down the road when I do start tinkering.

To be honest, the Core 2 Duo doesn't even really need much of a cooler. It doesn't even require a fan unless you're overclocked and folding. I agree with garetjax on this; the stock cool is more than sufficient.

Originally Posted by drew and not u

how do you figure?

It's called recycling.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

The Core 2 Duo doesn't even require a fan unless you're overclocked and folding.

That's not necessarily true, Yuri. I know what you're probably referring to, which is the MPC article where they disconnected the fan without issue, but in all likeliness, it was a cherry picked sample. On his new home over at [H], this is what Josh Norem recently had to say:

"I honestly think Intel sends out "special" chips to the press. For example, when I worked at maximum PC, we got the Core 2 Extreme/Duo chips and they also ran without a heatsink fan for hours without any problems.

Then I went out and bought one for myself and even with water-cooling it's sitting here right now at 55C idle (overclocked to 3GHz, but still), and gets up to 70C under load.

There seems to be a major difference in thermals between the pre-release CPUs and the ones that actually get into the retail channel.

This is just based on my own experience, obviously."