Hey guys,
Im Building myself a new computer and i want to make sure that it will play crysis and call of duty 4 on highest options at a decent speed.

Here are my Specs.

Graphics- Saphire HD4850 512MB PCI-Express
Cpu- Intel core 2 duo Wolfdale E7200 2.53 GHz FSB 1066 3mb --- i heard i could OC to 3.6 no problem --- If its not to hard please tell me if i can achieve this at stalk cooling.
Mobo- Asus P5N-E SLI
Ram-2GB DDR2 800 (1GBx2)
Case- Raidmax Smilodon - Extreme Black Case
Power- 550 Watt Optimax Duel Fan PSU
Hard Drive- Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA
Sound System- Logitech x540 5.1 Speaker w/sub (This is gonna look super sick!!!! 4 Wall mountable speaker 1 center speaker and a Sub woofer baby!)
DVD drive- LG 2-x DVD RW+ - Dual read (wtf is dual read!?!?!)

Feel free to criticize the parts that i have picked and please tell me how much i can OC on stalk cooling.

Thx For your help!

PEACE!

EDIT: Sorry i forgot to mention that i want to use windows XP pro 32 bit

Just a note: your current motherboard is SLI-enabled, not CrossFire, thus your graphics cards won't run in SLI. To achieve that you either go for SLI with 2 nVIDIA cards or chose another motherboard that supports CrossFire and stay with 2 ATI graphics cards. And get another 2 x 512 MB of RAM to keep dual channel intact

Yeah, I suggest getting a Crossfire motherboard. SLI is for NVIDIA, Crossfire is for ATI.

A 4850 is nice, but if you want more performance, I would go for a 4870, but thats up to you.

I would get a 650 watt power supply just to be on the safe side.

2 GB for gaming just doesn't really seem enough these days, and Crysis is a hungry power game, I would get an extra 1 GB just in case.

Everything looks nice.

Ok thank you for the replies guys. im gonna get the 512x2 but can you guys help me with a motherboard?
I need something between.... well... 0 and 150ish.

PEACE!

EDIT: k i found something but its probly gonna suk...but as long as it works il b fine. OCZ Value Pro PC2-5400 1GB 2X512MB DDR2-667 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

For best performance get the SAME ram for all 3GB.

I you think that those speakers are cool, then just look what I have.

Cheers

OMG MARA GO DIE IN A HOLE!!!!!! lol those are sick.
and nitroshift what do you mean by all the same? like brand????
if its possible could you guys find me a mobo...im still lost with that..

Same brand is also recommended, but I think that he was saying about the frequency. Ram in your first post is 800 and second you found is 667.

Cheers

Oh i see... Could you guys find me a good set of ram stuff then..at a good price

Corsair or OCZ are my top picks. Just about any DDR2-800 should do you nicely for that setup (and it won't be the bottleneck for playing Crysis).

By the way - there's no way you're going to be able to push that CPU to 3.6GHz while using the stock cooler. Get yourself one of the following: ThermalRight HR-01+, Noctua NH-U12P, ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme. Match any of those with a Scythe Slipstream 1200RPM fan and you'll have a setup that's relatively quiet and gives great cooling.

Ditch that PSU for a quality brand name. Corsair HX series and Enermax Modu82+ series are good choices.

Motherboard - I'd go with the P5Q Pro (if you want to keep prices down) or the P5K-E. Both are great overclockers and shouldn't cost you too much money.

ok im getting the P5K PRO
and how much could i get out of that CPU with stalk cooling?
Also i was hoping som1 would show me some specific ram because i am beyond pathetic when it come to choosing ram.

OCZ Gold DDR2-800 - $31.99 after MIR.

Thx Zxian that looks good but what about the other 512x2?

After waiting some days I think I´ll post too:

Forget the 2 512MB sticks, they are just not worth it any more. You will pay almost the same for 2x 512MB + 2x 1024MB than for 2x 2048MB. You will "loose" max 768MB of those 4GB when using a 32bit OS depending on chipset/BIOS and what´s hooked up to the mobo.

Look for any brand that is known by you and get yourself none “overvolted” thus none OCed RAM. 1.8volt is the normal voltage for DDR2, if you get 2.0volt RAM that runs 800MHz effective with timings from 5-5-5-15 and above, you will be buying older stock or less good RAM chips. The PCB design on most modules is the same any way.

A lot of people, like Zxian, like OZC RAM, I like ADATA RAM and some others on this board would pick Mushkin...

thank you punto

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

Your just like me right now man, like 2 days ago i ordered a very similiar set up. Lu computers, right? Just wait one second, that power supply. Dude i found this out right after i purchased my rig and now im so p***ed off that i didn't know this. Whatever you do, do not order that power supply. Its generic and that means its crap, makes a lot of noise, and can be damaged very easily along with damaging the rest of your set up too. Dude change it right now, get a good quality psu, trust me its one of the most important parts of the pc.

Was just about to say that. Get a 500W Seasonic, will be more than enough for your system. I have one, and the guy i bought it from ran an overclocked Q6600 and a 9800GX2 on it and it held no problem.

thx alot guys and jabnapper it is from lucomputers il get on changing that right away

Ok so ive bin reading some stuf and reviews and from what ive seen antec stuff is really good.
Then i found this case that comes with a psu and all ive bin seeing is positive reviews.
So tell me what you think and can som1 please answer my overclocking question?

That PSU will be fine. And what overclocking question? I think i missed it.

how much can i overclock the E7200 on stock cooling and what i would need to buy to get it to 4GHz

I dunno about looks, but if you think a good, quality 5.1 sound system goes for 50$... Most of that money of that is for retail sales profit, transport, the fancy box with full color printing, packaging, publicity/marketing, the factory's costs to assemble them, etc. That leaves what, 6$ for the amp, 4$ for the sub, and and about 1$ per satellite speaker or so (the main part of the $ going towards the cheap plastic enclosure). I've never seen even just a subwoofer that sounded good at anywhere near $50. 6 ghetto speakers don't really sound better than 3 better quality ones. The sub is an anemic 5" driver (doesn't move much air, likely doesn't go much below 50Hz), the overall response curve is likely nowhere near flat, and while it probably sounds plenty loud, the specs aren't exactly looking great (I mean, who rates their stuff at 10% THD?). I mean, they probably sound just fine -- for budget speakers.


You already had good suggestions for cooling:

And no one can guarantee you you'll hit 4GHz, no matter what you get. Odds are, you won't quite hit it (more like 3.6 to 3.8 average). To get high overclocks, you'd have to increase the voltage, which most people prefer not to do. If you need more performance, look at the E8400 or such. The extra cache and such should help when it comes to games.

Besides, why lu computers? You'd save around $100 by ordering from ncix (and price matching with directcanada with what's cheaper there). That 100$ savings could go towards something else, like a better set of speakers. They also have a MUCH wider selection of parts.

BTW, no one seems to sell the P5K Pro, and Zxian said P5Q Pro anyways.

It's an alright case. Personally, I'd rather buy case and power supply separately, especially if you're going to go for maximum overclock (which means maximum heat). The Sonata III was advertised as a quiet case, when in fact, it's not really all that special.

If you want excellent cooling performance, get yourself the Antec 900. It's got venting galore and once you start using the bottom mounted PSU layout, you'll never really want to go back. I already mentioned that you should get a quality PSU. Corsair HX series and Enermax Modu82+ are on the top of my list.


As for overclocking - here's the scoop. It's not simply a matter of getting the right heatsink and motherboard. Each individual device overclocks differently. Some chips may hit 4GHz, while others might only make it to 3GHz - regardless of cooling. There's no simple mathematical formula that you plug numbers/parts into, and out pops your overclock. Some people might call it an art - requiring tweaking one way and the other to get the highest numbers.

That being said - my rule of thumb with overclocking is simple. If I decide to overclock a device, I consider that device expendable. You must be willing to accept that a part might die on you even with a "moderate" overclock. Chips are tested at their stock settings and guaranteed to work at those stock settings - not any higher.

If you want the best CPU heatsink you can get - look no further than the ThermalRight HR-01+ (make sure it's the "plus" version). Excellent cooling performance, good mounting setup, and a reasonable price make it something that can't be beat. For an excellent review (and review site), look at SilentPCReview's analysis.

I forgot to mention that im adding the optional 120mm 3 speed fan into that case
would that make a difference?

Btw i was also wondering what the chances were that I'd get the CPU to at least 3GHz?

Optional? That case comes with 2 12cm fans stock and some useless side fans, well, they don´t do much to cooling.

Why don´t you check out an Antec 900 for example?

The additional fans help, but only to a degree. The case itself is pooly designed in terms of airflow. Look at the hard drive cage. It's perpendicular to the length of the case, making it easier to install your hard drives, but it blocks front-to-back airflow (which is what you want). The "three speed fan" that you're talking about is the Antec TriCool. They're alright fans, but not really worth it to buy on their own. You can find other fans that do a much better job of moving air without sounding like a jet engine (which TriCools do at high speed).

3GHz is probably easily attained. The higher you push the clocks, the harder it is to keep the system cool and stable. Simply adding another fan to your case won't change how far the CPU that you get will go.

Crahak for most of my parts i chose NCIX, TDDirect and Direct Canada.
But the price of the E7200 at TDDirect rocked everyone else by 10 to 60 dollars.
I also just wanted to let all of you know that im on a 900 dollarish budget so i cant really afford all these extra cooling systems and things.
And finally...i found this mobo and its looks pretty sick soo..yeah

Note: This case has a 8cm fan that blows from the right side (seen from front) over the harddisks.

Then just get ncix to price match it Besides, making a separate order just for a CPU and paying shipping on that alone, would cost you extra (ncix has it for $10 more, and TD's shipping aint cheap)

Motherboard wise, that's the one Zxian mentioned earlier.

I'd take a couple minutes to re-read some of the mos knowledgeable people's advice. Much like puntoMX and Zxian said, you should look at the Antec 900 instead of the Sonata.

Right... but that still doesn't help the front-to-back airflow that I mentioned. The more twists and turns the air has to take from intake to exhaust - the less efficient the cooling.



@TheZeus - Have another look at your budget. You should be able to get all the components while staying more or less within budget. Here's a rough estimate of regular prices at NCIX for a complete system (minus taxes and shipping).

CPU (E7200) - $170
Motherboard (P5Q Pro) - $150
RAM (two 2x1GB OCZ Gold) - $65
Graphics Card (Diamond ATI 4850) - $190
Hard drive (Western Digital WD6400AAKS - much better than the Seagate you chose) - $110
Optical Drive (Pioneer DVR-212D) - $30
Case (Antec 900) - $100
Power Supply (Corsair HX520) - $105

This brings your total to $920. I'd bet that if you were to find some of these parts on sale, you should be able to get that price down as well. I know for a fact that the WD6400AAKS is on sale right now for less than $90. That takes the total to below $900.

E7200 is actually 139 now, but price matched with this, so $130
P5Q Pro on special for $139
RAM 2x2GB OCZ Gold is 70$ after mail in rebate
Graphics Card (Diamond ATI 4850) - $190
Western Digital WD6400AAKS $90 like you said
Optical Drive ... $30 (there's TONS of others in the $25 to $30 range)
Antec 900 price matched with this, $92
Corsair HX520, if he goes for that model, it's $80 after mail in rebate

So including 2 mail in rebates, his total cost is more like $850 even with 4GB of RAM, leaving 50$ for a better CPU HSF.

...............................................that's.......................................................PERFECT!
thanks alot guys! That basically finishes it all off except for one last thing.
Instead of a 500gb hard drive ive decided that i only need a 250 or a 320 because i cant even fill up my 80gig .
what brand and model do you guys suggest?

btw thx alot for finding me that 2x2GB, it looks great!

Just to save 30CAD? o.O

Remember that those smaller drivers are slower so I would keep it as it is, with that 640GB drive .

Exactly. The hard drive is by far the slowest component of a computer nowadays. I mean, RAM latency is in a few nanoseconds which is already a long wait for a CPU, and hard drives in milliseconds, so roughly a million times slower. So I wouldn't willingly go for something slow-ish.

And hard drives these days fill up very quickly. From software coming on DVDs now, some mpeg4 videos, TV shows if you use your computer as a PVR (with mce, mythtv or such), DV footage, large digital photos (and I'm not talking about pr0n here), some music (especially if lossless), vmware and ghost/trueimage images, different partitions if you dual boot (or more), ISO's you're working on and what not... I could easily go thru a 640GB in a week if I didn't limit myself. Storage has always been the first thing I run out of, on any computer.

Get the WD6400AAKS. You definitely won't be disappointed, or worrying that you've wasted your money.

I'd start off with the stock cooler to begin with. Put the system together, and then see how it handles your day-to-day gaming. If you feel that you're still not getting the performance you should, then go ahead and try to overclock the system.

well then..never mind
lol thank you once again guys....640gb it is!

My PC scored a whopping 140 (or 134 or something like that) Marks in 3dmark06 and I got Crysis to run.

So if you got a PC that can score better than that, yer all set.

A 8400GS works for Crysis too on "low" settings on 1024*768.

You will need 1GB of RAM and a Celeron 420 too...