Building a new Computer - Please post your comments

[newbee]

ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 Motherboard

I have chosen the above board, because it has DDR3 slots and 3 PCI
slots.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail
Boxed Processor

I like to buy without the cooler, but read somewhere that these CPUs
are not guaranteed. Is the above CPU over clock able ? If I do lay my
hand on one without Cooler, which cooler would you suggest. I am
trying to strife for a quitter computer.

Kingston 1GB Kit (2x512MB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL5 - Non-ecc

I like to have a pair to 1GB, but problem is they are very few vendors
mentioned in Asus QV List. I could not locate their latest QVL if they
have for this Mobo. The 2 X 1 GB Kingston which I found was more
expensive that the mother board. Simply cant afford it. I wonder if
any body have used non-QVL memory on this board successfully. I like
to know the brand and mfg. #.

Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache

Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

I hope 520W would be sufficient to run this rig.

MSI 8400GS 256MB DDR2 DVI VGA HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

The last item which I am looking for is Samsung DVD Burner in Beige
color. Right now they are all black.

I usually do Photoshop, Premier and watch TV. No gaming. But I like
to over clock so I extract the last drop of the juice before I
upgrade to even faster CPU and Memory.

I will appreciate your comments and suggestions please. Thanks for
looking.

 

[John E]

Comments in line:

ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 Motherboard

I have chosen the above board, because it has DDR3 slots and 3 PCI
slots.

I bought one of these to upgrade my son's PC. I strongly suggest you go here
and read a bit about this motherboard:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=P5KC&SLanguage=en-us

NEVER use the windows utility to upgrade the BIOS. Use the EZ-flash in the
BIOS itself.

I had a problem with the installation. The IDE connector didn't work. I
suspect that could have been down to having a PCI card next to it, plugged
in, but not correctly powered up. However, the location of the IDE connector
is ridiculous in that board. (At the extreme right hand side). I overcame
the problems with it by not using any IDE devices. There are also a lot of
issues with memory. The idea of a combo memory card sounds great, but a lot
of people have had problems with both DDR3 and DDR2 RAM.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail
Boxed Processor

I like to buy without the cooler, but read somewhere that these CPUs
are not guaranteed. Is the above CPU over clock able ? If I do lay my
hand on one without Cooler, which cooler would you suggest. I am
trying to strife for a quitter computer.

I installed an E8200 - because E8400 cpus are strangely unavailable at the
moment. It works fine, but you have to flash the BIOS first to 0907. Don't
bother with the 1001 BIOS yet - it has issues.

Kingston 1GB Kit (2x512MB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL5 - Non-ecc

I like to have a pair to 1GB, but problem is they are very few vendors
mentioned in Asus QV List. I could not locate their latest QVL if they
have for this Mobo. The 2 X 1 GB Kingston which I found was more
expensive that the mother board. Simply cant afford it. I wonder if
any body have used non-QVL memory on this board successfully. I like
to know the brand and mfg. #.

If you're using XP that's O.K. Kingston is recommended by Asus - so you
should have no problems.

Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache

Good and quiet.

Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

I hope 520W would be sufficient to run this rig.

Should be O.K., especially with the graphics card below:

MSI 8400GS 256MB DDR2 DVI VGA HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

The last item which I am looking for is Samsung DVD Burner in Beige
color. Right now they are all black.

Most of the ones I've seen have swappable front panels (although that can be
a bit of a pain to do). I have just installed a DVD Super-writemaster, which
is made by Samsung, has Lightscribe, DVD-RAM, Double layer, DVD+R 20x,
DVD -R 20x - in fact it does everything apart from blu ray and HD, and it
does it quickly. It is quite noisy. It did come with black, beige and
'silver' panels, and cost a very reasonable £21.74 from overclock.co.uk
http://www.overclock.co.uk/product/...ATA-Lightscribe-Black-DVDRW,-Retail_6056.html
which is one of the better UK suppliers. (IMO)

I usually do Photoshop, Premier and watch TV. No gaming. But I like
to over clock so I extract the last drop of the juice before I
upgrade to even faster CPU and Memory.

I think you will have some fun doing the overclocking. The board has a lot
of options for that. It is also made of good quality components. Just read
that Asus forum, before you get too carried away!

I will appreciate your comments and suggestions please. Thanks for
looking.

Good luck.

John

 

[John E]

However, the location of the IDE connector

is ridiculous in that board. (At the extreme right hand side).

I should really proof read this stuff. I meant 'left hand side', as looked
at from the front of the case. i.e. the opposite side from where your IDE
devices are.

John

 

[Blattus Slafaly £ ¥ 0/00 :)]

ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 Motherboard

I have chosen the above board, because it has DDR3 slots and 3 PCI
slots.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail
Boxed Processor

I like to buy without the cooler, but read somewhere that these CPUs
are not guaranteed. Is the above CPU over clock able ? If I do lay my
hand on one without Cooler, which cooler would you suggest. I am
trying to strife for a quitter computer.

Kingston 1GB Kit (2x512MB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL5 - Non-ecc

I like to have a pair to 1GB, but problem is they are very few vendors
mentioned in Asus QV List. I could not locate their latest QVL if they
have for this Mobo. The 2 X 1 GB Kingston which I found was more
expensive that the mother board. Simply cant afford it. I wonder if
any body have used non-QVL memory on this board successfully. I like
to know the brand and mfg. #.

Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache

Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

I hope 520W would be sufficient to run this rig.

MSI 8400GS 256MB DDR2 DVI VGA HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

The last item which I am looking for is Samsung DVD Burner in Beige
color. Right now they are all black.

I usually do Photoshop, Premier and watch TV. No gaming. But I like
to over clock so I extract the last drop of the juice before I
upgrade to even faster CPU and Memory.

I will appreciate your comments and suggestions please. Thanks for
looking.

I prefer MSI boards.