Finishing off my first built computer, need help please.

[pullmyfoot]

Yeah. You should hit 3ghz with that thing easy

[johnross2007]

You're probably right, but before I mess with that I am going to get that 9800GT and get vista 64 so I can actually use my 4 gigs. I want some gaming goodness ready for Empire: Total War in March .

[pullmyfoot]

Thats the game I have been looking forward to as well If I get only one game this year, its going to be that . I think you might need to get a faster graphics card though. I doubt you will be able to put the game on very high settings given how massive and demanding the game looks. I would look to get at least a 9800GTX+. Even I'm worried about my HD4850 playing that game (which is about equivalent to the 9800GTX+). But if you can live with med (maybe even low-med) settings then it should be fine I guess. But I dunno. We will have to wait for it to come out to see.

[johnross2007]

awww you're scarin' me. I know the minimum specs are really low, recommended haven't been released yet. From what I here the Total War guys tend to be very efficient with their graphics. Hmm...... well I might just do that. Maybe I'll find a deal.

edit: Now that I think about it, by March the GPU prices should be much more favorable considering the new GTX295 is out to push down prices, and I hear a 300 series is coming soon. Maybe I will be conquering the world with GTX260!!!!

[iddqd]

I finished off my ordering, and the rest should be arriving on Tuesday. My set up looks like:

Case - Antec 300
CPU - Core 2 Duo E8400
Motherboard - Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
RAM - GSkill 4G DDR2 800
PSU - Corsair 750W
Graphics card - Sapphire Radeon 4850 512MB (apparently this dropped to 10 bucks after I purchase it -_-)
HDD - Western Digital 500G 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
OS - Windows Vista 64 bit home premium

This will be fun putting it all together. Lets just hope there are no dead pieces.

And to overclocking, I'll give it a shot. If the performance is significantly better, I'll do it. About OCing though, should I get a new CPU fan and add any other case fans? I've been told the Intel cpu fan isn't that great for OCing.

[KarmaKiller]

Yes..you want to upgrade your cooling. The cooler the chip runs, the better OC you can get.
What's you budget, I can recommend good coolers.

[iddqd]

I'd say 60 USD max for the cooler. Only if it's worth it that is. :-p I will take everything you say into consideration KarmaKiller (this is Edward91 that PMed you randomily :P).

[KarmaKiller]

Newegg.com - XIGMATEK HDT-S1284EE 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
with
Newegg.com - XIGMATEK ACK-I7753 Retention Bracket For 4 heatpipes model only - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

or

Newegg.com - Tuniq Tower 120 Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Cooling Fan and Fan Controller/Heatsink - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

or

Newegg.com - Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

or

Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME Universal CPU Cooler (Socket LGA 775 / AM2+ / AM2 / 939) (AC-FPXT) - FrozenCPU.com

[iddqd]

I'll check those out, thanks a lot. A question about
the fans: would it be viable for me to go ahead and
put my system together (with stock cooler)to see if everything runs fine,
then apply the new CPU fan? Or is it a real pain to remove
the motherboard/install the new fan?

Sorry for the odd looking post, on my iPod touch atm. :-/

[johnross2007]

Well the biggest pain will be installing that stock heatsink/fan.

One thing that might give you trouble is removing the thermal paste (or whatever its called) when you go to install the new HSF. You will need to get rid of all of the old paste before applying the new paste. Also, for the thermal paste you should try, I think it is called Arctic Silver 7.

edit: to get the paste off of my CPU I used isopropyl alcohol (I think it was called that at least). It evaporates very fast so it can be used on sensitive computer components. I also used coffee filters, I think because they don't have lint or something. I basically read a guide on the internet and am merely telling you what I remember. I would suggest googling it.