b u i l d my own XP PC spec: any good?

Question

i want to build my first ever pc system for personal use like word typing, internet, email, uploads digital cam videos, store loads and loads of pictures from photo album (really HUGE).

i have come up with the following spec:

Asus P5W DH Deluxe (Intel 975 - 1066 FSB Conroe)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Retail (2x2.4GHz 1066FSB 4Mb)
OCZ DDR2-800 2x1024MB
BFG Nvidia 8500GT 256MB PCIe
Windows XP

wil the motherboard, processor, RAM and graphics card work well together?

shall i use the heatsink and fan included in the processor box or use the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro CPU COOLER?

and also the WiFi icluded with the motherboard, will it be able to pick my internet wirless connection?

do i have to buy an external graphics card to connect to the monitor? which one would you recommend?

i also plan to use a 80GB hard drive for win XP and applications and a 320gb hard drive for data? is that good or bad?

any comments or suggestions please?

Answer 1

specs seem alright, didn't check for compatibility though. yeah, on the storage front, that just ain't enough room. especially if you are storing media. i'm up to 1tb.

Answer 2

Except for the graphics card, your set up is too much for your intended application. But it gives you a lot of elbow room should you later decide to expand your applications (such as 3D apps/games, etc.).

If you do not overclock, the stock cooler should be fine.

Properly configured, the built in Wifi should work with your wireless router.

The 8500GT graphics card has a port that connects to the monitor. You might need an adapter if your monitor has analog connector only.

Your proposed hard drive setup is good.

My only suggestion - protect that nice set up with a good power supply and encase everything in a good aluminum case from Antec, Coolermaster, Lian Li, etc.

Answer 3

Hello,

(ANS) As an experienced computer user I would say this is a nice configuration and should work well & give good use if built with care.

TIPS,

No.1 Very Important do keep your XP operating system & application programs in a separate location from ALL your data. Keep them on a different partition or better still a different hard drive. That way if XP gets infected or goes pear shaped you stand less risk of data loss.

No.2 I would up your RAM to 3GB if you can afford it, that way if you want to upgrade to Windows Vista in the future your hardware will be vista ready, & XP will fly along nicely.

No.3 Make sure you modify or adjust your machines Virtual memory settings once you have XP installed. **How to work out the correct values, multiple actual physical Ram by x1.5, note it doesn't have to be very precise approximately will do. On my machine I have 512megs real Ram but 500-700megs Virtual memory & I have two swap files on different HDD's.

No.4 if you have two physical HDD's you can improve XP's speed by having a swap file on each drive. note: DON'T put x2 swap files on different paritions but on the same drive as that decreases performance. Only on seperate drives will this work.

NO.5 Make sure you have a good data backup routine for XP. I don't recommend system restore in fact I would disable it. No! use the backup tools that come with XP & make proper backups or automated system restore set's.

No.6 DON'T use the windows firewall its dreadful & wont provide much real protection, again disable this & Install a free copy of Zone Alarm. This is an extremely good software firewall for personal use.

Best Regards Ivan
(10years+ in computer industry,MCSE trained) .

Answer 4

It all sounds good to me. As for your specific questions - your wifi built in is intended for connection to wireless devices, including your router.

The graphics card I don't know. If there's an integrated one then you don't NEED one to connect to the monitor, however you'll experience much improved power by buying a nice new graphics card. Just be sure to buy one for the correct interface for the board - either AGP or PCI-express.

The hard drive setup fits mine - 80GB for windows, and other software, and then 2x 300GB for data, one I use for downloaded TV shows etc, the other for music and other data files. You should use a smallish one for windows, as its cheaper to replace, and will likely be the first to go due to the extra use it has. You should buy one 320GB (or larger, they get a lot bigger now) for now, then you can buy up to another 2 at a later date if you need them. I have only about 100GB free on all 3 drives now, and thats after cleaning up and deleting everything I didn't need.

The heatsink with the CPU will be fine for its job, but again you will find better performance with a third party cooler unit - coolermaster are the industry standard.

Answer 5

For CPU fan, use an expensive and quiet one. Hope your case has two large case fans, one for intake and one out.

You can use SpeedFan freeware to check your current PC's temperatures, including harddisk error statistics.

Don't buy an external graphics card.

Two harddisks will make more heat but will speed up the pc a little. Plan to make backups of the WinXP or just your private files?

Answer 6

Not a bad setup, I can't see any problems with it but my best advice is to buy the best kit you can afford without bankrupting yourself. A third party cooler will most likely be better than the one provided with the CPU

Answer 7

You might want to include a gonk for the top of your pencil. I think they are all XP compatible.