I need some help to desing my CPU

[chupes_on]

Hello everybody, my name is Angel López and I'm from Mexico. I'm a postgraduated student and i need a new computer in order to do some calculations (I use fortran to do the programs), so I've been researching a lot in order to desing a good and a cheap computer, but I have a lot of questions, I hope you can help me.
This is what I have decided so far:

1 Motherboard. Asus P5Kc, I really want a MB with the new chipset P35, but the extra features of the P5K deluxe are useless to me (I think). However i have some interest also on the Gigabyte GA-P35_Ds3l, what do you think?

2 Processor. Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, I like it's price and the posibility of the overclocking.

3 Case. I really don't care about the case, all I need is something solid to put everything. However I your suggestions are wellcome.

4 Power Supply. I'm not quite sure abut what do I need, I was thinking on a Cooler Master Extreme Power of 550Watts, but I dont know if I need more power (or maybe less)?

5 Cooler. Thermalright 120 Extreme or the Tuniq 120 Tower.

6 Graphics Card. I don't need a very sofisticated card, i won't used it really, I am not a gamer. How ever, from time to time I watch a video or edit some images with Photoshop, but that's all. I was thinking on a GeForce 8500GT, but I'm not sure abut the manufacturer, there are a lot and i don't know the differences between them.

7 Hard Disk. I already have a 320GB SATA II WD. I think that I really don't need more.

8 RAM. I'm really confused with the RAM. I have read that the chip MICRON D9GKX and the D9GMH are the best for the OC. The problem is that I don't know which RAM is best for me. I want a 2GB kit (2x1GB), DDR2, PC2-6400 with the chip MICRON D9 but i want the cheapest of this, something of $150.00 dlls or less. I want that because in Mexico the taxes are quite big, and i'm running out of money. There are a lot of models and manufacturers; Corsair, G-Skill, Geil, Super Talent, Crucial, OCZ, Patriot, Team Extreem, etc. I really need help with this!

Finally, I'm planning to overclock this computer, but I don't know the real capacities of this arrengement P5Kc + E4300 + 5800GT + RAM + COOLER??? What do you think?, any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Angel López

 

[AlbertLionheart]

Hi Angel
it all looks fine to me - but
Mobo - I prefere ASUS but Gigabyte is good too.
PSU - you can never have too much
RAM: get matched units.
If you are not gaming, why overclock?

 

[chupes_on]

If you are not gaming, why overclock?

I am a physicist, and i do a lot of calculatios with the computer and many of this calculations are quite robust and it takes a couple of days (even a week) to be computed. This is the reason I want the overclocking.

Thank you for your help

 

[SNGX1275]

Agreed it seems like a pretty solid build. A couple things you might consider though:

You could get a board with onboard video, it will be fine for your light photo editing and the C2D CPUs will be able to handle any video playback regardless of how 'weak' the graphics card is. This could save you some money and which would allow you to bump the CPU up to something like a 6320 or a 6420, they have twice as much L2 cache which should make them better number crunchers.

If you don't go onboard video, GPU brand doesn't matter much so I wouldn't worry about that. You may not even want a card as good as an 8500 unless you are going to be dealing with high defination video.

That Cooler Master PSU is going to be plenty strong. In fact with your build you really aren't going to use over about 350W, so a solid 450W PSU will be plenty, but make sure you do a bit of thinking about that. Cheap PSUs are like a time bomb, and can damage other components when they die.

For a case, really anything will do, I've built real cheap systems with incredibly cheap cases and I've built systems with midrange cases ($50 range). The midrange and higher cases are much nicer to work inside, but really it doesn't matter much. You'll want at least an 80mm intake fan down at the bottom to blow air across a hard drive, and you should try to get a case with a 120mm exhaust. Now if you go real cheap the cases may not come with fans, but at least make sure they can take an 80 up front and a 120 in the back.

Hopefully someone can advise you on the RAM a bit better than me. But I'd stick with Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, or OCZ. Might want to go to newegg and read up on the reviews for each you are considering to see what people are saying. My guess is it won't matter much.

Be careful with the overclocking, its great to get more performance out of a part than it is sold at, but you can end up spending more money than if you get a faster processor to begin with. For example, you may spend more on a motherboard, RAM, and heatsink to allow you to overclock than you would with a cheaper board and RAM with a stock cooler on a faster processor. The 4300 is supposed to be a great overclocker though, just watch how much you are spending to allow you to overclock.

 

[Dabears]

Just a suggestion on the RAM. Corsair, OCZ, and Kingston are really decent manufacturers of RAM. Also Kingston's site has a lot of info on RAM. For Models and types of RAM you should make sure that you know which motherboard you are getting and consult the documentation of the motherboard. I saw this deal on newegg for about 60 bucks you get 2 good sticks of RAM. But I do not know if they are supported by your motherboard

 

[chupes_on]

Thankyou guys for your help. As I already told you I'm quite new in this world of the OC, so I been reading a lot searching information in order to get the best performance within my money possibilities.
Unfortunately now I'm even more confused than in the begining because i found several threads an reviews that are contradictory. I already know that almost everything I've choose are good enough, but no so sure about if they are the best option or only a good one, so i decided to do a more specific research in order to clear my doubts.