Please Help Deciding Hardware

[faramith]

Hi Im in desperate need of help deciding what to buy, i need to mount a PC for
video editing and gaming. The thing is I dont want to overcloak it, I want the system to
run stock and Im not much of a Tech guy so I would like to have an easy instalation with
little to no problems, so ive been reading different forums over a week or more and I
still cant decide what hardware to get. So I ask for your help.

This is the list I have of the possible machine i want:

CPU: Conroe E6600 Retail
HSF: ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED-CU COPPER BASE CPU COOLING FAN
MB: Intel BOXD975XBXLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
RAM: CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-5400C4 2GB KIT (1GB x 2) PC25400 675MHZ MATCHED
PAIR 4-4-4-12 240-PIN DDR2
HD System: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard
Drive - OEM
HD Secondary: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS
(Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Video card: undecided I dont need SLi and I mainly need to Edit Video realtime.
Audio: MB audio or Cheapest possible
Case+PSU: Ultra Black Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower And Ultra X2 550-Watt Power Supply


I dont know if this motherboard supports DDR2 800 so I chose the one above, Will any part mentioned above conflict with each other? Or do you have a better recomendation?
Last system I put together was a P4 2.0a eons ago so this will be a project to me.

Thanks! I hope to buy all the parts this coming week, so im counting on you!

 

[Kyanzes]

The 6600 seems to be perfect if you indeed opt out on the oc. The HSF is ok, I have the exact same one (not that it means anything in particular, just a sidenote). I (what a strange twist of fate isn't it?) happen to own the same mobo you have choosen. Well, it's rock stable... err... most of the time... lol.. I'm actually having serious USB issues with it. Sometimes it won't boot (or boots only after a long period of idling) with certain USB devices attached to the mobo. It also happens that my G15 keyboard stops working when I'm rummaging in the BIOS (no OC was applied when these problems occured btw). Aside from these USB issues (the G15 is also an USB device) the mobo is quite stable, no other problems whatsoever. With a small mod you can reach the OC options that are hidden when the installed CPU is not EE. Ofc you are not likely to be interested in this as you don't plan on ocing. Personally I wouldn't buy a Raptor, unless the budget is high/unlimited or justified in any other way (ofc you said you would work with video). Mem: no comment, you actually won't need a 667 kit but they are quite cheap anyway so why not. An X1900XT would certainly work nicely in this rig... Personally I wouldn't ever use MB audio but ofc if you feel content with medicore (or more like low) quality sound then ofc that's the way to go. Still, when someone invests in a Raptor / E6600 / Corsair etc. it's questionable as to why not to add at least a $50 sound card to the list.

As for the USB issues on the 975XBX: you can't even circumvent the problem by trying older BIOSes because the only BIOS with Conroe/Allendale support is the 1334 version to my knowledge.

BTW isn't that HDD (Seagate) is the one that's being recalled due to some error? Ofc I can be wrong.

 

[faramith]

Thanks for the reply, the reason why I didnt add a sound card is that I have a creative labs sound card laying around somewhere, and the video card Im going to use the same one i use for world of warcraft, an old radeon 9600 i have on my current pc. Since my main objective is video processing and rendering. You mention you have USB trouble, I use a USB printer and a DELL Mouse, so there might be complications, is there any other more stable MB out there that supports all the hardware mentioned above or even DDR2 800? and that has no trouble for instalation.

Thanks!

 

[Kyanzes]

Some addition: called my father and turned out that he's having the exact same issues with his 975XBX with a perfectly different config: not Core 2, other vid, different keyboard etc. USB would sometimes freeze his config too or cause weird problems.

Well, I have no experience with other Core 2 capable boards so I wouldn't dare to recommend anything.