Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

[Dante Rising]

Hello, everyone.

I've decided to take a plunge and build my own computer. This will be only the second time i have done this, and the first time was 3 years ago, so I'm sure it will be an interesting experience. I was hoping a few of you could take a quick glance at my purchase decisions, and tell me 1) If you see any component decisions that are a poor choice for the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R and 2) if you know of anything I'll need to adjust or inspect within my BIOS immediately. 3) Any other words of advice/caution would be appreciated. A co-worker has stated that this is NOT a board for a hardware "virgin", and has been trying to furiously wave me off toward an Asus board, despite my affinity for previous Gigabyte hardware.

I'm especially concerned about two possible complications being reported on a few other sites:

1) I've seen reports that the DES is not functioning properly, does not disable properly, and it has been downclocking people who use e8400 and e8500 processors

2) Significant problems installing Widows XP, unless you do something called slipstreaming (a term I am unfamilier with)

My current "blueprint":

OS: Windows XP x64 edition SP2 (not so sure about this any longer-but it is my preferred OS)
Case: Gigabyte 3D Aurora tower
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
Video Card: eVGA Nvidia 260
RAM: OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066 (5-5-5-18, 2.1V)
Processor: Intel E8500
HD: Western Digital Cavair Black 640 GB
PSU: Silverstone ST70F 700W Modular ATX12V (80PLUS certified, +4 12V rails, PCI-E 4x6, 1x8)



Thank you for any suggestions you may post!

[steelsky]

[godto]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

just make sure your powersupply is able to support the nvidia260 ... i just heard some older won't able support new card

[Dante Rising]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

The Asus p5q is exactly what he recommended, saying that the Gigabyte MOBO that I had selected was highly erratic with XP, and just about everything needs to be tweaked because the BIOS sets up many components improperly. (He mentioned memory and CPU specifically)

This will be primarily a gaming rig. I should have mentioned that in the first post. I don't plan on doing any overclocking, just want to get everything to run to spec.

[steelsky]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

Hmm well I wont get into an asus bashing session lol cos my last board was an asus and that took some serious punishment for 3 years and its still going stong.

Just a note on wot particularly put me of the p5q was that a lot of people were having issues with its keyboard and mouse freezing up and just stopping working... think it has a bizare socket aswell (i might be wrong on that..) google P5Q + freeze + keyboard and ya shud find a few things..

I cant really comment on the UD3R with XP as I bought a 64bit vista licence with this hardware. So hopefully someone else will comment on that.

Im a little surprised its going to be a gaming rig and running XP64.. last time i looked there were a lot of incompatability issues with it.. but im probably out of date.. might be pucka now lol.

Just to reiterate really.. i put my ram and CPU in and all i had to do was change the multiplyer and it was stable at stock speed. Some need to fiddle a little more tho - but its not a huge issue as long as ya dont mind doing some stress tests.

Erm - deffo find out if XP is going to be a problem with this board tho.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

Only XP without Sp2 at least is a issue, XP with SP2 or SP3 install disks are fine. So you are good to go

Looks like a great build to me, I would advise Vista x64 over XP x64 for sure though

[Pum]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

Dante, sounds a pretty good spec.

I'm considering getting an EP45-UD3R, as my current mobo is being very difficult to overclock. If you are sure you don't want to overclock at all then you could save some cost by going for a cheaper mobo, frex a P35 based entry level board - that is what I'm currently running and at no overclock it runs absolutely perfectly, and I can't see how an expensive board could be any better at no OC (but I'm willing to learn, if there is a difference.)

On the other paw, you may want to consider a mild overclock, simply because that mobo, CPU and memory are supposed to be great overclockers. You should be able to get +10-20% CPU speed without stressing any of the components.

Also, on price/performance, the E8400 is a little slower, but a lot cheaper. You might also want to look at the ATI HD 4870, which is faster and cheaper than GTX 260, according to reviews I've seen.

[steelsky]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

Yeah to just to add to what Pum said.. if your a gamer and an Nvidia fan, id seriously consider the ati 4850 and 4870.. they are very good games cards and a chunk cheaper. Unless your doing anything that demands Nvidia I would go with one of those.

What size screen you working with and at what res?... I do a lot of CG work and run a couple of old 19 inch CRTs... at 1280x1024 and a cheap 9800GT does all i need... screen size is something to consider and may effect your choice :)

[Orson88]

Re: Newbie Computer Builder + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

I recently built a system using this board and I'm having a lot of issues so far. Not only is it under clocking my Memory(1066)and CPU (e8400) but I can only put my memory in the first two slots. If i try to put my sticks in the specifies colored slots to utilize dual channel the machine wont even post for me.

If you guys have any info that could help me out I would really appreciate it.

As for other components, I'm really digging my ATI 4870, runs a little hot but after tweaking the fan speeds its turning out to be a great card for the price.I highly recommend