MOBO/Heatsink Thoughts

[IZDelt47]

I just finished my first Rig and am about to build one for my dad. I'm looking to swap some parts from my rig into his and getting new ones for mine since I have to buy parts for his anyways. With everything he wants to have supported I'm looking to swap my Asus P5WD-2 Premium for a 975 chip since I've got a X800GTO card. I'm trying to be flexible to Conroe compatibility if it's even a possibility at this point in time, I know chances are I'll have to upgrade my mobo if I want to get a conroe when it comes out. At that point if I have to I can always use the old parts to build a computer for my sister who will be needing one.


Anyways, to cut the blabber, I'm stuck between the Asus P5WD2-E Premium and the Gigabyte GA-G1975X for the Mobo. Both have their ups and downs.
Asus with the 2nd RAID controller and the voltage. Gigabyte and the lack of onboard ports from their turbo fans and the potential for noise. Anyone have any thoughts on which would be better to get?

Also, my CPU keeps running too hot when I play a game like WOW, without overclocking. Readouts on both my case display and the internal sensor for the CPU go over 60C to 64 sometimes and I always end up switching out of the program for like 30 seconds to let it cool down. I'm trying to find a heatsink and fan combo for the Pentium D 920 that will stop this from happening. I'm looking at the Scythe Ninja, Thermaltake blue orb II, COOLER MASTER RR-LCH-P9E1, Zalman CNPS9500 AT or the Zalman CNPS9500 LED.

If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it. I've spent a good 10-15 hours ontop of the 20 hours I spent researching to build my rig on this stuff and I'd like to order sometime in the next day or so so I can have the parts in and have my dad's rig done for when he comes down to my school next weekend.

Here are my current specs:
NZXT Nemesis Elite Black w/ NZXT 400w PSU- Soon to be upgraded to the NZXT Precise 550W PSU.
Asus P5WD2-Premium Mobo
Intel Pentium D920 Dual Core
G.SKILL 1GB Memory
HIS Hightech HX800GTO Radeon X800GTO IceQ II Turbo 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
WD 250GB IDE 8MB cache 7200rpm drive- Soon to be upgraded to 2x WD 250GB 16MB cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s RAID

This is what's on the list for the parts I'm buying for my dad's rig/to swap from mine into it so far:
NZXT TRINITY BLACK LE Black SECC Steel ATX 400w PSU
Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 533MHz FSB LGA 775
G.SKILL 1GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered System Memory Model F2-6400PHU1-1GBHZ
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
MSI RX300HM-TD128ELF Radeon X300SE HyperMemory 256MB Hyper Memory(128M VRAM on board) GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card
SONY 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model DW-G120A-B2

[Revv23]

hey, get the asus board

for heatsink get the thermaltake big typhoon

if you want to overclock at all throw that nzxt in the garbage and get something from any of these guys: OCZ, PCpower and cooling, seasonic, fortron, zippy. there are a few others that can hang but if you are overclocking dont waste money on a crappy psu that you will need to replace anyways, spend a few extra bucks and get something that will last you for a few years.

[2gigs]

ya know, id tell you to drop intel, but you may want to check into a scythe ninja or a xp90c with a tornado, or a xp 120, with a silverstone fan.


I personally would think the 120 would do you best due to the higher temps, and needless to say, the xp120 cools better at higher temps.

[IZDelt47]

hey, get the asus board

for heatsink get the thermaltake big typhoon

if you want to overclock at all throw that nzxt in the garbage and get something from any of these guys: OCZ, PCpower and cooling, seasonic, fortron, zippy. there are a few others that can hang but if you are overclocking dont waste money on a crappy psu that you will need to replace anyways, spend a few extra bucks and get something that will last you for a few years.

Any one in specific that you would recommend for the PSU? Pretty much I'm looking for something that will be able to handle moving up to crossfire in the next 6 months on top of creating the RAID on my rig after I order the rest of this stuff.

[2gigs]

If i may,

A ocz 600 watt should be sufficent, and reliable. Ocz powerstream 600. DO NOT GET THE MODSTREAM!

[IZDelt47]

If i may,

A ocz 600 watt should be sufficent, and reliable. Ocz powerstream 600. DO NOT GET THE MODSTREAM!


You think I need a 600W one? Or you think I can get away with the 520?

Also, anyone able to tell me if that thermaltake big typhoon will fit in the NZXT Nemesis Elite case and I know it's LGA775 but their product site says Pentium 4 while the info on the mini typhoon says it's Pentium D compatible... There shouldn't be an issue right? Only thing that worried me about it when I looked at it a few days ago was the weight and the strain it might put on my mobo on top of will it fit in my case...

[2gigs]

The 600 will futureproof you. I reccommend a xp 120 instead of the BT, due to the socket you are on.

[DPGX]

My one complaint about the big typhoon was the backplate it ships with. I hated the sticky pad and the fact that as soon as I switched motheboards I was missing a piece of the mounting hardware. The other issue is it doesnt always clear resistors that may be on the back of the motherboard which I had an issue with. Personally Im currently using the Zalman CNPS9500 on my P5ND2-SLI with an PD 805 and have it clocked at 3.6ghz without heat issues -- its a pretty decent heatsink. The other nice thing is generally I cant imagine there being clearence problems of other components thanks to the fairly high lift the heatsink gets from its heatpipes. I have a fairly tall northbridge heatsink and caps around my socket on my P5ND2-SLI and it clears everything by quite a bit.

[davvy76]

My one complaint about the big typhoon was the backplate it ships with. I hated the sticky pad and the fact that as soon as I switched motheboards I was missing a piece of the mounting hardware. The other issue is it doesnt always clear resistors that may be on the back of the motherboard which I had an issue with. Personally Im currently using the Zalman CNPS9500 on my P5ND2-SLI with an PD 805 and have it clocked at 3.6ghz without heat issues -- its a pretty decent heatsink. The other nice thing is generally I cant imagine there being clearence problems of other components thanks to the fairly high lift the heatsink gets from its heatpipes. I have a fairly tall northbridge heatsink and caps around my socket on my P5ND2-SLI and it clears everything by quite a bit.

Dont bother putting the sticky stuff on, its useless anyway if you switch boards. What I did was source 4 more of the top nuts that tighten the cooler down and bolt the bottom plate on with them and then sit them on fibre washers and then sit the motherboard on top, that way you've got sufficent clearance and the underside components arent bothered by that damn sticky foam. Obviously this doesnt help with the top side clearance though. Heres a craptastic picture that explains it better:

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4827/untitled8xx.th.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=untitled8xx.jpg)

[DPGX]

Thats actually a really good pic. The nut beneath the board with washers is an awesome idea to prevent the components beneath the plate from being damaged. I never thought of trying! My one other complaint- I dont liek how the heatsink mounting hardware just seems to rest in that guide. It just never felt secure and I could slide the heatsink around fairly easily by hand. If someones figured a way to mount it in a way that its totally secured id give one a shot again. Thanks for the explanation though thats awesome that youve found a way to space the plate from the motherboard!