new build Asus P4C800 Deluxe - Advice sought re heatsink choice etc., etc.

Hi.
I'm thinking of building a new machine based on the following specs
and would like some advice re the compatibility of the components,
etc.
The parts I'm thinking of buying are as follows:

Motherboard Asus P4C800 Deluxe "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard
CPU Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology - Retail
RAM Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200LLPT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2
DVD-ROM Samsung SD-616QBB 16x48x DVD-ROM (Black),
CD-RW Samsung SW-252B 52x/52x/24x CD-ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Graphics Card Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI -
Retail
Thermal comp Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
Floppy Teac 3.5" Black Floppy Disk Drive - OEM
HeatSink ThermalRight SLK-947U (Socket 478 & Socket A) Cooler

92mm Fan Vantec 92mm Tornado Fan for heatsink
Case Lian Li PC 71 Aluminium Full-Tower (No PSU
PSU Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU

I will use my existing Hard Drives and (possibly) my Promise FastTrack
100 TX2 PCI Raid card in a RAID 0+1 config..

Now, I would appreciate it if anyone with a similar setup could advise
me as to whether or not all this lot will work happily together, or
whether there could be issues I'm likely to face.
For example, will the ThermalRight SLK-947U heatsink fit this board
and, if not, what's a good alternative?
I like the look of that particular heatsink and have heard they work
well with Vantec 92mm Tornado Fans.
Do you have any experience with this board / HSF setup?

What about the RAM? Are there any major issues with this board and the
low latency corsair RAM modules I've listed above?
Again, I've run into problems with Asus boards and their pickiness re
RAM in the past and thought that more expensive stuff like this would
be a wise choice for stability as well as speed.

Also, considering I'll be RAIDing 4 HDDs as well as hosting CDRW and
DVD-ROM drives, will the 480W PSU give me enough juice? I'm looking at
the Antec range because they too have a good reputation for quality
but I don't know whether to go 550W instead of 480.
Anyway, that's about all I can think of for now but I'd really
appreciate any advice on the issues I've raised above.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers.
Mod.

 

The retail boxed CPUs include a heatsink/fan with them. Unless you are
planning to overclock the CPU, you might as well use it, as it's likely
quieter than most 3rd-party coolers..

 

I just got a p4c800-e/p4 2.8 and went with a Zalman 7000 heatsink after hearing
the loud whir of the intel retail fan...makes a huge difference in the noise
level. Does great on cooling, too, and has a fan adjuster so you an play with
the fan speed to your liking.

 

P4C800E, 2.8HT, but went cheaper on the ram with Kingston Value Ram twin 1GB
I bought a Zalman PSU for quietness and changed the standard noisy Intel CPU
fan to a Zalman Heatsink and Fan.
Only problem I have now is heat with my HDDs, so unfortunately I have to put
a case fan in for the HDDs so I will be after a very quiet one any
suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Hi -

About the Corsair memory:

I bought a P4C800 deluxe with 512 mgs of this same memory (dual
channel) PC 3200 LLPT from Newegg last summer. There's a problem in
running these using the SPD setting. This may have been fixed since
then. They were originally advertised as running at 2-2-2-6 but now
they're rated at something like 2-3-3-6 or something like that. I
wasn't happy because I specifically chose the Corsair chips to be able
to run them at these tight settings.

I think it comes down to whether you want to OC the system. If you do
not plan to O/C, then I'd assume you want the tight memory settings
and you'd need to investigate what the 1gig sticks are set to run at.
If you do plan to O/C, then you wouldn't be able to use the tight
settings anyway and it wouldn't matter. But then, you'd probably want
something like at least PC3500 or better, memory.

I was checking out Mushkin's site for their memory chips and settings
and they memtioned that the AMI bios didn't recognize the memory
settings properly and that is the reason more than anything else for
the problems with the chips. It really isn't anything that Corsair
did/didn't do. I also have the P4 cooled with a Zalman all copper
heat sink flower and 2 80 mm fans blowing directly on the MB and CPU,
along with 9 other fans inside the full tower case. The video card is
and ATI A-I-W 9700 Pro with a WD 120gig SE hd, running XP Pro. I like
the setup but it was tricky to set up, due in part that no one would
mention the bios problem(s). The frequent bios updates for this board
on Asus' site should have been a tip off, though.

Good luck if you go ahead with the build, but be sure to look into the
memory settings first, so you know what to expect.

bmcky

Boston, MA

 

I had problems with Kingston's HyperX 3200 memory and the SPD settings.
I kept getting corrupted files and failures to copy files when attempting to
install Win2K or XP. After a week of trying all combinations and
permutations of drive connections and Raid settings, and changing cards from
slot to slot, for a week with no success I was about to give up. I got all
the latest drivers and BIOS upgrades and they did not help either.

For some reason I thought to check Kingston's web site and the specs. for
the 2 512mb HyperX modules. I found that the recommended voltage was 1.6+
and settings of 2,2,2,6,1, and a refresh of 7.8ns. My system was using 1.5
volts for the memory. When I set the voltage to 1.65 volts and the Kingston
HyperX timings the system was more stable. When I increased the memory's
voltage to 1.75 everything became stable and fast.

When I tried overclocking, or the BIOS turbo mode, the system locked up and
would not restart. I had to use a jumper to clear the BIOS, and then reset
all the BIOS settings. The P4C800 deluxe is running fine now.