new Intel motherboard DP965LT system

[jgy2001]

I have an empty ATX box with older HD & optical drives & diskette.
I just want to bring up the system running first at lower cost, and upgrade
it as years to come.

I plan to buy the Intel DP965LT motherboard (NewEgg $95). The reason I
select DP965LT is because I can upgrade to Core 2 Duo as price comes down in
the future.

I plan to get the Pentium D 915 w/o fan (Fries $50). Then get the
coolermaster.com socket LGA775 XDreamP775 fan (Fries $18). Or should I get
this Pentium D 915 with fan at $85 (Fries & NewEgg) - Is
this fan integrated, comes from Intel? or NewEgg add the fan on later?

I will add one Crucial 1GB DDR2 533 (NewEgg $39).
I plan to use my old PCI VGA card. DVD writer will be external.

My question is:
1. does the Intel P965 chip set needs fan cooling?
2. This mb has only one Parallel ATA. Can I connect it to one HD and one
optical drive?
3. is my current 300 watts ATX power with 20 pins connector, sufficient for
this minimal system configuration? Or, may need 20 to 24 pins converter.

[jgy2001]

Intel DP965LT motherboard spec & photo
http://www.intel.com/products/motherboa ... /index.htm

[DMB2000uk]

1. does the Intel P965 chip set needs fan cooling?

Any cooling it needs, it will have. All you need is a bit of airflow inside your case to remove heat

2. This mb has only one Parallel ATA. Can I connect it to one HD and one
optical drive?

Yes. It's probably best to set your HDD as master when you do this.

3. is my current 300 watts ATX power with 20 pins connector, sufficient for
this minimal system configuration? Or, may need 20 to 24 pins converter.

Your current power supply should be able to get away with powering this rig, but not much more. And bear in mind that if it is an old powersupply then its total power output will have dropped a bit as the capacitors have aged and don't work as well.


I'd recommend getting the 915 with a cooler from Intel already, as I don't trust the look of that cooler (it probably won't keep your CPU cool enough). Or you could try buying the 915 coolerless and getting a better cooler separately (in the $30 price range, so that you get a CPU and better cooler for the price of the CPU+Cooler) say something like the Scythe SCMN-1100.

Dan

[jgy2001]

Can you tell me more about and where to look at the Intel Pentium D 915 fan cooler that comes with the chip? Is this originally from Intel, or add on by distributor or dealers?

[DMB2000uk]

Its from intel.

Here's a review of it:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... cleID=2025

Dan

[jgy2001]

Thank you.
This review tells me the Intel LGA775 Pentium D heat sink + fan is of normal operation.
Probably will fit my application.
So total fan in my system will be 2 = one in the power supply, another is the CPU heat sink/fan.

I am looking at adding one more chassis fan (typical DC 4 inch box fan) blowing in from the front panel.
Do you think I must have this chassis fan in my simple configuration?

Thank you,

[DMB2000uk]

It will be beneficial to have one.

Will the fan be cooling hard drives in that position?

If not, then it would be better to have the fan on the back of the case exhausting hot air out. Air will find its way in easy enough, but it takes a little more effort to move it out.

Dan

[jgy2001]

Fries Electronisc has memory on sales, Crucial DDR2 1GB, PC5300, single module, 667MHz for 19.99 ($39.99 with $20 rebate).
In Crucial web site, all their 1GB DDR2 modules are 1.8V.
I asked the Fries guy and I got a "I don't know" answer.

I assume this Fries memory is 1.8V, right?

I want to avoid all these 1.9V problems with this md.

Dan, thank you.

There would not have any fan blowing at the hard drive. I have the slow 40GB IDE drive that doesn't get hot much.

should I add another additional box fan at the front of chassis? That's the only place I can mount one. Should I mount this fan blowing out? Or should I mount the fan blowing into the chassis? Thank you.

[jgy2001]

I actually selected to order from MWav:
Intel BOXDP965LTCK mb
Intel Celeron D 347 3.06GNz EM64T with Fan.
I order from MWav because they have this bundle assemble and test option for $9 - NewEgg doesn't.
I hope this is good option to make sure CPU+MB combo works.

Will try it out once it gets here. Will let you know what kind of questions I will have when I try to bring up the system.

Fingers cross....