Building a new rig. Comments/Suggestions

OmegaRed · 27-03-2008 6:23pm #1

Lo all,

I haven't been keeping in touch with the latest and greatest hardware these days (I know, shame on me) but from what I have looked at the following is a pretty nice set up. Just looking for comment and suggestions on what you think. It’s going to be a gaming rig over all for playing games such as Crysis and Supreme Commander Forced Alliance hence why I went quad core, 4 gigs of ram, SLI and 10,000 rpm HDD. I also want to future proof it a little so I won’t have to upgrade for awhile.

Thanks

Case: Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=332085

PSU: OCZ GameXStream Powersupply ATX/EPS, 700W, 120mm Fan, 4/8pin CPU, 20/24pin
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=324467

MoBo: XFX nForce 780i SLI, nForce-780i SLI, Socket-775,DDR2,2xGbLAN, 3xPCI-Ex(2.0)16
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=344292

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Socket LGA775, 8MB, BOXED w/fan
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=330169

RAM: OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC6400 2048MB KIT, w/two 1024MB PC6400 XTC,CL4-4-4-15, Rev2
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=324460 X 2

GPU: XFX GeForce 8800GTX 600M 768MB XT GDDR3 ,PCI-Express,2xDVI/HDTV/HDCP,600/1900Mhz
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=332049 X 2

HDD: Western Digital Raptor 150GB SATA 16MB 10000RPM
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=316737

DVD Drive: NEC DVD±RW burner AD-7203A, IDE, Black, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), Oem
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=344365

Sound Card: Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro, 64MB, EAX ADVANCED HD
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335480

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Business English OEM DVD 32bit – (only because I want to have DX10)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=330708

Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser Mouse 2007, USB
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=333430

Pete4779 · 27-03-2008 7:42pm

Hi,

It all looks good (I'm building one virtually identical to that, except different mobo and bigger HD).

On the situation with OEM Vista, the best future proofing you can do is get the absolute best motherboard you can as Vista OEM versions will NOT allow you to re-activate once you change the motherboard (I know, it's not something you do every month but maybe 12-18 months?). This is the biggest catch with Vista OEM - just something to be aware of as I only found this out today on me internet travels. The Retail version allows multiple activations and includes 32 and 64 bit, so again, it's a bit more future proofing to get a mobo that can take 8GB in the future and possibly a version of windows that can be upgraded with it.

Alternatively forget what I said and buy a new version of OEM Vista whenever you change the mobo!

Virgil° · 27-03-2008 7:56pm

SLi is a waste, at least with those cards. As are Raptors.
If your gonna go sli get 8800gt's. But id say wait for a week or 2 for your graphics as theres a 9800gtx hitting the shelves which is supposedly cheaper and faster than the 8800gtx(which is at the end of its lifespan).
Instead of a raptor get yourself samsung spinpoint 500gb.
If your on a budget and that pc fits it exactly id say drop the extra graphics card for the moment get yourself 4 gigs of that ram and a 64bit OS.

If i were making it though id stick with a strong single graphics card.Ditch the expensive motherboard and use the extra money to get a q9*** series processor when they're available.But thats just me.:)

sebastianlieken · 28-03-2008 12:32am

Virgil° wrote: »

SLi is a waste, at least with those cards. As are Raptors.
If your gonna go sli get 8800gt's. But id say wait for a week or 2 for your graphics as theres a 9800gtx hitting the shelves which is supposedly cheaper and faster than the 8800gtx(which is at the end of its lifespan).
Instead of a raptor get yourself samsung spinpoint 500gb.
If your on a budget and that pc fits it exactly id say drop the extra graphics card for the moment get yourself 4 gigs of that ram and a 64bit OS.

If i were making it though id stick with a strong single graphics card.Ditch the expensive motherboard and use the extra money to get a q9*** series processor when they're available.But thats just me.:)

WAT HE SAID. get two 8800gt cards in sli. (even tw0 9600gt's will do better than a single gtx in most cases) OR u caould also do as whats mentioned in the last line of virgils comment...either way

and dnt be too pushed about the raptor, theres faster stuff out there, and cheaper

conzy · 28-03-2008 1:26am

76 euro for 4gigs of faster OCZ ram

The 9800GTX will be out in a week or so and will be considerably cheaper...

Also some of the terabyte drives are as fast as the raptors in a lot of cases and much better value...

I would recommend the Corsair HX620watt PSU also, its solid as a rock and silent

That motherboard is a crazy price and it runs hot... Why such an investment in SLI?! You're spending almost a grand just to be able to run SLI, you could buy a cheaper motherboard and a single 9800 GX2 for example, if you heart is set on SLI I would atleast wait until the 9800GTX comes out as it will be around 280 euro where as the 8800GTX is 370....

Sqaull20 · 28-03-2008 2:50am

Like the others have said those 780i/790i boards are a waste of time, as are the raptors..

The 9800gtx is just an overclocked 512mb 8800gts, €550 for two of them is too much, when you can get 2 x 512mb 8800gts for €400....

I would build something like this...

Quad, 2 x 8800gts, good 650i sli board, great psu, case etc

€1200 delivered...

Monster of a pc

OmegaRed · 28-03-2008 11:00am

Thanks for the great input guys. Well deffo take this on board when I do go to buy. It won't be till the end of April till I actually go to order so will deffo look into the 9000 series cards.

Just wonder conzymaher, is the wattage of the PSU (620) decent or am I just wasting my money buying something with a higher voltage. Just asking becuase if I do go for SLI (not 100% now that I will) will there be enough power to run everything?

Thanks again lads

toco123 · 28-03-2008 11:37am

Number one. Buy from hardwareversand.de!!! (except mouse(bad selection) and keyboard(dutch layout))

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Tray

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L

Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Sockel 775

2048MB DDR2 Corsair TwinX XMS2 CL 5, PC6400/800

Antec Nine Hundred, ATX

ATX-Netzteil Corsair TX650W 650 Watt

Club3D 8800GT, 512MB, NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT, PCI-Express

Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7200,16 MB

Samsung SH-S203D bulk

MS Windows Vista home premium 32bit Englisch

OmegaRed · 08-04-2008 3:17pm

Here is another build I made.

MSI P6N SLI-FI, Sockel 775 nForce650i SLI, ATX
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=9048&agid=659

2 of these
4096MB-Kit OCZ PC2-6400 ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth, CL4
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=19487&agid=599

ATX-Netzteil Corsair TX650W 650 Watt
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=19286&agid=240

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 boxed, 8192Kb, LGA775, 64bit, Kentsfield
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=8790&agid=398

MS Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit Englisch
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=8949&agid=185

LG GGC-H20L Retail
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=19273&agid=1074

Samsung HD501LJ 500GB 7200,16 MB Cache
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=8138&agid=689

2 of these
Point Of View 8800GT 512MB GDDR3 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card (to little?)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135258

or

2 of these
Point Of View 9800GX2 1GB Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card (to much?)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143103

I haven’t decided on a case. Can anyone recommend one? I need something with good cooling and that is quite but I’d like something that looks flashy… OOOOO flashy

As Squall has commented many a time, I have went with the 650i boards. I have also gone with the suggestions of HDD, PSU and CPU from this and other posts. Still unsure about the graphics card though.

Virgil° · 08-04-2008 3:42pm

Did i take it right when you said you're buying 2 4 gig kits?
If so then 8 gigs is kind of unecessary for anything except pc's that will be doing huge amounts of video editing and that sorta jazz.
Two 8800gt cards kind of hit the sweet spot at the moment given the price they can be found at and their performance in sli, id say go with those.
The Antec 900 case you had in you initial post looks really great and stays nice and cool aswell.

OmegaRed · 08-04-2008 3:49pm

Virgil° wrote: »

Did i take it right when you said you're buying 2 4 gig kits?
If so then 8 gigs is kind of unecessary for anything except pc's that will be doing huge amounts of video editing and that sorta jazz.
Two 8800gt cards kind of hit the sweet spot at the moment given the price they can be found at and their performance in sli, id say go with those.
The Antec 900 case you had in you initial post looks really great and stays nice and cool aswell.

Yeah.. I was being a complete toss there with 8gigs! But how cool would that be to have a machine with 8 gigs... OK OK, I'll only get 4 gigs!

Thanks Virgil°

RoyalMarine · 08-04-2008 4:43pm

OmegaRed wrote: »

Yeah.. I was being a complete toss there with 8gigs! But how cool would that be to have a machine with 8 gigs... OK OK, I'll only get 4 gigs!

Thanks Virgil°

me points at anti's best excuse for 8gb
"with the price of ram being so cheap you'd be mad not to"

Inquitus · 08-04-2008 4:46pm

I've already re-activated my OEM Vista by phone for a changed Mobo, ignore the post above.

Anti · 08-04-2008 4:46pm

Damn right

Although it makes no difference to my day to day performance of the pc. But for encoding it helps soooo much

OmegaRed · 08-04-2008 4:47pm

Inquitus wrote: »

I've already re-activated my OEM Vista by phone for a changed Mobo, ignore the post above.

You can do that?

RoyalMarine · 08-04-2008 4:54pm

OmegaRed wrote: »

You can do that?

of course. why shouldnt you be allowed to buy a new motherboard and not use windows vista?
in the end you paid for vista for that computer. its not like he sold it and bought another and wants to use vista on that too!

ring mircosoft in dublin and explain that you bought a new mobo and want to re-install vista. they will gladly give you a new install code to re-activate it.

Inquitus · 08-04-2008 4:57pm

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

of course. why shouldnt you be allowed to buy a new motherboard and not use windows vista?
in the end you paid for vista for that computer. its not like he sold it and bought another and wants to use vista on that too!

ring mircosoft in dublin and explain that you bought a new mobo and want to re-install vista. they will gladly give you a new install code to re-activate it.

I usually say I had to replace it as the old one failed, tho you end up onto a Call centre in India usually and they don't seem to give a crap.......