Another "please check my new gaming rig specs" + other noob questions

[kinkladze10]

Ok I'm really going for it this time so just wanted to get the heads up from the experts.
I'm basing this on one of Scan's top end machines or OC UK's total cost is around £2.5k - £2.6k ouch !!!

I have a few pressing questions:

1) Its a gaming rig so should I go for Vista Ultimate 64 or Vista Home 32bit? I don't want to be messing around with drivers and want the best possible set up.

2) Is the GPU worth it?

3) How loud is this thing going to be with 5 x 120mm fans and water cooling?

4) I need the Raptor for the disc access but again I've heard it can be noisy is this true?

5) At the moment this has 2 Gig of what I think is fairly fast ram, I'm a little over budget so would it be worth going to 4mb of ram and seeing if I could get this in 4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Dominator, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15, DHX?

Scans System

Silverstone TJ09S-W (Silver) TEMJIN Aluminum Supertower Case inc Side Window
**3XS-TRIAD QUAD CORE SYSTEM**
Asus Striker Extreme NF680i SLI, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
Scan 3XS System - 1year RTB Warranty Watercooled Systems Only
BUILD/TEST WATERCOOLED SYSTEM
1000W Coolermaster Real Power M1000 CMAST RS-A00-ESBA
3XS Backup (Trueimage V10) Complete Back and System Restore
Alphacool NexXxoS Xtreme II Radiator - Rev. 2 (Requires x2 120mm fans)
Alphacool Repack-cooling slot Black UV Reserves and Compensating Reservoir +UV light (5.25" Rad Box)
Alphacool NexXxos XP Sok 775 CPU Cooler
Alphacool Laing DDC-Pump 12V Ultra Electronically Commuted Ball-motor Pump
1m Green Neon Flow Springz 1/2"
Alphacool Plugin angle connector AG 1/4" on 11/8" ID nickel-plated
Alphacool Voltage adaptor of 12V on 9.5 V
Alphacool Screwconnector 11/8mm G1/4
45cm Akasa Round IDE Cable ATA-133 Certified
45cm Akasa Round Floppy Drive Cable
100cm Akasa SATA2-100-SL SATAII (SATA300/3G) Silver HDD Cable
Sharkoon 12" UV CCFL 2in1 Kit (x2 CCFL Tubes + 1 dual Inverter + adhesive Velcro strips)
AKASA 8 Pin (F) to 8 Pin (2x4 Pin) (M) Extension cable (30cm) (End to End) AK-CB8-8-EXT
Corsair Dominator Airflow Fan (Fits onto the Memory slots to cool the memory)
Scan System Configuration (Details confirmed at checkout stage)

Qty Selected Specifications
1 Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, 775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail
1 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC8500, 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15
1 768Mb XFX 8800 Ultra, PCI-E (x16), Mem 2160 MHz, GPU 612 MHz, 2x Dual Link DVI-I/HDTV
1 BUILD/TEST VGA WATER COOLING X 1 GPU
1 1l Feser One Fluid - UV Blue for water cooling systems (Non Conductive < 10 &#236;S)
3 Alphacool Hose PVC 11/8mm UV-Active Blue x1 Meter Length
5 120mm Coolermaster Internal Case Fan with BLUE LED S12-EB
1 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500AHFD Raptor X, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ
1 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
1 1.44Mb Sony Silver Floppy Disk Drive OEM
1 Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C LiteOn 20x DVD&#177;R, 8x DVD&#177;DL, DVD+RW x8 / -RW x 6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Retail
1 Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail
1 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit
1 NVIDIA DVD - Bronze edition - Dolby 2.1
1 MS OFFICE 2007 - 25 Usage/60 Day TRIAL Basic,SBE & Professional
1 Standard 3XS System Warranty

OCUK's system

they don't give much info about cooling etc and other stuff as much as scan do but they do offer 2 8800 GTX's in an SLI for the same price?


- Intel Core 2 Quadro Extreme QX6850 3.00GHz processor
- Intel Approved Cooler
- BFG nForce 680 SLi (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
- Corsair 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 Dominator PC2-8500 Dual Channel Kit
- Western Digital 500GB 16MB cache SATA Hard Drive
- BFG GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 AVIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (SLI Configured)
- BFG GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 AVIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (SLI Configured)
- NEC 7173 18x DVD&#177;RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Professional Sound Card
- Sony Black Floppy Drive
- Antec NINE HUNDRED Gamers ATX Case (200mm fan)
- BFG 1000W Next Generation ATX PSU
- Vista Ultimate with License and CD supplied

I've got a lot of time for Scan and personally I hate OCUK ever since they charged me a restocking fee one time but I want to make sure I get the best option possible

I'm hoping this is going to let me run any game at max settings and be "future proof" for a while or is it just not worth it? Thanks in advance,

[Pob255]

Well I'm guessing that the ocuk one is not watercooled which is why you get an extra graphics card.

"future proffing" is still rather up in the air atm, as we've got little true idea as to how dx10 games are going to perform. I personally think the real key to future proffing is get thing that can be upgraded later with minimum hassle to keep up with the curve.

How worth SLI is is another thing up in the air atm, one thing to note is what resolution you plan to play at (as nether of your specs contain a monitor)

The scan set has a very expensive but very good case (&#163;160) the ocuk has a good (not as good but still good) case which is far cheaper (&#163;70)

And I do hope that that ocuk Intel Approved Cooler doesn't mean stock cooler.

Personally, go for the scan specs, remove the watercooling (unless your heart is set on it), maybe a cheaper case like the Antec 900 or better still the antec p182 (Case is more of a personal look thing)
Also remove the lights and led fans, put in some better fans and a fan controller.

The 2gb of dominator cas5 will be fine and easy enough to get some more without too major a cost if it's needed later.

Overall I wouldn't spend 2.5k on a pc, esp high end for the simple reason that in a couple of months time it's going to be woth half that. it's the top high end stuff that has the highest costs and falls the most.

[kinkladze10]

Yeah I think you're right this is good advice, I'm happy to go with Scan but all the flashing lights leds etc come as standard, I will see if they can be removed as the case will sit below my desk and the only time I'll look at it is the put something in and out of the cd tray.

Are you saying that I won't need the water cooling to keep the pc cool, I won't be overclocking anything

also which version of windows would you recommend Xp, or Vista 32 or 64?

Cheers

[Clunk]

I wouldnt go for either of those.

Both of the motherboards are problematic, and hardly futureproof. SLI is a pain in the arse, and pointless unless you have a massive resolution display, and even then, the problems outweigh the benefits.

For 2.6 grand, you could have polish servants that could make you one from used cornflakes packets

[jackvdbuk]

I wouldnt go for either of those.

Both of the motherboards are problematic, and hardly futureproof. SLI is a pain in the arse, and pointless unless you have a massive resolution display, and even then, the problems outweigh the benefits.

For 2.6 grand, you could have polish servants that could make you one from used cornflakes packets

QFT, hell of alot of money to spend which is only going to be high end for a cou0ple of months...

you want to be looking at P35 or P965 (old tech but still good) mobos

8800gtx is silly imo, always one card, if you really want to go OTT get a ultra

why do you need a floppy?

and if your overclocking a stock intel cooler is a bit silly when your spending so much elsewhere (the ocuk one)

[Biscuit]

1) depends what kind of gaming you want to do. If its just new games yeah go for Vista 64 (correct me if im wrong peeps but im assuming new games will be supported here) Some older games such as COD2 & BF2142 (not even THAT old) do have some issues with vista E.G COD2 runs at less than half the FPS for some reason and BF crashes every time i exit. The older the game the more risk your running on incompatibility with vista as there is less chance of any patches.

2) i would have thought top of the range graphics (8800GTX/Ultra) will last a fair amount of time but Pop is right there is no real way of knowing till some reliable DX10 benchies from the real challenging games are released. As has been mentioned, no SLI is a bit of a waste of time; only works with certain games and even then its not guaranteed.

3) Depends what fans you are using but yeah its gunna be fairly noisey. When your building a SERIOUS power rig that needs some mega cooling, its a sacrifice you have to make

4) Yes, im pretty sure the noise raptors make can be compared to a 1969 V8

5) Vista can be quite memory hungry however it uses this memory much more efficiantly. I have no probles with memory and im still on 2GB DDR1. Until i see some proper DX10 benchies im sticking with what i have so personally i dont think its worth 4GB ATM. You can always put more in down the line if you need it.

If you are not overclocking i dont really think watercooling is worth it & unless you REALLY dont feel confident enough i would say... build it yourself. Plenty of helpful souls and advice here to help anyone & it always works out better suited and cheaper

[Pob255]

Try useing the 3XS Intel i975 Core™2 Duo System as the base system then configure to what you want
http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=491

[kinkladze10]

Cheers guys, I'm glad I asked for your advice here first, having slept on it you're right it's too much money to spend. I've got a bit of money set aside for a new rig but have been guilty of going OTT.

Thanks for answering the questions I had, makes a lot of sense and cleared up all my questions.

I do want something that will give me a high benchmark on gaming for the next 12-18 months without having to look at changing configurations etc,

The system which Pob255 has recommended looks better can someone clarify

Which would be the better option out of the 2 processors for gaming? The Quad core is cheaper but also slightly slower

Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 S775, 2.67Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache

or

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, 775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache

So assuming I go for the Quad core


So my new rig would look like this


Case: Silverstone TJ09B-W (Black) TEMJIN Aluminum Supertower Case inc Side Window
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 775 2.40 GHz 1066MHz FSB 8MB Cache Retail
CPU Cooler: 3XS Sytems Liquid Cooling Unit (1xCPU - 120mm FanUnit)
Memory: 4GB (4x1GB) Corsair XMS2 Dominator DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) Non-ECC Unbuffered CAS 5-5-5-15 DHX
nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™: 768Mb XFX 8800GTX PCI-E (x16) Mem 1800 MHz GPU 570 MHz Stream 128 2x Dual Link DVI HDTV
System Drives: 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise SATA150 10000 rpm 16MB Cache NCQ 4.6 ms
Storage Hard drives: 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T SATA300 7200 rpm 16MB Cache 8.9 ms NCQ
Floppy Drive Flash - Card Readers & Writers: AKASA 3.5" AK-ICR-01E Internal Multi Memory card reader Dual Fasica Black Ivory inc USB 2.0 Port
DVD Writer : Lite-ON LH-20A1S-11C LiteOn 20x DVD&#177;R 8x DVD&#177;DL DVD+RW x8 -RW x 6 DVD-RAM x12 SATA Retail
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail

And I can get that for around &#163;1500.00

[Clunk]

No motherboard?

[kinkladze10]

oops forgot to put that on lol

this is the one that it's given me Intel BLKD975XBX2KR i975X, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/533, SATA I / II, SATA RAID, ATX, OEM

Is this a gaming board when compared to the likes of this? Asus Striker Extreme NF680i SLI, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX?

[Clunk]

Do they offer any of the P5K series boards? An intel 975x board is ok, if slightly old hat now.

As for being a gaming board, well I am one of those people that is sceptical about anything that says it is for gaming or gamers unless its a game.

The P5K deluxe that I have, coupled with a GTX will give you planty of gaming performance right up to 1920x1200.

No set up is going to be futureproof, and pretty much every setup will be out of date in just a few weeks.

This is why its a good idea to build your own, and then when something does become outdated and needs changing, then you can do it yourself without having to send the entire thing back to where you bought it from.

If you are worried about building it yourself, theres plenty of help available on here, and you will probably build it and wonder what all the fuss was about

[kinkladze10]

Yeah I have built one myself in the past, but there was so many pitfalls and bits where I wasn't sure if what I was doing was right + the fact that there were wires everywhere lol.

when I had a custom build from scan fair play it looked the business all neat and tidy and I was well impressed, for the hassel free and worry factor alone I don't paying a little bit more for someone to do it for me

The last pc I've had has served me well for the last 2 and a bit years so if I can get 18 months out of it I'll take that

[No.72]

1) Some older games such as COD2 & BF2142 (not even THAT old) do have some issues with vista E.G COD2 runs at less than half the FPS for some reason and BF crashes every time i exit.

cod2 runs fine for me (same fps as xp), BF series is also fine for me.

[Biscuit]

Hmm must be the drivers for the 8800 then :/ it does seem to have sped up since i put ver 162 on though.

Does anyone else run vista and an 8 series with problems?

[Clunk]

Does anyone else run vista and an 8 series with problems?

Desktop and general 2d horridness in vista x64 with latest drivers.

[kinkladze10]

I've just ordered Vista 64, god help me then