Building my first Mid level Rig

[crazy_dave]

Hey new here thought i'd get on these boards and ask a few people who know what they're doing about this! I'm going to Uni in September and i've decided to build a pc, for gaming and also just for office work. Current specs i've got down are;

Mainboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard LGA775
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM: Corsair 2GB PC2-8500 C5 XMS2 Dominator (2x1GB)
GFX Card: BFG Graphics GeForce 8800GTS OC 320MB
PSU: Corsair HX620W
CPU Cooling: Zalman CNPS9700 LED
Soundcard: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami

and all the rest like DVD R/W, Floppy etc.

I dont know an amazing amount about computers, as i've basically just used this website and a few others over the past few weeks to put this together, what do you think? Is everything compatable? Is there anything you can suggest over what i've got down? My budget is £1000, yeah, i know quite tight. I was gonna check out a computer faire on Saturday in my local City, think that would be the best place to pick the bits up, or would online be better?

Thanks,

Dave

[Mad-Max]

Your going to get a 680i board now when they are going to release a Nforce 7 board about november time?

Unless you want SLI then may I suggest that you get a P35 board.

[Thorsson]

1. Don't get a 680i unless you are going SLI, get a P35 board instead.

2. Dominator is overpriced and PC-8500 is unecessary.

3. Get a better CPU Cooler. The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is tops if it fits the case/mobo.

[crazy_dave]

Alright, so what advantages does this P35 have over the 680i?
What RAM would you suggest instead?

Could you suggest a good place to buy the bits, or should i check out the computer fair?

[TMD]

for things like floppy drive, dvd...ie the small bits...i would check out your computer fair...but i doubt you'll find the prices of the stuff you've outlined above better at the fair...they just can't compete with larger online retailers.

in terms of the spec its pretty good...but like mad_max said a p35 board would be better.
what size monitor are you gonna be using with the setup...it may be worth getting a higher ram spec of grahics card maybe 640 instead of 320...
and the case...ive had the tsunami...its not the greatest case in the world...design isn't great nor is air flow. I can recommend the akasa eclipse 62...very good case in terms of air flow and so much room.

[Mad-Max]

I use and a lot of people will say Scan

http://www.scan.co.uk/

[CooperXS]

P35 cooler, cheaper, less powerhog, futureproof.

Also any DDR2-800 CL5 would be just fine for C2D. Spend the difference on 640MB 8800GTS.
And Zalman 9700 ain't best for the money. TT BigTyphoon, Scythe Infinity or Thermalright 120 Xtreme are better options

[crazy_dave]

Thanks Max! I'll check it out.

Basically i'm trying to build this rig closest to £1000, so saving every penny counts. I'm gonna be getting a Phillips monitor urm this one;

www ebuyer com/UK/product/128645 (5 post minimum thing)

I doubt i'll be playing in a resolution above 1600x1200 so i think the 320mb version should be sufficient and basically i cant afford a 640mb version!

Can anyone point in the the right direction for a case?
CooperXS, could you point me straight to a good set? Preferably 2gb!?
.

Thanks all!

[CooperXS]

I would say any will do - no need to spend lot for the branded bling-bling stuff.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=255300
and very long warranty

for 1600x1200 640MB 8800GTS is more preferable

[Biscuit]

i would avoid the extreme music, has some issues with clicking and popping & as always creative are useless with driver releases(before anyone says mute the microphone im now running on digital i/o ) go for a better XFI or a different card all together. The terratec cards are apparently quite good but if you can save a little here and there and bump the soundcard budget up to £120 then get the auzentech XFI. If not i see no reason why onboard would be suffice, they have come a long way recently.

Edit: also go for the corsair 520w that will be plenty for your system

[crazy_dave]

Thanks Cooper! I actually may now be able to afford a 640mb GTS with the savings. I was also wondering if you know of a good hard-drive? I've got Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache written down for £65. That ok?

Biscuit, i was thinking about dropping the soundcard altogether actually. Does the P35 have good on-board sound?

You've all been a great help! Thanks again!

[Biscuit]

Il let someone else give first hand opinion but from what i know they use HD outputs now so you get better bitrate and frequencies. I.e yeah they will be fine XFI is a bit of a fad anyway no MASSIVE advantages in gameplay. What kind of speakers will you be using?

[crazy_dave]

At first i'll probably just pick up some cheap ones, until i can afford a proper set. What would you advice when it comes to me actually getting some?

[daza]

You call that mid level, whats high end in your books as im looking at it.

[crazy_dave]

You call that mid level, whats high end in your books as im looking at it.

Haha i was gonna write high end, but i didn't wanna get flamed if you lot thought it wasn't .

[Biscuit]

depends a lot on budget and how big the room is going to be. I would like to say that having dinky little 5.1 speakers is quite impractical at uni as u cant really mount the speakers anywhere. They all just end up floating around on the desk.

Personally i have started building up a home theatre set-up by buying things bit by bit (also a student ) although i recently found that when gaming you need to have something called dolby live to get true surround via digital connection between my amp and PC... in comes the auzentech XFI. Obviously this is the expensive option!

The minimum i would go for would be these http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=112146 but as you can tell im a little picky about sound quality!