New Rig advice

[Herbz]

Hi i'm currently speccing up a new gaming rig and would appreciate some advice.

Things im not 100% sure of.

Will this mobo support the GO version of the q6600?

Is the ram ok? I'm hoping for a small overclock to something like 3ghz as i'm not that geeky when it comes to overclocking.

Any other advice i.e. if something will badly throttle the system or won't work with something else in the system will be most appreciated spending what is for me a decent chunk of cash and id like it to work well from day one if possible.

I already have the os windows xp cd, will be upgrading to vista ultimate at a later date once its a bit more stable driver wise, and ill be adding a 500gb sata hd from my current rig and possibly a 2nd 8800 gtx in a year once the price has dropped a bit.



LN16492
1 EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 NF680i SLI, S775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 533/667/800/1200, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £136.68 £160.60
LN14277
2 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP £56.64 £133.10
LN16718
1 Antec 900 - Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case w/o PSU £58.89 £69.20
LN15443
1 850W Enermax EGA850EWL Galaxy Modular PSU 85% Eff' EPS12v Triple Quad +24 Rails Silent x2 Fan £134.89 £158.50
LN12802
1 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ £115.49 £135.70
LN19488
1 Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail £149.99 £176.24
LN18865
1 22" Samsung SM-226BW Black Widescreen LCD, 1680x1050, 3000:1, 300 cd/m2, 2 ms, VESA £199.99 £234.99
LN17875
1 5pcs Akasa Black Hook & Loop Re-Usable Cable Ties £1.99 £2.34
LN18558
1 Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Retail £98.79 £116.08
LN13080
1 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £13.49 £15.85
LN13842
1 Akasa AK-TC5022 Ultimate non pressure dependent Thermal compound, 3.5G with Spreader Card £4.89 £5.75
LN17861
1 768Mb BFG Technology 8800GTX OC2, PCI-E (x16), Mem 2000MHz, GPU 626MHz 128Streams HDTV/2 x DVI-I £304.89 £358.25


Total cost £1570

[csi_grissom]

all sounds very nice m8 but seems very rich for a pc that will be worth half the price in 12 months ud be better off buying a ps3 to play games on that spend that on a pc, just trying to save u the heartache in 12 months when u see your stuff going for silly money unless u have a wallett like made of gold...

[Herbz]

I'm not really into the console scene tbh as all my freinds use pcs to game with also i plan on using it for alot more than just gaming which only a pc will do.

As for the cost if i was to buy a ps3 which costs 400-500£ (not sure) i'd also need a new hdtv which would set me back atleast 500£+ so it's not exactly that much of a saving.

As for the cost i know pc hardware plummets, but i'm looking to spec a rig that baring a new or 2nd gfx card will run new games at acceptable fps for the next 2/3 years. My current rig cost me around 2k 3/4 years ago and only needs replacing now.

[staffsMike]

That sound card is a bit pricey.

I use the onboard sound on my evga 680i and its fine. Btw people won't recommend that mobo to you and unless you need SLi i probably wouldn't get it to be honest.

Abit Ip-35pro is very nice.

PSU is a massive overkill unless you are planning on dual GTX's

Raptors are noisey as hell and don't give all that much performance gain over a good 7200rpm. You could use raid 0 if you want to squeeze some extra performance out of a coouple of 7200's

[Herbz]

I'm hoping/planning on running sli at a later date, hence the very powerfull psu. I will also be adding more hds 1 straight away 3/4 over the comming year and i'd rather have to much power than to little.

As for the raptor being noisy i doubt i will hear it with the case im getting antec 900 which has 4 fans with the option of an extra 2 + gfx fan and cpu fan. Unless the raptors are stupidly stupidly noisy i doubt itll be an issue (just how loud are they i've never had one before.)

As for the sound card i like the break out box as it means i won't have to go reaching round the back of my pc that often and also alot of the games i play use EAX etc which afaik isn't supported by onboard sound. Also my current audigy 2zs platinum sounds alot better than the onboard sound on my current asus p4c800 deluxe mobo, has onboard sound chips on mobos improved alot over recent years?

Oh and i have a set of 7.1 thx gigaworks speakers that tend to punish anything but the best sound output and although i don't use them all the time i'd still like them to sound good when i do use them for movies etc.

Thanks for the advice it's all welcome and appreciated.

Ps i won't be upgrading my cpu for atleast a year or more probably 2 years is the p35 chipset worth getting over the 680i? Is it better for overlocking does it it run alot faster have alot more options etc? I'd like to atleast have the option of sli even if i don't end up using it.

Also by the time i do decide to upgrade my chip surely the 45nm core that the p35 chipset supports will have been superseeded by something with more cores and a smaller architexture?

[staffsMike]

Thats me told! lol

The antec 900 is actually super silent so any noise (including the arctic freezer) will be noticable.

Its more the vibration from the raptor I think..you can get silencers for them though which helps.

[csi_grissom]

i think i can find summit better to spend £1500 on....lol
geez u must have some cash sitting around and lots of time to sit and play it all day how different peoples lives are....lol
yes the raptors are very noisey they seem to be summit people swear by right now.
can i ask how your intend to run this m8 i assume raid but your on about adding another 3 or 4 drives that seems very excessive to play games on.
as for the prices on ps3 etc my m8 bought a 42" lg plasma hd ready for £599 and a ps3 for a lot less than your system and i have to admit to saying it looked bloody awesome...
dont know much about the 22" samsung but i bought the acer ferrari as a treat for myself and have to say i havent seen better for the price im sure they have dropped in price by now just looks awesome on my desk...

[Herbz]

Thats me told! lol

The antec 900 is actually super silent so any noise (including the arctic freezer) will be noticable.

Its more the vibration from the raptor I think..you can get silencers for them though which helps.

If my reply came accross as dismissive or slightly abusive i appologise i really didn't mean for it to come accross that way, i do appreciate your advice (esp about the case being quite i really didn't expect it to be with so many fans.) Maybe two 7200 drives in raid 0 would be better i'll have to have a think. Although id rather use 1 raptor than 2 7200 drives for the os as a man can never have enough 500gb+ storage drives i hammer my usenet account alot

I'm pretty much used to a noisy pc because atm by p4 3.2 northwood has a jet 7 cpu cooler sat ontop which sounds like a dyson/ chinook taking off and tbh i doesn't really bother me as i have very loud speakers when i'm not using my headset (which overrides all outside sound.)

[csi_grissom]

after seeing many machines lost due to raid 0 id try raid 1 u can then use 2 small drives for os and proggys and then 1 big drive for data backups i.e. movies etc

[Herbz]

i think i can find summit better to spend £1500 on....lol
geez u must have some cash sitting around and lots of time to sit and play it all day how different peoples lives are....lol
yes the raptors are very noisey they seem to be summit people swear by right now.
can i ask how your intend to run this m8 i assume raid but your on about adding another 3 or 4 drives that seems very excessive to play games on.
as for the prices on ps3 etc my m8 bought a 42" lg plasma hd ready for £599 and a ps3 for a lot less than your system and i have to admit to saying it looked bloody awesome...
dont know much about the 22" samsung but i bought the acer ferrari as a treat for myself and have to say i havent seen better for the price im sure they have dropped in price by now just looks awesome on my desk...

I work hard to play hard (christ that sounds corny) i work a standard 40-48 week i don't see it as that much cash considering ill be getting alot of use out of it over the next 2-3 years.
500£ a year isn't that much to spend i think considering i'll be watching movies listening to music browsing the net burning movies (yes i know it's naughty if its against forum rules i'll edit the post)
gaming watching tv etc etc.

As for hd setup i currently have 2x160 gb 1x 500gb and an old 80gb ide drive and im running low on space.

I'm planning on adding the 500gb straight away to the new system and probably 1-3 500gb/1tb drives at a later date. The new moniter supports 1080i and storing movies of that quality takes up alot of space 20-30gb a go and until hd-dvd/blueray burners come down in price i won't be burning them to a disc.

I would have loved to have got a bigger monitor ie 30inch dell etc but atm i can't justify blowing 1 grand or more on a monitor (that said i won't rule it out down the road if the price drops a bit and my wallet has recovered from the bashing i'm about to give it.)

Which is kind of why i would like the option of sli, 24+ inch of real estate running the lastest games at max quality makes even an 8800gtx cry abit or so i've read.

[staffsMike]

Nah i didn't think you were dismissive I was just joking around lol

I'll be running SLi 8800GTS's in a month or so.. Or staffsKieran will so will see how well the board works

[csi_grissom]

hmm from what u have said m8 id be seriusly considering going out more your talking as though theres nothing else to do in life....lol
40-48 hr week is not playing hard try 70+ hrs a week by that time your mind is numb anyways for playing games.....
apologies if your disabled or housebound m8

[Herbz]

hmm from what u have said m8 id be seriusly considering going out more your talking as though theres nothing else to do in life....lol
40-48 hr week is not playing hard try 70+ hrs a week by that time your mind is numb anyways for playing games.....
apologies if your disabled or housebound m8

I go out alot.... i'm not disabled or housebound, but rather than watch the current crap that's on uk tv atm i like to relax infront of the pc. I don't spend all my free time on the pc or anywhere near it Also alot of my irl friends use there pcs to game (part of the reason i need an upgrade they've all upgraded in the last year and can play/run games which my current pc can't.

I'm abit of a movie fanatic 1500 dvd collection atm

As for 70+hours working week luckly i chose a career which doesn't require me to spend every waking hour at work although i know what thats like as my brother is a doctor and often does 80+ hour weeks. I'd rather work to live than live to work.

[staffsMike]

As for 70+hours working week luckly i chose a career which doesn't require me to spend every waking hour at work although i know what thats like as my brother is a doctor and often does 80+ hour weeks. I'd rather work to live than live to work.

My girlfriends training to be a doctor.. gonna be a lot of pc use for me in the future i feel lol

[Herbz]

My girlfriends training to be a doctor.. gonna be a lot of pc use for me in the future i feel lol

1st couple of years are the worst mate my brother used to get home spend an hour having food relaxing with his gf then off to bed for 7 hours sleep then off to work again 6 days a week, although with the new nhs contracts it's got a bit better afaik.

Anyway this is all going abit off topic so back to my rig if theres not any major problems (people on this and other forums haven't pointed any out) i think i'll stick with it as is, just got to wait for payday on friday so i can order
Can't wait

[staffsMike]

Great..wonderful.. *cries* haha

Yeah your rig is fine mate. If you plan on any HUGE overclocks you might want some slightly better overclocking ram like crucial ballistix but thats only if you're trying to take the q6600 over 3.6GHz which won't happen on an artic freezer anyway.

I prefer acrtic silver 5 thermal paste though. Very good results.