Major Upgrade - Need Advice

[Mike.c]

Hi all!

Im looking to replace most of the parts in my current system, well almost all of it. Im going to be keeping the HDD's, DVD Roms and thats about it. I've decided that im going to go with an intel based system this time, as i've heard a lot of good things about their cpu's. It will mostly be used for gaming and so far i've come up with the following:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping 2.4GHz 1066MHz @ £171.85
Abit FATALITY FP-IN9 SLI Socket 775 NF650i DDR2 ATX @ £73.14
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC @ £64.99
Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card OEM @ £299.99
Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU @ £79.95
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x64Bit OEM @ £65.75

I did this late last night so not sure how good it is, for example im not too sure on the mother board. I was also looking at the Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R or one of the Asus boards instead but i'm not sure what to go for. Any advice would be great!

I'm also looking for a new case and found this. Does anyone have any experience with these or have a better recommendation (around £60-100).

Thanks alot, Mike.

[godsdog]

If you've decided to go all Intel this time round, I'd consider swapping out the mobo for a P35 chipset based one, take your pick for price and features you need, Abit IP-35 matches price roughly, Asus P5K varietys match for price, it's your call what features you need. The Corsair 620W HX PSU is £88, the 520 is obviously cheaper and are options worth considering. The OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1024) Platinum Series DDR2 PC6400 800MHz Rev. 2 is marginally cheaper and will offset some of the extra on the PSU. And I'd question the 64 bit Vista atm.

Case taste is a subjective personal thing, I would do your homework if you are getting a 8800 GTX, in some cases they back right onto the HDD cage leaving no room for connections and worst case scenario, they simply don't fit. A GTX in my black Silverstone TJ04 wouldn't fit for example.

just some ideas to muse over.

Edit: I'm assuming you're overclocking with this lot and not planning on using SLI.
.

[Pob255]

The GTX will fit into that case, however it's not a case designed for a high end gameing rig and the cooling is not really up to a quad core & 8800gtx

The chassis was simply not able to expel heat fast enough, which in turn prompted the CPU and PSU fans to kick into high gear and ramp up the noise level greatly. Once I removed one of the 8800GTX cards and clocked the CPU back a bit, all was happy inside the HUSH.

Source

You Probably be better off with an antec 900 case

[staffsMike]

I'd go with the antec 900 or personally i'd have the antec p182 if you don't want led's on front etc.. its an amazing case.

PSU wise go with the corsair mentioned..the 520w will be ample for your system.

This case and psu combination works for an overall silent pc with only a slight hum from the GTX.

RAM wise i'd go with either

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-058-GL
I use it and it's really good for overclocking into 1000MHz +

or this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=813
great price for amazing ram.. i have the same but pc5300 in another pc and it overclocks even better than the geil does.

And i'd get a new HSF, probably a scythe ninja rev b but thats all down to personal preference really as some will prefer the thermalright 120 extreme, scythe mine etc..

[Mike.c]

Thanks for the replies!

Based on what you've said i've changed the mother board to an Asus P5K, iP35, S 775 and went for the Antec 900. It was one of the cases i had looked at and liked. Also wasn't sure how well the NZXT would have been at cooling, especially with the sound proofing used.

Decided to spend a bit more on the psu and get a 620W Corsair HX Series. As for RAM im ordering this lot from Scan and they don't seem to have the Crucial Ballistix so looked at the 2x1GB CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 which looks quite similar.

And I'd question the 64 bit Vista atm.

How come? is it just driver issues?

Again thanks a lot for the help!

[staffsMike]

I've used vista 64bit with two builds and its pretty much faultless and silky smooth

[Lucio]

One thing I found out when my friend went from an AMD to an Intel chip is that the Windows XP disc doesn't like it Basically it wouldn't let you do an install of Windows onto the reused HDD without first formatting it which I achieved in the end by grabbing a copy of Windows 98, though I suspect a Linux disc would also work.

[Behemoth]

One thing I found out when my friend went from an AMD to an Intel chip is that the Windows XP disc doesn't like it Basically it wouldn't let you do an install of Windows onto the reused HDD without first formatting it which I achieved in the end by grabbing a copy of Windows 98, though I suspect a Linux disc would also work.

Thats nuts, thats the drive not the install media, I'd state my knowledge on it that if anything it was the cable on the drive.

[godsdog]

How come? is it just driver issues?

Yeh, just don't get caught with yer trooserss half on - drivers, software specific to you and your needs you might have to run ...but if you've researched for any difficulties you might encounter and can't find problems, then go for it.

[Pob255]

Well an install of Windows never like you changeing the motherboard on it.
No have I had the problems odf reinstalling over the top of an old install, getting an over install to work properly is another matter, it often hits the same problem, that being it picks up the drivers & .dll's from the old install and tries to use them with the new one which can cause problems.

I'd always advise backing everything up, reformatting and reinstalling windows with a motherboard change.

[Mike.c]

Well just to let you know i finally got my system. Built it up today and so far its running fine. In the end i went with the following parts:

Antec 900 Gamers Case
Asus P5K Standard S775
Corsair TwinX 2GB DDR2 6400 C4
Corsair HX 620W MODULAR PSU
Intel Q6600 Quadcore CPU G0
MS Reclusa Keyboard
Scan Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB OEM
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit

It's running great from what i can tell. CPU temps at idle are around 38C and at load 40-42C. The GPU is arout 56C at idle and at load 62-63C. Not sure how accurate or how good they are but seem ok to me. Used Core temp and Rivatuner. Overall it's as fast as **** of a shovel!

Thanks for the advice, was a great help!

[staffsMike]

Are you using the stock HSF?

[Lucio]

Thats nuts, thats the drive not the install media, I'd state my knowledge on it that if anything it was the cable on the drive.

Nope! Definately not the drive, it was a brand new Seagate 7200.10 that I found this out with. Basically when Windows XP looks for previous installs, when it finds one it tries to load the drivers for it and then promptly falls over when it hits the chipset drivers....

Windows 98 does nothing of the sort and simply goes "So, you'd like to trash this HDD?"

[Mike.c]

Yes mate thats stock cooling on both.

[staffsMike]

Pretty good temps for stock cooling

Same as the B3 i had with a scythe ninja.

[excalibur2]

A cheap upgrade (for anyone interested) with an old system like yours is:-

Gigabyte 81865GME (£30) + E2140 (£45)...the giga will take PC3200 plus AGP and the cpu should overclock 50% at min.
Anyway that's what I've just bought to upgrade my 2nd computer, and am just waiting for my FSP 400w PSU (about £30) to arrive (don't want to use my old £12 one).