Anything you will change in this setup ?

[Fjorko]

Hi All

Building a new gaming rig. Here is what I have shortlisted. Components are from SCAN and OCUK.


SCAN:

LN19488
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail £140.99 £165.66

LN20680
Asus Maximus Formula, iX38, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1200/1066/800/667, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £134.39 £157.91

LN13080
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £13.39 £15.73

LN18867
Antec P182 Advanced PERFORMANCE ONE SERIES Super Midi Tower Case, Gun Metal Black (no PSU) £69.89 £82.12

LN15215
620W Corsair HX Series Modular SLi PSU, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £72.89 £85.65


OCUK:

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£289.99 (£340.74)

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) £74.99 (£88.11)

1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)
£61.99 (£72.84) <---data

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST380815AS)
£51.98 (£61.08) <---RAID0

2 x Akasa AK174CB-4BLB 120mm Blue LED Fan
£15.98 (£18.78)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
£5.99 (£7.04)

Samsung SM-245B 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
£259.99 (£305.49)

Akasa AK FC-03 Fan Controller Pro £24.99
£24.99 (£29.36)

Comes out to about £1450

Keyboard and Mouse will be added later.

I do not need a soundcard or speakers ( have these already )

The components I am unsure about are the MotherBoard and GFX card - I'm sure there are better deals to be had, but I want MAX performance for the same price.

Can you lovely lads/lasses please give these items a once (or twice ) over and suggest alternatives or better combo's that may save me money and/or gain me performance that i may have advertently overlooked.

Ye all be thanked !!!!

[godsdog]

Looking good.

Not sure about Maximus Formula over a cheaper P35 (Abit IP-35 Pro / Asus P5K Deluxe) unless you have reason to go X38.

Don't see a DVD-RW there? (Samsung S203N)

Are you planning on overclocking to any great degree? If so, money saved on the board could go toward a change of cooler.

[Fjorko]

Looking good.

Not sure about Maximus Formula over a cheaper P35 (Abit IP-35 Pro / Asus P5K Deluxe) unless you have reason to go X38.

Don't see a DVD-RW there? (Samsung S203N)

Are you planning on overclocking to any great degree? If so, money saved on the board could go toward a change of cooler.

Overclock -> yep ! -> but not toooooo much !!! x38 i guess is for more futureproofing at relatively similar or slightly better performance in some areas.

Just looking at my choice of HDD's too,something don't look right there ! I want a fast system partition and one drive to hold data, so may have to go have a look at that again.

I have a DVD-RW DL ( forgot to mention that ), but may get a new one.

Thanks

[shaithis]

I would go with an ABit board instead, got a real distaste for the Asus stuff at the moment.....and the more expensive and rare the asus board, the less support you seem to get.

[godsdog]

Overclock -> yep ! -> but not toooooo much !!! x38 i guess is for more futureproofing at relatively similar or slightly better performance in some areas.

I'd check out the living reviews over at Clunk's re:X38 first: Reviews. - Clunk's Forums. The Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 comes out well.

[Fraz]

In general, very nice.

Comments:

I'd have thought that 2x80GB drives in RAID 0 would have no real gain (and a massive loss in complexity terms) over a decent single 500GB drive.

Also, I just don't see the point in getting a 8800GTX right now - I'd get a 8800GT if I were you. Although that's no easy task, as far as I've heard...

I know nothing nothing about ASUS boards, but if you get an Abit board, there really isn't a need for a fan controller, as you'll be able to control everything via uGuru. Or, as I suppose, you could get the uGuru panel, if you really wanted something with knobs on.

Just my 2 pence mind.

[MSIC]

The components I am unsure about are the MotherBoard and GFX card - I'm sure there are better deals to be had, but I want MAX performance for the same price.

I can understand wanting the best performance, but are you really sure that you are happy to pay (in the case of graphics) twice the price for an extra 5&#37;, (depending on game)??

I really hope you have many tens of thousands of pounds spare in the bank and do much charitable work if you are happy spending money like that!

[Fjorko]

I can understand wanting the best performance, but are you really sure that you are happy to pay (in the case of graphics) twice the price for an extra 5%, (depending on game)??

I really hope you have many tens of thousands of pounds spare in the bank and do much charitable work if you are happy spending money like that!

OK, so 8800GT then ?

[Fraz]

OK, so 8800GT then ?

For now - yes. Remember you can always sell it and buy the 8800 GTX rev.2 (or whatever it's gonna be) when it arrives in a few months. An 8800 GT will keep its value well, but if you bought an 8800GTX now, its value will plummet when the new version comes out.

[Blitzen]

Also, I just don't see the point in getting a 8800GTX right now - I'd get a 8800GT if I were you. Although that's no easy task, as far as I've heard...

I wouldnt get either. Hang fire to 3rd December (hopefully) and the new GTS will be upon us. It will be alot cheaper than the GTX and only very slightly dearer than the the GT, BUT, if all things are right at the moment, will be faster than both.

The GT isnt only 5&#37; slower than the GTX. Thats twisting the facts somewhat. It is only a 5% difference when you have all the AA turn down on a lower resolution. Otherwise the gap is larger.

The new GTS is supposedly 15-20% than the GTwith AA etc up full.

The GT is great if:
1. You cant warranty spending the extra &#163;40-50 on a new revision GTS
2. You are desperate right now for a card (even though there are only a few around).
3. You are happy to part with the best part of &#163;200 and then in less than 2 weeks not be disappointed that the next gen card is faster for only a few quid more.

The 8800GT is a great card. Its not that ground breaking though for &#163;170+, especially with what is coming only a week or two away.

BTW......It looks like there wont be a next revision GTX or Ultra....they are moving straight to the 98xx series from what is being said.

[Fjorko]

Yep, was just reading that !!!

Ahhh the impatience huh ? !!!

Are there any reviews out for the new GTS' ?

[Blitzen]

1 or 2 comparisons.
I posted a link the other day to compare all the 8800 series cards and the new GTS has some very good stats.

[Fjorko]

Hi again

Getting to the final stages of component selection, but just one quick question

If anyone owns a Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Mobo - does a Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme H/S fit on it ?

What do you do with the heatsinks on the back seeing that the Thermaltake needs a backplate mounted ?

Thanks !

Will post my final spec for your comments soon !!

Cheers

[Webby]

You could always take them off and put a Thermalright IFX-10 on the back instead (assuming it's just a back of CPU socket cooler or you could just leave them off, not sure how much good they do anyway (not tried a board with them so can't really comment).

[neonplanet40]

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Kit

The above overclocks alot so you may not need to spend the extra

[Fjorko]

OK, so what do you think of this final list of components..... I know there are probably cheaper alternatives, but this will have to last me a while. The reason for the Maximus Formula SE with the WC northbridge is coz I may look into WC later on . . . . and the Silverstone case is expensive, but it should be able to house many upgrades in the forseeable future due to it's internal volume.

GFX card is also added, but I may hold back on that to see what the new GTS is like. I just added a good one to make the setup complete and get pricing.

Honest opinions please

Oh yeah - all comes to approx &#163;1500

EDIT : I think I MAY stick 2 x Asus ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT 512MB's in there and X-fire them ! - works out approx &#163;150 more