New rig.... your thoughts please chaps

[CDM]

Hi all, this is my first post here on Hexus, and as such I'm after opinions on a new rig spec that I have spent many hours deliberating over.

The spec is below. I do have a few things I'm not sure about at the moment. One is whether to go with an 8800GT, GTS or GTX. Knowing that the GT and GTS's are PCI-E2 and the GTX's are only PCI-e at the moment, i'm not sure I'd see a performance gain....

Mobo:- Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i (Socket 775)
CPU:- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, S 775, 2.83 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MB Cache, Retail
RAM:- 2 x Patriot Dual Channel DDR2 4Gb (2x2GB) PC2-6400 Kit LLK
HHD's:- 2 x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11
GFX:- 512MB Asus 8800GTS, PCI-E 2.0 (x16)
Case:- Thermaltake VD4000BWS LCS Kandalf Full Tower - Black
PSU:- 1000W Enermax EG1000EWLDXX V2 Galaxy Modular PSU 85% Eff' EPS12v Triple Quad +24 Rails Silent x2 Fan
OD:- NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x Internal DVDRW Lightscribe Black - SATA

I know the PSU might be overkill but it alows for a bit of future proofing.

Your thoughts?

[SiM]

Why the nforce board? Do you plan to SLi in the future?

If you don't plan to SLi then change to P35/x38/x48 board and get a cheaper PSU...

If you plan to SLi then that spec looks grreat

[Fraz]

Nice spec.

The PSU is MASSIVE OVERKILL though. You'd be fine with about half that, unless you're planning on putting 3 more graphics cards in, then watercooling the whole lot, AND running a couple of toasters. To give you some idea, the most I've ever seen my system draw <---- is about 280 Watts as measured on a kill-a-watt meter. So even with just 500 Watts, you're still going to be able to SLI and all the rest if you want to.

[staffsMike]

I wouldn't bother with the SLi Board. Put the money towards a 3870 X2 or the 9800GTX when it comes out.

Q9550 seems like a waste of money compared to the q9450 give there is only 200mhz difference and both with most likely overclock to the same speeds.

I would get an abit Ip-35pro or if you really want PCIe 2.0 support get an X38/X48 board when it comes out. I don't think PCIe 2.0 give very much gain though tbh.

PSU as people already said is pretty massive overkill even for an SLi setup. 2x G92 core Cards will probably need little more than 600w for an SLi setup.

Is that 8GB of RAM? I know it's cheap at the moment but what are you using the PC for because you won't see much gain over 4GB in most apps.

I don't really like seagate but thats personal. I would go with western digital RE's or AAKS models. Very reliable cool running and quiet.

Just my thoughts.

[Fraz]

Are you planning on overclocking or running at stock, btw? If overclocking then staffsMike makes a good point.

[hermeticist]

Also, what resolutions will you be using a GTX on 1280x1024 would be overkill, wouldn`t it? But at 1600x1200 you might see a big improvement. I think the new 3870x2 is about the same price as a GTX (&#163;260+) might be worth a look.

[CDM]

Thanks for the input chaps, I have made a few adjustments to the list and the new spec is below. I have swapped the PSU for a less powerful one (probably still overkill but always better to have too much than not enough i guess!) and also switched to a Tagan. What are peoples views on the Tagan's? I had one in my previous rig and had absolutely no complaints with it other than it wasn't modular, which the one in the spec below is. My intention is to watercool the lot.

I have also swapped the CPU for the slightly slower one, and removed one of the 4GB Memory kits, and added another GTS to run SLI.

Mobo:- Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i (Socket 775)
CPU:- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
RAM:- Patriot Dual Channel DDR2 4Gb (2x2GB) PC2-6400 Kit LLK
HHD's:- 2 x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11
GFX:- 2 x 512MB Asus 8800GTS, PCI-E 2.0 (x16) Running in SLI
Case:- Thermaltake VD4000BWS LCS Kandalf Full Tower - Silver
PSU:- 800W Tagan TG800-BZ
OD:- NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x Internal DVDRW Lightscribe Black - SATA

What ya reckon now?

[Fraz]

Very nice - how much is the case by the way? Why did you choose that one? (not a criticism - just don't know anything about that case).

Are you going to be running Vista 64 bit? Or something else?

Might as well chuck in an cheap optical reader to do copying?

[staffsMike]

Thing is about running those two in SLi and factoring in the cost of the motherboard to run it.

2x GTS ~ &#163;400
Motherboard ~ &#163;230

Thats upwards of &#163;600

Where you could get the Abit IP-35 pro for &#163;100 and the ATi HD3870 X2 for &#163;270.

So it's &#163;370 against &#163;630 and next to no preformance difference.

If you really want to run two graphics card then how about moving to the the Abit X38 motherboard which is around &#163;130 and then getting two ATi HD3870 X2's

That will cost around &#163;660 similar to the SLi setup and if games were optimized for it would give rediculous performance.

[Fraz]

Thing is about running those two in SLi and factoring in the cost of the motherboard to run it.

2x GTS ~ &#163;400
Motherboard ~ &#163;230

Thats upwards of &#163;600

Where you could get the Abit IP-35 pro for &#163;100 and the ATi HD3870 X2 for &#163;270.

So it's &#163;370 against &#163;630 and next to no preformance difference.

If you really want to run two graphics card then how about moving to the the Abit X38 motherboard which is around &#163;130 and then getting two ATi HD3870 X2's

That will cost around &#163;660 similar to the SLi setup and if games were optimized for it would give rediculous performance.

Nice idea!... although maybe he would be needing that 1000 W PSU after all!

edit; actually, not so nice. Are you talking about the abit quad GT btw? I thought that board was a bag of balls?

[staffsMike]

Probably not to be honest, 700W would probably still handle it but better safe than sorry.

Anyway I wasn't expecting anyone to actually take that seriously lol.

The IP-35pro and 3870X2 idea is much better bangs for bucks though.

[CDM]

Very nice - how much is the case by the way? Why did you choose that one? (not a criticism - just don't know anything about that case).

Are you going to be running Vista 64 bit? Or something else?

Might as well chuck in an cheap optical reader to do copying?

The case is £175, and i picked it because it comes with a water cooling kit included, and it looks very nice without being too "in your face". You can find details on the thermaltake website on it, i would have posted a link but I haven't posted on these boards enough yet apparently!

I was intending to run Vista 64 bit on it, bugs permitting.....

I didn't really see the point in a second reader as I don't do much disk to disk copying.

[CDM]

Thing is about running those two in SLi and factoring in the cost of the motherboard to run it.

2x GTS ~ £400
Motherboard ~ £230

Thats upwards of £600

Where you could get the Abit IP-35 pro for £100 and the ATi HD3870 X2 for £270.

So it's £370 against £630 and next to no preformance difference.

If you really want to run two graphics card then how about moving to the the Abit X38 motherboard which is around £130 and then getting two ATi HD3870 X2's

That will cost around £660 similar to the SLi setup and if games were optimized for it would give rediculous performance.

It's certainly a thought, i haven't really looked into the new ATi cards tbh, althought I'd rather do an Asus mobo as I'm familiar with them and have never had any trouble with them.

[SiM]

What about Asus P5E series... that has crossfire support...

[staffsMike]

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[Thorsson]

Everyone forgets the OD. The Optiarc is crap. Get a Samsung SH203.