Advice on new gaming rig

[bobman]

Hi there,

My 2.2Ghz Athlon 64 / 6800GT is looking a bit long in the tooth these days, so it's time for a new rig.

I run two monitors, a dell 2407 @ 1920x1200 and a 19" iiyama crt at 1600x1200, so target gaming res is 1920. In terms of overclocking, I can handle pushing an FSB up a bit, but messing with voltages is a bit beyond me. I've been watching 720p on my current setup, which it can handle, and I would like to be able to play 1080p on my new rig.

All that said, here is my current thinking:

MSI P35 Neo2-FR
C2D E8400
9800GTX or 9800GTX w. factory o/c
500Gb 7200rpm samsung
2x1Gb Corsair Twinx DDR2 8500 5-5-5-15
750w Xigmatek psu
Scythe mugen infinity hsf
coolermaster centurion 5 case


Basically, I remain unconvinced by the multi-gpu single slot cards (9800gx2 etc), given levels of support for previous gx2 type cards. Also the GX2 can't run two monitors without disabling SLI.
I've steered clear of a quad core as their stock speeds are low, and from what I've read overclocking them to speeds that compete with the twin cores sounds like a lot of effort.

So my questions are:
-From the benchmarks, the 9800GTX looks like it will handle 1920 on this setup (maybe not crysis though ). Am I right?
-Is it worth getting a 9800GTX that has a factory overclock? The reviews all get o/c results beyond the XXX-type versions on a stock card, but how realistic are these overclocks on a stock retail card?
-If I get the 3Ghz CPU, is it worth getting the Scythe hsf? I've read that these cpu's can go to 3.6 without too much effort, and I take it this is beyond the stock coolers performance?
-Any other recommendations on improving the above setup?

Thanks in advance,
bobman

[staffsMike]

You don't need 750W, you dont really need 500W but thats where I would be shooting for a system like that.

You might as well get 4GB or RAM while it's so cheap.

The mugen is kool, I would go for the ninja personally but either will be good. As will the thermalright offerings.

Wouldn't bother with factory overclocks. Overclocking graphics card is easier than breathing. The 9800 is enough to 1920 x 1200 yeah.

I'd want a better case. The coolermaster cm690 can be had for about £45 (on scan today onlys) and it's a great case, and not just for the money, it's just a really good case.

I wouldn't buy MSI motherboards personally but P35 is good. Abit IP-35 or Asus P5K would be my choices.

I'd also get a q6600 over the e8400. It's again, very easy to overclock this chip to 3.0GHz. It can be achieved with stock volts and great temps. It will mature far better than the e8400 will but each to their own.
Q6600 has the advantage of being able to do things in the background while playing games without any problems

You can also get the Q6600 to 3.6GHz with a bit more volts and a bit more effort, but a lot of them are very capable of it. What you will notice is the performance gains aren't really worth it above 3.0GHz or probably less.

[bobman]

Thanks for the reply.

My thinking on that particular PSU was that it's a wattage with plenty of headroom, a similar price to a lot of 500w models and has 2x6pin and 2x8pin pcie power. I realise I only need 2x6pin for the 9800GTX, but I figured a bit of future-proofing can't hurt.

I realise that overclocking the 9800 is technically easy, but I was wondering how realistic the o/c's seen in reviews are? If I can achieve better performance than a XXX-type card from overclocking a stock one, then theres no point buying the factory o/c card.

Cheers for the advice on the case, the one you mention seems pretty good.

Why would you not go for the MSI mobo? The only negative I've read regarding MSI is that they are not quite as good at the extreme end of overclocking, but are quite capable at more moderate o/c's. Are there other reasons you would avoid them?

Hmmm, still not really convinced by the quad-core, perhaps I should go read some more.

Thanks again for the input.

[Link97]

The Q6600 will be useful for a much longer time than any of the dual cores.

I read that here somewhere.

[vicar]

IMHO a 500w Seasonic or Corsair is better than a 700 Xig. Better psus more stability etc. I would second Staffsmike sugg re psu. Rest is pref.

[TAKTAK]

i third the better PSU's, its not about the voltage its about the quality of the rails e.g. how much ampage a rail can take as (quoting my brother a while back) 'some can go so low under load that they can damage components, therefore an extra outward expendature on a PSU could be a greater life saver in the future' or summin like that

in my eyes if you really do want to ensure futurproofing (not much point really as everything gets cheaper all the time get a corsair HX620w, theres not many people that would turn that PSU down (admittedly it does have some people who don't like it)

edit:

IMHO a 500w Seasonic or Corsair is better than a 700 Xig. Better psus more stability etc. I would second Staffsmike sugg re psu. Rest is pref.

IIRC the HX series by corsair is made by seasonic.....

[staffsMike]

I suppose it's possible you would need the head room but if you look at the way power consumption is going, you should need less over time not more My mate did a build with a xigmatec PSU and said it wasnt as stable as the corsair he uses. Not bad but not great.

Your system as specced would probably pull less than 300W under load.

Some overclocked editions use slightly better memory chips I think but often they are just the same card overclocked.

I just havn't had much luck with MSI over the years, so I don't use them anymore. The support tends to be useless and quality seems to be lower than their rivals.

[oralpain]

Concerning any reasonable CPU choice at any given time: There will be cheap replacements for all them well before the worst of them is a major hindrance. By the time an OCed Q6600 is decisively faster than an OCed E8400 (in games), an OCed Q6600 will be a lower mid-range chip, at best.

The OCs you see in most video card reviews are not realistic 100% stable OCs. Virtually no review I've read details what I would consider an acceptably strenuous stability test. Stil, most 9800GTXes should OC to the levels of the fastests pre-oced cards without trouble.

MSI is not a bad brand but they are rarely the best for OCing. My personal preference is DFI, but ASUS and Gigabyte also tend to do well for the money.

I second the recommendation for a quality 500w PSU.

[bobman]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Sorry I've not replied sooner, I've been a bit ill recently.

Taking everyone's advice on board, here's the spec I finally ordered:

Abit P35 DarkRaider
C2D E8400
9800GTX
2x500Gb 7200rpm samsung
2x2Gb Corsair Twinx DDR2 8500 5-5-5-15
HX 520w Corsair psu
Scythe mugen infinity hsf
coolermaster CM690 case

Looking forward to firing it up when it arrives

[Eddd]

Very nice spec. You'll be happy with it when it comes and going with the Corsair HX520w PSU was a good choice.