Need Help with a new gaming rig!

[Drakken]

Hey all first post .

I think the title says it all realy - firstly am far from the most comuter savy person to ever grace this world and as such am in need of some help.

I alredy have most of the components selected for this new system and am more in need of oppionons on the components as a whole then anything else.

to sum it up.. will it work.. how well will it work...

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX9770 3.20GHz 12MB Cache 1600MHz FSB

Alienware P2 Chassis

Processor Cooling : High-Performance Liquid Cooling

Power Supply: 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply

Graphics Processor : Dual Graphics Card - Dual 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9800 GX2

Memory: 4GB Patriot EP+ Low Latency Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 2 x 2048MB

Motherboard: NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI

Includes PCI-Express 2.0, DDR3 Memory, and Support for Intel 1600 FSB

Operating System: Vista Ultimate

System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM (2 x 250GB)

Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card

Physics Processor : AGEIA PhysX™ Physics Processing Unit PCI-E -

Sound Hardware: Integrated 7.1 High-Definition Audio

(I am accuiring this system through Alienware - so in addition reveiws of the components any expereinces with there systems would be appreciated also )

Ok thank you all in advance for the help.

(please dont hate me too much for not being able to build my owne system )

[TAKTAK]

There was a guy very recently looking at buying a similar system (from MESH IIRC) and in the end after we had prodded and poked he decided that he wanted to give it a go at building his own...

it really is simple to build a computer nowadays... everything is colour coded and/or will only fit in one way around... the hardest thing is opening boxes (they can be quite tough to get in )

and IF you do encounter any problems then we are always willing to help solve them...


but if you are determined that you don't want to build (the other guy was determined too ) then personally i wouldn't get a nVidia chipset, DDR3, SLi'd GFX, Expensive network card....

i would however get 4GB of RAM, just not DDR3....

there isn't much of a performance boost by going SLi, and it often works out better to just go with one better card (i say often... i mean always)

also... i don't know what PSU's dell use in alienware systems... but that is another point i would want to look into (a slapstick reason why is on the main page of HEXUS ATM, by corsair about cheaper PSU's)

and lastly....

Welcome to HEXUS


edit: links to the other guys original threads... HERE HERE

also... how much is that lot going to set you back?, as technology moves so fast that if you spend exscessivly in the short term then you are going to lose out in the longterm.... i find it's better to have a decent rig and upgrade every-so-often... it's also cheaper for the most part.... and you gain an insight into how things work together and how to fix problems if they occur (instead of having to pay tech support to do it)

[staffsMike]

They certain don't use cheap PSU's lol

Since they guy from BEAST has been so graciously posting here why not check them out. Seem to build some pretty nice machines.
http://www.beastcomputers.co.uk/

Personally like most here I would build my own. You will get far more performance for the same money OR the same performance for much less money

For example.

Intel Q6600 with a decent silent air cooler ~£150
4GB PC6400 DDR2 ~£55
Abit IP-35 PRO ~ £95
Gainward GTX280 ~ £280 (Or an ATi HD4870 ~(£170)
640GB Western digital AAKS ~£55
Antec P182 ~£90
Corsair 520W HX (£65) or Enermax Modu82+ 525W (£75)
Optical DVD Writer ~£15

Thats about £800 and easily overclockable (and it is easy to do) to 3.2GHz, run near silent and game on a 24" screen quite happily for a long time to come

[TAKTAK]

plus one for beast... there support guy just poped up in the forum as soon as their name was mentioned he's been around a while though , and they are proud toi be doing what they do...

and i would rather go with them if i was doing the prebuild route, than go with dell (i doesn'y not like dell )

[Drakken]

Thanks for the fast replies!

@Taktak - lol its not so much the putting it togeather i have trouble with (although i do hate all those cables) its more the - what the hell am i puting in it thing.

my largest problem is i have very little understanding of what i would be buying, hence why i was looking in to a prebuild by a well know company. Am not opposed to builing my own i just dont feel i would have the required understanding for what am buying.

the other off puting factor is that i am wanting, a high preformance gaming rig, and am uncertain as to if i would be able to achive the same sort of preformance from something i build.

@staffsmike - thanks for the suggestion of BEAST if nothing else i now at least have an alternitive to compare against.

also appricate the suggested system too - although on the matter of overclocking i have never done it befor and would be unsure how to personaly.

If any ones able to suggest a way for me to overcome these problems or able to explain how to tell the diffrence between a good component selection and a bad one then id be greatly appreicatve.

thanks again

edit - for example how would i go about comparing the Gainward GeForce GTX 280 1024MB against a Zotac GeForce 280 GTX 1GB?

[staffsMike]

Great guide for overclocking here
http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...beginners.html

and there are 100's of build guides on the net. It's really a piece of cake

Overclocking wise you could probably take that Q6600 to 3.0GHz by changing one number in the bios, from 266MHz to 333MHz and probably just like that.. it would be done

[TAKTAK]

you really will save money...

i might even be as bold to say mikes example rig is OTT (*points to GFX card*)but.... you know.. i just want to dissagree with mike for once

if it's the speccing up that you can't get your head around then thats (TBH) the hardest part of it... and theres plenny'o people that would gladly spec things up...

[staffsMike]

I agree it is, I would just trying to fill £800

Although i did mention the HD4870 which is a decent card for the price. I would probably have a 9800GTX or HD4850 though which for the OP saves another £60 (over the HD4870).

You can also get a similar case for £60 in the guise of a coolermaster CM-690

So you could build something still awesome even for 24" screen gaming, for £600.

[sleepyhead]

Avoid SLi and Crossfire...

Seriously though, with the help and knowledge here, selecting the parts and building a PC, setting it up and tuning it up will be relatively easy (I did it the hard way and self taught).

If you have common sense, know how to avoid generating static electricty, not swapping ram modules when the PC is on etc. building is straight forward. Only niggles I can see are when you have a very nice case that has "extra bits", where do you plug them in...but again, manuals and knowledgeable people here will assist.

If you give us a budget, we can come up with several types of build for a gaming rig . Oh and what kind of monitor will you be playing your games through?

[TAKTAK]

i would go for a nVidia card... even more so now because of the thing i've been overlooking for a while... linux support.......

but appart from that, that spec is guud

Q6600... check (i want)
HSF........... Scythe mine/Xigmatek redscorpion(s1384 or whatever it is)/TRUE
Abit ip35 pro... check (what i would get, or an ASUS p5q[or is it k ])
4GiB PC2 6400... check (i need to upgrade)
WD 640GiB AAKS... check (i have)
Antec p182... check (good case.. i prefer Lian Li)
Corsair HX520w... check (i have the HX620w)
Optical drive... check
GFX... ishcheck, as i said.. i would get a nVidia card, prolly the 9800GTX thats going on SCAN for £117 or £112 on Today only (the other day) (leasdtek 9800GTX)
Plus... an O/S... vista home premium 64bit

and for a monitor.... yuraku 24" for (i can't remember how much, it's aroung £200 or summin) which has a samsung PVA panel in it...


if your a bit unsure about it still have a read of this... but you seem confident in building, it's just selecting things to build...

[Drakken]

Thank you all very much for all the help - since it seems the people are so friendly and helpful here and i feel i have some were i can get help or advice i will look in to building my own rigg again ;P.

As for my budget.. i was willing to part with £3500, or there abouts. A tad more than £800 i know, but id be puting aside for a wile to get my hands on a good rig from scratch, and that was about the amount i would have been spending with alienware so dont see the neeed to go cheap all of a sudden.

Am open to any suggestions or advice so feel free to fire away - and thank you all once again.

[wzix]

Yep i spent a while like you have i guess, looking around pre builders, in the end I found PC Specialists to offer the best services (value), but then I decided to build mine, never done a whole build before but as they say above it was very easy !

How much are looking to spend?

[sleepyhead]

OMG!!! £3500 for a pc...?

Err...I dunno where to start really!

Maybe Tri Sli with the GTX280s that'll account for around £1000. lol.

[staffsMike]

Lol well as demonstrated you really don't need to spend more than £1000.

That PC I specced will do 80% of what most dream PC's will do and it won't struggle with anything. You can only really game on 2 cores right now, so no need for skulltrail or anything like that (dual quad cores..madness).

You could go crazy with hard drives but all that will do is make games load a few seconds faster.. not a big deal. You can go crazy with graphics but there is no need to, one GTX280 can handle anything you will want to throw at it.

[TAKTAK]

ZOMGZORS £3500, thats a bit much due to the speed at which tech moves... i wouldn't reccomend spending anything over £2000

mebbe build a rig to tide you over till nehalem and then upgrade (mobo proccy and RAM, cos the bits that you have would be saleable)


edit: i'm so shocked i can't even spell

[sleepyhead]

Whatever you build, Tri SLi or Quadfire Muchos money and want to see that thing doing some good old GPU folding for hexus!