Proposed Rig

[Gibb0N]

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)

Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu

Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL)

Asetek 03-L-1301 CPU kit KT03A/T 12V 80mm Radiator

Any thoughts on any of it? Would you change anything?

My main concern is the lack of 975x motherboards with an nforce chipset. Because of this I'm of the opinion that getting an nvidia card wouldn't do the system justice as it wouldn't be working with an nforce chipset. so I'd rather go for ati.

cheers

[jackvdbuk]

just my opinion so dont belive it but ehres my thoughts:

remove that raptor, an absolute waste of money, get some spinpoint sp2504c's instead a much better buy.

nice case, but the akasa eclipse is also a good case to consider, come out trumps in CusomPC

do not get that audigy4, its very old n lacking, onboard is fine, or when/if u can afford it, get a X-fi xtreme music, MUCH better, newer technology

that watercooling kit, imo is a waste of 130 quid, it wont give that much better cooling than a decent CPU air heatsink... and it is also cheaper so would suggest to get a

Thermalright XP-90C which is around £35 and that gives u 100 more to spend on X-fi and a betetr graghpis card

just my opinion

[Ben_]

looks a nice rig

your gonna be waiting a while for that conroe tho

i was planning an AM2 rig but im told to go for even the slowest conroe over a fast am2

so now im left wondering about new mobo, ram and potentially gfx judging from what u say aboot no nforce chipsets being available for conroe

[Gibb0N]

Cheers for your thoughts guys, keep em coming.

I'm still unsure over the water cooling. But there's no point getting even a decent heatsink if i'm gonna pay the money for that antec phantom psu. I think the money spent on quiting the psu would be out done by the noisy cpu fan and gpu. Might be worth compromising it and getting a X-fi but i'm not a great believer in paying for soundcards. gone with on board my whole life and it's been fine tbh.

keep your thoughts coming please :>

[kalniel]

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)

all good so far.

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)

Interesting choice.. I would go for a different card here (see below).

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)

Fine, but consider looking out for the 16MB cache model instead.

Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu

Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL)

Fine, consider an X-Fi now they're a bit cheaper.

My main concern is the lack of 975x motherboards with an nforce chipset. Because of this I'm of the opinion that getting an nvidia card wouldn't do the system justice as it wouldn't be working with an nforce chipset. so I'd rather go for ati.

?? Why would an NVidia card work better on an nforce chipset? There's no difference. For that reason I'd probably get a 7900gt card.

[Gibb0N]

I'm thinking about that now actually yeah. Might be worth getting a 7900 gt extreme, and then biding my time for dx 10 cards. Thanks for the input. Think i've upgraded the hdd to the 16mb cache version. My updated list is at home, not at work :<

Does that ram seem good to most of you? I'm not a buff when it comes to RAM, the alternative is 2 gigs of Corsair TwinX 6400 set.

Once again, many thanks for all your input, please please please keep it coming :>

edit//
updated

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT)
74 Gb Western Digital Raptor, SATA, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache
Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu
Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
Asetek 03-L-1306 WaterChill CPU Kit KT03AT12VS 10mm 120mm Rad

&#163;1300

Undecided on the motherboard depending on whether a better one comes out by the end of August when I buy the rig, Changed the gpu to a 7900 GT extreme, updated the raptor to 16mb cache and got a x-fi extreme music soundcard. Might want to ditch the water cooling in favour of a fan, but it would have to be silent [18db].

Thoughts please?

[kalniel]

Does that ram seem good to most of you? I'm not a buff when it comes to RAM, the alternative is 2 gigs of Corsair TwinX 6400 set.

The RAM's absolutely fine

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT)
74 Gb Western Digital Raptor, SATA, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache
Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu
Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
Asetek 03-L-1306 WaterChill CPU Kit KT03AT12VS 10mm 120mm Rad

&#163;1300

Undecided on the motherboard depending on whether a better one comes out by the end of August when I buy the rig, Changed the gpu to a 7900 GT extreme, updated the raptor to 16mb cache and got a x-fi extreme music soundcard. Might want to ditch the water cooling in favour of a fan, but it would have to be silent [18db].

Thoughts please?

Looks good. I don't know anything about watercooling so can't advise there - personally it'd never be worth it for me over a silent or even passive solution. The motherboard is good - don't change it. Even if newer ones come out it's often good to have a bit of maturity so you have a stable bios and the features/limitations of the board are well understood. Any improvements in motherboard that come out in a month aren't going to translate to any noticeble difference in the real world.

[Gibb0N]

cheers for your input kalniel, sounds encouraging. :>

keep em coming people, any thoughts at all. :>

[Gibb0N]

Anybody else got any thoughts on this rig? All criticism greatly appreciated. :>

[Ben_]

get a better gfx

[Gibb0N]

any in particular? Want to keep in mind dx10 cards are on their way in the not too distant future. the 7900 gt extreme is the ebst buy I can find atm unless there is a better one. Not sure.

[owen1978]

Ram

http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html

[Gibb0N]

PC5300? :/

want ddr2 800 ideally. Haven't heard of the make either so I'm skeptical, but I'm no buff when it comes to ram.

[rainbow]

tbh, i think your right to wait,the 7900 gt extrem is faster than a 7800 gtx, which is fast, and will run most games at med to hig settings a a good res and they are great value

[MSIC]

Looks good. I also am not experienced / in favour of watercooling due to a) cost b) complexity c) risk of something going wrong d) maintenance.
A high end aircooled HSF would be my preference. You state that you need 18db max from it - do you work in some sort of military testing base?
My experience is that quiet enough is good enough. Basically, if i can't hear it, I dont care if it is actually producing noise or not.
Having a raptor, rather than a Samsung Spinpoint, will absolutely make much more noise than any good HSF such as a Zalman 9500.

[Clunk]

regarding the raptor, i would get a couple of big samsung drives for about the same price, and then add a raptor later on as a boot drive, and that way, you will feel the speed difference.

IMO dont bother with any of the 7900 series cards, they are more trouble than they are worth, and the chances of getting a good one are slim to none. the 7600 series get good reviews, or if you want to shell out a bit more, try the x1900xt, available for about 240 upwards.

lots of reliablility problems with the P5Wdh motherboard, i would advise you to steer clear of that one at the moment, saying that, theres not much else thats worth having yet.

i would dump the antec psu in favour of something like an FSP or tagan or seasonic, go 600w, it leaves room for future upgrades.