Building A Gaming Rig: Good By Todays Standards?

[dave87]

PSU won't cope with the 2xGTXs.

If you are overclocking, then the e6300 is a good choice, otherwise, it'll be the bottleneck in the system. As for running 2x GTX, unless you are getting a 2407fpw anytime soon, you don't need 2.

Oh, and you don't mention what speed ram you are getting, best getting DDR-6400 (800) at least.

Dave

[Papa Lazarou]

Seems a pretty crazy spec. I'm pretty sure that motherboard won't support 2 x 8800GTX's (not enough PCI-E bandwidth). You'd need a 680i chipset based motherboard. It won't cost anywhere near a grand either.

[mosherben]

Actually 2 grand for everything if you want a really good system using scan..

[ajbrun]

Why go for SLI?

1 top of the range graphics card will be much better than 2 decent cards, and since 1 GTX will play ANY game out now, why bother with 2? In some games, SLI actually DECREASES performance.

[OXM_Madman]

Oh, sorry, just an update, I will be changing to the EVGA nForce 680i. And I think I will keep with 2 8800s.

And if the PSU isn't good enough, what would you recommend?

And about the processor.... Should I upgrade to the Intel Core Duo 2 Extreme?

[dave87]

The biggest Seasonic M12 (700w I believe). Modular and rock solid (the guys at OC3D couldn't get theirs to deviate from 12v and 5v respectively, even under full load (and higher))

Processor wise, don't go for the x6800, the 6600 seem to be getting higher clocks (unless under phase).

Dave

[ajbrun]

Why do you NEED two 8800GTX's though when just one powers any game out now fine?

If you want 2 later on, then buy the second when they're cheaper. You're just spending money when you don't need to. I though you wanted a £1,000 system anyway? Won't that blow the budget a bit?

[fisnik]

Yes two 8800's is definetly overkill and not possible if you only have a grand to spend.

[ajbrun]

DX10 = Too Expensive

DX10 In A Few Months = Considering.

Since a lot of you are asking for my budget, it is about £600-1,000. No greater.

I'd just like to point out the irony of posts 16 and 37 of this thread .

*****************************************************

I believe you said that the above figure of £1,000 (which is on the high end of your budget) was for everything excluding monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. Therefore, I've taken everything on your shopping list below, put it all through scan, and come out with a final price of:

£1,488.31

Assuming you want all the input/output peripherals to match a system of this spec, you're looking at about another £500, plus an OS. You're probably going to end up paying well over two grand if you're not careful.

Either you've just won the lottery, or you have no idea what system you need, so you're literally getting the 'best' to cover all bases. Whichever it is, you're going to make an online retailer very happy indeed.

Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI
Processor: Intel Core Duo 2 E6300 (Socket 775)
Processor Extra Fan: Zalman CNPS7000B
Graphics Card: 2x nVidia GeForce 8800GTX (Gainward) (Plan to Use nVidia SLI Technology)
RAM: 2x 1GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2
Power Supply Unit: 560W Silverstone Zeus
Hard Drive: Samsung SATA 200GB
System Case: Akasa Zen
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
DVD-ROM: Sony DRU820A

[Agent]

Also, two questions:

1) If I get the different components, can I get a professinal (i.e PC World) to build it?
2) Can I also ask the professinal to overclock my PC?

You think PC World are professionals ?
They are nothing more than sales man. Its rare to come across people with basic knowledgein PC world.

[Fillthee]

Sorry but ajbrun pointed me to this thread and I have to laugh..

OXM_Madman, for £1000 you would have enought for a case and maybe some 120mm fans after you buy 2x 8800GTX!

let alone the cost of all the other parts and a 800+ watt PSU to power both GFX cards which will be in the £150+ range as both need 2x 6pin PCIE power cables.

If I was you I would go for,

Intel C2D 6600
a decent SLi motherboard (asus, Evga etc)
1x 8800GTX
a 800-1000w PSU (can add a second 8800 at a later date)
large'ish case from coolermaster, lian li or silverstone
2gigs of DDR2 6400 (brand of choice)
Creative Xfi music

Now you wont notice the diff from a fatality branded soundcard and it will save you a a good £80. The ZEN case you picked is SMALL! (and cheap dont scimp on a case) go for something a little more suitable and with 2x 120mm at least. as for PSU any decent brand 800+ watt PSU will do tagen, enermax so on.

PS! If you really do need to take it to PC World to have them build it (which they dont do) I would just buy a DELL and be done with it. Or do it yourself and learn from any mistakes.

Shasta

[OXM_Madman]

Ok. Regarding the PSU, I was planning on getting the 850W Silverstone Zeus, but I don't know any reliable retailers that sell that. Is that good?

Also, I think I will change to a single 8800, get the second one in the future.

As well, I might upgrade the the E6600, ad long as it is compatiblewith the EVGA 680i Motherboard.

Do you also think I should get 4GB RAM?

My budget is also now £3,000.

Edit: I have found what seems to be a great case, but I am not very fimiliar with setting up extra features, only how to set up fans. Is this good as a case?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=437051

[OXM_Madman]

I have just found a very good Laptop designed for gaming that is £1,500. The only downside is it doesn't have a 8800, it has a 7950 GTX 2. It's the Rock Xtreme CTX Pro. Here's the specs:

Up to Intel® Core 2 Duo T7600 processor (2 x 2.33GHz)
– Featuring Intel® Centrino™ Duo Mobile Technology
– 4MB Level 2 Cache
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512MB
17" WSXGA+ X-Glass TFT Screen (1680 x 1050) / 17" WUXGA+ X-Glass TFT Screen (1920 x 1200) (Optional)
Up to 3GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
7200rpm Hard Drive as standard – 33% faster than 4200rpm drives
2nd HDD (Optional)
8x Dual Layer (-/+) DVD Writer
TV Tuner (Optional)
2nd Battery (Optional)
Intel Pro 802.11a/b/g Integrated Wireless LAN
Gigabit 10/100/1000 LAN
1 x IEEE1394 Firewire
4 x USB 2.0
Bluetooth
Express Card Slot
4 in 1 Card Reader
S-Video out & DVI Port (VGA Converter Included)
Webcam with video recording
SRS WOW Surround sound
7.1 Surround Sound Output
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
Roxio Creator™ 7
Napster™ (1 month subscription)
Microsoft® Works 8 and Microsoft® Office 2003 (60 day trial)
3 Year Collect & Return Warranty
7 day peace of mind guarantee, return your notebook within 7 days and we'll give you your money back (excl. carriage charges)

The Laptop can support up to 3GB RAM, so I'm obviously going to upgrade that. I'm also going to upgrade the Hard Drive to 160GB.

[ikonia]

<detector>

sniff sniff

</detector>

results = positive

[OXM_Madman]

Thanks. So you would recommend this as a good comp? And it is good value?

[ikonia]

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