Buying advice - new rig

I posted a thread earlier on in the year - here
However, I had to save some money and id like to get further confirmation that you think the following spec is ok - please point out anything that you think could be improved upon or parts that ive but in my basket that are not good value.


Cases: Antec P182 Gun Metal Black Case
Powersupply: Coolermaster 620W Real Power PRO M620 Powersupply
Intel Motherboard: Asus Striker Extreme Socket 775 680i QUAD Core Ready DDR2 3X PCI-E Vista Premium Ready Motherboard
Intel CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Energy Efficient 95W edition Socket 775 (2.40GHz) G0 Stepping CPU - oem
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler Intel Celeron (Skt 775), Intel P4(Skt 775), Intel Pentium D
PC Memory: OCZ 4GB KIT 2x2048MB GOLD DDR2 800MHZ PC2-6400 Memory
Desktop Hard Drive: Seagate 400GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 2 Hard Disk Drive
CD/DVD RW: Samsung 20x SATA Lightscribe DVDRW Dual Layer Black
Graphics Card: XFX PV-T80G-GHD9 Geforce 8800GTS XXX Edition, 320MB GDDR3, PCI Express, 580/1800mhz, Dual DVI, TV OUT Graphics Card
Soundcards: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-Bit Edition DVD - oem


The 8800GTS XXX Edition is not in stock - please recommend a card that is in stock.

Thanks in advance for any help.

The 320MB version of the 8800GTS is the old generation - go for a 512MB model, which is the new gen and a lot faster.

If you're not planning on going SLI ever (and you would struggle with that PSU) I would go with a P35 based motherboard - the ASUS P5K or similar.

Any reason to go for the Fatal1ty version of the soundcard, rather than the cheaper non-Fatal1ty version?

Dave

Take a look at the spec i posted for you in that linked thread.

BTW...the sound on that board is 7.1 HiDef so you wont be disappointed.

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Originally Posted by Blitzen

Take a look at the spec i posted for you in that linked thread.

BTW...the sound on that board is 7.1 HiDef so you wont be disappointed.

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with poor DAC's, motherbaord audio has alway been pants, even a cheapo sound blaster x-fi xtreme audio will sound better than any mobo audio, as for the DD Live/DTS connect, have it your way if you want to lossy audio, as thea udio is being compressed when it is passed to the amp..., buy a dedicated sound card and stick with the analogue outs...

too much choice......... :confused:
really appreciate everyone's help though. Hardware is not my forte - dunno how you lot do it.

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black Case vs Centurian 534 Silver ? Prefer look of Antecs I think.
BFG 8800GTS OC 512MB (Blitzen rec - any disagreement?)

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If you're not planning on going SLI ever (and you would struggle with that PSU)

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I dont think so - surely an 8800GTS 512mb will keep me happy for a long time on its own? However, are you saying that the PSU could be improved upon?

Mobo I have no idea about. Going on Blitzens advice:
Abit IX38 QuadGT ?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping CPU - any arguments here?

Everything else I think again came from Blitzens advice.

Im still torn between using my old Audigy 2ZS pro platinum S-Blaster card against upgrading to X-Fi.
Im not too fussed about sound - ive got a creative 7.1 speaker system id like to use with, however most movies i watch are not DTS/surround (downloaded) and my current card sounds great with games. Please talk me out of this if u disagree.
- just re-read Blitzens post about the onboard sound being 7.1 hi-def - this should keep me happy to begin with - will it work ok with my creative speaker setup? However looking at m-sizzlers remarks, I may need to upgrade or wak in my audigy 2zs card.

Just keep in mind im trying to keep this <&#163;1k, hopefully nearer the &#163;750-900 mark.

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Originally Posted by meansizzler

with poor DAC's, motherbaord audio has alway been pants, even a cheapo sound blaster x-fi xtreme audio will sound better than any mobo audio, as for the DD Live/DTS connect, have it your way if you want to lossy audio, as thea udio is being compressed when it is passed to the amp..., buy a dedicated sound card and stick with the analogue outs...

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Have you heard the audio on my board.
Didnt think so!
Strange how people say something is rubbish when they have no experience using it. Onboard sound has come a long way.
It is actually very very good.

Yes...it will work fine with Creative Speakers.
It works with any speakers/headsets.

I agree with Blitzen, *kewl av btw * my onboard HD audio easily matches my X-Fi Audio 7.1, and has a damn sight less problems.

ok, then ill skip off the x-fi soundcard. Id like to keep my front panel from my Audigy 2zs pro anyhow, so ill compare the onboard vs my old card.

Having a few issues configuring the system - not getting some products as choices - might have to change these on phone. However heres what I got now:

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black Case
Corsair 620W HX Series Modular SLi Powersupply, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty
Abit IX38 QuadGT Socket 775, Dual DDR2, SATA Raid, IEEE 1394, HD 7.1, Vista HW Ready Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache CPU - Retail - G0 Stepping
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler Intel Celeron (Skt 775), Intel P4(Skt 775), Intel Pentium D
Corsair 4GB Kit (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2 Memory
Seagate 400GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 2 Hard Disk Drive
Samsung 20x SATA Lightscribe DVDRW Dual Layer Black
XFX Geforce 8800GT Alpha Dog Edition 512MB PCI-E, DDR3, Dual DVI, HDTV, Vista Ready Graphics Card
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD

The Alpha Dog was only 512mb card I could choose under configure.
With "Configuring the Product" & "Configuring the Operating System", im looking at £933 (inc VAT)

Everytime i open up a PC I end up breaking something, therefore I def want YoYo to build it. However whats "Configure the OS" actually mean? Install Vista from the DVD? I might opt out of this as Im likely to make it either dual boot with XP 32bit or triple boot with Ubuntu as well.

If you see anything on the list above that does not look right (goes against your advice given) please say so.

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Originally Posted by Blitzen

Have you heard the audio on my board.
Didnt think so!
Strange how people say something is rubbish when they have no experience using it. Onboard sound has come a long way.
It is actually very very good.

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Noob by name, noob by nature, do you even know what HD Audio is?, I have read various schematics on it, all freely available on the Realtekpage, do you know about beam forming, 2 way Audio, DDL, every wired a front panel header, do you ever know that it's wires differently from AC-97, I uhave listened to variosu HD-Audio Codecs, from Realtek, Sigmatel, Adi/Soundmax eg.. ALC-888, 662, 662D, do you know what the D stands for?, if not then best putting some tape over your mouth... while they provide basic audio which most users are happy with, they are still pretty basic when compared to soundblasters/M-audio cards, bad for gaming, no hardware acceleration, poor DAC's. for stereo their fine but for multichannel audio you really want to invest in a soundblaster, try listening to a MLP/TrueHD soundtrack and you wouldn't go back to on board audio..

As for the OP, I switched from an Audigy 2 ZS to X-Fi, didn't notice much difference, the crystalizer is pants, only thing you gain which is an advantage is the CMMS Stereo Surround mode in vista, which last time I checked was not available on the ZS, only in XP...

Stick with the ZS...

Also get a Scythe Ninja Heatsink, don't be a cheapo, will be better at cooling that quad core.. I have the Asus P5KC board soI know it fits... only 1 hard drive?...

Have a look at my build here...

silentpcreview.com | View topic - Silent P182 Setup, Hard to Beat!!!

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Originally Posted by meansizzler

Noob by name, noob by nature, do you even know what HD Audio is?, I have read various schematics on it, all freely available on the Realtekpage, do you know about beam forming, 2 way Audio, DDL, every wired a front panel header, do you ever know that it's wires differently from AC-97, I uhave listened to variosu HD-Audio Codecs, from Realtek, Sigmatel, Adi/Soundmax eg.. ALC-888, 662, 662D, do you know what the D stands for?, if not then best putting some tape over your mouth... while they provide basic audio which most users are happy with, they are still pretty basic when compared to soundblasters/M-audio cards, bad for gaming, no hardware acceleration, poor DAC's. for stereo their fine but for multichannel audio you really want to invest in a soundblaster, try listening to a MLP/TrueHD soundtrack and you wouldn't go back to on board audio..

As for the OP, I switched from an Audigy 2 ZS to X-Fi, didn't notice much difference, the crystalizer is pants, only thing you gain which is an advantage is the CMMS Stereo Surround mode in vista, which last time I checked was not available on the ZS, only in XP...

Stick with the ZS...

Also get a Scythe Ninja Heatsink, don't be a cheapo, will be better at cooling that quad core.. I have the Asus P5KC board soI know it fits... only 1 hard drive?...

Have a look at my build here...
silentpcreview.com | View topic - Silent P182 Setup, Hard to Beat!!!

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I am well aware what you are trying to explain in your remedial kind of way. If you think its fine to just come and flame anyone then you are a massively bigger idiot than your first post suggests! (if thats possible).
You are talking utter rubbish.

BTW...Schematics....shut up! Reading any kind of schematic on an electronics device (particualrly with your apparent low intellect), would be useful to very few. Especially if you were trying to gauge sound quality.

We are lucky that there are so few like you misleading the many!

(if you care to look at my profile i have been an electronics engineer for a very long time so please dont try and explain principles of basic wiring).

bit of diagreement is a good thing - teaches me more about the hardware im getting.
However, ill stick with the onboard to begin with and and slot my ZS in their at some point later.

Ive got a spare 750GB Seagate which I intend to put in there as well.

Scythe Ninja Heatsink you say? 2nd opinion?

Also, is going to the Ready Made PC section, clicking on " Yoyotech Intel Viper MKII" and configuring it the best way to get a spec together - Its good cos I guess it only shows me hardware that works together, but perhaps im being limited by the choices? For instance the graphcis card im still limited to the Alpha Dog where as id prefer to go with Blitzens choice of the BFG 8800GTS OC 512MB.

I've used the ninja in 3 builds now, it's a great cooler. I also have the freezer 7 pro and would honestly get the ninja over it everytime. The freezer is good but the scythe is a lot better and next to silent where the freezer gets a bit noisey for my liking.

Your PC will run very quietly with the ninja, built one almost exactly the same just the older GTS and 520w corsair which I would also recommend as you don't need 620W.

Onboard sound is fine these days, deffinatly worth a try before you buy something else.

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Originally Posted by jakc

bit of diagreement is a good thing - teaches me more about the hardware im getting.
However, ill stick with the onboard to begin with and and slot my ZS in their at some point later.

Ive got a spare 750GB Seagate which I intend to put in there as well.

Scythe Ninja Heatsink you say? 2nd opinion?

Also, is going to the Ready Made PC section, clicking on " Yoyotech Intel Viper MKII" and configuring it the best way to get a spec together - Its good cos I guess it only shows me hardware that works together, but perhaps im being limited by the choices? For instance the graphcis card im still limited to the Alpha Dog where as id prefer to go with Blitzens choice of the BFG 8800GTS OC 512MB.

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Haha
Its not disagreement.
Meansizzler is obviously wrong in his 'guessing' and is has ZERO CREDIBILITY' as his first words were that of a ten year old flamer.

Fortunately fools like him turn up very rarely, talk their talk they have found on another forum, then disappear back to the crusty sheeted bedroom they came from :D

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Your PC will run very quietly with the ninja, built one almost exactly the same just the older GTS and 520w corsair which I would also recommend as you don't need 620W.

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I know Blitzen you mentioned that it would be better to "shop around" for a PSU but i want YoYo to build the system so I need to come to a satisfactory choice over PSU. Is 620W overkill for that spec? Please recommend one thats good, and pref not gonna drain my electricity away for no reason.

Thanks

The 520 or 620 Corsair will both be fine. :)

Another forum mentions that I should perhaps splash out on a better mobo such as the asus p5k.

Advantages of this mobo over what I currently have in spec?

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Originally Posted by Blitzen

Haha
Its not disagreement.
Meansizzler is obviously wrong in his 'guessing' and is has ZERO CREDIBILITY' as his first words were that of a ten year old flamer.

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I disagree, obviously your can't tell the difference between a crappy audio and good audio setup, maybe it's because your use to listening to the sound of crappy mp3's..

I feel a bit sneaky asking for advice in several forums, I just want to get the best system I can and not have any regrets.

So, in yet another forum I am getting conflicting advice (but sounding logical) about the choice of mobo I have gone for (Abit IX38):

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the quad-gt isn't highly rated. They don't have any of the the new quads in stock which are wholly better than the old ones. To be honest I would phone yoyotech and ask them when the quads come in. If you are spending that much on a system you should at least have patience till you can maximise your gains for that price or you may end up with a computer that might be powerful but not as powerful as it could have been.

So probably an Asus Maximus/DFI LanParty LT X48-T2R/Asus P5K series motherboard is going to be your best bet. The DFI and Maximus are greater clockers.

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Seems to make sense. Any thoughts on this? Id like to have a decent mobo thats going to last.

You're getting a q6600, I hope you plan on overclocking it! Those things are practically made for overclocking :)

For a motherboard, if you don't intend to SLi in future, I'd say go for the Asus P5K Premium WiFi-AP. It got a good review in Custom PC magazine, and they're pretty tough in their reviews. It's got lots of features , supports DDR2 (MUCH cheaper and almost identical performance-wise as DDR3) and will be very comfortable ensuring that your g0 q6600 shows its true colours (speed-wise). On the other hand, I've got an eVGA 680i motherboard and have been happy with it, my q6600 is running at 3ghz without any problems at all. I'm sure I could get it higher if I spent some time on it. But I went the nvidia route because I wanted SLi.

In terms of graphics cards, the Geforce 9800 GTX came out yesterday. It's faster than the 8800 GTX, the 8800 GTS and even the 8800 Ultra in some circumstances. It's not truly a 'next-gen' card performance wise (as the naming scheme suggests) but it costs £213 @ YoYo so hardly more than the GTS. Plus, it'll probably maintain it's value longer in case you want to resell it down the road to upgrade to the possibly much faster 9900-series cards that are possibly coming out this summer, or the rv770 series if ATI/AMD get their act together.

I realise that you also want to see if you can save some money and my suggestions so far have all been for higher-performance (although at decent price/performance ratio) components. Well if you want to save money, don't get a 8800GTS/9800GTX and instead get a 8800GT or 9600GT. This is especially if you game on a smaller screen (lower than 1680x1050 which is 20"/22" widescreen monitors). The smaller the screen, the smaller the gains you get from having the faster graphics cards. With the 8800GT/9600GT you'll still be able to play games like CoD4, TF2, World in Conflict etc. at decent settings with good framerates. The graphics card that is the best bang per buck (bang per pound? :confused: ) is very dependent on what screen size/resolution you have.

Another measure you could take to save costs is to go for a 1.6GHz dual-core pentium E2140. I know you'll probably cringe when I say pentium but that chip is different from the Pentium D's. It's more or less a Core 2 CPU. However, it is only worthwhile to get it if you're willing to overclock. It shouldn't be too difficult to get it to 3GHz or more, especially with the M0 version (as opposed to L2). Particularly if you go for a good quality motherboard like the Asus. The E2140 costs about 40 quid!
If saving money isn't a huge priority though, definitely go with the q6600!

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Ive got a Sony SDM-HS94P (19") which I run at 1280 x 1024.

Ok, so ill stick with the q6600 (and look into overclocking it after I get everything up and running)

Im pretty sure I wont be SLI-ing in the future. I like my games but ive currently got a 7600GT and that impresses me, so im sure one of these newer cards will keep me impressed for a few years.

So which g-card to get? Blitzen previously recommended BFG 8800GTS OC 512MB. I may upgrade this to 9800 GTX on your advice. Should I rule out the alpha Dog card compared to these two?

And finally (and IMO most importantly) the mobo...
Its a toss up between:
Asus P5K Premium WiFi-AP
Asus Maximus
DFI LanParty LT X48-T2R
Abit IX38

From earlier recommedations I was going to cool the mobo with a Scythe Ninja Heatsink.

However someone quoted in another forum:

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a passive cooler the best thing to go with CPU thats crying out the be overclocked

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and mentioned something like the tuniq 120

Im sorry for treading so carefully, every other system ive bought has been a pre-decided spec. All this hardware confuses (yet interests/excites) the hell outta me. Just want to have no regrets once ive clicked the Buy button. All your help/advice is really appreciated.

:bowdown:

any more advice on this, in particular to my last post.
Have also been a little reluctant to wait for these Nehalem processors I know nothing about?

Only get the P5K especially with the cpu if you are prepared to OC, I have it and believe its an awesome mobo and the bios is very friendly. Included with this is that you can almost OC anything on the board. I got this after the Abit IP35 pro but much preferred the P5K

At 1280x1024, I suppose you could consider saving some money and getting a 9600 GT OC (like the Xpertvision 9600GT Sonic 512MB) or a 8800 GT and still expect to get good framerates. It might be a good idea to spend less on graphics cards now, and then upgrade when the 9900 series comes out. The graphics market is quite stagnant right now in terms of performance levels, nothing that is much faster than the 8800 GTX has come out, and it has been more than a year since that was released. Hopefully the 9900 series will offer bigger performance gains than the 9800 series (even though it's basically the same architecture).
Sorry if that confuses you since it contradicts my previous advise about the 9800 GTX, but I was guessing you had resolution of 1680x1050 or so. If you're still aiming for a top-end card though, the suggestion of the 9800 gtx still stands.

The Tuniq 120 is a good choice; although I don't have one, lots of people with big overclocks on air seem to use them. Do a quick internet search to make sure you've got enough room in your case and around the CPU socket area of the motherboard you choose though.

I reckon you'll be pleased with the p5k, although I don't really think you'll be disappointed with any of those motherboards. Check out prices and bundles, I suppose.

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If you're still aiming for a top-end card though, the suggestion of the 9800 gtx still stands.

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Why though?
Its a £200+ card which, at the resolutions 1280x1024, will offer incredibly little/if anything over a 8800GT which can be had for around £120 now.

The 8800GTS can also be had for £165 and thats the same card as a 9800GTX except the 9800GTX has been overclocked a little.

9800GTX @ £200ish = poor vlaue.

hmm...time for me to join the debate. I do have much of your orginal spec except my rig is more powerful. If i was to advise myself and you, i would put the XFX 790 ultra board on your list and also an XFX alpha dog 512 single slot graphics card (i choose this card because it is reliable under stress. Nvidia driver set 169.32 is the most stable). The 790 is a expensive board but if you want something really reliable....remember, you are about to build a super-rig and pushing it to the extreme. invest in good components.

If you stick with the reliable striker extreme 680 (my current mobo), make sure you have Bios 1503 to get the max performance out of the Q6600...some say the 780 and 790 mobos are good for the Q6600 because the Northbridge has been redesigned to deal with heat better and DD3 memory.

Make sure you get a SLACR GO stepping Q6600 proc.

good luck. you will need to be experienced to take on a 700 series Nvidia mobo build. However, you will not regret the experience. My rig purs like a kitten.

As for cases, you will like the coolermaster Rc stacker 832 or the new Cosmos S case. It has beautiful options for watercooling.

I have a X-Fi plat but would choose Vista Ultimate 64 instead of 32. its just that practically all your hardware is desgned with 64bit in mind....

Just in case you are wandering about the load stress my machine can handle. I had to deal with a Adobe premiere video project that had 250 gig of video and 100 gig of audio. the rig rendered the finished High definition production in six days without crashing. my rig doesn't just play games!

Just remember that if you go the 'XFX' route, that reports of their customer service no being very good are rife.

true, very true, blitzen. I used to be an Asus man but since buying my O/C XFX 8800GT alpha dogs i have fallen in love with their performance. since installing the now available 169.32 drivers the cards are alot more stable. XFX cards and mobos essentially use the stock Nvidia drivers except the hardware is made better.

i have taken a look at the XFX 790 ultra mobo and i am confidant that i can get a Quad core extreme proc up and running to over 4ghz per core by using water cooling. something jakec is not considering at the moment.

My future spec is

XFX 790 Ultra mobo (if that doesn't work, an intel skulltrail mobo):juggle:
Cosmos S coolermaster case:rockon2:
Coolermaster 1000w PSU
Q9650 Quad extreme proc
DDC Pro w/ XSPC top, XSPC R120-T Rad, EK Supreme
2 x XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB DDR3 preoverclocked (670mhz)
4X DDR3 PC3-10666C6 1333MHz ReaperX Memory
3x Samsung spinpoint 750gig Raid O
2x Samsung 226CW monitors - 1 x Sony X3000 1080p HD TV
X-Fi Plat soundcard
LG BlueRay burner:mrgreen:
Logitech 540 speakers, DiNovo Edge Keyboard and Habu mouse

Only later will i consider buying a 9800GX2. i want to watch vista develop a bit and for Nvidia to sort out its driver support.