New Gaming Rig- What do ya think

[Andr0]

Hi Peeps,

I've not been on the forums for a while but I enjoy helping people out! Just kicking around and I thought i'd have a little to say. I've been shopping at YoYoTech for a long time and I think they give really sound advice

Time for my 2 cents (or pence)

Your rig looks great, no mater what the final combination of components you end up with, you'll be happy

I would go for Dominators over Reapers. There are quite a few incompatibilities with OCZ which are less documented. Corsairs go through far better testing and compatibility tests (they really can afford it). This is what I've learnt from people in the industry so I think its credible. Just look how OCZ still dont show the rated voltage on most of their memory, where as corsair have been doing so for AGES. Not very helpful to us DIY'ers eh? I dont want to always have to check their website for voltages although im sure it increases their traffic lots. OCZ do seem pretty good for returns though..

If your not building the system then Yoyo will have real problems running 4x sticks at 1066. They will either have to slow the memory timings or have to drop the Mhz down just to get the system stable... Which you really dont want

In terms of PSU's I think coolermaster PSU's are second only to Corsair. When you go higher than 620W then definately go with coolermaster as they are still modular and offer really good efficiency. Just read some reviews if your unsure, they get great reviews just like Corsair

OCZ PSU's were briefly mentioned by staffsMike but they are quite simply terrible. Noisy, cheaply made and just a waste of good money! Just pick one up and you'll see how light it is (lack of components or cheap components? Or both!?) I have heard real horror stories from OCZ's PSU blowing entire systems.... Again some research will show this

As staffsMike has also said.. a 600W truepower PSU will run 2x 8800 GTX's but thats running it at the limits of its design. Theres no way I'd do that. I prefer to have at least 100W-200W to play with on top of the possible peak usage. Its much more likely that a PSU will go pop if its always running at full power over say an 800W with quite a bit of headroom. Of course your not going to be running it at full load all the time but im just saying... Do you want to risk data loss / lots of parts being RMA'd just because you didnt go for a higher power PSU?

Either way Im sure you'll end up one happy customer

[staffsMike]

In fairness OCZ don't make many of their own PSU's (much like corsair) mine is a rebranded FSP and is both quiet and efficent and never missed a beat. I would still take a corsair (HX is actually made my seasonic) but that shouldn't take anything away from OCZ's quality.

They now own PC power and cooling one of the most prostegious PSU makers in the world for the consumer market so I wouldn't count them out on quality just yet.

[Andr0]

Well thats your opinion just like i've indicated mine!

Just for the record.. here are some of the rebranded PSU's that are readily available

Antec - ChannelWell
Asus - AcBel Polytech
Coolermaster - AcBel Polytech / Hipro / Enhance (depending on Wattage of course)
Corsair - Seasonic / Channelwell
Enermax are Enermax!
Gigabyte - Channelwell
OCZ - Topower (Powerstream) / FSP (GameXStream+StealthXStream+ProXStream) / 3Y (EvoStream+EvoStream)
Silverstone - Enhance
Tagan - Enhance (Silver Power) / Topower (All Others)
Zalman - FSP

[ArcAngel]

OK, think I'll go for

Corsair 4GB Kit (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2 (Dont see dominators in 2 x 2GB?)

Coolermaster 850W Real Power M850

One final thing I was thinking in terms of future compatibility. Is it possible to buy a motherboard that can take the components I've listed, but then later take another 9800GTX in SLI as a future upgrade?

[rufeo]

you'll need a mobo with a nvidia chipset for sli, none of the intel ones can do sli (they can do cross-fire instead). the ones that do full sli are the 680i and any other later chipsets. the asus p5n-d sli on the configuator will be fine. not sure about the overclocking abilities of the 780i though. i know that the a certain revision of the 680i mobos couldn't overclock a quadcore that well. they should have fixed this by now, but i'm not entirely sure. maybe someone can comment on this.... apart from that it'll take all the components you've listed

[ArcAngel]

OK Yoyo, pls quote me for the following, built by yourselves and shipped (can u include price for each individual component and total price pls). If parts are out of stock, I'll wait for em to come in.

COOLERMASTER COSMOS S

Coolermaster 850W Real Power M850

ABIT IP35 PRO

INTEL Q6600

TUNIQ TOWER 120 CPU COOLER

Corsair 4GB Kit (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 800MHZ DDR2

SAMSUNG 750GB SATA2 HDD

SAMSUNG 20X SATA DVDRW

BFG 9800GTX 512MB GRAPHIC CARD

CREATIVE X-FI XTREME GAMER CARD

NETGEAR 311T WIRELESS CARD

VISTA HOME PREMIUM 64 BIT

Thks

[TheReaFireblade]

You'd be best emailing them that question.
I very much doubt they're going to provide a quote... never mind individual component prices, on open forums?

[YOYOtech - Ben]

As TheReaFireblade said, It would be probably best if you email our sales team for a quote. sales@yoyotech.co.uk

Alternatively you can go on our site and use the PC Configurator to select your system or give us a call on 0871 8553380

All the best

B

[ArcAngel]

OK, Will do

[ArcAngel]

All, I ordered this rig from Yoyo via Ravi. Was promised a call tommorrow for an update on delivery/build. Will keep the forum updated.

[YOYOtech - Ravi]

Hello,
I do apology that no one has come back to you concerning the system progress. The system is now ready to be shipped, but I will need to speak to you first before I get it shipped. left you a voice mail to call me back.
Ravi

[ArcAngel]

Rig got delivered today but havent had a chance to set it up yet. Will let you know if any issues.

BTW, whats the best internet security package to use on VIsta64. I've done some research and advice seems to be either:

1. AVG
2. Kapersky
3. NOD32

Lots of posts say that Vistas own firewall is sufficient and no external one is required. Any advice guys?

[staffsMike]

Well NOD32 is just anti virus I believe. I use kaspersky, it's very good and I'venever had problems with it and its very light on resources.

[ArcAngel]

Cool thks, did you go for the firewall too or just the anti virus?

[staffsMike]

Net security, it's av. firewall, spam, spyware etc.. great package

[ArcAngel]

Got the new rig, also bought a New Samsung 22" monitor, Logitech wave keyboard & Z4 speakers - all looks serious slick & works brilliantly. Thanks Yoyotech - very satisfied customer. Cant see why anyone would buy an XPS, alienware etc for the money.

Just encountered my software problem with Vista 64. Tried install ing C&C3 and doesnt seem to work with DX10? Is there away around this. Says something like: directx error, please make sure you have direct x 9 installed and/or you haven't got hardware acceleration enabled in the options (which I do).

Can anyone help?