New Gaming Rig, need some input

B

buji

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
Messages
114
Here's what I'm planning on getting (after July 22nd price drops) from avadirect.com. I'm wondering what I can slice off to knock the price down to $2.5K or something close to it. I really like this setup, but if I can shave off a few bucks without losing significant performance I'd like to do that. Anyone have suggestions?

Also, I've heard some bad things about the corsair dominator RAM, which is what I was going to get before. Any suggestions on that would be helpful too.

Processor: Core™ 2 Duo E6600 Dual-Core, 2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 4MB L2 Cache, 65nm, 65W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail (will change to Q6600 if price is close enough after 7/22)
CPU Cooling Fans: Eclipse CPU Cooler, Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2/1207, Aluminum
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver, 3.5 gram
Overclocking: Dual-Core CPU, 20-30% Performance Increase
Motherboard: ASUS P5K, LGA775, Intel P35, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1066MHz 8GB /4, PCIe x16 /2 CF, SATA 3Gb/s RAID 1 /6, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail
RAM: KINGSTON HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 (5-5-5-15) SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
Video Card: BFG GeForce™ 8800 GTX OC 600MHz, 768MB GDDR3 1400MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, 2x DVI, HDTV-Out, Retail
Sound Cards: 8-Channel Audio Controller (Integrated)
Primary Hard Drive: 400 GB WD Caviar SE16, SATA II 300 mb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
DVD Drive1: LH-20A1S Black/White 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, Retail
DVD Drive2: LH-20A1S Black/White 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, Retail
Case: V Silent PC-V1100 Silver Mid-Tower Workstation Case, ATX, No PSU, Aluminum
PSU: THERMALTAKE, Toughpower 700W Power Supply w/ Modularized Cable Management, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, Quad +12V, SLI Ready
Case Fans: LED Fans Maximum Package, Blue
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 64-bit, OEM

Total Price: $2624 (was $3032)

Thanks!
 
Go with the Scythe Ninja or Tuniq Tower 120 and drop the Raptop. Later on if you feel the hard drive is a bottleneck then you can simply add the Raptor back.
 
Will you be overclocking? If so, drop down to the E6420 or E6750. The E6600's price won't drop, I believe.

What size monitor will you be gaming on?

Drop the Raptor, Lower the PSU to maybe a Corsair 520W or similar, and go with soem cheaper RAM. 4GB of DDR2-800 should run about $230, so figure out which kit they offer is around that price point.
 
i think the GTX might be wasted if it's used at under 19x12.

The E6600's price won't drop, I believe.
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really? looks like i'll be going for the AMD then (for my build anyway :D)
 
the [H] review of the GTX shows that it can achieve playable resolutions at 19x12 with mostly maxed settings. i really like the way they review products, so, to me, that means it isn't being used to its fullest extent unless you're maxing detail at maxed res. what current games would make it struggle at 16x12? i have to hope the OP is planning on at least 1680x1050 or 16x12...going to 1280x1024 or something would DEFINITELY be wasting its power.

Yeh but the e6850 and Q6600 will drop to e6600 prices.
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attractive to be sure; which makes me wonder...why would you want the E6600 at that point? i think the OP should definitely reconsider his options after the price drop. hopefully integrators will quickly follow suit.
 
firey-eyez said:
the [H] review of the GTX shows that it can achieve playable resolutions at 19x12 with mostly maxed settings. i really like the way they review products, so, to me, that means it isn't being used to its fullest extent unless you're maxing detail at maxed res. what current games would make it struggle at 16x12? i have to hope the OP is planning on at least 1680x1050 or 16x12...going to 1280x1024 or something would DEFINITELY be wasting its power.

attractive to be sure; which makes me wonder...why would you want the E6600 at that point? i think the OP should definitely reconsider his options after the price drop. hopefully integrators will quickly follow suit.
Click to expand...

Yeh but those are in current games. When next gen games are released you will need much more horsepower to drive them at that resoloution.
 
Why the hell are the two optical drives different? That doesn't make any sense to me.
 
I dropped the Raptor for a 400GB caviar, as well as the 2nd hard drive (I was going to use it for just general storage, when I realized the computer I'm on right now will be converted to a local server, so it's not necessary), and I'm only keeping the E6600 in there for pricing (once 7/22 passes, I'll check the Q6600 prices and probably change it).

I'm not really planning on OC'ing, besides what the company does during it's configuration. I've also dropped to a 700W PSU (it was only $20 price difference from the corsair 620W, so I didn't care).

And I'm good with the ram & gfx card. I'm currently on a 21" CRT, but I plan on upgrading to an lcd, preferrably a larger one that this. I'm not up to speed on good gaming lcd's, I hear dell has some good ones, but any suggestions?

Thanks again all of you for your input, I really appreciate it!
 
Check out the Dell 2407WFP.

firey-eyez said:
attractive to be sure; which makes me wonder...why would you want the E6600 at that point?
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They will be phased out of production. Their prices will likely drop when Intel discontinues them, if any are left on "shelves."
 
So... no time to build this system yourself? It would save you a considerable amount of money, hehe.
 
I probably could, the only thing I've never installed are psu's and cpu's. Everything else I've fiddled with. So, I kinda don't trust myself so much :)
 
buji said:
I probably could, the only thing I've never installed are psu's and cpu's. Everything else I've fiddled with. So, I kinda don't trust myself so much :)
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Well you can't damage anything when you are installing the PSU and the CPU is v easy.
 
Yea definately buy the parts and install them yourself. $2500+ is pretty high for that system IMO. And why 2 optical drives?
 
buji said:
I'm doing a little parts research just to see the price differences in me building it myself.

One thing I came across are these two boards:

ASUS P5K WS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

What's the difference in these two (besides the price and the WS only having 1 PCI-e x16)?
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The only difference I can see aside from the 2nd PCI-E 16x slot is RAID support.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mpareItemList=N82E16813131180,N82E16813131185

Gigabyte has some good boards, too. Check out the GA-P35-DS3R, GA-P35C-DS3R, and GA-P35-DQ6.
 
why drop the raptor? the hard drive is well-known as the bottleneck in any system. What raptor did you have selected? Get 2 smaller size raptors and RAID 0 them suckas.
 
Rambo said:
why drop the raptor? the hard drive is well-known as the bottleneck in any system. What raptor did you have selected? Get 2 smaller size raptors and RAID 0 them suckas.
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.


They are good, just not worth the price premium.
 
The one thing about the mobo's that worry me is that I'm going to probably sacrifice a pci-e slot for my video card (takes up 2 slots I believe).

I'm not sure why I shouldn't use raptors. I've read that they burn very hot and sometimes die out quickly. Is this true or just hearsay?

I'm a little hesitant to swap out the KINGSTON for another RAM set. I see that G Skill
 has a cheaper price, but I've never heard of them and it looks like it might just be lesser quality.
 
buji said:
The one thing about the mobo's that worry me is that I'm going to probably sacrifice a pci-e slot for my video card (takes up 2 slots I believe).

I'm not sure why I shouldn't use raptors. I've read that they burn very hot and sometimes die out quickly. Is this true or just hearsay?

I'm a little hesitant to swap out the KINGSTON for another RAM set. I see that G Skill
 has a cheaper price, but I've never heard of them and it looks like it might just be lesser quality.
Click to expand...

So find a board with a layout you're comfortable with, that can accomodate your current planned expansion cards. With a dual slot vidcard, you'll always sacrifice the adjacent slot. Just find the board that can accomodate whatever card you wanted to plug in there, elsewhere.

Raptors are nice, and their performance is great. Still, their not much faster than current drives, now, yet are still much more expensive. If you have money to burn, then go for a raptor. If you'd rather spend that money elsewhere, then you can without sacrificing much performance. I have both a Raptor and 'cuda. My raptor avgs around 78MB/s transfer rate, while my 'cuda.10 avgs 65MB/s. Not bad for less than half the cost of the raptor plus more than double the space. Yes, raptors run hot. Mine hasn't died, but a recent Dell branded one I have at work sounds like its dying. Its running at 40° and is a lot nosier (when seeking) than the other raptors we purchased at the same time. My personal raptor is running at 31° and is as loud as a 'cuda (not that loud).

Most of Kingston's offerings are overpriced, especially their Hyper-X. G.Skill is great. I've been using them for several years now, and none have had to go back. Here's the ramlist, in case you were interested: http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/
 
Well, today to make things more interesting, I tried diagnosing the pc I have now, only to find that my CMOS battery is low (or probably dead) and my PC won't boot anymore. July 22nd can't come any faster can it?
 
This may sound like a newb question... and it is.

The cpu works with an FSB of 1033, why not pick DDR2-1033 RAM as well, instead of 800?
 
AlexisBV said:
The cpu works with an FSB of 1033, why not pick DDR2-1033 RAM as well, instead of 800?
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I'm guessing you mean 1066. On intel platforms, the effective FSB speed is four times the speed of the base FSB (quad pumped). Therefore, if a CPU's FSB is 1066Mhz, the base FSB is 1066/4 = 266Mhz. You can derive the CPU Multiplier from that number: 2.4Ghz/266Mhz = 9x. The base FSB is also used for the RAM speed: 2 x 266 = DDR2-533, at stock settings (1:1 with the CPU). On Intel platforms, there is no performance benefit to running the RAM faster than a 1:1 ratio (eg. 9x266=2.4Ghz, 3x266=DDR2-800 = not recommended).

Q6600: 9 * 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 * 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Good OC
Q6600: 9 * 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Water Cooled OC
 
enginurd said:
So find a board with a layout you're comfortable with, that can accomodate your current planned expansion cards. With a dual slot vidcard, you'll always sacrifice the adjacent slot. Just find the board that can accomodate whatever card you wanted to plug in there, elsewhere.

Raptors are nice, and their performance is great. Still, their not much faster than current drives, now, yet are still much more expensive. If you have money to burn, then go for a raptor. If you'd rather spend that money elsewhere, then you can without sacrificing much performance. I have both a Raptor and 'cuda. My raptor avgs around 78MB/s transfer rate, while my 'cuda.10 avgs 65MB/s. Not bad for less than half the cost of the raptor plus more than double the space. Yes, raptors run hot. Mine hasn't died, but a recent Dell branded one I have at work sounds like its dying. Its running at 40° and is a lot nosier (when seeking) than the other raptors we purchased at the same time. My personal raptor is running at 31° and is as loud as a 'cuda (not that loud).

Most of Kingston's offerings are overpriced, especially their Hyper-X. G.Skill is great. I've been using them for several years now, and none have had to go back. Here's the ramlist, in case you were interested: http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/
Click to expand...


Going to agree on the raptors , I just had 2 of the older 74g's crap on me. I am also currently in the process of building a new system and will be going with cuda's . ( the raptors were on close to 24x7 for 2 years , most of the time just at idle . First one randomly crapped on me , 2nd one was because mr puddles tail wacked it onto the tile floor , damnit mr puddles , damnit )

BUt if you insist on getting the raptors go for it , And they arent as loud ( mine werent ) as people claimed.
 
Syndi said:
Going to agree on the raptors , I just had 2 of the older 74g's crap on me. I am also currently in the process of building a new system and will be going with cuda's . ( the raptors were on close to 24x7 for 2 years , most of the time just at idle . First one randomly crapped on me , 2nd one was because mr puddles tail wacked it onto the tile floor , damnit mr puddles , damnit )

BUt if you insist on getting the raptors go for it , And they arent as loud ( mine werent ) as people claimed.
Click to expand...

Who is Mr. Puddles?
 
buji said:
Well, today to make things more interesting, I tried diagnosing the pc I have now, only to find that my CMOS battery is low (or probably dead) and my PC won't boot anymore. July 22nd can't come any faster can it?
Click to expand...

If you need to buy now, a dual core will be faster than a quadcore still, for most apps, anyhow, and at least for another year or so. An E6750 is only around $222 (will drop to $183 after 7/22). If you really needed the computer now, I'd go for that, then upgrade to a Wolfdale CPU in a year or so.
 
I'm with robo on this one.... Had 74GB raptor (still have actually) and a 150GB raptor and, honestly, will never buy one again. They're fast as hell and the access and loading times in games are superb but sure as hell not anything i couldn't wait 10 more miliseconds for a fraction of the price. Sold my 150GB drive, bought 3x320GB's for it and...what can i say. It just holds a lot more porn... :D
 
RoBo said:
and I also see your opinion is clearly different. :p
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Yes it is. :cool:

Raptors aren't worth it for everyone. One one hand I certainly acknowledge that this is true. On the other hand I'd say that if you have the money, and your are building a high end PC, it only makes sense to give it the fastest consumer level drive available and that's currently the Raptor.
 
Anyway OP,

Have you considered changing your CPU cooler?

That thing was expensive last time I looked.
 
Yes, I've considered changing it. After looking at it again I think it's going to take up too much space. Any ideas on a good one?
 
buji said:
Yes, I've considered changing it. After looking at it again I think it's going to take up too much space. Any ideas on a good one?
Click to expand...

Go with the Scythe Ninja or Tuniq Tower 120.
 
I'd recommend the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I've got one in my server and it's a really badass air cooling solution. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone not wanting to make the jump to water cooling.
 
Dan_D said:
I'd recommend the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I've got one in my server and it's a really badass air cooling solution. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone not wanting to make the jump to water cooling.
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SECONDED!
 
Dan_D said:
I'd recommend the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. I've got one in my server and it's a really badass air cooling solution. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone not wanting to make the jump to water cooling.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty high end build so far so I'm going to go with Dan_D on this one. Get the Ultra 120 if you have the cash to spend. Otherwise, the Scythe Ninja is a pretty great HSF.

RoBo said:
Who is Mr. Puddles?
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Probably his dog. Nice name for a dog actually. :)
 
so now my pc wants to reinstall windows. Im trusting myself building this thing less and less.
 
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