Gaming build advice?

[Xion]

Hey guys,

I've been out of the computer hardware scene for a while now and am not sure about various things. I hope you could give me some advice.

I'll be purchasing parts from pccanada.com:

1) Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600, 2.40-GHz @ 1066Mhz w/ 8Mb Quad Core (Socket 775) (RetailBox) w/ Heat Sink & Fan $274.99

2) Antec® Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case, Black $119.99

3) Asus® P5N32-E SLI, Socket 775, NVIDIA® nForce™ 680i SLI™ Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) $199.99

4) BFG Tech GeForce™ 8800GT OC2 - GeForce™ 8800GT OC2 w/512MB GDDR3 & PCI Express x16 Retail Box $284.99

5)(4X) 1Gb DDR2 Ram Module, PC4200 $139.96

6) OCZ GameXStream 600W SLI ATX 12V Ver 2.2 Power Supply (Retail Box) $99.99

7) 750GB Western Digital® Caviar® SE16 SATAII-300 7200RPM 16Mb OEM $164.99


How is what I have so far? I have a few questions:
- Should I get a seperate heatsink and a secondary fan to keep the system cool?
- Is there another mobo that has good onboard network card and sound?
- What sort of ram should I get?
- Is the video card brand ok?
- Lastly, how is the performance of the hdd?

Thanks.

[shadowpr]

Another MB I would look at is the P5K line.

See if you can get an evga brand 8800gt.

You won't need anymore fans if you're not going to overclock.

And for ram, if you want to get 4gb, I would get 2x2gb DDR2 800. Look at corsair.

Western Digital makes good HD's.

[catacon]

Things look good.

-If you do not plan to overclock, stick with the stock heatsink and fan, it will cool fine.

-You could look at the Asus P5K, it is a very good board.

-Corsair XMS2 RAM is very high quality.

-I believe BFG is OK, but you might want to check out eVGA, I think they are a better brand.

-The HD should be fine, it is 7200RPM and has a 16MB cache, should be good.

EDIT: Darn you shadow! We said the same stuff, though.

[Xion]

Originally Posted by shadowpr Another MB I would look at is the P5K line. See if you can get an evga brand 8800gt. You won't need anymore fans if you're not going to overclock. And for ram, if you want to get 4gb, I would get 2x2gb DDR2 800. Look at corsair. Western Digital makes good HD's.

I will be actually overclocking the videocard to its max potential. So what type of heatsink and fan would you recommend? I've had thermaltake fans before and they are so noisy and annoying.

Would you say eVGA 8800gts performs better than the asus extreme version?

I would probably go with this mobo? http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=6187

Is this the DDR2 800 ram you are referring to? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145176

Last question, if I order from newegg, do you know if Canadians can take advantage of the mail in rebate as well? Thanks.

[catacon]

That mobo looks good. That RAM is very nice, go with it.

I don't believe that Newegg ships to Canada.

[hitchface]

I'd actually downgrade the RAM to 667 mHz. If you plan on overclocking, by all means go 800. The only way you'll see decent benefit from 800 mHz RAM on stock settings is if you go AM2. And know that Windows can't handle much more than 3 gigs of RAM. 2 will be plenty, and you can always use ReadyBoost if you will be playing in Vista. High capacity flash drives are quite cheap right now.

BFG and eVGA both have good quality, but BFG cards tend to be a little beefier. I had a fan die on an eVGA 7600 a while back...but I suppose thats nothing to complain about. Either one will serve you well. Also know that an 8800 will fit quite tightly into the Antec 900.

For a video card fan, Zalman makes good but relatively expensive coolers. Quiet and efficient though.

Core 2 Quad? If you want to future proof your rig, I suppose it makes sense. However, if you see yourself upgrading in the next little while before quad-core games come out, save a little green and go with a high end C2D instead.

Now, if I can throw a wrench one last time...Have you considered the Spider platform from AMD? Granted, Intel and nVidia stuff will be more powerful, but this can also save you a lot of money not only now but down the road in upgrades. This platform is highly scalable, and quite cheap.

And no, Newegg doesn't ship to Canada, despite my frequent requests.

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Xion I will be actually overclocking the videocard to its max potential. So what type of heatsink and fan would you recommend? I've had thermaltake fans before and they are so noisy and annoying. Would you say eVGA 8800gts performs better than the asus extreme version? I would probably go with this mobo? http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=6187 Is this the DDR2 800 ram you are referring to? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145176 Last question, if I order from newegg, do you know if Canadians can take advantage of the mail in rebate as well? Thanks.

I'm not sure about fans for the video card.

I would get the 8800gt instead of a gts. The gt performs better and is also a single slot card that is cheaper.

That MB isn't what you want. It only takes ddr3 ram. Look for one of the P5K's that takes only ddr2. Best bets would be: P5K, P5K-se, or maybe the P5K-E.

That ram would be good.

And like others said, not sure newegg ships there. If you need another site to order from, I'm sure some of the other Canadian members can suggest some sites.

[hitchface]

Try Tigerdirect. NCIX is also good.

[Katreat]

Most things have already been mentioned but I will add support for a C2D processor. I think if you are primarily gaming the E6750 is a better deal right now. It is faster and cheaper than the quad cores so better for gaming today. Upgrade to a quad when games start being developed that use more than one core. But if you want future proofing with out having to upgrade the Q6600 is a great chip.

The 900 case is a wind tunnel, but will get very noisy when you crank up the rans to high settings. I have one and run my fans on low and it is pretty quiet, but on high it gets load. So overall cooling will be fine. If you are going to OC the vid card then I would start by installing the optional side fan, it point right at the top of my 8800 GTS. There is also an optional fan mount on the back of the hard drive bays, but that might be difficult to use with long video card. I have not done any OC'ing on my system so the standard 4 fans that come with the case work fine.

Kat

[wildfire]

NCIX>Tigerdirect.

Ncix has cheaper prices :].
Ncix has a forum :]
Ncix has representatives from manufacturers :]

Also always check out there sales page, there's always one out, click the avalanche savings thing on the front page.

ncix.com

[Xion]

Hey guys,

so i did a little research and I need some opinion.


I have read that E6850 is the best right now for the value. Also, the Q6600 uses four cores which is not used in games yet. I read a comment on the forum that the game Crysis uses four cores. Is this true? The Q6600 is only $ 5 more. Which one would you personally get?

I plan on overclocking the processor. Does any one have any experience with overclocking these two processors?

Can someone please address to me a 8800 gt on ncix that is commonly used? There's just so many types of 8800s, I dont know which one is the correct one to get.

I also need help on the mobo. You guys have pointed out that the P5K models are the way to go. Could you point out one with a good network card and sound card?

With this in mind, I plan on overclocking the video card and the processor, what PSU should be used?

Thanks, your comments are greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[heave]

U might wanna try this for gaming pc and U can run anything u want with this monster

motherboard:ASUS L1N64-SLI WS Dual L (1207FX) NVIDIA nForce 680a SLI MCP SSI CEB AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131146

case with psu:COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKR3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case Real Power Pro 1000W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119136

cpu with ram:AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket F (1207 FX) DSDC Architecture Processor
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC24G6400LLK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103866

video card:BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOC2E GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143093

cpu heatsink:ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118020

[hitchface]

4 gigs of RAM is overkill, and the 8800GT will do a good job for less money.

[heave]

hitchface

u have any idea when they gonna release the octo core on amd hihi i cant wait till christmas?

[hitchface]

I haven't looked into AMDs plans for 8 cores much yet, but I will hedge my best on servers getting the first round of them. Software makers are already sweating to keep pace with the enormous power that dual core and quad core chips are offering. Once quad core chips settle in a little more, I suspect we will hear additional news.