1st time build, any insight/advice please?

[ramble235]

Hi all,

After many weeks of reading reviews/forums, here is what I’ve zeroed in on. This will be primarily for gaming and photo editing. I've never tried overclocking before, but I want to with this system.

Antec P180B Case $99.00
Intel E6600 CPU $319
Tuniq T-120 Heatsink (if I can find one)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe Mobo $219
Corsair XMS2 2GB (TWIN2X2048-6400C4) RAM $237
320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (ST3320620AS) Drive $94.99
NEC 18X DVD±R (7170A-0B) DVD $29.99
NEC 1.44 Floppy (if at all) $6.25
Artic Silver 5 $5.99

Plus these legacy parts:

BFG 6800GTS OC GPU (never been used)
BFG 550wt PSU (PT-6550NV) (never been used)
SB Audigy something or other soundcard
80GB IDE Drive
40GB IDE Drive
XP Pro OS

My plan is to upgrade the video card to DX10 later this year, say the 8800GTX.

Total from Newegg is $1016.2 +tax/shipping (includes $65 in total rebates on case and RAM)

Two parts that I'm really not sure about are the DVD burner and the Heatsink. Any recommendations for a better DVD, or is this one good? And can anyone verify that the Tuniq Tower will fit in the case/mobo?)

Thanks again!

R

 

[ramble235]

I suppose no news is good news?

I guess I never actaully asked for your opionions in my post (but I was thinking it ). Anyway, do you guys see any trouble areas? Such as using the 6800GTS with this mobo? That should be fine, right?

Also, I looked into both Crucial and OCZ memory, but could not find on their sites any verification that theirs would work with that P5W mobo (and the asus QVL is pretty sparse, in fact this exact corsair set isnt listed either, but corsair site says its OK). Could I do better on the RAM?

Thanks again. Sorry to bump, but the suspense is killing me! :?

R

 

[dos1986]

Nice build ram,cpu,hd look good only one thing is bugging me if your gonna spend big on the mobo you might as well sell the 6800 on ebay or somewhere and get a x1950xt to really show what your new rig can do it will only cost you $150 for a kick ass card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

 

[ramble235]

Yeah, that old vid card has been an real question mark from the beginning. I figured this system would be such a big improvment over my current, quite old (4-5 years) system that I could live with it for a while. Especially considering the card is essentially brand-frickin-new. I thought I would at least try it. Although selling it unused might fetch a better price.

Just FYI, my current comp is Intel 2.8 CPU, Radeon 9700 GPU, 1GB RAM, and it's just a dog in most new games.

You've made a good point tho. I guess my only real hesitation is that the 8800s seem so damn good and I dont want to buy a lesser card now then pine for one of those later. Will have to think on that some more.

Thanks for the reply, btw

 

[scorch]

looks pretty good. Don't be embarrassed about the floppy drive, i have one too, and I even use it.

 

[ramble235]

LOL

Yeah I used that floppy in my current system like 2-3 times in its entire life, but I was sure glad I had it when I needed it!

Ill probably not buy another one, after all, tho. I'll just pop in the old one if/when i need it. Its the wrong color, so I'm not going to install it as standard, hehe. Hmm...perhaps with an black magic-marker...

 

[ramble235]

Edited

 

[ramble235]

I decided to get the sapphire X1950XT after seeing how the 6800 compares in the benchmarks (yikes). Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Such a critical component that I was somewhat overlooking ....wishful thinking that the 6800 would be OK, I guess.

Also trading out the NEC drive for this Samsung, based on a review (same price)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827151133


Will the 550 PSU will be OK with this setup? I bought it when I bought the 6800 vid card, it would be nice to at least use that. If not, then oh well.

R

BTW, anyone want to buy a brand new BGF 6800GT OC vid card?

 

[WizardOZ]

Points to ponder.

1) the new Mobos are only including one (1) IDE port, with space for only two (2) devices. How are you planning to install three (3) IDE devices on the new MoBO? If you want to use the older drives, you will need a second IDE controller card. Six of one etc whether it is a PCI or PCI-e device.

2) Most of the new MoBos have also dropped support for "obsolete" interfaces like serial and parallel ports. You wouuld be wise to check if any of your peripherals like your printer, scanner and other devices require a parallell or serial port. You should also verify that any existing devices that require either of these ports will actually support and work with "portX to USB" converters.

3) Floppy drives remain useful for some things. You should also seriously look into one of the multi-format card readers. The more types of formats it reads, the better. There are some combo floppy / card reader units available, but they tend to be USB devices.

4) Your new MoBo will have a PCI-e video slot. No more AGP slots, unless you get one of the wierd or hybrid MoBos. How were you planning to install an AGP card in a PCI-e slot?

Hope this helps.

 

[ramble235]

1) The P5W is a 975X board with 2 PATA IDE ports, so I should be good there. That was actually one of the deciding factors over a 965 mobo, and I dont like the 650i.

2) All of my peripherals are USB and/or firewire.

3) Yeah im definitely going to keep the floopy in a drawer for rainy days. I thought about a card reader, but right now I only need 1 kind and have a good external reader...perhaps someday.

4) The 6800 vid card is PCIe. I neglected to mention that. That's why its never been used (my current mobo is AGP).

Thanks

Oh, by the way...I remember you from another post. You offered some great info about disk partitioning. I even bought a copy of Partition Magic on your recommendation

I was wondering if you had any advice on how to partition the single 320gig drive?

My thinking was:

5gb Page File (2 x RAM + headroom...is that right?)
40gb OS/Utilities
20gb Programs (MS Office, etc)
255 Games, all else, etc

And use the 2 PATA drives for Music and Pictures.

The 255 seems excessive, though, so I was hoping you might have a better idea?

Thanks!