Almost ready to Build! (finally)

[Omnituton]

Hello all...people are probably tired of this kind of post...but for those who are not I'd love your input on the following configuration. I'm just about ready to go ahead with the purchases so if you've got any thoughts or have heard of any drawbacks with the following please let me know.

OH...by the way I'm sticking with XP for the moment as I can't be bothered with the hassle of vista for now.

Anyhow here goes...

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 Rev2.0, P965, ATX,
HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB SATA2
PSU: Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS,
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 2.67GHz
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5
CASE: Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Black, Brushed
GPU: XFX GeForce 8800GTS 500M 640MB GDDR3

(PS. I know everyone's got their favourite bits and pieces...and I'm open to suggestions, but keep in mind that here in Ireland availability + postage is a big issue)

Thanks for all your help!

 

[PC_Side_Line]

IRISH WHISKEY fer ME!!!

What cooler u gonna add to the cpu?


Here's a great article on the Zalman:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/12/extreme_overclocking/page5.html

 

[Omnituton]

Thanks for the article...I was already considering a Zalman but at the moment I'm gonna try out the stock fan as I don't intend to overclock or push this rig beyond its specs until I have all components together and I'm sure the stock fan is not adequate and/or too noisy.

Thanks a million for your input!

 

[alcattle]

Looks like a first line build, you have done your homework, should last at least 2-3 years.

 

[CmdPT]

Thats one sweet CPU you got there. That sweet system is ready to be built and be used. Enjoy the system!

 

[Omnituton]

Thanks for the encouragment guys...this build has been an obscenely long time coming...and I intend to keep the core machine for quite a long time (my last one was a 2001 build and is still going strong!)..I'm hoping to get as much life out of this...hence the pricey components.

Any thoughts on the ram?...I could have gone a tad better..but I'm struggling to keep the price down.

Also...I've always used a sound card..but I've heard that integrated has really come on in a big way...will using the integrated sound here impair performance in any great way? (I've already got some logitech Z-5450 wireless 5.1 speakers and I want to get good results from them)

Thanks again to all of you for your time.

 

[CmdPT]

Well that depends if you OC but if you want to save a little money go with the 667 mhz or the with 533 mhz RAM but the 800 mhz is alright to have incase u ever plan on OCing.

 

[Viceras]

Nice rig! What are you planning on using it for? If gaming then the BIG change needed would be to swap the CPU to the E6600 and pump your saving into the GTX 8800.

The QX6800 is a higher clocked E6600 no real noticeable difference apart from the price plus the E6600 can perform just as well if you want to OC which you could do with stock HSF.

So recommended changes:

CPU Get the E6600 instead.
MOBO Get the DS3 (its basically the same without the heatsink, which you wont need anyhow) Much cheaper for the same result.
GPU Get the GTX instead some people have noticed a notable change and the money you are saving (whilst not compramising performance) from the CPU and MOBO changes should be plenty to warrent the added expense of the GTX

Good luck with your build m8!

 

[Omnituton]

Thanks again for your thoughts..they're really helpful.

I do intend to do some great gaming on this rig...but I'm also a freelance illustrator...so the tremendous rendering times the QX6700 can provide is a big bonus to me which does outweigh the cost consideration in this case.

I've considered the 8800GTX and I think its a possibility for the future, maybe, though something else may have caught my eye by that time. But again, depending on work, the 8800GTS may be swapped out by my Quadro card for maximum software compatibility.

OC is a possibility in the future, so I think I'll stick wit the 800 RAM.

Once again...thanks for your advice

 

[alcattle]

Like the other person said, your RAM is fine except for extreme O/C.

I would start with the onboard sound. No added cost if you wait and buy a better sound card later if you decide you need one.

 

[Omnituton]

Once again, thanks to all you guys...Its not my first build but I always get nervous shelling out hard earned cash for electronics...but I guess thats halfthe joy and satisfaction of getting your own build up and running. So long as no one knows of any over-riding reasons why one of the above components might be an unecessary risk I think I'm gonna purchase in the next week...yippee!

Thanks again.