Need Major Help On Computer Build - Gaming.

[LRyuuzaki]

Ok well i've been talking to a few friends who know quite alot about computers and i'm confused on if my specs are good or not.

Coolermaster Stacker 832 (Already sitting in the corner)
Asus Striker Extreme (Go for the EVGA equivalent?)
Core 2 Duo E6600 (Whole revision and go for an AMD instead?)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Heatsink.
EVGA 8800GTX ACS3
500gb Seagate 7200.10
ThermalTake Toughpower 850w
2gb Corsair Twinx XMS2 Dominator - DDR2-800
Windows Home Edition


I will be overclocking the processor to 3ghz and maybe more if possible, my friends tried to convince me to get a AMD set-up instead and forget about 680i motherboards.

Should i do a whole revision on everything and buy an AMD setup instead or is the 680i motherboards finally stopped having problems?

 

[slashzapper]

Good choice of cabinet .

Go for the EVGA equivalent . Asus has gone down in components used in their motherboards. I would also suggest take a look at the gigabyte equivalent .

Although the Evga board is excellent , all the problems have been sorted out .

The intel choice is better forget AMD they are not competitive right now.

Other wise everything else looks good . 8)

You can check out Techreport as they have good reviews imho.

 

[LRyuuzaki]

Yea that was a big decision on which to go for...

I wanted the Asus but the EVGA looked just as good and slightly cheaper, but i heard the EVGA had some major issues with SATA but i've heard they've been fixed.

I'll see what other people say before i decide, thanks for your input though.

 

[alcattle]

You might want to look at the 680i MB review here Tom's 680i part 2
eVGA was not in it but several were including the Asus MB

 

[LRyuuzaki]

I'm still really confused! I'm leaning towards the MSI now but since that review was wrote does anyone here own one of the P6N diamonds and can say that its good?


At the moment i am probably going to get the MSI seeing as it got pretty good benchmarks over the Asus which i was previously going to get.

 

[alcattle]

Yes I got the same things from the review, but remember it was written 4 months ago, almost a lifetime in PC Years.

 

[LRyuuzaki]

I believe i'll be going for the MSI, it's actually a fiver more expensive than the Striker but atleast i'll know it may have a better chance of fitting the Thermalright heatsink i wanted on there.

Is the rest of the specs good? At the moment it's around £1k which is a good price for me, i wish i was rich and could buy the best of everything

 

[purdueguy]

Unless you plan on overclocking like a mad man (>3.5GHz), getting those 680i boards to me is a waste of money. Heck, even in that Tom's review, the E6700 was stuck at 3.46GHz.

And the heatsink, that's overkill also, unless you overclock a lot. An Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro will do just fine.

I think your best best is to get the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6, here or another 965P equivalent.

It overclocks easily to what you want. I have the -DS3 version and haven't oc'd a lot (only to 2.4 GHz) because I only have the stock cooler.

If you plan on oc'ing a lot, then get the 680i and the Thermalright Heatsink. If not, save some money.

 

[LRyuuzaki]

Yea i will be trying to OC as much as i can while still maintaining stability.

I need a little more help, could anyone pick me out a good DVD Writer for my rig? I know very little about optical drives and can't find much on reviews for them (i probably ain't looking hard enough). I don't burn DVDs too often, i usually just use DVDs to make backups so a fairly cheap around £30 will do.

 

[alcattle]

Do you just make data DVDs? then almost anything will work, big choice is what color bezel? Find a brand of Disks you like and make sure your burner uses that speed. Not too hard.