Sanity check on $2500 gaming rig

[Dukem0069]

First thanks for the input and i've learned a lot from lurking. Now it's time to get a final sanity check before i spend $2500 CDN.

This is primarily going to be used to play COD2 and newer games. I want to have the option of SLI (cuz of my Sony 50" 1080p!), but that will be later.

I hope to OC this as much as I can with Air only.

Intel E6600

EVGA NF68-A1 SLI

Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400 2GB Kit (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2-800

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB

Asus DRW-1814BLT Black SATA DVD-Writer

WD5000YS Raid Edition 2 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Buffer SATA

Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower Case- Gun Metal Black

Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W (with three 12V rails and 50A this should be enough right?)

Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme 6

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120MM Cooling Fan

Anything else i'm missing? I've made many changes on this system since I started building....

Any help would be appreciated as this is only the second computer i've built.

Thanks!

 

[jonnyli]

I would change a few things in your build. Since your looking to overclock, get the Asus P5N32-E SLI
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=011829&cid=MB.157
The high end Asus boards generally overclock very well, alot of people around the forum have experience good things, I've yet to see someone mentioning that they have an EVGA Mobo.


I'm too sure about Corsair power supplies, i would opt for an Enermax Liberty 620w
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=008256&cid=PS.808
I have the Liberty and its great. The quailty is very aparant once you've taking the thing out of the box and the modular cables will come in handy with the P182 case your thinking about.

Lastly, I don't know if Asus is any good when it comes to dvd drives, I would suggest a NEC like this one:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=011698&cid=CR.184

Everything else looks pretty solid to me, have fun building your computer!

 

[locky28]

I agree with jonnyli on the motherboard he's chosen however,

As far as I'm aware, Corsair use Seasonic Power Supply's and rebadge them so that one should be fine and it's fairly popular.

Also that particular ASUS Drive is very highly regarded, no complaints with that one.

 

[mrbbq]

Where are you getting your parts from? You should check http://www.directcanada.com/ and im sure you could save a few!

If i were you, i would wait till july 22 and get the E6850. I would ditch that ram and get some OCZ reaper 8500. And finally, i would get one or two Hitachi 7K1000 750GB. But thats just me! You have a nice rig anyway.

 

[Dukem0069]

Thanks for all of your repsonses!

Let me start by clarifying my 'OC' needs. I want to OC as much as I can, WITHOUT having to do a lot of work. So if i can get it to 3ghz without having to spend hours changing every little setting in the bios, i'll be happy. Of course, if i can get it to 3.6ghz i'll be even happier...haha

I had stayed away from the P5N32-e since a lot of reviews mentioned problems on first boot a lot of them being that the memory not being recognized if it wasn't 1.8v. Most people had to get another stick, put it in, boot, change the bios to 2.1v (or whatever they needed) and then stick in their other memory. This means having to buy two different sets of memory. Its a little thing, but i want to get this working with as little work as possible (i tinker with computers all day in my day job, so i don't want to tinker too much at home). Having said that, it seems that many boards these days are having that "problem" so that's why i chose DDR2-800 ram that runs at 1.8v

@Mrbbq

I know i should wait until july 22, but I want this computer NOW...lol And as for the 8500 RAM, i'm worried about ram that runs > 2.1v. I've read too many stories about people's expensive RAM dying after a few months of use. The spec for ram should be only 1.8v and running higher than that has been shortening the lifes of the sticks. I know the OCZ (and Corsairs) come with lifetime warranty, but i don't want to have to be shipping my ram back and forth. Too much down time...

Of course, if i read this stuff all wrong, please let me know! i bow down to the superior knowledge of the peeps on these forums....

 

[dobby]

yeah that look in check, i would stick with the corsair that stuff is great, dont forget to get some GOOD thermal grease i reccomend artic silver. also if your OC'ing and you only have 1 GPU, then you should be fine with a p965, this measns you can ge those solid state jap capacitors, which are on DS3 boards

 

[merc14]

A 620 watt PSU probably won't be enough if you plan on running two 8800GTX in SLI. At minimum I'd get at least a 750 watt model like the PC P&C 750 Silencer. If you look at the Nvidia certified PSUs list the lowest wattage unit recommended for dual 8800GTX cards is the PC P&C 750 Quad Silencer, the numbers go up from there.

Also, if you plan on overclcoking iI would not recommend the P5N32-E SLI board. It has a hard tme with higher FSB and a weak power delivery system. Look at the P5N32-E SLI Plus board. 8 phase solid state power and he Hybrid chipsets make it a real winner.

 

[coldmast]

artic silver is good, I used it and it shaves off a couple of degree on the 100% processor load.

Like the choice of case, is the SE to shinny for you.

might as well fill up the two optional 120mm cooling fans as well!

faster ram?

 

[ninjaquick]

yeah that look in check, i would stick with the corsair that stuff is great, dont forget to get some GOOD thermal grease i reccomend artic silver. also if your OC'ing and you only have 1 GPU, then you should be fine with a p965, this measns you can ge those solid state jap capacitors, which are on DS3 boards

I second that bout the arcit silver, i bought the big tube of it like two years ago, and it still hasnt run out after building prolly half a dozen PCS and applying it on my old zalman fanless VGA cooler (the huge blue one which uses a ton of thermal paste for the heatpipes), plus i have used it numerous times after switching from air to water then back to air then back to water again on my cpu... Needless to say the stuff is amazing! It just never runs out!

 

[Dukem0069]

@Merc

Wow, I hadn't realized that two 8800gtx and a stable OC would require more than 56A, and the Corsair only pumps out 50A. So I changed the PSU for

Thermaltake ToughPower W0116RU 750W

Ok now i'm confused. Use the P5N32E-SLI for overclocking or use the P5N32E-SLI PLUS eeek. Both seem to be performing well (according to all of the reviews i can find). It's $40 difference so price is not a problem.

I'm worried about this review:
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/asus-p5n32e-sli/12.html

@dobby and ninjaquick

I'm definitely going to get some arctic silver thermal grease. I figured that was a given

I'm really want to by the 182SE but its over $300 to have it shipped to my house That's double the price of the P182 black...and makes it the second most expensive part of my computer boooo.

Anyone know where I can get one cheap in Canada? Also please keep the help coming! I need to decide by tomorrow as the prices go up May 31st.

 

[merc14]

I wouldn't get the Thermaltake. You need 4 x 6 pin PCIe connectors to run two 8800GTX. Also, the multi rail design may leave you in a bit of a squeeze down the road. You'll have to go for the Thermaltake 850 quad SLI unit in order to get reliable performance from two 8800GTX cards. Personally, I'd go for the quad 750 PC P&C unit, it is a rock and gets outstanding reviews. Nividia has a Certified components list at their site for recommended PSUs and other components and Thermaltake is among the certified manufacturers.

That is a really early review of the Plus and later BIOS releases have greatly improved the performance. Also, the guys were complaining about chipset heat but the full 680i runs much hotter than the 650i hybrid. I've had my e6600 up to 3956 Mhz on the Plus. I would google a bit more as there are many reviews that rate the Plus as 9/10 but I can tell you from experience that the P5N32-E SLI is a dog at overclocking. We had several guys at Asus Independent that dumped it for the Plus after seeing the results.

Up to you but just wanted to relate my experience. Lot's of great motherboards out there, just be careful with the PSU and make sure you have OUTSTANDING cooling in your case.

 

[Dukem0069]

Thanks Merc,

The reason i've been leaning towards the the Thermaltake is that they are readily available in Toronto (canada). The 750 Quad is a beautiful power supply and one that i've wanted since the beginning, but i would have to get it shipped here at great expense (even from a canadian online retailer). Too bad that PSU wasn't modular...

I will take your advice and get the Thermaltake 850 quad SLI as it will be better for two 8800gtx and is 100% modular. It's also physically smaller so it fits better in my P182.

I'm reading more about the P5N32-E SLI Plus but have yet to find one that directly compares the regular one vs the plus. Can you suggest one? I'll keep looking too.