New gaming rig

[DireStrike]

Hey everyone, still trying to pull together a lot of ideas for this one.

Budget - $1000. I'd prefer not to hit it, but...

Processor - E6750, when it comes out on 7/22.

Video card - I've been vacillating a lot on this one. I like the Radeon X1950 XT, but It seems to have heating and noise problems. I've also considered this Geforce 8800, though it will also be putting out high temperatures but lower noise. I might ultimately choose a slightly weaker, dx9 geforce card.

I like efficiency and simplicity. My primary goal in building this system is for everything to work with minimum fuss. I don't want things to break. I. WILL. OVERCLOCK. NOTHING. However, my apartment can get quite hot in the summertime.

To that end, do you think the 8800 is overkill? Will it not be worth the heating concerns? Should I wait for another generation of cards that will support DX10? It's not really necessary, at the moment, and there's plenty of time before SC2 comes out...

Motherboard - I guess I'll probably get one of those p35 thingies. They look ok.

CASE - I don't overclock, but do have higher background temperatures. I like the Antec 900. It is very pretty and certainly has high cooling capabilities. But it seems very expensive. Do I have to worry that much about cooling? Will I, if I take the 8800? Are there cheaper cases with similar cooling capabilities?

Bundled with that case is a 700W PSU. Sounds about right for the 8800, but I don't really need it if I go with something less, right? For that matter, I don't need the 900 case either. hrm.

In the end, I want everything to be well inside every envelope necessary to perform. It should be fast enough, as long as windows doesn't suck away too much performance.

So, thoughts on the card/case/psu/heat situation? Anything else?

 

[FallenSniper]

Well, I would go with the 8800 just because it is DX10 and is a great performer. If you are worried about cooling/high case price, you could buy a case with 2x 120mm fans and add another one for like $6. You could also buy a PCI Slot cooler is you are worried about heat from the GPU.

Case Fan PCI Fan

This way you can save 60-80 dollars on a case and get high quality cooling. This might be loud though, depends on which fans you actually get. I just kind of picked 2..

PSU, hmm. I would go with a 620 Corsair or 650 Seagate.

 

[DireStrike]

Thanks for the advice. How would you add an extra big fan like that if you wanted to put one in, just stick it wherever? (obviously with attention to dissipating heat.) I mean, if there's not a spot on the case for it, can you really just add more fans?

I'm looking at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208019

And a PCI fan, didn't know about those! Very cheap and exactly what's needed.

About the PSU, did you mean Seasonic? Seagate is drives only, I think. Not like I'm terribly worried about brand, unless you specifically want to recommend those.

 

[FallenSniper]

Well, i suppose technically anywhere on the case there is a hole you could screw in the fan, but that probably wouldn't be too wise.

There are three common places for fans in a case. One in the rear (exhaust), One in the Front (intake), and one on the side panel (intake). Depending on the case you pick, it will most likely have a fan at either the front or on the side panel. Whichever it doesn't have a fan on, you would put it there. You can also usually mount a fan on the top of a case. Some cases even use 2 fans on the side panel, or in the case of the Antec 900, 2 fans in front.

With the case you are looking at, it has fans on the side panel and in the rear. This will be very easy for you to put in a fan. Follow your link, view the images, then look at the 10th one. Look at the front of the case at the bottom. The fan i gave you a link to is Blue as well, so it will look great with that case. Here is a link to another fan that gives you speed control for just a little bit more. Happy hunting

Hahaha, yes, I did mean Seasonic. My apologies. I can just see you sitting there at newegg "what do you mean no results found?!?!" going to google: search for "seagate PSU"... 0 results found...WHAT?! Sorry about that.

 

[DireStrike]

Ok, after some more consideration and lots of posts across boards, here is my system so far:

Processor: Core 2 Duo E6750 (On 7/22)
Case (I think I'll add another 80mm fan on the side vent.)
Motherboard
Video Card, Geforce 8800GTS 320MB PCIE x16
RAM, 2 sticks of 1gb DDR2 800

And I have yet to pick out:
POWER SUPPLY
1 SATA HDD
DVD-RW/DVD+RW drive


Sniper, d'ya still stick with those PSU recs? It doesn't seem I need that much wattage (XPS calc says 350!! WTF), and I'd like to go a bit cheaper... but primarily I want everything to run without problems. So if it means spending more... meh. This PSU issue is complicated though, and I can't get my head around it for some reason.

 

[FallenSniper]

You could safely drop down the the Corsair 520.

You might want to find a different PSU calculator . Especially since the 8800GTS requires at least 400W. Good Luck!

 

[emp]

Well for PSU this is my dream PSU

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V / EPS12V 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027

and this is what I have

Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 100Vac to 240Vac +/- 10% UL, CUL, TUV, CE, FCC, CCC, CB, C-tick - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103940

Powering a system similar to yours (have E6400, 2 gigs of ram, 1 DVD burner, 1 HDD and a SHITLOAD of 120mm fans, my 8800GTS 320 will be arriving some time soon though, but my PSU can handle even 8800GTX according to mpilch so no worries. :roll:

 

[Hatman]

8800gts 320mb is probably the best price for performance graphic card on the market at the moment. Good to go for that I wouldn't worry about it overheating, even if it does as long as you haven't over clocked it or anything then you can just return it for a new one.

Antec 900 rocks. I'm getting it plus 2 more 120mm fans for the optional ports, mega cooling

 

[mgtech]

DDR2 800 !!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565
DDR2 1066 !!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145033

 

[FallenSniper]

Yep, those are both great deals. Especially the Crucial Ballistix.