upcoming gaming/multitasking build

[well learnded]

I am sick of using a laptop and need to get back into a desktop to play some of these new games that are coming out. There are several things I want out of my computer
1) upgradeable
2) needs to play new games (I like to play at high resolutions, I currently "try" to play at 1920x1200)
3) must be able to handle large levels of multitasking.
-photoshop, firefox, itunes, winrar, etc... I keep my current cpu at 100% pretty much contantly, granted it is an M
-I don't use many professional programs, photoshop is about it

This is what I've come up with so far

Mobo: ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775
GPU: EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
Case: LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII W Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Total so far: $1,276.97

I am pretty much clueless as to the rest of my components. Here are a couple things I want
1) I would like to have a lot of hard drive space, 1tb sounds alright.
2) atleast 2gb memory
3) I don't plan on doing any overclocking, but as I stated above I will be looking for the ability to upgrade/oc my system in the future. With that said I have no clue what kind of cooling system I sould use.
4) wi-fi
5) price max $3,000, would prefer to spend less.

Please give me any recomendations or coments on my current ideas.

 

[Solariscs]

Antec P180
CORSAIR POWER SUPPLY CMPSU-620HX
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 2.4GHz
GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R
Super Talent DDR2-800 4GB (2x2GB) CL4
Seagate ST3500630AS 500GB
Lite-On LH-20A1S-12 20X SATA
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB

Price: around $1650

That will give you all the gaming and multitasking you can want really. You don't need the Striker board as its more expensive than its worth. It doesn't really off much of a performance gain and many of them have problems with quality. Get a new gen P35 board, it would be much better. Plus you can pick from supporting DDR3 Mem or not, for future upgrades.

The E6700 is an older model. The new one is the E6750, but the Quad would be much better at multitasking and playing all the latest games that will be coming out.

If you have any questions, hit me up on aim or yahoo, Maximus9102. I'm always glad to help

 

[well learnded]

I read a lot of reviews that said the striker has a great onboard sound card, how does the p35 compare?

Do you recommend going for the Q6600 over the Q6700?

 

[Solariscs]

Well pretty much all the newer boards have really good onboard sound. The striker isn't that new anymore and many cheaper boards, like the Gigabyte p35, are solid, stable boards with great features. The p35 just doesn't support SLI. I don't know if that's important to you, but personally I wouldn't go with SLI since you pay double for video cards, but only get a little jump in improvement. Plus the P35 supports future technologies that the striker does not.

I'd suggest the Q6600 since the Q6700 is pretty much the same thing with just 266mhz more speed, but almost double the price. You can overclock the Q6600 easier to the speed of the Q6700 if you really want to, on the stock cooler.

 

[Maziar]

Q6600 is $290 but the Q6700 which is only 200mhz faster is almost 2x more expensive ,and also 200mhz wouldnt make very much difference , for P35 vs STRIKER , :
well , Striker has SLI support , next gen 45nm cpu support , DDR2 support ,

P35 : you can choose wether you want Both DDR2 or DDR3 , there are some boards which are only DDR2, there are some which are only DDR3 and there are some which have Both DDR2 and DDR3 (like the one that Solariscs said (P35C DS3R ) or ASUS P5KC) , also they have next gen 45nm CPU suppor too :
http://event.asus.com/mb/45nm/

overall if u play @ very high resolution like 1920x1200 + , then go for SLI , if not get a P35 board

 

[WR2]

The ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 680i Motherboard has the same ADI AD1988B audio chipset as the Striker Extreme for $90 less. You'd probably want to compare the GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R with an add-in sound card such as the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 for about $90. A sound card is always something you can add on later if you ever feel your onboard sound doesnt meet your requirements.
Even those games that do use 5.1 surround sound audio encodings (most games are still using 2 or 2.1 audio) the sound is in highly compressed format. You'd need to be a serious audiophile to even notice the difference between any onboard sound solution and a high end discrete sound card. If you are a serious audiophile your existing (or future) home theater system should also meet your gaming requirements.

The CPU question is a lot easier. The Q6600 2.4Ghz is a great value at $295 (or $122 per Ghz). The Q6700 2.66Ghz at $579 ($218 per Ghz) is less of a good value when you consider that both can easily be overclocked to 3.0Ghz. Among the dual core CPUs the E6700 2.66Ghz is going for $317 but the E6850 3.0Ghz is going for $309. I think you can figure out where the good value is there.

1920x1200 screen resolution is the point at which SLI/Crossfire starts to come into its own. I never recommend jumping into SLI until you can confirm that one quality video card just can't meet your requirement. Many games might get only ~25% (or less! some get no benefit) improvement for twice the money spent on video cards. IMO it makes a LOT more sense to bank the price of the 2nd video card and save it for the NextGen video card. (G90 -think 9800GTX - could hit the stores in time for Christmas shopping this year). But having a SLI/Crossfire motherboard gives you extra options.

 

[well learnded]

I have read a lot of reviews saying that the q6600 and ASUS P5N32 have compatibility issues.

I'm having a hard time pick a MOBO. It would being nice to have the option of going sli, but I don't want to get two cards right now. Also, is there any reason to go for ddr3 memory over ddr2?

This is my updated shopping cart, I'm still missing memory and a motherboard.

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner
LIAN LI PC-60BPLUSII W Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM
EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775
SAMSUNG 244t-BK Black 24" 6ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD

total: $1,891.94

 

[chookman]

Id stick with what you had in last POST then go with 2 options on the mainboard and RAM.

Either

1. Asus P5K3 Deluxe Wifi (Gives you good sound,its runs cool with outrageous heatpipes, and DDR3 for future). RAM either Corsair or OCZ as these are the major DDR3 atm.

2. Asus P5K Deluxe (good sounds, cool, new P35) Id go Corsair, Patriot or OCZ

I dont think you need SLI i think its a waste you are buying a GPU that will cope and buy the time you want faster you get another card (newer release) than getting old tech to join with you another aging card. With DDR3 the main advantage is future as youll have ddr3 ram to go into another board for upgrading later. Speed wise it isnt much different if you buy fast DDR2.

And how did we go from 1Tb to a 150Gb Raptor? To my knowledge the raptors arent that much faster now than some of the large HDD's out there. I would go with 2x500gb in RAID 0 for more speed and the larger HDD space and shouldnt be much dearer either i dont think.

hope i helped

 

[well learnded]

I've added the following:

MOBO: ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Memory: CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

I still need to pick a power supply? is 750w enough? I was thinking about the OOLER MASTER Real Power Pro

I am a little bit consufed, on newegg the specs for the motherboard says it officially supports 800mhz memory, but it also says it natively supports 1066. Why would it not "officially" support 1066? I'm not going to have to do anything to get the memory working at the right frequency am I?

 

[chookman]

Asus supposedly have added in an extra instruction or something that allows the board to do 1066 even though i the chip doesnt support it.

Hence it wont offically support seeing as the chip doesnt. But what Asus have done its capable of it.

 

[well learnded]

Here is my near final list with everything I will be ordering. Thank you all for your comments and any further comments will be greatly appreciated, especially those regarding the PSU or any compatability issues!

DVD drive: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner
HDD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM
GPU: EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775
Monitor: SAMSUNG 245BW Black high glossy 24"
Keyboard: Creative Fatal1ty White & Black USB Slim Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech MX518 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel
Memory: CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
MOBO: ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
CASE: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower
PSU: Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply
Extra: Link Depot 10 ft. DVI-D male to DVI-D male

Total cost with 3 day shipping $2,434.72 not including the $205 in mail in rebates

 

[Maziar]

awesome , enjoy it

 

[geofelt]

I like the latest list, but I have a few suggestions.
1) 2 gb of memory is probably not enough if you are into heavy multitasking. Look at 4gb, preferably a 2x2gb configuration, giving you the option for more in the future. If you are not going to overclock, then the speed of the memory is a relatively minor performance factor. The C2D processors are not very memory speed constrained. The real world difference(as opposed to synthetic benchmarks) is about 1-4% difference between PC5400 and PC8500. If you use a 32-bit OS, uou will probably see only 3.2gb, but that is still a healthy increase over 2gb.
2) I see you changed from the samsung 244T monitor to the 245BW. The 244T is a better monitor, and the price reflects it. The panels are different. For example, the 244T has a wider viewing angle(178 vs. 160). If you do not hold your head in the right position, the display will looked washed out at 160. You will be looking at your monitor for several generations of pc technology. Get the best you feel comfortable paying for up front. You won't regret the decision.
3) I like the P35 boards, but there are less expensive models. If your connection to the internet is to be via wi-fi, then you will be using wireless-G at most with the ASUS board. It would probably be better to get a wireless-N add-in card, negating the value of an integrated wi-fi.
4) I would add a add-on cooler. The stock cooler will work fine, but an add-on using a 120mm fan will be quieter than the stock intel cooler.
5) Look at the Seasonic energy plus 650HT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151028 $160. It is very efficient, and best of all, it is quiet.

----good luck----

 

[well learnded]

Thank you for your comments.

I am now leaning more towards the GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R as I do not feel that I will realistically be using an sli system. I would probably just buy a new card when they come out.

I added the D-Link DWA-556 wireless adapter, it runs b/g/n. I currently have g so im going to wait until a solid g/n router comes out. My roommates all run g as well as my 360 so i cant very well change the entire wireless format.

I am getting a combo deal with the thermaltake case and psu. $299 instead of $340

I am considering getting the Dell 24" ultrasharp. I have been using an ultrasharp screen on my laptop for some time now and I really like it. How would this compare to the 244T?

I also changed the memory out for (2 x 2bg) of Kingston 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

 

[chookman]

Thank you for your comments.

I am now leaning more towards the GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R as I do not feel that I will realistically be using an sli system. I would probably just buy a new card when they come out.

Does this mean you thought the Asus P5K would do SLI? because it wont.

I am considering getting the Dell 24" ultrasharp. I have been using an ultrasharp screen on my laptop for some time now and I really like it. How would this compare to the 244T?

Dells are generally awesome...

I also changed the memory out for (2 x 2bg) of Kingston 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

Id be careful with the 4Gb RAM mark as with 32Bit operating system will not address some of the memory this can only get worse with a with a GPU with alot of memory (768 in this case) as this will eat into the reserved space and you may find in the end that a 32bit OS will only use 3Gb or less.