Mid-priced Intel/NVIDIA rig

[neuroticelite]

Hello. First time posting here. Well, I used to be into computers much much more than I am now. Used to know all about what was best and what wasn't, but for a while now have gotten out of them. Its now time, very much overdue, for me to build a new system. I've been looking up some benchmarks, reading reviews, and browsing sites and have finally come to this setup. I would just like some general suggestions for what I could improve. I'm looking to spend around $1,300 between motherboard, processor, memory, video card, case, power supply, and hard drive to give you an idea of what I want to spend on everything.

This is at $1,014 with these 4 items, from Newegg at least.

■Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115028)
■ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127030)
■EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130071)
■ 2x (4 GB total) G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231121)

I was originally a hardcore AMD guy, but after seeing E6850 vs 6400+ X2, I can't really say that anymore. I'm also an NVIDIA guy, but thats good because they seem to have the best cards out right now. I picked the Abit mobo because it had a very large amount of reviews and almost all of them were good. I've heard from a few places that G. Skill is a very good deal, so thats why I picked that. I do not want to do any overclocking on anything either by the way, so please dont suggest anything because its simply better for overclocking.

For the future, I plan to eventually getting 1 more 8800GTS. I think most of you would agree that my choice in processor and video card are good choices for my estimate. I'm only really expecting to hear suggestions on the memory and motherboard, but from what I've seen/read, those are the best (for my needs).

I also have an important question about the memory. For the memory, it says "As per OS limitation, at the moment, only x64 bits OS can support over 4GB Memory." I'm planning on installing x32 XP. Would this only be an issue if installed more than 4 GB (or 4098mb actually), or will it not support 4 GB at all on x32.

Also, if anyone feels like commenting on this, just how much of a boost do you guys think that this will be from my old, or actually current, computer. Please don't laugh too much haha. I'll also list the current games I'm playing or plan on playing. For the most part I get 20-50 FPS on the games I play on so-so settings, sometimes 10 or less when a lot is going on.

Currently..
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
128MB Radeon 9800 (non-pro)
1536MB DDR (forget speed)
DFI LANParty Rev.2

Playing..
Team Fortress 2
Portal
Garry's Mod
Day of Defeat: Source
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Final Fantasy XI

Thanks in advance. Any suggestions, advice, or comments will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maziar]

You MIGHT want to consider Q6600 , here are 2 benchmarks :

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3038&p=8
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q6600.html

XP 64 & VISTA 64 will see full 4GB RAM and more
XP 32 & VISTA 32 will see 3.2/3.5GB of 4GB RAM

If u are going to get another 8800 in future, then get SLI board , go for P5N32-E SLI PLUS , however ABIT IP35 PRO is a rock solid board, but it doesnt support SLI

For RAM , go for this OCZ instead, it has the same price and has better timings :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227139

 

[akhilles]

Great board

Pros: Replaced AW9D-MAX with this board. Everything went very quickly and the board was rolling in no time. Everything boots properly with v11 BIOS (floppy->SATA DVD->HD RAID). Memory works fine at 1066mhz with voltage adjustments. Mounted board in CoolerMaster Stacker CM832 inverted to help with cable management. Horizontal SATA connections are great for larger cases.

Cons: Not ABIT's fault, but AMD has not yet enabled CrossFire for P35 boards in their drivers except for a few ASUS boards (confirmed with AMD product support). Default RAM voltage is 1.8 which is correct for spec, but needed to push to 2.3 for RAM to get up to 1066mhz. PCI gigabit controller not the best, but really a problem either, and I guess also not really ABIT's fault since Intel only gave the P35 6 PCIe lanes on the southbridge.

Other Thoughts: Q6600 @ 2.8ghz w/air cooling, 4x1gb OCZ DDR2-1066 RAM, 2x500gb Seagate RAID1 boot, 2x750gb Seagate RAID1 Data, 2 SATA DVD+/-RW drives, 2xATI Radeon x1800gto (no CrossFire yet, see above), ThermalTake 850w PSU. People who have driver problems are probably not installing Intel INF drivers first - once that was installed, 32-bit Vista Ultimate found drivers for every device. All in all, couldn't be happier, at least not until the IX38 QuadGT is released.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813127030

ABIT IP35 Pro has a PCI Gb network that has been reported to be as much as 35% slower under load. If you want Abit, get the IP35-E which uses a PCI-E Gb LAN.

It doesn't make sense to me that you get a P35 board & plan to get a 2nd video card for SLI. The P35 does only Crossfire. You should be looking at 650i/680i boards.

Get the cheapest ram if you don't o/c.

Portal has been recalled due to religious issues. Go figure. Unless you already got a copy.

 

[neuroticelite]

Oh I didn't even notice that that board wasn't SLI, which is why I posted here, to make sure I didn't mess anything up.

And since has Portal been recalled lol? I pre-ordered it about a month ago, and have already beaten the game twice. I don't even recall anything that would bring religious heat.

 

[bfg72]

I also have an important question about the memory. For the memory, it says "As per OS limitation, at the moment, only x64 bits OS can support over 4GB Memory." I'm planning on installing x32 XP. Would this only be an issue if installed more than 4 GB (or 4098mb actually), or will it not support 4 GB at all

32 bit OS will (in theory) see 4GB of Ram (MAX)

This is total "machine" memory, which will basically work out as 4GB - 640MB (each video card) - (CPU Cache) etc etc

So expect your system to report between 3.2 - 3.5GB of RAM

And as per your post about a second GTS card, you can kiss another 640MB or "machine" Ram Goodbye when you install another video card.

A 64bit OS (64bit XP or Vista) would see more than 4GB, although if your a gamer I wouldn't go with Vista, but that's a whole other can of worms for a different thread ;-)

 

[neuroticelite]

Thanks for the tips. I've decided to go with pretty much everything I posted except only 2 GB of ram, probably the OCZ, and a P5N32-E SLI PLUS mobo instead. This way, in the future, I can increase the memory to 4 GB (although after some thinking, I really think over 2 GB would be overkill) and get another 8800 when I eventually make the jump to 64 bit (probably still XP, not Vista).

I didn't bother upgrading my computer at all for the last 4 years and decided just to wait a while, something which I'm going to eliminate with this PC. To upgrade my CPU or Video Card, I would have needed a new mobo. To upgrade my mobo, I would have needed a new video card or cpu etc. since this was the old XP pinset and AGI 8x. With this it will be easy to upgrade in a few months or a year or something.

 

[akhilles]

Ok, my bad. It was a joke in a forum.

While XP sees up to 3.5gb (in my case), if you wait long enough you might find ddr2 will be more expensive than ddr3. Same thing with ddr. 2 gigs is like 50 bucks. I would get it right now. Ram prices are crazy like gasoline. They go up & down. The same 2 gigs cost about 200 bucks a year or so ago.