New System need advice

samops03

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Oct 18, 2007
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First of all i would like to say hello to everyone on this board, i will be building a system within a week or so and i have a few questions that require your technical advice.

I plan to use this system for mostly gaming, leaving it stock for a year or so. After that i plan to overclock slightly.

SPECS:
Antec 900
Gigabyte Ga-p35-ds4 v 2.0
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
2 x wd800 (raid 0)
2 x wd250gb (raid 1)
1 x DVDRW Drive

*Will be installing Vista Ultimate x64

Now here are the questions that i have:

1) Which power supply will i need to power this system, considering i might add another 2Gb of memory and sligtly overclock in the future? I would like to have a modular psu if possible.

2) Will this system be able to handle games on a 720p 37" LCD?

3) I own a creative x-fi extreme gamer card, is this card better than the onboard audio? Will it improve performance by taking off the load from mb, cpu?

I would prefer not to buy the 640MB GTS because of the budget, but if I have problems playing games like crysis on my LCD i will be forced to buy it.

Thank you all in advance, and i will be waiting to see what you guys think.

Thanks
Sam
 

chookman

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Mar 23, 2007
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1) Anything decent with about 500-600W with about 30a on 12v rails... If modular is your thing the Corsair520 will be worth a look or AntecNeo650

2)In a short answer YES

3) are you talking about the Fatal1ty version or not? if you are then YES if not then probably No. Also VISTA has known issues with the X-fi's so it maybe a case of going back to onboard if you have bad problems.

With 64bit VISTA i would look at 4gb now with a 2x2gb sticks
8800GT is comming out in a few weeks and could be a better deal for you in this regard.
 

samops03

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Oct 18, 2007
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-No the x-fi is not fatality, its the regular one. Ill probably use the on board and keep the x-fi in case descent drivers come sometime. Im sure the intel hd is not that bad.

-Are you saying i might need 8gb sometime? Im not looking to use this system for more than 2-3 years. I was thinking of getting 4x1gb.. its cheaper.

Please tell me more about this 8800gt if you can.. specs in regard to the 8800gts 640mb? price?
 
I suspect your LCD runs at 1366x768 or something like that. If that's the case, the 8800 GTS 320 MB will do very nicely.

The 8800 GT is rumored to cost $250 and be faster than the 8800 GTS but slower than the 8800 GTX. If you can wait for 3 weeks or so then wait, it's probably worth it.

Another vote for Corsair 520HX. NeoHe 550 is good too, or Silencer 610.


Your X-Fi is better than onboard IMO, but it won't work well in Vista. So yeah, stick with onboard until Creative fixes the drivers.
 
Any of these PSU's will work. They are all QUALITY PSU's and you won't go wrong with them.

PSU - $76 shipped - $10 MIR = $66! Can run a single 8800gtx system.
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W Active Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006428

PSU - $100 shipped - $10 for google checkout = $90! Good solid PSU for the $, hard to beat.
Corsair 520W SLI Certified Modular ATX Power Supply - CMPSU-520HX
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

PSU - ~$125 shipped Good solid PSU, straight from OEM and cheaper than Newegg
ULTRA-QUIET PSU: SILENCER® 610 EPS12V
http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S61EPS

PSU - $100 shipped , hard to beat for this price.
Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, TUV, CE, FCC, CCC, CB, C-tick – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103941

If you can wait (I would), I'd wait to see how the 8800gt's come out. I think you'd be stupid not too, unless you have to buy right now. I don't think you'll regret waiting 2-3 weeks for the newest (and hopefully much better) GPU's.
 

samops03

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Oct 18, 2007
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First off thanks to everyone for their advice. I think im going to go with the 520hx, and i will wait for the 8800gt to come out. Does it compare to the 320 or 640mb version of the 8800gts? I will def be getting the 640mb one if anything. So does it still make sense to wait?
 
I think your better off in waiting for the 8800gt's or 2950's, which ever turns out to be the best bang for the buck. The 8800gt's are expected to consume less power, due to the die shrink from 80nm to 55nm (I think that is right).
 

aznstriker92

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Oct 19, 2007
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You can also get the 2950xt if you want to. After the reviews b/w the 8800 and 2950, you can decide if you would like to get one.

2). 37in? on the highest resolutions you might have some trouble as the 8800gts you have is only 320mb. To play crysis on vista in the highest resolution well, you might need an SLI configuration with 2 ultras. That may even not be enough to play the game on the highest setting.

I would recommend 2 2950xt 512mb because you have a P35 which is crossfire supported. It will probably be the best bang for buck.
 

chookman

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Mar 23, 2007
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The highest res on a 37" will either be 1366x768 or 1920x1080 and neither should both the GTS in most games (exception of maybe crysis at current but no one really knows how this will perform)

8800GTS 320Mb is rumoured to be EOL
8800GTS 640Mb is rumoured to be getting more shaders (92 too 112 i believe
8800GT 256Mb(i think thats the ram) will be die shrink and 112 shaders should be good to OC and should be stationed to perform about current GTS although if the 640mb gets the update i would think it would surpass the GT again
8800GTX is rumoured (im hoping also) to be going to the G92 die shrink which should improve performance and lower core temps