Yet another gaming build...

[alizec]

I had built my previous 3 PCs on my own, but my current system was custom built at a local PC store, and here's a quick list of what went wrong with it: 4 blown power supplies, blown MB, 2 blown video cards, and now I think the video card (or maybe MB) is fried again. I haven't used it in over a month and there are about 5 games I'm dying to play right now.

So... with a new generation of games and a deadbeat system, it seems like a no brainer - it's time to upgrade, but I've been out of the game for 2 years, which seems like an eternity. I have ~$1000 USD, hard drives/CD/DVD roms from my old rig, and a couple of questions:

1. I'm stuck in limbo right now between going with the Core 2 Duo 6750 (2.66) with a quad-compatible MB and upgrading when quads become a bit more mainstream, or going with the Core 2 Quad 6600 (2.4) now. I'm down with moderate overclocking... nothing crazy (noisy, hot, or dangerous). Thoughts?

2. What kind of power supply should I be looking at to power a decent gaming rig? My current PSU has lasted about 6 months now, but for a while there I was blowing them out left and right, so I'm a bit jumpy.

Feel free to throw some builds at me, because I really want this to run fast and SMOOTH, with every piece being compatible with everything else. Here are some other specs I'm considering:

-8800GT seems to be a no brainer right now - any specific model to look for?
-2 to 4 GB ram - again, any suggestions?
-I can get any OS through the university I attend for $10. I'm not sure I like Vista... any compelling reason to switch over from XP?
-I think I have a case lined up, but it might not be quite big enough, so a suggestion or two couldn't hurt.
-All the other minor stuff is covered.

One more quick question... I may salvage the ram and processor, maybe the motherboard, from my POS computer to build one for my girlfriend's dad for Christmas. Right now there are all kinds of symbols (&$*..., etc) when/if it boots up from Bios, and when in windows, there are horizontal and vertical lines through the picture. Do you think that it's the video card or something else like the MB?

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

Just get a dualcore is you are under budget. Get quad to be future prove? Suggest actully getting some of the superclocked models of the 8800GT. Just get XP and 2gb of ram. vista and dx10 just aint worth it for now. it's probably the video card causing the lines if you could get a picture. i'd be sure

 

[Maziar]

First of all ,hello and welcome to the forums mate

1_I know your are asking about E6750 vs Q6600, but here are 2 articles comparing E6850 vs Q6600, which maybe useful:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3038&p=8
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q6600.html

2_A good 600-700 WAT like OCZ STEALTHXSTREAM 600 or CORSAIR 620

for RAM, go for DDR2 800 , it OCs very good, get 4GB DDR2 800 with
CAL4 or CAL3 timings

 

[chookman]

Without knowing a budget its hard to build a machine for you but seems you might have a bita dough with thoughts on Q6600 and 8800GT

Mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059 Great cheap non-SLI board
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 $178
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128064 top notch non-SLI board
ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA $205
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073 good SLI board

CPU:
Id go with the Q6600 but there is also the option of going a less cheap CPU like the e2180 and OC till the Penryns come out and down in price.

RAM:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565 32bit OS option
OCZ 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227248 If you have the dough this is for 64bit OS

GPU:
Cant go wrong with the 8800GT stick with eVGA, BFG, XfX

OS:
Give me some $10 copies lol... personally id give Vista its go atm and go with 64bit you get DX10 support and SP1 will be out soon which should fix the issues

PSU:
Maziar suggestions are good... the Corsair 520W would be enough also look at PC power cooling models. and even Antec (im a bit of a fan )

Cooling:
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 Small OCing
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109140 Have to buy a 120mm fan but they are awesome of OCing

Case:
Any of these... they are large and generally cost a bit but they are nice with good cooling. Antec900, P180, Coolermaster stacker, Thermaltake Armour, Lian Li A10,A70,A71

Your old machine sounds like video card (unless its onboard video) should be able to pickup a cheap PCI or AGP even low end PCI-e for under $100

 

[alizec]

Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions. I'm a bit verbose (sorry), so maybe you missed my ~$1000 USD budget. I'd like to keep it under that if possible since I'm also paying my own way through school.

I read those articles and they were informative, but I'm still a bit torn. The reason I'm hesitant to go with the quad is that I wouldn't be surprised to see more affordable/powerful quad models in the next few months when more applications are actually using all 4 threads, while an over-clocked duo for 30-40% less $$ seems like it would get me by until that point. I like to find the best value and keep my surplus budget to buy future upgrades since everything goes obsolete relatively quickly anyway, so that's what I'm after. If I were to put up $270 I'd go with the quad over a comparable duo, especially after what I just read.

The other components seem like much easier choices. I'm looking forward to a fast and reliable machine... a welcome change from my old one.

 

[lunyone]

e2180 - $90 OC this to 3 gig easily and wait for the newer quads (Penryn) to come out early next year.
Gigabyte DS3R - $130 Solid p35 mobo and OC's well.
8800gt or 38xx from AMD - $250 If you allow stock levels to come back on the 8800gt you could get a better deal. Also the new AMD GPU's are due out in a couple of weeks and "might" give nVidia a run for their money. So I'd wait a bit to get the GPU, since you'll be able to choose from either camp.
PSU - $68.50 shipped w/Google checkout. 520w Corsair. Has 40 amps on the 12v rail (important to power your GPU).
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

Antec 900 or p182 are good solid cases. You can get a Cooler Master right now that is solid for $50 shipped!!! - $10 MIR = $40.
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB Black /Blue Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119047
or this one ($60 shipped - $20 MIR = $40!!) that can hold 2 8800gtx's inside!
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Mid Tower Case Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006342

RAM - $95 shipped - $40 MIR = $45 Same as chookman's selection. Good solid RAM and OC pretty high, so no need to replace these later.
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

For CPU cooling, I'd just start out with stock cooling and OC the e2180 to 3 gig. If you think it's getting too warm, than just put in the AC Freezer 7 Pro that chookman linked for $25 shipped. That way you don't spend an arm and a leg to cool things down. If you decide you want to do severe OC'ing than the TT 120 is a good selection.

Total ~$750 !!! This is with e2180, 2 gig's DDR2 800mHz, CM 690 case, 8800gt or 38xx from AMD ($250), etc.

This way you can save your $250 towards a new quad core next summer and have alot more snap when you do lots of things. And hopefully there will more quad core friendly games out by then!!

 

[edenruro]

e2180 - $90 OC this to 3 gig easily and wait for the newer quads (Penryn) to come out early next year.
Gigabyte DS3R - $130 Solid p35 mobo and OC's well.
8800gt or 38xx from AMD - $250 If you allow stock levels to come back on the 8800gt you could get a better deal. Also the new AMD GPU's are due out in a couple of weeks and "might" give nVidia a run for their money. So I'd wait a bit to get the GPU, since you'll be able to choose from either camp.
PSU - $68.50 shipped w/Google checkout. 520w Corsair. Has 40 amps on the 12v rail (important to power your GPU).
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

Antec 900 or p182 are good solid cases. You can get a Cooler Master right now that is solid for $50 shipped!!! - $10 MIR = $40.
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB Black /Blue Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119047
or this one ($60 shipped - $20 MIR = $40!!) that can hold 2 8800gtx's inside!
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Mid Tower Case Retail ***Free Shipping***
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006342

RAM - $95 shipped - $40 MIR = $45 Same as chookman's selection. Good solid RAM and OC pretty high, so no need to replace these later.
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

For CPU cooling, I'd just start out with stock cooling and OC the e2180 to 3 gig. If you think it's getting too warm, than just put in the AC Freezer 7 Pro that chookman linked for $25 shipped. That way you don't spend an arm and a leg to cool things down. If you decide you want to do severe OC'ing than the TT 120 is a good selection.

Total ~$750 !!! This is with e2180, 2 gig's DDR2 800mHz, CM 690 case, 8800gt or 38xx from AMD ($250), etc.

This way you can save your $250 towards a new quad core next summer and have alot more snap when you do lots of things. And hopefully there will more quad core friendly games out by then!!

Agreed, just what i was going to say