Any suggestions on this configuration?

[maikowjai]

Hello
Im not a real expert when it comes to the hardware side of things, and so I was hoping that some of you who read this could make any suggestions, if any need to be made.
Im looking to build a new pc - gaming performance on a limited budget.

I came up with this:
nForce 680i SLI motherboard
Antec 900 case + 650W PSU
intel core 2 E6850 CPU
2x1GB corsair 667 ddr2RAM
8800GTS 320 or 640mb Geforce GPU
(haven't bothered with the HDD or optical drives yet)

Ive chosen the nForce with the idea that somewhere down the line when the big 8800s come down in price I could put 2 of them in SLI. (Also the reason why i went for the larger PSU)

So my questions are - is 650W enough for SLI? (on the 8800GTX/Ultra/whatever theyre called)
Is SLI going to really take off in the future?
Is my CPU going to bottleneck this idea later on?
Is 667 RAM fast enough, or do I need to look at 800 or faster, even DDR3, if I want this system to last more than a few months.
And is the Antec 900 case going to have enough airflow to keep a mildly overclocked system healthy? (Im not one to go nuts on overclocking - never been great on the hardware side)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[akhilles]

What's the make & model of the psu?

A brand name quality 650W PSU is enough for SLI, but a generic one may not. The minimum would be 650W for 8800GTS SLI. I'd pick out a 750W-ish for a little headroom.

The CPU is the fastest C2D out now. If you're asking whether the current cpu will bottleneck future, unknown, unreleased games. Noboby knows for sure.

E6850 has a bus speed of 1333mhz. 1333 / 2 = 666.5. By default, the ram will run at 667mhz unless the bios is set up to use more speed. I suggest you get 800mhz since it's probably cheaper.

The 900 case has the best airflow among all the Antec cases. If need be, you can upgrade the case fans to higher cfm.

 

[bjmarler]

The total watts on the PSU is not the most important. It's the amps on the 12 volt rail. Most PSU's will have it listed in the specs. The problem is that not all companies are honest with what they post.

A really good PSU with lower watts but high amps is better than a cheap PSU with high watts but low amps. Still you need around 600W for a gaming rig. Just make sure the amps on the 12V rail are also decent, like at least 20+ amps or higher depending on the video cards needs.

So, first check what the video card manufacturer recommends for the amps needed to run the video card. Then check the PSU for what it says it can produce on the 12V rail for amps, etc...

Here is an example of how different they can be...
This PSU only has 500 watts, but it has 40 amps on the 12V rail!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Then this PSU has 650 Watts, but only 17 amps on the multiple 12V rails.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339003
Some modern video cards at full power can draw more power than the cpu.

 

[wirelessfender]

Nvidia boards are horrible for overclocking, And I wouldnt choose one on the basis of possibly SLIing in the future when prices drop on old cards. I would look into the newer G92 refreshes of the 8800 series. The 8800 GT and 8800GTS 512mb are great. I would aslo Get some ddr2 800 ram. Ram is very cheap right now anyway. Here is a list of hardware that you could consider.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130312

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131225

 

[maikowjai]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
The PSU I was looking at was an Antec True Power 650W. It seems to have 3 12V rails at 18A each. (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=23650)
Thanks to wirelessfender for that link to the 800mhzRAM - that was the same price as the stuff I was looking at anyway, so I'll move up to that.

As for the motherboard and GPU...
I guess that you can tell that its a g92 card because its based on 512mb, and not 320 or 640 yeah? Is there a noticeable difference between the GT and the GTS?
Perhaps by the time the top-of-the-line 8800s come down enough to justify SLI, there will be a card that beats them both?
There's nothing wrong with that Asus mobo you recommended, except it would rule out SLI.
If i did ditch the SLI idea, I could drop the power down a little yeah?

Thanks

 

[maikowjai]

I had a look at all the charts I could find on that gts512, and it's quite impressive - beats the ultra in all counts that I care about, and can handle Crysis on fairly high res. Would that be in dx10 mode do you think? (Or is crysis only dx10)
At the moment it looks like ill change the mobo to that asus, the memory up to 800mhz, and the card to 8800GTS512.

 

[akhilles]

gts512 is a steal after rebate. About the same price as gt512. It's also good for larger resolutions.

Yep, gts512 can go with the same psu req. for gt512. 425w 28a. But you don't want to stress the psu. Get a 500w-ish. Earthwatts is pretty decent.

BTW, it's the Trio specs:

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-371-001-04.jpg

 

[Guest]

If you're going to OC your CPU, save yourself $100 and get the E6750, then just OC it to a little past the E6850.

If you'd like to save yourself another $100, go with the 8800GT, the 8800GTS 512 is only a few fps better than the GT and is about $100 more.

The Antec 900 is a great case. Other than that, you should be fine.

 

[nhobo]

bang for the buck:

E6750 on DS3L O/C 3.2 on stock cooler, no extra volts
DDR2 800
eVGA 8800GT G92 512MB O/C 700/1000

3DMark06 12,722

 

[maikowjai]

I can get a pretty good deal if I get the Asus p5k-e with
"Ballistix 5-5-5 PC2-8500 MICRON 2GB DDR2 Kit (1024Mbx2) DDR2-1066Mhz, 2.2v, 2048Mb BL2KIT12864AA1065"

Is this RAM going to be any better than a normal 800Mhz lot? Or is it's potential unusable on a midrange system?

Also, is there anything wrong with getting the p5k-e WIFI model (built in wireless networking) Has anyone used/seen this - problems?

 

[happy_fanboy]

I gotta say this after reading the posts, if you want to play games on Vista 2GB RAM is not enough. RAM is sooo cheap, why not go for 4GB?

 

[akhilles]

I don't see where he said Vista.

The Ballistix is a known top overclocker. If you can get a deal, go for it. It boils down to the bottom line.

Every board has pros & cons. There's no such things as perfection.

 

[maikowjai]

No, i didnt mention Vista. But I was planning on it I read somewhere that windows will only use 3.5gb of ram. I guess that was xp, and vista can use more?
To make up the 4 gb I'll just add some ballistix 800mhz to it. The identical pairs wll work together in dual channel right? And hopefully any advantage I gained using the faster RAM for the first 2gb wll remain...

 

[akhilles]

Only 64-bit os can see 4gb+ ram. Linux included.

 

[happy_fanboy]

Vanguard- Saga of Heroes.
I Ran this game with XP and 2GB of RAM, and my swap file would consistently be over 4GB.
I could have had 6GB and still been bottlenecking my system from lack of RAM.
2GB is way too small of RAM size for a modern gaming computer.
Don't be scared of HUGE RAM sizes, its so cheap its foolish to get any less than 4. Youll still get at least 3.25GB registered in a 32 bit OS and you can always dual-boot a 64 bit version.