After a Puff of smoke, Need New System

[buye]

So here is the scoop.

After 3 or so years of service my gaming rig literally blew up. Yep I had the whole smell of burning silicone and everything. I am trying to salvage most of what I got but it was time for an upgrade anyway.

I salvaged the Thermaltake case, hard drives, dvd burners and sound card.

So basically I have a case that needs to be filled with some power able to run some games at a good fps at a pretty high resolution. I recently bought a Samsung 216BW for my viewing pleasures.

My budget is around $1000.

The only thing I really have picked out is the Intel Q6600 Quad, everything else is fair game. So with the help of some forum members I was hoping to piece together a decent rig. I will be able to OC so a mobo with some good OC capabilities would be nice. Read good things about the Asus P5K.

So that's my story, thanks for the help and hope to get this together quickly for some fun after the holidays. Thanks again.

Dave

 

[evongugg]

GA-P35-... for motherboard.
8800GT video card.
Patriot 2GB memory.

Are your drives SATA or PATA?
PATA should be replaced with SATA.

 

[evongugg]

Choose a better power supply this time.

Top Tier PSU:

http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon

 

[buye]

Thanks. Yep SATA drives. Will look into the PSU for sure, think I had an Antec in there, but I assume it's busted due to the smoke factor haha.

 

[buye]

Alright so far I have:

Intel Q6600 Quad - haven't picked heatsink yet.
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Patriot 2GB DDR2 PC2-8500 - no idea what speed I should use.
Asus EN8800GT 512MB
Silverstone Zeus ST75ZF 750W - is this overkill?
Using my old HDD's about 500GB SATA drives and my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.

Any more suggestions would be nice. Any reason for Gigabyte over the Asus P5K.

And another question, XP or Vista...ya...

 

[rgeist554]

evongugg pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of specs, but if you need specifics, read on.

If you need tons of USB, Firewire, and SATA - Try the GA-P35-DS4 for a motherboard. Try the GA-P35-DS3L or R if you don't need as much and want a cheaper board.

Also, check this deal out:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144
$36.00 after $40.00 MIR for 2x 1GB PC6400 (DDR2 800) 4-4-4-12 RAM!

A good PSU would be between 500-550W. Try the Corsair 520HX or even the Corsair 550VX. (Really anything from Tier 2 and up from the list posted above is an awesome PSU)

 

[16widescreen9]

Alright so far I have:

Intel Q6600 Quad - haven't picked heatsink yet.
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Patriot 2GB DDR2 PC2-8500 - no idea what speed I should use.
Asus EN8800GT 512MB
Silverstone Zeus ST75ZF 750W - is this overkill?
Using my old HDD's about 500GB SATA drives and my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.

Any more suggestions would be nice. Any reason for Gigabyte over the Asus P5K.

And another question, XP or Vista...ya...

Well Vista has DX10, so if that means anything to you, go for Vista Home Premium. However the support for DX10 games is lacking at the moment, it's more of a future proof thing. Also with your quad core, you're going to want a 64 bit OS.

 

[buye]

Thanks rgeist. I posted up pretty much what you said a minute before haha and I am glad to see I picked the right mobo. I was trying to use my old SB Audigy 2 sound card but should I just upgrade to the X-Fi Gamer card, what's the big deal with them?

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I just picked a teir 1 psu but I think I went a little overboard haha.

 

[buye]

Thanks 16wide, so if I went with the 64bit Vista, would it still be reliable enough to play most of the newer games. I usually just play, unfortunately, World of Warcraft and Counter Strike Source. I also picked up COD4 for Xmas.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Plent of cash in your budget, so I got to recommend the Asus Maximus Formula. You cant get an eaiser overclock then this board offers.

Drop in your q6600 boot into the bios and set CPU STEP UP to q6850; boom 1 click 3.0 overclock.

 

[rgeist554]

There is another post asking exactly the same thing about the Audigy 2 and the X-Fi Gamer in another section. I do know that I love my X-Fi, it has extremely good quality sound (both input & output), but I do have a pretty expensive headset. I'd say that if you just plan on using cheap OEM speakers that it's not really worth the upgrade.

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I just picked a teir 1 psu but I think I went a little overboard haha.

I use a Tier 1 PSU also, it just means you will be really pleased by it's performance. I know I love mine (it's way overkill, but it's all they had in stock when I bought) the fan is extremely quiet and I've never had any power related issues with anything.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well if you are going Vista, I recommend getting 2 3870s to run on the Asus Maximus board. In vista the 8800gt and 3870 are within 5-10 FPS of eachother. And it has been said the xfire scales better then sli. Theres also rumors that Nvidia has some knid of FPS skip that makes it look bettr on paper but not in real life. I dont have either one, but I have been reading alot about the 2 cards and I'm goin to go 3870 for myself.

Also if you plan to watch Dvds, BR. HD Dvd, the 3870 cant be beat.

 

[buye]

haha ya I have Sennheiser HD555 headset and a decent set of speakers so I am still on the fence.

Ok so at least I have the Q6600 picked out and the 8800GT

only thing I am stuck on is the mobo, OS and sound card. The Maximus Formula is only $50 more but what does it offer more then the Gigabyte mobo.

As for the sound card that will be a last minute decision most likely.

For the OS I am still not sold on the whole vista and gaming but I haven't done much reading on that subject

 

[buye]

Ya I don't think I will be hitting up the 2 card system off the bat the 3870's are also a little cheaper...interesting...

 

[roadrunner197069]

The maximus formula offers noobish overclocking where as the Gigabyte one will oc good too, but you got to know what you are doing on the Gigabyte board. The maximus will run either card single but can only run ATI in dual.

 

[roadrunner197069]

If I were you I would go Vista. Vista runs pretty smoothe these days and SP1 is do out anytime. Besides I think XP is getting discontinued in July 08, if so then you would need to go Vista then to stay up with security updates and such.

 

[buye]

Ah ok that makes lots of sense. Thanks very much for the responses. I think I know what I am shooting for. I ordered all the parts for next week. Thanks again!

 

[buye]

Oh on a side note, if I am going with the Maximus Formula mobo and Q6600 then what kind of aftermarket heatsink should I get if I am going to OC right away. Thanks.

 

[buye]

Also, in regards to PSUs if I get a teir 2 PSU, I was thinking the OCZ GameXstream or Evostream what kind of power should I be looking for, for now and in the future if I decided to go dual ATI cards.

 

[buye]

Ok so here is the final build proposal, I went a little over budget...

Intel Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Cooler
Asus Maximus Formula
4GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Low Latency
Sapphire Radeon HD 3870
OCZ 600W GameXstream Quad 12V
Vista Home Premium x64 OEM

Any last minute changes or suggestions?

 

[roadrunner197069]

Looks super. Go ahead and buye

 

[buye]

haha awesome thanks for your help roadrunner, much appreciated, great pun haha. I will let you know my construction and setup issues. *knocks on wood*

 

[roadrunner197069]

Best mob in da world imo.
You can go in bios and pick crazy and have instant 3.5 quad core. Watch the temps though.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Do me a favor and let me know how you like the 3870.

 

[buye]

haha will do. Once I get it all setup I will post some temps!