This is it... Please Look Before I Pull the Trigger!

[althius]

I've been trolling the forum for about two weeks now sucking up information, and I think this is the final build. I NEED you to please look it over for any last minute fixes, and also if I forgot anything. This list should include EVERYTHING I need to do this build.

In the end I have a few goals:

1) I have a new 24" Widescreen monitor that runs in a native resolution of 1920x1200. I want to be able to view video, and play games in that resolution as much as possible.
2) I want to be able OC this as much as possible, within reason. I'd love to hit 3.6Ghz, but understand that to a certain extent it depends on the chip. The inclusion of the DS3R over the DS3L, and the 120 Extreme were both chosen to help make that OC more likely.

CPU: Q6600 - Retail
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R - Retail
GPU: XFX 8800GT 512MB - Retail
Memory: 4GB (2 x 2GB) Patriot Extreme 4-4-4-12 - Retail
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB - OEM
PSU: Corsair 520HX Modular - Retail
Case: Antec P182 - Retail
Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX-2 - Retail
Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme - Retail
Heatsink Fan: Thermalright A1280 120mm - Retail
DVD: Sony NEC Optiarc 20x AD-7190S - OEM
OS: Windows Vista 64 Home Premium - OEM
Keyboard: Logitech USB

Total Cost Before Shipping: $1339.83
$40 in Mail in Rebates

I have a mouse, so that's okay. And I wish I could get two drives and dual install XP and Vista... but I am pretty much at the end of my budget. The Vista/XP choice was a hard one, but in the end I chose Vista because its the future, and I probably need this build to last as long as possible. I will partition the drive as I read about here.

I plan on getting the Heatsink a day or two early and then lapping it. If I had any balls I'd lap the CPU too, but I'm big wuss.

Please let me know of if you see anything here out of whack. If all is well I plan on placing the order (mostly from New Egg) on Friday.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ImajorI]

I like the IP 35 Pro instead (heard its on sale for $149) but your build looks great to me.

 

[Black$heep86]

Looks good hey no problems. Mabey one suggestion get a few extra case fans if you are overclocking, if you intend overclocking 8800GT get rid of the stock cooler maybe get the DuOrb from ThermalTake or water cool it hear they run hot hot,

 

[akhilles]

You a puzzy? 3.6 is child play.

A perfect overclocker. Carry on.

 

[althius]

@BlackSheep86... you are talking about cooling the Video Card specifically? I hadn't read much on that.

 

[jive]

Looks good, the only thing I'm not sure is the power supply. It will ok but if you ever add other things it will be just, maybe 600w-750w will be better and more stable.

 

[althius]

What about it folks? Bigger PSU? I loved the idea of modular, since I hate extra wires...

The 620HX is around $35 more. Is there a better choice?

 

[aevm]

Nice choices. Yeah, the 620HX is worth it because it gives you more room for upgrades.
Edit: I also like the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W, same quality as the 620HX, cheaper at newegg now because it's on sale, rated tier 1, but not modular.

If you have some money left, you could upgrade the motherboard to GA-P35-DS4. That one overclocks like a champ, and it may be worth the price difference over the DS3R because it has a second video card slot and FireWire and eSATA. It depends on your needs. (Gee, I have recommended the DS3R hundreds of times, now I get to tell somebody NOT to buy it ) The second video card slot won't do you much good with an nVidia card because you won't be able to do Crossfire, but it can be used for a cheap second card to handle its own monitor(s).

I object to your choice of burner, but that's mostly because Sony is on my black list since the rootkit scandal. I'd get a Samsung SH-S203B or SH-S203N (the N costs $3 more and adds Lightscribe).

The Gigabyte version of the 8800GT has a very nice cooler, check it out too. This one doesn't need an after-market cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125087

If you get one of the hot versions of the 8800GT, consider a good aftermarket cooler for it. E.g. Accelero S1 or Thermalright HR-03GT. (Edit: and the DuOrb, yeah...)

The Heatsink fan you picked moves a lot of air but makes a bit too much noise. Check out the Scythe S-Flex SFF21E and SFF21F too.
Thermalright A1280: 78 cfm, 34 dbA
SFF21F: 63.f cfm, 28 dbA
SFF21E: 49 cfm, 20.1 dbA
That is, with the A2180 (and some expensive RAM) you might establish a record overclock, but it will be noisy. With the SFF21E it will still reach very nice clocks and you won't hear it.

 

[althius]

@aevm... Thanks again for all the great info. Most of my current build come off your early recomendations... like the DS3... lol.

I'm all for stickin' it to the man... so I'll definately switch the Burner.

If you had to choose one upgrade (since I'm at the end of my budget) Would it be the DS4, or the 620HX?

And I definatley would have ended up buying NWN2... so... that is a good deal for the Giga8800GT.

I'll look at the Scythe. But I heard (no pun intended) that the P182 is really quiet. Even with a loud fan, won't the P182 block out a significant portion of the sound? And I have another thread about the TRUE... fan in or out? Does seem to be a consensus.

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[aevm]

Yeah, the P182 absorbs a lot of noise, I love it.

Tough choice, between the 620HX and the DS4. Technically, you don't need either of them. You'd be happy with the 520HX and DS3R. But both are so tempting

Upgrading the 520HX to 620HX would give you no benefit right away, it's strictly for the future.

Upgrading the DS3R to DS4 would give you some benefits right away. Let's try to figure out if you need any of them:
- I assume you don't care about FireWire.
- I also assume that a monitor at 1920x1200 plus the ability to add a second one to the same 8800GT is enough for you, so you won't need a second PCI-E x16 slot any time soon.
- This means the only immediate benefit you'd get from DS4 is eSATA. If you have an external hard disk with eSATA and use it a lot then this is useful, otherwise it isn't.

Maybe you should just stay with the 520HX and DS3R...

 

[althius]

I do not have a external hard disk... so I think you are right... I'll stick with the original setup. (BTW... how have I totally missed Lightscribe? I didn't even know it existed. Very cool.)

Heatsink fan in or out?

Thanks!

 

[homerdog]

Instead of buying an 8800GT and an aftermarket cooler, you might as well go ahead and get a 512MB 8800GTS.

That's a great looking build, but honestly unless you are interested in RAID you can save a few bucks and get the DS3L.

 

[althius]

If aevm is right, then the Gigabyte cooler should do nicely and its only a few bucks more. (It also appears to be bundled with NWN2, which is plus for me). I am a little concerned that it only has one review on NewEgg... ?

I read the DS3R was better for OC'ing... so that was my main reasoning behind going with the R over the L.

 

[ZozZoz]

more wattage, more gigabytes. (Your choice of modest 250gb surprised me the most)

 

[althius]

more wattage, more gigabytes. (Your choice of modest 250gb surprised me the most)

Sorry, I don't quite follow. Can you explain what you mean? What would you suggest?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[homerdog]

He is recommending a bigger PSU (which you don't need) and a bigger hard drive (a good suggestion). Get at least a 320GB drive. The price difference is minimal and you can never have enough hard drive space.

 

[althius]

Got it... was reading it as though there was an A to B relation between wattage and gigabytes. I see now they are independent recommendations.

Okay, so upon advice of council I squeezed another $15 in the budget to get a 320GB 7200.10 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

 

[zenmaster]

The 520w is more than enough power.
The only way he would ever come close to needing more than that is with SLI.
He does not have an SLI mobo.

If you really want a steal for a high powered PSU.........
Buy.com has the 750w Corsair for $119 After Rebates.

 

[jevon]

I agree that your current PSU is more than enough and would stick with it since you won't be running multiple gfx cards.

Since overclocking is important, you may want to buy a few extra fans to fill out the rest of the 182 to maximise cool air in/hot air out flow. I think the 182 can take two additional 120mm fans, one on the side and one up front.

 

[aevm]

Anybody interested in an 8800GT, read this. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. This guy used an Accelero S1 and got some impressive results.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1261100

 

[rwayne]

I think I would go with the Intel e8400 core2duo. The sucker is clocked at 3.0 GHz and should be faster than the e6850 core2duo and in the majority of the benchmarks of the Q6600. Plus it only costs $219!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

45nm baby! Less power, more performance

 

[althius]

After reading the article on the front page... I'm wondering about PCI-E 2.0... Do I need to looking at a Mobo that supports that? Is it worth it?

I guess I don't understand if it will impact my 8800GT or if its only a Crossfire/SLI thing.

Great article aevm. In it he speaks of updating the BIOS on the 8800GT to improve the cooling. I did read a question on the forum here about someone not being able to find the new BIOS on GIGABYTE'S site. Anyone know anything about this? Is this a reason to not go with GIGABYTE?

Damn that Accerlero is sexy.

 

[digitalzephyr]

Accelero S1 - quick note on this. I just bought one. I haven't really got to test it out. But few problems I had was the tape on the ramsinks were horrible. On half of them it only coverd half the sink. Might wanna buy some thermaltape if going here. I bought the fan kit for it also but the clips don't really reach through the fins. And its HUGE!!

 

[rwayne]

After reading the article on the front page... I'm wondering about PCI-E 2.0... Do I need to looking at a Mobo that supports that? Is it worth it?.

If you are putting together a new build I would say you would HAVE TO go with PCI Express 2.0. It is what I would do.

THE REASON: I believe the future of videocards is Multi-GPU cores. Today ATI's new graphic card the HD3870X2 came out. A single HD3870 by itself has enough bandwidth to fill up a PCI Express x16 slot. Now imagine how much bandwidth TWO HD3870 GPU chips on a single card would pour out in to a single PCI Express x16 slot? I think the data would bottleneck. That is what the HD3870X2 will do. That is like pouring Crossfire in to a single slot that normally fills two slots.

Dual GPU cards are going to revolutize the Graphics Industry just like Dual Core CPUs revolutionized the Processor industry. In order to accomadate that you need PCI Express 2.0 type bandwidth.

I read an article that ATI's new R700 chip this summer is going to come in 3 flavors
One core - Entry Level
two cores - Gaming level
three cores - Enthusiast level

That is 3 GPU chips on one single card.

With games like Crysis single cards are going to have to be built with multiple GPUs to handle tomorrow games.

Now I have listed ATI in every example I have given but I am sure that Nvidia is heading down the same multi-gpu path also. Their 9800GX2 is coming out and I am sure the GT200 coming out this summer will be multicore for several cards.

So I say to you if you are building today, build planning for tomorrow.

 

[nhobo]

Only two comments: XP Pro and dual hard drives. Nothing you are going to run requires 32-bit *or* Vista. DX10 is highly overrated and hardware inefficient. Dual drives (no RAID) will double your disk performance by allowing simultaneous access to OS/apps and data.