This is what I have so far, after much internal debating and looking over many forums and websites. I would just like to get some feedback from the many experts here if this build will work and everything is compatible.
RAM - I would personally get two of these G.Skill, the timings are 4-4-3-5 compared to your 5-6-6-18, which I would consider big. Also, in case you didn't know you need a 64 bit operating system to run at over 3.33GB of RAM. Keep this in mind when purchasing.
GPU - This seems fine, I might suggest getting the cheaper 8800GT 2.0 PCI-E
MOBO - Your RAM is rated at DDR800 but the motherboard is not, you would have to slow down your FSB to run at DDR800, I suggest sticking with DDR800 but finding a different motherboard that supports it.
CPU - This processor is pretty good, but the quad core Q6600 costs around the same and I have heard many positive things about 4 cores versus 2.
Omg... nossr50.
Dude, I agree about with the ram for better timing but don't go for that G.Skill set, I have it myself but one stick died...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148076 For somereason I'm attracted to the Tracers, maybe cuz its made by crucial. Bleh, guess Noya suggested some better ones.
And also, just be cause the mobo says it supports DDR2 1066 doesn't mean it cant use DDR2 800......
For the CPU, I'm just going to assume its going to be for gaming, I don't believe much games support it yet. Quad core is overkill.
So because the timings don't match up between the mobo and RAM I can't get a mobo with a FSB of 1333/1066MHz? This type of mobo won't support RAM that's DDR2800? Can anyone recommend then a mobo that's better suitable to DDR2800? And yes, I'm gearing everything towards running a gaming rig.
Message edited by jaythe on 01-30-2008 at 04:40:25 PM
GA-P35-DS4 - very good motherboard, one of my favorites. Excellent quality, overclocks like a champion, lots of features.
GPU - 8800GT - bad idea, get an 8800 GTS G92 512 MB instead. It's faster and has a better cooler. HD 3870X2 is faster in most games, but costs more.
CPU - E8400 - good idea, but you need to flash the BIOS. If that worries you, get a Q6600 or E6750 instead.
RAM - Vista Upgrade 2x2GB DDR2-800 - that's the sort I have in my GA-P35C-DS3R/XP system. It will work on XP.
Heatsink: The Tuniq is the most powerful of those three. The Ninja is the quietest. The Infinity has best results with two fans, so it's too complicated for my taste. I went with the Ninja because noise was my first priority, but if you want maximum performance I would pick the Tuniq.
What case do you have? These are big coolers, and they may not fit inside.
For the CPU, should I be worried about flashing the bios? This is my first build and I have never flashed bios before or even know how to do it. Not that it's hard I'm sure, I can probably just Google it.
How much of an improvement is the E8400 over the E6750? Is the E8400 even worth getting? I've read the reviews on it and like what I see, but if there is not much of a noticable improvement then why bother.
And lest I forget, thank you to everyone that has been helping me! God knows I need all the help I can get.
Message edited by jaythe on 01-30-2008 at 06:35:06 PM
Very nice case. Still, there are some problems fitting huge coolers in. Here's a quote from a newegg reviewer:
Quote :
Other Thoughts: I replaced the 2 120mm fans and the 250mm fan that came with it with faster ones. I left the 90mm fan that came with it. I had to move the 250mm fan to the outside of the case for the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme HSF to fit. Very easy mod to do.
E8400 over E6750: about 15% faster (10% because of the higher clock, 5% because it has a larger cache (6MB instead of 4MB) and some minor improvements. It also overclocks higher. With a Tuniq Tower, it would be a shame not to overclock. BTW, the Zerotherm Nirvana cools an X6800 2 degrees better than the Tuniq, makes 2 dBA less noise under load, and it's a bit cheaper (at newegg at least.) You could give it a try, I guess.
With a very fast hard disk or RAID 0, you will see a difference between E670 and E8400 in real life. OK, maybe not, if your games are limited by the video card anyway, like most are. In FSX you'd definitely notice a difference, but for FSX the Q6600 is a much smarter choice than E8400.
Flashing can be a bit of a pain. At best, you download a file from the manufacturer's site, put it on a USB thumb drive, install the E8400 CPU and the cooler, boot, run the flashing utility (QFlash or whatever), that's it. For example that's how it works for the GA-X38-DS4, apparently. (Disclaimer: I just read about it yesterday, haven't tried it myself.) At worst, it fails and you have to return the motherboard. Another nasty case is when you need an older CPU in there so it can boot at all. And another nasty case is when you need a floppy disk drive to do it. It depends on each board. I don't know about you, but I do worry about things like this.
Thank you for all this information, it's very helpful and is helping to narrow down my choices. Here's another stupid question, but how would I know if I had to flash the bios or not? What makes it a requirement to flash bios? When the mobo and CPU don't mesh? Or the mobo and GPU?
It happens when mobo and CPU don't mesh. Every mobo on the market has been released before the E8400. That is, when they released the mobo they didn't have an E8400 to test with it.
How to know if you need to flash: pick a motherboard you like, then go to the manufacturer's Web site (Asus, Gigabyte, etc.) and see what they say. If they don't say anything useful try newegg reviews.
I provided the link for the curious....i'm not sure what the F11 means but i think it means the E8400 is compatible with the mobo i chose. Is this correct, anyone tell me?
Perfect, that clarifies it. Yes, it means you need to download the "F11" revision of the BIOS and flash the motherboard with it, if it doesn't already have it. You can find it here:
http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Suppor [...] uctID=2634
You have been very helpful Aevm, I really appreciate it! I'm getting closer to what I think I want to order, I'll be throwing another list together shortly and I hope you can rate it.
Write the names of the parts above the links, because some people are too lazy to click each link to see what's there. You'll get more opinions that way. Here's an example:
nossr50 
nossr50@gmail.com 
nossr50@gmail.com 
nossr50@gmail.com 
robertblob@yahoo.com 
