Build me an army worhty of mordor

[gramzon]

Hey guys
Im looking to replace my now 4 year old system and i was thinking of buying a near high end computer because i wont be replacing this one any time soon either.
So i decided that my new computer will definately have E8400 processor and HD3870.
Now i was wondering if you could suggest me some MOBOS, HD (around 250gb capacity) and a good ram manufacturer. TY

 

[jeremyrailton]

looks like we're shooting for mid-range here. In that case, go for the Gigabyte p35-ds3l, any hd from western digital, samsung, seagate, etc. will be fine, but I'd go at least 500gigs or you'll run out of space quickly. For ram, 2 gigs of DDR2 800 from Patriot, Corsair, OCZ, or any other known name will be fine. Note: if you will be oc'ing the 8400, make sure the ram will overclock to 1000 or so. My patriot 800 has a spec for 1000 @2.1 volts.

 

[Guest]

This is a midrange build. Id personally go with the quad if your not going to replace it for 4 years. Also contrary to what jeremy says, you dont have to overclock the ram to overclock the cpu.

You do if you're OCing the E8400 as it doesn't have a multiplier of 10X. If he gets DDR2-800 memory he will have to OC his memory if he uses a FSB higher than 400...



Edit: Just checked the multiplier is 9x. This means the highest clock you can get without OCing your memory on this chip is 3.6Ghz... Not much considering many confirmed OCs of 4-4.2Ghz.

 

[hairycat101]

Get a x38 or other cross fire mobo. That way you can add in another 3870 after a year or so. The prices will have come down by then. Get one that closely matches the reference card (meaning not factory OCed.) the reason for that is that it will keep options open for the second card. It is still technically possible to do a reference card with a factory OCed card, but I think the result would be equall to two reference cards. Asus makes a good one; it comes with a game and a 3 year warrenty. Can't beat the warrenty especially if you are going to have it for some time. I don't know that I would call this mid range... Its not the "hey I have more money then common since" range, but this should easlily do 11k on the 3dmark06.

 

[amd_fanboi]

pretty good considering that the best OC on the stock cooler is about 3,6, but then they do have temperature problems, apparently..

anyways, OP, get a quad.

 

[WR2]

deuce271 is partly right. If you run the Front Side Bus and RAM in the preferred 1:1 Sync mode your RAM would start being overclocked as the FSB goes above 400Mhz. Most decent RAM will have no problems with mild overclocking - adding some more voltage to vCore settings will get them a little higher. For example in FSB/RAM 1:1 Sync if you have a FSB of 430Mhz (3.87Ghz) your DDR2 800 RAM would be running overclocked @ 430Mhz (effective DDR2 860 rate).
But you can also un-link the RAM from your FSB. Leaving your RAM to run at 400Mhz (effective DDR2 800 rate) you can seperately overclock the FSB.
You can also chose different FSB:RAM ratios to let you OC the FSB if your RAM doesnt much like being overclocked.
For example if you run FSB:RAM at 5:4 ratio you can have your FSB @ 450 (4.05Ghz) and your RAM would be running at 360Mhz (effective DDR2 720 rate).

What kind of total budget are you working with. What parts are you thinking of re-using or already have?

 

[hairycat101]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731
I have this ram. WR2 is right that after 400 MHz the ram (if it is DDR2 800) will start to OC. I have my ram running (stable mind you) at 510 MHz! This stuff rocks. Of course, OC results vary. Every Mobo will have different limits, the CPU will have different OC limits and the ram will have differing OC limits. OCing is not a straight across the board thing. Good luck

 

[gramzon]

Well I can go pretty high as far as the budget goes but getting for eg 8800GTX or ULTRA isnt worthwile imo since they cost twice the 3870 but only offer slight preformance increase. And as for the processor afaik e8400 is the best core 2 duo proc and i read that quad core doesent really do anything in most applications?

 

[physx7]

And as for the processor afaik e8400 is the best core 2 duo proc and i read that quad core doesent really do anything in most applications?

The the majority of programs in the future should become multi-core optimized. So if you want this build to last a while then I would go with the quad.

 

[gramzon]

well im looking for a mainboard that will support processors and vgas to come because i want to upgrade processos and vgas in a year or so again. what i got now is AGP

 

[hairycat101]

Nothing is totaly futer proof. Hmm.. maybe stock in Intel.

 

[mtyermom]

You might want to consider the e8400 for more performance in the short term, and then upgrade to a 45nm quad down the road to keep the build viable for another couple years.

 

[hairycat101]

Thats the reason I said go with the 3870. You can always add another later on and the seem to scale pretty well.

 

[gramzon]

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 BOX, 2×3.0GHz, 1333MHz, 775-pin, 6MB
*Powercolor Radeon HD3870 PCIE, PCS, 512MB, TVout, dual DVI
*HDD Seagate ST3320620AS, 320 GB 16MB, S-ATA300, NCQ3, 7200
DDR2 2GB (2x1GB kit) PC8500 (1066MHz) OCZ, nVidia XTC, SLI ready
MB Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, s775, iP35, DDR II + DDR III, SATA II, RAID, GLAN
Thermaltake VE7000BWS mid tower Soprano DX, bez PS, alu-maska,crno, 1x12cm,1x14cm fan,e-SATA, prozor
Thermaltake W0116R, power supply Toughpower750W,crno,EPS,ATX 2.2,4×12V,PFC,AFC, 14cm fan, modularno

any thoughts?

 

[hairycat101]

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 BOX, 2×3.0GHz, 1333MHz, 775-pin, 6MB
*Powercolor Radeon HD3870 PCIE, PCS, 512MB, TVout, dual DVI
*HDD Seagate ST3320620AS, 320 GB 16MB, S-ATA300, NCQ3, 7200
DDR2 2GB (2x1GB kit) PC8500 (1066MHz) OCZ, nVidia XTC, SLI ready
MB Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, s775, iP35, DDR II + DDR III, SATA II, RAID, GLAN
Thermaltake VE7000BWS mid tower Soprano DX, bez PS, alu-maska,crno, 1x12cm,1x14cm fan,e-SATA, prozor
Thermaltake W0116R, power supply Toughpower750W,crno,EPS,ATX 2.2,4×12V,PFC,AFC, 14cm fan, modularno

any thoughts?

Thoughts... like it. Although, that board doesn't have 2 16 lane pci-e slots. If you want to go to CF later on, your going to be SOL.

 

[gramzon]

can you reccomend a mobo then?
also what does the nvidia xtc mean on the ram description? will it matter if i have ati ?

 

[gramzon]

Also is there some freaky new technology coming out in the next 2 months i dont know about that will make this pc look like crap or make it cheaper to buy?

 

[mtyermom]

That's a solid build, but like the cat said, if you decide to go crossfire later you'll be replacing that motherboard. If you're fairly certain about going CF at some point, you might want to consider an x38 motherboard for this build.

can you reccomend a mobo then?
also what does the nvidia xtc mean on the ram description? will it matter if i have ati ?

Gigabyte x38 flavor MB

Regarding the ram, that's just marketing, you'll be fine.

 

[hairycat101]

I have an Asus Maximus formula. I like it. It is solid. It was pretty darn expensive though. But I do think that it is a solid choice.

 

[gramzon]

how much preformance boost in games can i realistically expect if i use 2x hd3870 instead of 1

 

[hairycat101]

Tom's has a duel GPU chart. I imagin its improved over the chart, though. With 8.2 drivers I gained ~ 200 3dmark06 points with my single 3870. The drivers keep getting better and keep helping performance. One thing is for sure, though. There is a benifit. Although, you won't have any troubles with games that are out right now and 1 3870. The idea in suggesting the CF capable board was that when you get down the line... say 1.5 years from now, you'll be able to get a performance boost simply by adding another 3870. At that time they would be cheeper too. The performance boost varies by game. Look to see if your favorite game is referenced in the GPU charts. check the single vs. duel.

 

[gramzon]

What about the PSU? Will 750W be enough if i want to put a 4 core processor and 2x 3870 later one?

 

[physx7]

What about the PSU? Will 750W be enough if i want to put a 4 core processor and 2x 3870 later one?

Depends on which brand you get....

 

[hairycat101]

go for a toughpower (Thermaltake). I have one and I like it. I would think 750 is plenty provied that you don't have 4 hardrives and 3 optical drives along with some water cooling. Seriously though, if you do water cooling, then you will probably need more.

 

[physx7]

Seriously though, if you do water cooling, then you will probably need more.

I thought that most water cooling setups had their own power source straight from the wall outlet.....

But I'm guessing that some internal all in one units draw from the computer?