Need help finishing off my build & any suggestions...

[njdrew]

Hello everyone, so I was asked to build a gaming rig for my brother who knows a lot about pcs, but isn't up to date with the latest and greatest / gaming setups. So I put together a build w/ $1500 as my target cost. Im having real trouble picking a motherboard. I was going to use the Asus Maximus, but I keep hearing bad things about all of Asus's new mobos.

Here is my build. Can anyone suggest a good, stable, (SLI plz) mobo for this build? And any and all comments and suggestions welcome. Thank you.

P.S. Overclocking not a requirement of mine as neither my brother nor I now much about it and probably won't overclock this PC.

GPU: XFX PVT80FSHF9 GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
C HD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Media HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
CD/DVD-R: 2 x LG Electronics Black LG Super Multi 18x SATA DVD Burner GSA-H62NK, 10x DVD+/-R DL, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 12x DVD-RAM - OEM
Floppy SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM (For $6 better to be safe then sorry )

P.P.S I created a Newegg Wishlist for this build if that helps:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=4580029&WishListTitle=Brian

 

[acidpython]

Wishlist = good

Ok just going to give my recommendations. Asus Maximus Formula is one of the best motherboards i have had the pleasure to work with, it is very easy to use, the BIOS is very good and comes preloaded with lots of nice userfriendly goodies. However, where you've looked at the nvidia chipset you've probably seen a few issues with heat etc.

-Your building a gaming rig, do you need the Q6600? Perhaps you would be better suited with a E8400.
-The 8800GTX you picked is priced high and are you really looking to SLI them? If you want to SLI go for 2x8800GTs or 2x8800GTS(G92).
-If you want the Q6600, ditch the DDR2-1000 for DDR2-800 (unless you really want to OC that high, W/C recommended)
-WD raptor is loud and fairly overrated. If you want to pick an OS drive I would recommend a 250GB 32mb cache drive. I've heard good things about them .

What resolution will you be running at? Do you really need SLI?

 

[amd_fanboi]

what acid said. Otherwise, you look to be on the right track...

 

[njdrew]

Wishlist = good

Ok just going to give my recommendations. Asus Maximus Formula is one of the best motherboards i have had the pleasure to work with, it is very easy to use, the BIOS is very good and comes preloaded with lots of nice userfriendly goodies. However, where you've looked at the nvidia chipset you've probably seen a few issues with heat etc.

-Your building a gaming rig, do you need the Q6600? Perhaps you would be better suited with a E8400.
-The 8800GTX you picked is priced high and are you really looking to SLI them? If you want to SLI go for 2x8800GTs or 2x8800GTS(G92).
-If you want the Q6600, ditch the DDR2-1000 for DDR2-800 (unless you really want to OC that high, W/C recommended)
-WD raptor is loud and fairly overrated. If you want to pick an OS drive I would recommend a 250GB 32mb cache drive. I've heard good things about them .

What resolution will you be running at? Do you really need SLI?

Thank you for the recommandations. I was looking at the Maximus Formula orignally, then newegg stopped carrying them new. All I see now is an open-box which I dont trust. I guess I will have to buy it from somewhere else.

I am not sure what resolution he will be running it at. Im going to assume the highest to be safe.

I tried to build this pc with the future in mind. I was thinking even though the Quad Cores, cant be used to their full potental by games now, in the future they might be. The same goes for SLI. Even though right now we are not going to be running SLI, in the future we could buy a second 8800gtx at the lower cost, run them on SLI and gain some more life out of it. I hope that kind of makes sense. Do you think that is the wrong aproach?

I see what you are saying about the RAM and Harddrive, I will change them.

 

[jay2tall]

I agree with Acid.

-I'd ditch the GTX for a newer G92 GTS
-Ditch the q6600 (they are old tech actually even though quad) e8400 is what you would be happier with. Games don't really use 4 cores let alone 2 really.
-Raptors are WAY overrated. Get a Seagate 7200.11 drive. it has the 32MB cache.
with a G92 you won't need the 700W PSU either.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I agree with above .... 2x8800GTs ($440) or 2x8800GTS(G92) ($500) or even 2 9600GT's ($350)

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Nvidia_GeForce_9600_GT_Launch_and_3Way_Shootout/?page=9

I wouldn't use WD Hard Drives these days:

http://www.storagereview.com/WD7500AAKS.sr?page=0%2C6
"According to filtered and analyzed data collected from participating StorageReview.com readers.... the Western Digital RE2 WD5000YS , is more reliable than 4% of the other drives in the survey that meet a certain minimum floor of participation."

http://www.storagereview.com/WD1500ADFD.sr?page=0%2C9
According to filtered and analyzed data collected from participating StorageReview.com readers, the Western Digital Raptor WD1500 is more reliable than 12% of the other drives in the survey that meet a certain minimum floor of participation.

http://www.storagereview.com/1000.sr?page=0%2C7
According to filtered and analyzed data collected from participating StorageReview.com readers, a predecessor of the Western Digital Caviar GP, the Western Digital Caviar WD4000KD , is more reliable than 5% of the other drives in the survey that meet a certain minimum floor of participation.

That's 3 recent WD drives that manage to be more reliable than only 4%, 5% and 12% of all the drives out there. Not only does the Seagate 7200.11 trounce the Raptor in every DTR and Gaming Benchmark (Except Sims2).

There are seven Seagate Barracuda drives in the StorageReview Reliability Survey and their percentiles show that they are "more reliable than" 88%, 89%, 43%, 46%, 92%. 90% and 96% or drives out there.

Samsung's Spinpoint Line also has seven drives in the survey with the following numbers: 41%, 34%, 63%, 68%, 56%, 60% and 52%

Hitachi's Deskstar 7 series garners 73%, 33%, 22% and 59% with their four entries.

 

[Waspy]

I agree with most of these other dudes...GTX is old tech, get a nice 8800 GTS G92 512MB...eVGA then step up if you feel like it to one of the newer 9800 whatevers when they come out and are reviewed.

Unless you are a SupCom junky I'd say drop the quad core...and if you are a SupCom junky you are really stuck (like me). The Q6600 is old tech, runs hot, yucky. But the newer Q9XXX stuff isn't out yet, one, and because it's cheaper the clock speeds are lower so you'll get better SupCom performance and WORSE performance in games that aren't optimized for more than 2 cores! How lame is that huh? Other option at the moment? Buy a $1000 CPU...what a rip! LOL.