The PC gaming bug has hit me pretty hard and I really want a new mid range gaming rig. It's been a LONG time since I built my last system and, as such, I have pretty much fallen out of the loop on what's "hot" in PC hardware these days. I've tried to read as much on this site and its forums as my poor little brain could digest. I think I'm ready to give it a go, but I would really love comments/suggestions from the wonderful members of these forums.
I have no desire to overclock. Will the stock HSF be sufficient for my needs?
I already have a good mouse and keyboard.
I already have a very good case that I plan to re-use for this build.
Said case has a very large window, which is the driving factor behind selecting a modular power supply.
Let me know if you see compatibility issues with this setup. Also, I'd love to hear suggestions if you know of a particular component that is just as good or better than the one in my list and can be had for roughly the same price or less.
Are my components at least compatible? I'd really like to pull the trigger on this soon, but I'm nervous that I forgot some crucial piece of hardware or have incompatible components.
You migh want to look at the new EVGA 01G-P3-N809-AR GeForce 8800GT AKIMBO 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $284.99
($254.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130336
Also did not see a Case selection in your Wish List. Would suggest the Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133056
Excellant cooling for your hardware and is Tool-less.
100% no problem with capability.but i would get 8800gts 512mb instead of the 8800gtx.and sli the 8800gts in the future will be same power as 9800gx2.
I concur. the 8800GTS 512 is newer tech and takes less power. You wouldn't need that 800W PSU if you get rid of the GTX. 700W would be plenty for what you need.
I'm not a huge fan of the q6600, They are old tech and nothing really takes advantage of the quad cores yet. The new quads are coming out but I'd opt for an e8400 chip instead. They run cool and sweet.
well as the poster didnt say when he will upgrade again so i just recommending quad core to be on the safe side.he has got a sli motherboard.so a 800w power supply can last him a dual card setup.just another future proof.no point buy a small psu ans find out that needs to be upgraded to run 2 card.makes sense right?
well as the poster didnt say when he will upgrade again so i just recommending quad core to be on the safe side.he has got a sli motherboard.so a 800w power supply can last him a dual card setup.just another future proof.no point buy a small psu ans find out that needs to be upgraded to run 2 card.makes sense right?
Then I'd get the newer quads. Like a Q9450 instead of a q6600.
a good 700w PSU is still powerful when you look at what the newer cards really take. Who needs an 800W psu anymore unless you have a ton of drives.
well its always good to have excess isnt it?i would agree get the new quad since the poster have mentioned that his rig is few years old.so i think this would last him at least another 2 years maybe?but with the new quad im not sure how high he can achieve in overclock since the lower multiplier and already high fsb.
-If you want to go with WD, I'd get one of the newer 640 GB drives which have the same areal density and close to the performance of the Samsung F1. You can see how the WD 7500 AAKS performs against indstry kingpins Samsung and Seagate here. The new WD 640 gigger only has a 16 MB cache tho compared with Seagate's 7200.11's and the F1's 32 MB. personally, I am down on WD given their reliability perofrmance rankings over in storagereview.com's reliability surveys.
http://www.storagereview.com/WD7500AAKS.sr?page=0%2C6 "According to filtered and analyzed data collected from participating StorageReview.com readers, a predecessor of the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS, 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/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.
-If the case is the only thing you are keeping from the old build, I'd just keep the old box and relegate it to backup duty and get an affordable Antec Case / PSU combo.
-If you haven't built in a while, and think ya might have to call TS, using the same vendor for MoBo and Vid card eliminates the ole "blame the other guy" auto response from TS.
-Peeps at newegg have selected the Asus LS DVD burner two months running as the "Buyer's Choice Award" winner so maybe they know something we don't know....worth looking at is my guess.
-Why get a TN monitor when you can get a S-PVA one cheaper ? The Lenovo L220x is my current fav in the under $500 category. It's a 22" monitor which means it has abetter dot pitch resulting in sharper images and bing a S-PVA panel, it has much better specs. Text will be a hair smaller but I am fine with normal screen fonts on a 17". It's not available on newegg tho and where it is, it usually sells out within a day or 3 after a new shipment arrives.
well its always good to have excess isnt it?i would agree get the new quad since the poster have mentioned that his rig is few years old.so i think this would last him at least another 2 years maybe?but with the new quad im not sure how high he can achieve in overclock since the lower multiplier and already high fsb.
But they are 45nm compaired to 65nm. The q6600 is a x9 multiplier, q9300 is x7.5 and the q9450 is x8. I've heard the q9300 isn't all that great and only have a 6mb cache. The q9450 has a 12MB cache and does pretty well.
a 3.5g q9300 will beat q6600 on 3.6g.not sure about q9450.i guess the 8 mulitplier wioll help.but still the chipset would be a problem running speed above 450.
Thank you all for your suggestions. It seems like the 8800GTS is the way to go on the video card so I have added that to the list and dropped the GTX. Seems like there is a lot of debate about the processor.
These are the recommendations as I understand them:
Q8400
Q9300
Q9450
Only problem is, only the Q9300 appears to be in stock at newegg.com. Is there another reputable online retailer that has the others in stock?
Also, which is really better for me? This PC will be primarily for gaming, and I do not want to have to upgrade anything for at least 3-4 years (except the video card)
