Last check before I buy my new PC

[kwake]

So here is what i have come up with for my new gaming pc give me your opinions and ideas please.

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail 119$
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 260$
PC Power & Cooling S75QB EPS12V 750W Power Supply - Retail 150$
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail 250$
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail 80$
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 170$
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 99$
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM 27$
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan - Retail 25$
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Cooler 59$

Total = 1250$

I already have 2 8800GTX's that im going to use. Please gimme your thoughts on the memory and the rest

 

[dagger]

Everything looks good. Good balance of components, no bottleneck as far as I can see. Although you might consider ditching the Raptor for a newer Q9450 cpu. Remember, faster hdd just decrease initial loading time, not improve in game fps, a faster cpu, on the other hand, will. It's solid either way.

 

[kwake]

that's a good point, but what kind of performance increase would i notice from a Overclocked Q6600 to around 3.4-3.6 to the Q9450?

 

[kwake]

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 40$ i think would be a better choice dont you think.

 

[iluvgillgill]

everything is good.but why you not get teh newer 790i mobo?i mean its not that much of a difference in terms of price.

 

[kwake]

well, the new 790i mobo is DDR3 memory, and atm that memory is way to much

 

[dagger]

that's a good point, but what kind of performance increase would i notice from a Overclocked Q6600 to around 3.4-3.6 to the Q9450?

At stock, Q9450 get 3951 on 3dmark06 cpu bench, Q6600 get 3528 and Q6700 get 3846. Not sure how overclock will affect it, but should be in proportion. Q9450 runs on 8x , but produces less heat, Q6600 runs on 9x, but generates more heat. Overclocking limit favors q9450 when used on x38/48 chipset, where motherboard fsb is not a limiting factor, and favors Q6600 on slower chipsets. Not sure if 780i is overclockable enough to be a bottleneck.

 

[kwake]

I was looking at the q9450 and it really looks like a good CPU compared to the q6600. Only 379$ from newegg to bad they are sold out, maybe ill look around.

 

[iluvgillgill]

8x400 on the q9450 should achievable with increase voltage on NB and VTT/PLL

 

[kwake]

so which do you think would be better for gaming, even though quad cores arent the best for that atm. a 3.6ghz q6600 or a 3.0-3.2ghz q9450? The 9450 has 4MB more cache 45nm and is 1333fsb..

 

[kwake]

im sure 400fsb is achievable for sure on the 780i, not sure how far past 400 it can go.

 

[dagger]

so which do you think would be better for gaming, even though quad cores arent the best for that atm. a 3.6ghz q6600 or a 3.0-3.2ghz q9450? The 9450 has 4MB more cache 45nm and is 1333fsb..

Not enough gaming benchmarks out there to tell. But I believe you can probably do more than 3.2 on 780i, which I heard was a decent oc board, unlike 750i. It's no x38/48, but should carry you above 3.2ghz. With the q9450, cpu heat is a very small factor.

 

[iluvgillgill]

Q9450 if you got the money.but i mean higher then 400 should be ok.as i got a Q6600 running on 8x450 now.and proved stable so imagine same for the Q9450 with even lower voltage and heat.

 

[dagger]

Q9450 if you got the money.but i mean higher then 400 should be ok.as i got a Q6600 running on 8x450 now.and proved stable so imagine same for the Q9450 with even lower voltage and heat.

Which chipset is your motherboard?

 

[iluvgillgill]

p35.MSI P35 Platinum rev 1.2

 

[dagger]

p35.MSI P35 Platinum rev 1.2

That sounds about right for p35.

 

[kwake]

hmm thanks for the input guys, i think ill look into the Q9450 for sure, even though it might be a little less ghz the more cache and 45nm will pay off im sure. Anything else you see that might be a problem, I wasnt really sure about that memory but it looked good it's 5-5-5-15 1.8-1.9v, i figure i could get it to 4-4-4-12 with increased voltage. Do you agree?

 

[iluvgillgill]

erm not so sure!depend on what speed you run on.its weird my ram can run on 950 with 5-5-5-15@2.1V.but when i increase to 2.2v the system will freeze even with the same timing and speed.so really depend on your memory.some dont like too much voltage and temperature!just to let you know that.

 

[dagger]

Ram timing isn't that important. The difference won't be very noticable anyway under realistic conditions. It's good as long as you have enough ram.

 

[iluvgillgill]

timing is not noticable in real world i admit.but if you get a chance why would you not select lower latency anyway?But 5-5-5-15 isnt bad at all if you can run it at 900mhz+

 

[dagger]

timing is not noticable in real world i admit.but if you get a chance why would you not select lower latency anyway?But 5-5-5-15 isnt bad at all if you can run it at 900mhz+

Of course, get it as high as you can, but there's no point wasting too much effort on something like that. Manufacturers don't list oc abilities in specs, reading consumer reviews should give you a better idea which ones are best for oc/tightening timing. Newegg is a good place to start.

 

[iluvgillgill]

so avoid here and goto newwegg for help instead?lol

 

[dagger]

so avoid here and goto newwegg for help instead?lol

They don't provide a list of products and corresponding user reviews here. It's more convinent at newegg. I usually look up information there, then search for model number on price compare sites for the cheapest deal.

 

[iluvgillgill]

well i tend to google the parts on google for review from many different website then i search around for price.because user on newegg etc may not have the knowledge on overclocking.so their result might be inaccurate.on enthusiast website review.what they can achieve you normally look 10% under it as easily achivable.