cheep

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Dec 18, 2007
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Alright, so it's time for a new rig. There are some definite points I need help in, and then there are some points of opinion too. I'll throw down the basics:

Mobo: No idea! This is a point of definite help.
CPU: Q6600
RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 either 2 or 4 GB.
Video: 2x eVGA 9600GT
PSU: I was thinking of the PC P&C Silencer 750W, but I definitely want something that will be able to handle SLI and plenty of room for future additions and being able to carry over to new builds.
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 80GB & 250GB
DVD: Samsung SH-S203N
Case: Antec 900
Heatsink: Thermalright 120

Alright, so this build will be mostly used for games and video editing/photo editing. I definitely want to OC this and get 3.2~GHz on the CPU. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever on the motherboard though :??: SLI is a must tho. Suggestions on all the parts are greatly appreciated! There really isn't any kind of budget on this build as well, but I'd like to keep it at around $1500 CAN. The store I will be purchasing all my stuff from is MemoryExpress. Thanks for any/all help :wahoo:
 

Cpt Deadboots

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Dec 12, 2007
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Most definitely the 780i. eVGA makes great stuff.

And your Thermalright is fine. In fact, that is supposed to be one of the best heatsinks out there, hands down.

Beautiful build.
 

cheep

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Dec 18, 2007
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18,510
Alright so my buddy decides he wants to get the same computer as me but without SLI, so he wants to change out that mobo. Any suggestions?
 

two bit hit

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Mar 19, 2008
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If you want to spend that much on a motherboard, then the 780i is great, but I suppose that a 680i is a good board too, but obviously you're better off with the 780i. It's up you you I guess. Asus is probably the best motherboard brand, so if you can, get one of those. Why such a small HDD?
 

cheep

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Dec 18, 2007
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18,510
There are actually two HDD's there. An 80 for OS and apps then 250 for all other documents. As for those P35 boards, the store where I'm buying from really doesn't have too many, and most of them are close to the 200 range, if not over, and my buddy said he'd like firewire (he's into making movies). In my eyes, the 780i looks better and more futureproof, plus if he ever wants to get some SLI action going on, he has the option. Does this opinion sound about right, or are their better alternatives?
 

Zenthar

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EVGA just released a 750i which is supposed to support 2x16 PCI-e 2.0 and it sells for around 190$ so unless you want the extra stuff the 780i has to offer (and are ready to pay for it) it might be a good candidate for you.
 

two bit hit

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Mar 19, 2008
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I'd go for an SLI board. It affords you a much greater flexibility for the graphics card set up. I have an MSI P6N 650i, and it's not too bad, but the bandwidth for SLI goes down to 8x instead of PCI-E 16x. This isn't too much of a problem, but the 680i really is nice, and they also don't tend to be that expensive. Remember, whilst ASUS is the best brand, you won't go wrong with a Gigabyte, Abit, MSI or indeed EVGA.
 

Zenthar

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The EVGA 750i has active cooling as well and some people have achieved ~530MHz FSB with it.
 
SLI means 750 i /780i / 790i.....the 790i may be tough on a $1,500 budget.

If you were doing the 790i for example, my choice would be the Asus Striker II Extreme but it's like $470 and then you have to buy DDR3.

If you hot on the EVGA vid card, that would have me leaning towards a EVGA MoBo simply to ease any TS issues should they arise.

Watch here for PSU choices, but other than the GX2, they don't have the 9xxx series listed yet.

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

Why 2 HD's ? ....and one really old and one ancient one at that. These will pretty much be a big bottleneck on your system. A 500 GB 7200.11 should cost no more than $100-105 or so bucks these days. Keep those 2 oldies as backup drives if you already have em.

The Thermalright 120 is their next to latest and greatest. Their newer IFX-14 outperforms it by 2-3 degrees thanks to its CPU socket backplate heat sink.
 

Zenthar

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Unless you got some contacts there and/or some corporate deal, I suggest you run your parts through shopbot.ca, you might be able to find a store which has all your parts for about 100$ less, I know I did :p.
 

cheep

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Dec 18, 2007
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So much good advice it's blowing my brain away. When I order the parts, if that new 750i is available I'll definitely be picking that one up, as I do not wish to dive into DDR3 at the moment since there doesn't seem to be much gain over good DDR2 from what I've read. As for the video card, I have been contemplating that one. I definitely want to run SLI, but should I be looking at two 8800GT's instead? And I'm really not too concerned about 2-3 degrees, so I believe the 120 should suit me fine.

Also, much thanks for the shopbot link, I've already found some nice savings. The only reason I really wanted to buy through a local store was 1. If I needed to return something it's just a matter of driving down there, no need to worry about shipping. 2. I really hate S&H costs. I'm willing to pay a few extra dollars for convenience.
 

cheep

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Dec 18, 2007
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Alright so revision is looking like this:

Mobo: eVGA 750i
CPU: Q6600
RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 4GB
Video: 2x eVGA 8800GT 512MB
PSU: PC P&C Silencer 750W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
DVD: Samsung SH-S203N
Case: Antec 900
Heatsink: Thermalright 120

Hows that look about?
Also, for thermal compound, would you suggest AS5 or AS Ceramique?
 

litlrabi

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Mar 25, 2008
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AS MX-2. Also, look at the WD 640GB (WD6400AAKS). Reviews and benchmarks are indicating it beats the 7200.11 in performance, and nears the Raptor.
 


The WD6400, Seagate 7200.11 and Samsung F1, all trounce the Raptor in everything but access time and samll file database access.

The WD's in multiples of 320 (320 / 640 / 960) have DTR's similar to that of the Samsung F1 as they both have hi density platters and both have 3 year warranty. The F1's density is slightly greater however at 334 GB per platter though they don't "fill the platter" in order to hit customary market sizes in many instances. The WD3200 however has extremely low access times. For some reason the 640 / 960 don't share this problem.

The problem with the WD's has been their recent reliability ratings. They haven't had a drive perform better than the 12th percentile since 2003. The last two Caviar / RE2 class drives finished in the 4th and 5th percentiles.

In storagereview.com's reliability survey, the "enterprise class" RE2 500 GB WD5000YS had:

7 DOA's
5 Failures in 1st month
4 Failures in 2nd -3rd month
13 Failures in 4th - 12th month
3 Failures in 13th - 24th month

That's 32 failures out of 186 or a 17+% failure rate

The consumer grade Caviar WD4000KD had:

4 DOA's
3 Failures in 1st month
2 Failures in 2nd -3rd month
5 Failures in 4th - 12th month
6 Failures in 13th - 24th month
1 Failure in 25th - 36th month

That's 21 failures out of 67 or a 31+% failure rate

The 2003 version of the Raptor OTOH had a 94th percentile rating....the 2006 version dropped to 12%.