Hardware Guru seeks Hardware Guru(s)

[DrakeConnar]

Since I'm posting here, you got it...

Looking to build a new system. My current one is about two years old and was the famous Pentium D 805b Nuclear reactor. I clocked that baby up to 4.1Ghz and paired it with an overclocked EAX1900XTX. It'll still run anything on "Very High" graphics, but I'm looking for something serious for DX10 and 64bit.

My budget is around $2,700.

Here's my current Parts List:

Intel Q6600
Evga 780i
Mushkin 4Gb RAM
WD Raptor 150Gb x2 (Raid 0)
Antec 850 Watt Power
Nvidia 8800 GTS 512 x2 (SLi)

Thermochill PA 120.3
MC TDX CPU block
DD8800 GTX Waterblock x2
12V D5 Pump

Now I'm a little worried that these grapic cards are old, but I havn't seen anything better released. Would 9600 in SLi be better? Or the dual processor AMD video cards? In all honesty, I'd prefer NOT to go with Crossfire or SLi. If there was one single monster mega card like a new ultra, I'd much prefer that.

My second concern is with the processor. Is it true that there'll be a price drop around april 20th? Would it be better to go with a Q6700 or somthing in the Q9xxx range?

So I'm questioning the Processor and Video Card (maybe the power supply). I plan to overclock till they burn a hole through the bottom of my case.

Alright you have it. Pimp my ride!

 

[skittle]

I thought this was a personal ad

 

[cjv4]

for that price, could you go with 2x9800GTX's or a 9800GX2?

 

[einstein4pres]

My advice would be to wait. The summer may yield some better-performing single GPUs.

8800GTS 512 perform better than the 9600GT.

I don't know where you're looking for the Q6600, but at $186 from Fry's, I doubt there's a reason to wait. Conventional wisdom, however is that the E8400 (or X3110) would perform better in games. Of course, if you do any heavy lifting with your processor, the Q6600 would be a great bet too.
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5101696

 

[Guest]

In June nVidia will be releasing its 9900GTX. This is supposed to be the next king of graphics cards a la the 8800GTX in 2007.

The Q6700 will drop below $300 on April 20th. In all honesty, an OC'd Q6600 at 3.6Ghz and a OC'd Q6700 at 3.6Ghz are basically the same CPU. Might just be easier to take the 6700 to 3.6 but you're water cooling so I dont think you'll notice a difference.


If you're still running everything pretty well, I'd wait for the 9900s to come out and build then. By then the Q6600 will be under $200 (Which I actually saw one place selling them for $166 yesterday).