New Build, need help [Q6600 || 8800gt vs 8800gts || 4gig DDR2]

[volkweb]

Hey, i'm building a new PC and need some help/feedback from you guys.

Here is what i'm planning to buy so far:

UPDATE 1
Ever since I made this 1st post, people have been giving me great advice on what to keep and what to change. Because of that I have decided to listen and change 2/3rds of the specs.
I will still keep the original post intact so others may learn from it and make their own decisions but so it's less confusing i will 'ITALIC' the OLD specs so they are not confused with the new 'BOLD' specs.

As always if you feel like there's something on this list that should be changed or you know where to get a better deal than new egg, please post your thoughts.

Case - Antec Nine Hundred - $120
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811129021

Motherboard - ABIT IX38 Quad GT LGA 775 Intel X38 - $220 ($190 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127033

- or -

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X38 - $207
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128089

Video Card - XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB - $240
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814150261

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - $220
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115017

Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W - $100 ($85 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817139004

Memory/Ram - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $80
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820231122

Heatsink - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - $38
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835186134


OLD SPECS

Case - Antec Nine Hundred - $120
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811129021

Motherboard - MSI P7N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI - $165
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813130159

Video Card - ECS GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 - $220
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814134037

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - $220
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16819115017

Power Supply - BFG Tech ATX 12v 2.0 / EPS 12V 650W Power Supply - $80
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817702003

Memory/Ram - OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $92
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820227269

Heatsink - COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler - $25
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835103031

Total: $922 - $125(MIR)= $800

I'm just generally looking for tips or hints about this build. This is my 1st build and I'm fairly sure i put together parts that work together w/o a problem but... I'm not as sure if they are the better choice. Cause my god is there alot to pick from!

I'm trying to cut the cost as much as i can so i thought about replacing the above list with some of these.. what do you guys think?
Video Card - VGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB - $175-$20(MIR)=$145
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814130318\

Memory/Ram - OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $46-$20(MIR)=$26
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820227124

I'll be loosing some power (2GB ram and GT vs GTS) but this will bring the total price (after MIR) down to $725 ($830 before MIR) (total savings of $75)
Please tell me what you think, what sucks and if you got any idea's for improvement.

P.S. The grand total prices vary +/- $1-2 just so its easy to read.

 

[Shadow703793]

Looks good . Only thing I would probably recommend change are the PSU and GPU. Try and get a better branded PSU and GPU.

EVGA, BFG,etc for GPU (a 450VX would be more than enough)

Corsair or PP&C or other top quality manufacture for PSU.

Drop the 750i unless planing to SLI. Consider getting a P35/X38 board.

 

[dagger]

Looks good . Only thing I would probably recommend change are the PSU and GPU. Try and get a better branded PSU and GPU.

EVGA, BFG,etc for GPU (a 450VX would be more than enough)

Corsair or PP&C or other top quality manufacture for PSU.

Drop the 750i unless planing to SLI. Consider getting a P35/X38 board.

P35 overclocks slightly better than 750i, same as 780i. X38/48 is unrivaled for overclocking at this point, but cost between 750i and 780i.

Brands of psu matters. (get more than 450 watts) Brands of gpu do not matter. The cores are all manufactured by Nvidia, and sold to different companies to be stickied with different labels. There is no such thing as quality difference between gpus, since they are all made by the same company (Nvidia).

 

[volkweb]

So for the mobo, what would you recommend? and also for the PSU(power supply unit??) what would you recommend?

 

[mihirkula]

SLI is rather underwhelming and quite costly....you'd be better off with a lightening fast single card.

The ASUS P5K-E or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L are good choices for mobos.

Corsair 550VX is one of the very best PSUs out there.

ps: The shiny new Radeon 4800 series is very promising, out in june.

 

[dagger]

SLI is rather underwhelming and quite costly....you'd be better off with a lightening fast single card.

The ASUS P5K-E or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L are good choices for mobos.

Corsair 550VX is one of the very best PSUs out there.

ps: The shiny new Radeon 4800 series is very promising, out in june.

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about15370.html

If those benchmarks are real, it might be time to dump sli support and go for crossfire. A x38 board will let you overclock as high as the cpu is willing, and supports crossfire as well as pcie2.0.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128089

 

[volkweb]

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about15370.html


If those benchmarks are real, it might be time to dump sli support and go for crossfire. A x38 board will let you overclock as high as the cpu is willing, and supports crossfire as well as pcie2.0.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128089

Nice board. Just wondering if I do overclock this to the max, what kind of a cooling system should I consider?

 

[dagger]

Whatever you need for the cpu, none or minor fan for the chipset. X38/48 runs cool.

 

[Shadow703793]

P35 overclocks slightly better than 750i, same as 780i. X38/48 is unrivaled for overclocking at this point, but cost between 750i and 780i.

Brands of psu matters. (get more than 450 watts) Brands of gpu do not matter. The cores are all manufactured by Nvidia, and sold to different companies to be stickied with different labels. There is no such thing as quality difference between gpus, since they are all made by the same company (Nvidia).

True. Although the cores are manufactured by nVidia, the caps,etc are manufacture dependent. If you look closely you would see that BFG/EVGA uses better quality caps,etc (imo).

 

[dagger]

True. Although the cores are manufactured by nVidia, the caps,etc are manufacture dependent. If you look closely you would see that BFG/EVGA uses better quality caps,etc (imo).

Meh, it didn't seem to affect overclocking performance. It may not last as long, but the card will be long obsolete before it breaks down. Besides, 3 year warranty should be good enough. The price gap can be big. It won't be useful to have the card last 10 years instead of 3, especially if you have to pay for it.

 

[Shadow703793]

^I don't know about you but I usually keep cards for about 4years. The "old" cards replace my "older" cards and so forth. So to me personally quality matters.

Another thing is although overclocking via software (ie ATItool) from stock to about a few 100Mhz is pretty easy and could be done by with in a given range for a certain GPU (ie 9600) independent of the manufacture. But, when you start to OC using volt mods and the like you realize that low quality parts (ie caps) are not good.

 

[volkweb]

Thx for all your input guys. I decided that i'm gonna change my MoBo for the 'GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X38' one and go for the PNY 8800gts. I'm also gonna stick with the 650W PSU.

if you got any other thoughts about the build, please post em.

 

[doomsdaydave11]

Okay, first drop the OCZ Gold SLI RAM. You might get .2 FPS more with that stuff, over G.Skill's stuff, but in my opinion... not worth it! Get a better graphics card instead, and get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

for gaming, an e8400 is better then a Q6600 at this point, no doubt. Just check out the CPU Charts and you will realize it's true.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

ECS.... ECS sucks in general. Everything they make is cheaply made. For that graphics card, pick another brand, any brand. BFG (my favorite), EVGA, and XFX are the one's you should be looking at.

BFG is a great company, but they're power supplies suck! Look at jonnyguru.com. The 550VX is one of the best power supplies out there, along with Corsair's other units, and PC Power and Cooling's units. Check out one of them. Here's a great deal on the 550VX: http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-550w-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html
Keep in mind, that with an e8400, even SLI 8800GTS cards will only use 450-watts tops! a VX550 will be more then enough for a long while. People overestimate what computer hardware will use.

But I am telling you, do not stick with the BFG 650-watt!! This coming from a BFG Fan! Look at the reviews for the 550VX and the BFG 650. The 550VX scores the highest score jonnyguru has ever given: 9.5, and the BFG 650 scores a crappy 6.5.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=11
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=62

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. Exactly what I said.

 

[volkweb]

Again, thank you all so much for responding!
I found this http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817182032 Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W PSU for $65 which is still $5 cheaper even after Corsairs rebate.

What do you think?

Also i decided to go with http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814133215 PNY 8800GTS or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150261 XFX 8800GTS

PNY with rebate comes out to be $50 cheaper at $190 but initially they are the same price ($240)

Any thoughts on this?

P.S. I check out the charts (Q6600 vs E8400) and it does seem like Duo is a bit faster for games but over all its such a small margin and due to the fact that Quad is 2.4Mhz it runs slower. So to be a bit more 'future proof' i'm probly still going to stick with Quad. (but thx for showing me that Duo still has that 'kick' left)

 

[Shadow703793]

NOOO!!! The Rosewill PSUs are CR@P. Stick with the Corsair. Remember Watts do not equal reliability/quality,etc.

For PSU Tire Listing see:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

Go with the XFX because they are very good quality or if price is too much for the XFX go with the PNY. PNY is good but not very good.

 

[volkweb]

Point taken! I'm gonna stick with Corsair 550vx.

On another note i need your (again) to decide which MoBo to go with. I found this ABIT board while looking for something else and it seems like a better deal overall + it has eSATA ports in the back. Here are the two MoBo's that i'm talking about:
GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X38
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128089

ABIT IX38 Quad GT LGA 775 Intel X38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127033

Also here's an update of what my system is going to be like (i will also update/edit the 1st post so people are not repeating them-selfs)

Case - Antec Nine Hundred - $120
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811129021

Motherboard - ABIT IX38 Quad GT LGA 775 Intel X38 - $220 ($190 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127033

- or -

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X38 - $207
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128089

Video Card - XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB - $240
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814150261

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - $220
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115017

Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W - $100 ($85 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817139004

Memory/Ram - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $80
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820231122

Heatsink - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - $38
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835186134

 

[dagger]

The 2 x38 boards should perform about the same. I use the Gigabyte board, and so far, it performed beyond my expectations. The Abit board was, for around 2 days, $130 after MIR. Then Newegg ran out of stock, and after it's in stock again, they jacked up the price. Looks like you missed the sale.

That cooler is good, but not ideal. Get one of those:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011
I use the second one. Q6600, 70/70/68/68 core temps full load at 4.0ghz, 57/57/55/55 at 3.6ghz.

Get this g92 8800gts instead. $169.99 after MIR. 3 year warranty. It'll be obsolete after 3 years anyway.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134037

 

[Shadow703793]

^Get the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 dagger posted. It's rated #1 at Frostytech:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm#INTELHEATSINK

Both X38 boards will perform about the same.

 

[volkweb]

cool, i'm going with abit cause of the extra eSATA ports and def. going with the XIGAMETEK cooler

I'm going to order the parts right now.. the case and psu i'm getting from buy.com and the rest from newegg.com

thank you guys sooooo much for clearing all this confusion up and setting me on the right path

 

[dagger]

cool, i'm going with abit cause of the extra eSATA ports and def. going with the XIGAMETEK cooler

I'm going to order the parts right now.. the case and psu i'm getting from buy.com and the rest from newegg.com

thank you guys sooooo much for clearing all this confusion up and setting me on the right path

That cooler use pushpin though. It's not the most secure method of installation. Improper contact can cause problems.

 

[volkweb]

Hey guys! Just a lil update in case anyone was wondering what happened.
Ordered the parts from 'newegg' and 'buy.com' on Sat got them on Tues
Put everything together by Thurs morning (after work).

Everything works great so far (knock on wood). Works great from the 1st try and keep in mind that this is the 1st time ever i build a system
Expected to try, fail, go to a pro and learn from my mistakes.

But anyway just a quick recap what i got (for more detail specs scroll down):
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
- DDR2 SDRAM 4GB (PC6400)
- 8800 GTS 512MB (XFX Alpha Dog [what ever that means])
- GIGABYTE GA-EX38 (motherboard)
- XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm (CPU Heatsink)
- Maxtor 500GB HD
- SAMSUNG 2253BW Black 22" (TFT LCD)
- CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX
- Antec Nine Hundred (Case [got 3 extra fans cause Antec Quality Control messed up =P ])

Just ran 3DMark06 and got 12100. Not sure if this is good or 'ok'. [System is not OCed yet]

Any thoughts/comments?

 

[Shadow703793]

Your score is good for a stock system. Now go and OC .

 

[lucuis]

Grats on the successful build

 

[volkweb]

thx

now its time to read up on how to overclock it