My Ex: [strike]$1.3K Q6600 GTX260 Gaming Build[/strike]

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

cheshirekitty

Distinguished
Jun 3, 2008
16
0
18,510
This PC will be used mostly for gaming and [strike]is based around the upcoming GTX260[/strike]. I play at 1650x1080 mostly MMO’s and single player RPGs. I expect to use this system for the next 2-3 years.

*New* The reviews are in and the GTX260 is comparable (or in some cases not as powerful) as 8800 SLI... while 8800 SLI is cheaper... So now I have to re-do my build :cry: Can you guys get me started with a new recommended motherboard and 2 8800's? Also do I need a bigger PSU for an SLI rig now?

I’m currently gaming on a single core Athlon 2.4GHz GeForce 7800GTX 256MB. So no matter what, this will be a huge improvement. Age of Conan woohoo!

Case - Antec Nine Hundred - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
Popular case; lots of airflow; very attractive rebate

[strike]Motherboard - ASUS P5Q Pro - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131219
Supports FSB 1600/1333MHz; DDR2; PCIe 2.0[/strike]

PSU - CORSAIR 550VX 550W - $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
80+ certified; 2 x 6pin PCI (one says 6+2 but I assume the +2 are optional); 40A @ 12V

CPU - Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz - $215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
Mature chip; proven OC capabilities; plan to OC 333MHz (3.0GHz)

OS - Vista 64-Bit Home Premium - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116204
64 bit; DirectX 10 OS

RAM - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 - $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122
Supports FSB up to 400MHz; will underclock to synch with 333FSB

Optical - SAMSUNG DVD+RW - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153

Storage - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148136

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler – $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

[strike]GeForce GTX260 ~ $400[/strike]

Grand Total [strike]$1269[/strike]
 
3Ball

3Ball

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
1,736
0
19,790
While I am unsure if the case will fit the video card or not. Everything else looks pretty good. Gl with the build.

Best,

3Ball
 
J

jitpublisher

Splendid
May 16, 2006
8,747
2
31,960
Looks fine. Now if you could actually buy the GPU.
When it does get here, be sure to come back and let us know how buggy the beta drivers are, how hot the thing runs from all the power it draws, and how much you REALLY had to pay to get one. :)
 
N

neodude007

Distinguished
May 25, 2008
125
0
18,680
You are putting a GTX260 in a $53 PC case =( baby jesus will cry.

Good stuff though. Did you consider using a Q9450 instead of the Q6600? I hear good things about it compared to the Q6600. People say its worth the $100 upgrade.
 
WR2

WR2

Polypheme
Nov 18, 2005
27,923
6
61,960
It isnt about the better airflow. It's more about the mid-case core fan bracket obstruction. Bad news IMO.


 
G

Guest

Guest
Get a 7200.11 Seagate drive, they're somewhat fater than the 7200.10 drives.
 
C

chiptouz

Distinguished
Sep 12, 2006
194
0
18,690
I am a big fan of this case and for $55:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077

I agree with guany for the 32mb cache seagate. I was just concerned a little with the negative reviews. I went with the 640gb dual platter WD drive. if is extremely fast plus an additional 140gb.

Also go with the Q9450 with the artic cooling freezer pro7. I easily OC'ed it on the last build I did for a customer to 3.2ghz and I know it has more to go. Make sure you get good ram though. We used:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134217

and it was great.

Plus the 64bit version of Vista home premium with the 4gb ram is good.
 
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,290
4,142
174,240
The GTX260 will be a 10.5" card which is quite long, similar to the 8800GTX. The proposed case is not very deep, so I seriously doubt that it will fit. Even removing the internal fan mounts may not help. Check that out carefully before buying.

Unless you will mostly be playing quad optimized games , a dual core CPU will serve you better.
Today, very few games can make use of more than two cores.
Flight simulator X is an exception. It is not a trivial matter to code multi threaded programs,
and game vendors will not sell too many games that require quads to run.
I don't see this changing in the next couple of years, and then nehalem will be upon us.
If you aren't using multiple cores, a duo will outperform a quad at the same clock speed.
E8400@3.0 1m superpi=15 sec.
Q6600@3.0 1m superpi=18.8 sec.
Also, a E8400 costs less and can be overclocked higher.

I would look at a good P35 based motherboard. It will cost you half as much and give virtually the same performance.
Don't worry about pcie-2.0 or 1.0. There is currently almost no difference in performance, and current vga cards work well in either.
By now the P35 boards are mature, and have had the bios bugs resolved.

If 300gb will suit you for a while, consider using the mobo and cpu savings and splurging on the new WD velociraptor($300).
It is 30% faster than the old raptor which was no slouch.

If you are a student, you can get an academic discount on Vista.

---good luck---

 
O

Oakley707

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2008
109
0
18,690
Figured I would add my $0.02.

Is the X38 really necessary? The new P45 has come out so the support for pci-e 2.0 is available for a lot less. I was just wondering, I know they overclock well but the p-series usually can compare and especially for the price.

The first link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130179 is for a MSI P45 w/ 2 pci-e slots.

The second is for a much more moderate price http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181 99$.

Asus also has some offerings in the P45 department. I know this product is new, but I swear I've seen reviews praising this new chipset. Just thought I'd let you know, since the X38 is so much more expensive than the P.

As far as the rest of the system goes, I second the Seagate that guanyu posted and also agree with maybe a change of case. The Antec 900 is a very good performer, the price tag might seem steep, but keep in mind it has over 2000+ 5 egg reviews on Newegg. I understand reviews must be taken with a grain of salt.... but that's a bunch. Everything else checks out, even the ram I've used GSkill sticks before and haven't had a problem with them.
 
Avenger_K

Avenger_K

Distinguished
Jul 6, 2007
425
0
18,780




Not for $140 more :p
 
W

wardancerx4

Distinguished
Jun 10, 2008
48
0
18,530
get a antec 900 gaming case . duhh :) erfect for people on a budget and awesome airflow :) cheap caes are just cheap. crapy plastics and metal . dont go there dude.
 
C

cheshirekitty

Distinguished
Jun 3, 2008
16
0
18,510
Ok, I went ahead and updated the case to the Antec Nine. I found some reviews of the Sunbeam where folks did indeed have trouble fitting in longer GPUs.

For 10 bucks more I also went with the 7200.11 Seagate. I'm not sure that my hard drive will affect much more than how long it takes to load but for $10 why not.

I'm not sure about getting the OEM processor. I THINK the only difference is a warranty... and if I end up needing to lap my CPU I'll void my warranty anyway... so maybe OEM is a good idea. It would help cover about half the cost of the after market heat sink.
 
K

Kaldor

Distinguished
Jul 13, 2006
552
1
18,990
You build looks decent. However, Id wait until the end of July before you make a decision on the video card. A 4870X2 could possibly be quite a bit faster than a 260 for the same price. But everyone is guessing at the moment and only time will tell on the real benchmarks.

At launch the new video cards are going to be going for a premium, unless ATI or Nvidia dump a ton of hardware on the market to hold the price down. I can see ATI doing that, but Nvidia is a bunch of greedy bastages and will probably have low inventory to artificially inflate prices.

Your right on the OEM processor. As soon as you hit it with sandpaper, waranty is null and void. Hardware will fail, but Ive found that if a processor is faulty, it will fail right away, not 2 years down the road.
 
3Ball

3Ball

Distinguished
Mar 1, 2006
1,736
0
19,790


That is actually the case that I will be getting soon. My P180 is almost 3 years old now. You will get much better airflow in that case, it is larger, and a better quality. Cases are not all generic like most people think. There is an actual quality level to them.

Best,

3Ball
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom