Q6600 Radeon 4870 Gaming Machine - Need help in decisions

blahblah10

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Jan 26, 2009
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Hey, I've been researching this past week on a machine that I'll be building soon. So far, I have selected the Q6600 for my CPU and 4870 as my vid card (still deciding on 512mb or 1gb).

Mobo, I read that the P45 mobos are good so that's what I'm leaning towards. I'm not sure what manufacturer to buy from, heard Asus and Gigabyte are both good for overclocking the Q6600. I'm leaning towards Gigabyte since I had a bad experience with Asus before (my mobo died pretty fast). I only intend to use 1 vid card, no Crossfire, so that should save me some money on the mobo...but i just dont know which model to choose.

Memory, I only read DDR2 800mhz is good and i plan on getting 4gb. Dunno which manufacturer I should buy from or what different ones I should get (i find memory confusing).

CPU Cooling, since i'll be planning to overclock it to probably 3.0 ghz (heard it's easy to do and since i'm a beginner in OCing, that's going to be my goal) do i still need to buy a new heatsink or is the stock one good enough? If i do need to buy a new one...which one should i get?

Case, I was thinking of either Antec 300 (saves me some money) or Antec 900 (more expensive but heard it has better air flow). Dunno if Antec 900 is worth the price, it definitely looks nice but will the better air flow be that much noticeable?

Vid Card, even though i chose 4870, I do have a 23" 1920x1080 monitor and I read that I should get 1gb for that resolution. Prob will be getting that, but if 512mb is doable, i prefer saving the money.

Power Supply, completely lost...don't know how much power i should get or which brand.

I know my description of my machine is kinda vague, but help will be greatly appreciated. Compared to you guys, I'm a complete noob lol

Thanks!
 
Here's my suggestions:

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359&Tpk=ga-ep45-ud3r $119.99 - $15.00 MIR

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209 $49.99

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 $234.99 - $10.00 MIR

The 1GB version would work a lot better for your resolution.

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650TX $99.99 - $20.00 MIR

XIGMATEK dark knight - s1283 120mm CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233024&Tpk=xigmatek%20dark $44.99

I'd just stick with the Antec 300 so you can spend the money on the above parts.

You could probably get the Q6600 to 3GHz on the stock cooler, but the temps would be a little higher than I'd like.
 

Cache

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Jan 15, 2009
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I'm currently running a Q6600 with an Asus P5Q Pro. It's a decent motherboard, and if you plan on overclocking for your first time it's fairly generous if you're playing around with it (ie, it forgives stupid mistakes better than some boards). Definitely go with an aftermarket cooler (the one shortstuff_mt mentioned is a good one), you get better results with the aftermarket ones.

Anyways, back to the Asus board--it's a very easy board to work with, although don't trust about 90% of the software Asus includes, most of it is pretty useless, especially the AI Suite. Just do your overclocking from the BIOS and you'll get a lot more from the Q6600 (which I have to say is one of my favorite chips of all time--it's like a Waltz, it moves exactly how you want it to when overclocking--and I'll miss mine when it's time to move on).
 
G

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i agree 100% with the replies above. the asus p5q is the board to get and that 650 watt psu should do great. i hear that XIGMATEK dark knight is also the way to go. you're pretty much building the same pc i'm about to build except i'm going for the 4850 to stay in my budget.
 

hulser

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Dec 30, 2008
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Some advice on the CPU Fan, definitely go with something other than the stock one. When looking for a proper fan make sure that it fits your processor and stay away from push pins, they are a pain in the you know what.