New Gaming System

[jimmyjames]

Righty I've configured the following system as I want a decent gaming machine. Tho I do have some questions to follow....

CASE: Raidmax Sagitta Mid-Tower
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 CPU @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache EM64T
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 16X PCI Express Video Card
FAN: CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS
CD: SONY DUAL FORMAT 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
HDD: Single Hard Drive (80GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
KEYBOARD: Logitech PS/2 Keyboard (Black)
MOUSE: (Silver) Microsoft® Wireless Optical IntelliMouse® Explorer 2.0A USB
MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory Corsair
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition w/ Free Upgrade to Windows Vista™ Home Premium
POWERSUPPLY: Tagan 700W TG700-U25 Dual Engine SLI Ready Power Supply
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: Creative Labs X-FI Elite Pro 24-BIT PCI Sound Card
SPEAKERS: Creative® GigaWorks™ S750 7.1
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
WNC: USB Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps USB Adapter


Ok Questions

1 - Is the power supply enough if I want to add an addtional Gtx later on?
2 - Is the liquid cooling worth the investment over standard fan cooling for an extra £34?
3 - Would an the additon of an ASUS PhysX P1 Card powered by AGEIA PhysX processor 128MB PCI Card be a worthwhile or is the price not worth the difference at £180?
4 - With regards to the CPU is the performance between the E6600 and the E6700 worth the hike in the price with the difference being just over £100?
5 - Is the Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i a better upgrade though the price is £80 more or a cheaper board for example the Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset which is £80 cheaper?

Any other thoughts, opinions & recommendations welcome.

Cheers

 

[ETSA]

Everything looks pretty good, if you wanted to save a few bucks I would go with an E6400 and OC it a little. Take what you saved and buy a after market HSF and once OCed it will out perform the E6600 and be cheaper, right now my E6400 OCed will out perform a E6600 stock easy. (OCing these cpu's are really easy.)

The PhysX cards are not really worth it at the moment unless you have a lot of money to burn.

As far as PSU's, I would recommend this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151031

As far as SLI, I don't think its a worth while investment considering you never get double the performance so why pay double the price?

As far as motherboards, I like the asus commando, SLI support and an OC machine. If you OC it don't worry about the FSB, mine currently on this rig is 1600 FSB, so no need to worry there.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131149

For memory I would recommend XMS2 series (Corsair). Performs well and OC's like a champ if yous o choose.

edit: if you are getting liquid cooling you better be OCing!
edit: and why only an 80 gig HD?
edit: and please buy a better case, seriously....

 

[jimmyjames]

Ah cheers, well I've never overclocked before, current system that I have won't allow it. Though it's most likely that I will be on the new system though it will be a case of following a guide of overclocking for dummies. So lots of reading time ahead.

With regards to the HD i already have a 160Gb spare so only need the 80gb for the operating system. I tend to only install 1 game at a time anyway and out of my 160gb one I haven't ever even used half of it.

Does the case make a difference then? It just happened to be the cheapest one on that particular site. Its going to be sitting under my desk on a computer shelf so looks aren't particularly an issue.

 

[ETSA]

Well the case is important. It proves proper airflow and will make use more desirable when you fire it up and it doesn't sound like a nascar running under your desk. The airflow is important when OCing. It is not that difficult really, all you have to be is patient and it can lead to enormous results.

i think these cases are excellent, I own the Antec and it is an awesome case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133154
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112100

Antec and Lian-Li are popular and great brands, you cannot really go wrong, so if you do not like these particular models I would go with the brands.

 

[Boomer]

With regards to the HD i already have a 160Gb spare so only need the 80gb for the operating system. I tend to only install 1 game at a time anyway and out of my 160gb one I haven't ever even used half of it.

if thats the case i would go with this HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136033

it will perform SO much better than that 80 gig HD u posted above. raptors scream......i have 2 of them when loading and installing games is where you'll really notice the speed. same with booting windows.

 

[ETSA]

I would say to get that HD but only if it won't make you spend less elsewhere, it is really not necessary.

 

[Nutter]

how is this rig gonna cost? im trying to build one now

 

[jimmyjames]

Well I already have the soundcard and the speakers which is a large chunk of the cost, the whole thing comes to £1370 thats with a different case to the one first selected tho. Im just going to stick with the standard hard drive as well.

Though ive read about the intended price drop for the core duo so might wait till april and see if it applies over here in England as well.. Though we generally get screwed over when everywhere else drops its prices.

 

[jimmyjames]

Actually ive just read up that the water cooling system is a pile of junk when it comes to overclocking so I won't be investing in that.

Whats the best method of cooling for overclocking to price comparison?

Preferences to what people prefer water cooling over fan cooling?

And any suggestions for decent ones of both would be useful.

 

[ETSA]

Air cooling is widely used even though water cooling yields better results it is expensive and even you do not know what you are doing it is easy to damage or ruin computer components, there is liquid involved after all.

A solid case with good airflow and a HSF that provides good cooling is basically the only thing you need. The C2D duo chips make overclocking simple, even with the standard HSF that comes with them people have been getting great results with minmal effort.

Good HSF.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...man+9500&Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

 

[Praetor]

FAN: CoolerMaster Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit + 2 EXTRA CASE FANS

Which setup is this exactly?

HDD: Single Hard Drive (80GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

Seems a bit underwhelming for a gaming system. Especially considering how cheap HDDs are nowawayds. Furthermoew, why limit yourself to 8MB cache when 16MB is the norm

NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD

I hope that's a typo

1 - Is the power supply enough if I want to add an addtional Gtx later on?

Yes although i'd advise against multiple high-end-and-quick-to-become-obsolete cards. Of course if you're not adament on getting SLI, then dont waste your money on a unpredictable chipset like the 680i

Is the liquid cooling worth the investment over standard fan cooling for an extra £34?

We'll for starters, which kit did you pick out? Coolermaster makes a couple.

Would an the additon of an ASUS PhysX P1 Card powered by AGEIA PhysX processor 128MB PCI Card be a worthwhile or is the price not worth the difference at £180?

Waste of money for now.

With regards to the CPU is the performance between the E6600 and the E6700 worth the hike in the price with the difference being just over £100?

You did pick out a 8800GTX In light of that, since you're never reallly going to run into a GPU limit for the time being, and more so a CPU one, it would be a good idea to spend money on the CPU.

Is the Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680i a better upgrade though the price is £80 more or a cheaper board for example the Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset which is £80 cheaper?

If you have to ask, odds are you wont be utilizign any extra features (the striker is nice, but not worth the obscene price).

if you wanted to save a few bucks I would go with an E6400 and OC it a little

If you really wanted to save money you'd ditch the 8800GTX in favor of a GTS and up the CPU a notch or two, grab a bigger harddrive

edit: and please buy a better case, seriously....

It's the contents that matter not the looks.

Actually ive just read up that the water cooling system is a pile of junk when it comes to overclocking so I won't be investing in that.

LOL usually people overclock first then consider watercooling rather than consider watercooling then reading aout overclocking... are you still sure you want to go that route?

Preferences to what people prefer water cooling over fan cooling?

Both here. Water for the GPU, air for the cpu because the GPU (1950 atm) is a bit trickier to cool whereas the CPU there's a huge honking 'sink on it

Air cooling is widely used even though water cooling yields better results it

It should be noted that water cooling can provide better results. Can.

and even you do not know what you are doing it is easy to damage or ruin computer components, there is liquid involved after all.

Yeah but nowadays if you're getting a kit, it's pretty hard to mess up and if you do, well, didnt rtfm The Zamlan is nice baseline and good for when it came out but piddly against anything decent nowadays (Tuniuq, Ninja, Typhoon, etc)


@jimmyjames:
1. whats your budget
2. do you really plan to overclock?

 

[jimmyjames]

Well i'm going to leave the cooling for the time being and just stick with the stock fan and heatsink. I'll come back to that and the overclocking at a later date. Though it would be nice to have a base setup that will allow for it.

So for the motherboard would the Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset be a better option then. I assume by your statement thats its more stable than the 680i?

Whats the performance difference between the GTX and the GTS? Or would both max out todays games anyway?

The specs between the 2 are quite different from the Nvidia site -



GeForce 8800 GTX GeForce 8800 GTS
Stream Processors 128 96
Core Clock (MHz) 575 500
Shader Clock (MHz) 1350 1200
Memory Clock (MHz) 900 800
Memory Amount 768MB 640MB or 320MB
Memory Interface 384-bit 320-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 86.4 64
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) 36.8 24

Also anyone know what XP media centre is like? Just that it gets the free upgrade to vista which I don't want just yet till its a bit more supported.

As for budget I'd like to keep it under £1300 but £1400 at most.

 

[macnoob]

Well I already have the soundcard and the speakers which is a large chunk of the cost, the whole thing comes to £1370 thats with a different case to the one first selected tho. Im just going to stick with the standard hard drive as well.

Though ive read about the intended price drop for the core duo so might wait till april and see if it applies over here in England as well.. Though we generally get screwed over when everywhere else drops its prices.

only 1370 pounds? im american(foreign exchange soon!(myage is not what i have up if you look at that)), and am not too familiar with pounds, but i know thats decent, under $1600 i'd guess. if the speakers are a chunk of the cost than maybe you should get cheaper speakers. i am trying to find a decnt way to run through my marshall half stack lol, but speakers arent THAT expesnsive normally and neither are sound cards. lastly, i wish i had that computer, what os are you planning on using?

 

[Praetor]

So for the motherboard would the Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset be a better option then. I assume by your statement thats its more stable than the 680i?

At no point did i mention the 650i at all so either you're not referring to me or something isnt getting through.

Whats the performance difference between the GTX and the GTS? Or would both max out todays games anyway?

That sir, would depend on your definition of max'd out. For most people? I'd say so. For me? (assuming I have the time to play anymore lol, i do squeeze some time in here and there), no.

Also anyone know what XP media centre is like? Just that it gets the free upgrade to vista which I don't want just yet till its a bit more supported.

Have a look
Here

im american(foreign exchange soon!(myage is not what i have up if you look at that)), and am not too familiar with pounds

Better get familiar soon XE is a great resource. It comes out closer to $2500 (for 1300GBP)

 

[jimmyjames]

Well I already have the speakers and the sound card that I will be transferring over from my current system. So I haven't included that in the total cost... so its £1370 not including the sound card and speakers.

And yes the Pound is very strong against the american dollar at the moment. Shame I can't build my pc there and get it shipped over be a bargain price.

As for the motherboard, are there any suggestions then to a recommended motherboard thats stable and will support sli and the core duo with the ability to perform some overclocking?

 

[macnoob]

Air cooling is widely used even though water cooling yields better results it is expensive and even you do not know what you are doing it is easy to damage or ruin computer components, there is liquid involved after all.

A solid case with good airflow and a HSF that provides good cooling is basically the only thing you need. The C2D duo chips make overclocking simple, even with the standard HSF that comes with them people have been getting great results with minmal effort.

Good HSF.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...man+9500&Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

C2D making overclokcing easy? how? and why i water cooling so much more expensive you could use more and better air fans for cheaper i thought