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1st Build: Q6600 - Gaming

G

gtsing

Member
Hey,

I'm in the market of building a new computer really soon (2 weeks AT MOST) and I need help putting together a nice system for myself. First of all, this computer will be used primarily for gaming but obviously I'm going to be doing other things on it like checking my email, IM, watching the odd movie occasionally, nothing too demanding so I want to build this rig from the ground up purely for gaming. Right now, I play mostly WoW and CS:S but I'm definitely going to buy Starcraft 2, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament 3, and most likely Crysis but I think it'll be a load of sh!t to be honest. So please keep in mind the estimated system requirements when looking at my build.

My budget is 1500 CAD (1457 USD) and I'll be buying from either NCIX or DirectCanada.

Feel free to criticize it, rate it, advise me about it, basically whatever you want. I just picked out from my experience what I think would be best for a gaming machine but I'm not 100% confident about it. Just a note, I really need help choosing a motherboard, I don't need any fancy dual video cards or 500 SATA things or whatever. Just want a nice looking, stable board, that doesn't necessarily lack on important things. I won't be overclocking.

Here the specs:

Case: NZXT Lexa 139$
Power Supply: Corsair 620HX 150$
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R 137$
Processor: Intel Q6600 w/ Tuniq Tower 120 320$
Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance 5-5-5-12 2x2GB 4GB Kit 250$
Video Card: HIS HD 2900PRO ???$
Hard Drive: (I'm torn between WD and Seagate but I chose WD in the end, did I make the right decision?) WD SE 500GB 16MB Buffer 100$
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-212D 30$
Sound Card: I can live with onboard for a while

Total: 1286$ CAD but with taxes + shipping it's more like 1550.

And that's it. Is that really all I need? I have the keyboard, mouse, and monitor sorted out already but still, that doesn't seem like a lot. I'm planning to buy a sound card and a 20" LCD Monitor so my rig will be pretty rockin' then. Please feel free to leave advice, I'll check this thread regularly, THANKS! 😀
 
Looks fine to me. I don't see an OS, and you might want a flash drive or a floppy drive.

If you aren't going to overclock you don't need a Tuniq Tower, but you'll likely end up overclocking...

Check for deals on some equivalent products at NCIX and shipping and bundle deals, you'll likely save a bit. Look for specials every Wednesday night.
 
Wow, only one reply (no offense Cutthroat). Either my system is flawless or you guys are lame, or both.

Anyways, Cutthroat, I appreciate the reply. For an OS I'll be using Vista Ultimate x64 and I have it already so I didn't list it. Sorry, but I don't understand why I'll need a floppy or flash to install the OS, please explain.

As for the Tuniq, I just want my processor to be running cooler than a stock fan that comes with it and I must admit I want to blue LED, but that's about it. I 'built' the same system on NCIX and it was about 100 dollars more expensive than DirectCanada...even with combo deals.

Someone help me pick a motherboard!!! My needs are ridiculously basic...all I need is the necessities plus two SATA ports, a single graphics card slot, some USB ports, and that's about it.

Also, I've decided to change the video card to a 2900PRO since those look like they're going to be released around the end of September (can anyone confirm?) but this delay my system by about a week at most.
 
In a gaming rig the videocard comes first, you're better of spending 250-300$ on a videocard and 150$ on the CPU, then the other way around. 520hx will power your rig just fine too, besides that, looking good.
 
You'll need a flash drive or floppy to boot into DOS and do things like flash your BIOS. If you're using Vista a flash drive is a good idea because you can use it for readyboost. It will definatly come in handy, but not a necessity.

DirectCanada and NCIX are the same company, DirectCanada supplies NCIX. Ordering from NCIX does give you slightly better service options, and you can always use NCIX's 'pricematch' to match DirectCanada prices so you get the best of both worlds.

I don't see anything wrong with the motherboard you already picked, it's a good choice.
 
Thank you, Marc, for another reply. I don't know if you missed it but I stated above that I'm now going to get the 2900PRO and I expect that to be around 200-300 CAD. It'll be a bit over my budget so I'm just going work for like a week and I'll be good to go.

If I need a floppy to flash my BIOS, I guess I'll have to get one then. What exactly does flashing your BIOS do again? 😛

Also, I don't think it'll be necessary to buy a flash drive for ReadyBoost because I'm already getting 4GB's of RAM so it should be fine for a while.

Oh...I had no clue DirectCanada and NCIX were the same company...strange. I was just discussing that a minute ago in the Video Card forum. Alright, I'll try NCIX's price match and see if that works out for me. Thanks for that advice, sounds useful! 🙂

EDIT - I can't find the price match button 🙁
 
Why not buy from Canada Computers?? They have some mail in rebates going on and stuff. I prefer them over NCIX just because I can buy parts in person, despite the fact that I didn't build my computer...
 
Originally posted by: gtsing
Thank you, Marc, for another reply. I don't know if you missed it but I stated above that I'm now going to get the 2900PRO and I expect that to be around 200-300 CAD. It'll be a bit over my budget so I'm just going work for like a week and I'll be good to go.

If I need a floppy to flash my BIOS, I guess I'll have to get one then. What exactly does flashing your BIOS do again? 😛

Also, I don't think it'll be necessary to buy a flash drive for ReadyBoost because I'm already getting 4GB's of RAM so it should be fine for a while.

Oh...I had no clue DirectCanada and NCIX were the same company...strange. I was just discussing that a minute ago in the Video Card forum. Alright, I'll try NCIX's price match and see if that works out for me. Thanks for that advice, sounds useful! 🙂

EDIT - I can't find the price match button 🙁
Click to expand...

The price match button is at the bottom of your cart, big red button that says "Start Price Match". Price matches with DirectCanada are always immediately accepted (same company). With Purolator Air I get my stuff in rural Ontario the next day, and don't pay provincial sales tax since I'm not in BC.

Canada Computers is alright, if I'm in Toronto I'll go there in person, and I prefer to buy motherboards in person because they are easier to return in person when they are DOA. But not great to order online from, it's cheaper to order out of province and not pay sales tax. Plus NCIX's online service is really good, better than I get from most people at other stores.
 
Ohhh, I see it now. Thanks.

Yeah, I was going to buy from CC originally because they're shipping is pretty cheap and so is their prices but somehow I like DC and NCIX better. I can't explain. 😛

EDIT

I have a question about the price match on NCIX...can I price match Newegg or only Canadian websites or websites that display prices in CDN?
 
Ok, I have a new "problem."

I was looking at RAM and I noticed 2GB were far cheaper than 4GB, well duh obviously, but way cheaper. Would I REALLY see a huge performance gain playing games like UT3, StarCraft 2, and Crysis with 4GB rather than two? Also, I could get 2 2GB Kits for a total of 4GB which would be cheaper. But that means I'll have 4 1GB sticks in my motherboard...is this a bad thing? Please answer I really need help with this.
 
You can only Pricematch Canadian sites, and only the EXACT same item, not on sale. Be careful when doing it that you don't get similar items mixed up or they won't accept it.

You will see a performance increase with 4GB, it's not incredible with most games yet, but in the future as more games use larger and more detailed textures you'll need the 4GB. 4x1GB sticks will not overclock quite as well as 2x2GB, you might have to run at slightly higher timings than normal with 4x1GB as well. That 2x2GB Patriot Extreme Performance RAM you had picked out is the cheapest 4GB kit I've seen there recently, you'll have a hard time getting 4x1GB sticks that is as good of quality for the same price as that.
 
Alright, that seems to solve all of my problems for now. THANK YOU CUTTHROAT!!! 😀
One more little thing, does flashing your BIOS give you some performance gain or some extra features of some sort? Please explain what you get out of flashing your BIOS :S
 
Flashing your BIOS is usually only necessary if it contains bug fixes for specific problems you have, or for support of new processors, etc. Newer BIOS revisions might give new BIOS options, or sometimes small performance increases.
 
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