Attempting to build new gaming machine - suggestions wanted!

[Nyro]

Hello everyone, I was hoping you all could give me pointers and critique my proposed PC build. I have been reading over the site the past two days and many of you seem pretty knowledgeable. I'm pretty much a novice I suppose, I have built 3 machines before but I'm not as familiar with the current hardware as I would like yet.

1. My proposed machine will pretty much be used 90% for gaming.

2. My budget is $2000-$2400.

3. I was planning on purchasing all of my parts from New Egg.

4. My brand preferences would be Intel and video would be NVIDIA.

5. This will be a ground up build no existing parts will be used.

6. I have been reading up on the benchmarks and perusing the forum for hints/pointers.

7. I would like to over clock to some extent but it is not my deciding factor.


That all being said, here are the parts I'm considering.

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz ($280)
Q6600 - New Egg

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ($170) GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35

**Not sure what chipset to go with that would be a good match with the CPU (680i / P35 / X38) - I only plan on running one video card at this time but I thought it would be nice to have the ability to add a second down the road so that's why I chose the above board plus I have had pretty good luck with ASUS in all my other machines.

Memory - Awaiting email back on compatibility from Gigabyte (DDR2 800 4gig 2x2g) ($170)

Video - EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 Video Card ($550)
EVGA 8800GTX 768MB - New Egg

Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ($170) CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX Power Supply Thanks MarcVenice!

Case - COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution ($215) COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower

Hard Disk - SAMSUNG SpinPoint 500GB 7200 RPM ($110) SAMSUNG SpinPoint 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Thanks MarcVenice!

Cooling - Tuniq Tower 120 ($45) Thanks MarcVenice!
Tuniq Tower 120

OS - Vista Ultimate 64x (Free)


I'm open to any and all suggestions and thank you for taking the time to look this over and submit feedback.

My goal is just to put together the best gaming machine I can for the money. Something that should last me for a few years and be able to run most all games full tilt.

 

[MarcVenice]

Cooling, tuniq tower 120 for 45$ at newegg.com or thermalright ultra 120 for 65 + fan for 15$.

Power Supply: Corsair 620hx, qaulity modular PSU that will provide PLENTY of power for your rig. Comes for 100$ AR at clubit.com. You don't need a 300$ PSU, nor a 700-800w PSU.

Mobo, drop the striker, go with a p35 or x38 mobo, like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131219 if you want x38.

SLI might work on x38, but not gauranteed. Thing is, SLI isn't worth the hassle. By the time you want to add another 8800gtx, you are better of buying a whole new videocard, that will be faster then 2 8800gtx's in SLI. Main reason being a lot of games are poorly if at all optimized for SLI, meaning the performance increase can be anywhere from 25 to 75%.

If you don't mind overclocking, go with the q6600, it can be overclocked like a e6850, can't add 2 cores to the e6850 though.

Memory, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820220227

HD: I prefer the samsung 500gb t166 spinpoint, runs quieter and cooler, and performs equal if not better then the seagate.

Case, heh, a lot of it is about aesthetics, so it's really up to you. Personaly I like a quiet, not to flashy case, so I bought a p182/p180b. Do you want a mid/full tower? Lian-li's are qaulity, quiet cases too.

 

[Nyro]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Cooling, tuniq tower 120 for 45$ at newegg.com or thermalright ultra 120 for 65 + fan for 15$.

Power Supply: Corsair 620hx, qaulity modular PSU that will provide PLENTY of power for your rig. Comes for 100$ AR at clubit.com. You don't need a 300$ PSU, nor a 700-800w PSU.

Mobo, drop the striker, go with a p35 or x38 mobo, like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131219 if you want x38.

SLI might work on x38, but not gauranteed. Thing is, SLI isn't worth the hassle. By the time you want to add another 8800gtx, you are better of buying a whole new videocard, that will be faster then 2 8800gtx's in SLI. Main reason being a lot of games are poorly if at all optimized for SLI, meaning the performance increase can be anywhere from 25 to 75%.

If you don't mind overclocking, go with the q6600, it can be overclocked like a e6850, can't add 2 cores to the e6850 though.

Memory, http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820220227

HD: I prefer the samsung 500gb t166 spinpoint, runs quieter and cooler, and performs equal if not better then the seagate.

Case, heh, a lot of it is about aesthetics, so it's really up to you. Personaly I like a quiet, not to flashy case, so I bought a p182/p180b. Do you want a mid/full tower? Lian-li's are qaulity, quiet cases too.

Thank you for the great suggestions. I looked them up and they have really great reviews. I went a head and added your PSU and HD and Cooling suggestions to the build. Thanks so much! I will most likelybgo with the Q6600 since it should'nt be hard to OC to 3.0 at the minimum.

As for the motherboard, do you or anyone else have experience with the X38 chipset? I show specs saying they are Crossfire ready but not really SLI. Also some of them use DDR3 which I'm not interested in, it's a little to pricey for what you get out of it. As for the P35 there are tons to choose from and specific reason you chose that model?

I'm not dead set on SLI I just figured if I was investing the money that I would plan a little for the future. as long as I can run things like HellGate: London / Tabula Rasa amongst other graphically intensive games with no issues at full tilt, I'm a happy person.

Also, What is your take on the 680i chipset? Would that be more compatible with the Nvidia card using a Nvidia chipset?

Oh and to naswer your question I would prefer a full tower. I like something that looks cool but honestly I think I would like something quiet better.

 

[MarcVenice]

X38's seem to overclock very well, just like p35 mobo's do. Not to many people have x38 mobo's though, so there isn't to much info on it. Personaly I think they are to expensive right now, they offer very little if any extra performance over p35 mobo's. Next-gen videocards will be pci-e 1.0 compatible, so there is no need for pci-e 2.0 yet. DDR3 is also way to expensive so yeah. The reason I choose the gigabyte ds3r is because it's very popular, it's a qaulity, stable board, that overclocks pretty well and I have yet to hear complaints about it. Another option is the asus p5k for 135$, similar board, but it's from asus and not from gigabyte If you need wifi or firewire, or both, you'll need to pick a more expensive motherboard. As for the 680i chipset, it's not going to matter if you use a nvidia videocard, and a p35 intel chipset or a 680i nvidia chipset. Performance on p35 will be the same or better, the performance of the videocard will be identical.

You should be able to run Hellgate: London and Tabula Rasa just fine at the highest settings possible with a 8800gtx, they are good looking games, but most definately not the most demanding games, like Crysis will be. SLI is only usefull if you got a 30" screen, and buy 2 8800gtx's right now, but later on it's a waste of money.

As for full towers, lots of options, coolermaster stackers are nice cases, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119122 If I were in for a flashy case, but still good looking, I could see myself buying this one too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811146029 Thing about cases is, the casefans will determine for a large part wether your rig is going to be noisy or not. Together with the PSU, HSF, and the videocard of course. So you want 120mm casefans since those make the least noise. I've been considering this case as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133154 but it's all mesh in the front, so sound can easily pass through. This is one sleek looking case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811163014 but with 2 80mm casefans in the back, I think I'd still rather have the p180b/p182.

As for midtowers, I liked the looks of this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811133137 and I bumped into this yesterday: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811146028 people seem to love this one too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...129021&Tpk=antec%2b900 but I myself bought this beauty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129017 if you want to know how it looks from the inside then take a look at the demo here: http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81802

In the end, I decided I wanted all the sound quieting gimmicks the p180b/p182 had to offer, it looks sleek, it cools pretty good, it's very quiet, and didn't cost an arm and a leg. Besides, it can house like 5-6 HD's, 4 dvd drives, it fits my 8800gts 320mb just fine and it has nice cable management as well.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I'd save $50 + get a $20 MIR by getting this faster MSI 8800GTX OC. That or go the other way and spend $50 more and get this MSI 8800Ultra OC and if you can keep the memory on an Ultra cool enough, it's rated for 2500mhz .

 

[Nyro]

Thank you all again. I'm still processing all the info and doing research but I see what you are talking about on the Gigabyte GA-P35X-DS3R models. Rave reviews and I see where alot of others are using the Q6600 on them so that gives me a warm and fuzzy as well.

Of that product line do you think the "C" is worthwhile for the 2 extra DDR3 slots for down the road, or do you think by the time DDR3 is anywhere near affordable I'd be replacing the board anyway?

So at this point I'm bypassing my former thoughts of SLI so that is not longer a factor.

Honestly, just being able to OC to an even 3.0ghz will make me plenty happy.

MarcVenice, would the RAM you recommended before be good for that Gigabyte mobo line? I was planning on DDR2 800 before but on this board looks like I can go DDR2 1066 instead so may as well. New Egg doesn't seem to carry a PEP 1066 in a 2g chip. :/ neither does Corsair on New Egg it seems.

Also, I see alot of folks mention the G0 for the Q6600, I guess that would be the best one to get. Does anyone happen to know where I may be able to get my hands on one specifically?

 

[Billy Idol]

Originally posted by: Nyro
Also, I see alot of folks mention the G0 for the Q6600, I guess that would be the best one to get. Does anyone happen to know where I may be able to get my hands on one specifically?

I know ClubIT separates their stock and allows purchase of a G0. Not sure how their price compares to others who might do the same though. I would expect a vendor with the volume of NewEgg to be out of B3's but I wouldn't stake anything important on that claim. Most likely you'd get a G0 though.

$265 (no HSF)
OEM G0
$279.99 (retail HSF)
Retail G0

 

[MarcVenice]

Nah, no need for those 2 ddr3 slots. Btw, why do you want 2x2 gb specificially, 4x1gb will do the trick as well, and since your aim is 3.0ghz, then 4x1gb should pose no problem. But if you do want 2x2gb, then yes I still recommend the same memory, if you want to go with 4x1gb then I suggest these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146565

DDR2 1066mhz memory will NOT be faster then DDR2 800mhz memory btw, the extra memory bandwith simpyl won't result in faster applications and/or framerates in games. They cost more money, have higher timings, but won't give you extra performance, so just stick with DDR2 800 mhz ram. It will allow you to overclock to 3.6ghz gauranteed, which you won't be able to do unless you get watercooling

280$ is a good price for a gauranteed g0 stepping. Depending on wether you are buying an aftermarket HSF, which I suggest you do, then just buy the OEM version. Btw, did you like any of those cases I mentioned ?

 

[Nyro]

Thanks again everyone!

I updated my build and I'm VERY pleased to see the price between $1700 and $1800!

Dazed and Confused - Thank you for the suggestion, though I think I'm going to stick with the EVGA one, everyone seems to be very happy with them and speak very highly of its quality.

Billy Idol - I may take you up on that, I would like to order all of it from New Egg to make it simple but the guarantee of a G0 sounds hard to pass up. Thanks so much for letting me know!

MarcVenice - Thanks for all your help, yes, I looked at the cases and decided to go full tower. They all seemed very nice, my only concern with the Antec as the PSU at the bottom and users saying it could be a stretch for cabling. I didn't want to risk it. I decided to go with the Cooler Master since I liked the 2 USB on top and another 2 on front. I also like the 4 120mm fan side panel and the modular mobo tray that pulls out the back. A little pricier then the others but I think I will enjoy it.

As for the RAM I wanted to go 2x2g just due to the fact I read that it works more efficiently to access fewer RAM slots so 4gig over 2 slots accesses faster then 4gigs over all 4 slots.

So now to pick out a few 120mm quiet LED fans and 2 optical DVDRW drives.

Please feel free to critique further if you think something doesn't look right or something else may be a better solution.

I'm excited and look forward to ordering it this week and awaiting the onslaught of boxes!

 

[Nyro]

Hello again,

A friend of mine wants to go ahead and have me build the same rig I'm doing for him as well. The only difference is he doesn't have the space for a full tower.

I'll check out the suggestions MarcVenice posted, but I just wanted to ask if you think if he uses the same cooler as I do, (Tuniq Tower) there would be an issue fitting it into a mid tower case?

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Cheex]

Just remember that up to recently the X38s still have heat issues.

 

[Nyro]

Thanks Cheex. No worries, I'm going to go with the P35 chipset.

Also, on top of my previous question about cooling vs. case size, I know quite a few of you have one of the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 type motherboards, do you happen to know if that will take a single stick of RAM or do you have to install in pairs?

 

[philw007]

I'm also following this thread as interested in building system. Sorry to hijack a little, but question to marc venice: with the newegg combo deal on p180/182 with the antec 850 ps, would u go with the combo price or still go with the corsair?

I also have a budget of up to $1500 more and already have 8800gtx.

I like the antec midtower. Don't know bout 2x2 vs 1x4 memory issues. But am inclined to go with marc venices recommendation.

Unsure of chipset...go p35 now or wait for x38 to mature. If u aren't burning to build rite now, would u wait a month or 2 for the x38's to mature/develop?

Will also go with quad core, HD, and cooler recommended

Thanks