Build for gaming - Advice please

[imported_scottw]

Hey all, new to these great forums and looking for opinions.

1 - What will yor PC be used for:
This particular PC will be used strictly for gaming. I have others for the boring stuff. The games I play most are WOW, EVE-Online, Bioshock, COD4 and TF2. Im sure that will change as time moves on.

2. What YOUR budget is:
I am shooting for 1000-1500 though I already posess many of the items I need. I prefer to build a "good" PC every 2 years than a "uber" one every 3-4. So I try to keep costs down when building since I build often.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from:
Im in the US and will be buying parts from the US, neweggg specifically.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference:
Im not a fanboy but feel most comfortable with the standard Intel-Nvidia combo for CPU/GPU. Motherboards are either Gigabyte or Abit. Ram is corsair or mushkin and for harddrives I lean towards Western Digital and Maxtor. I have a power supply phobia and pretty much relly exclusively on PCPower n cooling.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are:
Yes I will be reusing some parts. I will be transfering a copy of Windows XP, sound card and the optical drives. I already purchased a Cooler Master Stacker case and Rapotr SATA Harddrive. Everything else I need to purchase.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads:
Yes I read these type forums on several sites everyday. I am fairly well versed in the current state of things but am no expert. I see threads with builds close to mine virtually everyday but each is unique and I wanted to be avsolutely sure before ordering.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds:
Because I builld every 20-24 months and move the old PC on to other duties I try to extend the life of them as long as possible and keep the build as simple as possible to minimize problems. Im not rich but money isnt really an issue either so paying a premium isnt a problem. Therefore I will not be overclocking this particular PC.

So with all that done ehre is what I intend to buy. If you see any hardware conflicts, problems or suggestion please let me know. Otherwise id appreciate as many "seal of approvals" as I can get. I will be ordering Tuesday of this week and building 1 week from today.



Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3L
Processor: Core2 6850 3Ghz
Videocard: EVGA 8800GT 512MB
Memory:2 x 1G Corsair 1066 PC8500 Exact memory listed on the Gigabyte "Supported memory" list from their website. But the more I read the more I am starting to think this memory is a BAD choice? I see alot of people compaining of hardware failures after 4-6 months and that it does not run at the specified speeds. I felt good becuase it was on gigabytes "support" list but please talk me out fo it.

Alread have:
Case - Coolermaster Stacker
Soundcard - SoundBlaster
OS - Windows XP
Optical Drives - Liteon DVD/CD Burner
Hard Drive - Raptor SATA

Other Notes:
1 - I have no interest in SLI for this build.
2 - 90% of play time is split between WOW and EVE which are not graphically demanding by todays standards so I dont have a need for the GTS.
3 - Paramount is stability with performance a close second.
4 - I know its a bad time to build but my backup PC just died and my hand is being forced(who can live with just one desktop 🙂 )
5 - I was considering a Quad core but the extra cost and lack of gaming support at the moment swayed my towards the dual core. I am patient and can build a quad next time, maybe even an 8 core by then 🙂

QUESTIONS:
1 - The motherboard runs up to 1066, the ram runs at 1066 but the proc runs at 1333. Is that a problem and/or will it require anythign special other than plug and play?
2 - Does this motherboard have native SATA support? By that I mean can I plug a SATA drive in and it will recognize it for installing the OS without any special steps? I had an Abit board that did that and later a Biostar that did not and the Biostar was a pita to get working right. If it doesnt have native SATA support can anyone recommend a good(fast) IDE harddrive? Nothing over 120gb as only thing on it will be games.
3 - I see alot of people recommending 800mhz ram instead of 1066. Why is that other than cost? Wouldnt it be betetr to match frequencies of the mobo and ram? I checked and the difference between 2gb of 800 vs 1066 was only about $25-$40. If im willing to pay the premium isnt the 1066 technically "better" for me?


Thank you very much for any input and giving someone with just one post time out of your day 🙂

Scott

 

[DSF]

Time for the old "What does FSB really mean?" discussion. 😉

Intel processors don't report the clock frequency of the frontside bus (FSB), they report the number of transfers/second, which is 4x higher. (In other words, the E6850 you chose makes 4 transfers per clock cycle on a 333MHz FSB, for a total of 1333.)

Similarly, RAM modules don't report the actual FSB either. They also report the number of transfers/second, but in this case, the number is only 2x higher because DDR/DDR2/DDR3 make two transfers/clock cycle. DDR2-1066 isn't running on a FSB of 1066, it's actually only rated for a FSB of 1066/2 = 533MHz. Still, this is considerably higher than any stock desktop processor requires today.

So, to recap, the true FSB speed of your E6850 is only 333MHz. This means that to match the FSB speed of the processor, you need DDR2-667. DDR2-800 is in many cases just as cheap. DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 are both fully compatible with your motherboard. DDR2-1066, since you're not overclocking, is a waste of money. Completely.

By the way, the E6850 has been superseded by the E8400. It also runs at 3.0 GHz with a 333MHz FSB, but uses less energy and is slightly more powerful. It's also less expensive - as low as $189 at Microcenter if you have one near you.

Edit: Oh, and that board will let you boot from a SATA drive with no issue whatsoever.

 

[chinaman1472]

-Get 4GB of RAM, and upgrade to Vista 64bit in the future. 32bit OS will only recognize ~3.2GB, but the extra 1.2GB will still help out. Memory is cheap these days and is well within your budget.

-Power supply is overkill. Since you've convinced yourself that all you need is 8800 GT non-SLi (which is good), you don't need a power supply that expensive or that powerful. Get a Corsair 450VX, 550VX, or 520HX (520HX has modular cables, all are common recommendations on this forum); http://www.newegg.com/Product/...n=Corsair+Power+Supply

-Agree with DSF on E8400.

 

[imported_scottw]

Thanks for the explination and advice.

After considering what you said I changed my ram to this. Corsair 2x2GB PC6400 800 My one question is I understand 32bit XP will only recognize 3.2gb or ram but the fact I have 4 installed wont create a problem?

I gave it some thought and upgraded the videocard to this. BFG 8800GTS(G92). After rebate its only $20 more than the GT.

I also changed processor selection to the 8400. Thnx again. Just need to wait for it to come in stock.

Unless there are any other glaring problems I think im all set to order. Thanks for the help.

Scott

 

[chinaman1472]

I don't know first hand if installing 4GB of ram on 32bit XP will cause a problem but others on this forum have done so without any trouble. You just lose out on 800MB of memory until you upgrade to 64bit Vista.

eVGA offers a Step Up Program when you register the card on their website. It allows you to upgrade to a newer card and all you have to do is pay the price difference plus shipping within 90 days of the purchase, and I believe again within 90 days of each upgrade. There's speculation about nVidia releasing the 9800 GX2 soon if that interest you. At $280, it's a toss up if you really want the GTS over the GT, since it's within your budget. Personally, I'd save the money since WoW isn't TOO graphically demanding (not sure about EVE though). Either choice is solid really.

 

[DSF]

I have the same motherboard you're buying, running Windows XP with 4GB of RAM, and I have no issues at all. I just only see about 3.5GB of the RAM.

 

[imported_scottw]

Well im writing this from my new PC. Thanks everyone for their help.

I ended up with the DS3L, E8400, 8800GT, 4GB ram, PCPC 610. Its all resting inside a CM Stacker case.

Very easy & enjoyable build. Booted right up and into bios first time. I made a few simple adjustments like boot priorities and watched the PC health for a good 10 minutes to see where the heat settled. It didnt go above 34C so I threw in the Windows CD and rebooted.

Little hiccup,,, for some reason the board ships with "USB Keyboard and USB Mouse" turned off in the bios. So each time I tried to boot and got the "hit an key to boot from CD" message I couldnt do anything and it would go to the harddrive. After about 3,4 NTLDR errors I realised my keyboard wasnt lit up and put 2 and 2 together. According to the description in the book that setting relates to the use of such devices in dos mode only but when I went back in sure enough the actual bios said "please turn ON when USB input device atatched". Turned em on, reboot and I was good to go.

At the moment windows is installed, patched and im loading the last of my videogames now. Im blown away at how much faster everything is from the boot/load times to the fps. Thanks for the help!

Scott

PS - No conflicts with the mobo and 8400. Revision 2.0 board, i know im a noob but I dont know the bios version 🙂 Once I saw it was running fine I didnt worry about it and forget to check which.

 

[andrei3333]

I have these items sitting on the table behind me now
GA-P35-DS3L
E8400
OCZ 600w StealthXstream PSU
Corsair 2x1 GB (XP32bit hence the amount) 800MHz 4-4-4-12
7200.11 32MB seagate barracuda

will be reusing my dvd, case, 7800GT for now...
I am upgrading from a 3.2Ghz P4 1MB cache and hope to see a very good improvement

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: scottw
QUESTIONS:
1 - The motherboard runs up to 1066, the ram runs at 1066 but the proc runs at 1333. Is that a problem and/or will it require anythign special other than plug and play?
2 - Does this motherboard have native SATA support? By that I mean can I plug a SATA drive in and it will recognize it for installing the OS without any special steps? I had an Abit board that did that and later a Biostar that did not and the Biostar was a pita to get working right. If it doesnt have native SATA support can anyone recommend a good(fast) IDE harddrive? Nothing over 120gb as only thing on it will be games.
3 - I see alot of people recommending 800mhz ram instead of 1066. Why is that other than cost? Wouldnt it be betetr to match frequencies of the mobo and ram? I checked and the difference between 2gb of 800 vs 1066 was only about $25-$40. If im willing to pay the premium isnt the 1066 technically "better" for me?

1. That board runs up to 1333.
2. It does indeed, don't worry about it.
3. DDR2-800 is incredibly cheap and can actually run faster than your CPU needs (check DSF's good FSB post) and will give you some overhead if you want to overclock. No reason to buy 1066 unless you want to overclock past 3.6GHz.