building a new PC

[Journer]

So i put this in mobos because i wasnt sure where else and since the mobo is probably the most important part...well you know...anywho...i think i'm going to build me a new PC here in a bit...and i just wanted some input.

I would like to future proof, because i didnt do so for this PC (agp) and i dont want that happen again, which is why i think i'm going to go LGA775 since quad core is out for it now and it seems it will be supported for a while. also, i'm considering a 680i chipset since it is the latest and supports the latest features such as full SLI (16x on both slots) is there anything i'm missing? if you were building a new PC now for around 1K what would you do?
here is what i'm thinking:

e6600
evga 680i
2gb corsair XMS ddr2
evga7950gt KO (dont have enough for the 8800)
thinking about an air TEC cooling setup so i can overlock the hell out of the 6600

 

[moosey]

Since you're going to o/c I'd also check out this memory since it's based on Micron D9s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144
Also, since you want to o/c, you could save money to put toward a GF8800 by getting an e6300 or e6400 or even the new e4300 and o/c the hell out of one of those. Check this out if you haven't http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903

Otherwise, I'd take a good look at the performance P965 boards (no SLI though), especially if you get something lower than an e6600. If you get an 8800 series video card, odds are you won't need SLI anyway.
DS3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012
P5B-Dlx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045
AB9 Quad-GT (allows 1066 strap to 500+ FSB IIRC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127019
review if you haven't seen it
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2911

Other than that, don't forget a quality PSU.

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: moosey
Since you're going to o/c I'd also check out this memory since it's based on Micron D9s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144
Also, since you want to o/c, you could save money to put toward a GF8800 by getting an e6300 or e6400 or even the new e4300 and o/c the hell out of one of those. Check this out if you haven't http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903

Otherwise, I'd take a good look at the performance P965 boards (no SLI though), especially if you get something lower than an e6600. If you get an 8800 series video card, odds are you won't need SLI anyway.
DS3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012
P5B-Dlx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045
AB9 Quad-GT (allows 1066 strap to 500+ FSB IIRC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127019
review if you haven't seen it
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2911

Other than that, don't forget a quality PSU.

how does that patriot ram compare to: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145590 ?
would the 4mb of cache on the e6600 not be better than the 2mb on the 4400?
i really would like to stay with an SLI board since its a big future proof...when my card gets old i can just pop another in there and performance should increase at least 30% if not more
sorry...i ment to say a silverstone 850wt PSU...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817256011

 

[moosey]

I've posted this before about 8800GTX and SLI, check it out and see if it applies to you. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/421/8/
If you want SLI though, its totally up to you. The 650i SLI is good and cheaper than the 680i, however, the 680i offers the full x16 x16 SLI while the 650i does not. Anandtech did a nice review http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2894

Yeah the 4MB of cache is better performance, especially at stock, I think it was around 5-10% or so. It's just that through o/cing one of those other processors its really a great value. It's up to you though how much you want to spend on what components.

The thing with the memory is that the Patriot is based on Micron D9s which are great for overclocking and I think with the Corsair you're not really guaranteed to get that since some are based on Promos IIRC.

That PSU could be considered overkill as well, could save some money there.
Check out newegg and look at some Silverstone Zeus models as well as models from SeaSonic and Corsair. Also, if you want to spend the money there's always PC Power and Cooling (I have the Silencer 610). I'd think with what you have listed a good PSU 550W+ should do just fine. Here are a couple I found with EPS12V like the one you had selected...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151030
I wouldn't think you'd need more than this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151028

 

[Journer]

Originally posted by: moosey
I've posted this before about 8800GTX and SLI, check it out and see if it applies to you. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/421/8/
If you want SLI though, its totally up to you. The 650i SLI is good and cheaper than the 680i, however, the 680i offers the full x16 x16 SLI while the 650i does not. Anandtech did a nice review http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2894

Yeah the 4MB of cache is better performance, especially at stock, I think it was around 5-10% or so. It's just that through o/cing one of those other processors its really a great value. It's up to you though how much you want to spend on what components.

The thing with the memory is that the Patriot is based on Micron D9s which are great for overclocking and I think with the Corsair you're not really guaranteed to get that since some are based on Promos IIRC.

That PSU could be considered overkill as well, could save some money there.
Check out newegg and look at some Silverstone Zeus models as well as models from SeaSonic and Corsair. Also, if you want to spend the money there's always PC Power and Cooling (I have the Silencer 610). I'd think with what you have listed a good PSU 550W+ should do just fine. Here are a couple I found with EPS12V like the one you had selected...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151030
I wouldn't think you'd need more than this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151028

sweet review. thanks for the help, btw. anywho, i'm running a 42" monitor at 1080p so a beefy card will definitly help out. i wasnt really sure what i needed as far as a PSU went so i just selected something that looked nice. Keeping future proofing in mind, do you think that 650wt could power a quadcore, 2x8800gtx's, 1hdd, 1dvdrw, mobo, etc. ? Noise isnt really a problem to me, if you were considering that one. I think skimping on the PSU and Procc could work me in some room to fit an 8800gtx in, which would be really nice. as far as the mobo goes, the 680i is litter more but i definitly think it is worth the $$ considering if i do want to run SLI in the future it will be a huge benifit.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Journer
I would like to future proof, because i didnt do so for this PC (agp) and i dont want that happen again

Impossible to "future proof." What future? How far in the future? See, technology is always a moving target. When you did AGP, was PCI-E out? You want to go PCI-E now, but PCI-E 2.0 is coming. LGA775 isn't going to last forever, but even before the socket dies out, Intel will change their power requirements or FSB for it so eventually some new CPU will come out that your board won't support.

Buy for now. The only "future" you can reasonably plan for is the next 6-12 months. After that, it's a crap shoot. Sometimes you can't even plan that long. I know someone (from nearby LAN parties) that bought a motherboard just before Core 2 Duo came out. He needed to build a new system and went with Pentium D, planning to get Core 2 Duo after it came out. To plan for it, he bought the board that all the C2D previewers were using, the Intel one with the 975X chipset. Well, he was one revision too late to support C2D.

 

[f4phantom2500]

zap knows what hes saying...the best time to "future proof" is right when a new socket comes out, when a new memory type is supported, and/or when a new interface comes around (pci-e 2.0, sata, etc)

of course, if you plan your base well, you can get by with just changing out one item here and one item there. ex: if youd bought a socket a system right when socket a came out, you'd be in great because you could change out your motherboard, then use your old processor, get a new processor later, new video card, ram, mobo...and then you coulda bought a 754 processor/mobo and used your same ram, video card, hard drive, etc. then when they made pci-e 754 boards, bought a pci-e video card and 754/pci-e mobo...then 939 processor and mobo, used your ram and pci-e video card....all the while you'd be using the same hard drive lol. i'm not saying this will give you THE best performance as if you use the same ram or hard drive or whatever for that long, there will be better ones out by the time it's gone that far, but they will certainly be acceptable. anyway, like zap said, it's something of a crap shoot because you don't know definitively what hardware will still be in use in 2 or 3 years, but if you're lucky, and plan well enough, you'll "get by" with a couple of upgrades every now and then instead of a full overhaul once every few years. so like if ddr2 ram stays around for awhile, and/or 775 is good for awhile, and/or sata2 is good for awhile, and/or pci-e is compatible with pci-e 2, and/or newer 775 chipsets support core 2, you should be able to get by fine, but don't expect a system you build now to be able to be upgraded with the newest parts in 3 years...but also know that motherboards are (relatively) cheap so you can easily reuse a lot of parts...unless, of course, they change the socket, ram type, hard drive interface, and video card interface, all at the same time.

 

[moosey]

When I was talking about the PSU being overkill I was referring to the 7950GT setup. It wasn't really skimping as they were good replacements that fit in line with the system I was thinking. Anyway, I agree with the two posts above about future-proofing and all. However, I understand that you want something that'll last. The hard part is getting what you want and wanting to spend around $1K (from the OP). Your setup in the 1st post alone is above that, around $1200 IIRC.

Anyway, that PSU should be fine for an SLI setup. In that legitreviews link I gave you, they used an 850W Silverstone but it was the Zeus model (about $45 more). I'd also take a good look at the PC P&C Silencer 750 Quad for $200 (60amps on the 12V rail). Plus it has the 4 PCI-E connectors for 2 8800GTX cards, as do the Silverstone PSUs. (with other ones I'm assuming a simple PCI-E adapter could give you 4 from 2). http://www.pcpower.com/products/power_supplies/ultra-quiet/
I've read that the Corsair 620W (which I believe is made by SeaSonic) can handle SLI like that so I'm assuming something in that range or above, as well as its quality made, will handle it.

That leaves the other issue is that to take advantage of both of those cards you need the fastest CPU possible.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/29/geforce_8800_needs_the_fastest_cpu/
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/421/8/

In the end, I guess I don't understand your $1000 budget you had referred to as this in no way will cover what you want to accomplish. If you really want 2 GTX cards in SLI, maybe try to get one now and go for an e4300 processor and o/c the hell out of that. Then when you get more money you could upgrade the parts you need to. You'll have the good base with the evga 680i and the 2GB Corsair RAM and the PSU.

BTW, how do 2 8800GTS in SLI compare to 1 8800GTX alone?

EDIT: Just saw this http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html#certified_powersupplies

 

[Journer]

thanks for the input fellas...so here is what i'm looking at now:

evga 680i mobo
e6400 (debating on TEC air cooling or not)
2gb patriot d9 ram
evga 8800gtx
PCP&C silencer 750 quad

i agree with what you say about future proofing, but they way i see it if i stick with lga 775 i will be able to upg to quad core in the future as well as better pci 1.0 x16 cards that will come out...then the option of SLI (although it sucks being limited to Nvidia w/ that option, oh well)

and sorry about the price mixup...i meant ~1500...my pops is giving me 550 for my PC so iw as subtracting that already...

the above is ~1650 shipped...not too shabby

 

[moosey]

Nice build, looks like you get what you want with room to upgrade in the future. Good luck with that. Makes more sense now that the budget is $1500..lol.
BTW: The Silverstone 750W Zeus I think is $20 less than the PC P&C if money was real tight, just check newegg.
edit: sorry, actually only $15 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256006 I'd go with what you have

 

[Journer]

now a good question...should i spend the $$ on: http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835702002 or go with standard air cooling?

or the titan amanda for 20 bucks less + PCI card...hmmmmmmmmm

 

[f4phantom2500]

actually, here soon they're coming out with power supplies with 8-pin pci-e connectors (the new radeons will have them i believe), so that's something to consider. you can always get an adapter, which would work, but it won't be native.

 

[Journer]

so i went ahead and bought everything...my new system specs:

e6400 conroe
evga 680i
evga 8800gtx
2gb g.skill w/ D9s (anand said good things about this ram)
terml. big typhoon
120mm fan that pushes 110cfm (to plop on my typhoon...DOUBLE the cfm ...MWUAHAHA)
silverstone 750wt PSU (zues)

it wasnt cheap but i'm excited as hell...its going to be so kick ass on my 1080p monitor...w0000000t...

now:
xp pro
xp x64
vista x86
vista x64
? lol

prolly go with reg. XP pro and upg to vista x64 after a while

OC plans:
4-4-4-12 , 2.2v, ~400 fsb (3200mhz)
might bump the gtx up to 600/2000 depending on heat issues
lets hope i dont fry it >_<