Final Intel SFF gaming specs. How'd I do?

[Freezebyte]

Ok, after nearly a month of tireless research, hours of clicking and reading through various forums, more google searches then I usually do in a year and eating up more of NewEggs bandwith then should be allowed and asking more questions that I probably spent some peoples sanity here, I have my finalized specs for my new light SFF gaming build to retire my old Athlon 64 setup.

Here's what i've got on my wishlist at the egg and plan on ordering the morning of the 31st as soon as my direct deposit goes through *Oooh a Halloween build *

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115036

ASUS P5E-VM HDMI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131237

G.Skill 4GB DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

MS Windows Vista Home Premium OEM 64bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

Parts already purchased:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
Asus DRW-2014L1T DVD SATA Lightscribe DVD/RW
SILVERSTONE Sugo SG01B-F

Parts reused from Athlon 64 setup

Antec NeoHE 500watt
BFG 7800GTX OC PCI-E
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 PCI

I've weighed my options, pluses and minuses and decided im' better off with the dual core for now as I simply don't use the programs to warrant going quad. I"ll be upgrading the 7800GTX OC sometime next year with something. After reseaching I determined that Vista now seems stable and worthwhile to finally let my aging XP Pro retire as my main OS, hopefully I won't regret it.

A few final notes on this setup:

1. Do you think I could take the E8500 to 3.8ghz with the current specs on a stock cooler? Think I might need to up any of the voltages? I decided this layout would at least give me the option of OC a little bit vs saving money and having no OC potential vs spending alot more on equipment that I may or may not OC or have success with.

2. Triple checking once more time. Think the PSU will have enough juice for my intended plans?

Thanks all, your input and advice has been greatly appreciated this past month

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Freezebyte
1. Do you think I could take the E8500 to 3.8ghz with the current specs on a stock cooler?

Most likely not. 3.5-3.6 Ghz is about all the stock heatsink seems to be able to handle.

2. Triple checking once more time. Think the PSU will have enough juice for my intended plans?

It most likely will, at least until you replace the video card. You do realize that even with an E8500 @ stock speed, you're going to be extremely GPU-bound (your processor will spend most of it's time waiting on your slow video card to "catch up"), don't you?

 

[eyk03]

Yeah, I agree. Why bother upgrading all the other parts now when your gaming performance won't really improve proportional to the money you're putting in? I think you should just save the money and then get all the parts at once...it's likely some of them will have fallen in price by that point too.

 

[Denithor]

^^ Right on. You really won't see much change in gaming with just a CPU upgrade. You do realize that the $80 4670 will completely smoke your 7800GTX OC, don't you? And even more so the higher up the GPU food chain you go.

Of course, this also depends on how you define light gaming (games & resolution).

 

[Freezebyte]

Light gaming will pretty much be WoW at 1680x1050. I need an upgrade as even webpages were pegging my Athlon 64 useage, and I coudln't multitask worth crap without my system chugging flipping through windows.

I want a new system now, I can wait for the video card, it works just fine for my needs ATM.

 

[Denithor]

For just WoW @ 16x10 you'll be fine with the 7800GTX. WoW runs great @ 16x12 on a 7900GS which is about the equal of your card, on a lower end cpu/ram system than you will have shortly. Enjoy!

 

[aclim]

system looks nice. Have you checked out these CPU coolers yet?

clicky

If you game fine now with your current GPu, keep it for now and wait for the next refresh of GPU to come out to decide.

Get a X-FI soundcard!

And if you are worried about your PSU, Silverstone makes a nice PSU made for SFF system. It has shorter cables for easier management.

 

[Freezebyte]

Yeah, i'm getting mixed messages about the stock cooler. Some say it will handle OC speeds, others say it won't. I don't have alot of room in a SG01-F, so wonder what are my options. My Neo doesn't have a bottom fan so a NT06 won't work.