G80 Build

[Aikouka]

Alright, I'm usually not a fan of asking for assistance like this, but I'll admit that I'm a fairly indecisive person and I could use some input as the G80 release is coming up quick and I'd like a better system to put it in.

What I currently have:
Athlon 64 X2 4400+
DFI LanPart NF4 UT
OCZ DDR400 Platinum 2x1GB
BFG GeForce 6800GT
Thermaltake Xaser III V2000A
OCZ PowerStream 520W
~lots of HDDs~

Okay, so it doesn't seem too bad, but for one, I need to call up BFG about the video card as it's had odd pixelation (the white dots you tend to see from memory problems or overheating on video cards) for quite awhile now. I'd also like to switch off the AMD platform to Intel's new Conroe release where I'll see more performance. Being stuck with older systems in the past has made me a glutton for performance as I tend to upgrade every 1-2 years.

What I have selected:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600:
Really the best bang for the buck that offers more performance stock than my 4400+. I don't see the 6700 as being worth the extra money, but this one proved its worth on the benchmarks as it pretty much beats out any of AMD's offerings.

2x Seagate 7200.10 750GB HDDs (will likely be getting 2 more):
I'm a man who needs his hard drive space. I download quite a bit (not necessarily illegally mind you ), and I found myself having trouble keeping things neat and organized as much as finding space for it all. I'll most likely make a partition on one of the 750s (probably 60-100GB) for the OS and leave the rest as storage. I threw one of these 750s into my current system as I ran out of space and let me tell you... people complain about noise.. I've heard nothing and I have so much space to combine everything onto one drive that it's just amazing. Certainly blows my 200-320GB HDDs out of the water.

PC Power and Cooling 750W Silencer:
Although this PSU may be seen as a bit of overkill, what really sold me was the great statistics and the solid tests on this PSU. It may cost a bit more, but when you need proper power, this delivers (I feel like an ad right about now...)

GeForce 8800GTX:
Not exactly sure what brand I'll be buying... probably another BFG. I'm definitely a bit tired of the 6000 series and I'd like to get something that spanks the monkey in performance . If the GTX is too hard to get, I might just settle for the GTS. I'm one of those anal people who can't stand jaggies in games and loves turning AF on to make the game "purdy."


Now, that leaves me with a couple categories left: memory, case, motherboard and cooling.

Memory:
Price doesn't matter, but if I'm only going to see 5fps for that extra $100, I'd like you to mention that as well . Almost when it comes to ram performance, there's a solid curve but it begins to taper off. What I'm looking for is RAM that sits at the point where the curve begins to taper off. I probably will not overclock this system at all. If any, I may OC it a tiny bit but nothing extreme. I'm really only looking for a 2GB dual-ddr pack (2x1GB).

Motherboard:
God, this choice has given me the most trouble so far. I mean, back when I was looking at AMD, it was so clearcut that you went with an nVidia chipset and manufacturers like DFI. Now, I look at motherboards and see that a decent chunk of motherboards have out-of-the-box issues.

What I'm looking for is a motherboard with a great set of features for the price. Like I mentioned when looking for memory, the motherboard doesn't need to be an overclocker's paradise. Also, price isn't the biggest issue. What I would like is a decent performing (yet again, kind of at that taper point) motherboard with a great feature set. 4 or more SATA ports (preferably more) is also a requirement.

Case:
I need a case with room. I can't stand working in cases where I can barely fit my hands in with all the wires and drives in. This is the best advantage to owning my Xaser III case, but my XIII has absolutely the worst cooling possible. It needs to be able to fit 4 HDDs (and possibly more, you never know) and two optical drives (God knows that as long as games exist on CDs, I will always prefer 2 opticals to avoid having a game's install stutter while it wants another CD).

For this option, I kind of have my eye on a case at the moment as it seems to offer quality, space and airflow. Even as an inverted case, it looks like it'll have enough room for the PCP&C PSU.

Lian-Li PC-V1200B Plus II
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811112066

Note, that I only like black cases . I'm a man who's obsessed with things being black as black is quite the sexy color for cars, etc.

Cooling:
I don't need watercooling or anything crazy like that. I really just prefer a good quality heatsink combined with a quieter fan. Currently, I'm using a Thermalright XP-90C, and it works nicely with my Pana-flo fan, but I'm open to any other brand. I'd say something around a $50-60 price range seems quite alright here. Also, please throw in suggestions for a nice fan to fit the heatsink if you can

Thank you, in advance, for your help. I could really use it as this point as I've been a bit indecisive as mentioned and any helped would be greatly appreciated as I hope to have this system setup this week.

Note that I'm not including optical in here as that's really a moot section. I'll probably just buy two DVD burners and a floppy disk (yes, I install floppy diskette drives in every one of my PCs You'll rue the day you don't when you need one)

 

[Geomagick]

Ask again in a week and it will be much easier to answer.

For a start nvidia 6xx chipset will be out as will the 8800 series cards.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: George Powell
Ask again in a week and it will be much easier to answer.

For a start nvidia 6xx chipset will be out as will the 8800 series cards.

Most of these components do not require waiting on the graphics card. The only component relating toward your release would be the newer nVidia chipset, which I don't know if I'm going to go with nVidia for the chipset when it comes to an Intel CPU.

 

[Aikouka]

Nevermind, I found my own items... thanks for all your help (or lack thereof).

I'm going with:
Case: LIAN LI PC-V1200Bplus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-965P-DQ6 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Memory: OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P800R22GK - Retail

HSF: ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Copper Heatsink - Retail

Before you even make a remark, yes I know about the "Crazy Cool" device on the back of the motherboard and yes I know how to get around it.

You know, for all the times I help people around here, I'm always disappointed to see my posts for assistance in matters that I cannot solve slide into the deep recesses without any avail or even a peek by others.

 

[imported_goku]

why upgrade, a 6800GT isn't a very old card at all, hell it's certainly better than my 9800pro that I've managed to continue to use.. You might be happier if you wait a bit longer for a revision of this card or for a card that consumes considerably less power.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: goku
why upgrade, a 6800GT isn't a very old card at all, hell it's certainly better than my 9800pro that I've managed to continue to use.. You might be happier if you wait a bit longer for a revision of this card or for a card that consumes considerably less power.

Well, two reasons relating to the same thing (kind of like a branch effect):

1. I currently use two monitors and since I play World of Warcraft, I tend to multi-task a lot. Anyone who's played the game will tell you that there's a bit of downtime associated.. it was built that way as most MMOs are. So, what do I do to keep myself at peaked entertained status... play a video on my off-LCD... chat (not too intensive) or something else. The first example can severely hamper framerates if done at the same time. Ever play a DVD quality H264 video while playing a game? I mean, Maki Goto sure is a hottie, but God, it hurts my gameplay .

2. My 6800GT doesn't have two DVI ports. Now, this isn't a big deal to some if I mention my LCDs have dual-input. But the thing is... the Samsung SyncMaster 205BW's have an issue with displaying VGA signals that results in poorer quality and a horrible pink hue from vertical angles. This bothers me profusely and I can't stand it.

Also a semi third, since I have relatively big LCDs, I need to be able to play any game in 1680x1050 without slowdowns with all the eye candy turned on. I don't like jaggies; I don't like blurred effects from the lack of AF. I am very anal about my gameplay.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: goku
why upgrade, a 6800GT isn't a very old card at all, hell it's certainly better than my 9800pro that I've managed to continue to use.. You might be happier if you wait a bit longer for a revision of this card or for a card that consumes considerably less power.

Well, two reasons relating to the same thing (kind of like a branch effect):

1. I currently use two monitors and since I play World of Warcraft, I tend to multi-task a lot. Anyone who's played the game will tell you that there's a bit of downtime associated.. it was built that way as most MMOs are. So, what do I do to keep myself at peaked entertained status... play a video on my off-LCD... chat (not too intensive) or something else. The first example can severely hamper framerates if done at the same time. Ever play a DVD quality H264 video while playing a game? I mean, Maki Goto sure is a hottie, but God, it hurts my gameplay .

2. My 6800GT doesn't have two DVI ports. Now, this isn't a big deal to some if I mention my LCDs have dual-input. But the thing is... the Samsung SyncMaster 205BW's have an issue with displaying VGA signals that results in poorer quality and a horrible pink hue from vertical angles. This bothers me profusely and I can't stand it.

Also a semi third, since I have relatively big LCDs, I need to be able to play any game in 1680x1050 without slowdowns with all the eye candy turned on. I don't like jaggies; I don't like blurred effects from the lack of AF. I am very anal about my gameplay.

So... what are saying? Who are you blaming in this scenario? I too multitask like you and having dual screens hasn't been a issue for me, though I can't recall if I've ever played video in the second screen while a video game was running or not. So are you saying your video card is the limiting factor in this scenario or are you saying your CPU is the limiting factor?

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: goku
So... what are saying? Who are you blaming in this scenario? I too multitask like you and having dual screens hasn't been a issue for me, though I can't recall if I've ever played video in the second screen while a video game was running or not. So are you saying your video card is the limiting factor in this scenario or are you saying your CPU is the limiting factor?

The video card is by far the limiting factor; however, I'd still like to upgrade to a newer system as the 3-component upgrade isn't really that expensive and I've been looking to off-load file-serving (FTP, etc) tasks to another PC for awhile now. So, I'd turn the current PC that I use into a server as it has like ... 1.5TB of space available on it and try to keep my current machine as more of a "real PC" (I can't think of a better term for it) that's for video and gaming. Heck, I could even off-load any encoding/rendering tasks to the other PC.

So, even though I'd be replacing a whole PC, which some may see as a bit ludicrous, since it isn't that bad. But I see it as a way to fill a gap that I've had for awhile. I'd like to remove some of the mundane and I/O intensive tasks off my current PC.

Also, Goku, even when playing a video on one screen, I've experienced slowdowns while using the other screen for mere chatting. I think it's because most videos I download now are being encoded in H264 and my PC no me gusta H264 .