Gaming System

[Achi]

Hey all, Im a total building newb but considering it for my first gaming PC. Sofar here are my choices:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred

Motherboard: ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA

Memory: Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 800

PSU: Antec TPQ 850 (850W)

Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 8800GTS 320MB

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1

Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB

This all comes out to about $1650 for parts. Any reccommendations, concerns...? I planned on fitting the one video card in for now but will the case have room I want to fit a second (through SLI) later? Is the processsor a good choice or would I get better performance from a higher GHz Duo model (dont know anything about overclocking so will prob just build with standard specs for now)? Finally I know jack about motherboards. This one has the x38 from intel and the ability to support DDR3 for future upgrades (why I chose it).

 

[bamacre]

Any reason to go with an X38 board over a P35 board?

Power supply is tremendously overkill. A Corsair 520W would suit your needs well.

Go with an 8800 GT over the current crop of GTS cards (new GTS cards are around the corner, and the GT is faster than the current GTS).

I wouldn't bother with SLI, as its a horrible upgrade path. One single new card is almost always faster than two older cards in SLI, and often a new card will offer new features.

 

[Roguestar]

Edit: ^^ damnit, beaten by a minute!

You don't need an 850W PSU. Nobody needs an 850W PSU. Get the Corsair 520HX and be happier and richer.

SLI is a waste of money, especially with mid-range cards.

The Q6600, while having a slower clock speed than a few of the Core 2 Duo range, will still eliminate the CPU as a bottleneck from all current and imminent games. Spending more cash on the graphics card (8800GT for example) would make massively more sense than spending more on the CPU.

 

[DSF]

How long do you plan to keep the system? What OS are you planning to use?

For gaming, if you want to get a discrete sound card the X-Fi seems to be the consensus choice. A lot of people are just going with onboard sound, although you miss out on EAX then.

Definitely go with an 8800GT instead of the 8800GTS, and the Corsair 520HX or even 450VX for your PSU. As far as SLI, it won't happen with your current motherboard, as you need an nVIDIA chipset for SLI. Honestly though, I wouldn't worry about SLI as an upgrade path, and I wouldn't bother with a combo board either. You can save yourself $200 on the motherboard by going with something like the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R which would be fine for your purposes.

If you're planning to upgrade the CPU within two years and you're not looking to overclock, a dual-core is probably more economical than the quad core. But hey, if money isn't an object, why not get the Q6600.

 

[IEC]

The motherboard and PSU are overkill.

A solid $90-$180 P35 motherboard will more than suffice for a Q6600 even with overclocking. Also, XMS RAM performs a few % better than value RAM...

If you insist on getting a beefy PSU, look for an Etasis 750W or 850W unit. They are server grade.

 

[Achi]

Cool Thanks fellas. The idea with a more powerful PSU was for multiple graphics cards and future expandability. Kinda the idea of building was go with good, fast, core components (PSU, Processor, Motherboard) and can upgrade anything else as the need arises. I plan on keeping the system as long as its useful, upgrading as I go.

So sounds like the processor choice is good (I also run some engineering programs that require some processor horsepower, and I multitask). I may overclock some time but really just looking for stable performance my first go around here.

Sounds like I should ditch the SLI idea? Thats cool, how long until the new cards come out? Going to be a few weeks before im ready to build anyway.

Ahh the motherboard, thanks for all the input. This was the part I thought would be important to be most upgradeable (and set aside a bit of money for). I thought the X38 because it has an intel chipset (which I read is generally the best) and can use DDR3 for future upgrades. Sounds like the P35 is a good choice though? Can it use DDR3?

In terms of the case im not in love with it aesthetically, but the uber cooling fans seemed like a good idea. Is cooling usually a problem (everyone seems to ran about it)?

And sorry I forgot to metion, I was planning on running windows vista, hopefully 64-bit.

Phew sorry long post lol.

 

[jkresh]

3870 (ati's answer to the 8800gt) and the 8800gts should be out in November, the replacement for the 8800gtx is supposedly sometime in first quarter 08 but ...

 

[Roguestar]

"Multitasking" is used as too many people's justification for buying a quad-core PC. I really would like to see the multitasking they do that a dual-core PC can't timeslice its way out of.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
"Multitasking" is used as too many people's justification for buying a quad-core PC. I really would like to see the multitasking they do that a dual-core PC can't timeslice its way out of.

Ripping/decss'ing a dvd, dl'ing multiple torrents, listening to itunes, while playing a game. Although a faster hard disk / raid setup would also benefit in this situation.