How's This For A Gaming Rig?

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jcenters

Member
May 1, 2007
59
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Power Supply
Corsair 520HX $70 after MiR (Buy.com deal)

Case
Cooler Master RC-330 $40 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119115

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128012

Processor
Intel C2D E4400 $116 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115013

Memory
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2 667 $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820134046

Video Card
EVGA Nvidia Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB $280 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130082

DVD Burner
LG 18x $31 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827136108

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM ATA (Holdover from current system)

I plan to overclock the E4400 to around 3 ghz. I've heard a lot of mixed things about the DS3, but it's the cheapest 1333 FSB-compatible overclocking mobo that I'm aware of. Unless someone can suggest something better.
 
T

Tsuwamono

Senior member
Mar 17, 2006
592
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I would scrap the 8800 GTS... My X1950 Pro can keep up with that thing. Id get a X1950 XT for that price which is much better. You can then upgrade to a DX 10 GPU when you actually need one
 
T

The-Noid

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2005
3,117
4
76
Originally posted by: Tsuwamono
I would scrap the 8800 GTS... My X1950 Pro can keep up with that thing. Id get a X1950 XT for that price which is much better. You can then upgrade to a DX 10 GPU when you actually need one
Click to expand...

You are delusional.

Please buy the 8800 gts. It is not even a contest between it and the X1950. Are you looking at the 8600 gts?
 
J

jcenters

Member
May 1, 2007
59
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lol, surprisingly, he's not the first person to suggest that I buy a X1950. The reasoning was that I can save money up front with the X1950, then buy a better DX10 card down the road. Only problem is that the X1950 is a lot less powerful than the 8800 GTS, and it's not much cheaper either.

As for RAM, how is A-Data? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820211066 is only $10 more than my first choice, and it runs at 1.8v.
 
PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,766
615
126
I think he just confused the 8800gts with the 8600gts...easy enough considering how convoluted video card name schemes are. The 8600gts does blow ass compared to the cheaper x1950pro. And at its price range, it actually competes with the signifigantly faster x1950xt.
 
kalrith

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,628
7
81
Originally posted by: jcenters
lol, surprisingly, he's not the first person to suggest that I buy a X1950. The reasoning was that I can save money up front with the X1950, then buy a better DX10 card down the road. Only problem is that the X1950 is a lot less powerful than the 8800 GTS, and it's not much cheaper either.

As for RAM, how is A-Data? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820211066 is only $10 more than my first choice, and it runs at 1.8v.
Click to expand...

I think A-Data's OK. I would check to see what RAM works best with your mobo, because that's more important than the brand name of the RAM.

Also, here's a deal on Crucial Ballistix for $100 after a $40 MIR. It would be $90 AR if you could get the $10 off for a new Google Checkout account.
 
yh125d

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
6,886
0
76
Originally posted by: Tsuwamono
i meant to say X1950 XT which actually does beat the 8800 GTS 320mb.
Click to expand...

you're just dumb as hell aren't you
 
T

theprodigalrebel

Lifer
Oct 4, 2004
10,515
6
81
Good build. And the DS3 v3.3 is now at $139.99? It was $15 cheaper just a day or two ago.

The Rev 1.3 is at $109.99 and according to this thread, the only differences are:
Rev. 1.3: FSB 1333MHz, one system fan header, ALC883
Rev. 3.3: FSB 1333MHz, three system fan headers, ALC888
Click to expand...

Just thought you should know. The other options at that price point are the never-in-stock DFI Infinity P965-S - considered to be an overall excellent board and the ASUS P5B-Plus.

Searching for the ASUS P5B-Plus only returned some dude's signature from HardOCP who has it running an E6400 at 400x8. Not much else is known about it for now. It has a Firewire port if that is important to you. The choice is yours - the DS3 is truly tried and tested and a no-brainer. The DFI (if you can find it in stock) has rave reviews. The ASUS...well, nothing is known about it so can't recommend it.

Good choice on the CPU/GPU. 667MHz will not be a limiting factor in overclocking the E4xxx chips but there are DDR2 800 2GB kits at the same price point from competitors. Check them out too.
 
J

jcenters

Member
May 1, 2007
59
0
0
Thanks for the recommendations. After seeing the results in the lightscribe thread, I decided to go with the Samsung SATA DVD burner. I'm sticking with the A-Data memory. It's not officially supported by Gigabyte, but others have reported it working with that chipset, and it meets all the requirements.

I think I'll stick with the 3.3 revision, as no one can quite figure out exactly what the 1.3 is. I'll keep my eye on it though. But the big question is where to buy the DS3. ClubIT has it for about $20 less, and it's a guaranteed 3.3. However, their replacement policy is only 30 days vs. Newegg's one year. I guess that all comes down to Gigabyte's customer support. Anyone want to share experiences?
 
Bill Brasky

Bill Brasky

Diamond Member
May 18, 2006
4,324
1
0
I've never had any personal experience overclocking with ddr2, but all the oc'ers are yelling that you should buy ddr2 made with micron D memory chips. Apparently, they're the best quality, and you should try to get them if they fit your budget. However, I don't know if it really makes any difference; this is just what I've read.

DDR2 RAM List
 
L

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
8,771
58
91
quote:

Rev. 1.3: FSB 1333MHz, one system fan header, ALC883
Rev. 3.3: FSB 1333MHz, three system fan headers, ALC888

so if i power my fans from a fan controller and use a sound card then there's 0 difference between the revisions?
 
S

Sdiver2489

Senior member
Nov 7, 2003
303
0
0
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Originally posted by: flounder
Originally posted by: Tsuwamono
i meant to say X1950 XT which actually does beat the 8800 GTS 320mb.
Click to expand...

How do you figure? The 8800gts 320mb beats the X1950XTX in almost all the rounds
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2926&p=4
Click to expand...

Turn up the settings.
The picture changes a bit when you have AA and AF on.
Click to expand...

It's the effect of the rediculously high resolutions they are testing. It runs into the memory barrier there and it brickwalls its performance. Any test at a typical resolution is dominated by the 8800 GTS 320. 1600x1200 is semi-common but everything above that I would say is used by less than 5% of the gaming population.
 
J

jcenters

Member
May 1, 2007
59
0
0
Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Turn up the settings.
The picture changes a bit when you have AA and AF on.
Click to expand...

So, according to those tests, the 8800gts 320mb is about equal to the x1950 on a couple of games, and absolutely blows it away in others?

Thanks, that helps make up my mind.
 
kalrith

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,628
7
81
FYI, the X1950XT is $180 at Newegg right now, which is $100 less than that 8800GTS in your OP.

Edit: It's the 256MB version. I'm not sure how that performs compared to the 512MB version.
 
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