I've been out of the game for a while

[paulxcook]

Right now I have a s939 rig that was neat several years ago but it's showing its age. Here's what I'm thinking-

Mobo - DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS Link

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz Link

Mem - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 Link

Video - EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX Link

HDD - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM Link

I would like to keep my OCZ Powerstream 600w PSU, will that be enough to power the above? I do not ever plan on doing sli or crossfire (obviously, given my mobo choice).

I have a 250gb sata2 7200rpm drive to use for data storage, the 10K one will be for Vista, XP, and programs. I forget, is it bad to have 2 OSes on the same drive?

I will keep my Antec P160 case for now. I won a DangerDen watercooling kit at a lan party 6 months ago, but I'm not sure it'll fit in my current case as it has a 3 x 120mm radiator. Any suggestions on a good case for under $200 that will allow installation of such a radiator?

Thanks fellas.

 

[Denithor]

Asus 4850 $150AR

Better performance & lower power consumption than 9800GTX, slightly higher price (I would also recommend against getting a 'recertified' video card, it will have a much shorter warranty period than a new card).

If primary use is gaming go for a faster dual-core rather than a quad-core. Few games support four cores at this point and the duals are cheaper & lower power as well. E8400 is the prefered chip for gaming (easily overclockable).

Gigabyte EP43-DS3L is a much better deal for motherboard, same price new as the open box you found. P43 chipset with solid overclocking features.

Your case & PSU are fine for reuse.

Visit the Operating Systems forum for details on how to correctly install XP & Vista on the same drive (I know they're picky about the order installed but don't remember all the tricks).

 

[paulxcook]

Thanks, that is the kind of advice I am looking for. I don't game as heavily as I used to, I figured the quad core would be good for things like video encoding. Are there encoding apps out there that utilize multi-core yet?

 

[akugami]

Most new video encoders will make good use of the quad core. Memory is cheap enough that you should probably move to 8GB of RAM if you edit videos and do a bit of encoding. Make sure to use Vista x64 in order to read 4GB or more of RAM. Have you considered a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB. Darned good drive for a darned good price. I have that 150GB Raptor but today...I'd likely get that WD Caviar Black instead.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: akugami
Most new video encoders will make good use of the quad core. Memory is cheap enough that you should probably move to 8GB of RAM if you edit videos and do a bit of encoding. Make sure to use Vista x64 in order to read 4GB or more of RAM. Have you considered a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB. Darned good drive for a darned good price. I have that 150GB Raptor but today...I'd likely get that WD Caviar Black instead.

Thanks for the reply. I don't do a ton of audio and video encoding and editing, just a casual hobby really. I think 4 GB will be sufficient. But at the price your point is well taken, I will keep it in mind. Sheesh it seems crazy to be able to own 8 GB of memory. Yes I will be using Vista Ultimate x64.

I just looked up the drive you mentioned. Great price for 1TB, but it's only 7200rpm. Though I need more space than I currently have I don't need a full TB right now, and the reason I wanted the velociraptor was for the 10k rpm speed for faster boots and load times. I can always add another HDD for more storage later.

 

[dmw16]

What is this going to be used for?

 

[Denithor]

If you're not gaming much cut back to a 4830 or 9800GT (should be ~$100AR). That should save you $50 or so.

Vista Ultimate - if you don't need the 'extras' that come with Ultimate just go for 64-bit Home Premium and save yourself $80.

If you're doing a fair amount of encoding go for a Q8200 and shoot for about a 3GHz overclock. That with 8GB RAM and a Velociraptor should give you very nice performance.

Concerning the choice of case, that's just too dependent on your personal tastes for us to really recommend something. Do you like flashy with windows & lights or a small HTPC style build or a standard mid-tower or a huge full tower, etc, etc, etc.

 

[adairusmc]

I had that DFI motherboard, and while it was nice - it was a severe PITA to get running just right.

I went with an Asus P5Q deluxe to replace it, and I love it so much more. Just worked, no tweaking necessary. Overclocks better than the DFI too.

I was actually using the same memory, processor, and hard drive too.


Edit - noticed that your board is the DK T2RS, I had the Lanparty UT P35-T2R. Read that wrong, sorry.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: dmw16
What is this going to be used for?

Gaming, video and audio encoding, some screwing around with photoshop, movie watching, other projects that I haven't decided on yet. I will not always need the power of a mid-to-high level gaming PC but I want it available to me when I do need/want it.

Originally posted by: Denithor
If you're not gaming much cut back to a 4830 or 9800GT (should be ~$100AR). That should save you $50 or so.

Vista Ultimate - if you don't need the 'extras' that come with Ultimate just go for 64-bit Home Premium and save yourself $80.

If you're doing a fair amount of encoding go for a Q8200 and shoot for about a 3GHz overclock. That with 8GB RAM and a Velociraptor should give you very nice performance.

Concerning the choice of case, that's just too dependent on your personal tastes for us to really recommend something. Do you like flashy with windows & lights or a small HTPC style build or a standard mid-tower or a huge full tower, etc, etc, etc.

I don't game as much as I used to (as in I'm not in clans and such anymore) but I do still play more than the average Joe. I am fine spending a bit on a video card. I will look at the 4830 though. I have an nvidia card right now but slightly prefer ati.

My university offers Vista Ultimate for cheap, that's why I'm going with that.

Ah I see the cpu you recommend is 45nm, good call. Will it be able to overclock as well as a q6600? With Dangerden watercooling kit I expect better than 3.0, is that reasonable with this proc? With my current PC, before the pump went bad, I had a 1.8 ghz Opteron OCed to 2.99 ghz stable.

Yeah for the case I'll just have to research whatever case can handle a big radiator for my WC kit. Hopefully it won't be too expensive.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I had that DFI motherboard, and while it was nice - it was a severe PITA to get running just right.

I went with an Asus P5Q deluxe to replace it, and I love it so much more. Just worked, no tweaking necessary. Overclocks better than the DFI too.

I was actually using the same memory, processor, and hard drive too.


Edit - noticed that your board is the DK T2RS, I had the Lanparty UT P35-T2R. Read that wrong, sorry.

Hey, someone I recognize from OT. I looked at the P5Q Deluxe but I hate spending so much on a mobo. I've always tried to get the lowest cost, highest potential mobo and sqeeze as much performance out of it as I can. That's what drew me to DFI several years ago when they came out with the s939 Lanparty mobos. $95 and it overclocked like crazy. But it had the finicky issues you mention, and it did eventually die. How much of an OC did you get with that board and the q6600?

 

[dmw16]

If you are gaming skip the 4830. I'd suggest either a 4850 or 4870 as that seems to be the sweet spot in price/performance right now. The GTX260 is also a good card. They raise your budget a little, but if you skip Vista Ultimate (which you probably can) and go for Home 64-bit then you can get the 4850 and come out ahead or the 4870 and about break even.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: dmw16
If you are gaming skip the 4830. I'd suggest either a 4850 or 4870 as that seems to be the sweet spot in price/performance right now. The GTX260 is also a good card. They raise your budget a little, but if you skip Vista Ultimate (which you probably can) and go for Home 64-bit then you can get the 4850 and come out ahead or the 4870 and about break even.

Unfortunately I can get Ultimate for $25 through my school so that won't work. I'm fine spending ~$150 for a 4850 though.

 

[jeffw2767602]

Go for the quad core. Sure you will get slightly slower fps, but it will mostly be in situations that won't matter. For instance, do you care if you are getting 90 fps instead of 98fps? And staying at a higher clocked dual core won't necessarily make an unplayable game playable. The quad shines in many other applications such as video editing. In other words, the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion by a significant margin for the quad core cpu. q6600 or a q8200 are fantastic values.

 

[aatf510]

Originally posted by: paulxcook

Ah I see the cpu you recommend is 45nm, good call. Will it be able to overclock as well as a q6600? With Dangerden watercooling kit I expect better than 3.0, is that reasonable with this proc? With my current PC, before the pump went bad, I had a 1.8 ghz Opteron OCed to 2.99 ghz stable.

If you are using a custom watercooling kit, you should get a Q9550 45nm (E0 stepping) and aim for 4.0GHz.

Asus P5Q Pro is a great board for overclocking Core 2 45nm if budget is a concern.

 

[jeffw2767602]

+1 for the q9550
IMHO the q6600 running at 3.2-3.6 is still hands down the best value in cpus, but you can't go wrong with a q9550 3.6-4ghz. BTW you can get an e0 guaranteed q9550 on ebay w/ MS Live Cashback for around $250 after the cashback. It is hard to compete with that.