Looking to build a new rig

[Bluntey]

Core 2 duo E6700- $317 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115002

Evga 8800GTS 320mb- $289 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130082

Asus P5N32 $179- http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131153

In my current setup my power supply is fine at 600W. I have two quite big hard drives so those are fine.
I also have a extra case that I can use. My question is tho.. I have 3 gigs of gskill pc-4000 3-4-4-8 memory.
In my current setup for some reason I was only able to use 2gigs and it wouldn't work with 3. Is 3 gigs of that
memory somewhat good for my setup that I posted above? or is the memory outdated? Thanks for the input.

 

[Tarrant64]

You're going to need to upgrade your memory to DDR2.

 

[Mr Fox]

Originally posted by: Bluntey
Core 2 duo E6700- $317 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115002

Evga 8800GTS 320mb- $289 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130082

Asus P5N32 $179- http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131153

In my current setup my power supply is fine at 600W. I have two quite big hard drives so those are fine.
I also have a extra case that I can use. My question is tho.. I have 3 gigs of gskill pc-4000 3-4-4-8 memory.
In my current setup for some reason I was only able to use 2gigs and it wouldn't work with 3. Is 3 gigs of that
memory somewhat good for my setup that I posted above? or is the memory outdated? Thanks for the input.

Your Memory will not work with that MOBO... You need DDR2
I would go this way if it was me on the same coins....


DDR2 Memory

Core 2 Quad

Or

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

This CPU is at 3.0Gigs Stock and has the High End Architecture and 1333 FSB.

ABIT IP35 Pro

Or

ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI


Intel Chipsets are less issue prone that NVIDIA.


Add your Vid Card and you are at or under budget...

 

[Bluntey]

Thanks for the input! Will this work?

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (pc2 6400) $109
ASUS P5K DELUXE $219
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 $289
Evga 8800GTS 320MB $289

total: $906

Just another quick question.. how big is the performance upgrade from the 8800gts 320mb to the 640mb one?

 

[xitshsif]

Originally posted by: Bluntey
Thanks for the input! Will this work?

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (pc2 6400) $109
ASUS P5K DELUXE $219
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 $289
Evga 8800GTS 320MB $289

total: $906

Just another quick question.. how big is the performance upgrade from the 8800gts 320mb to the 640mb one?

Consider this motherboard Link

The difference in video cards depends on what resolution you're gaming at.

 

[Bluntey]

Thanks for all the input guys! I have decided to step my pricing up a few more hundred dollars. Anywhere between 1100-1200ish would be great. Also I think I got all my parts in place.

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (pc2 6400) $109
ASUS P5K DELUXE $219
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 $289
Evga 8800GTS 640MB

I have chose the asus P5K DELUXE because I basically want 2 pci-e slots because in a few months from now I might do dual 8800gts's. Does anyone have that board or know anyone that has that board? I read on some websites that it has some known issues, is that true? Out of all the systems I built there was always a problem with one of the parts and I had to most likely send it back and order a new one or different part.. as you guys can see i'm being very cautious and trying to avoid it as much as I can this time around.

 

[xitshsif]

The P5K Deluxe can't do SLI. Dual 8800GTS's would not be an option.

 

[Bluntey]

Okay, can you recommend a good stable board that can do SLI? I don't want to do sli immediately.. I just want it available to me for a future upgrade. I noticed in the mobo you posted me above that it does not have SLI.

 

[xitshsif]

Honestly I have no idea. I've always recommended people to stay away from SLI as an upgrade plan. In my experience, it usually turns out that buying a single new video card is more worthwhile without the hassles. If you're really set on getting an SLI motherboard, try posting in the motherboards forum, or searching through existing threads here. However, I think you'll mostly find people discouraging you from using SLI as an upgrade path.

 

[Bluntey]

Hmm.. well I don't know really.. I never tried SLI so I was never able to experience it. Currently my Opteron 165, 2GB pc4200 memory and 7800gt has been treating me well. Now that bioshock is coming and crysis is on its way out.. i'm looking for an upgrade. If the rig that I posted can last me another 2 years on medium-max settings on most new games then I will be a happy camper. My own problem is with the P5K deluxe is it only has 1 IDE port. Currently I have 1 sata hard drive.. 2X dvdrw drives and 1X ide hard drive.. so basically I would need two ports. Should I just search for a mobo with two IDE slots.. or ditch my 150 gig IDE hard drive and buy a sata one?

Also I read the P5K has sata issues.. like random lockups. I hope that can be fixed with a bios upgrade

 

[xitshsif]

PATA is a thing of the past. You'll probably have trouble finding a new motherboard with 2 IDE ports, and you don't want that to be your deciding factor. You can get SATA DVD burners for $30 easily, and SATA hard drives are the norm. If you really want to keep your current drives, you could buy a PCI card to give you more PATA ports.

Also, what resolution do you game at? That makes a big impact on what settings you'll be able to run at.

 

[Bluntey]

well.. It has 1 IDE port.. so thats all I need basically right? I got a double IDE cable.. so I can just pop those two into my 2 dvdrw drives and use that for my IDE port and the hard drives both on sata? I found a 250GB 7200rpm sata drive for about $60-70 on newegg. Would that work? Currently I game at 1280X1024 on this lcd monitor. Planning on upgrading it soon to a higher resolution.. which is why I chose the 640MB video card.

 

[xitshsif]

A single 8800GTS is plenty for 1280x1024. You'd be fine at 1680x1050 too.

 

[Bluntey]

Okay.. I'll gohead and order that setup along with a sata HD. Thanks a bunch for your help.

My next step is probably the technical support forums because I usually have bad luck when building new rigs. Usually something goes wrong and I have to swap parts =\.

Thanks for help!

 

[Boyo]

I would reccommend getting two hard drives since you are a gamer. Place all your apps and games on the first drive, and then place your other things like pics, documents and backups on the second.

 

[Bluntey]

Well I got two hard drives now.. one is the 74gig raptor.. and the other will probably be a 400gig or 500g hard drive. Should I install my games on the raptor tho since its 10k rpms? Would it be faster? or should I just install it on the 500gig 7.2k rpm HD?

 

[xitshsif]

Originally posted by: Boyo
I would reccommend getting two hard drives since you are a gamer. Place all your apps and games on the first drive, and then place your other things like pics, documents and backups on the second.

How would that help at all? The only way I could see that possibly being a good idea is using something small and fast like a raptor as the OS/game disk, and having the other stuff on a separate disk simply because it won't fit. If both disks are the same speed, there is no advantage as far as I can see.

Edit: Ok, I started writing before the previous message was posted. The raptor may be slightly faster, and you might as well use it since you've got it, but the difference should be minor.