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Xatrix

Senior member
Oct 19, 2004
398
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Hello!

First I want to thank renethx, he has helped me a lot in the last few days, however, I'm still undecided as to what to do.

My last build was in 2004, so I'm a little rusty.

I'm going to be transferring my current build into a new case and will sell it to my brother-in-law for $400 ish, and I will be starting from the ground up to build my next machine.

I primarily game on a 24" widescreen monitor (Dell 2405). I'm not getting the FPS I need and expect in the new games, and would like to upgrade.

My first question is simple:

Considering my monitor, do you think SLI is needed? Not too keen on popping $600 on 2x 8800s.

What would be a good motherboard for this processor? E6750. I would probably OC some... I have a really nice case with good cooling (Mountain Mods UFO).

Is artic silver still the way to go for mounting the HS/fan? Will 3 year old Arctic silver still work ok...?

Reccommendations on a HS/Fan? I'm currently using a thermaltake xp-120. I suppose this will depend on the MOBO I use. Which leads me to my next question, and probably most important, in my opinion:

Which MOBO!? I need OC'ing options and I need something stable as well as something that costs less than $150 if possible.

And lastly: Which RAM? I will be getting VISTA. 4GB enough? 8GB over-kill?

 
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cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
0
0
The Ausus and Gigabyte P35 models have good overclock options and are penryn ready.

The thermalright ultra extreme 120 is about the best cooling option you can get. A scythe s-flex 1600rpm is a good combination

4Gb will be plenty for now with 64-bit Vista.

Tuniq TX-2 and Arctic MX-2 have both overtaken the AS5.

IMO, SLI is still way too buggy and crashes on too many games to make it a worthwhile investment although I have been advised that when it works (on certain games) the performance is great. But I don't think it is good value given the problems that still prevail...
 
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cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
0
0
Don't really know a lot about the blood iron. Appears to be well built and has plenty of overclock options. I was going to comment further based on a review I just read but you really you need someone who has used the board for their input. What I can say is that DFI do make some damn fine boards...I just wouldn't know if this is one of them.
 
Denithor

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,298
23
81
The Blood Iron is certainly priced right for the features you get.

I don't recommend multi-GPU setups because they don't typically scale very well (I've seen cases where they performed worse than a single card of the same type).

I personally would recommend getting fresh thermal paste, I would certainly hate to cook a cpu because I wanted to save $5 and used old paste. (Note: the particles in thermal paste can agglomerate over time and settle to the bottom of the tube. If this has happened they won't spread uniformly on your cpu surface and obviously won't transfer heat as efficiently as intended.)

For most moderate overclocking (up to ~3GHz), just use the stock Intel HSF and even the thermal pad is probably just fine. These are well built models with quiet fans and solid performance up to that level. If going above that speed, get the Tuniq Tower 120 from Newegg ($45 shipped), it costs about $40 less than the Ultra-120 (+ a fan) with nearly the same performance.

Go with this Mushkin 2x1GB DDR2-800 kit ($55) if using 32-bit XP/Vista or move up to this Mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800 kit ($88 after MIR) if going with 64-bit Vista (no reason for 8GB yet).

EDIT: If you plan to buy Vista I would recommend the 64-bit edition with 4GB RAM, that's what I use and it's great (gaming, video encoding, gaming, general use, gaming, etc).
 
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lchyi

Senior member
May 1, 2003
935
0
0
I'm planning a build too Xatrix. And like you, I haven't built anything in a while (2002). Here's what I'm settling down on. I'm about 99% there I just don't know if I want to splurge on an 8800gt now or wait until it drops below $200 next year.

ABIT IP35 Pro
Corsair 520HX
E6750
GSkill 2x1GB DDR2800
Seagate Barracuda 320GB
Cooler Master RC-690 Midtower Case
~$700 total + $200 video card, I'm looking at a fantastic gaming rig for ~$900

But to answer your questions:
Which mobos? I'd go with the Gigabyte models... I don't remember the exact naming scheme... but the P35 DS3R one.
RAM? Don't get 8GB, it's a waste of cash. I'd say 4GB since everything is so cheap nowadays... I mean, 2GB for <$50
SLI? Don't bother, 8800GT is all you need right now.
 
Puffnstuff

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,187
4,871
136
I don't like the bloodiron because it uses a mix of electrolytic and hard caps but that's just me. We are in the process of replacing my sons am2 mb with a lga775 mb and looked at all of the options. In the end we settled on an ABIT IX38 Quad GT because spending just a little more aids in future proofing the system. Just keep your needs in mind versus the mb setup and see if it truly has what you are looking for.
 
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cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
0
0
Nice choice of parts. Just to let you know I think someone has a deal on the Corsiar PSUs (may have been a different model range) at 50$ that someone linked to on this site. I'll try and find it for you.

The EVGA 8800gt is a good choice at they let you 'step up' to a better model within 90 days if you choose and just pay the difference. Don't lose the invoice!!!
 
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cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
0
0
Originally posted by: Xatrix
What are your thoughts on the DFI P35 Dark
Click to expand...
Don't like it. Outdated northbridge and an old, potentially troublesome southbridge.

 
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cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
0
0
They are nice those evga 680i. But don't think they can take 45nm penryn. So I would probably go with a 750i or 780i instead.
 
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