New Rig: Lets celebrate and eat cookies....

[mind frell]

The current rig in my sig is getting a bit on in years and have managed to secure some funds for a completely new rig. Imagine my glee at this development.

I would love to say it is a purely gaming rig but I do a lot of 3d work also. I have a budget of around $1400-1500. I have a monitor that I will be using (ancient gateway 21" vx900 - thing weighs like 60 lbs.... ) and a mouse / keyboard combo. I have been trying to read up on subjects I know little but would love some advice. I'd heard I can easily push the q6600 to 3gHz so I guess I will be doing light overclocking. But I would love things to be super stable. I will also be using Vista Home Premium 64bit.

I'll most likely purchase everything during Black Friday - Cyber Monday dealio.

Cpu: q6600 G0 - clubit retail $273.00
Gpu: evga 8800gt ssc - evga $299.00
Psu: corsair 520hx - newegg $120.00
Case: Antec 900 - newegg $85.00
Dvd Burner: Asus w/ Lightscribe - newegg $39.00

Subtotal: $816

Need Help with....
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-p35-ds4 rev2.0 - newegg $178.00 this board looked nice, is it too much for my needs? Any comments? I think I want to stay within the p35 family though. Is the on board audio any good, will I need a separate card?

Ram: 4gb. I'd like 2x2gb but have no idea what so ever about brand or speed or anything within this subsection of life

HSF: um. tuniq tower? a shaved monkey with a nanner? I have no idea. Haha.

Speakers: Something 5.1? Maybe $150 ish? $100? Once again, I have no clue here.

Audio Card: Is this needed? Is onboard enough? The onboard on my dfi is a piece of crap, I wish I had known that when I got it. It caused so many errors outside of things I would have thought of. (Websites with embedded video wouldn't play)

Have I forgotten anything? I hope not, I hope I've provided enough info regarding my desires and dreams and motivations and what not. For the q6600 retail vs. OEM, I'd rather spend the 10 for the extra comfort the warranty implies. With the SSC 8800gt, I know I could prolly OC a stock one but the premium cost just brings a piece of mind I am willing to spend. Does that make sense?

Any money left over might go towards a cool keyboard / mouse combo or a nice new lcd. If you have any ideas of places to save, let me know

Have a fantastic Thursday everyone, thanks for stopping by!

always smiling,
frell

 

[mind frell]

I have angered the gods on Anandtech! I knew I should have sacrificed that old P3 board, but now in my forgetfulness I have doomed us all. We shall walk the earth, always wondering the intricacies of raisin cookies. Oh lord, what have I done?

This is a little tiny bump, haha...

I forgot, I have a hard drive. I knew I would forget something.... beyond pants that is.



frell
did you get that thing i sent you

 

[myocardia]

Your parts all look good. I'd recommend either that Gigabyte DS4, or the Abit IP-35 Pro motherboards. They're roughly the same price, and equivalent quality. Once just has eSATA and no firewire, and the other has firewire but no eSATA.

And definitely get the Tuniq Tower, and the Antec 900. Whether or not you'll be happy with the onboard sound of these newer boards is anyone's guess. Why not try it, then buy a sound card, if you aren't happy with it? And don't you already have speakers? Oh, and unless your old hard drives are SATA, you'll have to get new ones. These new boards only have one IDE controller.

 

[oynaz]

Seems like a good rig, but you forgot the most important part:

What kind of cookies?

 

[MarcVenice]

2x2gb is easier to overclock with, but 4x1gb works pretty good as well. Definately get 4gb if you're into 3d modelling though, you'd want ddr2 800mhz 4-4-4-12 ram, 2x1gb shouldn't cost more then 60$ AR. Mobo's, anything particular you need like eSATA or Firewire or Wifi ? Pick your mobo accordinly, p5k vanilla from asus for 130$ or gigabyte ds3r from gigabyte could save you some money if you don't need any of the aforementioned. Tuniq tower, for 45$ AR at newegg is a good deal for sure. Antec 900, good case, to flashy for me though. But if that's what you want, can't go wrong with it. Onboard sound is pretty good nowadays, just try it like myocardia said.

No real suggestions about the other parts.

 

[mind frell]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Whether or not you'll be happy with the onboard sound of these newer boards is anyone's guess. Why not try it, then buy a sound card, if you aren't happy with it? And don't you already have speakers? Oh, and unless your old hard drives are SATA, you'll have to get new ones. These new boards only have one IDE controller.

Ha, that's a great idea. Funny how some things escape your thoughts/decisions. If the sound sucks, just get a new card. (no sarcasm here, sorry it sounds that way) Awesome! All my drives will be Sata this time around, so no worries there. My speaker setup now is quite funny, atleast I think so. I had two Boston (?) sets and one speaker blew out so I replaced it with a different speaker from a different set. So I have two different speakers and it's a little hokey... plus they're like ancient. Old babies, like my monitor. Left over from the time of.... zombie monkeys. Thanks for the suggestions!

Originally posted by: oynaz
What kind of cookies?

Far be it for me to laugh in the face of change, but let it be known I am a choc'lit chip man. The old and reliable, thats not to say I don't take a dip on the wild side and enjoy a peanut butter cookie.

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Tuniq tower, for 45$ AR at newegg is a good deal for sure. Antec 900, good case, to flashy for me though. But if that's what you want, can't go wrong with it. Onboard sound is pretty good nowadays, just try it like myocardia said.

Flashy? heh. I guess it is. Although have you seen some cases these days! Wowzers (You prolly have, I'm just being a dork.) I think I will go with 2x2gb in case I ever someday go to 4x2gb. Perhaps, maybe, perhaps not? I'll look into the ds3r, 45 bucks is kinda nice,

Thank you all for the kind help! It looks like I solved the mobo (between the ds4 vs d23r), hsf, and audio card (on board for now).

I have some good ideas on ram, or better than what I had so thats good. Thanks again!

But...
Can anyone suggest proper speakers? I'd be super happy if I could dump my ghetto weird ass system and have something more professional. Heh.

And of course, thanks for all the help!
frell