New Setup, new problems

[melchoir55]

I am trying to build a gaming machine that will run anything at max in 1600x1200

Through some helpful forum advice, this is where I'm at:

CPU: E6400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004 $218
Mobo: Asus P5B Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045 $182
RAM: 2x 1GB Firestix http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820150054 $242
Video Card: Still not clear on this
HD: 320GB Seagate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...148140&ATT=22-148-140&CMP=OTC-d3alt1me $95
Case: Not sure
Cooling solution: Not sure

As far as the vid card is concerned, I am considering going with the 8800 GTS.
Now, I want the option to pop in a second 8800GTS down the line. I heard a disturbing rumor that suggested the mobo I have specified above will only do xfire, not sli. Can anyone tell me if this is the case? I can't find documentation on it anywhere.

Another thing that should be noted:
The cpu stock speed is about 2.1ghz, I want to overclock to 2.8ghz. I hear this is possible without even changing the voltage. Is my RAM selection appropriate for this endeavor?

Case/cooling:
Absolutely NO idea what to do here.

I was trying to do this all for 1100, but now I am looking at 1400 as my upper limit.

 

[brikis98]

Until recently, 965 motherboards with dual PCI-E x16 slots did not support any mutli-GPU (SLI/CF) solution. However, according to this article, with the release of the Catalyst 6.10 drivers, you can get solid CF performance on them. No idea if nvidia will be able to support SLI on those mobos. I personally think SLI/CF is rarely worth it, as it doubles the price, the power consumption and the heat while offering much less than double the performance, and the gains are typically only noticeable at high resolutions (1600x1200 and above). in your case, by the time you decide to buy a second 8800gts, it's likely there will be a much better single GPU alternative, making it not worthwhile to go with SLI (not that you can, at least now, w/ that mobo anyway). the 8800gtx, for example, can handle any game today at absolutely max settings at 1600x1200 and in half a year it'll prob be a lot cheaper. in fact, w/ the possible of oblivion in outdoor environments at 1600x1200, the 8800gts can handle any modern game as well.

however, the 965p chipset is supposed to be excellent for OCing (prob. only the nvidia 680i chipset is better) and you prob will be able to hit 2.8ghz with that CPU/RAM. it varies, obv, but on average the OCing results with c2d are very good, esp. if you get a decent HSF (although you could get there even with stock).

So, you're just missing a case and a PSU. For the case, I'd stick with reputable brands, such as Lian Li, Antec, Cooler Master, etc... something like this should do nicely...

as for the PSU, if you stick with a single GPU, the enhance 5150gh should do the trick. if you do go w/ SLI or CF, i'd get something very high quality, such as the Seasonic S12-600...

 

[melchoir55]

Some good advice that I appreciate.

I have been doing alot of reading on sli/CF and I think I agree with you that it's way too expensive for the performance. I was thinking of dropping down to a mid-range card at around 270 bucks but since I can get an 8800GTS for only 100 more.. I think I'm going to have to do that.

I'lll go hunt around your suggestions for cases. I'm going to go with 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan. I'll pop in another exhaust if the casI buy ends up with a fan port on the top.
From what I've read this should be enough cooling for bumping the e6400 up to 2.8ghz since all that is necessary is jumping the FSB up to 400 and dropping the multiplier to 7, no change of voltage is even necessary.

I have been seeing some people talking about PSU's apart from cases, should I be looking at cases that come with 600W psu's or should I get an empty case and go buy a 600w psu?

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: melchoir55
Some good advice that I appreciate.

I have been doing alot of reading on sli/CF and I think I agree with you that it's way too expensive for the performance. I was thinking of dropping down to a mid-range card at around 270 bucks but since I can get an 8800GTS for only 100 more.. I think I'm going to have to do that.

I'lll go hunt around your suggestions for cases. I'm going to go with 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan. I'll pop in another exhaust if the casI buy ends up with a fan port on the top.
From what I've read this should be enough cooling for bumping the e6400 up to 2.8ghz since all that is necessary is jumping the FSB up to 400 and dropping the multiplier to 7, no change of voltage is even necessary.

I have been seeing some people talking about PSU's apart from cases, should I be looking at cases that come with 600W psu's or should I get an empty case and go buy a 600w psu?

1 in take and 1 exhaust (preferably 120mm) is usually plenty, especially if it's a well designed case (like the Lian Li i linked) that provides for good airflow.

you typically want to buy the case and PSU separately as it's very rare for a quality PSU to come with a case.

 

[melchoir55]

One other thing I found odd: someone criticized me for only having one hard drive. They said this would bottleneck my system. I have absolutely no idea if they are just bs'ing me or not.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: melchoir55
One other thing I found odd: someone criticized me for only having one hard drive. They said this would bottleneck my system. I have absolutely no idea if they are just bs'ing me or not.

well, they are right in that hard drives are pretty much the slowest component of any modern computer system, so in that respect they are a "bottleneck"... otherwise, unless you do very hard drive intensive tasks (multi user environments, graphics/audio/video with huge files), the 7200.10 seagates are excellent and all you'd need.

some ppl will argue in favor of 10000rpm WD raptor HD's and others in favor of RAID 0, but IMO, neither of these is at all worth it for the typical user/gamer. i wrote about it a bit here in the hard drive section.