QX9770 - Building a New PC Advice!

[ajhix36]

Hello everyone! I am a longtime lurker, finally decided to get more involved with the community.

I am currently working on building myself a new computer system (I currently have to share with my family), and I was interested in the advice you all might have for me.

Here is what I got:


Processor - QX9770 Link

Now, this part is non negotiable. Before everyone gets in a tizzy, I am getting this part for free. My father works for Intel and was on the team that tested that part, so they gave it to him. It's actually been sitting around for a year now, going without use, very sad really. Time to use it

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P Link

Graphics Card - eVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Link

Power Supply - PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 Link

Memory - OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 (CAS Latency 4) Link

Optical Drive - Samsung SH-S223Q Link

Audio Card - Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Link

CPU Heatsink - OCZ Vendetta 2 w/ Retention Bracket and OCZ Freeze Compound Link

Case Fans - Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Link

Monitor - LG L227WTG-P Link

OS - Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit (Do you really need me to link that for you? )

Hard Drives - WD Caviar Black 500GB x 2 in Raid 0 Link

GRAND TOTAL (So Far) - $1,298.86

I have switched to a P45 motherboard, upped the card to the 216 core version, and settled on my hard drives.

Also looking at diffrent memory, I didn't realize how bad the voltage was to get those timings, I'd rather get better overclockable memory.

Just need a case now.

Well thank you for spending the time to read this! Any comment/suggestion/flame is welcome.

 

[zerocool84]

Are you going SLI on the 260's or sometime in the future? Are you getting it only cus of the combo deal??? If not you could get a less expensive board that's much better.

Western Digital Caviar SE16
Fast, 640GB, and inexpensive. Can't get any better than that.

Or for 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black

On cases, how much do you want to spend? The 300 and 900 are good cases and cool well. I have the 900 and it cools my stuff really well but it's all done by screws. It's not screwless. Depending on how much you want to spend you could get something good that's screwless and will give you some more room to organize since I feel like the 900 is a little cramped inside and you'll want some room cus the Silencer610 isn't modular and you'll need some room to hide the extra cables.

 

[Blain]

QX9770 - Tell pop thanks!

MB = WTF? Pop works for Intel... Dump the nForce board and buy a P45 based GA-EP45-UD3R

GPU = Keep the GTX 260 if that flips your switch.

PS = Nice pick on the 610W Silencer.

Memory = Drop the extreme 2.1v OCZ and get 1.8-1.9v G.Skill PI Black if your brain is locked into "CAS 4" (makes no real world difference).
If you're not locked into "CAS 4", then simply buy the 1.8-1.9v G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ or go for the 1.9v Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 if you don't mind rebates.

DVD = No problems with the old reliable Samsung!

Sound = If you've been a lurker, you know what "the crew" will tell you about a dedicated sound card. But I say... have at it, it's your money!

HS = Those type coolers are a dime a dozen, nothing special about the OCZ model. Just grag an AC Freezer 7 Pro and you're good to go.

Fans = Hold off on the "$15 + shipping" case fans until you lock in on an actual case.
The Antec 300 and 900 are nice cases. You might also take a look at the NZXT WHI - 001BK or maybe the NZXT CS-NT-TEM-B.

LCD = If you don't need LED back lighting, the LG should work out fine for you.

 

[DSF]

I wouldn't expect much performance increase from RAID 0, if any.

I agree with all of Blain's suggestions, although I would personally get the Corsair 650TX that's $65 with free shipping on buy.com. Both PSUs are high quality, but the Corsair is supposed to run a little quieter. It uses a 120mm fan as opposed to the 80mm fan in the Silencer.

 

[Blain]

My 610W Silencer is very quiet.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Blain
My 610W Silencer is very quiet.

Unless the model has been updated relatively recently, the reviews I've read have suggested otherwise. Do you have one?

Edit: D'oh! Reading comprehension fail on my part. Somehow I missed the "MY" in the sentence.

Edit 2: Here's the review from SPCR concerning noise. Seems like the unit doesn't really get loud until you move past 300W load. Yes, I understand that SPCR has higher standards than many people, but they found it to be louder than competing supplies. Either way, I'm not saying it's a bad unit, and $60 is a tough price to beat for a supply that entered the market upwards of $100.

 

[ajhix36]

Thanks for the input! I have decided to go with P45, and WD Caviar Black hard drives. I am going to do some further research on the memory. And so many cases to choose from it makes my head spin!

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: DSF

Originally posted by: Blain
My 610W Silencer is very quiet.

Unless the model has been updated relatively recently, the reviews I've read have suggested otherwise. Do you have one?

Edit: D'oh! Reading comprehension fail on my part. Somehow I missed the "MY" in the sentence.

Edit 2: Here's the review from SPCR concerning noise. Seems like the unit doesn't really get loud until you move past 300W load. Yes, I understand that SPCR has higher standards than many people, but they found it to be louder than competing supplies. Either way, I'm not saying it's a bad unit, and $60 is a tough price to beat for a supply that entered the market upwards of $100.

The Silencer610 and 650TX are both great PSU's. The only reason I chose the 650TX was cus of the MIR at the time that the Silencer610 didn't have which it does now. It's a great, quiet PSU. You can't go wrong with it. I cannot hear it at all cus my system doesn't even come close to maxing it out.

 

[MarcVenice]

I'd drop the GTX260 in favor of a HD4870. They just lowered in price, for $200 it's really hard to beat, and it's $190 AR. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161236

Then I'd get this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131299 because you can use it for crossfire. So if you have the urge, just pop in another HD4870.