WerdAxion's Proposal for New Gaming Rig

[WerdAxion]

Hey, I'm new to the forums and sorry this is my first post but Hi Guys. I'm building a new gaming rig for myself. Of course I'll be occasionally burning CDs//DVDs, watching DVDs, listening to mp3s and other things along those lines but for the most part this is a gaming rig. My Budget is about 3k max. The parts I'll list come pretty close to that anyway. I'll be buying most of my parts from New Egg in the United States. I don't really have a brand preference but from what I've read in reviews, Intel for the CPU and Nvidia for the GPU is the way to go right now. I am using no current parts from this PC. I plan on using Windows XP. I do plan to overclock the CPU but I'm not so sure about the GPU but we'll see. Well here goes my list. Oh and I don't plan on buying everything from New Egg. I simply am using their site to display the specs of everything.

Case : Gigabyte 3D Mercury ( I'm new to watercooling and I'm planning on OC'n my CPU so I figured this would be a good way to get my feet wet )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811233021

CPU : Intel Q6600 G0 Stepping ( I plan on OC'n this to about 3.2-3.6ghz and I read a review somewhere that this processor beats the E6850 once they're both OC'd )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115017

Motherboard : Asus Blitz Formula Special Edition
http://www.motherboardpro.com/...5-Crossfire-p-358.html

Memory : OCZ 2x1GB Reaper HPC Edition DDR2 1150 or 1066 ( I'm not sure which to get because if you read the specs on the mobo it says it "natively" supports UP to 1066. Once again I'm kinda noob with this stuff so go easy on me. If I can purchase the 1150 and have it work, I'd rather have the faster memory)
1150 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227196
1066 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227191

GPU : EVGA 768-P2-N887-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 ( I'm not going SLI and I'm not spending money on pc parts for awhile so I figured might as well go big )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130093

Hard Drive : Western Digital 150GB Raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136011

Power Supply : OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341002

DVD Drives And Burner : LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM and PLEXTOR Black 18X DVD+R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827106087
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827249018

OK I think thats all you guys asked for in the Sticky. If you need anymore info just ask. Please give me some advice//suggestions!! Thanks guys, I appreciate it!!

 

[AmberClad]

In general, I think most people are going to recommend that you not go with the absolute highest end part like the 8800 Ultra, because it's simply not cost effective. A GTX seems a bit overboard, but ok if you have the money to blow -- an Ultra seems like absolute overkill. It's likely that in a year or two, there's going to be a new card that costs less than half as much as the 8800 Ultra, but still outperforms it.

But if you just won the lottery or came upon a massive inheritance, I'd say go for it .

 

[MarcVenice]

Heh such overkill on all parts, then you buy a somewhat shitty PSU At least buy a corsair 620hx, a real seasonic, silverstone or PC&P.

First of all, a q6600 has a 9 multiplier, with ddr2 800mhz you can hit 3.6ghz, and you won't even overclock the ram itself. So if 3.6ghz is what you are aiming for, don't steal from your own wallet, and buy ddr2 800mhz ram. DDR2 1066 or 1150mhz ram will NOT give you more framerates in games. This is my suggestion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146565 and that ram will easily oc to 1000mhz speeds.

Then, why do you need that superexpensive p35 motherboard? You could save 100$ or so if you buy a 'normal' asus p5k or gigabyte ds3r. If you want to be a little crazy, buy a x38 chipset mobo, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131221 make sure it supports ddr2 ram too though!!!

I wouldn't go with the ultra either, in fact, do yourself a favor, buy a 8800gt in 2 weeks or so, hold out with it till next-gen cards hit the market, THEN upgrade to the best card. Buying an Ultra now is imo retarded. The raptor, fine, if you got the money, why not, don't you think you are going to need some real HD space though? I'd add in a 500gb samsung spinpoint t166, fast, quiet and runs cool. I would also buy a soundcard, if you are spending this much, then I'd want some real 7.1 sound too, if you got the speakers for it of course.

Last but not least, I think there is better ways to get your feet wet with watercooling. Go see if aigomorla can help you out on the cases and cooling forum. He'll know a good waterkit for beginners to start with.

 

[WerdAxion]

Ok so I gathered some of the information you guys came up with and heres what I got so far.

I picked the PSU because for the GPU recommended to have a 700 watt PSU. I looked into a PC Power and Cooling but I keep reading how people were buying patch cables cause the 24 pin connector was not a 20 + 4 connector. I'm not sure about this stuff being a PC Noob but if it's not going to affect me then I'd more then happy to buy that one. I'm not buying this PC for another week or two so I don't mind being Patient but I figured I'd buy the top end card cause I wont be able to purchase PC Parts for atleast another 6 months to a year being Christmas time is coming around and then I'm going to Florida 2 weeks after that. So yea I'm in a tough spot with decisions here. Sorry for all the questions guys and Thank You for the help.

Seasonic
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16817151031

PC Power And Cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817703009

 

[MarcVenice]

Well hate to break it to ya, but your rig does NOT need 700w. You are probably mistaken for what is recommended if you buy TWO 8800ultra's, and not one. A corsair 620hx or 520hx is plenty of power for your rig.

 

[WerdAxion]

Yea I was just about to edit my post. It was a review that stated 700 watts and not the EVGA site. EVGA states 500, sorry for the mistake. Now I think ill be happy with that Corsair.

 

[Addikt]

You can never really have TOO much power though. If you are planning on upgrading in the future or adding another card to SLi your system then I would get a power supply rated at 700W. Also, I have the GameXstream and it runs pretty stable. Also, to be honest, you won't even notice the performance improvement of a Raptor unless you were to set up a Raid array, but then you can squeeze performance out of pretty much any disk drive with a Raid setup.

 

[MarcVenice]

Going SLI with a p35 mobo, that's inpossible dude... And, with the 620hx from corsair, he could add in 5 HD's, fill up all his PCI slots, overclock his q6600 to 4ghz and beyond pushing 1.75vcore and what not, and it still wouldn't have the slightest problem with it. Less power, stable and modular power, beats more raw, unnecesary power.

 

[WerdAxion]

Hey Marc, thanks for the recommendation for the PSU but what about the cooling situation.. Am I going to be able to cool my q6600 with that case?? what are my options as far as that goes because I definitely want to get to atleast 3.6ghz.. Also I'm finding that the Formula SE is a very hard mobo to find unfortunately. Just wanted to know if the only difference between the formula SE and the formula was the waterblock.. I searched it int he Mobo forums and thats the only difference stated but I find it hard to believe that the only difference between the two is waterblock but I'm not sure. And if I can't find it, where do I go from there as far as a Mobo.. Get the regular formula?? Go For the Maximus x38?? I hate making decisions.. Thanks for all the help guys I appreciate it!