Hey guys,

Im new to this forum and would like your opinions on a build Im after as my old pc has finally decided enough is enough. Ive always been an AMD fan but now the intels are just sooo good ive been converted and am looking at setting up a new gaming rig based around the E8400.

The system is as follows:

Antec P182 Case
Antec Quattro 850W
Asus Rampage Formula Intel x48 Motherboard (DDR2)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x 2GB)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler
2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 320 GB 16MB Cache
LG GGC H2O-L Blu Ray reader & HD DVD Rom Serial ATA Drive
Windows Vista Ultimate 64

The graphics card I may get an Asus ATI Radeon 3870 X2 1024MB GDDR3 or wait till the release of the 4870 series and get one of them. Do you guys think its worth the wait for this new gen of graphics cards (I still need to gather around £300 but that will only take 2 weeks tops)

Also Ive never overclocked a CPU before and was wondering how easy it is to do with a E8400... I was looking at going sumwhere between 3.6-3.8GHz, will this be doable with just air cooling?

Can anyone suggest anything else that could perform better at a similar price range? Im not looking into DDR3 RAM nor quad core as this will mostly be gaming.

Suggestions / critism is welcome, as I havnt been keeping up with the knowledge recently.

Cheers

i am looking @ a new build also, q600 though. hoping to hit 3.6 stable on GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 (selected for the 8 usb ports) and its $55 cheaper than the formula.

wait for a while and get the 45nm penryn but get the P45 instead.

i seen it OC futher then the X48 and also its cheaper as well so you will save some money and spend on some other part maybe upgrade to a 8800GTS G92 or even the 9800GTX.

get the xigmatech HDT cooler rather then the Tuniq Tower its feeling old now cant really compete as good as before.

iluvgillgill:

i dont not disagree the p45 may be better but it seems there is always something on the horizon. i have told myself to wait for the next release several times and i am getting tired using that logic. i think when it comes down to it, ii just have to get the most bang for my buck

I have pretty much the same setup with the exception of the memory, I have this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146785

It's a great setup and very overclockable although the Rampage Formula BIOS is a little overwhelming for those with limited overclocking experience due to so many options. I think you would enjoy it and it would be a great system for you.

Cheers for the reply, I was looking at the Asus P5Q Deluxe P45 Board as an alternative but was unsure of the difference between that and the above.

As for graphics cards I looked at the 9800GTX series, is it worth getting this over the ATi? Im looking at gaming on both my monitor and my 1080p 46inch HDTV, will this be sufficient or will I need SLi if I go down the nvidia route?

Also Im looking at raid 1 as my last hard drive lost nearly all my important data, ive heard that vista ultimate has problems with this, does the mobo deal with raid on its own without the operating system interfering?

i jus saying P45 is release in few weeks time.you cant wait that long?and it would be cheaper the X48 im sure on that.

the wait you will get something better for less.no good?

Also the new Vid cards are due out right away.

You really should wait.

Agree with grieve, wait for the new video cards.

For a gaming machine, build it around the vga card, not the cpu. Some patience is in order today. ATI and nvidia are runored to announce new cards in the coming weeks. If you must buy today, I would suggest a EVGA 8800GTX which is in the same performance and price class as the 3870x2. With EVGA, you will get the option to "step up" to a new card within 90 days.
I like the E8400 for gaming. You may find that there is not that much value in overclocking with it.

To save some money:
Look at the PC P&C silencer 750 for $80 less.
4gb of DDR2-800 should be fine for anything but a maximum overclock.

The new X48 mobo's are expensive, and not significantly faster than the older P35 boards which can be bought for half the price. In addition, the P35 bios'es are now stable and good.

To splurge a bit, consider the 300gb WD velociraptor. If you start to fill it up, then get a cheaper storage drive later.

Shopping tips for Vista:
1) Do you qualify for an academic license?
If so, you can get Vista at a discounted price.
2) Look for an upgrade version of home premium instead of OEM.
Upgrade is a retail version which gives you support from microsoft, unlike OEM,
and allows a more hassel-free ability to transfer the os to a different pc(motherboard).
For $10, microsoft will send you the 64 bit DVD.
I saw Vista home premium upgrade recently at Costco for $85, amazon for $89.
There is a legitimate two step instalation process to install an upgrade version
You install vista from the cd, but do not initially enter the product code.

just tell the install which version you bought, and do not activate.
After it installs, you have a fully functional vista for 30 days.
Step 2 is to insert the cd again, while running vista and then do an upgrade.
This time, enter your product code, and activate.
After activation. you may delete the initial version which is named windows.old.

3) Do you really need Ultimate? There are very few features that the home user would want.
Check out the differences on the microsoft Vista web site.
If you get a retail or upgrade version, you will still be able to upgrade to ultimate later.
---good luck---

Cheers for the replys again, I think i'll wait till the new graphics cards anyway and get the Asus P5Q Deluxe P45 Board with it. Over here in England its about £40 cheaper so its a little saving and it features all the same as the rampage.

Still not sure on the hard drives as yet as Im looking for a raid 1 set up due to data loss on one of my last hard drives. The raptors over here cost 4 times the cost of a normal 300GB WD drive so that would set me back around £300 more to get 2.

Raid-1 is probably not a great idea.
The value of raid-1 for protecting data is that you can recover from a hard drive failure quickly.
It is for servers that can't afford any down time.
Recovery from a hard drive failure is just moments.
Fortunately hard drives do not fail often.
Raid-1 does not protect you from other types of losses such as viruses,
software errors, operator error, or fire...etc.
For that, you need EXTERNAL backup.
If you have external backup, and can afford some recovery time, then you don't need raid-1.

Again thanks for the advice. I'll look into the addition of an external backup system to protect my data.

You've all been a great help im pretty sure I know what im going to get in a few weeks when the new gfx cards come out. Lets just hope my components shop doesn't go out of stock!

I'll be back online when ive got the system up and running for advice on overclocking...tbh ill be so impressed with the stock compared to my old athlon 64 I probably wont need it.