sorry i posted this in the cpu section, sorry didnt mean too. i reposted here, if anymods around you can delete the thread that is in the wrong place. again sorry.

well first i would like to say this is a great site pack full of great info. i have been reading and reading and reading, you know lurking around for the past week or so and i must say, this site seems to have alot of friendly good knowlegdable people willing to help out and share their experiences. turly an awsome site.

alrighty then, this is what i am thinking about getting, will more than likely order everything today. keep in mind i such a greenhorn when it comes to building a computer. i did do lots of research and think i have the best bang for my buck. i want the computer for fast everyday use, accessing data, playing with some pics type stuff. no tv video/bluray stuff, but yes with some good gaming capabilities of course.


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Red) 750W EPS12V Power Supply
ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-2014S1T
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

well what do you guys and girls think?

i am not sure if should go this way or get a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale processor. i do want to upgrade to dual graphics cards aswell as upgrade the processor later along with adding another velociraptor. or maybe i should just think about adding another 8800gt and leave it at that for a few years then just get a new computer at that time.

thanks in advance for any and all remarks/advice/info ect..ect..ect..

My thoughts:
CASE: good pick, check the Cooler Master 590 or 690 as an alternative
PSU: good pick, the black one is $5 cheaper after MIR (if that makes a diffrence to you)

Motherboard: P5K Pro has great features, a more expensive alternative
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131299
(just because the P5K is an older model and this is brand new).

If you want dual NVIDIA graphics (8800GT is a NVIDIA card) you need a SLI capable board (Asus P5N-D, EVGA 750i FTW or some other 750i or 780i based board). Those boards have other potential issues (google -> "nvidia 750i video corruption" or "780i 790i data corruption" ). Some have been resolved other may still be open.

CPU : Q6600 vs E8400
E8400 for current gaming (SupCom, AoC and a few other games might run better on a quadcore). Q6600 for multitasking, video encoding, future proofing...

RAM: Get 2x2GB sticks instead to leave room for a potential future upgrade to 8GB RAM. For a Q6600 you also don't need 1066MHz RAM.

HDD: An expensive choice. I would get a cheaper WD6400AAKS or even two, and put the extra towards a better graphics card like 8800GTS or maybe a HD 48x0 card when they come out.

ODD: not much to say here

CPU heatsink : If you get the Q6600 I recommend this cooler (current king of the hill):
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
backplate mounting kit (for better contact)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019

You'll need a different motherboard if you want to run dual nvidia cards in SLI.

I'd probably stick with the quad core since you do more than game on it.

Go for a 2x2gb ram kit instead of 4x1gb. It gives more room for upgrades in the future. DDR2 800 is fine.

I'd wait for the ATI cards to come out before deciding on a video card. If you want to run multiple video you'll need either an nvidia chipset board for multiple nvidia cards or if you go with ATI I'd get an X38 or P45 board.

+1 on waiting for new cards out tomorrow.

You probably don't need to SLI, so don't even worry about it.

^ ^ ^
yup, agree on all points. Tough to argue anything with Andrius.

My thoughts:

Q6700
22x ODD
BlueRay
P45
8800GTS x1
2x2GB DDR2-800

wow thanks for replies. some good stuff. i will go for the Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) memory, unless the regular sticks come in stock before i buy them that is. could careless about the LED's. dont want to go elswhere and spend the difference in price on shipping just to avoid the LEDs. think maybe i should get two sets of those, hmmmm.

i was actually thinking of running sli with dual 8800gt on a EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI board. but i think, for me, its best to not go sli as i dont need the best games on the highest settings. still want to play top games though. from my understanding i should be able to play most games on fairly high settings with one 8800gt. the next up is a big jump in $$$$, right now i do not want to wait for newer cards for this, at the same time i am waiting for better cards before going x-fire or sli. i am a fan of both ATI or Geforce setups. right now the 8800gt just seems to be the best card for the money by far and i need a system soon. my old system died and i dont want to bring it back, was a maxed out AGP setup. been using my lab top past couple weeks so need a setup ASAP.

as for sli i just dont think now its worth it, not for me anyway. but i have this itch to go sli. not going sli or x-fire now but will go with one of them next year. i fiq as the quad technology starts to get used "taken advantage of" there should more/better options for sli and x-fire. i fig with this setup, next year sometime i can go a dual ATI x-fire setup with whatever sweet ATI card. after more programs/games use the newer tech, the boards for sli should have the bugs worked out, like what Andrius pointed out and, please correct me if i am wrong, but from what i understand to really get your money's worth out of sli you need a 780i or better board. right now there just seems to not be enough good solid sli boards with no hangups that fit the bill. there should be a lot more/better options on boards and cards as the quads start to get used more. i need to opt for a solid board over better video setups. still want sli or x-fire later for sure though. this is kinda the big issue we me right now, sli boards vs x-fire boards related to other things besides type of video card setup.

the VelociRaptors, yeah not the best bang for my buck here. i was looking into two Caviars. if i go that route, i think i might opt for the EVGA 780i board now. i am/was/might be planning on getting another VelociRaptors and setting them in RAID 0 sometime soon. just love the idea of fast a pic file and stuff. i also looked at the raptors X 150GB for speed, but i need more strage and want the speed too. the VelociRaptors should be good for both for a long time to come. i am really into getting the best bang for my buck, i think i need to look into getting the Caviars with the EVGA 780i sli board.

ok sorry about the long post, but now you know how i am thinking and what i am thinking future wise. this should make everything fall into place for me, what do think about these; opting for the better board(solid worry free) easy to work with overclocking and stuff. everything same but go either;

1. ASUS P5N-T Deluxe LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI or EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI with
2 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive in RAID 0 setup.

upgrading later to sli gt whatevers.

or

2. ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 with VelociRaptor to go dual RAID 0 later.

upgrading to x-fire ATI whatevers.

more interested in the less touchy boards.

Change 2. to Asus P5Q Pro. P35 is on its way out. Go P45.

1. P5N-T has a lot of issues (and was just replaced/upgraded by the P5N72-T). I recommend you read this review here : http://www.hardocp.com/article.htm [...] RodXNpYXN0
Avoid it if you can and that leaves EVGA 780i SLI as the only pick left. Again make sure you research the potentia 750i and 780i chipset issues.

There's nothing like a disfunctional new PC.

2. I agree with shadowduck P35 is on it's way out. P5Q over P5K.

nice link thanks, so much for the P5N-T, lol.
looked into the EVGA a little more and still feel the same. seems stable and performs well, buuutt, like you said there is nothing like a disfunctional new PC and they seem to have issues if you do overclocking. but for the most part seem good. just those unknown issues and crashes look to be about a generation away from fixes and a more worry free board. with that and future thinking not so sure about the capacitors used durability.

ooppsss i meant to put P5Q pro on the second one. well i have yet to hear anything bad with these boards. as a bonus they get many positives on features and overclocking. seems like a no brainer for my needs. P5Q pro it is

cool, thank you guys/girls so much. huge help!!!! i have been getting brain cramps deciding on waht setup to go with for future including either sli or x-fire boards. so happy to know i was thinking about things right.

ok going with the original setup with a couple changes.
a change to the motherboard to a P5Q pro and a change to the cooler to the ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm and the memory.

only thing left is the harddrive. either
dual Caviar's in RAID 0
or for a $100 more
VelociRaptor-later to go dual RAID 0
i hear from reading up one VelociRaptor will be faster for pic playing and filing and still hold its own in other marks. so the one question left is;
are the Caviar's that much faster for gaming to outwiegh one VelociRaptor's OS/app performance? or is it a wash after factoring in the $$$.

RAID won't help you unless you do large drive writes. It will actually slow normal operations down, as RAID takes longer to read the drive. It has more area to search for the data.

RAID will help you exactly zero in games.

RAID doubles your chances of data loss, if EITHER drive dies in RAID 0 all data goes.

Going RAID "later" will require a reformat of the existing drive to build the array.

ok got it. i am just going to get the VelociRaptor and make things easy. at least i can say i have one thing on it that is the latest greatest thing.
will do the ATI x-fire next year maybe.

so for this system it will cost me about 1,400 with tax shipping and everything.

i might end up flipping a coin on this one.

Crossfire now or never. Same rules on upgrading with SLI apply. That is unless you replace both cards next year.

4850 Xfire looks to be pretty good. Just if you need it is the quesiton.

thanks, i dont think i need two now and when i go x-fire, yeah two new cards. i dont even think i will need then but might want too just because.

well, i had no idea the 4850's were coming out now. i thought maybe sometime in july. but today when i went to buy my setup i found they have the 4850's for sale now. not only that but they have a combo deal with the P5Q pro board making cheaper than the board and the 8800gt. so it seems to be in the stars. going with the 4850's and changing the hd to dual Caviar's.

now i just dont know if i can get one now then later add another will i still be able to run them x-fire or do i need to get both now?