Building a Computer

Ok, so, next month I'm going to be making the purchases, and right now I am researching parts to build my new computer.
I basically want to OC this thing on air as much as I can (with perfect stability, of course), and want some feedback on parts I should buy. Any help is appreciated.

Parts: (generalizing at first)
Win XP Pro (have, might dual or tri boot with Vista 64bit and Linux)
22" 226BW Samsung LCD
400GB 7200RPM WD HD (have, might consider getting a 10k, not sure if its worth the cost really)
nVidia 780i mobo
Lian Li MidTower (haven't decided which one)
3GB OCZ DDR2 Dual Channel RAM (not sure)
Sony 20x DVD Burner
EVGA nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX (not sure on brand)
Intel Q6700 2.66 GHz stock (plan to OC to 3.8GHz or above on air)
550-750W PSU (brand? OCZ? Rosewill? ThermalTake? not sure.)
Overall Cost: ~$1500

I don't plan on using SLI for video cards now or in the future, so that could potentially alter my choice of mobos.
Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. I want to build this thing solid. I want RAM that will be good for OC'ing as to not bottleneck my CPU. Not too concerned with GPU OC'ing since the current high end cards are pretty damn good stock.
Thanks!

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by anguis on 04-24-2008 at 09:12:23 PM

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Also, any input on the video card is welcome. I've heard that 9800 GTX hardly outperforms the 8800 GTS? Is there a better suited card? Again, what I am shooting for is a non-SLI video card with high performance.

Reply to anguis

Well since you are building next month you should take the new ATI cards into consideration. To my knowledge no reviews have been posted yet but should be shortly. Unless you are set on nvida. I do not have a preference myself, just whichever card is performing the best. Although then you would probably want to change the mb if you went with an ati card. Other than that I would say not to get the 9800gtx but that is just because the cost vs. performance just is not there.

Why the q6700? I know they just dropped in price but they are still more expensive then the q6600 that should over clock about the same. Save the extra $60 or so and spend it elsewhere.

For the power supply I would say corsair is pretty good, search around and there are almost always good deals on them.

As for the hard drive I would say 10k is worth it but only if you are just running the operating system on it and have a separate drive for storage. I myself am looking at getting some 15k sas cheetah drives to raid 0, but I do not know if you are looking to spend $500 on a hard drive setup. The performance boost is worth it, but not for some.

Also I would recommend vista 64bit as an OP that way you can use 4 gb of ram, or 8 in the future.

Message edited by tank_atlantis on 04-24-2008 at 10:30:31 PM

Reply to tank_atlantis

For PSU I recomend:
Corsair 520HX/550VX (or better)
PP&C610 (or better)

Get a top tire PSU listed here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088

Drop the 780i unless planing to SLI.

Message edited by Shadow703793 on 04-24-2008 at 10:45:20 PM

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Reply to Shadow703793

What would you recommend for a mobo then in place of the 780i? Something that is real good with OC'ing, of course. And Dual Channel would be optimal as well.
Would those PSU's support a 9800 GTX2 as well? Or would I need something with a little more juice?

Reply to anguis

I'd recommend the P35 ASUS P5K-E for it's outstanding OCing ability. The Corsair 550W should be enough for the 9800GTX, so don't worry about it.

------------------------------ "Nvidia, the Way It's Meant to be ~~PAID~~ Played! - Corrado
*Lesbian Lover Club* - founder Assman
Reply to Evilonigiri

I was looking at some specs and the 9800 GTX2 is basically just 2 9800s popped together for doubled the bandwidth (which is pretty useless save high resolutions, and the highest res I will be using, at least for awhile, is 1680x1050)
Anyone have some reviews of the 9800 GTX vs 8800 GTS (G92)?
I've heard good things about that P35 board, good recommendation.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to anguis

anguis wrote :

I was looking at some specs and the 9800 GTX2 is basically just 2 9800s popped together for doubled the bandwidth (which is pretty useless save high resolutions, and the highest res I will be using, at least for awhile, is 1680x1050)
Anyone have some reviews of the 9800 GTX vs 8800 GTS (G92)?
I've heard good things about that P35 board, good recommendation.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] e_preview/

That review is the typical benchmarks.

This one is real game play: http://www.hardocp.com/article.htm [...] RodXNpYXN0

9800GX2 is overly expensive to most gamers, it normally doesn't beat or tie 2 9800GTX in SLI: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/arti [...] VzaWFzdA==

------------------------------ "Nvidia, the Way It's Meant to be ~~PAID~~ Played! - Corrado
*Lesbian Lover Club* - founder Assman
Reply to Evilonigiri

9800gtx vs g92 8800gts benchmark:
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/03 [...] review/12/

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger

anguis wrote :

Parts: (generalizing at first)
Win XP Pro (have, might dual or tri boot with Vista 64bit and Linux)
22" 226BW Samsung LCD
400GB 7200RPM WD HD (have, might consider getting a 10k, not sure if its worth the cost really)
nVidia 780i mobo
Lian Li MidTower (haven't decided which one)
3GB OCZ DDR2 Dual Channel RAM (not sure)
Sony 20x DVD Burner
EVGA nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX (not sure on brand)
Intel Q6700 2.66 GHz stock (plan to OC to 3.8GHz or above on air)
550-750W PSU (brand? OCZ? Rosewill? ThermalTake? not sure.)
Overall Cost: ~$1500

Here are my thoughts on this :
LCD Monitor : check out the 24" Samsung 245B it's $420 and you get FullHD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824001234
Hard drive : go with WD6400AAKS (beats a 500 GB disk in performance and cost/gigabyte)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218
Motherboard : If you don't plan to use SLI go with P35/X38 (Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 costs $207 on newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128089
Case : Lian-Li is good
Memory : 3GB of system memory won't work in dual channel. Get 2x2GB (Corsair C4 DHX $104 after MIR on newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145194
Optical drive : make sure it's Sony NEC Optiarc and the SATA Model (like 7203S)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827118004
Graphics card : wait for HD 4870 to see if it's better otherwise go for 8800GTS ($250)
Processor : good choice but get a good aftermarket heatsink for it (Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme or better).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
Powersupply : Corsair VX 550, HX 620, TX 650 ($90) are great choices.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005
Total : $1526 (without the lian-li case).

Message edited by Andrius on 04-25-2008 at 02:57:10 PM

Reply to Andrius

So here is a revision that you can add more comments/suggestions to:

Parts (2nd state):
Win XP Pro (have, might dual or tri boot with Vista 64bit and Linux)
22" 226BW Samsung LCD (yes I am sticking with the 22". Close to 200$ cheaper than the 24" that interest me) - $250
400GB 7200RPM WD HD (have, use for storage)
640GB 7200RPM WDCaviar HD (OS, programs install, C drive) - $110
ASUS P35 P5K-E Motherboard - $150
Lian Li ATX Full Tower (maybe Mid, due to price, but Full is desired) ~ $200
CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB - $104
Sony NEC Optiarc Optical Drive - $30
BFG/EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) 512MB - $250
Intel Q6700 2.66 GHz stock (plan to OC to 3.8GHz or above on air) - $270
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V - $90
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - $37
Estimated Current Cost ~ $1500

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to anguis

You're good to go.
Last piece of advice I have to give is to check for HD 4870 reviews before you buy.
Maybe it will be worthy.

Reply to Andrius

anguis wrote :

So here is a revision that you can add more comments/suggestions to:

Parts (2nd state):
Win XP Pro (have, might dual or tri boot with Vista 64bit and Linux)
22" 226BW Samsung LCD (yes I am sticking with the 22". Close to 200$ cheaper than the 24" that interest me) - $250
400GB 7200RPM WD HD (have, use for storage)
640GB 7200RPM WDCaviar HD (OS, programs install, C drive) - $110
ASUS P35 P5K-E Motherboard - $150
Lian Li ATX Full Tower (maybe Mid, due to price, but Full is desired) ~ $200
CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB - $104
Sony NEC Optiarc Optical Drive - $30
BFG/EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) 512MB - $250
Intel Q6700 2.66 GHz stock (plan to OC to 3.8GHz or above on air) - $270
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V - $90
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - $37
Estimated Current Cost ~ $1500

Which motherboard? And there is a cheaper 8800gts:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger

Nice find with the 8800. 80 bucks cheaper after MIR than most others. Some updates

Win XP Pro (have, might dual or tri boot with Vista 64bit and Linux)
22" 226BW Samsung LCD (yes I am sticking with the 22". Close to 200$ cheaper than the 24" that interest me) - $250
400GB 7200RPM WD HD (have, SATA, use for storage)
640GB 7200RPM WDCaviar HD (SATA, OS, programs install, C drive) - $110
or 2, 250GB Caviars under RAID (SATA) - $130
ASUS P35 P5K-E Motherboard - $150
Lian Li ATX Full Tower (maybe Mid, due to price, but Full is desired) ~ $200
or a Stacker or Cosmos
CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB - $104
or GSkill 4GB ?
Sony NEC Optiarc SATA Optical Drive - $30
GeForce 8800 GTS (G92) 512MB - $170
Intel Q6700 2.66 GHz stock (plan to OC to 3.8GHz or above on air) - $270
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V - $90
Noctua NH-U12P High Performance Cooler - $50

Reply to anguis

You probably will not be able to reach 3.8 GHz on air with a Q6700 - not under any load, that is.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to jsc

jsc wrote :

You probably will not be able to reach 3.8 GHz on air with a Q6700 - not under any load, that is.

Air cooling is no problem. I get 70/70/68/68 core temps for Q6600 at 4ghz with air cooling. P35 chipset should oc reliably oc its fsb to 1600mhz, that's 4ghz on Q6700.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
Reply to dagger

It's rather pointless to go so high though. 3.6GHz for the average joe is more than enough.

------------------------------ "Nvidia, the Way It's Meant to be ~~PAID~~ Played! - Corrado
*Lesbian Lover Club* - founder Assman
Reply to Evilonigiri

Well when im not using it for photo editting, coding, compiling, encoding, decoding, ripping, gaming, and the like, i will have it folding and computing for boinc. need for speed
as for reaching 3.8ghz..i will do everything i can, including lapping the hs/cpu, testing as5 and a diamond thermal compound to see which performs better, push/pull fans on the hs, and some other various things to get as cool as i can.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to anguis

Well, anguis, you're not the average joe then. That's quite some cpu demanding tasks you have there. :ouch:

------------------------------ "Nvidia, the Way It's Meant to be ~~PAID~~ Played! - Corrado
*Lesbian Lover Club* - founder Assman
Reply to Evilonigiri

And also, 4 GHz just looks so much better than 3.6 anyways

Reply to gLip

anguis wrote :

and some other various things to get as cool as i can.

Will you bath in a tub of ice with it? :heink:

3.6ghz is like this :sleep: And 4ghz is like this :bounce:

My bit of advice OP: RAAAIIIIIDDDDDD that monkey. You're just not cool until you RAID.

Reply to seboj

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