Advice on new rig

Drakey

Drakey

Drakey

Associate
Joined
19 May 2007
Posts
6
Hi all! I’ve been reading the forums for a while to get advice on the new build I’m planning to put together in a few days, and now that I’m close I wanted to get some opinions from you guys before going ahead.

I’ve put together the following spec:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650
BFG GeForce 8800GTX OC 768MB
Corsair 2x1GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX
Vista Premium 64-bit OEM
Corsair 520W PSU
Antec 900 case
LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD+-RW DL DVD writer OEM
Asus DVD-E616A3 16x DVD-ROM Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB cache
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

I already have the monitor (SM226BW so 1680x1050 res), keyboard and mouse sorted. I have no need for a 2nd hard disk as I have external disks for backups, although I may end up adding one more further down the line to give more space if I fill the first one. Also, I’m not planning to bother with a separate sound card yet because I only have an old Creative 2.1 speaker set for now so I’ll wait until I can afford some surround speakers before getting one.

The main components I’m not sure on are the PSU (will 520W be enough or should I go for the 620?), the RAM (not sure whether to go for a 2x2GB kit or just get 2x1GB now and another 2 sticks when I start to notice slowdown in games. Also, if you can recommend a better bang for buck set than the Corsair then please do), and the mobo (would a 680 chipset board be worth the extra money?).

I’m not planning to overclock much until I notice games slowing down, and even when I do I doubt I’ll really try to push it, so I’m not too worried about getting components that will clock incredibly. Also, I am never likely to go for SLi – coming from a P4 3Ghz and 128MB 6600GT I figure by the time I’m unhappy with the performance it’ll be time for a new single card.

In terms of usage, this will be primarily a gaming machine (Crysis when it comes out, Oblivion, lots of FPS etc), with the other uses being music and video playback and web browsing.

In terms of budget for any more expensive components, I can go for the more expensive mobo, RAM and/or PSU if they are worth the extra, but if they are only going to increase the overclocking ability or improve synthetic benchmarks without real improvement in stability or games then I’m not really interested.

Also one last question: I am basically planning to order so that the kit will be delivered as early as possible in the bank holiday week as I should have the week off from work. Keeping in mind the bank holiday Monday, is there a way to order it so it will definitely arrive on the Tuesday (29th May?). I can’t take delivery this week or next weekend unfortunately as no one will be home.

All advice is welcome, and thanks in advance! :)
 
Hey, welcome to the forums.

nForce 680, superb chipset and I would say it would probobly worth it. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-000-EA

Very nice choice of CPU, gfx, dvd etc.

Few small changes, the Cooler is not the best, and for an extra £10 odd you can get some serious cooling from either a Noctua of a Tuniq tower, personal choice is a Noctua, and its on special offer ATM too :) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-002-NC

The Corsair 520W is a very nice CPU, however with a GTX and for future proofing the 620W is probobly a good idea. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS

2gb is enough ram, however with vista there is a small difference between 4gb and 2gb of ram. If your going to get 4gb of ram do it in Dual channel ( 2 x 2gb ) it will be faster than 4x1gb. This is a nice 4gb kit. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-019-GS

Last point, lots of people on here don't like that case, its a good case but its rather tacky. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-054-LL << very nice quality metal case :)
 
Nice spec. You can specify a delivery date when purchasing. Also a delivery method (For small / low value parts). For yours, it will be a citylink delivery. The 520 will cater for your needs just fine. If you are not planning on overclocking, the Retail E6600 HSF would be fine for you.
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

What are the actual benefits of the nForce 680 motherboard over the 650? I’ve looked at the specs and seen people commenting on them, but couldn’t really figure out what makes it worth almost £100 more? Dual 16x PCI-E slots aren’t worth £100 to me as I don’t plan to use SLi, and looking at the specs I can’t see anything else that jumps out as being worth it. If the benefits are made clearer then I’d feel better about going for one :)

I will overclock the E6600 to about 3GHz I’m sure, I just doubt I’ll go much beyond that, just to clarify.

Just a small point - does the Noctua cooler come with Thermal paste in the box? The spec doesn’t mention it but one of the reviews says it does?

Will the GTX fit in the Lian-Li case? The main reason I went with the Antec at first was because I could see from the OcUK Ultima systems that it would fit. Also, how does the cooling compare to the Antec? Are there any front USB ports on the Lian-Li - the picture isn’t very clear. I do prefer the overall look of the Lian-Li so if the answers to these questions are fine then I'll go for it over the Antec :)

For the RAM, will 4GB noticeably improve performance for current games? If I’ll be able to run this year’s games on mostly maxed settings at 1680x1050 with consistently smooth framerates using 2GB then I’ll stick with that and maybe upgrade to a new 2x2GB kit in 2008 if performance issues start, passing the 2GB onto my girlfriend’s pc. Any suggestions on good 2x1GB kits with that in mind?

I think I’ll go for the Corsair 620W just for the future-proofing peace of mind. I don’t want to be paranoid about adding more components down the line for the sake of £30 now.

Thanks again :)
 
Drakey said:
Thanks for the replies guys :)

What are the actual benefits of the nForce 680 motherboard over the 650? I’ve looked at the specs and seen people commenting on them, but couldn’t really figure out what makes it worth almost £100 more? Dual 16x PCI-E slots aren’t worth £100 to me as I don’t plan to use SLi, and looking at the specs I can’t see anything else that jumps out as being worth it. If the benefits are made clearer then I’d feel better about going for one :)

I will overclock the E6600 to about 3GHz I’m sure, I just doubt I’ll go much beyond that, just to clarify.

Just a small point - does the Noctua cooler come with Thermal paste in the box? The spec doesn’t mention it but one of the reviews says it does?

Will the GTX fit in the Lian-Li case? The main reason I went with the Antec at first was because I could see from the OcUK Ultima systems that it would fit. Also, how does the cooling compare to the Antec? Are there any front USB ports on the Lian-Li - the picture isn’t very clear. I do prefer the overall look of the Lian-Li so if the answers to these questions are fine then I'll go for it over the Antec

For the RAM, will 4GB noticeably improve performance for current games? If I’ll be able to run this year’s games on mostly maxed settings at 1680x1050 with consistently smooth framerates using 2GB then I’ll stick with that and maybe upgrade to a new 2x2GB kit in 2008 if performance issues start, passing the 2GB onto my girlfriend’s pc. Any suggestions on good 2x1GB kits with that in mind?

I think I’ll go for the Corsair 620W just for the future-proofing peace of mind. I don’t want to be paranoid about adding more components down the line for the sake of £30 now.

Thanks again :)
Click to expand...

To answer the ones in bold, Ive got the 650i as the only difference that Im aware of is the fact Sli will only run at 8x as opposed to 16x. 650i is really easy for overclocking btw :)

Ive got the Corsair Dominator 6400 memory and I cannot fault it. Either that or Crucial Ballistix that seems to be getting good comments everywhere lol.

Hope that helps :)
 
being as u;'re looking for 3ghz either the asus or the gigabyte ds3p will do the job, dont see the point of going 680 unless u're looking to go 3.4+ imho.

memory wise the ballistix 5300 sets seem to be a good choice at the moment.

that lian li case WILL take the gfx card as i've seen it mentioned on these forums :).

the cooler will come with some form of paste, maybe in a tube or on the plate itself.
 
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