Advice on parts for new setup please

Pobman · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:18

So much has changed since I last bought any PC parts that I would love some advice.

Currently running a P4 3ghz Prescott at around 3.6ghz with various water cooling parts in a Thermaltake Xaser case and 2.5gb of DDR400 ram. System has 900gb RAID5 array in it for films etc and 400gb of other driver for day to day stuff. I intend the new system to only do the day to day stuff while this ‘old’ system can go on a shelf and just stream the films to the TV etc.

I have a new Thermaltake Kandalf LCS (the really heavy black one as I just did not like the silver one!) already, it came with a Thermaltake 430W PSU from their TR2 range (W0069/W0070). I also have a 20” viewsonic 1600x1200 resolution monitor to use with it and also one of those THX Logitech surround sound speaker sets, forgot the model number. I will also put my old DVD-RW and one of my 200gb SATA drives in the unit.

So anyway after reading these boards since what must be last October, and nearly pressing ‘checkout’ numerous times I have reached the following:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Don’t need the fan but I like the 3 year warranty
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB WD1500AHFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Tenth Anniversary Dual Channel Kit (TY2KIT12864AA663)

Oh and yes I intend to overclock it.

As for graphics I am not so sure, was thinking perhaps:
HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (H195PRQT512DD-R)

But is this like putting 91 Octane fuel in a Ferrari F40?

I keep reading the reviews of the 8800s and thinking ‘Mmmmmm’ but then with ATIs offering out soon I would hate to commit myself! HELP!

Currently at most I play FarCry (yes its old but I like it!) though would love to try out some of the up and coming eye candy in the new games coming in the next months…

And regarding power if I was to go down the 8800 route what PSU would people recommend, am I to assume the 430W unit I have at the moment will not cope?

What else have I missed?

mishima · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:33

Hi,

We are at the end of January now. In about 2 or 3 weeks the lower MB 8 series Geforce cards are coming out. I would wait those couple of weeks if you can. You would only kick yourself

As for the rest of the spec you gave, looks very nice. The DS3 clocks quite nicely so I have heard, I'm sure others will tell you this soon on the thread.

I'm playing Far Cry at the moment SP. Running the spec in my sig everything on full 1280 AA AF right up. You will certainly be able to get these settings on an 8 series. (higher res too).

430W will not be enough for an 8 series. I think they recommend 600W+, rails are more important having said that. I would aim for something around 600-700W. Check out the 12V rails first though!

EDIT:
If your going to be overclocking that will obviously be more demanding on PSU... so perhaps a 700W would be more ideal?

Pobman · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:42

Any particular brand of PSU? Never had to buy one before as in the old days the simple chinese junk that came in the case was always enough

I have certain 'windows' of ordering as I don't live in the UK (can get some of the stuff where I live but its hassle going round the computer markets finding the exact things you want and some stuff you just don't find). I can order now or end of April or start of July (not sure after that).

mishima · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:45

I would definately buy something reliable. In the past I have bought no name PSUs, and they are useless. You get what you pay for, and when something is providing power to your system you want something that is quality! Very important.

I have always bought Antec power supplies, I would recommend them highly. Many on here however would recommend Corsair or Seasonic to you. Enermax are also solid.

Pobman · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:50

I think my current Xaser case has an Enermax in it, some dont remember the power of it though... guess I should check (however its 2+ years old so its not going to be a 500W+ job thats for sure!!!)

Really not used to buying PSUs :-)

but I can see the point thats for sure!

Ideally I would like something not too noisy, though I have not fired up the case yet so I dont know how noisy the fans in that are!

Addition: I checked and I have been using an Enermax at home for 2 years now, EG365AX-VE, no good for future setup but nice to know its worked without fault (on 24/7) and is not that noisy when the fan is turned down.

mishima · 26 Jan 2007 at 11:55

You could always go for an Antec Phantom. They are super quiet, they only do one version on here which is 500W I think. I'm sure you can find something higher powered somewhere else.

Generally though my Antec Truepower Trio and the Enermax Noistaker are very quiet.

Pobman · 26 Jan 2007 at 17:38

OK so i think i might wait until my April 'window' to pick this up. However should I get the Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Tenth Anniversary Dual Channel Kit now or is something even better likely to be around for the same price then?

mishima · 26 Jan 2007 at 21:32

I'm not sure how memory is doing at the moment, I know a few months back the cost was increasing. I would have thought though that waiting would be the better thing, especially as its 3 or so months away!

Trusty · 26 Jan 2007 at 21:34

the corsair 520w psu will be fine

Pobman · 26 Jan 2007 at 21:58

mishima said:
I'm not sure how memory is doing at the moment, I know a few months back the cost was increasing. I would have thought though that waiting would be the better thing, especially as its 3 or so months away!

2 - 3 months... the sad thing is I already sold my GeForce6800GT back in December ready for a new system around Christmas... only have a 256mb Radeon 9600 Pro since then which is just about useless. Guess I will just have to go back to Duke Nukem 3D for a while

mishima · 26 Jan 2007 at 23:10

Serious? Up and till 3 weeks ago I was using a 9800 Pro 128MB, and that was handling games still pretty well. My dad has a 9600XT in his which still performs well on some of the games he has.

The latest games will be hard to run though, but if you can just hang on it will definately be worth it!

Pobman · 31 Jan 2007 at 12:24

I think there is a big difference between 9600 and 9800, the 9600 is really not working well on my 20inch TFT at native 1600x1200

(of course I did not expect it to!!!)

Anyway thanks for all the advice, however in the end I changed my mind completely! I bought a new RAID5 NAS (2TBs) so I can take the Raid card out of my current system and instead of a new PC will put in a Radeon X1950 Pro AGP card from Overclockers for now. Will sort the new PC out when I move to Vista.