Comment on new rig spec pls?

DanH · 29 Mar 2007 at 01:39

Hi, thanks for reading.

Have I overlooked anything with the following setup? Would like a good gaming rig, and can spend more if necessary, but would prefer not to if its just vastly diminishing returns. I plan to do some moderate overclocking of the cpu to 3ghz. Will probably not try on the gfx card as I've never managed a stable aircooled overclock on one that doesn't glitch in some games.

2x GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (£234.98)
1x Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (£191.51)
1x EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£176.24)
1x BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (£387.74)
2x Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (£176.22)
1x Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£22.31)
1x Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) (£99.86)

- Will the corsair be able to power another GTX card as well when I go to SLI in the future?
- Whats the score with sound cards these days? I'm installing vista and I don't think anything from creative works. Is the onboard sound ok?
- Is this mobo a bad idea? I know it has some controversy around it, but I want the dual sli bandwidth for a second GTX in the future. If it is a bad idea, any other suggestions? I've seen the P5N32E Plus which is a hybrid chipset. People seem down on this, but doesn't it work around some of the fragility of the 680?

Haven't chosen a case yet. Any recommendations? Must be quiet so I don't want mesh side panels hiding fans if they let noise out. Would like it to be ally and nice looking too.

Thanks.

Tombo · 29 Mar 2007 at 01:47

Looks fine to me and.

Yes.
Don't know.
Don't Know.

steve258 · 29 Mar 2007 at 10:13

DanH said:
Whats the score with sound cards these days? I'm installing vista and I don't think anything from creative works. Is the onboard sound ok?

Onboard sound is fine for normal use but a seperate soundcard really does make a difference especially if you have a good set of speakers.

DanH said:
I've seen the P5N32E Plus which is a hybrid chipset. People seem down on this, but doesn't it work around some of the fragility of the 680?

Really?? I heard nothing but praises about the P5N32-E Plus, personally I'd prefer this over the EVGA.

DanH said:
Haven't chosen a case yet. Any recommendations? Must be quiet so I don't want mesh side panels hiding fans if they let noise out. Would like it to be ally and nice looking too.

Get an Akasa Eclipse and a couple of Noctua NF-S12 fans and you have a good looking, cool & quiet case.

DanH · 29 Mar 2007 at 12:02

Thanks. Forgot to ask if I should be looking at getting faster RAM to complement the rest of this setup?

mishima · 29 Mar 2007 at 12:13

Any reason why you are getting 4GB RAM? I think something within the 500W range would be fine for the PSU rather than getting something which is in the 600's - save yourself some money. If I was you I would forget SLi by the time you are ready something new will be out thats bigger and better. SLi is a waste of money. That in mind I would get something like a DS3P that supports quad core and has some good features such as great overclocking ability. Loads of money saved there.

DanH · 29 Mar 2007 at 13:03

mishima said:
Any reason why you are getting 4GB RAM? I think something within the 500W range would be fine for the PSU rather than getting something which is in the 600's - save yourself some money. If I was you I would forget SLi by the time you are ready something new will be out thats bigger and better. SLi is a waste of money. That in mind I would get something like a DS3P that supports quad core and has some good features such as great overclocking ability. Loads of money saved there.

4gb is for video editing + also I am playing Vanguard which has a lot of page thrash issues. Not to mention vista uses about a gig by itself!

Interesting point on the motherboard front. Will think about that - I'm not entirely convinced that the 680i chipset isn't fundamentally flawed so I've been having doubts about it.

melbourne720 · 29 Mar 2007 at 13:32

I agree with Steve 258 on the case, and Mishima makes a good point on the mobo (I'd stick with the 620W PSU though).

You could get faster RAM, but even if it was in sync with the FSB the CPU would be at 3.6GHz, quite an overclock on an e6600. Stick with standard 6400 RAM, IMHO.

DanH · 29 Mar 2007 at 14:12

Been looking into this more, and there is some negative stuff about the DS3P 3.3 on hardocp http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1147738&page=9 . Really unsure if any mobo is any good at the moment lol. Half tempted to go back to the EVGA solution as at least its a reference design and nvidia need to sort it out. Having said that it seems to be nothing but trouble - the most recent 2 bios doesn't support the high resolution timer! All seems highly incompetent.

Decided to go with the Stacker case though as that should give me room to watercool in the future.

Girdag · 29 Mar 2007 at 14:27

I'd go with a variation of the P5B, I'd personally choose the P5B-E Plus, which goes for around £90, is very overclockable, and has good reviews, with no 'issues' that I've heard of, like most of the P5B series, really.

melbourne720 · 29 Mar 2007 at 14:29

Agreed, Asus P5B E/Deluxe is a solid board. I'd recommend my BFG 680i, but a friend of mine has had to return two of them this week!

hammys · 29 Mar 2007 at 14:32

Whats the score with sound cards these days? I'm installing vista and I don't think anything from creative works. Is the onboard sound ok?

I had issues with my onboard soundcard with Vista, but upgraded to cheap Soundblaster Audigy. Creative Labs have a good list of what they support in terms of cards and vista drivers.

steve258 · 29 Mar 2007 at 15:36

Girdag said:
I'd go with a variation of the P5B, I'd personally choose the P5B-E Plus, which goes for around £90, is very overclockable, and has good reviews, with no 'issues' that I've heard of, like most of the P5B series, really.

Ditto, If you don't want SLI P5B-E Plus is great, now at only £82 VAT included it is cheaper than the DS3P.

DanH · 29 Mar 2007 at 17:19

Was just about to order and deal of the week expired on 3 of the items! (RAM, CPU, gfx).

Hmmm kinda taken the wind out my sales, so may put more effort into shopping around now.

Vaguely decided to get the EVGA board as this was meant to be a good system and I like the tweakability.

DanH · 30 Mar 2007 at 10:22

Ok decided on the final spec, thanks for the comments guys. I'm getting :

1x Silverstone TJ09
1x Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB)
1x EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR NF680i SLI
2x 500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T
1x BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
1x Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
1x Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5D

I've dropped from 4 gigs ram as that forces a 64 bit OS on me and I'm concerned the drivers will suck for the forseeable future. Decided to spend the cash on getting better quality and going to 8500.

Dropped the stacker as there are quality issues, it doesn't have room for water cooling, and it looks like a dust magnet too.

Anyway, hopefully a killer system and all the parts should arrive tomorrow.

mishima · 30 Mar 2007 at 10:26

Excellent stuff, that will fly. Enjoy!

DanH · 31 Mar 2007 at 03:07

mishima said:
Excellent stuff, that will fly. Enjoy!

Thanks. I hope it works out ok as I wasn't totally happy with the mobo, but none of them are perfect it seems.