First post and first PC build

orias

orias

orias

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Joined
23 Jul 2007
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3
Evening everyone, I've been browsing these forums for the last couple days and finally decided to register albeit because i could do with some assistance.

I need a little advice on a new gaming rig I'm hoping to build in the next couple of weeks. My budget is £1300, I would like to overclock and I'd prefer not to have to update it for at least 2 years if possible.

I haven't owned a PC for about 3 years now and have had to make do with a laptop, I'm not computer illiterate, just a bit out the loop on current PC hardware. I've spent the weekend doing as much research as possible and came up with the following gear to use for the new PC.


Asus P5N32-E SLi nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply

Zalman CNPS9700-LED Aero Flower (Socket AM2/939/754/775) CPU Cooler

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk

Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 Speakers - Retail

Logitech Deluxe Keyboard (Black) - OEM

Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse - Retail

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

NEC AD7170A 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM

Samsung SM-206BW 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

Total : £1,298.13


With the OEM products i realize some of them are drive only, so will the motherboard and case have the necessary cables and screws to get them connected and working? Also The OCUK 8800 GTX, does that have everything i need, drivers, cables, etc?

How far can i overclock the Q6600 G0, taking the ram, motherboard and zalman 9700 into consideration? Or perhaps should I avoid the new Q6600 and just go for the E6850?

Any advice is very welcome and i look forward to reading your replies.

By the looks of things the Atec nine hundred is going to let in a lot of dust, any advice on how to prevent this or perhaps an alternative case?

Will the power supply be enough for this setup? I'm planning on adding a second 8800 GTX in about a year or two, so is it wise to get a larger PSU now, or should i wait until then when everything is a lot cheaper?

I'm probably not going to run my games at a res higher than 1680x1050 (max resolution of the screen) and i know its a waste to get a GTX but i want this thing to be as "future proof" as possible. So if you have a strong argument not to get a GTX I'm all ears.
 
mother boards and cases normally give you everything you need . unless you got something like 10 hard drives lol. so you should be fine on that part :)

dust in the case, you will allway get soem dust in but some cases come with fuilters near the fan that you can clean. dont know about the one you choses though for certain.

powersupply hmm not sure if it was me and i new for certain would be adding another card i would maybe get a bigger one to be safe.
 
Personally, I would get a different cooler (maybe the Noctua NH-U12F) to clock a Q6600.

A GTS might do you, but (and again, this is a personal choice), I wouldn't go the SLI route. My own choice then would be for a P35 mobo, and just get a better single card when the GTX/GTS no longer reaches your needs.

Get at least the Home Premium version of Vista. The basic is probably too..... basic? :p

Two optical drives necessary?

For a gaming rig, I'd change the mouse and kb. But again, guess what, yeah that's a personal choice!

As is the case. I don't like it. But others love it. The Lian-Li PC-7+ and Akasa Eclipse are two very popular cases around here!
 
Spec looks good.

How does that zalman compare to the noctua, thermalright and tuniq tower coolers that a lot of people on here use, including myself?

The PSU shold be able to cope happily with a single gtx, not sure how it would cope with 2 of them. You say you might get another gtx in a year or two but by then they with be old and the next generation cards will probably be the same as current generation sli and cope with DX10 better. Also I wouldn't worry about drivers coming with the gfx card since these will be out of date anyway so the best thing to do would be to install the latest from nvidia's website.

If your only going to be using a single gfx card you might be better getting a P35 motherboard like this as a lot of people have these and they seem good for clocking.

Also with the RAM a lot of people on these boards seem to go for the crucial PC5300 stuff as it seems to clock better.

Also for OS might want to stretch to home premium and get aero and may as well go for the 64 bit version, driver support is now good for 64 bit vista and I have yet to find a modern device without 64 bit drivers.
 
FrostedNipple said:
keyboard and mouse?

edit, sorry im completly blind :o

why not get xp, instead of vista home basic!
Click to expand...

YehI know, I'm not keen on it either, unfortunately though DX10 is only available on vista. With the specs I'm going for, the difference in performance shouldn't be noticeable.

That reminds me, is it worth going for the 64bit version or stick with good old 32? Do any games take advantage of 64bit yet? And has any one had any problems with backwards compatibility?
 
Thanks for the info so far guys, I'm a bit distracted by a film at the moment so I'll look into your suggestions a later and respond some time tomorrow.

Thanks again.
 
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