Gaming Rig

moleh

moleh

moleh

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Joined
29 Jun 2005
Posts
267
Hi all I must admit I have not said much since I last asked for your help to get my last rig :p

But it was SO good I am back to annoy you all again.

I am looking for a good total gaming system for round about £1500 I can push as far as £1800 but only really if you think it is worth the cost. I play wow, hl2 and want to get into Quake wars when it comes out.

I do NOT need to include a Monitor, speakers, keyboard or mouse in this spec as I have them all and dont want to change them.

Any questions you have of me please post I should be quite active on this post.

Thanks in advanced for any specs or advise you can give.

Moleh
 
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £299.99
(£352.49) £299.99
(£352.49)
EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £154.99
(£182.11) £154.99
(£182.11)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
Seasonic M12 Modular 700W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply £119.99
(£140.99) £119.99
(£140.99)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £75.99
(£89.29) £75.99
(£89.29)
CoolerMaster Stacker 830 - Silver Trim (No PSU) £99.99
(£117.49) £99.99
(£117.49)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £75.99
(£89.29) £75.99
(£89.29)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) £224.99
(£264.36) £224.99
(£264.36)
Sub Total : £1,239.91
Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £219.60
Total : £1,474.46
 
I have not done that much overclocking in the last few years would be nice to look at if I got more bang for the bucks.

That spec is looking good will have a look at it in more details now.

I just want the best gaming performace I can get for the money so I can get into the games that much quicker than my LAN friends.


Worth getting a quicker hdd on top of the one specced?

Moleh
 
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Raptors are good for map loading times, but tbh the difference between that and a Seagate 7200.10 is negligible in everyday applications :) change the HDD to a 7200.10 (they are great drives, fast and quiet) and you will have a kick ass gaming rig :) That board and the chip will clock very nicely as well, as will the memory, the E6600 is good bang for buck also so you can't go wrong. The case looks good but that really is up to you, just remember the 8800GTX is a big card, so make sure the card will fit before you press buy!

Kiz
 
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £101.99
(£119.84) £101.99
(£119.84)
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU £87.98
(£103.38) £87.98
(£103.38)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK) £61.99
(£72.84) £61.99
(£72.84)
Zalman VF900-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler £20.95
(£24.62) £20.95
(£24.62)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £299.99
(£352.49) £299.99
(£352.49)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49)
NEC ND7173 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.50
(£21.74) £18.50
(£21.74)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £47.49
(£55.80) £94.98
(£111.60)
Thermalright Ultra-120 (Socket 754/939/940/LGA775) Heatsink £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin £5.50
(£6.46) £16.50
(£19.38)
Sub Total : £942.85
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £167.27
Total : £1,123.07

That's what I'd get. No point spendig any more than that as the CPU should hit 3.2GHz. The system will be almost silent with the 120mm fans all round, and the Zalman cooler on the GPU.
 
Also if you're gunna OC best get a better cooler than the freezer. Get something like the Tuniq Tower :)

Edit: beaten to it
 
Looking good would like to see the spec of your thinking two 8800 atually worth the cost ? Most SLI looks a waste of money on paper but I have never used one.

I dont mind spending nearer the top of my budget for it tho fly a little higher. What kinda overclock would i be looking at ?
 
You don't really need 2 graphics cards unless you're playing at high resolutions (ie a 30 inch monitor). A single card is the best solution in most cases. Save your money and have a few nights out instead.;)

As for overclocking, I think you could manage 3.2GHz with the spec I posted.
 
well seeing as your max was £1800 :eek: go for it ,


Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £47.99
(£56.39) £47.99
(£56.39) EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £154.99
(£182.11) £154.99
(£182.11) Intel Core 2 Quadro Extreme Edition QX6700 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.66GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £554.99
(£652.11) £554.99
(£652.11) GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £139.99
(£164.49) £139.99
(£164.49) OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £299.99
(£352.49) £299.99
(£352.49) Samsung SpinPoint T HD400LJ 400GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24) BFG 800W UK/PFC Approved PSU £114.99
(£135.11) £114.99
(£135.11) Thermaltake VA8003BWS Armour Super Tower - Black £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74) Sub Total : £1,472.92
Shipping : £12.95 Vat : £260.03 Total : £1,745.9

it could be trimmed down a bit, diff mobo and PSU as there are cheaper that will suffice, but i just went for power and future proofing :)
 
cool, got a fwe things to look into, I have a dell 24" monitor dunno if that changes anything. What do people think of quad core for gaming any point yet ? Other question the 8500 ram vs 6400 8500 a lot better or ?

Thanks

Moleh
 
moleh said:
cool, got a fwe things to look into, I have a dell 24" monitor dunno if that changes anything. What do people think of quad core for gaming any point yet ? Other question the 8500 ram vs 6400 8500 a lot better or ?

Thanks

Moleh
Click to expand...

Two 8800 GTXs and a e6600 or e6300 (or even e4300) will be much faster in games than a single 8800 GTX and a quad core cpu. Currently that is...

I'd go for 6400 RAM, I don't find RAM speed has a large effect on overall system performance. Quantity (2GB) is more important.
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Thermalright Ultra-120 (Socket 754/939/940/LGA775) Heatsink £29.99
(£35.24) £29.99
(£35.24)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £339.99
(£399.49) £339.99
(£399.49)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £154.99
(£182.11) £154.99
(£182.11)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) £224.99
(£264.36) £224.99
(£264.36)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £187.98
(£220.88)
BFG 800W UK/PFC Approved PSU £114.99
(£135.11) £114.99
(£135.11)
Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin £5.50
(£6.46) £16.50
(£19.38)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £75.99
(£89.29) £75.99
(£89.29)
Zalman VF900-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler £20.95
(£24.62) £20.95
(£24.62)
Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming case £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
(£23.49) £39.98
(£46.98)
Sub Total : £1,438.33
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.95
Vat : £254.32
Total : £1,707.60



1. What do people think overall?

2. How much better am I going to be with the cooling I have put in here?. Do I need the vga cooler ?

3. Any major companants people dont like?

4. Does anyone know if the case will fit it all ? :)

5. How much clocking do you rekon I can get out of it and what is worth clocking ram\vga\cpu ?

Thanks for all your help so far I have to admit I have learned a lot in a few posts :)

Thanks again for any input :)
 
1. Overall, very good. If you wanted to save some money,

(a) drop down to a e4300 or 6300, and you won't see much difference in games.
(b) A 650 SLi chipset has almost all the features of the 680SLi, but is much cheaper. I would go with the Asus P5n 650SLi board instead (but if you have your heart set on a 680SLi I could hardly criticise ;) )

2. No you don't need that VGA cooler, ditch it.

3. (a)Scythe S-FLEX or Noctura fans would be better.
(b)Do you really need a sound card? The onboard sound is very good.
(c)That BFG power supply is a bit overkill, no? A 600W Seasonic would be better.
(d)Get some GEIL PC 6400 RAM. Its on this week only at the moment, and will save you a ton (literally).

4. Case should be fine. Akasa Eclipse and Antec P180 are also good cases, along with the Lian Li series.

5. No reason (other than each clock is different) why you can't get to 3-3.5 GHz on that chip.
 
You could save £130 on the Geil RAM below for about a 1% performance difference
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL

Not sure if the VGA cooler is necessary. It may not even fit, check out compatibility.

You will be able to get the CPU to 3.2 minimum but possibly up to 3.6Ghz, which is 50% faster! :)

And it has to fit in the case i'd assume, it's a big gamers case
:cool:

EDIT: beaten to it by melbourne, I would say the sound card is worth it but maybe not that one. Try the X-fi Xtreme music, same as before minus "X-ram"
 
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