Help with selection of new parts please

affiliate13 · 19 Nov 2007 at 10:02

Hi All,
I hope I've started this thread in the right place,

I have made a list of the parts i wish to use to build a new gaming rig.
I will be planning to overclock and i will be planning on adding a second 8800GT along with a couple of 750GB/1TB drives sometime next year if they are down eneough in price.

This system will be used mostly for games and in particular UT3.
I will be using XP Pro and later moving to Vistax64 when i get any s/w replaced i need.

I wanted to ask is there anything i should be aware of with this selection,
I have tried to read as many reviews as possible to aviod any grief.

I was hoping someone might tell me if there might be issues with the board and ram.
I understand there are BIOS updates needed for it to work well and the RAM is supposed to be OK as it has EPP for 680 chipsets?

Also as i plan to overclock will i need an aftermarket northbridge cooler?
This one has a heat pipe attached which makes me think no but then its probably better to ask.

I believe the stock case cooling with an extra couple of 120mm fans should be ok for ambient temps?

Am i way off the mark with this or good to go?

Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black)

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (Two of these)

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

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

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)

Antec Quattro 850W PSU

Scythe Card Reader & Floppy Drive - Black

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10662GK) (one pair of these)

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

Asus GeForce EN8800 GT TOP 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) (one of these for now)

Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin (two of these

Total : £1,025.58

Thanks in advance

BENdage · 19 Nov 2007 at 10:47

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

You could do better than this for the CPU cooler, try one of the Tuniq tower coolers, they are supposed to be the best air cooling at the moment.

Also your memory choice, is there any particular reason you've gone with that? There is some Crucial Ballistix Tracer on this week only that runs at the same speed and timings, but at a lower voltage, which should allow more room to overclock

neodude · 19 Nov 2007 at 10:50

I would also be inclined to swap the Samsung Writer for a Pioneer unit and the HDDs for Seagates, but I guess that is more personal preference.

Malt_Vinegar · 19 Nov 2007 at 11:14

Is it worth upgrading?

oops, wrong thread!! meant to start new one!

affiliate13 · 19 Nov 2007 at 11:50

BENdage said:
You could do better than this for the CPU cooler, try one of the Tuniq tower coolers, they are supposed to be the best air cooling at the moment.

Also your memory choice, is there any particular reason you've gone with that? There is some Crucial Ballistix Tracer on this week only that runs at the same speed and timings, but at a lower voltage, which should allow more room to overclock

yes i looked at the crucial sticks and in particular the PC2 6400 modules as they were crazy cheap and im told overclock well they are also listed as compatible on the asus ram sheet for this mobo. but yeah the 8500 modules are probably the way to go. i just saw the OCZ reviewed well in a few places. cant go wrong with crucial warranty though.

seems everyone is recommending the tuniq for Q6600's so will amend that too. Looks like it fits into the P182 ok too.

neoduder
I would also be inclined to swap the Samsung Writer for a Pioneer unit and the HDDs for Seagates, but I guess that is more personal preference.

i was thinking pioneer too, i just saw the samsung on offer.
in regard to the disks, i heard they were quiet and due to the high platter density were quick too. will read up in seagates now too

affiliate13 · 20 Nov 2007 at 09:47

OK thanks for the ideas guys,
i have revised my list after reading up on your suggestions.
Those seagates seem to be a new model i didnt know about.

So please one more time before i order can i get some feed back before i blow the dust of my credit card?

thanks all

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache (TWO OF THESE)

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

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)

Antec Quattro 850W PSU

Scythe Card Reader & Floppy Drive - Black

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

Asus GeForce EN8800 GT TOP 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065)

Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black)

Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

Total : £1,058.45