Need some help to design a new rig

[hcclnoodles]

Hi there, this is my first post on OC (although I have been an avid lurker for some time)

I am looking to build a system and have a fair budget, the only things I have decided on so far are the following. It will be predominantly a games rig

1) geForce 8800 GTS 640mb - maybe the pre-overclocked one you can buy

2) either a E6600 Duo or a Q6600 Quad ? - Im not sure which is better, espedially with the Q6600 coming down in price on July 22nd

3) Samsung syncmaster 226bw 22'' panel - btw, i know about the whole A, S and C panel issues, but am still getting one

This is all im sure on at the moment, the rest I havent got a scooby, there are so many options. I would like to overclock the kit a little but i wont be pushing it all to the point where I have to buy serious extra cooling. The budget for the rest of the kit is

MB = 150
2gb RAM = 100
case = 80
PSU = 80-100
HSF for CPU = not sure if retail will be ok, but will go to 30 if it is defo needed
500gb HDD = 60
cooling 30-50

So my total system price (excluding monitor and OS) will be around the 1000 mark. any help or advice on choosing the best components for my rig would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

[Jaffa_Cake]

I would say you can cut back on the mobo, ram, psu and cooling Then bump up the GFX to a GTX, whats your total budget i'l do a total system spec including monitor etc

 

[supernova9]

How about this? Has a GTX, good RAM, PSU, mobo, this would do well for that 22" Samsung I reckon:

 

[hcclnoodles]

on a 22" monitor, will I really notice the difference between a GTS-640 and a GTX ????

I know that if i went for a 24" panel, GTX would be preffered

also, does anybody know if the E6600 duo prices will drop on Jull 22nd as well ....basically, should I wait a month before purchasing my CPU ? I thought the quad was better than the Duo, even with the slightly slower clock speeds...am i wrong here?

 

[Growlingfish]

A bit OT, but can someone tell me how pre-overclocked cards work? Do you need to use drivers modified by the seller in order for the card to be oced in practice? For example, if I had an ATI card that was sold as overclocked, then I installed the standard drivers, catalyst, etc. from ATI would the card still be overclocked or would I need to do that through overdrive?

 

[supernova9]

on a 22" monitor, will I really notice the difference between a GTS-640 and a GTX ????

I know that if i went for a 24" panel, GTX would be preffered

also, does anybody know if the E6600 duo prices will drop on Jull 22nd as well ....basically, should I wait a month before purchasing my CPU ? I thought the quad was better than the Duo, even with the slightly slower clock speeds...am i wrong here?

If you're willing to wait to buy the CPU, wait until then to buy everything. Buying piecemeal will cost you more, you'll get more of everything for your money after July 22nd. Quad core is preferable, you won't use all four cores in games at the moment, but for other apps and future-proofing it'll be worthwhile. The P35 chipset (in the mobo I specced) will allow for good overclocking of quads, up to 3GHz or so.

You will notice the difference between a GTX and GTS640, dependent more on resolution used than panel size.

 

[Jaffa_Cake]

Supernova's given you a nice spec

I would definitely get the GTX if you look at the benchmark comparisons just here http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=707&model2=706&chart=288

IMO you should swap the ram for Ballistix PC5300 as it cllocks easily to 1000MHz and would go well with the CPU OC (if you plan to do that) 620W is abit OTT also, the 520W would do fine with a single GTX and could save you a few squids. Maybe swap the HDD for a WD for slightly more speed, apart from that. Don't touch its perfect