New Gaming PC - Build Advice

Chalex4

Chalex4

Chalex4

Associate
Joined
13 Dec 2007
Posts
283
Location
Oxford
Hey all,

I wanted to post here before I go ahead and order all of the parts for my new PC. It is worth highlighting that almost all of the parts are coming from OcUK, however a few are coming from other suppliers due to them not being listed here. So, here goes:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026)
  • Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
  • OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 Dual Channel SLI Ready Edition
  • Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
  • BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
  • Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Sound Card - Retail
  • Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM (x2)
  • Antec Quattro 850W PSU
  • Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) (x2)
  • Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 Dual digital DVB-T PCI TV Tuner card
  • Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU cooler
  • Sunbeam 12 Inch Dual Blue Cathodes
  • Logitech G15 Keyboard 2007 Version
  • Belkin Serial ATA 2.0 7-pin Cable - Blue 18" (x2)
  • Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable (x2)
  • Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
  • Akasa AK-TK-01 Cable Tidy Kit
  • Cable Ties UV Blue Pack of 10

I already have decent 5.1 surround sound Creative speakers, a Logitech G5 (v2), a Samsung SyncMaster 913N (to be upgraded next year) and a Medusa 5.1 surround sound headset. Allowing £50 for postage and packing, the total cost is:

£1,365.36 (inc. VAT)

This PC will mainly be used for gaming and video editing (which is why 2 optical drives will be very useful) and I am hoping to be able to run most games on very high, at 1280x1024 (excluding Crysis of course! :p). I am planning to run Windows XP Pro (32 Bit) because the benefits of Vista's DX10 don't seem to be mind blowing quite yet, and the overall performance wouldn't be as good as with XP. I will most likely be overclocking the Q6600 to about 3.00GHz as well.

It would be great if you guys could have a look over the components and see if anything looks out of place. Any kind of feedback is always appreciated!
 
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the corsair HX520W will run that pc without a problem,
save money by getting a P35 chipset based board unless you are wanting crossfire which is not possible with Nividia cards anyway.

get the tuniq tower as a cooler instead, its good for overclocking and even better at stock. basicly a better cooler
 
dont get the antnec psu. Definitly get the corsair 520 as they are ment to have problems i thought and you dont need that much power.

You dont need 8500 ram, the difference between a game with ram running at 800mhz and 1250mhz is nothing.

Get 2 sets of 2x1 ocz at 35 quid and get 4gb for 70 quid. its a bargin and fast enougj.

8500ram is only needed for those pushing cpu's to the extreme and even then most ram will overclock from 800mhz to the same speeds. The 5300 balistics will go from 677 to 1100mhz. But they die easly and i wouldn't recomend them nore do you need them.

Get 4gb and vista 64bit. I know you said you arn't intrested in dx10 but the increase of 4gb really is worth it. Most games are fine in it now. its only crysis and running crysis in dx9 mode shows little difference to xp in dx9.

Further more the q6600 should go to 3.2ghz on stock volts. Id suggest a turniq tower 120 for overclocking personaly.
 
Cheers for your quick responses. I am interested that you think I could use Corsair HX520W instead with no problems, although I am not so sure that it would properly cope with the 2 x Hard Drives and 2 x Optical Drives as well as a TV card... If it can, I will think about changing to a different PSU.

As for changing to the P35 chipset, I decided against that because of no PCI-E 2.0 and 45nm processor support. I am tempted by the Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) although the fact that it has support for P4s makes me think that it will not be as good with a Q6600. The Zalman CNPS9700-LED CPU Cooler on the other hand has had way more reviews, with almost all at 5 stars from everyone (admittedly, it is more expensive).

I agree with what you say 8igdave about the 8500 RAM. I am now probably going to get the OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 since it is a lot cheaper and still has great performance. The 4GB of RAM is very tempting, although since I really do not want to go 64 bit because of driver issues and possible problems with the TV card, the 2x2GB wouldn't be very wise because I wouldn't get the full 4GB in 32 Bit XP and I may lose the dual channel.
 
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you wouldn't lose dual channel. There are no longer driver issues with almost all peices of hardware. With tv cards just check for dx10 support in drivesr first.

vista 64bit is smoother then 32bit because it uses bigger memory packets which require more ram but are processed faster.

As for the mobo, that is ment to be a good mobo. but dont update the bios via widows remember. Asus seem to be especialy bad for this and their boards have a welded in bios chip so you gota rma it if the windows bios goes wrong, which seems to be a lot.

As for the psu, 520w will run 8800GTX in sli.
 
I have decided to go for the "Antec Neopower 650W Modular PSU - Blue LED 12CM Fan" which saves me a lot of money, and change the Creative sound card. I am not at all impressed with Creative's lack of drivers and there seem to be a lot of people with similar problems on their forums. As a result, I think the "Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card - Retail" would be a great buy, since I am not too fussed about EAX, and it is a really nice card.

Unfortunately I am not ready to jump on the Vista bandwagon just yet, especially a 64 bit version, although your advice was very helpful.
 
if you were prepared to pay £112 for a PSU that no one here will recommend, why are you now not willing to pay £70 for the most highly recommended PSU on this forum? (my arguement is based upon OCUK prices)

most people here will tell you that cutting back costs with by getting a poorer PSU is not the way to go as the psu is the part that can either save or destroy your PC in a surge. good psus will commit suicide to try save the rest of your pc, bad psus will/may take other parts with them.
 
Sorry, it's just that I want a PSU that can cope with various upgrades in the future and possibly having SLi next year as well as running all my other stuff with ease. I just think that 520W is running a little close to the mark, and the 650W will give me the extra legroom I need. The reason for not getting a Corsair is that my friend had his fail on him after a year, and he has told me that the Antec is just as good - reviews online confirmed this.
 
Right, here is an updated components list:

  • Mirosoft Windows XP Professional (32 Bit)
  • Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
  • OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
  • Asus Maximus Formula Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
  • BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
  • Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card - Retail
  • Samsung SH-S203NBEBN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM (x2)
  • Antec Neopower 650W Modular PSU - Blue LED 12CM Fan
  • Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) (x2)
  • Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T 500 Dual digital DVB-T PCI TV Tuner card
  • Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU cooler
  • Sunbeam 12 Inch Dual Blue Cathodes
  • Logitech G15 Keyboard 2007 Version
  • Belkin Serial ATA 2.0 7-pin Cable - Blue 18" (x2)
  • Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable (x2)
  • Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
  • Akasa AK-TK-01 Cable Tidy Kit
  • Cable Ties UV Blue Pack of 10

Again allowing £50 for postage and packaging, the total cost comes to:

£1,343.04

Does anyone have any other objections to the above, since I need to order it all first thing tomorrow.
 
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