New PC build, advice please :)

Rockstar09

Rockstar09

Rockstar09

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23 Aug 2009
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Hey guys/gals

Looking to build a Q9650 rig, Is the Striker 2 extreme a good choice of board for me?

Basically I want SLI and a reliable board that doesnt mind a bit of overclocking, would any of you not reccomend the striker 2 as a good choice?

Second question I have is about RAM latencys, The most expensive DDR2 ram on the OCUK website is OCZ Flex Ex which runs at 1200 Mhz and 6-6-6-18 timings, the Corsair dominator runs at lower latencys (5-5-5-15) but only runs at 1066 Mhz, so tell me guys how much better is the OCZ Flex Ex, could someone break it down for me please.

Thanks in advance for the help.

I might be using a danger den tower 26 and going all out on water cooling,
will post pix and keep you updated.
 
For the money you are looking to spedn I would suggest getting an i7 or waiting for an i5 rig. Will serve you better, and as it is newer tech it should last longer and give you more upgrade possibilities.

Dont get me wrong, the Q9550+9650 are still top notch CPUs, but as they are tied into the 775 platform and you are looking to buy a new mobo you might aswell get the newer ones. Especially as it will probably work out cheaper:
Q9650 - £242
Striker II - £167
(those 780i chipsets can have issues overclocking, I think P45's are accepted to be better overclockers.)
compared to
i7 920 D0 (helps with overclocking) - £200
Asus P6T - £165

Those 920's have been known to get 3.8GHz on air regularly. That mobo can do SLI and Crossfire, and uses triple channel DDR3 instead of dual DDR2.

The RAM latencies dont really make a noticeable difference, and the higher the speed the higher the latencies but as the RAM is running at higher speeds the latencies are effectively faster than lower latencies at slower speeds. I think anyway, its been a while since I read up on it - check wikipedia.

If you tell us what budget you are working to and what you need from that budget (case, cooling, mouse/keyboard/screen ?) then we can give you a selection of options.

Looking forward to those pics =]
 
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entirely agree, go for low end i7 rather than high end 775 if youre wanting the SLI support, a gigabyte UD3R mobo is good starting place, teamed with a 920 and some DDR3 RAM, not much more than the 775 set up
 
Ok so youve enlightened me :) http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2333776,00.asp

According to that link they perform about the same, (Q9650 vs I7 920)

Asus P6T7 / EVGA Classified / Gigabyte GA EX-58

How would these 3 boards compare? willing to spend 300 on a decent board unless there is something else youd reccomend over those 3.

Ram (DDR3) is the other thing I cant decide on,
so kingston offer 6gig of 2000Mhz 8-8-8-? = £190
OCZ offer 6gig 2000Mhz 10-10-10-20 = £92

Im assuming kingston is worth £100 more because its latencys are slightly lower,
Would any of you pay that extra money for kingston?

What im trying to ask is would anyone notice the difference between the two :)

Thanks for your patience, I realise these are nubby questions the truth is after I7 came out and the ram module names jumped from 2700 to 16000 with increased latencys I became a little lost <3 thanks guys
 
I wouldnt be prepared to pay £98 extra on the RAM, especially as it is just the latencies. Technically the Kingston is better, but Id be very surprised if you could tell the two apart performace wise.

Any of those mobos will do you great. I personally prefer Gigabyte or EVGA over ASUS. Running an EVGA atm and its performing great. They also do awesome warranties.
 
Thanks guys awesome help :)

And for my final question,

BFG Geforce GTX 275 OCX, Would anyone reccomend another brand or model over this one?

Looking to spend roughly £200 per card
 
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