noob looking for advice

lunarwolf

lunarwolf

lunarwolf

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2006
Posts
3,092
Location
Dark Forest
Hi all

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

I am sick of having pre-built computers with OEM parts that are lacking proper driver support and also not great machines to begin with.

I am a gamer (lots of FPS) and want a beast to play new generation games. I have a laptop for office software and watch movies with my home cinema system (all THX compliant).

Considered buying an Alienware but it seems you can get more bang for your buck building it yourself. This is the path I have chosen + I might learn a thing or two :cool: Now it is time to take the plunge - how exciting!


Here is the gamer config I plan to build when Vista comes out end jan, so I have about a month to plan.

- Case: Thermaltake Tai Chi VB5000SNA

- Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

- CPU: Core 2 Extreme x6800 (I read that it can be overclocked to 3.7 mhz using regular air cooling, which i don't plan to do until games require it)

- Cooler: Zalman CNPS 9700 LED

- GFX card: Leadtek GeForce 8800GTX 768mb

- PSU: Seasonic S12 Series 600W SLI Certified ATX2.0 PSU

- Memory: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX with Corsair Memory Cooler kit

- HDD: 2 x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB in RAID 0

- DVD drive: Plextor PX-760SA

- Media reader: Akasa All-In-One 21 Function Panel (inludes temp and fan controller)

- Display: Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24"

- Speakers: Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speakers 200w RMS

I have chosen not to buy sound card since one is integrated on mobo and seems enough for my purposes since I won't use this rig for music or movies. Besides I can always change my mind down the line ;)


Now I have a few questions:

1. When games will eventually require more than this initial setup, I plan to go with SLI and overclock processor to around 3.7mhz with just regular air cooling? Would I need additional fans?
- since it seems that Conroe runs efficiently and at lower temps than Prescotts + I will have reputed Zalman CNPS 9700
- case also has 2x120mm fans(1 rear and 1 front),
- RAM will have its own Corsair fan kit
Since I am a noob I havent really considered watercooling, I am going to take baby steps.


2. Is 600W PSU enough? NB silence is important to me, but gaming is more. But I really want it all :o

If 600W is not sufficient for phase 2 of my build then I was considering:
- Seasonic M12 700W
- Enermax Galaxy 850W
- BFG 1000W

Any thoughts? :confused:


3. Which 8800GFX graphics card: BFG or Leadtek, maybe even Point of View. Right now I chose Leadtek since it seems to benefit from better driver support from what I have seen on their respective sites. Other than support and price, I don't know how to distinguish them since it seems they are all built the same and get similar scores on benchmarks from what i have read.

I would welcome all your experienced feedback/advice

Sorry if this is long, but I am a noob - this would be my first build and want to make sure I cover as many bases as possible.



Cheers
 
Building your own system is the cheapest way to high performance. :)

Consider moving to a different CPU cooler. A Tuniq Tower would do a better job than the Zalman methinks.

That 600W PSU is more than enough for the task at hand.

If you don't plan on overclocking any time soon that RAM is way overkill. You could probably just go for bog standard PC26400 with low latency and do just as well.

The manufacturer of a graphics card is mostly irrelevant. The drivers are all released from nVidia and you'll go to nVidia's site to download the latest ones. Whatever the individual makers are offering for download is just a mirror of the official drivers on nVidia's site. Get one that is cheap and offers the cooling solution you want. If I were buying I'd get the BFG.

Forget about watercooling for the time being, ESPECIALLY if you don't want to overclock.

:)

EDIT: Also, it's GHz, not MHz. ;)
EDIT2: Please consider overclocking right off the bat. It's easy as pie and can improve performance greatly, even on high-spec kit like you have here.
 
Last edited:
Thx Billy for input.

The reason for PC2-8500C5 mem is that it cost less than PC2-6400C3. I figured that was worth it even if overkill, I save about £100 over PC2-6400 low cas.

Will probably go with BFG since it seems a lot of people have done so, which means better resale value or I can find a used one in a few months if I decide to go SLI. Do you think if overclock to 3.7Ghz, which I will do, and get SLI 8800GTX, that 600W is enough? I have seen some people's post saying they had to change to a more powerful PSU, although that guy had a Quad Core.

As for the Tuniq Tower 120 that thing is massive and weighs over 798g without fan compared to Zalman weight: 763g with fan. Intel stipulates not to exceed 450g - worried about connections loosening in long run. Is that too cautious?

EDIT: what about noise of cooler, a review on overclocker site says it is "a tad noisy"

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Your RAM decision is prudent, I think. Since you'll not be running it anywhere near PC2-8500 speeds without overclocking you'll be able to experiment with latencies to see how low you can go.

If you're going to upgrade in the mysterious future I would hold off on upgrading the PSU until the mysterious future as well. That way you would see a) whether or not your current PSU is up to the task and b) whether or not PSU prices, quality, or reliability have improved. Your current PSU will hold its value fairly well in the secondhand market. If you find this displeasurable any of the other PSUs mentioned would do a fine job. :)

I wouldn't worry about that heatsink. Loads of people have them and they don't seem to have any problems. I believe it is a superior cooler for the money when compared to the Zalman and it's not that much heavier. Do not fret about this.

EDIT: I don't have this specific cooler so I cannot attest to its noise based on firsthand experience. However, I think it will be nice and quiet. You might also want to look at the Scythe Ninja, another fine, high quality heatsink.
 
Thx for tip

Will investigate the Ninja weighs less, cheaper and less noise. Need to double check size but I think my tower has all the room I could want.

cheers
 
lunarwolf said:
Is Tuniq louder or same as Zalman?
Click to expand...
I've seen conflicting reports on this. It's claimed to be a quiet cooler, but some reviews say otherwise. I think it just comes down to the fan speed. If it's running flat out, then it will be noisy, but any cooler will. At low speeds it's quiet. And it's one of the best coolers out there when it comes to actually cooling your CPU, so I'd say you can't go wrong with it. As said above, don't worry about the weight issue. If this was a problem we'd be hearing about it now from hundreds of furious owners!! Ninja is a good cooler, but not as good as Tuniq from all reviews I've read. If you want the best, go with the Tuniq. Money well spent IMHO.

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom