One down from the best..

[Fuzz]

Due to me letting off steam and "finalising" the snivelling wheezing wreck that was my last rig (I'm sure some of it has survived but meh, it can go in the server pc in the other room).

Time for a new build that WILL be purchased as soon as we have finished discussing it.
Money is no object but as I know all the replies will be "pointless buying all the best stuff and paying through the nose for it when the next best thing will do just a good a job"

That's what this thread is asking..
What IS the best thing I could build but with a sensible head on...

My thoughts,
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 Intel X48 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - OEM

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

Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB) Supplied with Airflow Fan (TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF) < definitely prefer Corsair over ANY other)

Got to wait for some new graphics cards to come onto the market I guess... Kinda hampers this build though!

Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU

Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU < Already have this

OCZ 32GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-1S32G)

Always thought of doing a water cooled rig. Maybe now is the time??

Swiftech H2O-220 Apex Ultra+ Watercooling Kit (Socket 462/478/LGA775/754/939/940) < obviously won't need the Tuniq tower if I do this. (which is a good thing as I can't buy a Tuniq tower from here at the moment)

Which version of Vista ??

Already have a DVD-RW drive..



Time to chew it over people..

 

[Fuzz]

I need little to no extra HDD space other than for the games themselves.
I have about 2Tb in the attic... (9 other HDD's spread about the house, networked)

How long before the "soon to be dead tech" is actually dead... I see nothing available for pre order so I guess it's a while??

Didn't realise the Antec case was cramped.. Throw me a bone here??

 

[Fuzz]

I did look at the skulltrail
I remember why now... PCI-E slots too close together. Had enough hassle with this rig trying to keep the top card cool when it sits within 3mm of the card below, what a **** design.




Edited in the Akska case as I like it.

So that leaves just the Graphics and HDD's to agree on ?

 

[Fuzz]

I would look into the new P45 chipset boards as well.

I am not doing Asus

 

[Fuzz]

what would be the purpose of two 3870X2s, why not a single 9800GX2, unless your planning on hooking your PC upto like four 24'' monitors or something?

well 2 x 24"..... and then there's Crysis (the old Twin 1950XTX's stuttered too much for my liking / resolution

and i agree with the others, no point buying physx, never had much of a purpose other than wasting power and money,

OK removed, was a bit of a joke anyway, was going to add it back in at the end saying thanks for saving me a wedge, now I can afford this....

and the raptors don't give that much of a performance increase as far as im aware to justify there huge price premium, would just get a couple of rock solid hitachis or seagates and be done with it

doh. I like the RAID0 raptors (that's what I'd being doing with them)
Definitely seems a much perkier system when they are in a rig

 

[Fuzz]

Why?

Personal experience and the thread I read earlier slating them rather badly / nicely...

 

[Fuzz]

Oh RATS, can someone put this is GENERAL HARDWARE please.

Sorry

 

[Fuzz]

Motherboard, RAM, CPU, case are fine - however...



No idea why you've picked that Zalman cooler, nothing wrong with them I admit but far from some of the better air sinks available like the Thermalright 120-E, Tuniq Tower or the Noctua NH-U12P. Of course, aesthetics is everything, but then I think those three aforementioned look great anyway IMO

Only reason was when looking at the Thermalrite stuff, quite a few had "Out of stock , No ETA..

edited that in instead then...

With the money you'd save, you could also ditch the raptors and buy a single 32Gb Solid State HDD instead

Oh alright then.

edited that in as well

even a 520W Corsair PSU can power the hungry 9800GX2 (just) let alone everything and anything less powerful. At a stretch 620W preferably 750W+ is more than enough for CrossFire'd cards; all these 1000W+ units are just marketing gimmicks - nothing else.

A bit reluctant to put anything from my old system into the new build, but I do own the Enermax liberty already.... (620W)

So edited that in for now.. (it will get beaten with a big stick if it plays up on the new rig )

 

[Fuzz]

why not go for watercooling?

In a nice Silverstone TJ-07BW?

Is that Gigabyte board a suitable base for watercooling??

(plenty of headroom in the budget to do watercooling if it's a good direction to go in, always thought of doing it, but never got round to it (story of my life ))

 

[Fuzz]

Really like the look of that system you've got specced now. Love to know how that SSD will perform, I've read mixed reviews.

Just get a second hand 8800GT from the MM to tide you over till June?

If I must wait then I suppose one of the current 1950XTX's will hopefully still be working from the old system..


Forgot the O/S though (on XP at the moment and I suppose it's time to Vista x64?)

 

[Fuzz]

why the 9450? i assume you want to OC, in which case the Q6600 would probably do you better...

Yes probably overclock it, one of the reasons I went with the Gigabyte Mainboard.
What happens when you add watercooling into the equation?

and why get an SSD? just get a small 80-120 gb sata 2 drive that will serve your needs

Which is faster overall?

 

[Fuzz]

Time to get in the shower and dressed for todays wedding (some other poor sucker, not me)
So I hope to come back to plenty of discussion..

and *cough* this thread in General hardware *cough*

 

[Fuzz]

the man wants the best, and he wants to spend money, this is not really rational... wish i had the money to spare to do it as well!

Go for a 790i based motherboard
Possibly look into an extreme intel chip, if thats too much then go for a lower end and overclock away.
Buy the best DDR you can find, speeds of 1600MHz + at decent timings.
Wait and buy the new nvifia graphics cards and SLi them (Unless you are running dual monitor) if thats the case wait for 4870X2 and xrossfire two of them.
For a case there is a really expensive but great looking Lian Li case...
for hard drives, either the new raptors at raid 0
OR if you REALLY have that much money Hyperdrive4 (RAM based hard disk, search for it in google)

No it's not about going mental with it.
It's about building an up to date rig as I can without being silly.
Just because there is no real limit on the budget doesn't mean the build should be.
Whenever someone posts thier "fantasy build" people always **** it off saying "pointless buying that at such cost when this will do a better job for the same money".
That's the aim of this build.
A top spec build but within the realms of keeping it SENSIBLE

 

[Fuzz]

why not go for watercooling?

In a nice Silverstone TJ-07BW?

get a TJ-07

Any particular reason I should be looking at one of these over the Askasa one a lot of others have already mentioned?

 

[Fuzz]

Pictures would be better.
One persons review is another persons toilet paper.