Spec check for new system <£2K

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Hi guys,

In prep for the intel cpu cuts I’ve started specing a new full system with a budget less than £2000 for gaming use and some overclocking potential. Here’s my first draft…

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
BenQ FP241W 24" Widescreen HDMI/HDCP LCD HD Monitor - Silver/Black
Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink
Samsung SH-S182MBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer LightScribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB 7500AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)
Gigabyte GA_P35T_DQ6 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838)
Razer DeathAdder Blue 2000dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Sub Total : £1,638.86
Shipping : £24.95
VAT : £291.17
Total : £1,954.98

A number of questions I have are..

1) Is this RAM suitable to handle overclocking?
2) Which 8800GTX overclocks well? Or would the Leadtek 8800 Ultra be a better investment?
3) Is it advised to get a hard drive cooler for the Cavier SE16?
4) Will the Antec 182 case house the large 8800 card?
5) PSU wattage, I don’t plant to SLI but rather sell the 8800 card later on and go for a new G92 next year so will the Corsair 620W will suffice?
6) I want a 24” monitor that I can also plug a PS3 into. The BenQ FP241W looks good but does anyone know if the technology in the FP241WZ’s version is worth the extra £100? Or is there any other recommended 24” monitor?

Any help and advice you can pass on would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a load
Ian
 
1) Is this RAM suitable to handle overclocking?
Click to expand...
Not sure on that one.
2) Which 8800GTX overclocks well? Or would the Leadtek 8800 Ultra be a better investment?
Click to expand...
Basically, they are all the same cards. The extra money you pay for is game bundles included with the card, and also the warranty. The OcUK one is totally fine, but has a 1 year warranty compared to something like eVGA with 10 years.
3) Is it advised to get a hard drive cooler for the Cavier SE16?
Click to expand...
Not if you use the bottom cage, which you'll have to anyway due to the size of the 8800 in the Antec P182. But there is a fan located in that bottom section, and it does a VERY good job of keeping hard drives cool. I do use a very cheap "strap-on" cooler with my hard drive in that bottom area, but really I don't think it's needed as my hard drive stays at 25c - 29c even with full load. Without the fan I'd imagine a few degrees higher.
4) Will the Antec 182 case house the large 8800 card?
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Yes, but you will need to remove the middle hard drive cage. Same with my 2900XT, I had to remove the middle hard drive cage and the cards are roughly the same length. You can squeeze the drive bay in, but you may as well keep it out as you won't be able to fit any hard drives in it.
5) PSU wattage, I don’t plant to SLI but rather sell the 8800 card later on and go for a new G92 next year so will the Corsair 620W will suffice?
Click to expand...
Yes, the Corsair is totally fine is you aren't planning SLI, and tbh I wouldn't be suprised if it could hold 2x 8800 GTX's.
6) I want a 24” monitor that I can also plug a PS3 into. The BenQ FP241W looks good but does anyone know if the technology in the FP241WZ’s version is worth the extra £100? Or is there any other recommended 24” monitor?
Click to expand...
Unsure on that one too :)
 
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Thanks for the reply Flibby. Good news on the Antec case thanks i'll let the case fans cool the HD as you say. I'll stick with the OcUK 8800 GTX and see how much i can overclock it.

Hi crazyDAJT, I was a little worried about that but the OcUK product description did mention DDR2. Can anyone confirm if the Gigabyte GA_P35T_DQ6 can handle DDR2 as well as DDR3?
 
the Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard can do both.

But you lose your extra PCIe 16 slot.

DDR3 has a different slot layout, if you look at the picture of the above motherboard, you will see it has 6 ram slots, 4 DDR2 and 2 DDR3
 
Under the official specifications and at the Intel P35 Chipset overview it says that it supports both DDR2 and DDR3, but I've seen a couple of places when googling to find out that state this board only supports DDR3 and not both.
 
stickroad said:
That board only supports DDR3 it even saids that on the website you linked to.
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It doesn't say "only", it says "Supports next generation DDR3 1333 memory for outstanding system performance.". The bit further down that I was on about says:

Intel® P35 chipset also offer options for both DDR2 and DDR3 memory support, providing scalable options for users wanting to take advantage of higher memory performance with less power consumption to run next generation applications such as high-definition video and 3D visualization.
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Not saying it supports it, I already said that I googled and found that people said it doesn't support DDR2, as I mentioned in my last post.
 
Almost identical spec to what I have in mind for the main components except I’m inclined towards the Lian Li PC-7 case and the Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3R.

The Gigabyte GA_P35_DQ6 offers Firewire and 2 x PCI Express 16 slots which I assume means two Graphics Cards. If you are only likely to need one does it offer any other advantages for the extra cost.


GA_P35_DQ6 and Noctua

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_nh_u12f&lng=en

Code: 
Incompatible due to the excessive height of the chipset coolers
 
Wow thanks for the replies guys, that would have caught me out.

So which mobo would you recommend, a GA-P35C-DS3R, or one of the ASUS P5K's? (for overclocking)
 
One more thing, a site that sounds like nexus reviewed the P182 and included a Corsair 620W PSU in their review. They stated that:

The other main improvement to the P182 is the provision of cable-routing holes. You can see three holes cut out of the motherboard back plate. Two are up top and one lines up nicely with where the motherboard's 24-pin PSU socket will be.

While these little tweaks worked really well and made building the system a breeze, we did find that the cable for the eight-pin connector on our Corsair HX620 power supply was about 5cm too short to reach round the back and over the top.
Click to expand...
So you might have to invest in a PSU motherboard connector extender, as even if you take it up the middle of the case it might still be a little short if it was 5cm short going around the back.
 
Thanks for that Flibby. nice spot.

Unfortunately from Marses' link a the Noctua NH-U12F will not fit a DQ6 but then im toying with possibly changing to a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme.

A quick google review search shows the Asus boards reviwing well especially for overclocking?
 
Getting there....

Thanks for the great replies, I have done some tweeking and heres my second go...

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
BenQ FP241W 24" Widescreen HDMI/HDCP LCD HD Monitor - Silver/Black
Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3/4 Pin
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Socket AM2/LGA775) Heatsink
Akasa 8-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838)
Razer DeathAdder Blue 2000dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM

Sub Total : £1,578.83
Shipping : £24.95
VAT : £280.66
Total : £1,884.44

I have 3 remaining questions if thats ok...

1) Having looked at reviews of some of the many Asus P5K boards I'm now torn between which mobo to go with an ASUS or a Gigabyte. I want overclocking stability but enough features to have some future proofing? I'm anxious to get the best mobo i can.

2) Is the RAM ok, I hear that 4GB (2x2GB) units dont handle overclocking well? Would the best solution be two sets of 2x1GB units if so which brands are recommended or can i stick with a 4GB (2x2GB) set?

3) Does anyone know about the BFI technology on the more expensive BenQ FP241WZ monitor? I can't seem to find much information on it to decide if its worth the extra £100, maybe because its new? I could only find one indepth review on http://www.behardware.com/articles/646-1/benq-fp241wz-1rst-lcd-with-screening.html :confused:

If you can help me that would be great :)
 
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Ok so I think im going for the Gigabyte GA_P35_DQ6 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard with 2 sets of GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC8500C5 1066MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kits and await the intel cuts...

Sub Total : £1,586.83
Shipping : £24.95
VAT : £282.06
Total : £1,893.84

Just hope it all fits together :eek:
 
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