RedTalon

Ok soooo getting to that time when I feel an upgrade is needed. Basically want I am looking for is a dx10 system, which will initially be on XP and then go onto vista when ever dx10 actually pops up. I use my system for gaming, and bunch of graphic apps. It is quite common for me to be runnning PS, Illus, and Indesign at the same time.

So here is what I have set up already.

CPU:
Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz

Pretty much set on this, less you think it is a horrible idea

Graphics Card:
EVGA 8800GTX 768mb
EVGA 8800GTS 640 mb SUPERCLOCKED

Basically deciding if I want to do the jump to the GTX or not

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB 6400C4D or
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB 6400C4

Think these are both the same, just one has a fancy heat sink. Not sure if it is worth the extra cash or not.

Mobo:
ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel
ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI ATX Intel
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-AR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel

So I am kinda lost in mobo land. Was sticking with ASUS because that is what I have in my current rig, not really married to it though. Was looking at the ASUS 680i because I saw it mentioned somewhere that the RAM I picked was made for that board. Except I also saw a comment that the 6400C4 RAM did not work with the ASUS 680i mobo. Also was mentioned that it ran hot, and you needed to by better heatsinks for the Bridges. So I was looking into the other asus, don't really need the wifi but looked liked a solid board. Also was looking at the EVGA because it seemed popular and has 680i. Except it says it is DDR1200, dunno if that is a typo or not.

But really what I want out of a mobo is something that supports the other components (obviously). Has a good LAN, as I run my Internet through the mobo and do not want to stick an extra card in there. Then possibly some overclocking ability. Never really played around with OCing but I am curious. However much rather have a solid board, than an ok one that can overclock

Sound Card:
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz

anything better than this for around the same price?

HD:
Just going to transplant the one from my old comp into the new, which is a
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100

This going to be a bottle neck for my system? Porting it over because trying to keep costs down a bit if I can. But do not want to make a bottleneck

PSU:
Looked at some PSUs, was kinda hoping you guys could give some recommendations. Need something powerful enough for the system, plus an external MyBook HD. Also two fans would be a plus to keep circulation up in the box. A blue light would be awesome too, but not necessary.

Thanks a ton, open to any comments.

Black_V!per

For the PSU i've read reviews on the Sunbeam Nuuo 550w, but your going to require a lot more than 550w. I'd say try to make 600w your minimum. And go modular, you wont regret it.

P.S. For PSU's do NOT skimp out, keep with the name brands, OCZ, Antec, FSP, ect. If you go for a off-brand you will regret it.


As for your processor, you've got a great choice, its one of the best on the market right now, but i've heard rumors that next month (April) intel will be droping prices, and the E6700 will be around the same price that you'll be paying right now.

As for your motherboards, you can go with Asus's 650i SLi Chip, its got dual 16x PCIe slots if you ever decide to upgrade, and its under $200. Plus its ready for Intel's new 1333mhz processors due next fiscal half


Your RAM, the Dominator is great for systems that'll draw a lot of heat, and your case will. You can pick up a OEM fan for the Dominators down the road too if needed (Dont buy the RAM + Fan they jack up the prices way to much)

And i'd say go for a SATA Hard drive if you can, there cheap. $100 bucks for 400GB's and $40 for another 160GB (Which will double what you've got now)

As for graphics, if you can go with the GTX do so, its got a lot more power behind it, just make sure you've got the case to fit it, its REALLY big.

__________________

Zid

looks good.

__________________

=Sarc=

The Dominator isn't necessary. It's targeted towards the enthusiast overclocker. Even so, you'd be fine overclocking with the regular XMS2.

If your monitor has a high resolution or you want to play games at high resolutions, you'll want to spend the extra on the GTX. The extra memory will help keep the FPS up.

Despite Vista redesigning the entire sound architecture, I think it's still worth getting a Creative X-Fi for gaming. If you're into all that EAX and special Creative effects in games, you'll need an X-Fi. Grab another flavour if you want extra features like front panel input/output. It seems like the XtremeGamer would suit you well.

I ported my WD Caviar 120GB 8MB Cache IDE drive to my new system. I use it only for games while another WD IDE drive is my OS. I have no reason to believe that it's a severe bottleneck. I load a lot of games really fast and definitely saw load time improvement with my new system even though I'm using the same harddrives.

__________________
JO Guides & Tutorials
Team Element - It's who you game with.

War.mongeR1

You're IDE hard drives WILL make a difference. Get one of the newer SATA drives with perpendicular writing. You will see a difference in games like BF2 that are constantly accessing your hard drives to run those giant maps. What's the point in having all the sweet gear you have if you're old computer still loads up about the same. The hd's will be your limiting factor in this instance.

__________________
"Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire

=Sarc=

I run BF2 so fast on my new rig with old harddrives that the FPS counter is maxed at 100. No difference there and I don't have a 8800GTX/GTS that the OP is considering. With 2GB RAM, I really hope BF2 isn't constantly accessing the HD.

Zoopy has a similar rig to me or had a similar rig. He's got SATA drives and I have my IDE drives. We both load Company of Heroes in about the same time. The difference is 10-15 seconds. He loads faster in C&C 3 but the difference is under 10 seconds. If the OP is trying to save money, I think this is an area where corners can be cut.

If anything, the drive should only be replaced because it's old and has a higher chance of failing. I don't know the probability of the OP's drive failing but I know I've had my WD drive for almost 7 years with the past year or so where it's been switched from primary drive to secondary.

__________________
JO Guides & Tutorials
Team Element - It's who you game with.

Zid

If you want a good cheap mobo get a Gigabyte 965p-S3. It's the one I have and it's got fantastic overclockability. The only thing that it's lacking is the Sli slot which in my opinion is completely useless.

Retail about 100 Dollars and it's really awesome.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128012 is the DS3 same thing just has a longer life span then

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128017

__________________

Zoopy

I think RAM has more to do with game load times then a harddrive. You load as fast as you can cram crap into your RAM. As Sarc said above, I do have SATA 2 drives and I load only slightly faster.

I have the eVGA 680i motherboard and I find it is very good. Also that's not a typo, 680i boards support up to DDR2-1200. It has lots of options that could intimidate a novice overclocker, but there are many good guides. For example one straight from nVidia themselves:

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/CP/45121/...erclocking.pdf

Overall seems good, although I personally would get a larger drive. Can never have enough hard drive space.

War.mongeR1

That's good to know about the HD's. I'm just going off what I saw with my brothers new computer. He built it using his old HD's, and then once he upgraded to the new SATA drives, it made a sizable difference for loading windows and running BF2. But that's just one case I guess. I still wouldn't want only a 160 GB drive though. I'm too spoiled by my 550 GB's worth. I filled up my 250 a while back, so I bought a 300. Well worth it. And cheap. Come on dude. HD's are under $100 nowadays.

__________________
"Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire

RedTalon

Ohhhhhh thought it meant it only suppoerted DDR2 1200 and not 800. Well that is looking like it might be a good board.
Although the Gigabyte one seems to have what I need. Is the LAN support on both of those good, like I am not going to need to buy another lan card am i?

Also is the 680i and the C4 RAM really supposed to work together? you going to gain much of an improvement there? Because the gigabyte is looking nice, especially if I can take that 150 extra and get a GTX. Just wondering if I have enough space in my case for it...what is the best way to tell that?

RedTalon

Oh ya one more question, as it has been a bit since I have delt with comps and I just assume everything is the same.

My HD and DVD drive are both IDE. There are two IDE ports on my current mobo so each goes to one of them. But I am hearing all this talk of SATA and PATA, and looking at the ports availible on current MOBOs. It is looking like it has changed some.

Am I still going to be able to run an IDE HD and DVD drive? Which case do I have to put them through the same port? and does that affect speed at all?

birdie_in_Texas

why spend all the extra money on 640 or 768 card..? i run the little $270 340 8800gts @ 1680X1050 and get like 100fops in 2142 with everything maxxed...

save that money and get a couple of the WD Raptors for the OS and a couple of 400GBer's in a RAID for storage and just rock along!

__________________

UnDeaD77

I'd go SLI board, for future proof, my mobo has it, and it was 115$.

__________________

RedTalon

What mobo is that? and do you have to SLI the same type of Vid. cards together. Like a GTX to a GTS?

Dunno, for my last build I got the 9800 pro 256 the day is came out, ordered it right from ATI. So it was the top of the line at the time. It kiced ass when I got it and well into the future, it still runs games nicely just not on full. So Kinda like the idea of buying big and keeping it for awhile knowing you are good. Dunno if this is the best option or not.

Also as far as running in RAID, does this help the speed of the drives? slow them down? Or really just an organizational thing?

UnDeaD77

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130082

this mobo.


Also I'm only running one card right now, the evga 8800gts 320mb superclocked version, so far its good by itself. If it gets me through this year, I won't worry about it.


Also, with my rig, I scored 9005 in 3dmark 06.

__________________