Getting a new box - Any last suggestions?

[bassa]

Hey,

It's finally time for me to purchase my new rig.

At this time, and after spending tons of time on various forums, I've put this little baby together.

What I want help with is to determine if any of the components are now slightly outdated, or if there might be some newer components that will completely out-do the ones listed.

Feel free to comment on anything, I'll greatly appreciate it.



LCD Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 24” 2407WFP Widescreen LCD

Cabinet: Silverstone TJ09 Black

Power Supply Unit: Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF 850W

Cooling (CPU): Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme

Cooling, Fans (cabinet): Noctua NF-S12-1200

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700

Memory: Crucial Ballistix - 4 x 1 GB (4 GB) / DUAL RAM / DDR II SDRAM / PC2-6400CL4 / 800 MHz

Optical Drives: Samsung SH-S182D - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM 2 MB / 110 ms (CD) / 130 ms (DVD) / 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD) (R) / 48x (CD) / 18x (DVD±R) / 8x (DVD±R DL) (W) / 32x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 12x (DVD-RAM) (RW)

Hard Drives (system): 1 x WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150 GB - 150 GB / 10000 RPM / 16 MB / Serial ATA 150 4.6 ms

Hard Drives (backup): 2 x WD Caviar SE16 WD5000KS - 500 GB / 7200 rpm / 16 MB / Serial ATA-300 / 8.9 ms / 28 dBA / RAID 0

Video Cards: 1 x EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX ACS3

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS

Keyboard: Razer Tarantula

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit



Cheers,
Bassa

[koc]

All the pieces are excellent , however

buy , benq FP241W/Z or samsung 244T , due to many reviews and users they are better than 2407WFP

and why dont you buy one from the new mobos ( support 45n ) for future upgrade :) :)

[bassa]

All the pieces are excellent , however

buy , benq FP241W/Z or samsung 244T , due to many reviews and users they are better than 2407WFP

There's absolutely no way in hell I'm buying a LCD Display that has 16:9 stretched to 16:10 with geometric distortion! :shakes:

and why dont you buy one from the new mobos ( support 45n ) for future upgrade :) :)

Eh?


Cheers,
Bassa

[Mad1723]

He's talking about the P35 Mobos, awesome overclockers... Asus P5K Deluxe is really a great choice since you seem to have a lot of money to throw into your system :)

[bassa]

He's talking about the P35 Mobos, awesome overclockers... Asus P5K Deluxe is really a great choice since you seem to have a lot of money to throw into your system :)

Well now you've got my interest peaked!

Could you tell me what I'd get from that Asus P5K Deluxe motherboard rather than choosing the EVGA one I listed?

I mean, if it means I'll get a super SLI capable motherboard that is better, faster and more reliable, stable and featurefull than the EVGA one, I'd gladly tip in more money.

I mean, every 3 or so years, I always upgrade to an entire new box. As long as I'll have a strong machinery in that time, I'll be happy. If it'll laster longer than 3 years, that's even better of course.

Mad1723: Could you perhaps tell me of the advantages/disadvantages by choosing the Asus P5K Deluxe rather than the EVGA?

Oh! Keep in mind though, I never overclock my system. :)


Cheers,
Bassa

[mcflurry4321]

I'd go with the Abit IP35.

The P35 boards offer really great FSB capabilities. The IP35 can go over 600 FSB. They OC memory very well too.

I have the Gigabyte DS3R and I am having a blast with it.

Looking at your list I see that you don't want SLI, correct? Because that would really be the only benefit of the 680i over the P35, as the P35 boards don't have SLI, except for the Foxconn one, but it isn't "full" SLI with the 2x 16x slots.

[bassa]

Well, my intention for now is to buy a GeForce 8800 GTX or Ultra video card, then upgrade to the new GeForce 9800 (or whatever it's called) when it comes out near christmas.

SLI or not, I honestly don't care.

What I DO care about though, is whether I can play future games (with demanding system requirements) at highest video quality settings on a 1900 x 1200 resolution with my new 24" LCD Display, or not.

I guess it'll eventually look like this:

P35 Motherboard with 1 GeForce 8800 GTX/GeForce 9800 GTX

Or...

SLI Motherboard with 2 x GeForce 8800 GTX/GeForce 9800 GTX

If I will definitely need 2 high-end video cards to get good FPS on a 1900 x 1200 resolution with maxed out settings, then I'll go SLI.

What do you think?


Cheers,
Bassa

[koc]

and why dont you buy one from the new mobos ( support 45n ) for future upgrade

He's talking about the P35 Mobos, awesome overclockers... Asus P5K Deluxe is really a great choice since you seem to have a lot of money to throw into your system

This is what I meant exactly

I guess it'll eventually look like this:

P35 Motherboard with 1 GeForce 8800 GTX/GeForce 9800 GTX

Or...

SLI Motherboard with 2 x GeForce 8800 GTX/GeForce 9800 GTX

you will not need to go for SLI if you buy 8800GTX Ultra for just 1900 x 1200 res. < i believe that 8800GTX ultra can manage even 2560 x 1600 res.

[bassa]

Ok, so I've updated the Motherboard and the Sound Card. Yeah, I somehow ended up choosing the most expensive card out there, I think. But I don't mind, if it'll get me great sound and lots of fun features, it's cool. I'm about to get a few B&W satellites for my system too, so that should work out nicely. :D

The rig looks like this now:


LCD Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 24” 2407WFP Widescreen LCD

Cabinet: Silverstone TJ09 Black

Power Supply Unit: Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF 850W

Cooling (CPU): Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme

Cooling, Fans (cabinet): Noctua NF-S12-1200

Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700

Memory: Crucial Ballistix - 4 x 1 GB (4 GB) / DUAL RAM / DDR II SDRAM / PC2-6400CL4 / 800 MHz

Optical Drives: Samsung SH-S182D - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM 2 MB / 110 ms (CD) / 130 ms (DVD) / 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD) (R) / 48x (CD) / 18x (DVD±R) / 8x (DVD±R DL) (W) / 32x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 12x (DVD-RAM) (RW)

Hard Drives (system): 1 x WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150 GB - 150 GB / 10000 RPM / 16 MB / Serial ATA 150 4.6 ms

Hard Drives (backup): 2 x WD Caviar SE16 WD5000KS - 500 GB / 7200 rpm / 16 MB / Serial ATA-300 / 8.9 ms / 28 dBA / RAID 0

Video Card: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX ACS3

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro

Keyboard: Razer Tarantula

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit



Cheers,
Bassa

[Mad1723]

Even if you don't overclock, you should try because the P5K overclocks easily(too easy? :P) and you could easily get your QX6700 up to 3.4-3.5 on Aircooling without too much problems... that could give you a serious performance bump and your 8800GTX should easily do the job in 1900X1200, it manages to be over 30FPS in many games in 2560X1600, so 1900X1200 should be a piece of cake for this card, and the 9800GTX(if it's the name of the future G90...) should easily give you the performance you want of your system :up:

[BillHicks]

See my sig for recommendations.

4gb's of RAM and Vista 64-bit were meant to go together, especially for gaming.

[bassa]

Bill Hicks! That guy was absolutely hillarious!

May he rest in peace.


Cheers,
Bassa

[Zytek_Fan]

Ok, so I've updated the Motherboard and the Sound Card. Yeah, I somehow ended up choosing the most expensive card out there, I think. But I don't mind, if it'll get me great sound and lots of fun features, it's cool. I'm about to get a few B&W satellites for my system too, so that should work out nicely. :D

The rig looks like this now:


LCD Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 24” 2407WFP Widescreen LCD

Cabinet: Silverstone TJ09 Black

Power Supply Unit: Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF 850W

Cooling (CPU): Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme

Cooling, Fans (cabinet): Noctua NF-S12-1200

Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP

CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700

Memory: Crucial Ballistix - 4 x 1 GB (4 GB) / DUAL RAM / DDR II SDRAM / PC2-6400CL4 / 800 MHz

Optical Drives: Samsung SH-S182D - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM 2 MB / 110 ms (CD) / 130 ms (DVD) / 48x (CD) / 16x (DVD) (R) / 48x (CD) / 18x (DVD±R) / 8x (DVD±R DL) (W) / 32x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 12x (DVD-RAM) (RW)

Hard Drives (system): 1 x WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150 GB - 150 GB / 10000 RPM / 16 MB / Serial ATA 150 4.6 ms

Hard Drives (backup): 2 x WD Caviar SE16 WD5000KS - 500 GB / 7200 rpm / 16 MB / Serial ATA-300 / 8.9 ms / 28 dBA / RAID 0

Video Card: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX ACS3

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro

Keyboard: Razer Tarantula

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit



Cheers,
Bassa

Looks good ;)

Although I must say the QX6700 has been known to run hot compared to the Q6600.

[bassa]

May need some help building this rig.

1. Could someone help elaborate on how I should start assembling it?

2. I need to copy over a lot of files from my 2 present hard drives from Windows XP SP2 to my news Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit. How do I do that?

3. Should I get a good network card as well? If yes, which one would you guys recommend?

4. Which cooling paste should I get? Arctic Silver 5, I presume? :)

5. How do I setup the two Caviar hard drives in RAID 0 mode (the backup mode)?

I'm no experienced builder, but I'm confident I should be able to pull it off. But just to be certain, if any of you could give me some advice on what to do first and how to mount the various things, and in which order, please chime in and gimme some help if you want.


Cheers,
Bassa

[Cyco]

should have manual with mobo and case for how to mount everything, should go like this:

1. start off by putting in cpu in mobo
2. then thermal paste and heatsink making sure there is good contact
3. then ram
4. hard drives and dvd drive in case, fans etc if havent already
5. put mobo in case
6. add graphics and and other pci cards
7. psu in case then connect all cables etc
8. start it up

something along those lines.

for copying all your current documents firstly install vista on new hard drive then when got vista running, connect 2nd hard drive to motherboard then when in vista, just copy documents from one hard drive to the other simply.

[bassa]

I thought you needed some special vista transfer cable to do that?


Cheers,
Bassa

[Cyco]

you cant copy operating systems, i thought you meant copy your documents from current hard drive to new one.

[Mad1723]

For your thermal paste, get some MX-2 paste, it's really effective and not expensive at all :up:

[L'enFer]

What I DO care about though, is whether I can play future games (with demanding system requirements) at highest video quality settings on a 1900 x 1200 resolution with my new 24" LCD Display, or not.
here are testing results of 6 videocards in Company of Heroes (DirectX 10):
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51528.gif
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51527.gif
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51529.gif
Call of Juarez DX10 Demo:
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51536.gif
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51533.gif
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51535.gif
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2007/06/18/51534.gif
test configuration was:

CPU Intel Core2 Extreme Quad-Core QX6700 @ 2,93 ГГц
MB Foxconn N68S7AA-8EKRS2H
Memory Corsair XMS Xpert DDRII-800 4x512Mb
OS Windows Vista 64 Premium, DirectX 10
PSU Hiper HPU-4M730 730 Вт
link for the article (in Russian): http://www.3dnews.ru/video/dx10_game_benchmark/
i wanted to say if you're going to play on that 24" display with 1900x1200 resolution and with the highest video settings you'll need smthg more powerful than one 8800GTX or even Ultra...

[OCFX]

You will need more than 1 8800 to play Crysis, for example, in this resolution with high configs to play well

[OpTioN]

Why don't you just get a eVGA 8800gts for now or something, then sell it when the 9800 series are out and sli them

[SkItZo]

I would go with the G15 keyboard instead of the Tarantula, also, as Option said, i'd recommend getting a 8800GTS for now because the 9xxx series will be out in 6 months max and the 8800GTS will be able to handle anything you throw at it till then

[Jodiuh]

For your thermal paste, get some MX-2 paste, it's really effective and not expensive at all :up:

Where?

[Soulburner]

For almost the same price, get the BenQ FP241W. It is superior to the Dell 2407. All of the advertised options/inputs actually work...

[Jodiuh]

Is the panel different tho? As in S-IPS/S-PVA?