E6700 SLI Gaming Build

[[TAG]Imp]

I was about to say, good luck finding a Tuniq Tower 120.... Although maybe by the time Nforce 590 Intel comes out, they might be there.... When you're looking for ram, IMO, you want to think about how high you are going to OC ur proc. If you are shooting for 400 FSB, whatever multi u end up getting, i would say ddr2-800 with good latency will be fine, above that seems like overkill to me, unless you aren't on air. Also, another alternative would be good overclocking DDR2-667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220095
That is just underclocked DDR2-800, so relatively easy OC to DDR2-800...

[Natalia]

I agree that the E6600 would be a better investment even though it drops 1 multi to the E6700, in real life use and over clocking they have generally been even, an extra $200 for a few hundred Mhz isn't a smart move.

Just a hypothetical question. First off, it seems every one here is agreeing that 6600 is better choice. In theory, is it possible that its the exact same chip as the 6700, and Intel just altered an anjustable setting and charged $200 for it? Or is it physically a different chip?

Also, is it possible to get both chips to, say, 3.6-3.7 GHz? And if so, would it be the same effort into both, or would it be more difficult to get the 6600 to that level of performace. If that is the case, it may be worth it to me to spend a little more to have less aggrivation in my life, seeing this is my first run at overclocking :o

[[TAG]Imp]

Just a hypothetical question. First off, it seems every one here is agreeing that 6600 is better choice. In theory, is it possible that its the exact same chip as the 6700, and Intel just altered an anjustable setting and charged $200 for it? Or is it physically a different chip?

Also, is it possible to get both chips to, say, 3.6-3.7 GHz? And if so, would it be the same effort into both, or would it be more difficult to get the 6600 to that level of performace. If that is the case, it may be worth it to me to spend a little more to have less aggrivation in my life, seeing this is my first run at overclocking :o

Honestly, i don't know your financial situation, if you think that the $200 is worth the extra multiplier, go for it..... and my first run at Overclocking was yesterday... already got my D 805 up to 3.5 GHz prime stable, waiting for the AS5 to set to try to get higher.... either that or i need to get some better airflow...

[perkam]

If this goes to three pages...the thread starter should just buy based on his own preferences...

Perkam

[Shift]

If this goes to three pages...the thread starter should just buy based on his own preferences...

Perkam

You mean her, lol

Corsair is great memory, but people like that particular GSkill b/c you get better overclocks with it. Everyone is saying it can get to 1066 mhz easy.

You can get about 1Ghz overclock with the E6600, if you have good cooling. It's not worth getting the E6700, IMO.

[JH_man]

<<
Just a hypothetical question. First off, it seems every one here is agreeing that 6600 is better choice. In theory, is it possible that its the exact same chip as the 6700, and Intel just altered an anjustable setting and charged $200 for it? Or is it physically a different chip?
>>

I dont work at Intel, so I cannot tell you 100%. But I can tell you 90% that what chip manufacturers do is that they test the chips internally to see how high quality they are. And based on that set them at a certain multiplier. Meaning a lower quality one will be sold as a 6400 while a high quality one will be sold as a higher version. The only physical difference will be the multiplier, and of course maybe a slight quality difference.

When that is said, I personally dont advice you going for much overclocking as these hardcore guys do. You will just get alot of work on your hands and problems like heat + many other problems that you dont run into with little or not OCing. If you did know just how much time some of these guys use to find just the 'perfect' setting to make theit uber OCed monsters to run stable, I think you would be shocked (but looks to be easier with Core Duo).

So either do little or not OCing, or run into alot of issues that will just end in more work and less play for your part. I have a couple friends that have alot of OCing, water cooling etc, and I am NOT going there, with all its issues and costs.

But if you want to do OCing to learn more, then of course go ahead, but if what you mainly want to do is play games and have fun, dont go down the hard core OCing road. Not to mention the OCing road is an expensive road to walk on, in more then one way.

JH_man

[clokwerk oranje]

but then, this forum is called XtremeSystems not for nothing...

[smith_6079]

<<
Just a hypothetical question. First off, it seems every one here is agreeing that 6600 is better choice. In theory, is it possible that its the exact same chip as the 6700, and Intel just altered an anjustable setting and charged $200 for it? Or is it physically a different chip?
>>

I dont work at Intel, so I cannot tell you 100%. But I can tell you 90% that what chip manufacturers do is that they test the chips internally to see how high quality they are. And based on that set them at a certain multiplier. Meaning a lower quality one will be sold as a 6400 while a high quality one will be sold as a higher version. The only physical difference will be the multiplier, and of course maybe a slight quality difference.

When that is said, I personally dont advice you going for much overclocking as these hardcore guys do. You will just get alot of work on your hands and problems like heat + many other problems that you dont run into with little or not OCing. If you did know just how much time some of these guys use to find just the 'perfect' setting to make theit uber OCed monsters to run stable, I think you would be shocked (but looks to be easier with Core Duo).

So either do little or not OCing, or run into alot of issues that will just end in more work and less play for your part. I have a couple friends that have alot of OCing, water cooling etc, and I am NOT going there, with all its issues and costs.

But if you want to do OCing to learn more, then of course go ahead, but if what you mainly want to do is play games and have fun, dont go down the hard core OCing road. Not to mention the OCing road is an expensive road to walk on, in more then one way.

JH_man

I can see your point, but how do you know that she doesn't like to fine tune her system? Some like it, some don't. Most products that are in the enthusiast playing field can handle overclocking. Natalia isn't stupid and I don't think that she would be afraid to try at least some minor tweakings that would be harmless with most stock cooling products. If she wants to buy some higher cooling methods to insure her potential curiosity, go for it. Members here have been attracted for this sites "Xtreme" showcases, most know what overclocking entails.

I myself have many friends who don't care for overclocking and that's fine. But usually if someone has already thought about the hardware aspects of overclocking (aftermarket heatsinks, top-notch RAM, etc) they have probably already decided that overclocking is a given.

[Natalia]

All of you guys have been extremely helpful in this dicision making progress, and I can't thank you all enough.

I feel like I am getting a crash course in all of this and every one has been very patient with me, thanks again


Based on some information JH_Man has given me in another thread, I think I might add a super-high speed hard drive just to store games on.

http://www.nextgenelectronics.com/cheetah15k4.php

Mind you, the MSRP on that sight is out of control. I found one of the 146 GB ones refurbished for $200 and one of the 73 GB ones for $133. I'll keep the other 3 drive, 2 in RAID for my system, and my old ATA drive for back-up information.

[Gun_Strife]

i would go with a 150gb raptor or even a 74gb
imho scsi aint worth it

[Teratism]

In the realm of RAM there really is no "king" per say, just Lowest Cas latency CL 3 (very expensive), best overclocker for price/performance, and most notable to not fail or screw up on a board.

Corsair, OCZ, and G.Skill all reign at the top of this mountain at differing times and with different products, I choose the G.Skill because it has a monumental overclock.

If you can get a cheetah (15k rpm) for cheap then go for it.

JH-Man is right on the quality assurance for the differing cores, which most companies will do, but they aren't huge quality differences, a few more mhz here, a increased voltage there is all that makes the difference. That is why most of these chips can be run at the same speed with fine tuning rather than just throwing power at them. The E6700 will give you 1 higher multiplier if I remember correctly for an extra $200 with a few hundred extra MHZ, a lot of overclocking has people dropping 1 or 2 multis' from stock to achieve maximum speed and stability. I still recommend the E6600.

You can get both chips to around 4 Ghz as long as you put a little work into it, and have a good Mainboard.

[Moonraker™]

My build started out something like yours Natalia, but then I worked on getting a better system for my £££.

Case: Antec P180 (delivered)
Cooling (air): 3x Sanyo Denki 120x38mm 102.5cfm and 2x Antec Tricool 120mm fans
Monitor: 20.1" Samsung SM204B (may be going for a widescreen though)
PSU: OCZ GameXtream 700w
CPU: Intel Conroe E6600 (pre-ordered)
Heatsink: Tuniq Tower 120 (should be here this week)
GPU: NVidia 7950GX2 (either ASUS, BFG or MSI - best OC'ers for unmodded air)
Mobo: DFI NForce 590 for Intel (not released yet)
Memory: (4GB) 2x 2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit
HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache(link here)
Mouse Razer Diamondback (already using on current machine)
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse RED (link here)
Floppy / CD / DVD: 7in1 Media floppy (delivered) / still looking for CD & DVD

[One_Hertz]

You mean her, lol

and hence this thread will go to 3 pages very easily.

[Shift]

Alright Newegg has the Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe. Chipset is listed as Nf4 SLi X16

I'm confused if you're getting the E600 or the E6700? Anyway your choice, but the rest of the list looks fine.

[billdavis]

you have a good rig now!

im waiting for quad core conroe`s
________
Vapor genie vaporizer

[gr8golf]

So - let's see the final list of components. Will be good to see lots of people's configs and how they do over time.

[bullet2urbrain]

im pushing this to 3 pages cuz i wanna see what perkam will say.

also: those Seagate 320 gig drives are smokin fast in RAID 0, and very nice otherwise (so long as you remove the jumper)

your components look good, and the stacker was a great choice, however which stacker did you choose.. there is always a lengthy debate about which stacker is better the T01 or the 810.. i have the T01 and its flexibility is very nice and quite handy (and to think i havent even built a system in it yet)

Natalia, i would skip the SCSI, and go with a Raptor or even 2 of the Seagates mentioned above... check the Xtreme Benchmark for some numbers off the 320gigs in RAID 0 quite impressive.

Good luck, my build looks very similar to yours, and i too am quite apprehensive about which motherboard and RAM i want to choose, however i am leaning towards Team or GSkill

[Natalia]

Alright Newegg has the Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe. Chipset is listed as Nf4 SLi X16

I'm confused if you're getting the E600 or the E6700? Anyway your choice, but the rest of the list looks fine.

I think I will go for the E6600, since everyone is promoting it , and it sounds like I can get the same overclock results too. Plus, when a year rolls around and those quad-cores that was just mentioned are around, I won't feel so bad upgrading

[Shift]

Looks like your rig is set and ready to go, and bullet2brain she chose a Stacker 830, and where do you see SCSI?

[bullet2urbrain]

Looks like your rig is set and ready to go, and bullet2brain she chose a Stacker 830, and where do you see SCSI?

http://www.nextgenelectronics.com/cheetah15k4.php


those cheetah drives are Ultra SCSI 320

Hence my other recommendation.

The 830 is a very nice case.

[Natalia]

I didn't realize I needed an extra controller just for those SCSI Drives, thought motherboards made these days were compatable with just about every drive. And I doubt I would have room on my motherboard to install one as it is, since there is no room on my current board for anything due to the 2 7900's and my Soundblaster. Oh well!

[Moonraker™]

Natalia, have you thought about the 256MB DDR3 7300GT's?

1) They'd be a nice saving for you
2) They have awesome overclockablitiy (if thats a word)
3) They give awesome scores / performance.

[gr8golf]

Those cards would be way underpowered for this kind of a rig. She is playing Oblivion and even with the 7900's it will be GPU bound - particularly with eye candy and higher resolutions. I wouldn't skimp on the video cards.

[Natalia]

Natalia, have you thought about the 256MB DDR3 7300GT's?

1) They'd be a nice saving for you
2) They have awesome overclockablitiy (if thats a word)
3) They give awesome scores / performance.

Already have the 2 GTX's

Question: When I look up Hard drives I notice Seagate can get 3.0Gb/s and 7200 RPM, and the Raptors are 1.5Gb/s and 10,000 RPM... which number is more important?

[[TAG]Imp]

the raptors will be a tad faster, but the seagates have SO much better price per GB... i dunno, unless you're REALLY impatient or have money to burn, i would just go with the Seagates...