Verran Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 I like the idea of the SATA optical drive. They don't really seem to be any more expensive (<$10 difference), and the cabling is nicer. I doubt they make a 3Gb/s one just because I can't see an optical drive supplying that kind of bandwidth. You don't need to get a 3Gb one though, since SATA is backwards compatible. That ram that you listed is VERY nice. I hadn't seen that before. The timings and price are amazing. I think that's a good choice, if you can find them in stock. The comments imply that they are out of stock quite often. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacked Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 Thanks Verran that answers my question on the SATA as to being backwards compatible. I'm thinking I might swap out to a SATA drive just for cable managments sake. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazymonkey500 Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 A friend of mine just did a top-of-the-line build and got a the qx6700, EVGA 680i, EVGA 8800GTX, Corsair Dominator 1066..... the works. We really put that thing to the test, we got his quad core to 3.7 on pretty decent air cooling, so I wouldn't say that the quad core lacks potential in overclock ability, it's all about the experience of the overclocker. The x6800 can certainly go futher than that under the right cooling due to 4 cores just heating up too much. The 680i board is awesome for overclocking in my opinion, I would say on par with the BadAxe2 at least. My friend did have the latest bios and we had no problems at all. It certainly is a great build and you get what you pay for with this setup. You can certainly get the same "happy" factor with a much cheaper build and then overclock to some nice standards. I'll admit, the quad core is a bit over the top at this point in time, but if you really want to harness that sort of power, look no where else. My friend and I are still looking for a way to freeze up that system, it multi-tasks like there's no tomorrow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeinejunkie Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 5 years is a really long time in the computer world. A little over 3 years ago when I joined here I got myself a 9600n/p which happened to be a pretty good mid-range card at the time. Flashforward to today and it's beyond ancient and thats only 3 years, I can only imagine what a 9600n/p will be considered in two more. I chose to point out my old gfx card because that market is always moving at a break-neck pace but everything in that rig would be considered horribly obsolete by the standards of today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacked Posted March 5, 2007 Posted March 5, 2007 I do agree 5 years is a long time. My current system in my sig was built 3 years ago. Its definatly showing its age. The 9800 has been a good card. Gaming wise its still holding up as good as can be exspected. I fugure the 8800 I picked out should hold for 5 years and get me to the point where I am now. Alot of things have changed and will change. I just need something that can keep the pace for as long as possible. I went with just above middle of the road last time. This time I'm going over the top on a few things. Choosing Efficency over cost will not last me the time frame I have set for myself. Don't get me wrong I know I'm being a bit excessive on one or 2 things. I just want something top of the line for once. Everyones imput has been invaluable and I do appreciate it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mombo Posted March 7, 2007 Posted March 7, 2007 Well i think that the next 3 years is going to be much different then the last 3 years. Yes computers have sky rocketed in the past 3 years but I think it is going to get crazy real quick lol. I am sure most of the system will last you a while though 2-3 years would be my bet. I do think that Ram and Video Card is something that everyone will need to upgrade though. Even the 8800 probably wont keep up with how it seems things are going now. I swear requirements for games to look good goes up like 15-20% every 3 months. As for you ram you have now do you not think you are skimping out a little bit there? Its one of the most important things in your computer. Really since your spending 900 on your CPU you would think you would drop and extra 100 on the ram and get some stuff that will last you longer.....or get 4gigs. I would trim some of the stuff you have down a bit to save some cash to put towards a larger amount of ram. Which you will need if you want the system to last 3 years or something.....imho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgs Posted March 7, 2007 Posted March 7, 2007 My 2 cents... I am really impressed with the quality and support you get from eVGA. I haven't been treated better by any other company. They respond quickly to questions and put out updates faster than alot of other manufacturers. I have the eVGA 8800GTX and am very happy with it. It's also nice to know that overclocking won't void the warranty, I've had mine up to 661/2022 running stable. I have the Asus P5N32-E 680i motherboard and it seems to me to be a really good overclocker. I can stabilize it enough to run at 3.6GHz on air, and run 3DMark06 (12597). I don't know if its just luck but I haven't run into any of the problems that some have had with this chipset. The worst one for me was the voltage droop that Asus is famous for, but in a recent bios update it seems to have been reduced. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacked Posted March 8, 2007 Posted March 8, 2007 Mombo, I took your advice and uped the ram to Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1000. Great suggestion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeble Posted March 9, 2007 Posted March 9, 2007 (edited) I don't feel like reading all the previous posts, so you'll have to excuse me if I repeat anything. Ditch the quad-core. It get's trounced in anything but SMP apps by the X6800. And don't forget about the better overclocking! The case is entirely about personal preference. But with all that high-end hardware, you'll need a lot of space. Not to mention the amount of heat that's going to build up in there. I'd go with a full tower (my favorites: CM Stacker [not the 830] and Thermaltake Armor). Before deciding on a power supply, I HIGHLY recommend looking for reviews on HardOCP, Hardware Secrets (I think), and especially Johnny Guru. Those are three websites that actually stress the PSU instead of just plugging in their aging socket 939 systems and saying "Yep, the rails are rock solid!" Anyway, just by glancing at the specs, I'd pick the Silverstone OP650 over that. (pretty sure that Corsair just buys their PSUs from FSP or Topower like most brands anyways) That mobo is obscenely expensive. I haven't done any comparing of the 975 and 680i chipsets, but I think that 975 (or even 965) would serve you better for OCing. Well, you really can't get any better than an 8800GTX... unless you want to wait for R600... of course then you'd have to wait for nVIDIA's response and then ATI's and then nVIDIA's...... and you'd never actually end up buying anything because there's always something right around the corner. That memory is horrifyingly overpriced too! Geil GX22GB8000DC gives you the same speed and timings for over $100 less! Take a look at this for more reasonably priced RAM. EDIT: Or get G.Skill HZ for some seriously kickass RAM. Well that's it for now. I guess I'll end on a positive note since I've spent the whole post lambasting your choices. Excellent choice on the HSF. Edited March 9, 2007 by Bleeble Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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