New build!

[Gr4vitas]

Alright folks, I'm sure a lot of you have been seeing my posts around concerning this new build I'm going to be doing for my senior project in high school. I just wanted to do an overview here of all the stuff I've got picked out thus far. First I want to thank everyone thats been helping me along, It's been a while since I last looked into the PC modding market and so I was feeling quite noobish coming back and asking all these questions. So thanks again for contributing to this thing. Alright so now here is a list of the stuff I've got picked.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817341010

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16835100007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820148144

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813188019

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115017

 

Plus a 8800gtx, which I don't have on the list at the moment because that will probably come after the build. I need to salvage any and everything I can from my old rig to make this new build as cheap as possible, time is of the essence unfortunately as I have a due date on this build. Which is extremely bad seeing as I still don't have the job to pay for all of it, hopefully I can land one of the handful of apps I put out there and start saving for this thing.

 

So as I'm sure you've found out I'm trying to make a top end gaming rig, thats the idea behind the madness. While technically I have no budget it's just a matter of time which can almost be worse. However I did find out tonight that my mom does plan on helping me with my project. (And no not all senior projects have to costs thousands to do and be so in depth, most kids just do something stupid cheap and easy that really doesn't tickle there fancy, they just do it to get it over with.) But in my case this is something I enjoy doing and I had planned on upgrading my rig anyway so why not seize the opportunity to have a good excuse for blowing heaps of money on toys :thumbs-up: . Anyway my mom is going to give me $300 to help me out. She told me she wont let me pay her back ether. Cudos to my mom she's the best. So that takes 300 off the top of a ~700 build.

 

So in essence I just have to land this job and work about 1-2 months and I'll have this rig up and going. Now my project will require me to do some sort of visual as well as a 25 page written essay on my 'Learnings' of the entire gig. For the visual I was thinking of A.) doing a time laps video of the build with real time updates as to what I'm doing with the build. B.) just take pictures of the steps of the build and slap them on a poster with some text. C.) do a real time video with me explaining the steps as I go. - Now all of these are going to be easy for me. But the most interesting I think would be to do the time laps video of the build with the real time stops while I explain whats going on. Then I can take pictures (which I plan to do anyway for you guys) so I can just use the pics I take for you guys and throw them on a poster as well with some captions.

 

As for the written part, well that I'll just have to manage lol. Isn't going to be a walk in the park. ANYWAY If you've read this far then object of this thread was just to get some feedback from you guys. Ideas thoughts comments advice on the entire gig. I'm open to all suggestions. Tell me what you like and dont like and even suggest different / better parts for the system. I'll be keeping this thread going while I do the project and I'll keep the thread updated. Anyway thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing back from ya'll!

 

 

PS. Thanks again for everyone that helped out and got me up to date and on track with the latest of stuff. I had been sort of absent from the computer industry for about 2 years. So thanks everyone!

 

 

[spectrascope]

I believe you meant lapse not laps, anyway time lapse video is great idea maybe after your all done you could post it on metacafe and make some money back from it.

As for the parts everything looks okay to me except the cpu. Quad core is nice but as it stands now most games don't take full advantage of dual core cpu's. You would probably be better off using a higher clocked dual core, core 2 duo such as the 6850, rather than the quad core if gaming performance is your goal.

Edited October 6, 2007 by spectrascope

[Gr4vitas]

I believe you meant lapse not laps, anyway time lapse video is great Idea maybe after your all done you could post it on metacafe and make some money back from it.

as for the parts I'll get back to you after I read the list.

 

 

Good idea bout the metacafe thing. And yea I really liked the time lapse video idea too.

[spectrascope]

post edited on parts concerns you must have been typing while I was editing oh well just an extra post for me. See edited post for parts concerns.

Edited October 6, 2007 by spectrascope

[road-runner]

Unless you are positive you are going to go with SLI video cards, I would not get the 680i MB. The P35 chipset is a lot better. I agree on the quad core (same price as E6850) unless your are going for high clocks, then the C2D will be better for a higher OC.

[Gr4vitas]

I believe you meant lapse not laps, anyway time lapse video is great idea maybe after your all done you could post it on metacafe and make some money back from it.

As for the parts everything looks okay to me except the cpu. Quad core is nice but as it stands now most games don't take full advantage of dual core cpu's. You would probably be better off using a higher clocked dual core, core 2 duo such as the 6850, rather than the quad core if gaming performance is your goal.

 

 

Well the thought process behind the quad was that supposable games like Crysis were utilizing the cores of the processors, so I was thinking quad core then OC it up to like 3.0ghz. That way I get twice as many cores and roughly the same speeds.

 

So if not the 680i how about the

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813127031

 

And I don't really plan on going SLI unless I have like a ton of extra money way in the future, so even then it would be a looong way away.

 

 

Oh and what do you guys think then get the

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115028

 

And overclock the crap out of it. Or

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115017

 

And just overclock to like the stock speeds of the E6850?

Edited October 6, 2007 by pogs16a2

[spectrascope]

The abit is a good board, as far as the chip goes I still think you are better off with the 6850. Because you should be able to overclock it further than the quad. Very few things actually fully utilize quadcore and apps that do are still aways off. Shoot were still getting things in order for dual core setups.

I am currently using an abit board myself.

Edited October 6, 2007 by spectrascope

[Gr4vitas]

I wish I could find a p35 evga I really like there stuff and there service.

[road-runner]

Well the thought process behind the quad was that supposable games like Crysis were utilizing the cores of the processors, so I was thinking quad core then OC it up to like 3.0ghz. That way I get twice as many cores and roughly the same speeds.

 

So if not the 680i how about the

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813127031

 

And I don't really plan on going SLI unless I have like a ton of extra money way in the future, so even then it would be a looong way away.

Oh and what do you guys think then get the

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115028

 

And overclock the crap out of it. Or

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115017

 

And just overclock to like the stock speeds of the E6850?

 

I have a Q6600 G0 on a GA P35 DS3R with a Ultra 120 Extreme cooler and I am running it a little over 3.4Ghz right now. I cant get 3.5 out of it I believe due to heat, when the cpu hits 60c I get the BSOD. I have a 6850 also on water (see sig) I like the quad mainly for one reason, I can run SMP Folding along with a 1950xt folding at the same time. Of course it can be done with a C2D and I did try it but the quad rocks with folding.

[ClayMeow]

As you know, I've already had the dual vs. quad debate and decided on the Q6600. OCing it to 3.0GHz is extremely conservative based on what others are getting with it, so that's what I plan on doing to get it to E6850 speeds with double the cores. If you want to go higher, you'll easily be able to do so with good cooling, but personally I'm stopping at 3.0 for now, as I don't think there's a need for more. If you really want to beat the E6850 though, you should be able to get up to 3.5.

[Bleeble]

OK, my computer locked up, so here's the short version of what I was going to say...

• First of all, put names of products instead of just links. A lot of people won't even bother to help when you can't spend 30 seconds to type the names of what you want to buy.
  
• I think quad core is a waste of money unless you run SMP apps on a daily basis, get an E6850 for the same price and OC it to 4GHz. By the time most games start to show significant benefits with more cores (realistically six or more months away), prices will have dropped significantly and new processors will be out. Now, before any of you fanboys start whining, I know that there are games coming out soon with quad core support. But is it really worth wasting your money on a Q6600 for one or two games?
  
• This Crucial Ballistix is better, cheaper RAM. See my overclocking thread if you have any doubts.
  
• Skip the 680i chipset altogether. Based on personal experience, it's too much of a pain to deal with, especially if you're OCing. Compared to the 680i, OCing with the P965 and P35 chipsets is as easy as blinking. Not to mention that the P35 chipset is newer. If I were going to buy a new motherboard today, I would get the Gigabyte P35-DQ6 (which I think has been discontinued) or the Abit IP-35 Pro. Actually, before I found out how awesome my DS3 is, I was about to buy the IP-35.
  
• I'm really not sure about the quality of that PSU. OCZ's other PSUs may be good, but we all know that every manufacturer has a few horrible products. OCZ's GameXStream and Corsair's HX series are good. Maybe someone else can comment on the StealthXStream, I don't feel like looking for a good review right now...
  

What about hard drives? Optical drives?

 

You should really just list each major component in your build, as it stands right now. Or just make a public wishlist on Newegg. And while I'm thinking about it, don't be ridiculous and buy everything from Newegg. I've saved as much as $50-100 after shipping by shopping around.

[ClayMeow]

[*]I think quad core is a waste of money unless you run SMP apps on a daily basis, get an E6850 for the same price and OC it to 4GHz. By the time most games start to show significant benefits with more cores (realistically six or more months away), prices will have dropped significantly and new processors will be out. Now, before any of you fanboys start whining, I know that there are games coming out soon with quad core support. But is it really worth wasting your money on a Q6600 for one or two games?

All Source-based Games

All Unreal Engine 3-based Games

Crysis

Hellgate: London

 

Valve is the only one I know of that has actually released benches showing quad-core outperform dual-core by a wide margin, but any game that supports dual-core basically supports quad-core.