Building a computer Part Duex

[Eagle]

Ok, so as stated in my previous thread, I'm building a new computer, which I've done before, but it's been a few years, and my knowlodge is a little dated. So, I've come to the brain trust that is AO for some component advise. These are the components I'm looking at:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188015

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136062

XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150247

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202

I'm also considering this video card, but I'm trying to keep costs down. Is this one THAT much better than the first one (twice the price)?
BFG Tech BFGE86512GTOC2FE GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143116

Or this hard drive, half the capacity for greater cost, it has a higher rpm, but is sata150 vs sata3g on the first one, so my understanding is that the first one will have a faster transfer rate.
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033

This mobo was recommended to me, but it has no SLI capability (although I was told that SLI sucks anyways). I has one extra PCI slot, but it's not likely to be used, it has wifi, once again, not likely to be used, and a couple extra sata3 ports, but I don't see that as a real big deal either. Any other reason I should shell out the extra cash?
ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131182

It was suggested that I stick with XP for now because it is more stable and for cost savings, however my copy of XP is already registered, and I don't want to pay for a whole new license, and I expect I'll have to upgrade at some point, so why not now? Plus DirectX 10 is supposed to be pretty sweet. Anyone got an oppinion on this?


Now, as stated in my previous thread, I'm planning on building my own case, so I need a power supply, any recommendations?

I also need an power on button and reset button. I understand that any momentary contact button you can find at RadioShack will work, however, I will need the little plugs that connect those buttons to the mobo, and thus far I haven't been able to find them. Anyone know of a place?


Any help would be appreciated!

[spectre184]

I will need the little plugs that connect those buttons to the mobo, and thus far I haven't been able to find them. Anyone know of a place?

Got any junk computer cases laying around or know anyone getting rid of one? If so just cut plugs off up by switch on front and maybe you wont need to extend the wire.

To bad you didnt post sooner (last weekend) as I got rid of couple cases when our city had an e-scrap pickup day.

[skriptal]

instead of those two video cards, id look into geting a ATi3850 or 3870 they are great for the money and if you get a mobo with crossfire support, like the P35 board, it will be really nice if you get two and put them in crossfire. If your going to be doing gaming DON'T EVER SKIMP ON THE VIDEO CARD, go with the most expensive card you can afford. also with the price of ram that it is right now, you might even want to get 4 GB esp since you plan on running vista.

also look at a perpendicular recording seagate it will give you the pest performance for the price with good capacity.

[tribalman]

ok, seems decent. as for the video card, the reason the bfg one is more expensive, it has ddr3 memory so it is faster, and bfg overclocks stock. so you are paying to have them OC it, just get the cheaper one and OC it yourself. word of warning, don't OC the cheaper one to the speeds of the bfg one, it can't handle it. sli has advantages and disadvantages. it allows for 2 cards to work in unison for much better graphics, but you can't use multi monitors. i can't work without multi monitors, so i just have the 2 graphics cards each running 1 monitor. and yes my setup does increase the image quality in games while still letting me have other items up on the 2nd screen.

and as for the sata drives, just stick with the Caviar. you don't need the 10k one. it'll create excess heat and noise from the case. plus it's smaller. even with games you don't need an access speed that high, unless you are running on windows minimums and using the paging file like there is no tomorrow.

for an OS, assuming you want to play games with little work required, stick with windows. xp is preferred, but with microsoft not supporting it mid-year, go ahead and get vista. i'm sure it might be ok if you get rid of a lot of the excessive flair. but if you can, go ahead and go for 4GB of ram. it'll be better in the long run for ya. a friend is running vista at 1gb, it's just wrong. 2GB i think is the "recommended" amount, but once you start playing games, i'm sure it'll lag/chop.

[kosmo]

8600GT sucks. It sucks balls, it sucks butt, it sucks anything that can be sucked. It would even suck that monstrosity on soopas 3 wheeler. Regardless of what youre doing with this computer, you do not want that card.

That being said, what are you planning on doing with this computer? Gaming? Multimedia encoding? Surfing porn while listening to music? Are you going to overclock it? What power supply are you using? Whats the native resolution of the monitor youre going to be using?

[robnix]

Ok, so as stated in my previous thread, I'm building a new computer, which I've done before, but it's been a few years, and my knowlodge is a little dated. So, I've come to the brain trust that is AO for some component advise. These are the components I'm looking at:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188015

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YS 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136062

XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150247

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202

I'm also considering this video card, but I'm trying to keep costs down. Is this one THAT much better than the first one (twice the price)?
BFG Tech BFGE86512GTOC2FE GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com:80/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143116

Or this hard drive, half the capacity for greater cost, it has a higher rpm, but is sata150 vs sata3g on the first one, so my understanding is that the first one will have a faster transfer rate.
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033

This mobo was recommended to me, but it has no SLI capability (although I was told that SLI sucks anyways). I has one extra PCI slot, but it's not likely to be used, it has wifi, once again, not likely to be used, and a couple extra sata3 ports, but I don't see that as a real big deal either. Any other reason I should shell out the extra cash?
ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131182

It was suggested that I stick with XP for now because it is more stable and for cost savings, however my copy of XP is already registered, and I don't want to pay for a whole new license, and I expect I'll have to upgrade at some point, so why not now? Plus DirectX 10 is supposed to be pretty sweet. Anyone got an oppinion on this?


Now, as stated in my previous thread, I'm planning on building my own case, so I need a power supply, any recommendations?

I also need an power on button and reset button. I understand that any momentary contact button you can find at RadioShack will work, however, I will need the little plugs that connect those buttons to the mobo, and thus far I haven't been able to find them. Anyone know of a place?


Any help would be appreciated!

Skip the quad core CPU, the cost/benefit isn't there yet. Go dual core and use the money for more cpu speed and a better video card. You can always buy a new CPU later on.

8600gt is a terrible chip for gaming, get an 8800gt and a second later on when you need the horsepower.

ASUS P5N-E SLI is a good solid board that does SLI and won't break the bank.

Go with XP, your RAM will be much happier.

Buy a cheap case with NO power supply for your power button etc...the advantage is that you'll get the correct connectors for the MB, and you'll get the backing plate from the case to mount your MB on.

[kosmo]

Power supply

Thats a darn good one, should be able to handle anything that isnt 8800gtx or 2900 series in sli/xfire.

As far as the vista vs xp debate, vista has really matured over the last year. It doesnt really suck any more. The only real advantages xp has over it now are that xp runs fine on 1 gb of ram, and xp runs faster out of the box. Gotta change some settings on vista to make it run quickly, but it can easily do it. But if you go vista, go with 4 gb of ram because vista can use more ram than xp. And it really isnt that expensive.

Also, youll get a lot better performance in most everything if you went with a faster dual core as opposed to the quad core. Try this motherboard with this processor. If youre into overclocking, many people are using that combination at 4 ghz on normal air cooling. If youre not going to overclock, it will still be much faster than a 2.4 ghz cpu for everything that ormal people do.

For a video card, if you can spend 250 bucks, go for an 8800gt. If you dont want to spend that much, Best Buys website has the ATI hd3870 for 214, and you wont be missing too much performance. If thats still too much, an ATI hd3850 card can be found in the neighborhood of 150-175, and thats really as cheap as youre going to want to go if you intend to play any newer games.

[robnix]

Power supply

As far as the vista vs xp debate, vista has really matured over the last year. It doesnt really suck any more. The only real advantages xp has over it now are that xp runs fine on 1 gb of ram, and xp runs faster out of the box. Gotta change some settings on vista to make it run quickly, but it can easily do it. But if you go vista, go with 4 gb of ram because vista can use more ram than xp. And it really isnt that expensive.

Unless you need to transfer a large chunks of data over a network, in which case Vista is still unbearably slow.

[kosmo]

Didnt the sp1 rc fix that?

[robnix]

Didnt the sp1 rc fix that?

No. Until it's fixed, it's XP for me.

[Eagle]

Ok, looking around, I've found a site called http://www.performance-pcs.com that has a lot of stuff I expect I'll need for building my case. Has anyone used them? Do they have a good rep?

That said, I think I'm gonna go with the original components I chose, with the probable exception of the video card, I'll probably go with the 512 bfg. I also intend to go with vista home premium, but I haven't decided whether to go with 32 or 64 bit versions. Wiki says the 64 bit version has support for up to 16gigs of ram, but it doesn't say anything about 32 bit. Any ideas whether 32 will work with 8gigs (the max of my mobo)? I think I'm gonna stick with 2gigs of ram for now, and probably kick it up latter in the year.

[kosmo]

Well, I thought I was pretty clear with the soopa analogy about how much those cards suck. If you pay 200 dollars for one as opposed to 99 dollars for one, youre still buying suck. Theyre the same card. That 80% faster thing is a lie. If you want to spend 200 bucks on a card, a 3850 with 512 megs of ram is the card you should get. Theres nothing wrong with either of those motherboards. Im typing this on a p5k deluxe with a q6600 processor, and Ive got an evga 680i mobo with a core 2 duo as a backup. Thats good ram, so youre fine with it. If you go vista, get two of those kits. Id still recommend a faster core 2 duo for less money, but if you want quad core, its not a bad option at all. Theres just not enough advantages to warrant having one. It uses a lot more power and creates a lot more heat than the proc i linked too, so thats something youll want to keep in mind when making your case. But seriously, stay away from that video card.