Gaming System Build Opinions Please

[theother0]

ok Yes the monitor is included in that. I will be going with an i7 with 3x2g ram 1333 and Vista ultimate 64 and upgrading the HS to a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 . I will be comparing prices from newegg and tigerdirect if they have the same exact item ofcourse i will go with the cheaper of the 2 to maximize money and the monitor from Newegg is only $209 comes with HDMI so i can run my 360 also.. And please feel free to post lists from both sites or a combination of both as I will be doing the same..

 

[RoofusGreen]

The Xigmatek HDT-S1283 won't work for core i7 unless you've got a special mounting bracket. I got a Vigor Monsoon III, took my temperatures down by 20 degrees celcius. I hear the Noctua NH-U12P is good too.

 

[RoofusGreen]

And btw, Vista is a pos for gaming, but meh. Crapsoft is planning to ditch support for XP.

 

[theother0]

I've been talking with roadrunner197069 about runnind 1 or 2 SSD drives for the os

 

[theother0]

well being that windows 7 is going to coming out late 09 and will support SSD drives i am sure i will get that too. and yes i agree with you on vista and games but being that i am geting MS certs in Vista and server i will have the upper hand on Vista and be able to help others out when it comes to getting vist to run better for gaming in the future

 

[RoofusGreen]

SSDs are far too expensive now unless you're really desperate for that extra performance. I'd say the Velociraptor drives are the way to go. But if you've got the money, SSD IS the future.

 

[kyeana]

Vista games just fine as long as you have the ram for it. When it first came out it was really unstable and not a great OS by any means, but now after many updates and the first service pack it is a very solid OS.

Don't listen to all the vista haters, at this point it is a reliable OS (just as long as you have the ram for it). Go get your 64bit version and game away

 

[RoofusGreen]

Vista has plenty of problems.
You seem to be a normal user though, so you should be fine as long as you don't hurt yourself trying to do anything more advanced...

 

[kyeana]

bleh, resorting to personal attackts now eh?

I am an advanced user thank you very much, and have had no problems with vista in terms of stability in games or anything else. You may not prefer the layout of vista, or some of the hoops that you have to jump through, but it is a solid OS. If you dont like the layout then thats your problem, but vista is secure (much more so then xp) and a reliable os (i haven't had a BSOD sense the first service pack).

Not to mention if you are gaming and want real dx10 (instead of a 3rd party knock off) you will need vista

 

[RoofusGreen]

Hardcore Vista fan, lol.

 

[Akebono 98]

Seeing as you want to spend big coin and want to know a little about servers, maybe instead of jumping into SSD drives, you could look into getting an Asus workstation type mobo for the i7 and set up SAS mechanical drives instead. Just a thought, since you're still so far ahead in planning.

And for i7 heatsinks, it's Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 1366RT or Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, with Thermalright's 1366 backplate.

 

[theother0]

ok well the time has come way b4 Feb for me to build a gaming system, so good timing on my part by researching things out a bit.. So some suggestions on what processor to go with would be big help.. If i was going to choose between a Q66 or a Q67 which should i go with?

 

[theother0]

ok this is what I have decided to go with so far:

TigerDirect on the MB and CPU COMBO because its 299.99 for the combo and newegg can't beat it.


XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard CPU Bundle - OEM, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Processor 2.66GHz OEM
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3896469&sku=MBM-680-Q6700A

NEWEGG:

case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133062

memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227270

monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150330

power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

OS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116493

 

[V3NOM]

dont get a 680i... drop the bundle and grab a P45 and e8400 or something

 

[sharken]

Dont give up on I7, comments like "wait for the Phenom II LMFAO" it might be close to old core 2 but I7 Bitchslaps everything hardcore and when Oc'd POW, right in amd Nads....

 

[Akebono 98]

+1 to Venom.

If you want to OC, then go with a Duo: E8500/8400. Or if you want to save a little budget, then the E7400 (R0 stepping). Duos OC higher than quads. However, if you've done your homework and determined that you want a quad, then by all means get the Q6700 if you can afford the incremental cost over the Q6600.

You'll need to finalize your platform (LGA 775 or Phenom II), chipset, intended video solution and OS before you can proceed. If LGA 775, then you should decide on Quad vs. Duo.

IMO, you should go for P45 / Duo plus single video card for now. Take the money you save from not using the i7 and put it towards the GPU instead.

As for your selections, a few general comments.

Case: Thermaltake Armor--nice case.

RAM: I would take this G.Skill Pi Black over your OCZ, although the OCZ has a great price at $35.

Video card: I would go with a newer 55nm Core 216 over the XFX Black. If you decide on a Crossfire mobo, then go with a 4870 1GB card to leave open the option of Crossfire. By your choices on previous posts though, I would guess that you have a preference for nVidia. That being the case, you could probably even fit a GTX 280 into your budget if you'd like, given current prices. However, you might also want to wait for the GTX 285 ($400) on January 15 if that suits your fancy.

HDD: Given some of Seagate's recent problems, switch to the WD Caviar Black drive, with a preference towards the 640GB over the 500GB for a little bit more speed (due to platter density).

OS: If you've decided to go with Vista, then unless you really have a need for Ultimate, Home Premium would suffice, at $100: here.

 

[V3NOM]

HDD: not to mention the WD's generally run quieter and/or cooler.

 

[xthekidx]

Get an i7. They outperform core 2 extreme processors in some benchmarks and can overclock like crazy, they even have mild overclocking abilities built in. Software is becoming increasingly multi-threaded and you will want the 4 extra processing threads in a year or less, I guarantee it. With your $1600 budget you should definitely be looking at an i7.

edit:
by 4 extra I meant 4 more than q6600 or q6700. 6 more threads than e8400/8500

 

[V3NOM]

^proven fact that i7's are no faster than core 2's on a single GPU setup. on multi gpu extreme setups where a core 2 would bottleneck them, fair enough. for GAMING, i7 is not an option at the moment. think, you could get an i7 920+4850 for the same money as a E8400+4870 or GTX 280, give or take a few factors.

btw, i7 is actually 8 threads with HT turned on. Sure software might become multithreaded, a lot of it is already, but GAMES? not a chance. halfway through 2010 maybe the majority of new games but for now... no.

 

[xthekidx]

^well who says he is just going to stick with one gpu? maybe he gets an extra $300 down the road and decides to go sli. plus, dual cores will probably phase out and quads will become standard for gaming computers, and if he decides that he wants to upgrade and he doesn't want to start over from scratch again in 2-3 years, he may be able to expand on an x58 mobo, whereas a socket 775 will be very old news. Plus your FPS will have less variation with quad core vs. dual core

So you can go with older technology now and get a better bang for your buck, or get the newer and slightly more expensive (~$150-200) and get something that will last longer, and save you money later on.

 

[V3NOM]

that's not necessarily true. he could get a 4850 now and crossfire it with another 4850 or a 4870 or a dual GPU card later on without any cpu bottlenecking. and in 2-3 years i would say X58 will be out of date. i mean theres ANOTHER new socket for core i5 (lynnfield, LGA 1166/1160 or something)... so really you have no idea whether socket 1366 will still be upgradeable, and whether that upgrade would even be of any use.

 

[xthekidx]

1366 won't be the new thing in 2-3 years, but it will still have an upgrade path from an i7-920; the new processors that intel is currently developing (westmere-32 nm architecture) will fit an lga 1366 socket, and supposed to come out late 2009 to mid 2010. so maybe 1366 will be in the same position that 775 is currently in when he decides to upgrade. I'm not saying it will still be the most recent technology, but it will most likely still be relevant. lga 775 will definately not be.

 

[V3NOM]

so what? 32nm dieshrink. maybe a bit more cache, maybe a bit more mhz, but nothing NEW. nothing like the improvement of Pentium 4>Core 2

 

[xthekidx]

so what? it will be better than the current processors out right now and will provide an upgrade path from the i7, that's what. AND it will have 6 cores with 12 processing threads. maybe the performance difference from nehalem to westmere won't be as dramatic from Pentium 4 to core 2 duo, but I'd be willing to bet it will be as dramatic as the difference between core 2 duo and westmere. 2 cores/2 threads vs 6 cores/12 threads...

Venom, all I'm saying is that lga-1366 will have the room to expand upon in the future, that's it. Yes, they are more expensive and will cut into the budget of someone building a new computer. If the builder is planning on only using for a year then ditching it, then Core 2 is a better option for them. Going with the i7 will give a person a more future proof computer, as well as the option to reuse some of the parts when it comes time to upgrade.

 

[xthekidx]

I wonder if theother0 has been reading any of this discussion or if he already built his pc and we are just arguing for the sake of argument...lol.