Mid/High-End Gaming PC Build

[The Denominater]

Hey, as you can probably tell, I’m new here; this is my first time posting. I’ve finally decided to take what seems like the logical step and build myself my own computer. I’ve had a range of machines over the years, from Quantex to Dell. I’ve got a fair bit of experience with computers, and have done most repairs and replacements possible in one way or another.

So this particular build will be mostly used for gaming as you can tell by the components, though it will also be used for sound recording, 3D rendering and code compilation. I’m looking at a budget of around $ 2300 in Canadian, but it could be slightly higher, and obviously lower if need be it. I’ve been saving for quite some time for this build, so I don’t feel like skimping off.

I’ve never actually overclocked a machine before, but I plan to get into it, and this will be my starting machine, so while I don’t want it to be too simple, I won’t be pushing it too too far. Obviously CPU, and memory, but I’m almost sure I won’t be dabbling into the chipset, though I might look at the GPU, but less likely.

I’ve got a fairly good idea of what I want to get, but I’m still on the edge between a few components. These are the components I’m pretty sure about:

Case Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Antec $117.02

Power Supply Silencer 750-Watt Quad PC Power and Cooling $183.52

Fans and Cooling ULTRA-120 Extreme Thermalright $ 64.98
S-FLEX SFF21E 120MM Scythe $ 14.99
Arctic Silver 5 HIGH-DENSITY Arctic Silver $ 12.47

Operating System Vista Ultimate 64bit Microsoft $208.76

CPU Core 2 Quad Q6600 (G0 Stepping) Intel $299.97

Hard Drives Raptor 150GB SATA 10KRPM WD $250.80
Caviar SE16 500GB WD $132.25

CD/DVD Drives SH-S182F DVD+RW Samsung $ 37.71

TOTAL $ 1,322.47


I think everything seems to be pretty much in order there, though if you guys have any suggestions I’d be glad to take them. The other components however I’m not so sure about.

Ram I have a good idea of what I want, I just don’t know what to go with, the four listed below are all possibilities, and I don’t really know what would be better. From what I understand they should all be able to overclock well, and going any higher than DDR2-800 is a waste if I’m not pushing the extremes of overclocking?

RAM
• Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory
• Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
• Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 Dual Channel Memory Kit
• OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

I’ve got pretty much two options for this build when it comes to motherboard and GPU. Either single 8800GTX or SLI 8800GT. If I understand correctly, the SLI combination would come at a slightly higher price, but give better performance? I’d greatly appreciate any input on this.

MOTHERBOARD
• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R ATX LGA775 Conroe P35 DDR2 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard
• EVGA Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard

VIDEO CARD
• BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC / 768MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
• EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT Superclocked 650MHZ 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card X2

Obviously the P35 motherboard would be for the GTX and the Nforce for the GT’s. The SLI option comes out around $ 140 Canadian more expensive. Is it worth it? I’m also not too sure about motherboards, those are just the two that I’ve heard positive feedback on. The video card brands were picked because of lowest prices, but if either is less desirable than the other I could change, though I think they’re both adequate brands.

That’s pretty much the whole build; I don’t think I’ve missed anything. I hope you guys have suggestions to make. Thanks for your time, I can’t wait to buy these parts and assemble my beast.

 

[Maziar]

For video card, i say get a single 8800GTX with P35 board instead of 2 8800GT in SLI, 2 8800GT will outperform a single 8800GTX in most (but not all games) in resolutions lower than 1920x1200, in 1920x1200 and higher , a single 8800GTX is better than 1 8800gt. also 2 8800GT will produce more heat and need more power

For RAM, the first 3 options have better timings than the last one

overall, its a solid system

 

[nukchebi0]

If you could wait two months, Intel's new Penryns will come out, and they will be much better for OC'ing and power usage (performance obviously, too), than the Q6600.

 

[Noya]

...in 1920x1200 and higher , a singe 8800GTX is better...

Where are you getting your numbers? In all the reviews I've seen the 8800GT almost matches the GTX at 19x12, and in SLi absolutely destroys the GTX at higher res.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/15/
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=12

It's kind of obvious, you payed out the ass for a GTX, so you think you have to jump on tech forums and defend your purchase decision...chill out, man.

 

[ginbong46]

If you could wait two months, Intel's new Penryns will come out, and they will be much better for OC'ing and power usage (performance obviously, too), than the Q6600.

also if you DO wait the NEW non-extreme penryn and yorkfield cores will be around the $400+ price

 

[Maziar]

Where are you getting your numbers? In all the reviews I've seen the 8800GT almost matches the GTX at 19x12, and in SLi absolutely destroys the GTX at higher res.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/15/
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=12

It's kind of obvious, you payed out the ass for a GTX, so you think you have to jump on tech forums and defend your purchase decision...chill out, man.

u must be crazy if u think like that about me, if not defending my GTX, i always have said a 8800GT will perform like a 8800GTX in most games, but in resolutions like 1920x1200 or higher , a 8800GTX beats(sometimes the difference is alot like in Crysis , sometimes it isnt ), and also i have always tried to make people save their money , so i dont defend my GTX , and hre are benchhmarks ,
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/9
Battlefield 2
2048x1536:
8800GTX:96
8800GT:78

1920x1440:
8800GTX:137
8800GT:113

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/10
Gaming: World in Conflict(second benchmarks)
2560x1600:

8800GTX:20
88800GT:9

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/11
PT Boats Knights of the Sea DX10 Benchmark
2560x1600:

8800GTX:34
8800GT:10

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/page13.html
Crysis
1920x14400:

8800GTX:18.0
8800GT:6.5




also about SLI, 2 8800GT dont always beat a 8800GTX ( they beat a 8800GTX in most benchmarks but not all, also they will produce more heat than single GTX )

AGAIN , A 8800GT IS A SOLID CARD ,BUT WHEN IT COMES TO HIGHER RESOLUTIONS LIKE 1920X14400 OR HIGHER, IT LOSES TO A 8800GTX IN MOST BENCHMARKS

 

[aevm]

Excellent choices so far. Very much like my own configuration, in fact. :lol:

I would recommend getting the eVGA 680i A1 motherboard and a single BFG 8800 GTX OC (or OC2). Add a second 8800 GTX a year or two from now when it's cheaper and you really need it, if you need it. For now a single GTX is plenty, unless you play at 1920x1200 or more.

Memory: if you intend to overclock only a little or not at all then get the cheapest DDR2-800. For example OCZ Vista Upgrade 2x2GB DDR2-800 only cost me $229 Canadian. Crucial Ballistix is very popular for overclocking.
Get 2x2GB. Vista will work better with 4 GB than with 2, and getting 2x2GB instead of 4x1GB allows you to bump it up to 8GB eventually. If your code compiling means Visual Studio.Net 2005 then you'd absolutely benefit from 4 GB too.

Get a WD7500AAKS instead of the WD5000AAKS. Even if you don't need 750GB now, it's worth it because the 750GB uses a new technology (PMR) and it's much faster.

I'm not familiar with that DVD burner, but I'd trust Samsung. They make the quietest burners these days, and I 'm guessing that's important to you. Can you get a Samsung SH-S203B or Plextor PX-810SA instead?

Sound recording: you probably need a sound card, if you're into creating music. Avoid Creative X-Fi, their Vista drivers are horrible. Here's a good card that works well in Vista: HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1.

 

[The Denominater]

I do use Visual Studio actually, so maybe the extra ram would be good. I don’t know why I had an IDE DVD chosen; I meant to pick a SATA, thanks for pointing that out. And I guess the 750GB HDD is a good idea, I’ll go with that too. I’ll be looking at a sound card later; I’ve got an external recording device, Firebox ,so I can use that for now.

Ok, so listening to your suggestions I think I’ve got a better idea of what I’ll get. I think I’ll go with the single GTX on a P35 board, I doubt I’ll be adding another GTX so I won’t need SLI. And I’m going with 4GB of Corsair ram. This is my final build so far:

Case Nine Hundred Mid Tower Antec $117.02

Power Supply Silencer 750-Watt Quad PC Power and Cooling $183.52

Motherboard GA-P35-DS3R ATX Gigabyte $150.44

CPU Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Intel $299.97

Memory XMS2 DHX TWIN2X4096 Corsair $229.99

GPU GeForce 8800 GTX OC BFG $499.97

Hard Drives Raptor 150GB SATA 10KRPM Western Digital $250.80

Caviar 750 GB Western Digital $245.10

CD/DVD Drives SH-S203B SATA DVD+RW Samsung $39.75 X2

Fans and Cooling ULTRA-120 Extreme Thermalright $64.98
S-FLEX SFF21E 120MM Scythe $14.99
Arctic Silver 5 HIGH-DENSITY Arctic Silver $12.47

Operating System Vista Ultimate 64bit Microsoft $208.76

SUBTOTAL $2,357.51
TOTAL $2,498.96


So does anyone have anything to add on to this? It's getting a bit higher than I expected, but I don't feel like cutting anything; any recommendations? I’m not going to be buying for a week or so, I want to watch out for prices and stuff before I order. Thanks for your advice.

 

[ben72227]

I'd drop the Raptor. Yes, it spins faster than a 7.2k RPM drive, but it also uses last-gen SATA so the difference is negligible. In fact, the 750GB Caviar is pretty much on-par with the 150GB Raptor.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/06/record-making_hard_disk/page9.html

Anyway - I'd dump the Raptor and get more RAM. If you're using a 64bit OS, then you might as well go for 4GB of RAM IMHO.

 

[aevm]

You can cut down the PSU to Silencer 610W if you ruled out SLI.

Since you're not going for extreme overclocking, you can save a chunk of cash by getting a Scythe Ninja ($56 where I live, includes fan and good thermal paste), or an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro ($20 at newegg), or nothing at all ($0, use the stock cooler). The Thermalright is the best air cooling solution but overkill for mild overclocks. I like the Thermalright, Ninja and Arctic Freezer 7 because they're among the quietest coolers. As far as performance goes it's TR>Ninja>Freezer>stock, just like the prices.

Agreed about dropping the Raptor. The WD7500AAKS beats the Raptor in several tests:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?type=expert&aid=446
and it's 5 times cheaper per GB and quieter.

Edit: about the DVD drives. First of all, do you really need two of them? Second, if you do, make them different brands. For example get one that comes with Nero and one that comes with Roxio, so you get both. It's also good to make them different because one may burn faster while the other rips faster, or whatever. For example I have an LG H62N and a Plextor PX-810SA, they're both excellent, but each has its strengths. The LG burns faster, the Plextor rips 3 times faster, the Plextor is quieter, both read data files back at the same speed, etc.

 

[WR2]

Stepping down in PSU size makes a lot of sense.
You can also step down in HSF cooling. First of all get the SMALL size of AS5 or even skip it for the very excellent thermal compound that comes with the Thermalrights. Get the Thermalright Ultima 90 $47CAD and a Scythe Kama 92MM Fan $9CAD and get almost the same cooling effectiveness as the 120Extreme.

Drop the 2nd DVD burner - you can always use the hard drive as a "virtual DVD drive" if you ever need a 2nd drive.
Also drop the Raptor and think about getting an upgraded keyboard and mouse.

Keeping an eye out on prices the next couple of weeks is a good idea. The rumored G92 based 8800GTS replacement due out around (Black Friday? early December?) might put some downward pressure on the price of GTXs.

 

[mennovh]

System looks pretty solid to me, but just make sure you get atleast 4 gig of ram if your running vista.