Recent Build

[rjkucia]

Here's my recent build, designed mostly for casual gaming:

ASUS P5Q-SE2 Mobo
Core 2 Duo E8400 3Ghz
4GB RAM
WD 640 GB SATA HD
BFG Factory OCed Nvidia 9800 GT
Antec Basiq 500W PSU
Vista Premium 64bit

And thats all that really affects performance. All in all, it was around ~$800, so what do you guys think? What should I upgrade in the future? Right now, the only time I ever notice a drop in fps is when I'm transcoding video at the same time

And btw, my res is at 1680x1050, so not insanely high resolution

 

[xthekidx]

Get an aftermarket cooler and OC your CPU for some more horsepower. Xigmatek S1283v Dark Knight costs $40 and is one of the better heatsinks out there, definitely the best for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029&Tpk=s1283v

Other than that there isn't too much you can do besides buy a better video card and add some more ram, although you will be limited on the GPU because of the PSU connectors. You might get 2 320gb drives such as WD3200AAKS and run them raid 0 for games.

 

[Beitzel15]

Get an aftermarket cooler and OC your CPU for some more horsepower. Xigmatek S1283v Dark Knight costs $40 and is one of the better heatsinks out there, definitely the best for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029&Tpk=s1283v

Other than that there isn't too much you can do besides buy a better video card and add some more ram, although you will be limited on the GPU because of the PSU connectors. You might get 2 320gb drives such as WD3200AAKS and run them raid 0 for games.

I was curious, I was going to get a zalman cpu cooler for $40... Does the Xig Dark Knight come with the retention bracket or do you still have to buy it seperate like with the other Xig coolers?

 

[xthekidx]

It comes with it.

 

[Beitzel15]

It comes with it.

Theres only 1 review on it.... and it isnt copper.. is that a bad thing?

 

[xthekidx]

Make sure you have room in your case though, the Xigmatek is large, like most good CPU coolers.

 

[Beitzel15]

I should have room in my NZXT Tempest correct?

 

[xthekidx]

yes the tempest should be able to accomodate just about any cooler.

 

[rjkucia]

I'm not planning on OCing, at least not now - it's brand new, and I don't want to break it :]

 

[xthekidx]

Theres only 1 review on it.... and it isnt copper.. is that a bad thing?

There is only one review because that revision of it is new, but the only thing that is new about it from the old dark knight is that it comes with LGA 1366 retention bracket, the old one doesn't. If you want to read reviews search S1283 Dark Knight on newegg and read those. Copper is the best material for thermal conductivity, but solid copper heatsinks are very heavy, which puts a lot of strain on the mobo (bad). The Dark Knight has copper heatpipes that are coated with nickel, which is good enough to transfer the heat without weighing a ton.

If you will never overclock, then there is no need to get an aftermarket cooler, but if you think there is a chance then get one. And overclocking is fairly simple, you won't break it unless you set the voltages waaayyy to high. Just read some of the many guides that are available via the internet and stay below the max voltages that Intel has specified and you don't have anything to worry about.