New PC Plan
By
Darkwave_EU,
Posted on: 2008-09-23 06:06 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Just a couple of comments.
I went with a Q9550 in an Antec900 case. The stock cooling on the CPU has been absolutely fine as the Antec case is fan-central. I can only imagine that the bigger case will be even better so you may want to defer investing in custom cooling.
I've got a 9800GTX+ on a 780i mobo (all the scare stories about the stability of the 790's frankly frightened me off...). Be prepared to fiddle around with Nvidia drivers as the latest ones still won't run CoX for me and I had to roll back to the last WHQL ones before the current set.
DDR3 - I'll bow to your research-fu but all my research when I built my rig suggested that there wasn't much upside to DDR3 at the moment... (yeah, yeah, this coming from the guy who bought a quad-core).
Vista 64: The only insoluble problem I've had with it is that it resolutely refused to talk to my D-Link wireless router. Re-instating the BT HomeHub made that problem go away but it was the only solution I could find that worked.
PSU: I've got no ideas about the power demands of the GTX 260's but it may be worth double checking how much you'll need if you ever get to 3xSLI'd. The Novatech forums had a very chastened post from a guy who'd underestimated his power consumption requirements and from my dim (and ageing) memory he had a fairly meaty PSU on there.
Other than that it looks like a lovely build to me. The Antec 900 case was an absolute dream to install everything in on mine and runs practically silently (and beautifully blue-y).
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
Quad core processors are a complete waste of money for a gaming machine. The games will NOT use the extra cores to any great advantage... You'd be better off getting something like an E8400 Wolfdale. Faster core speed, and cheaper than the quad. Quads are really only of use for people doing heavy video editing work, photoshopping or 3D modelling.
Zalman's are nice, but unless you're planning to overclock, any more than the stock cooler really isn't worth bothering about. I have an E8400 with stock fan and it idles at about 34c. Full load at 51c which is nowhere near the thermal limits for the processor. I've run a short term overclock to 3.5ghz (don't really need to OC) and it stayed under 60c at full load with the stock fan.
For the sound card; these days on-board audio is more than adequate for most people. I'd really only consider splashing out here if you're an audiophile. Most people can't hear the difference between onboard audio and high priced cards.
You won't regret Vista. It runs sweet as a nut, and with drivers now mature, games are often FASTER than XP.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Cheers for the replies guys 
Very much appricated.
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you may want to defer investing in custom cooling.
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Thats pretty much exactly what I thought aswell, but being that the CPU is only in stock as OEM Scan list that it doesnt come with a stock cooler anyway (apprently) but will looking into that.
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DDR3 - I'll bow to your research-fu but all my research when I built my rig suggested that there wasn't much upside to DDR3 at the moment... (yeah, yeah, this coming from the guy who bought a quad-core)
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Quad core processors are a complete waste of money for a gaming machine. The games will NOT use the extra cores to any great advantage... You'd be better off getting something like an E8400 Wolfdale. Faster core speed, and cheaper than the quad. Quads are really only of use for people doing heavy video editing work, photoshopping or 3D modelling.
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Both of these are down to future-proffing to be honest. Ive weighed up the DC vs QC debate similar to the newer 790i chipset. Reasoning behind this is that I dont plan on upgrading this rig other than beyond the gfx card(s) HDDs etc. Plus there are a few games coming out in the near future that will support QC (or so im told) Alan Wake, Farcry, CoD: WaW to name a few. But will defintatly relook at a higher spec DC.
I also do play around with a bit of image work but to be honest this is probably me just trying to justify a QC to myself 
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Zalman's are nice, but unless you're planning to overclock, any more than the stock cooler really isn't worth bothering about.
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Im toying with the idea of OCing, ive never really had a mobo that is actually able to OC without imploding But for the most part as I said eailer the fan chosen is simply because of no stock fan.
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For the sound card; these days on-board audio is more than adequate for most people.
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Yeha your right, after looking a bit more into the mobo and the onboard seems fine for my needs. So shave £90 off the price
Ok, I know I should be working but frankly the damned spreadsheets can wait a few more minutes
I couldn't quickly find any data on GTX260 power requirements but a review of the 9800GTX+ says that it will draw up to 200W under load. If you're looking for a truly future-proof build then you may want to up the PSU a bit (but we're beginning to push the envelope on my physics-fu here!).
Right, must must MUST do some work now....
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
If you don't plan to invest on your pottie other than new GFX cards and HDD's, I'd go full monty and get a 1000W PSU so you're ready for modern life and stuff when the time comes to upgrade.
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If you don't plan to invest on your pottie other than new GFX cards and HDD's, I'd go full monty and get a 1000W PSU so you're ready for modern life and stuff when the time comes to upgrade.
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Yeah think I will, that was one of my main concerns. The PSU I picked comes heavily recommended from a mate of mine but they are a bit too expensive. Anyone got any good recommendations?
I recently purchased the Logitech Z-5500's and can say they aren't bad for the price. They replaced my 3 yr old Creative 7.1 setup, as the main bass / power supply was faulty and Creative couldn't help.
I will say, if you're used to creative 7.1 sound and go to logitech 5.1 5500's - it's a big downgrade, and i was a little disappointed, but now im getting used to them, it's not so bad and the 5500's seems the best for the price range.
I also run with the X-Fi Fatality Pro card and personally i think it rocks.. However, if you're not going to be doing any midi work (case addon with the Pro card) then consider the on board as said above, or get the slightly cheaper X-fi fatality card.
Any Corsair PSu seems to be well liked, they're the FOTM in PSU's.
AFAIK the only game coming soon that support multiple cores is Alan Wake (if it's out within a year colour me surprised). CoD 4 WaW uses the Cod4 engine which doesn't use multiple cores, Farcry 2 doesn't afaik and although Crytek said Crysis does it's such a GPU limited game that it doesn't matter. I have no complaints about my E8400 running stock speeds (3GHz) with an Arctic freezer pro with an 8800GT 512Mb (not OC'd) and every game I've tried (bar crysis again) runs at full res (1680x1050, 22" TFT) with everything on, Cod4 included. This runs at anything from 40-90FPS depending on what's going on.
What resolution is your monitor? This, ultimately, decides what graphics card you should go for. There's little point in spending £200+ on a graphics card or going SLI unless you're using 24" plus. an 8800GT is fine for a 22" TFT like mine, only if I went bigger would I consider swapping the card, possibly for an Ati 4870 or the Ati 4870x2 which is still the best bang for buck card but it would mean swapping your mobo if you wanted to SLI/Crossfire in future but IMO SLI is overated and 9/10 times you can buy a faster card for the price of two cards that'll outperform the SLI'd cards.
Defiant 50's
Many and varied!
@Miss Chief
I'd seriously reconsider that 790i motherboard, unless you are absolutely going to get a second 260. Take a look at a good P45 motherboard, like the ASUS P5Q Deluxe. I'd also get a slightly beefier PSU, if only for peace of mind.
A big CPU cooler is only necessary if you overclock heavily. If you do, you're better off with a 45nm chip anyway. But there are much better things out there than the Intel stock; get the old favourite, the Arctic cooling Freezer 7 pro. At £15 you can't not get one. It's the law, or something.
Aside from that, you've put together an extremely beefy rig. Good choice on the place to buy it from too. My only concern is that quad-core; it may not be necessary. Look into a 3GHz Wolfdale dual-core.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
Well CustomPC has some reviews in for the 260s and the recomendation there was to have at least 40A available on the rail supplying the GPU although that was for one of the OCed ones.
The other important thing to bear in mind with PSUs is don't buy a cheap one - they generally have poor stability under any sort of load and so a 500W quality PSU will usually outperform an 800W budget one.
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
The QC option does seem a bit over the top from what you guys are saying and I have to say that I'm comming round to your way of thinking. Will look into some high spec DC when I get home from work.
I know about the buzz of SLi and it's supposed disadvantages I don't plan to really go for the two card option any time soon, it's just nice to have the option there if I ever changed my mind.
I'm currently running a 24" LG with a 8800gt and it does lag somewhat when running at native res. The monitor is only 5 months old so no need for me to change at the moment.
As for the logitech system, the 5500s are going to be a big step up for me personally I'm currently using some logitech x540s (I think) which ive had for years now and are now regularly poping and cracking.
Currently you guys are saving me quite a bit of cash
Edit: with the PSU stability I am going to go for something with a bit more power under the hood.
As with the whole system it is up for debate and really appricate all your comments here guys. With the cash I'm about to blow don't want to make the wrong choice.
Oh yeah, DDR3 is WAY overated and still ridiculously expensive for the performance increase so i'd stick with quality DDR2 at the moment.
As for the blu-ray drive are you really going to sit and watch films on your PC when it's obvious you have a blu-ray player/PS3 connected to your big HD TV in the lounge/wherever?
PSU's, This one would be more than sufficient for that rig. I have the 520w Corsair and it runs fine and is quiet too. my case fans and GPu fan are noisier.
Defiant 50's
Many and varied!
@Miss Chief
If you're having some cash saved then you could go for a faster graphics card, an ati 4870x2 or GTX 280 which whould make your games fly on your 24".
Defiant 50's
Many and varied!
@Miss Chief
Ah, DDR3. That's something I hadn't considered.
Right now you can either get 4GB of DDR2-800 for £60, or 4GB of DDR3-1333 for £100. The performance difference between the two will be negligible. What you're really paying for is future-proofing, as the next line of Intel processors will only support DDR3. At that point, the extra bandwidth will make enough of a difference to make sense, and Intel will want their chips looking their best.
Which puts us in a bind, really. If you go through with SLI, you'll need an SLI motherboard, and I can only recommend the 790i for that. It's expensive, but you have the dosh. At the same time, the 790i will only work with DDR3. It's all feeling very forced, isn't it? You can save money by getting a P45 motherboard and DDR2, but you'll lose out on SLI and have to re-buy RAM when you upgrade. It's one or the other, I'm afraid.
With a choice between saving money now, or investing in the future, I'd invest. I chose the save-money option on my GPU, an 8800GTS 320MB, and the thing hasn't held its value, nor its speed. The limited RAM means it's three times slower than a GTX or a GT in many cases these days.
That GTX 260 is over twice as big as my graphics card is in every way, actually. 192SPs versus 96SPs, 896MB versus 320MB, 111MB/s versus 64MB/s... Kinda depressing, really.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
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With a choice between saving money now, or investing in the future, I'd invest.
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This is the problem im trying to weigh up at the moment, I think to be honest id rather go down the future proofing route but theres no saying that if I didnt the other build wouldnt be anything to cry about really.
Well im at home now so I get to dive into scan.co.uk once again and see what I can pull out.
Everything else has really been covered but while i've never heard anything bad about Scan i would personally recommend linky
I've used these for everything i've ever bought electrical and always found the prices to be cheaper. Not only that but the service is remarkable.
Order before (i think it's 8) and you'll get your items the next morning at 8, even with the cheap 1-3 day delivery option or so i've found.
They also normally have free delivery on orders over a certain price (it changes) though it doesn't seem there doing that at the moment.
Either way, check them out
CoH PvP SG = SuperUnion - Co-Leader - Union/Freedom
CoV PvP VG = Disruption - Co-Leader - Union/Freedom
Global = @Rent & @Rent.
Playgroup are all **** - Global Handle
Well... Ive decided to go with a Duo E8600, the clock speed over the Quad I had previously chosen to go with was what won me over. 3.33 vs 2.66, FSB speed and compatibility won me over.
The next battle seems to be the one I am stuck with. I was pretty much decided over going with the XFX 790i Mobo I picked ealier but then I caught sight of the RAM timmings. Im now trying to decide on whether the sheer bandwidth of DDR3 vs the low latency of DDR2 is worth the dosh.
Cheers for the recommendation Rent, had dealings with dabs before, nice company but ive always got a soft spot for Scan just simply because their customer service is tiptop .
Okey doke... Heres what I have come up with. Its a bit more realistic than the previous build and from the results I can gather I will actually get a performance increase for less cash through not going down the Quad Core/DDR3/790i route.
The price is actually £20 cheaper than the last build but Ive tacked a 5.1 high end speaker system onto it So technically its near on £250 cheaper.
Here it is, the system of which I have ordered :O
Final Price: £1,266.93 (1,600.28)
Antec Twelve Hundred Case w/o PSU
---Same as previously
Asus P5Q Premium
---Scratch the Nvidia 790i, gone for a P45 board. No SLi for me but to be honest, are there any real uses in a mid range like this?
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale Core
---Was going to go for the 8600, but for the price difference for negligible performance increase without OCing wasnt worth it.
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
---Need I say more Necrotron?
750 GB Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1
---Same as previously
4GB (2x2GB ) Corsair Dominator DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066)
---DDR2, low latency and oh so much cheaper than DDR3
850W Be Quiet Dark Power PRO
---Same as previously, just beefed up to 850w instead of 650w
896MB XFX GTX 260
---Same as previously, but went through a hell of alot of other GPUs to come back to the same one In the end Im just a Nvidia Fanboy... oh dear god...
Pioneer DVR-216DBK
---Swapped out Bluray drive, one will be bought when prices drop or when BD-Rs become widely available.
Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers Digital THX/Dolby/DTS
---Im glad I stuck this in... Im probably more exited about these than the rest of the system... love my sound
1.5m SLx Gold Plated Coaxial Audio Cable
---Not sure if the speakers come with but its only £3
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
---Same as previous
Thanks for all your input guys, was very helpful and very much appreciated
Cant wait... its gonna kick [censored]!
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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
---Need I say more Necrotron?
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lol have fun fitting that to your mobo, the stock heat sink and fans are hard enough to connect to your mobo without snapping it as it is (stupid push down and twist clips)
Those front 2 look awfully close to the fan :P
CoH PvP SG = SuperUnion - Co-Leader - Union/Freedom
CoV PvP VG = Disruption - Co-Leader - Union/Freedom
Global = @Rent & @Rent.
Playgroup are all **** - Global Handle
Take the fan off then put it on
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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
---Need I say more Necrotron?
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lol have fun fitting that to your mobo, the stock heat sink and fans are hard enough to connect to your mobo without snapping it as it is (stupid push down and twist clips)
Those front 2 look awfully close to the fan :P
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It fits. I've specced that very combination to someone else, the P5Q heatsinks don't get in the way.
Necrobond - 50 BS/Inv Scrapper made in I1
Rickar - 50 Bots/FF Mastermind
Anti-Muon - 42 Warshade
Ivory Sicarius - 45 Crab Spider
Aber ja, nat�rlich Hans nass ist, er steht unter einem Wasserfall.
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lol have fun fitting that to your mobo, the stock heat sink and fans are hard enough to connect to your mobo without snapping it as it is (stupid push down and twist clips)
Those front 2 look awfully close to the fan :P
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Just mount it before fitting the MB into the case - that way you can apply as much force as you need
Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant
The Arctic Freezer pro fitted just fine to my Gigabyte p35C DS3R.
Defiant 50's
Many and varied!
@Miss Chief
Veeeeery jealous of the speaker setup. I've had my eye on those for ages and decided that they probably need to go on the Christmas list (i.e. link e-mailed to other-half, other half forg-marched to computer, mouse moved to click on link on other-half's behalf, card extracted from other'half's wallet....etc. etc.).
Please let us know if they're as fab as all the reviews say!
Cheers
Drag
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
Howdo folks,
So Ive decided to build myself a new rig. Been a few years since my last one so now is the time I think.
My PC has been slowly dying since I bought it CoD 4
Hence this post. Heres the build im planning on going with.
Antec Twelve Hundred Case
-- Was a toss up between this and the Coolermaster Cosmos v2 / s cases, after a recommendation from a friend decided to go for the Antec.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, Kentsfield Core, Socket 775, 2.66 GHz 1066MHz 8MB Cache, OEM
-- Its a 65nm core, had been looking at the 45mn but they are just simply out of my price range for one that is a gamer than number cruncher.
Zalman CNPS9700-LED Super Aero Flower Cooler
--Cant be having stock cooling on the CPU
XFX MB-N790-IUL9, NF790i Ultra MCP, 3-way SLI, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 800/1066/2000, ATX
--Nice looking Mobo, reviews are positive. Its heralded as the only stable nForce 790i board out there at the moment.
650W Be Quiet Dark Power PRO
--Highly rated PSU, not much to say.
896MB XFX GTX 260
--Decided to go for the big one here, i'm currently running a 8800GT XFX XXX OC edition so this will be quite a jump, plus the ability to SLi if I feel the need in the future.
750 GB Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1
--Comes highly recommeded from friends and interwebz alike.
4GB (2x2GB ) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10600
--Cheap and fair durable if reviews are to be believed, (weakest point of my build so far)
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
--Planning on getting the Logitech Z-5500 Soon
Pioneer BDC-202BK 5x Blu-Ray Reader
--Unessesary, but I do have an extensive BLuray collection anyway.
Razer Lachesis Banshee v2 Blue
--My G7 is on its last legs.
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64 Bit)
--....I know.. but I have faith in DX10... I think
Total Price: £1,286.90 (1,620.87)
Havnt ordered the parts yet, will be doing so when I get home from work tonight, Obviously a few things are up for review; i.e. 650w PSU, RAM, Bluray drive and Soundcard alike. Will be spending most of the day looking at this stuff on the net so If you guys have an comments or suggestions feel free
Thanks