New Spec & Advice

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,591
Location
Farnborough, UK
Hi Guys,

I'm looking at buying a new rig to build and so I have chosen the following components so far...
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB)
  • Asus P5K Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
  • Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard
  • Asus GeForce 8800 GTS HTDP 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express
  • GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
  • Western Digital Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB ST3500630AS SATA-II 16MB Cache
It will be getting used for all sorts... some fps style gaming, transcoding xvid to mpeg2 on the fly to the stream to a ps3 and some other video/audio encoding.

So, some questions...

CPU: Is it worth paying the extra for the 3.0Ghz part, whereas I could easily clock an E6600... or is it worth going for a quad core chip now (I'll be using XP, can is use 4 cores)?

Motherboard: Always used Asus motherboards... what are the differences between the P5K I have chosen and the and the SW and SW versions?

GPU: Always had Asus graphics cards, is the 8800GTS is a good part, and that the 640MB version would be overkill? How are the sound levels on the 8800 GTS series?

HDD: Currently running 2x36G raptor in RAID0.. cant decide on a single 150G raptor or 2 for RAID. This will be for an OS partition and another for apps/games. The Seagate is for storage.

Case: I'm after a Lian-Li PC-7 Plus, but OcUK are still saying it has an 80mm rear fan... is this correct? I'd also like to replace the fans with something quieter... blue led would be cool, but not important. I was thinking either Akasa Ultra Quiet or the Noctua fans?

CPU Cooler: So much choice these days... any advice on what to buy? I'm after as quiet as possible.

PSU: I have an unopened OCZ 600W GameXtreem... should be ok?

I suppose I should be looking at new SATA optical drives these days also.

Thanks in advance, guys. :)


A.
 
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Man of Honour
Joined
27 Sep 2004
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Location
Glasgow
The dual/quad question depends partly on what you normally use your PC for and how often you upgrade, not totally sure on XP and compatability with quads but I think it is ok.

The 8800GTS is a good card, I'd probably pick BFG or EVGA for the longer warranty but it won't make any real difference to the speed since almost all are built to a reference design - aside from possibly Asus because they've always been a bit odd. 640mb and its necessity depends largely on what screen size you are running, it does offer some future proofing though even if you have a relatively small monitor.

Cooler I'd go with the Noctua NH-U12F or Tuniq Tower.

The PSU should be fine. :)
 
Associate
Joined
25 Nov 2006
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1,906
Location
Birmingham
I would not bother buying another raptor drive. I would just put your two 36GB one's in raid 0. If anything I would save my self a few bucks and get the Q6600 and overclock it.

The only way to say if having the 640MB version is a overkill is your screen size. And what resolution you play games at. It is mainly wide screens which use the higher resolution.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,591
Location
Farnborough, UK
Thanks for the replies, guys.

Currently I have have a 20" widescreen monitor, so 1680x1050. I doubt I'd ever go larger than 22-23" widescreen.

So how is the sound level on the 8800GTS?

Also, why is the P5K-E WiFi cheaper than the P5K WS when the P5K-E looks better spec?


A.
 
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