New rig advice please

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Hi all,

Been out the loop for 5 months doin' my bit for Queen and country. Anyway I've been asked to build a rig for somebody's 21st and would appreciate your up-to-date recommends for the components. It's mainly for gaming and cost isn't that much of an issue, although best value for money is important.

Rig needs to be aircooled and oc'ing isn't really a factor - just solid, high end gaming performance as future-proofed as much as possible.

Components I need are:

24" TFT

Case

Motherboard

CPU

RAM

HDD for OS and HDD for storage (not bothered about RAID)

PSU

GFX

Keyboard

DVD

CPU Heatsink

All help much appreciated - I've got about 4 weeks to complete the build.



TOG

 

[Toxcity]

If you have 4 weeks, you can wait a little for the next batch of Nvidia cards.

For CPU go for a Quad core.. to save money go for a Q6600?

For Ram DDR2 is cheat so go for 4Gb of Corsair.

For Motherboard.. I am in love with the Maximus series, so that is what I would recommend.

Before I go further.. where are you planning to buy the parts from? I find it annoying ordering from more than one shop.. but that might just be me.

Welcome back Tox!

 

[gotmaxpower]

(These are links)

Monitor - 24" DELL 2408WFP

Case - Antec 900

Storage Hard Drive - Samsung HD502IJ Spinpoint F1

CPU - Q6600

RAM - Dual Slot Corsair XMS2 4-4-4-12 800MHz

Heatsink - Scythe Ninja Copper

Keyboard - Saitek Eclipse 2

These are just reccomendations, However i dont really know much about HDD's for operating systems, motherboards or high-end PSU's. As for the GFX, i'd reccomend waiting for the ATI Radeon HD4850 and HD4870.. If not, try something like a 9800GTX or GX2 but for a lower price range try an 8800GTS G92 or an 8800GT.

 

[Toxcity]

Don't wait for ATI, wait for Nvidia.

 

[gotmaxpower]

Don't wait for ATI, wait for Nvidia.

Fanboy Alert!

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Thanks for the advice so far.

I'll definitely go for the Dell 2408wfp monitor and either a Silverstone or Lian Li case. I gather the best advice is to wait for the new NVidia or ATI cards to be released very shortly. I'll also be getting an Eclipse 2 keyboard. Please keep the suggestions for the other stuff coming, particularly other good quad core cpu/mobo/ram combinations.

TIA



TOG

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Any thoughts on this spec (or where/how it could be improved)?

Silverstone Temjin TJ09B-W Black Aluminium SuperTower Case With Side Window

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache

Enermax Modu82+ 625W Modular PSU - 82+% Efficiency Certified, 4x PCI-E, ATXv2.3

Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card OEM

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer - Fatal1ty Professional Series

WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB SATA 10KRPM 16MB Cache - OEM

Dell 2408WFP 24" Monitor 1920x1200 3000:1 6ms Silver/Black 3 Years Warranty

ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory REAPER EDITION CL4

Thanks



TOG

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Any thoughts on this ram please?

G.Skill - link

Corsair Dominator - link



TOG

 

[Toxcity]

TOG, that is a pretty nice setup!

I would stick with the OCZ RAM if I was you.

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Thanks Tox.

Still not sure on which memory to go for. Narrowed it down to these:

G.Skill - link - £106 delivered.

OCZ Reaper - link - £84 delivered

Corsair Dominator - link - £86 delivered



TOG

 

[!TIMMY!]

How about the OCZ 4gb Flex II 9200? £105, thats what I have just ordered

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Thanks Timmy. Is there any benefit in going for the your sugesstion rather than 8500 stock if the rig is not going to be oc'ed beyond 1066??



TOG

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Bought so far:

Silverstone Temjin TJ09B-W Black - £175 + £10 del. After Hours Computers

Dell 2408wfp - £399 + free del. PCBuyIT

Saitek Eclipse II - £29.25

500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II 32MB Cache - £52.75

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty - £59.56

625W Enermax MODU82+ PSU ATX2.3 - £98.69

Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP motherboard - £103.17

Above 4 items all from Scan with a total £8 for del.

Still looking into the rest. Which Vista 32 bit upgrade version would you recommend/



TOG

 

[Toxcity]

Go for OCZ Reaperz for the memory, soild as a rock.

Go for a 9800GTX or wait for the new releases.

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Thanks Tox. How does the 9800GTX 512mb compare with an 8800GTX 768mb and when you say wait for the new cards, which would you recommend?



TOG

 

[Toxcity]

Well, the video memory isn't going to get overly used if you are running on lower resolutions.

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Finished my online retail therapy and just blown the best part of 1450 quid!

Silverstone Temjin TJ09B-W Black - £175 + £10 del. After Hours Computers

Dell 2408wfp - £399 + free del. PCBuyIT

Saitek Eclipse II - £29.25

500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II 32MB Cache - £52.75

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty - £59.56

625W Enermax MODU82+ PSU ATX2.3 - £98.69

Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP motherboard - £103.17

Above 5 items all from Scan with a total £8 for del.

Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20X SATA DVD±RW OEM - £17.57

Inno3D 9800GTX iChill 512MB Xtreme - £218.91

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium OEM 64-bit - £59.06

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping Retail - £134.50

Above 4 items all from Ebuyer with free del.

4GB OCZ DDR2 Reaper PC2-8500 - £90 + £4 del. - MemoryC.com

Just need to get a decent cpu cooler, probably thermalright.

Thanks for all the help, particularly Tox.



TOG

 

[gotmaxpower]

Well done on the computer, i dont know much people with that sort of money to spend on a computer.. You've got yourself one hell of a powerhouse though, treat it nicely!

 

[Bungral]

Coulda saved yaself £20 on the 9800.... http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...geMode=3&SearchKey=P_Quicklinx&SearchMode=any

EVGA over Inno3d I reckon

 

[!TIMMY!]

That is going to kick some a$$

Are you going to oc it at all?