Building a new computer

Stroker Ace · 06-05-2007, 12:47 PM

My video card just took a huge shit on me, so I am finally deciding to build a new computer. My goal was to build a pretty bad ass computer for $1500. I already have the case and the optical drives. Here is what I'm looking to build.

Mobo: Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

Video Card: Newegg.com - EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

Power Supply: Newegg.com - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail

Memory: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Hard Drives (x2): Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Operating System: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

Total: $1,561.83

I want to run DX10 games at a steady frame rate and fast video encoding. If anyone has had a bad experience with one of the items I am purchasing or would recommend something else, I am all ears. My spending wall is $1700, but it would be nice not to have to spend that much.

Twobit Whore · 06-05-2007, 01:08 PM

If you don't need it tomorrow, wait until July for the Intel Price drops. That CPU will be half price then, and for the same price you can get the new Quad Core.

Stil · 06-05-2007, 01:30 PM

I plan on waiting until July to build my system- is there a particular date in July? Beginning? End?

Stroker Ace · 06-05-2007, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

If you don't need it tomorrow, wait until July for the Intel Price drops. That CPU will be half price then, and for the same price you can get the new Quad Core.

The Price just dropped $330 2 weeks ago? Are they dropping again?

Edit: well I'll be damned. HKEPC Hardware - IT News
Thanks for the tip twobit. I can stand using my old ass video card for a month.

Twobit Whore · 06-06-2007, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stil

I plan on waiting until July to build my system- is there a particular date in July? Beginning? End?

The 22nd I believe.

Jitx · 06-06-2007, 12:32 PM

As a former big proponent for AMD, I feel bad for their CEO's pillow. Because it must be drowning in tears at night. AMD is just getting stomped in the damn dirt.

It's a great time to be a PC gamer, hardware wise. Prices are so damn good that its unbelievable.

Lyenae · 06-06-2007, 12:35 PM

It's not a great time to be a PC gamer, wtf you talking about.

GAY GAMES

I wouldn't buy a game system till this xmas, or whenever Crysis/Ut2007 come out.

Mkopec1 · 06-06-2007, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyenae

It's not a great time to be a PC gamer, wtf you talking about.

GAY GAMES

I wouldn't buy a game system till this xmas, or whenever Crysis/Ut2007 come out.

Yeah but my PC can play games and I can surf porn on that shit, can your 360 do that? Hmm? Can I plug my MP3 to your 360? Can I take my shitty work home with me and do shitty spreadsheets on your 360? didnt think so. So yeah, even if there are shitty games on the PC, there is still no viable MMO options for the consoles, and I cannot do any of the fun shit I can with my PC on your gay console. Silly rabbit, consoles are for kids.

Lyenae · 06-06-2007, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mkopec1

Yeah but my PC can play games and I can surf porn on that shit, can your 360 do that? Hmm? Can I plug my MP3 to your 360? Can I take my shitty work home with me and do shitty spreadsheets on your 360? didnt think so. So yeah, even if there are shitty games on the PC, there is still no viable MMO options for the consoles, and I cannot do any of the fun shit I can with my PC on your gay
console. Silly rabbit, consoles are for kids.

Live in a box much?

The PS3 has a web browser and accepts keyboards/mouse input.

Both PS3/360 have USB ports to play music off a Mp3 player.

That leaves what, spreadsheets and MMO's, both which can be run on a $500 bargain comp (unless we are talking VG and you have to be a fucking idiot to spend $1500 for a VG platform)

$1500 for a PC that plays awesome PC games (lol)... or a $600 PS3, a $400 360, AND a $500 computer to be a media server to host your porn to view via the 360 on a big screen TV.

~~

Anyways, now is not the time of the PC gamer. The titles aren't there. We stand on an unstable line between a new OS's AND a new Directx. Quad core may phase out dual core before dual core even gets off the ground.

The only GOOD thing atm is that ATI screwed the pooch this vid card generation, and this might cause a stablizing effect on PC gaming hardware requirements. The 8800gtx might be the idealized platform that computer companies balance their game around for the next year or 2. This could usher in a golden age of PC gaming IF pc game companies deliver. That won't happen till at least this xmas.

I wouldn't build a gaming computer until the hyped hits arrive. It would be kinda dumb to build a souped up Dx10 rig now, when it would cost 33-55% less to build when your game arrives 6 months from now.

Kevincheese · 06-06-2007, 04:41 PM

All at once, Lyenae?

Tolanin · 06-06-2007, 04:49 PM

the nice thing about PCs is you can usually find a use for an old one, i cant remember the last time i bothered playing my xbox or n64 or whatever but I still have PCs made in the late 90s chugging away at something or other.

If I were building one now I would be waiting til quad core price cuts in july too, that and hope for a refresh of the x2900xt that might pull the 8800gtx price down to around 400 cause I am sure that at this point nvidia is making plenty of profit on them they wont hesitate to cut the price to screw ati.

Warrik · 06-06-2007, 05:59 PM

Gskill can sometimes be picky with the motherboards it will work with. Id get the Corsair. For 116$, your getting 2gs at 800mhz.

ChewieTobbacca · 06-10-2007, 03:03 AM

I'd wait til July 22nd and then lots of goodness will occur. First, the Q6600 will drop to $266 and the E6850 (1333 fsb), supposedly a great overclocker, will arrive as the dual core alternative.

Next, the X38 motherboards are due to arrive around then or shortly thereafter. They feature 2 x16 PCIE 2.0 lanes. They're also 45nm compatible with the Penryn chips and, if they are like the P35, can overclock to all hell. Also, dual x16 means that if ATI gets their shit together and the revision or next gen of the 2900XT's is actually good, you can CrossFire them (CF seems to scale much better than SLI anyways) and stay somewhat future-resistant. Also, can't rule out the possibility one day NVidia releases SLI drivers for the X38 (all it takes are drivers... hacked drivers might even work).

You just missed out on an amazing sale on Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066's... they were as low as $79.99 after MIR on the egg. Now, I have 4GB of them laying around...

What monitor and reso do you plan on running at anyways? The 8800 GTS 320MB can handle most games at lower resolutions, but going from 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 up, the memory on the GTS 640 and the GTX starts to reign king, especially with high AA and AF settings. That being said, NVidia is going to have their Fall refresh of the high-end (likely the 8900 series) and then the G92 next gen is due at the end of the year. With eVGA step up, if you buy in july, the 90 day period is likely to cover any fall refresh that occurs, if it occurs at all.

That reminds me also that the PSUs should be getting a new generation in soon as well. PCIE 2.0 slots have different power requirements and the 8-pin power connector is coming online. At computex, a bunch of new PSUs were spotted to support PCIE 2.0 and ever increasing power demand.

I'll be building a comp this summer and hope for:

4 x 1 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066 RAM
Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.40 GHz
EVGA 8800 640MB GTS (then step up to 8900 if confirmed to exist) otherwise 8800 GTX
X38 motherboard w/ DDR2 support (or ASUS P5K if x38 is delayed to sept/october)

Thank MSDN for free XP and Vista Ultimate 64bit...
----------

Yeah, PC gaming does tend to suck right now, but with ATI/AMD shitting itself and no real competition on the horizon, it looks like Intel and NVidia aren't going to be going anywhere. Those who bought the GTX back in November must be real glad that 6 months later, their card still reigns supreme. That being said, gaming will get a huge boost when Starcraft 2 hits PC's, and a lot of attention will be brought back to PC gaming and all that.

The Dauntless One · 06-10-2007, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jitx

As a former big proponent for AMD, I feel bad for their CEO's pillow. Because it must be drowning in tears at night. AMD is just getting stomped in the damn dirt.

It's a great time to be a PC gamer, hardware wise. Prices are so damn good that its unbelievable.

Get your facts right. Before the recent price drop on the C2D (I think April), AMD gave better performance for the dollar. While C2D is very overclockable, how many people actually overclock? I know, can and have overclocked computers in the past but personally it's too much of a hassle. With the April price drop, it puts C2D on par with the AMD performance for the dollar, of course not including overclock.

EmiliaEQ · 06-10-2007, 04:57 AM

Avoid the 8800GTS-320 unless if you have a 19" and will stay with 19" for ever.

06-05-2007, 12:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Stroker Ace Posts to Make Love to Your Old Lady By Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 796	Building a new computer My video card just took a huge shit on me, so I am finally deciding to build a new computer. My goal was to build a pretty bad ass computer for $1500. I already have the case and the optical drives. Here is what I'm looking to build. Mobo: Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail Video Card: Newegg.com - EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail Power Supply: Newegg.com - OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V - Retail Memory: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail Hard Drives (x2): Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Operating System: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM Total: $1,561.83 I want to run DX10 games at a steady frame rate and fast video encoding. If anyone has had a bad experience with one of the items I am purchasing or would recommend something else, I am all ears. My spending wall is $1700, but it would be nice not to have to spend that much. __________________ "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —George W. Bush

06-05-2007, 01:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
Twobit Whore Insert Quarter Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 8,826 -26 Internets	If you don't need it tomorrow, wait until July for the Intel Price drops. That CPU will be half price then, and for the same price you can get the new Quad Core. __________________ I got a list of demands written on the palm of my hand. I ball my fists and you gonna know where I stand.

06-06-2007, 05:59 PM	#12 (permalink)
Warrik Ive been reading these boards since noows....that makes me uber Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 2,088 -3 Internets	Gskill can sometimes be picky with the motherboards it will work with. Id get the Corsair. For 116$, your getting 2gs at 800mhz. Last edited by Warrik : 06-06-2007 at 06:02 PM.

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06-05-2007, 01:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
Stil FoH-Aid Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 114 +0 Internets	I plan on waiting until July to build my system- is there a particular date in July? Beginning? End?

06-06-2007, 12:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
Jitx Copy Ninja Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: ohio Posts: 213 +0 Internets	As a former big proponent for AMD, I feel bad for their CEO's pillow. Because it must be drowning in tears at night. AMD is just getting stomped in the damn dirt. It's a great time to be a PC gamer, hardware wise. Prices are so damn good that its unbelievable.

06-06-2007, 12:35 PM	#7 (permalink)
Lyenae Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 1,930 -17 Internets	It's not a great time to be a PC gamer, wtf you talking about. GAY GAMES I wouldn't buy a game system till this xmas, or whenever Crysis/Ut2007 come out.

06-06-2007, 04:41 PM	#10 (permalink)
Kevincheese Open Beta Tester Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 2,232 -19 Internets	All at once, Lyenae?

06-06-2007, 04:49 PM	#11 (permalink)
Tolanin h8 Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,839 -16 Internets	the nice thing about PCs is you can usually find a use for an old one, i cant remember the last time i bothered playing my xbox or n64 or whatever but I still have PCs made in the late 90s chugging away at something or other. If I were building one now I would be waiting til quad core price cuts in july too, that and hope for a refresh of the x2900xt that might pull the 8800gtx price down to around 400 cause I am sure that at this point nvidia is making plenty of profit on them they wont hesitate to cut the price to screw ati.

06-10-2007, 03:03 AM	#13 (permalink)
ChewieTobbacca the Enchanter Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 1,579	I'd wait til July 22nd and then lots of goodness will occur. First, the Q6600 will drop to $266 and the E6850 (1333 fsb), supposedly a great overclocker, will arrive as the dual core alternative. Next, the X38 motherboards are due to arrive around then or shortly thereafter. They feature 2 x16 PCIE 2.0 lanes. They're also 45nm compatible with the Penryn chips and, if they are like the P35, can overclock to all hell. Also, dual x16 means that if ATI gets their shit together and the revision or next gen of the 2900XT's is actually good, you can CrossFire them (CF seems to scale much better than SLI anyways) and stay somewhat future-resistant. Also, can't rule out the possibility one day NVidia releases SLI drivers for the X38 (all it takes are drivers... hacked drivers might even work). You just missed out on an amazing sale on Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066's... they were as low as $79.99 after MIR on the egg. Now, I have 4GB of them laying around... What monitor and reso do you plan on running at anyways? The 8800 GTS 320MB can handle most games at lower resolutions, but going from 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 up, the memory on the GTS 640 and the GTX starts to reign king, especially with high AA and AF settings. That being said, NVidia is going to have their Fall refresh of the high-end (likely the 8900 series) and then the G92 next gen is due at the end of the year. With eVGA step up, if you buy in july, the 90 day period is likely to cover any fall refresh that occurs, if it occurs at all. That reminds me also that the PSUs should be getting a new generation in soon as well. PCIE 2.0 slots have different power requirements and the 8-pin power connector is coming online. At computex, a bunch of new PSUs were spotted to support PCIE 2.0 and ever increasing power demand. I'll be building a comp this summer and hope for: 4 x 1 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066 RAM Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.40 GHz EVGA 8800 640MB GTS (then step up to 8900 if confirmed to exist) otherwise 8800 GTX X38 motherboard w/ DDR2 support (or ASUS P5K if x38 is delayed to sept/october) Thank MSDN for free XP and Vista Ultimate 64bit... ---------- Yeah, PC gaming does tend to suck right now, but with ATI/AMD shitting itself and no real competition on the horizon, it looks like Intel and NVidia aren't going to be going anywhere. Those who bought the GTX back in November must be real glad that 6 months later, their card still reigns supreme. That being said, gaming will get a huge boost when Starcraft 2 hits PC's, and a lot of attention will be brought back to PC gaming and all that.

06-10-2007, 04:57 AM	#15 (permalink)
EmiliaEQ Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Paris 94 ! Posts: 576 -5 Internets	Avoid the 8800GTS-320 unless if you have a 19" and will stay with 19" for ever.