Another PC build question

[Zordak Ragefire]

My computer just crapped out on me so I am looking to build a new one ASAP as having to always borrow other people's pc is pissing me off.

Money is (not that much) an issue and I know there are price cuts on the Quads coming soon but I can't wait that long.

Here is the system that I got in mind:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Asus P5B Deluxe WIFI Socket 775 Core 2 Duo P965 FSB1066 DDR2 SATA Audio ATX
Point Of View 8800GTX 768MB DVIx2 TVO PCI-E
OCZ High Power Gamers PSU. 850W Sustained. SLI Ready, silent 120mm glowing blue fan - attractive matt black finish – ATX/BTX/PCI Express/SATA
OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400 Memory Kit Vista Upgrade Edition CL 5-5-5-15
Scythe Infinity Socket 478, 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU Cooler
WD Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB SATA 10KRPM 16MB Cache - OEM
Western Digital 500GB Raid Edition SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM
NEC Optiarc AD-7170S-0B 18x DVD±RW/DL/RAM Serial ATA Black - OEM
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music OEM Soundcard
Thermaltake Armor case

I know the price cuts on the Quads are coming soon so I thought I would stick with the E6600 for the moment and oc it for the time being and then maybe pick up a cheaper Quad sometime down the year.

I got some questions that I want to throw out there though..

1) Is the POV graphics card any good? I couldn't find any reviews of it on any websites and it is selling for a decent price. I got a Dell 27" monitor on the cheap today so I want a 8800GTX to utilize it in all it's glory

2) The memory that I chose. Is 4GB overkill or should I go with 2x1GB sticks with better timings? I have XP32, Vista32 and Vista64 but I am not too sure about using Vista64 at the moment since it is still a bit behind on compatibility and drivers and I know that only a 64bit OS would recognise 4GB of memory.

3) I comtemplated long and hard on whether or not to get a SLI board. I know SLI is not really needed at present apart from bragging rights as not many games support SLI. I am more concerned with it being future proof. Should months or a year down the line, the 8800GTX is starting the get left behind, I thought it would be better to drop another one into the system in SLI mode that to fork out for another expensive card. Should I get a MB that is SLI ready or is the P5B Deluxe good enough as it is?

Any other recommendations or views are welcome. Thinking about all of this is doing my head in so I wanted to get some second opinions.


P.S 1st Post!

[Eomer]

Because of the agony you caused me roughly 7 years ago, Zordak, I refuse to offer any hardware advice.

[Zordak Ragefire]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Because of the agony you caused me roughly 7 years ago, Zordak, I refuse to offer any hardware advice.

Don't blame me. At the time, I barely lasted 5 mins after pop before I was beat down again. Blame the retard who thought it was funny to put me on a 10-72hr timer, next to a dragon and as the final step of argubly the most important epic weapon (at the time) of the game.

[ChewieTobbacca]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Because of the agony you caused me roughly 7 years ago, Zordak, I refuse to offer any hardware advice.

I was about to say exactly the same thing

[ChewieTobbacca]

Ok seriously though:

Why not get the P5K Deluxe? It's the newest one, features the P35 chipset, which was just released which supports the 45nm processors in the future. The Penryn 45nm's are supposed to be amazing performers (3.3GHz Quads mmm mm) and the P965 P5B Deluxe isn't likely to support the 45nm (no official note yet).

Also, just stick with one GTX and don't bother SLI'ing. SLI is nice and all that but unless you like burning money or run at 2500+ resolution, you won't need it. Besides, if the 7800 GTX and 7950GX2 prices are any indication, by the time the GTX falls in price, there will be a new card that completely beats the SLI set up. In fact, there should be a refresh for the 8800's due this fall before the new series comes out at the end of the year. One GTX already blows everything out there away. Also, if you plan on running Vista, good luck getting SLI to work cause it ain't goin to happen.

4GB of RAM on Vista 64 should be fine, yeah Vista still has a lot of OS issues, but its improved recently supposedly. Or you can just stick with XP 32 until down the line when real DX10 games come out and you need the upgrade.

[Vorph]

POV's warranty sucks ass (1 year and they want you to do it through the retailer -- good luck with that). Buy eVGA or BFGTech.

[Tolanin]

If you arent doing sli theres really no reason to get a 850W power supply either, a 600 or even a quality 500 is enough to run one GTX, just so long as it has the 2 6 pin pcie connectors.

[ChewieTobbacca]

Speaking of power supplies... newer ones should all include 8-pin adapters to run cards for the PCIE 2.0. Of course, if your motherboard doesn't have PCIE 2.0 (not until X38 at least), you won't need it.

Hmm, tempting this summer to build a X38 board with CrossFire... too bad CF still doesn't support dual monitors.

[Kiely]

Is it worth sticking Vista onto that build yet ?

[Hatorade]

So I don't make another thread..... will
(Socket AM2)ECS KA3 MVP AMD 580X Crossfire Chipset DDR800 Dual PCIE SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,2xIEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+36]

(Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 X2 5400+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+60]

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 (I hear good things about this card.)

And 2gbs of Ram run vista and all games out currently with settings maxed or near maxed?

I hope so cause I just ordered this stuff.
420 Watt power supply should also be sufficient?

[Vorph]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

So I don't make another thread..... will
(Socket AM2)ECS KA3 MVP AMD 580X Crossfire Chipset DDR800 Dual PCIE SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,2xIEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+36]

(Socket AM2) AMD Athlon™64 X2 5400+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+60]

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3 (I hear good things about this card.)

And 2gbs of Ram run vista and all games out currently with settings maxed or near maxed?

Depends on your resolution, but the most graphics intensive games probably won't go above "near maxed," especially with the 8800 drivers for Vista.

I hope so cause I just ordered this stuff.
420 Watt power supply should also be sufficient?

Barely, and only if it's a top quality psu (i.e. if it came with a case, forget it). Seems like you're on a budget, so I'd recommend the Xclio Goodpower 500w ($50) or Stablepower 500w ($70) from newegg. The Stablepower has slightly more amps on the rails and active PFC.

[Millie]

Those of you who thought Zordak was annoying can kiss my ass; at least he spawned on a regular timer. :P

Convincing people to go camp Maestro in Plane of Hate: that was fun. Waiting around in EJ for some stupid dragon to spawn, and praying some n00b guilds didn't gank him before you could: that was a blast. Doing anything in Plane of Sky: woohoo. And all this for some epic swords that were replaced two days later by swords from VP!

[Tripamang]

Originally Posted by Millie

Those of you who thought Zordak was annoying can kiss my ass; at least he spawned on a regular timer. :P

Convincing people to go camp Maestro in Plane of Hate: that was fun. Waiting around in EJ for some stupid dragon to spawn, and praying some n00b guilds didn't gank him before you could: that was a blast. Doing anything in Plane of Sky: woohoo. And all this for some epic swords that were replaced two days later by swords from VP!

Hahah I feel your pain Millie I really do. EJ was my home for many weeks.. many many weeks.

But on topic avoid super high powered power supplies if you don't need them, they have a tendency to be horribly inefficient at lower power consumptions. I had a friend who thought his 1000w power supply because he thought he needed it, his monthly electrical bill went up 30$ (110 compared to 80).

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by Vorph

Depends on your resolution, but the most graphics intensive games probably won't go above "near maxed," especially with the 8800 drivers for Vista.




Barely, and only if it's a top quality psu (i.e. if it came with a case, forget it). Seems like you're on a budget, so I'd recommend the Xclio Goodpower 500w ($50) or Stablepower 500w ($70) from newegg. The Stablepower has slightly more amps on the rails and active PFC.

Ok changed it to a Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe (Socket AM2) nForce 570 SLI MCP Chipset DDR2/800 MainBoard w/ Dual 16x PCI-Express with 500Watt power supply.