Build half my computer!

[krashx6]

*EDIT 2*
Drivers, bios and firmware?
Anyone with any of the components listed below have any suggestions of firmware to get or bios to update to, that would make the device faster? Or is it just the basic, get the latest drivers off the manufacturers website? Where would I get the chipset drivers for the mobo?

*EDIT 1*

Order placed!

newegg.com..
Video Card: MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Ram: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
PSU: OCZ 500W StealthXStream Power Supply
3 day UPS Ground shipping.

mwave.com..
CPU: INTEL Core 2 Duo e8400
2 day FedEX.

Total: 707.01 shipped.

AR Total: 667.01.

How'd I do?


Thanks for the help guys!

-nick

--------------------------------------------------------------------

What it's for..
Gaming. Bottom line.

What I want..
Runs every game out. Doesn't need to be the best.

What I have..
Old school MEGA antec case. Dunno model #
500g seagate 7200.11 sata drive
DVD burner
300w powersupply. (no name brand)

What I need..
Video card: MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
Ram: G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
PSU: Suggestions?

What I have to spend..
I'm looking to keep my budget under $700 and I belive im in good shape right now cause of that vid card on sale.

Questions / Comments..
1. Can you guys maybe sugest a few mobos that would be good for my setup?
2. Also would 500w be enough? I'm using onbaord sound by the way, and onboard lan. So I need a mobo with both.
3. Would using a MSI mobo to match the vid card be worth anything?
4. Anyone wanna buy my old computer once this beast is running?

Closing..
Thanks in advance guys, you've built my last like 5 computers.

 

[accguy9009]

Get yourself a good power supply. You will be glad you did.

OCZ 500W StealthXStream Power Supply - OCZ500SXS $ 27.99 shipped after MIR.

http://www.buy.com/prod/ocz-50...loc/101/206526699.html


Corsair 4GB ( 2 x 2GB ) XMS2 800MHz PC2-6400 DDR2 $ 83.93 shipped after MIR

http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/204979188.html

 

[krashx6]

Would it make it run faster with a better powersupply?

 

[chinaman1472]

1. You picked a fine mobo.
2. 500w is plenty.
3. No.
4. Take your old system to the For Sale/Trade forum.
5. No, but you won't fry your hardware components because it wont' fail out of the blue.
6. I'd opt for a E8400. No need for a Quad Core for gaming. By the time games can use Quad Cores efficiently, you'll end up upgrading again anyway.

 

[krashx6]

1. What is quad core mostly better for than?
2. Will going with the E8400 make games run any slower at all?
3. What will it make run slower?
4. By game playing, I mean ill have like 3 wow clients open sometimes, triple boxing. Will that use quad core?
5. Would going with the E8400, since it is 3ghz, actually make games run better? Which would benchmark better in games?
6. Can I trade you my 24" Soyo LCD for your 26" Samsung LCD?

*EDIT*

7. Im reading the E4800 is EXTREMELY overclockable. Would you sugest it?
8. With me keeping my computer on 24/7 and uptime being around 60-70 days sometimes, would it be a bad idea to overclock it?
9. How fast would you suggest I clock it to, using the default heatsink/fan in an old ANTEC case with only 3 or so case fans?

*EDIT 2*
10. Where can I get a E8400? Buy.com and Newegg.com is out of stock :/
11. I see theres 2 E8400's. one is BX80570E8400 and other is BX80570E8400A. Difference?
12. Is the Retail box going to come with some kind of thermal compound or should I drop $5 on something fancy?

 

[mcv]

I agree, excellent choice in motherboard. It's not heavy in extra features, but nobody needs all those extra features anyway.

I agree with Chinaman1472 that the E8400 might be a better choice. It will make some games faster, other games slower. I'm personally very skeptical about the advantage of a quad core over a dual core, because the quad core is only faster if your load is divided evenly over at least 4 threads. Some games will have one thread doing 60% of the work, and then a quad core is a waste of money, while it's much easier to divide the workload over only two cores. Crysis reputedly has very good multithreading, so if that's your main game, go ahead and take the quad core. And if you're playing 3 games of WoW simultaneously, I can imagine that may also make good use of a quad core, but the E8400 has such an excellent price/power/performance ratio that if there's any doubt at all, it is by far the safest bet.

For the PSU, I'm personally of the opinion that no PC with a single video card should need more than 300W, but with a 8800GT and a quad core, you're pushing it (power consumption is another good reason for the E8400). However, cheap brand PSUs often don't provide anywhere near their rated power once they heat up a bit. You're always better off with a quality PSU, like Seasonic or Corsair. Take the Corsair 450VX or 520HX, for example. Those have the added benefit that they're extremely quiet. Not sitting next to a roaring jet engine can only improve your gaming experience.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: krashx6
1. What is quad core mostly better for than?
2. Will going with the E8400 make games run any slower at all?
3. What will it make run slower?
4. By game playing, I mean ill have like 3 wow clients open sometimes, triple boxing. Will that use quad core?
5. Would going with the E8400, since it is 3ghz, actually make games run better? Which would benchmark better in games?
6. Can I trade you my 24" Soyo LCD for your 26" Samsung LCD?

*EDIT*

7. Im reading the E4800 is EXTREMELY overclockable. Would you sugest it?
8. With me keeping my computer on 24/7 and uptime being around 60-70 days sometimes, would it be a bad idea to overclock it?
9. How fast would you suggest I clock it to, using the default heatsink/fan in an old ANTEC case with only 3 or so case fans?

*EDIT 2*
10. Where can I get a E8400? Buy.com and Newegg.com is out of stock :/
11. I see theres 2 E8400's. one is BX80570E8400 and other is BX80570E8400A. Difference?
12. Is the Retail box going to come with some kind of thermal compound or should I drop $5 on something fancy?

1. Grammar does not compute. If you mean "what is the quad core better for", then professional rendering, video transcoding and other workstation type tasks.
2. No, the E8400 is a quality processor that can be easily overclocked.
3. Probably not, you know. Multitasking has been around since quad core and CPUs have been designed to interleave programs that aren't using all of the processor.
4. I don't understand this question without context.
5. The dual core would be better for games. Don't trust benchmarking, trust real world performance.
6. n/a

7. Hell, yeah!
8. No.
9. Change the FSB to 400MHz and you're at 3.6GHz CPU speed.

10. Wait until they're back in stock. That, or zipzoomfly.
11. Minor stepping or revision differences, nothing to pay much attention to.
12. Retail comes with thermal compound on the heatsink.

 

[chinaman1472]

4. You sign onto 3 different WoW accounts at the same time? Make sure you get 4GB of ram AT LEAST. Quad core probably won't help much, since WoW is a game from 04-05, it's unlikely the programming was designed to take advantage of quad core.
6. No.

 

[krashx6]

driver question at the top post.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: krashx6
*EDIT 2*
Drivers, bios and firmware?
Anyone with any of the components listed below have any suggestions of firmware to get or bios to update to, that would make the device faster? Or is it just the basic, get the latest drivers off the manufacturers website? Where would I get the chipset drivers for the mobo?

Questions / Comments..
1. Can you guys maybe sugest a few mobos that would be good for my setup?
2. Also would 500w be enough? I'm using onbaord sound by the way, and onboard lan. So I need a mobo with both.
3. Would using a MSI mobo to match the vid card be worth anything?
4. Anyone wanna buy my old computer once this beast is running?

Closing..
Thanks in advance guys, you've built my last like 5 computers.

http://www.gigabyte.in/Product...ew.aspx?ProductID=2599
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8800gt.html