New Gaming Rig - Need Suggestions

[djcool976]

Ok, so I?ve finally gotten approval to build a new gaming rig. My main use for this will be gaming and mostly on Supreme Commander, Dawn of War, World of Warcraft, and a few other games here and there (FPS and RTS mostly.) I?d like to go as future-proof as possible as I don?t get a chance to upgrade often. I?ve got a couple parts already at the house and a few I?m still trying to decide on. My budget is around $1200.

What I already have:
CM Stacker 830
Seagate 7200.11 500GB HD
Corsair HX620W

What I?m thinking about going with:
Q6600 (will be over-clocking)
Zalman CNPS9700
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6 or Asus Maximus Formula
Diamond 3870 (possibly add a 3870x2 later)
4GB DDR2-800 RAM
Vista Ultimate 64
Samsung 20x DVD-RW SATA Drive

~~~OR~~~

Q6600 (will be over-clocking)
Zalman CNPS9700
Asus Striker II Formula
EVGA 8800 GTS 512MB
4GB DDR2-800 RAM
Vista Ultimate 64
Samsung 20x DVD-RW SATA Drive

I know WoW and SupCom are already multi-threaded and games will only continue to adopt this practice so I?d like to go with the Quad. I?ve read a lot about the E8400 but don?t think it will last me as long as I?d like plus the fact that you can?t find them anywhere. If you can prove me wrong, I?d be glad to hear it. I?ll take ANY advice I can get as I?ve been researching for way too long now and need to pick something. I?ll be ordering everything this week. Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[MarcVenice]

q6600 isn't a bad choice, especially not when overclocking, make sure you at least hit 3.0ghz though

I would cut down on the motherboard. Adding a new videocard later on isn't a viable upgrade path, you could save more then 150$ on the mobo right now, and that money saved could later on be put towards a new videocard, to replace whatever videocard you buy now. If you buy a ds3l for 90$, you could buy a 8800gt or 8800gts or 9600gt. Those should handle those games you mentioned just fine.

Cheap yet fast 9600gt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127333 Cheap yet fast 8800gt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127329 Both are factory overclocked and come with aftermarket coolers, so they aren't as noisy as their stock counterparts. Cheapest, factory overclocked 8800gts: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130325

4gb of ram is good, Vista Ultimate is overkill, why not home premium ? I've got Ultimate for free, but NEVER used any of the 'Ultimate exclusive' options. Why the zalman btw ? It looks good, cools pretty well, but this is better, and probably cheaper too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835154001

That's it I guess ? Those more expensive mobo's do overclock better, but a ds3l will allow you to overclock your q6600 to 3.6ghz fairly easy, and that's as high as it goes with aircooling. Futureproofing wise, I don't think it's worth it. I mean, by the time you NEED one of those mobo's for a new CPU, they will cost 100$ like p35 chipsets cost 100$ right now ?

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
That's it I guess ? Those more expensive mobo's do overclock better, but a ds3l will allow you to overclock your q6600 to 3.6ghz fairly easy, and that's as high as it goes with aircooling. Futureproofing wise, I don't think it's worth it. I mean, by the time you NEED one of those mobo's for a new CPU, they will cost 100$ like p35 chipsets cost 100$ right now ?

I don't know that I'd call 3.6GHz on a Q6600 an easy overclock, but the DS3L should take you over 3GHz without a problem.

 

[MarcVenice]

A ds3l can easily reach an FSB of 400, in terms of voltage/heat you might get into trouble, but the motherboard should remain pretty stable. If you know what you are doing of course, just raising the vcore isn't enough for 3.6ghz.

 

[djcool976]

I do like the Q6600. I was going to wait for a Q9450 but couldn't justify the wait or price difference any longer. I'm hoping to hit 3.2ghz with mine. I figure thats a good stable care free number.

As for the Zalman cooler, it was mainly there because I've used the 9500 version for a while and was happy with it. If the Tuniq is better, I'm all about better. Do they run pretty quiet? Cheaper is always a very nice feature too. I've seen many people mention them but didn't know much about them myself. I'll probably switch since they are getting pretty good reviews.

From the list of Nvidia cards I take it that they are the better choice? I know the GTS performs pretty rock solid and I like EVGA's step-up option. I'd like as much graphic power as I can afford. I'm currently running dual screens, one 22" widescreen and a second 19" standard. The flexibility of the ATI stuff had me looking their direction but all I've ever had in the past was Nvidia. The GTS was always my first choice when I started looking.

I like the price of the ds3l board but I really want to go with X38 so that I have PCI-E 2.0. It's more of a comfort feature because I know nothing really uses it to it's full potential right now. Any X38 suggestions?

Vista Ultimate is a bit overkill but it's only about $70 difference and who knows what I will or will not use in the future. It's one of those things I'd rather have now and not use than to need later and not have.

 

[MarcVenice]

Name one thing Vista Ultimate has that Home Premium doesn't have ? If you can't, ultimate is useless for you. I've looked at the extra functionality, I frowned, though by myself, hmmm, I'm never going to use this, so didn't bother digging any deeper, figuring out what it exactly was. 70$ saved is a lot of money, it's the difference between a 9600gt and a 8800gts, or a p35 mobo and a x38 mobo.

Btw, you said it yourself, nothing uses pci-e 2.0 to it's full potential, and nothing will for another year at the very least. Hell, nothing is using pci-e 1.0 to it's full potential !!! So why pay 160$ extra for a mobo just for pci-e 2.0 ? If you were to say, I want 1600mhz FSB support, then I might still say it's not worth it, but that would PROBABLY be a better argument ...

Anyways, you're on the right track for the most stuff, it's just that you could save some money. But everything is compatible, and won't dissapoint. I'd prolly rather have a 3870x2 right now instead of a 8800gts and Vista Ultimate though. If you want Crossfire with a HD3870 x2 and another one, or another HD3870 later down the road, you will need a x38 mobo with dual pci-e 16x slots.

 

[djcool976]

You do bring up good points that I didn't think to mention Marc. I have thought about the Crossfire solution you mentioned as well as the upgradeability of going to a 1600 FSB someday. I just didn't think to mention them as I've been looking for too long now and everything runs together.

I may take your suggestion to lower Windows and try to see about an X2. Would there be any reason to wait for the rumored GDDR4 versions or would that be a good time to add a second card? I do appreciate all the help though and will update with my final purchase.

 

[DSF]

I think one important question is what resolution you're going to be playing these games at. Below a certain point, a dual-card setup isn't going to be cost-effective. Above a certain point it's mandatory if you want to turn up as much eye candy as possible.

 

[djcool976]

I'd like to run 1680x1050 and I like as much eye candy as possible.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: djcool976
I'd like to run 1680x1050 and I like as much eye candy as possible.

A powerful single card like an 8800GTS 512MB should be fine for that. For most games an 8800GT or similar should do that without a problem. My advice would be to dig up some benchmarks at that resolution for the games you play, and find the graphics card that offers the performance you want at a price you can afford.

 

[djcool976]

As per Marc's suggestion I'm changing to Vista 64 Home Premium and going with two 3870's in Crossfire. I know he mentioned the 3870x2 but this is a little cheaper and should last me a long long while. I've also been reading about the multiple monitor spans available in Crossfire and I have two 19" LCD's and a 22" LCD. I'm really looking forward to this new build.

Still have a question on the heatsink though. How quiet and effective is the Tuniq? I've been looking for reviews but haven't found anything really to the point. I'd like to compare it to the Zalman CNPS9700 if possible as I've had a CNPS9500 and really liked it but it's going with the old parts to my brother. Any thoughts on this?

 

[MarcVenice]

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2932&p=5

THe tuniq beats both the CNPS9500 and 9700 at all idle and load levels. The hotter it gets, the wider the gap.

 

[djcool976]

Thanks Marc, that's what I was looking for.