Putting Together The Final Pieces

[Quiksilver]

Alright, over the past few months I've been watching the performance, price, and release schedule charts and now I believe I'm ready. As following the guidline thread (I forgot the name) here's some background information.


1. Gaming, Listening to Music, Photo Editing, General Use, and Fraps Recording (I guess you could throw in video editing with this)
2. Current Budget is about $2,000 - $2250 excluding a monitor and speakers.
3. United States
4. No real preference just whatever is leading the market at the time (in this case Intel and Nvidia) but please no SLI or Crossfire; its not worth it in my opinion.
5. The only parts that will be re-used will be my monitor and speakers everything else will be brand new.
6. I've poked around in similar threads but not too many; besides if anything they just brought up more questions.
7. Overclocking... goal = 3.4Ghz or higher.


Okay with that out of the way time for the parts list.

Case: NZXT Zero

Power Supply: Seasonic M12 SS-700HM

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Memory: 2x Crucial BL2KIT12864AL1065

Floppy/Card Reader: Mitsumi FA404M BLK

DVD Burner: 2x Lite On LH-20A1L-06

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS

Mouse: Logitech G7

Keyboard: Logitech Access 600

Sound Card: Auzentech Prelude

Motherboard: Not entirely sure yet with the X38 chipsets coming out soon and not sure which p35 board to get I'm lost at what to do.

Video Card: BFG 8800GTS BFGR88640GTSOC2E

Heatsink: Tuniq 120

Heatsink Fan: Scythe S-Flex SFF21F

2x Exhaust Fans: Yate Loon D12SH-12

Blow Hole Fan: Silverstone FN82

Front Intake Fan: Yate Loon D12SH-12

Side Panel Fans: None, they will not be used as the tuniq tower is too tall.

Heatsink Lapping Kit: FrozenCPU Lapping Kit

Heatsink/CPU Cleaner: Articlean

Thermal Paste:IC Diamond 7

Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64 Bit

I don't think I left anything out but does anyone have any comments, suggestions, or things I should know before I start purchasing parts?

Also is 3.4Ghz feasible with 4 gig's of ram? Also should I wait for the x38 boards or just go with a nice p35 board(suggestions needed with those, I'm stuck between asus and gigabyte )

 

[ethugholla]

Seems like you're going to be doing a lot with this computer. If I were you, I'd get a new HD. Probably 500gb, preferably Samsung HD501.

I'm also not sure if the Q6600 is able to hit 3.4 ghz. It probably is, but in my limited scope of the forums, I've never seen it.

As to the motherboard debate--go with a P35. If you read around reports of the X38 specs, the difference is very very negligible. I'd say put the money towards a Gigabyte P35-DQ6. Very overclockable, very durable, very good.

That PSU also seems like overkill to me. I don't see the need. 700W, for 210 dollars seems ridiculous, particularly if you're not going to use SLi or Crossfire. Pick up a Corsair 520/620HX. Either will most likely be enough to power your system with plenty to spare.

And if you're going to follow the last bit of PSU advice, you'd might as well just pick up 2 more sticks of memory, make it 4gb. More memory can't hurt, right?

Good luck in your building!

 

[crimson117]

I'm not much of a WD fan, though their 750GB drive got a rave review at anandtech.

I'd stick with Seagate for smaller driver, and only get a WD if it's the new 750GB one.

Also... 4 case fans? Is that a bit overkill? I'd go for a case that has better airflow, so it doesn't need brute-force of 4 fans to keep itself cool.

 

[crimson117]

Also you could save $30 or so with the EVGA version of the card you linked (same clocks etc... ell 4 mHz but meh )

 

[PurdueRy]

Go Vista Premium not ultimate

Don't waste money on heatsink cleaner

Unless you got some very nice speakers go with a standard creative card instead of the prelude(assuming you care about gaming audio effects)

Do you need a floppy drive?

don't pay more for the OC'ed video card.

Overkill on the power supply.

 

[SlicedBread27]

Go for the Corsair 520HX. 700W is massive overkill for that system. PSUs rated at more than double the normal power requirements of your system will perform at a low efficiency and end up costing you extra money on your monthly energy bill on top of the initial investment.

Everything else looks pretty good, and Id reccomend one of Gigabyte's P35 Motherboards. I just got a DS3R in a new build and it is working very well. The DQ6 is supposed to overclock even better and be loaded with features. The rest of your components seem to all be close to top dollar stuff so I think the DQ6 fits that theme quite well.