Confused as never.

[Nemron]

Hi there,

Basically I've been a laptop user for the past couple of years and I'm thinking of going back to a standard desktop PC due to the fact that I can see how my eyesight has suffered from sitting for long hours in front of the screen so close.

I would ideally like a PC for gaming, one that can handle Crysis (so 8800 GTS 640MB is definitely included) and play other games at high settings. My only problem is, since I'm out of the jargon, could someone recommend me other components to accompany the 8800gts ? Whether I will be overclocking or not, that depends if it's relatively "easy"

So here I am- all I know is I would like a 8800GTS. I know I sound like a newbie, but that's because I.. am one However with such greatly informed minds around, I would appreciate it if you could spend a moment of your time providing me with some ideas on how to accompany the 8800gts i.e. the processor, motherboard, ram, psu. My budget is probably around $1100 (I guess that's how much £550 is), maybe a little more, however I'd prefer not to go over $1100.

Also, I really like the NZXT Lexa Blackline case, however if anyone knows any other black stylish cases then I would appreciate your input. On top of the $1100 I'm thinking of buying a Samsung 2232BW- any thoughts on that? =)

Thanks for all the effort

 

[cputeq]

Few random suggestions!
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CPU - Intel Q6600 or E6750 is pretty nice. the Q6600 is quad-core, the E6750 dual core and probably faster (now) in games before you take overclocking into consideration. (Q6600 - $270 US. E6750 - $199 US)

RAM - Any quality DDR2-800 minimum. I just ordered 2x 1GB sticks of A-Data memory from Newegg. I've never used it before, but it had something like 404 customer reviews and 5/5 eggs, so I'm guessing it's pretty decent. ($65 US)

Motherboard - Opinions vary widely with these. For my purposes, I didn't need anything whiz-bang, just something to run the components. I went with Gigabyte DS3 P-35 (chipset) based motherboard for around $100 US.

PSU - I'm not too current on my PSU-lore, as I've had my Zalman 460W forever and it hopefully runs my incoming upgrades! I hear SeaSonic is a quality brand. Shoot for around 500-600W for one video card. Running SLI you might want to go for around 750W.

I personally have a Q6600 / 2GB A-data RAM / Gigabyte DS3 coming in as a computer upgrade so hopefully it goes well. (I also have 8800GTS-640), though I got the Q6600 for other things besides games (video, audio encoding / transcoding) which serves me better than a dual core.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Nemron]

Thanks for the info cputeq. However, just to clarify, my friend suggested that the Q6600 doesn't make a significant difference in games compared to the Core 2 Duo's, and the Quad cores are mainly aimed at autocad etc. Is that so? Also, is the E6750 good for overclocking? I only plan on overclocking my CPU / GFX.

I've checked out the Gigabyte DS3 you mentioned and it does support 1333mhz which is great, however it doesn't provide support for DDR3 (or should I not worry too much about that?). I'd just like to pick components that I won't have to exchange too often, will not depreciate in value quickly and will provide me with good upgrade capabilities for the future, such as for example Quad cores and DDR3's.

 

[cputeq]

However, just to clarify, my friend suggested that the Q6600 doesn't make a significant difference in games compared to the Core 2 Duo's, and the Quad cores are mainly aimed at autocad etc. Is that so? Also, is the E6750 good for overclocking? I only plan on overclocking my CPU / GFX

Yes, for the most part, the Quad will not currently matter much for games over a dual core. The significant exceptions that I can recall are Crysis (according to developer a quad core brings better physics calculations) and Supreme Commander benchmarks. A great tool to compare these CPUs is Tom's Hardware CPU charts.

www.tomshardware.com
Click "CPUs" on the left, then "CPU charts". You can compare many games and applications and CPUs.

Quad cores are great for running applications that are multi-thread aware, especially if they know how to scale above 2 threads. Video encoding, rendering, yes Autocad probably, etc. But, they're still great for games

The E6750, as far as I know, are good overclockers and can typically hit 3.2Ghz. Nothing is guaranteed of course. The Q6600s are also good overclockers, and since they're only $80 more than the E6750, why not? That is my thinking. If you need to really save money and just game, though, the E6750 or maybe E6850 are just fine.

I've checked out the Gigabyte DS3 you mentioned and it does support 1333mhz which is great, however it doesn't provide support for DDR3 (or should I not worry too much about that?).

It's really up to you, and how much you want to attempt to future-proof the PC.

Here is my thinking on why I went with that particular motherboard.

1) DDR3 is still very expensive compared to DDR2.
2) Currently, IIRC, DDR3 doesn't offer much of a performance benefit over DDR2.
3) By the time DDR3 is mainstream and cheap (I guess at least 2 years, but this is purely a guess), I will probably be ready to upgrade the motherboard anyway if I need to. But I doubt this.
4) I only spent $100 US on the motherboard


So for my needs the DS3 (specifically the DS3L) works just fine. I don't want SLI, onboard Wifi, etc, just a board that takes the Quad Core, the Penryn (according to Gigabyte's web site), and DDR2 and is a decent overclocker.

 

[Fireye0]

Originally posted by: cputeq
Few random suggestions!
-----snip----

PSU - I'm not too current on my PSU-lore, as I've had my Zalman 460W forever and it hopefully runs my incoming upgrades! I hear SeaSonic is a quality brand. Shoot for around 500-600W for one video card. Running SLI you might want to go for around 750W.

I totally agree on the Seasonic brand part. However, I would certainly disagree on the 500-600watts for a single videocard. My current setup (Antec Earthwatts 430watt (seasonic OEM), e4300 @ 3.06ghz, 3xHDD, 1x7600gt, 2x1gb DDR667@816 4-4-4-12, 1xDVD-RW) only registers 160watts at maximum load on my Kill-A-Watt monitor.

I understand that the 8800 series would use more power, but requiring 500-600watts for a single videocard seems a bit absurd.

I've checked out the Gigabyte DS3 you mentioned and it does support 1333mhz which is great, however it doesn't provide support for DDR3 (or should I not worry too much about that?). I'd just like to pick components that I won't have to exchange too often, will not depreciate in value quickly and will provide me with good upgrade capabilities for the future, such as for example Quad cores and DDR3's.

If he wants DDR2 _and_ DDR3, he can choose the P35C-DS3R, which has 4xDDR2 slots, and 2x DDR3.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128048

 

[BoboKatt]

Ouch DDR3 eh? If you insist on that the cost is still absurd and the performance gain over DDR2 on a similar P35 board is nil to negligible unless again you are spending incredible amounts to get the absolute tops on DDR3. The cost of DDR2 and I mean good DDR2 is so low now. It?s a shame that I already have 4 Gigs, if not I would just buy more. Not that DDR2 is going anywhere soon -- it's still the defacto.

In that regard there is an Asus board (ASUS P5KC ) that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 if you wish to go that route ? I am sure there are others as well.

I have both an e6850 and a Q6600. I love them both. I find that for what I do, the e6850 is a better CPU. It runs cooler and easily OC?s to 3600. I could go higher just never bothered. The Q6600 is certainly a phenomenal CPU but again very little of what I use can even use both cores of my e6850 so the Q6600 tends to be overkill. However some swear up and down about its usefulness and potential in the near future as more and more games are supposed to take advantage of more cores. BTW the e6750 is just as good as my e6850. I spent the extra coin for the e6850 and honestly I could have settled for the e6750. Both OC well.

Make sure you have good cooling -- anything OTHER than the stock cooler. Tunic Tower, Big Typhoon etc. It's totally worth the investment, noise and tempeture wise.

As for cases, if you don?t really need a desktop horizontal case, I am very partial to the Antec 182 series. It?s a fantastic looking case, whether you get the silver or black. The key there is the organization inside and most of all how quiet the case can be.

Power supplies are now coming at you from all sides. It?s amazing how many companies are getting in that game. Personally I?ve been able to run my e6850 Oc?ed with 3 HD, 1 DVDRW, an 8800GTX etc etc with my original 500 Antec Truepower. I then tried an OCZ 650 and also my new and current P&C Power and Cooling 750 quad. All of them work well so it?s more the features if you want one that you can remove the cables and only use the ones you need or one that has say a 120mm fan rather than the normal 80mm ones. Seasonic is also great?

 

[SlicedBread27]

I just built a computer for ~$1000 on newegg - the components are in my signature and Im very happy with the way the system runs. I got the 320MB version of the 8800GTS, but I hear that the extra memory is only necessary if you're playing at very high resolutions. Good luck with the build - feel free to PM me if you have any questions re: putting it together.

 

[cputeq]

I understand that the 8800 series would use more power, but requiring 500-600watts for a single videocard seems a bit absurd.

Yes i totally agree =)

However, considering the 5-600W aren't much more than lower power models, I don't see why not. Especially if for some reason the user decides to use a 2900XT-like card because that single-card power requirement is a bit absurd

But yes the 8800GTS is pretty miserly on the power draw compared to other cards.

While you don't need 500/600W, it's not a large price difference to get that much of a PSU and gives you a little more breathing room if you go HD crazy, etc.

 

[Fireye0]

Well said

And as always, quality over quantity (wattage). Do some research on whatever PSU you decide on, and take a look at the rail amps!

 

[Rhoxed]

yea i have an Antec True Power Trio 650W with a 3800 x2 @ 2.8, 2GB ram, 8800GTS, 2 250GB + 2 500GB + 2 320GB and 2 DVD burners. I believe i am cutting it close with the amount of HD's i use on this powersupply, but so far i have never had a problem with it (1+ year)

 

[lopri]

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13218