Building a new comp

ID:182670
 
Mar 14 2008, 7:30 am
Mar 14 2008, 7:36 am
Maybe a little overkill on the motherboard. Are you going to use two video cards? If not, you could save at least $100 if you don't really need the two PCI-E x16 slots for SLI.

~Kujila
Mar 14 2008, 7:56 am
HDD - Fine.

Graphics card - Why ? You're going with the old GPU, which is a bad idea. The new 8800GT 512MB will outperform the old GTS, especially the OC'ed versions from fx. BFG (Lifetime guarantee with BFG).

Motherboard - Striker extreme is *no* *no* *no*. This is the motherboard that ASUS really wants to forget it made. Chock-full of bugs, and you're not even utilizing SLI. If you want a SLI board, get an XFX 680i or EVGA 680i. Every single other SLI board since the 4-series has been an unstable piece of crap. The Striker extreme is horrible beyond ALL reason.

CPU - Fine, but for the same price you can get a 3GHz dual core. Or you can save a bit of cash, get the 2.67GHz dual core and OC it to 3.6GHz using the money you just saved to get some RAM that can clock properly with the CPU. But I'm assuming you have some special reason to go Quad core?

RAM - Corsair performs well, but its very unstable. If you want high performance, low-latency RAM get Kingston HyperX RAM (Low latency 4-4-4-12 800MHz, f.ex). If you aren't overclocking, save yourself the money and just get standard Kingston ValueRAM 800MHz. I guarantee you will NOT notice the difference.

PSU - Way too big, unless you're going SLI. Too small if you're going SLI. 500 or 800 (or 1000 if dual GTX with multiple HDDs), not in-between unless you have a specific reason.

Summary:

You're building a somewhat conflicting setup. The PSU is too small for SLI, and too big for non-SLI. The board is SLI-enabled, but you aren't running SLI. The graphics card is a bad choice because of using an older GPU, where much better is available.

If you want to run SLI:

Use an XFX or EVGA 680i board. Get at least an 800Watt PSU. Ditch the RAM for something on the boards Qualified Vendor List.

If you're NOT running SLI:

Use an ASUS Maximus (X38 chipset) or ASUS P5E (X38 chipset) if you want max performance. For a cheaper alternative, P5K is solid (P35 chipset). Get a smaller PSU. Use a different graphics card (512MB 8800GT OC, or 512MB 8800GTS / GTSOC).

If you want to OC:

Go with Kingston HyperX low-latency RAM. They OC far better than almost all Corsair RAM except the ultra high-end. Stability-wise, HyperX is superior in all areas.

If you don't want to OC:

Ditch the special RAM. You won't notice it. Really.
Mar 14 2008, 8:46 am
No one complained about your case yet, so:
My brother bought that same case. Sure, you get some cheap flash, but in my personal opinion it's a hell of an ugly case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
That's the most solid case I've ever seen. Save yourself $10, buy that, and steal your sister's glitter and stickers if you really want flash. You could also probably save $20 on the HDD. Caviars of same specs (7200 RPM, 16MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s, 500GB) - those retail for under $100 now.
Mar 14 2008, 9:43 am
In response to Alathon
Let me start with thanks for the great reply! Most replies to posts like these are "Your parts suck. I won't really explain why, but you should buy the parts I have."


HDD - Fine.

Graphics card - Why ? You're going with the old GPU, which is a bad idea. The new 8800GT 512MB will outperform the old GTS, especially the OC'ed versions from fx. BFG (Lifetime guarantee with BFG).

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out the 8800GT. I had thought the GTS was a better version of the GT. I'm not really a gamer, so all I know is from skimming through the forums and computer magazines.

Motherboard - Striker extreme is *no* *no* *no*. This is the motherboard that ASUS really wants to forget it made. Chock-full of bugs, and you're not even utilizing SLI. If you want a SLI board, get an XFX 680i or EVGA 680i. Every single other SLI board since the 4-series has been an unstable piece of crap. The Striker extreme is horrible beyond ALL reason.

My friend says he wants to use SLI later down the road. For the EVGA 680i, are you talking about this one? I saw another for 20 dollars less, here. I checked the specs, they're identical I think.

CPU - Fine, but for the same price you can get a 3GHz dual core. Or you can save a bit of cash, get the 2.67GHz dual core and OC it to 3.6GHz using the money you just saved to get some RAM that can clock properly with the CPU. But I'm assuming you have some special reason to go Quad core?

Only because I had thought they were "the best". He's just looking for a lot of power in this box. Would the dual core out perform the quad core? We're not looking to overclock, since he's spending a bit on this computer and he doesn't plan on getting something new for a while, so he doesn't want to shorten the lifespan of the parts.

RAM - Corsair performs well, but its very unstable. If you want high performance, low-latency RAM get Kingston HyperX RAM (Low latency 4-4-4-12 800MHz, f.ex). If you aren't overclocking, save yourself the money and just get standard Kingston ValueRAM 800MHz. I guarantee you will NOT notice the difference.

I've never had a problem with Corsair, but I've seen your other posts on building computers and your experience far outweighs mine. I'll check the Kingston ValueRAM, thanks.

PSU - Way too big, unless you're going SLI. Too small if you're going SLI. 500 or 800 (or 1000 if dual GTX with multiple HDDs), not in-between unless you have a specific reason.

Ah, I figured the 750w would be enough. Thanks again, I'll look around.

Summary:

You're building a somewhat conflicting setup. The PSU is too small for SLI, and too big for non-SLI. The board is SLI-enabled, but you aren't running SLI. The graphics card is a bad choice because of using an older GPU, where much better is available.

If you want to run SLI:

Use an XFX or EVGA 680i board. Get at least an 800Watt PSU. Ditch the RAM for something on the boards Qualified Vendor List.

If you don't want to OC:

Ditch the special RAM. You won't notice it. Really.


Thanks again for all the help. I'll check around and come up with a new list.
Mar 14 2008, 11:35 am
In response to Airjoe
Airjoe wrote:
Let me start with thanks for the great reply! Most replies to posts like these are "Your parts suck. I won't really explain why, but you should buy the parts I have."

No problem :)

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out the 8800GT. I had thought the GTS was a better version of the GT. I'm not really a gamer, so all I know is from skimming through the forums and computer magazines.

The GTS is a better version of the GT. However, the 8800 series was re-released recently with a new GPU. The old GPU is horrible compared to it. The old GTS came in two versions (600 / 300 mb versions) - So you can tell the old from the new in that the *new* GTS has 512MB RAM.

Performance wise, its as follows:

Old 8800GT( < Old 8800GTS < New 9600GT < New 8800GT < Old 8800GTX < New GTS < (Upcoming, 2-4 weeks) New 9800GTX

What you want to aim for, price-wise, is 'New GTS' or 'New GT' in an Overclocked version. The price difference between the 8800GT/GTS non-Overclocked and Overclocked is minimal, the performance difference is visible and the heat difference is neglible. You pay $10 extra to get about 8% more performance - Definately worth it.

My friend says he wants to use SLI later down the road. For the EVGA 680i, are you talking about this one? I saw another for 20 dollars less, here. I checked the specs, they're identical I think.

Yes, that would be the board I'd recommend for SLI. Or XFX if you're going to try the new 780i chipset (which I don't recommend, unless you're masochistic and have tons of spare parts to try with).

CPU - Fine, but for the same price you can get a 3GHz dual core. Or you can save a bit of cash, get the 2.67GHz dual core and OC it to 3.6GHz using the money you just saved to get some RAM that can clock properly with the CPU. But I'm assuming you have some special reason to go Quad core?

Only because I had thought they were "the best". He's just looking for a lot of power in this box. Would the dual core out perform the quad core? We're not looking to overclock, since he's spending a bit on this computer and he doesn't plan on getting something new for a while, so he doesn't want to shorten the lifespan of the parts.

Well, heres the thing. If an application doesn't use 4 cores, its not going to be drawing the full power of the Quad core. Crysis uses Quad-core technology, so does Supreme Commander. I don't know of a *single* other game that does.

I'd go for the E6850 (same price as Q6600 roughly), or the new Wolfsdale E8400.

RAM - Corsair performs well, but its very unstable. If you want high performance, low-latency RAM get Kingston HyperX RAM (Low latency 4-4-4-12 800MHz, f.ex). If you aren't overclocking, save yourself the money and just get standard Kingston ValueRAM 800MHz. I guarantee you will NOT notice the difference.

I've never had a problem with Corsair, but I've seen your other posts on building computers and your experience far outweighs mine. I'll check the Kingston ValueRAM, thanks.

With a SLI setup, what you want to do is really avoid any kind of extra issue you might encounter. Not using RAM on the Qualified Vendor List is one more potential headache. Corsair isn't on any vendors Qualified Vendor List AFAIK, for the reason of stability.

Also: If you go with an nForce board, you need to be ready to set everything manually - Thats the easiest way to make sure something doesn't screw up unexpectedly. The nForce boards are horrible at guessing on Auto.
Mar 14 2008, 2:00 pm
Mmm, I've had bad experience with EVGA-manufactured cards, mainly in that a few that I've bought didn't have any thermal paste on the fan and heat-sink, thus causing horrible overheating problems. Same with Chaintech-manufactured cards. Those might just be odd-ball coincedences that don't happen that often, though.
Mar 17 2008, 2:47 pm
In response to Audeuro
Audeuro wrote:
Mmm, I've had bad experience with EVGA-manufactured cards, mainly in that a few that I've bought didn't have any thermal paste on the fan and heat-sink, thus causing horrible overheating problems. Same with Chaintech-manufactured cards. Those might just be odd-ball coincedences that don't happen that often, though.

Not necessarily - most manufacturers really skimp on that, and its standard practice now-adays to replace any even if its there, because the stuff they use is so horrible.

With that said, nForce boards tend to run with an average temperature of 60-70C on the Northbridge, if you don't apply the optional fan (which you *ALWAYS* should, even if it tells you to only when using water cooling) to the Northbridge
Mar 25 2008, 10:24 am
o.o I just order the whole computer from http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ xD and if thats the price range your looking at you can get a rather nice system from there. o.O