Buying a new Computer...

Hi,

I am looking to build a new computer as mine is getting a bit worn, I have not really been looking at hardware since I built this one. I have tried looking around, but all I see is Intel/AMD haters, Windows/Linux haters, etc...

Anyways, I am looking to spend quite a bit and have managed to come up with this ATM:


XFX nForce 680i SLI SKT 775 onboard 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard


Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad core (4x2.66Ghz) 8Mb Cache 1066FSB OEM Processor


2x Point Of View 8800GTX 768MB DVIx2 TVO PCI-E Graphics Card


2x LiteOn 20X SATA DVD±RW/RAM With Beige, Black & Silver Bezel + Nero - Retail


2x Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12)


2x Maxtor SMT3500630AS 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache – OEM


ZXT LEXA Aluminium Case With LCD Temperature Display


Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W PSU - 6x 12v Rails, 4x PCI-E Connectors, 13.5cm Fan


Zalman RESERATOR XT Black Edition Hybrid Liquid Cooling System

*****

Anyways, I want an expert opinion, e.g. changes people would make and why, also any incompatibilities people can see if there are any,

Thanks,

Gareth

I'll leave the experts to give a more detailed response, but I would say 2 things:

1. Your PSU is probably more powerful than you really need.

2. I dont know about prices in the UK, here in japan the price of the QX6700 is super expensive. You may want to take a look at the Q6600. Its much better priced, and overclocks well. I have one and its currently running at 3.2Ghz without a problem.

Hope this was useful.

Hi,

The Q6600 is alot cheaper, but are there noticeable differences??? Does anyone know?

Also, I was wondering about the PSU, I thought I may need a more powerful one, as I will be running 2x Geforce 8800 GTX in SLi, can anyone verify?

There's no incompatibilities that I can see. The psu rating looks fine, as 8800GTX's like a lot of juice. I'd prefer to have seen an Enermax Galaxy there instead of the Coolermaster but that's more personal preference than anything.

Cyber makes a good point regarding the cpu, but if you're not going to be overclocking then it's a good chip considering the rest of the build spec.

I'm curious as to why the Zalman though. It's big, expensive, needs to be placed just right to cool to it's best (just above the cpu). And doesn't really offer any benefit over single 120mm fan radiator that can be placed internally, case size and layout dependent of course. If it was me I'd be looking at a Swiftech H20 120 compact.

I'm with you on going liquid cooling for the cpu, as its a quad, but you can do better, and cheaper, than the Reserator.

Swap the Maxtor's for Samsung T166's or Hitachi Deskstars and you'll be golden.

Hi,

Thanks for writing back, I have made changes to the liquid cooling kit and hard drives. I have not yet made my mind up about the processor, would I not be able to overclock with the QX6700? and if a were to, which one would be better value, run better, etc...

Also, how will this system run as a whole, e.g. would the graphics cards handle everything I chuck at them, would I possibly be better with an AMD CPU for performance?

I don't have a budget (as such, obviously within reason), I want this to be my 'Dream' computer, lol.

Here is revised list:
XFX nForce 680i SLI SKT 775 onboard 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad core (4x2.66Ghz) 8Mb Cache 1066FSB OEM Processor

2x Point Of View 8800GTX 768MB DVIx2 TVO PCI-E Graphics Card

2x LiteOn 20X SATA DVD±RW/RAM With Beige, Black & Silver Bezel + Nero - Retail

2x Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12)

2x Hitachi Deskstar 7k500 500GB SATA2

ZXT LEXA Aluminium Case With LCD Temperature Display

Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W PSU - 6x 12v Rails, 4x PCI-E Connectors, 13.5cm Fan

Swiftech H20-120 Compact CPU cooling kit


Thanks for help.

Gareth

The system as a whole will pretty much eat anything thrown at it. If you're going to o.c the cpu, firstly stick with liquid cooling, actually, stick with liquid cooling anyway. But you won't get a stable oc on air. Secondly, I'd go for the Asus Striker Extreme if you are going to oc the cpu, better voltages and bios than the XFX. Infact, for the 680 chipset alone there's no better mobo, especially for oc'ing.

I'd recommend going for the Q6600 as Cyber stated though for oc'ing, you'll more than likely reach the same rating as with the QX6700 considering the fsb's you can reach with the striker. It's not about saving money on the cpu, it's about bang-for-buck. Sure, the Q6600 is top-locked, but just raising the multiplier on a cpu is not the most beneficial way to oc a system it has to be said. You'll get the most benefit increasing the FSB, something the Striker was born to do.

I would only get 2 cards if playing a number of games that support dual-card setups, if you don't, then its pointless getting two cards.

Another point there, if you're gaming at anything less than 1920x1200 (24 or 27" screen) then it's also pointless going GTX as you'll never see the benefit of getting that/those card(s).

A 640mb GTS will handle anything upto 1680x1050, even then dual-card's wont really offer any benefit,even on a sli enabled game. Can you tell the difference between 60 fps on single card to 70 fps on a dual card at that resolution? I know I can't. Besides, it's minimum frame rates that are the most important, anything below 25 and the game is unplayable.

Good choice on the ram, but don't worry about latencies. Lower latency ram doesn't offer any benefit over higher due to the way the memory is controlled in core 2 setups. You could happily put CL5 in there and not see any difference. I know you don't have a hard and fast budget but why waste money? Granted CL4 will allow you to relax the timings that much more should you o.c the ram.

Also, as you're basically budget-free you might want to think about 1066mhz ram as quad's are bandwidth hungry and with that build you'd hate to see the cpu constrained. 800mhz won't constrain it as such but why not get the best balance if you've got the money. G

Other than that, I'd be looking at a larger case, not only so the components aren't so tightly packed in but also to help airflow. I'd suggest ambient heat in your system when the build is all said and done is going to be high. Not a killer itself, but I'm a hater of temps. Maybe have a look at a Lian Li V1000. But that's just me trying to be a perfectionist.

Hi again,

I have made a few changes, I have changed the graphics card (only 1 and a different card), my screen is 28" btw. I have decided against SLi for the time being, but as games progress I can easily change my mind.

The processor has been changed to what people recommended, (ALSO, is there any difference between the Q6600 and Q6700? + what is G0 stepping?). The motherboard has been changed and so has the RAM and case (I didn' like the look of the case mentioned, is the one I have chosen any better?)

This is the set-up I am looking at atm, any more recommendations to make this even more of a beast?
Asus Striker Extreme 680I

Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad core G0 Stepping (4x2.4Ghz 1066Mhz) 8Mb Cache

1x EVGA 8800 Ultra Superclocked 768MB GDDR3 PCI-e

2x LiteOn 20X SATA DVD±RW/RAM With Beige, Black & Silver Bezel + Nero - Retail

2x OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 dual-channel SLi ready edition

2x Hitachi Deskstar 7k500 500GB SATA2

Coolmaster Black Stacker 832

Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W PSU - 6x 12v Rails, 4x PCI-E Connectors, 13.5cm Fan

Swiftech H20-120 Compact CPU cooling kit


Thanks again,

Gareth

Regarding going single card; Exactly, you'll have a 16x pci-e port ready to go should you want to go dual card further down the line.

The cpu stepping code denotes the revision (in this case, GO is the newest) of the core with which the processor has been built. During the marketable lifetime of a particular cpu it will have serveral revisions. These revisions are basically where the manufacturer has been able to improve on certain aspects of the processor's architecture, be it voltage required, thermal efficiency etc..

Each revision is signified by a letter followed by a number; a letter change signifies significant changes where the number signifies minor updates.

Again, the GO stepping is Intel's newest revision first introduced on the QX6850. The Q6600's last revision was B3. GO is looking like a major improvement on this. The TDP (short version; waste heat) has reduced from 105w to 95w and the thermal specification has increased from 62c to 71c, meaning the cpu will run, stably, at higher temperatures (an overclockers dream to be frank), this in turn means you can, potentially, push more voltage through the cpu when oc'ing.

The new GO stepping is only a few quid more than B3 and well worth getting in my opinion.

The major difference between the 6700 and 6600 is the stock speed, the 66 runs at 2.4ghz stock, the 67 at 2.67ghz stock.

CM's 832 is an awesome case, but don't fill the side panel with 120mm fans as the material used in the side panels is thinner than on the rest of the case. You'll get a lot of shudder with a lot of fans.

Regarding the 8800 Ultra (and my earlier comments) what is the resolution of your screen?

1024x768 atm, but it can support upto 1080i HD. But when I put it on a higher res atm it looks silly and sometimes blurry (dont know whether screen or card). I currently have Gainward Golden Sample GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB AGP 8x. Would it be worth getting Q6700 for extra?

That's because you've got a LCD TV, they aren't comparable to true tft monitors for displaying pc content.

If you're planning on sticking with this screen you don't need a card anywhere near the prowess of the Ultra, or GTX for that matter. This is because of the number of pixels.

If you're planning on oc'ing, stick with the 6600. If you plan to stick with that screen for your pc, stick with the 6600 (and get a lower spec'd card, maybe a 320mb 8800GTS).

If you plan to purchase a high-res monitor (Eg Samsung 244T - 24" 1920x1200 res) and not oc, then get the ultra and the 6700.

will that run all the newest and upcoming games??? I dont really have room for another screen, my room is really small, lol

The 320mb 8800GTS? At the resolution of your screen, yes.

As prices are dropping though (and if you're in doubt) then go for an overclocked version rather than a Vanilla one (not overclocked). Most overclocked 8800 cards just have the ram and gpu oc'd but those with the stream processors oc'd as well are now becoming more mainstream. I'd recommend going for one of these.

You won't need any more than the 320mb ram this card provides, for that screen.

lol, thats saved me a bit of money, I just assumed the best games would need the most expensive graphics card.

Also, there is only 100 pound difference between 320mb 8800gts and 768mb 8800gtx, would it not be worth buying that card instead incase i do buy a new monitor in the future

For future proofing, yeah, why not. If you've got the money now then it can't hurt.

if you leave the grfx card till mid nov. you will benefit from the next round of dx10 releases i.e. the g92.