Opinion on my build

[jds21]

Hi guys,

After much time and effort, this is what I have narrowed my build to be. Please rate it and give me your opinion on what could potentially be improved. I don't want to spend any more than i already am so I can't make any major upgrades but I would appreciate some opinions as to what can be tweaked.

N.B. Don't rate according to modds and so on. I don't plan to mod it anytime soon.

Intel Q6600 (OCed - not sure as to how much yet)
ASUS P5E-X38 Mobo
XFX 8800GTS 512MB (G92) (Stock - but I will OC myself - not sure as to how much yet, will see how I go when I get it)
Team Xtreem DDR2 2GB PC-8500/1066 (2x1GB) Ram
2x Seagate 500GB SATA II 32MB 7200rpm (1TB total storage)
Pioneer SATA 215BK Dual Layer DVD drive
Lite-On Super Allwrite SATA Lightscribe Dual Layer DVD Re-writer
Thermaltake ToughPower Pro 750w
Antec P182
Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX Cooler
Leadtek DTV2000H Hybrid TV Tuner
D-Link DWL-G520M MIMO 108G Wireless
Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer Sound card

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions from you guys

Thanks a heap

[BullGod]

Well dude you got a killer gaming system right there. I just hope you're lucky and your mobo will work fine. What more can I say? Get a card reader with it as it's cheap and maybe you'll need it...

[jds21]

I was thinking of getting one... might just do that.

I am also hoping my mobo is ok... i have heard some horror stories from some ppl about the 680i chipset... I might see If i can stretch the budget a bit to get the 780i.... It'll allow me to add a third graphics card in later

[Tatty_One]

Hi, Generally, a pretty good balance rig. If I had any comments it would be as you mentioned the motherboard, only because currently most 680i's wont support 45nm Yorkfiled quads and even if they get a BIOS update the overclocking will be limited. Also, I would look at perhaps some better overclockable DDR2, perhaps a good quality GSkill or Crucial Ballistix kit and lastly your cooler, it is a good one but there are better out there, especially if you want to overclock a quad, I would probably go for either a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme or the Zerotherm Ultra 120 Nirvana which will perform better IMO, apart from that, not bad!

I would actually even go as far as to say, just get a 2Gig Kit of memory for now and put the savings to the motherboard which may enable you to afford a 780i.

[jds21]

what is the difference between

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX Ram (cheaper)
and
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 Ram (more expensive)

Which is better and is there any significant differences between them?

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by jds21

what is the difference between

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX Ram (cheaper)
and
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 Ram (more expensive)

Which is better and is there any significant differences between them?

Well the DHX has timings of 5-5-5-12 @ 800mhz to start off with and the more expensice C4 has timings of 4-4-4-12 @ 800mhz so thats probably where the price difference is, the C4 will have better chips which equate to more expensive and generally (but not always) the lower the stock timings the higher the overclocking headroom.

http://www.corsair.com/products/xms2_dhx.aspx

But as I said earlier, unless you are buying Dominator, Corsair are pretty much "middle of the road" stuff and not considered "performance" memory these days......good on stability and reliability though.

[jds21]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

lastly your cooler, it is a good one but there are better out there, especially if you want to overclock a quad, I would probably go for either a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme or the Zerotherm Ultra 120 Nirvana which will perform better IMO!

I was also looking at the Thermaltake Max Orb and Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX... would any of these outperform the Zalman, they are similar price and these are the 3 best available from the place I am buying from

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by jds21

I was also looking at the Thermaltake Max Orb and Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX... would any of these outperform the Zalman, they are similar price and these are the 3 best available from the place I am buying from

Right, well IMO the best of that bunch would be the Big Typhoon 120 VX and would be better than the Zalman yes.

[jds21]

Big Typhoon it is then...

I think I will stick with the corsair ram as well, I have never had an issue with them before... i find toher brands have good and bad days... the place i am buying from, corsair is the best option and the dominator is just out of my price range if i want to get the 780i mobo. I think I will just get the 2GB for now and can get more later down the track if I happen to need it.

[jds21]

one more ran question....

is the
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO Ram

a big step up from the

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX Ram

thanks again

[trt740]

Originally Posted by jds21

Big Typhoon it is then...

I think I will stick with the corsair ram as well, I have never had an issue with them before... i find toher brands have good and bad days... the place i am buying from, corsair is the best option and the dominator is just out of my price range if i want to get the 780i mobo. I think I will just get the 2GB for now and can get more later down the track if I happen to need it.

The big typhoon is not a very good performer anymore, a Arctic Cooler freezer pro 7 would be better and cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134 21.00

Also this heatsinks would be much better than both and costs the same or less than the typhoon. ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835887011. don't waste your money on a typhoon it's day is done.

[JrRacinFan]

Planning on going with a monitor 20" or above that displays more than 1680x1050?

If no, go with a single video card, IMO, waste of money if not gaming above that.

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by trt740

The big typhoon is not a very good performer anymore, a Arctic Cooler freezer pro 7 would be better and cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134 21.00

Also this heatsinks would be much better than both and costs the same or less than the typhoon. ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835887011. don't waste your money on a typhoon it's day is done.

He is buying all his kit from one source and the coolers are VERY limited, I suggested the TRUE or the Zerotherm, the dealer does not stock any of them, the Big Typhoon is the best of the very small offerings he has available.

[ShadowFold]

Why not get two HD 3870's? They seem to do better in Crossfire than two 8800's.

[thoughtdisorder]

Nice looking well balanced rig! Should be excellent for gaming,etc. If it were me I would go for the 780i though.....Overall looks great!

[jds21]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

He is buying all his kit from one source and the coolers are VERY limited, I suggested the TRUE or the Zerotherm, the dealer does not stock any of them, the Big Typhoon is the best of the very small offerings he has available.

Here is the URL of the stock my supplier has. I am in Audtralia so more than likely we just don't get any of these other coolers here unless specially ordered for a high price

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...5fe66&cPath=75

Let me know which you think would be best

I know there isn't much to chose from when ti comes to coolers, but this place has the biggest range of other hardware very cheap (for Australia anyway)

[jds21]

Originally Posted by JrRacinFan

Planning on going with a monitor 20" or above that displays more than 1680x1050?

If no, go with a single video card, IMO, waste of money if not gaming above that.

I have a 22 inch ASUS VW222U monitor. A very good screen IMO

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by jds21

Here is the URL of the stock my supplier has. I am in Audtralia so more than likely we just don't get any of these other coolers here unless specially ordered for a high price

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...5fe66&cPath=75

Let me know which you think would be best

I know there isn't much to chose from when ti comes to coolers, but this place has the biggest range of other hardware very cheap (for Australia anyway)

Yeah out of that list the VX would seem your best option. I am also a single card man, not SLi, IMO you would be better off buying a single 8800GTS 512MB G92, because of the scalablility of SLi you actually will get very little performance improvement from your two 8800GT's and you will save a fair amount of dosh towards that 780i and you can always in the future get another one if you have the cash. With my GTS and a quad I can get 17,211 on 3D Mark 2006.

[jds21]

Originally Posted by Tatty_One

Yeah out of that list the VX would seem your best option. I am also a single card man, not SLi, IMO you would be better off buying a single 8800GTS 512MB G92, because of the scalablility of SLi you actually will get very little performance improvement from your two 8800GT's and you will save a fair amount of dosh towards that 780i and you can always in the future get another one if you have the cash. With my GTS and a quad I can get 17,211 on 3D Mark 2006.

I was also looking at the Thermaltake Volcano, the VX would still be better?

I was thinking about that when it came to picking a GPU... I was thinking of getting one now and perhaps picking another one up later for less when the 9-series came out. The n again, the 780i chipset has 3 way-SLI...

Basically, I will be using the comp for gaming and many high powered multimedia authoring tasks, Photoshop, 3D rendering, animation etc.... would the graphics card make much of a difference with that?

[jds21]

just back to the ram for a second...

is the
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO Ram

a big step up from the

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX Ram

for an extra $50 AU

or how is this one...

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by jds21

I was also looking at the Thermaltake Volcano, the VX would still be better?

I was thinking about that when it came to picking a GPU... I was thinking of getting one now and perhaps picking another one up later for less when the 9-series came out. The n again, the 780i chipset has 3 way-SLI...

Basically, I will be using the comp for gaming and many high powered multimedia authoring tasks, Photoshop, 3D rendering, animation etc.... would the graphics card make much of a difference with that?

Firstly, 3 way SLi only works with the G80 GTX/Ultra I beleive. As far as Photoshop, 3D rendering etc goes, I dont think there will be any difference and in animation you may find the single more powerful card would do best, and at the end of the day, with the sli system you still only get 512mb of GDDR3, not double.

[jds21]

hmm... would I be better off getting one now... and one later when SLI improves a bit more? Should I consider a different Mobo if that is the case?

[Tatty_One]

Originally Posted by jds21

just back to the ram for a second...

is the
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4PRO Ram

a big step up from the

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX Ram

for an extra $50 AU

or how is this one...

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

A step up but IMO not a BIG step up, personally, and again it's only my opinion, go for the 8800GTS 512MB, just 2Gig of ram but make it this ram from what you have available on that site:

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

You can then get your 780i and have change from origional build.

[Tatty_One]

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

[jds21]

Ok... would the Corsair dominator be better than the Team Elite Ram you just suggested, they are of similar pricing. These higher end Ram, they appear to have slower timings... would they still be that much better

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66

These are 3 i was looking at, the last one besides not being 1066, has quicker timings and nearly $100 cheaper, worth it?

and if I get the one GTS, should I keep the 780i mobo or perhaps change to a different chipset? Should I consider shifting to SLI in the future? The 780i is expensive and I couls get a good board on a different chipset for less

List of Mobos from my supplier
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/...f94c9e9cd5fe66