Would like opinions on my future gaming PC.

[RottnJP]

Personally, I'm waiting until January to buy. (My gaming rig is migrating to be the office machine for my wife's new practice) I figure when the 45nm chips come out they will also drive down prices on the remaining 65nm stock. So, it's a win even if you're not interested in their better performance.

And yeah, the external enclosure is only worth-while if you plan on continuing to use the extra drive as a back-up. We back up my wife's patient files and also keep a ton of photos etc. on it.

I definitely like the CM690 case, especially with a couple of extra 140mm aero-cool fans. The only caveat is that the side grilles are very noisy for some reason. It may just be that they need their edges filed down (which would be a little tedious) but I just cut them out of my case and replaced them with the wire grilles from xoxide.com It's an amazing case if you are willing to put a little extra work into it, but the Antec above doesn't have that noise issue "as delivered." The coolermaster stock fans are quieter than the stock Antec fans, though.

Anyway, good luck- Everyone likes hearing how someone's first build goes, and is happy to help!

 

[Conall]

I just noticed the motherboard I selected is no longer on Newegg..
Same with the video card, though there are plenty of others to choose from.

Is the motherboard simply out of stock, or are they no longer selling it?
I ask because other items I've seen out of stock simply say they are out of stock, they are not removed from the site.

 

[nguyenpeter76]

usually it tells you why in ur cart or wish list.

most of times its because its out of stock. but if u cant even go to the link they removed it for some reason.

 

[Conall]

I had the link bookmarked, but now it goes to a list of other motherboards.
And the motherboard and video card were automatically removed from my wish-list, there was nothing there to tell me why.

 

[Conall]

Both the motherboard and video card are back on Newegg now.
I may be able to buy the parts sooner than I anticipated, so I think I'll go ahead and ask for your opinions on what I've selected.

I've made a few changes to the list.
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5234685

I'll have a bit more money that expected, and have added to and improved upon what I previously selected.
Everything look good?

 

[trog100]

looks about right to me..

trog

 

[Conall]

More questions..

The case I chose comes with a 500w power supply.
Would it be enough to power all of the parts I'm buying?

And to anyone here who may have purchased this case themselves, is the PSU of good quality?

Edit: Would an Antec 900 case be a better choice?

 

[RottnJP]

Honestly, the low-price power supplies (PSU's) give me the heebie-jeebies. PSU's are probably the most under-rated component out there- You want to feed good components with nice, clean, dependable current, not low-quality amps that are potentially uneven, etc. that can overheat or otherwise damage your toys. If you search the forum here, tomshardware, etc. you'll find tons of pointers. I like newegg's advanced search feature when it comes time to buy- you can select the key features, and then select free shipping, etc. to still find a decent deal.

I don't know the raid-max case personally, but with the quality of the components you're getting, saving a couple bucks on a bargain PSU or poor flowing, noisy case is kind of silly IMO. "Penny wise and pound foolish," as they say. For a case, I'd go with Antec, coolermax, or thermaltake. Lian LI is nice, but pricey. For pure value, I'd give it to coolermax hands down. (ThermalTake's stock fans are noisy crap in my experience- they want you to upgrade. Antec's are o.k. but noisey at higher flows, and the fans that came with my coolermaster 690 are keepers- decent flow and very quiet- but I had to mod the case before I was really happy with it- a couple hours cutting out noisy grilles and grinding down the sharp edges)

That is going to be a real nice machine when you get it together. ;-)

Oh, on cooling, there are better choices for your money: Ignore the VF900- it's crap compared to newer options that haven't made it to newegg yet. I think the three to look at (I'll let others duke it out on company loyalty) are the Zalman VF-1000, Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, and Thermaltake HR-03. The first is active, the others passive, but with decent airflow shouldn't need an extra fan with your card. For CPU cooling, check out the Tuniq Tower or Scythe Ninja, or arctic cooling freezer 7 pro- better cooling for less $$.

Good luck!!

EDITED TO ADD: In the spirit of full disclusure, I'll mention that for my current CPU cooling I went with a 4th option- Thermalright's 120 extreme. But although it is king of the ratings, I can't call it a good value- Install is a pain, and I feel the need to lap it and the CPU first, which frankly make it a terrible value when you consider all that effort for a few extra degrees. Realistically, you'll do fine with the three I mentioned above with much lower PITA factor.

 

[Conall]

What about these CPU coolers?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835101018

As for the GPU cooler..
I looked at the "ARCTIC COOLING Accelero S1" once before, and saw a lot of people complaining about the tape for the ram heatsinks.
Is it really that bad? Would I NEED to buy some sort of thermal adhesive?
And would I even need to use the ram heatsink?

Edit 1: I've been thinking, would I actually need to buy a different cooler for the video card?
I'd never overclock it(Or anything else for that matter), and I usually play at 800x600 resolution, only switching to 1024x768 if the game requires it.
Would the stock cooler be sufficient under these conditions?

I've been looking at a different case, also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011
It looks like a nice case, and the reviews are good. Any thoughts?

 

[RottnJP]

The Zalman 9700 gets decent reviews, but is noisier than it needs to be and is kinda expensive. There's others that beat it in "head to head" challenges and cost less, but Zalman does make a quality product- It should install easily and it does work well. If you see a good price on it, it'll do the job for you.

As for VGA cooling, stock is typically fine if you're not OC'ing. Some of the stock coolers are louder than they have to be, but still do the job. Since you're looking at a G92 GPU card, that's should be running reasonably cool. (It's a nice, efficient chip) (I'm running a ATI XTX1900 for now, which is like having a little furnace in your PC, and the stock cooler sounds like a #$%@$# leaf blower roaring in my case.)

That looks like a decent case, if you don't mind the size and the looks- It's probably overkill if you're not OC'ing, but there's nothing wrong with extra airflow. I don't have any personal experience with it though. I noticed the Antec P182 is on sale at the moment- that's a nice one too.

 

[J-Man]

It's a good system. If you want you could overclock the CPU possibly 3.4GHz with better cooling.

 

[Conall]

Well, that settles that. Now I have only one more question(At the moment, at least), and this time it's about processors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116262
I've been looking at that processor. It's cheaper, and runs at 3.2ghz instead of 3ghz.
What I'd like to know is if it'd run the following games better than or as well as the E6850;

Black & White 2
Neverwinter Nights 2
Civilization 4
Battlefield 2
Empire Earth 2

 

[JrRacinFan]

No no no, may look like an upgrade Conall but its actually a good little downgrade.

Although I am not downing the PD9xx series cause they are still worthy.

If you need something around $100 go for the e2200.

 

[Conall]

Well the price doesn't matter that much.
I just thought it'd be faster than the E6850.
I'll just stick with it, then.

 

[Darren]

Well the price doesn't matter that much.
I just thought it'd be faster than the E6850.
I'll just stick with it, then.

E6850 is a great processor, it's the type of processor that will last you two full years if you buy now. I think if your willing to spend alot, get a quadcore "Q" range. You had your eye on a Pentium D earier, they are extremely weak for todays gaming, they were n't even that great when they were released almost three years ago! Dont cut corners get a Q6850 if you can afford it.

PS. just to emphasise the Pentium D range is a HUGE downgrade in comparison to any core 2 or quad setup. Avoid like a plague if you want future proof gaming. Pentium D's the type of cpu you buy for temporary usage until you can afford something better, nothing more nothing less. Suppose they overclock well, but so do the core 2's which are the same price. Higher clock speeds doesn't always mean better performance.

 

[tzitzibp]

the e6850 is perfect both clockwise and overclockwise... plays all games - no hic ups - and will play all 2008 and probably all 2009 games no problem. however I would wait a couple of months to see what comes out and then buy... even for a new cpu or the 6850.

Personally I would go for a quad cpu, and should be buying one end of March

ANYWAY as I posted at this post ..."Motherboard and CPU upgrade."

the QX9650 is already out...below you can see all cpu release dates:

QX9770 - 3.2GHZ - 1600 FSB - 6MB X 2 L2 Cache - 1st quarter 2008 - 999 euro
QX9650 - 3.0GHZ - 1333 FSB - 6MB X 2 L2 Cache - OUT NOW - 999 euro
Q 9550 - 2.83GHZ- 1333 - 6MB X 2 L2 Cache - 1st quarter 2008 - 500 euro
Q 9450 - 2.66GHZ- 1333 - 6MB X 2 L2 Cache - 1st quarter 2008 - 250 euro
Q 9300 - 2.5 GHZ- 1333 - 3MB X 2 L2 Cache - 1st quarter 2008 - 200 euro

 

[Conall]

I figure I'll ask this now since I'll end up asking this eventually, anyway.
How would I check the temperature of the CPU and GPU on the new PC?

 

[RottnJP]

Yikers! Dodged a bullet there- Pressler's no frickin' good- def stick with the 6850 if you can, or a close relative. (Q6600 is even better, but is wayyy overkill for the games you like.) Actually, even the 6850 is way more than you need, but meh- it's fun! Come join me in the future- BF2142 rocks!

I'll let some of the serious OC'ers recommend monitoring software- I'm curious what people are using, too. I just use the asus_probe app that came with my motherboard.

 

[Darren]

I figure I'll ask this now since I'll end up asking this eventually, anyway.
How would I check the temperature of the CPU and GPU on the new PC?

Your bios will tell you your CPU temp. ATI tool can be used to check graphics card temps, I believe, but there is plenty of other software you can download for free.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Well gpu, you could use ATi Tool. Cpu, use CoreTemp. If you need something that will show both at same time, Speedfan (may not recognize them correctly and possibly be off).

Doesn't Gigabyte and Abit have proprietary monitoring software included with their retail packaged motherboards, like the Asus Probe software?

 

[Conall]

Anyone have any idea if the case I selected would be large enough for me to install the CPU cooler listed below without removing one of the two side fans?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011

 

[Conall]

I'm happy to report that I'll have the parts by the end of the month.
For the past few days I've been downloading everything I'd need for the new PC(1.3gb's worth, which is a LOT for someone on dial-up.), and now I need to know which drivers I should download for the 8800GT.

I see here on TechPowerup itself the 169.21 drivers.
Are those the best for the 8800GT, or should I download something older?

Edit: Downloaded the 169.21 drivers.

 

[Conall]

Just finished ordering the parts.
I'll have everything next week.
Once everything arrives, I'll create a new topic where I'll ask for help building it, if necessary.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Nice Conall! What you getting?

I am waiting on an AW9D Max from sneekypeet and a Lite-On DVD burner from NewEgg. Then my Q1 08 update will be done.

 

[Conall]

Bought everything seen in my wishlist.
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5234685