M0nk3y11

Hey everybody I'm building my first custom rig and I'm very excited about it, can't wait to get started on it. I'm going to put my current loadout up here in hopes to get some comments/insight on it. I've gone with tigerdirect on most of my parts because they seem to have the lowest prices on most of them, I'm trying to keep the price down but get alot of power out of it. I guess rather than going brute force and buying the best of everything right now I'm trying to find the best bang for your buck pieces but not skimp on anything major -- of course I'll upgrade stuff in the future as time progresses but for now I'm working on a budget of 12-1400 or so... Tips/suggestions on other places to look for good prices on reputable stuff are welcome and much appreciated!! I also want to preface this by saying you can rest assure I'm not going to be an annoying n00b forum abuser who is going to take your info, use it and then never contribute to the forums again, I'm really glad I have stepped into this new interest/hobby and I plan to stay! hehe So - here it is! All comments and constructive criticism welcome!!

CPU -- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66GHz OEM -- I was going back and forth between this and the 2.4Ghz, small price difference.. I figure they probably overclock comparable to eachother so the difference would just be raw power rather than one chip's ability to overclock more than the other..

Mobo -- XFX nForce 680i LT SLI MotherboardXFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard -- I chose this because it's bundled with the above CPU at a fair price. I wanted something SLI capable in the chance in the future that I do decide to go dual Video Cards, I want to have that option -- Also because I'm going Nvidia and I like having the Nvidia chipset on there to match (gives you that extra warm fuzzy that you won't end up like Wile E Coyote the moment you turn this thing on)

Video Card -- EVGA 512-P3-N873-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card I want to go a little bit top end on the video card for obvious reasons however I don't want to spend top end money at this point. After researching and reading up the GTX+ seems to be cost efficient and a pretty nice/powerful card. Also - this NewEgg deal offers a free copy of Crysis

PSU -- OCZ / GameXStream / 700-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / EPS / Active PFC / Power Supply -- Currently a bit on the fence about power supply, I'd like to have extra power in case I do add that second video card and god knows what else to this beast. I don't want to skimp on this piece because I've seen way too many stories of cheap PSU's dying, having issues with surge or even just cooling issues. Also keeping in mind I don't want to break the bank on any 1 piece yet because I am working with a budget, I figure these pieces are middle of the road to a little above middle of the road but nowhere's near top of the line.

*Also considering Apevia / Iceberg / 680-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / 20/24 Pin / SLI-Ready / SATA-Ready / Green / Power Supply
*Also considering CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 650-Watt Power Supply - SLI, SATA-Ready, 120mm Fan, Active PFC

Memory -- Corsair Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB) -- This memory is the max speed the mobo I've chosen will handle, haven't decided whether or not to go 32 or 64 bit OS yet, 4GB is a nice amount.. fair price...

Hard Drive -- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB Hard Drive - 7200RPM, 32MB, SATA-300 -- 500GB is good storage for now, the mobo is RAID capable but I've read some bad things about consumer RAID and I'm not totally convinced it's for me just yet so I'm planning to go single disk for now. Good storage, fair price, the case I've chosen has a ton of room for expandability.

*Also considering Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, 16MB, SATA-300 -- Comparable disk, a few bucks more...

Case + Cooling -- Kandalf LCS Full Size Case -- I fell in love with this thing when I saw it. Big sturdy case, lots of room and expandability. Comes with a water cooling system and a CPU waterblock but is expandable. Comes with pre-drilled and plugged holes for future water tubing to cool other pieces, I believe it comes with 6 fans as well. I was having the hardest time trying to figure out heads or tails of what amount of cooling is necessary/optimal... air cooling positive/negative pressure.. water cooling, dealing with the cost etc... This case seems to have it summed up and at a fair price!!

Sound Card -- Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card -- Fair price, seems to have necessary characteristics for a decent gaming sound piece.

*Also considering Creative Labs X-FI Xtreme Gamer Fatality Sound Card

Network Card -- Would love to have that crazy low latency gaming one but it's far too expensive to justify right now So I'll just be getting a run of the mill LinkSys Wireless G PCI card

CD-DVD-ROM/Rewrite -- Whatever.... something not loud that won't break

Monitor -- I'm torn on the monitor. I know I want something with 5 or less ms refresh and as high of a contrast ratio as I can find... Hoping to go 22 wide LCD -- waiting for the right price to come along... any suggestions I'd love to hear them!!

To anybody who made it to the end of this post I thank you very much and look forward to seeing what everyone's got to say!! Thanks in advance!!

Mmansueto

First off, that build is pretty nice,the 680i boards do not overclock quads well. I would look into a 750i FTW board. Also, if you are talking about the killer NIC card, do not waste your money. i would get a corsair PSU though.

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TV Guide

Water Cooling Setup:

CPU Loop: Tribal Overkill Reservoir-MCP355 w/custom IandH Brass Top-MCR320-Apogee GT-MCR120-Apogee GT-Tribal Overkill Reservoir

GPU Loop: Tribal Overkill Reservoir-MCP655-MCR220-X38 NB-EK 4870X2-DangerDen SB-Tribal Overkill Reservoir

ErBall

If your only going to be gaming at 1680x1050 then you don't need an sli capable mobo. Unless your dead set on it at a later point. Your life would be easier with a decent p35 or p45 board.

Words of truth.

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...................It's a sickness.

Dobbie

I would go with the seagate not WD because the seagate has a larger buffer size which might help it be a little faster but I'm not sure. But it looks good but I'm not an Intel guy so I don't know about the mobo with that CPU.

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Aawa

I would personally go with this psuCorsair 750tx for $99.99 after MIR. You will be able to have enough power to run the 9800gtx+ in sli without any issues once you purchase the second one.

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Riceburner

Nemes

Only @ 1680 1050? LOL.

If he sli's 2 9800GTX's or whatever he gets he will deffinately notice a significant increase in perf + fps @ 1680 1050.

There is no two ways about it - he just will...

Nemes

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3.6GHz OC Proof

British Overclockers Club

ErBall

Not nearly as much as higher resolutions.

I've had some 5-8 different sli solutions, and it really starts to get more noticeable at 1920x1200.

And I meant only 1680x1050 its nothing once you've had a decent 30" in your life.

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...................It's a sickness.

bedrockhorror

everything looks good man, but why dont you get a ati hd4850 for $160, it is better than the 9800 you are getting the only thing you are getting in the 9800 is the higher core and memory clocks which you can overclock yourself if you wanted to using riva tuner. But if you want the 9800 then get it but in my opinion you will just be as happy with the 4850 and also save u some money

M0nk3y11

Good insight on the board - I'll look into the 750i as the motherboard will certainly be a cornerstone that will be a "limiting" factor as to the max potential of the rest of my surrounding hardware. And yes it was the Killer NIC, can't justify the price .

Aawa suggests a Corsair PSU as well, I'm going to research into the Corsair 750 that he suggested .

I'd love to game at super high retina melting resolution on a 30" screen hehe, but with this machine being on a semi-tight budget and also being my first I'm testing the waters in alot of ways. I want to stick with the SLI capability and have the option of using it in the future when I do finally get that sick 30" movie screen.. i mean monitor However -- What advantages, present and future considered do you think I'd be at with going with a p35 or p45 vs what I've already got listed AND if I were to make a swap like that would there be a better suited standalone card in your opinion(price considered)? Bedrock suggested ati hd4850 and SLI would no longer be a factor...

bedrockhorror

well the 4850 is the best mid rang card right now that you can get for the price, if you wanting sli, then do it, but I recommend if u want to dual then crossfire with ati, u can get dual 4850's that will beat about nething nvida has for midrange, or you can get a 4870 single that will beat anything nvidia has as far as the 8,9 and the 260's, the 280 series are a close race, but to dominate get the 4870x2 if you can afford it man, its $550 which is going to push you a little on the budget but you wont have to worry about nething and you can save some money on the mobo also. But the choice is up to you.