Mid to High end gaming rig advice

[FiB3R]

I'm about to start ordering the parts I've listed below, But thought I'd ask you guys to take a look at the list first.

Is there anything that I've missed? Or is there anything in there that is gonna cause probs, or just a bad choice? Know where I can get a better deal? Please let me know what you think.

Thanks :)

Case --------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?70.32 inc. VAT + Shipping>Power Supply> -----580W Tagan TG580W-U15> - Scan.co.uk -?81.99 inc. VAT + ShippingbMotherboardb> -----EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1)b> - dabs.com ?165.71 inc. VAT + Shipping/Processor/b> -------Intel Core 2 Duo E6600/b> - Dabs.com?145.86 inc. VAT + Shipping<Heatsink -------Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.co?33.199Fann ------------120mm Sharkoon 20000 - scan.co.?12.90 inc. VAT + ShippingnFan controlerer AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Proro - scan.co?31.71.Memoryory -----2Gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kitkit - memory-configurator.c?127.38 inc. VAT + ShippingpGraphicshics ---nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB DDR PCI-Express @ 580MHz with ACS3 Cooleroler - scan.?205.47 inc. VAT + ShippingpAudioAudio ------On board 8-Channel High Definition AudioAudioHard Drivesrives2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterpriseprise - scan?280.79 inc. VAT + ShippingiOptical Drive 1rive Pioneer DVR-212BK-212BK - sca?31.70 - inc. VAT + ShippinghOptical Drive 2DriveSamsung Black, 48x CD-ROM 16x DVD-ROM, SATAM, SATA - sc?16.07 inc. VAT + ShippingSFloppy Drivepy DriveMitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Readerd Reader - s?20.54 inc. VAT + Shipping Shipping

(I already have Screens, Speakers, a Mouse and Keyboard, aTotal: ?1347.58 ?1347.58 (Will be a bit less with some combined shipping costs)

Cost of similar system pre built from www.gladiatorcomputers.com - ?1155.40 inc. VAT + Shipping LINK

Cost of similar system pre built from www.overclockers.co.uk - ?1,479.27 inc. VAT + Shipping LINK

Edited June 17, 2007 by The Cub

[12Iceman]

Case --------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?70.32 inc. VAT + Shipping>

Great case, I am using it now and I love it. It has really good airflow.

Processor[/b]> ---------Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.97Ghz> - Dabs.com -?145.86 inc. VAT + Shippingb>

The E6600 is 2.4GHz at stock and the X6800 is 2.93GHz at stock. Are they advertising some overclocked speed or something?

[chconline Veteran]

I'm about to start ordering the parts I've listed below, But thought I'd ask you guys to take a look at the list first.

Is there anything that I've missed? Or is there anything in there that is gonna cause probs, or just a bad choice? Know where I can get a better deal? Please let me know what you think.

Thanks :)

Case --------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?70.32 inc. VAT + Shipping>Power Supply> -----580W Tagan TG580W-U15> - Scan.co.uk -?81.99 inc. VAT + ShippingbMotherboardb> -----EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1)b> - dabs.com ?165.71 inc. VAT + Shipping/Processor/b> -------Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.97Ghz/b> - Dabs.com?145.86 inc. VAT + Shipping<Heatsink -------Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.co?33.199Fann ------------120mm Sharkoon 20000 - scan.co.?12.90 inc. VAT + ShippingnFan controlerer AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Proro - scan.co?31.71.Memoryory -----2Gb OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kitkit - memory-configurator.c?127.38 inc. VAT + ShippingpGraphicshics ---nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB DDR PCI-Express @ 580MHz with ACS3 Cooleroler - scan.?205.47 inc. VAT + ShippingpAudioAudio ------On board 8-Channel High Definition AudioAudioHard Drivesrives2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterpriseprise - scan?280.79 inc. VAT + ShippingiOptical Drive 1rive Pioneer DVR-212BK-212BK - sca?31.70 - inc. VAT + ShippinghOptical Drive 2DriveSamsung Black, 48x CD-ROM 16x DVD-ROM, SATAM, SATA - sc?16.07 inc. VAT + ShippingSFloppy Drivepy DriveMitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Readerd Reader - s?20.54 inc. VAT + Shipping Shipping

(I already have Screens, Speakers, a Mouse and Keyboard, aTotal: ?1347.58 ?1347.58 (Will be a bit less with some combined shipping costs)

Cost of similar system pre built from www.gladiatorcomputers.com - ?1155.40 inc. VAT + Shipping LINK

Cost of similar system pre built from www.overclockers.co.uk - ?1,479.27 inc. VAT + Shipping LINK

Change a few things....

PSU -> Seasonic S12+ 600W (Powerful, efficient, quiet)

Cooling -> Scythe Infinity

Mobo -> P5K-Deluxe

Fans -> Remove

Fan Controller -> Remove

RAM -> OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500 2x1GB (Great heatsink, Micron D9)

Graphics -> 8800GTX (You will have enough cash for the stuff I dropped)

Hard drives -> Just get a single 320GB Seagate PMR drive would do. Or get a second one for RAID0. Thats all you ever need.

Optical drive 2 -> Just get the Pioneer as you have in drive 1:).

:)

[Leddy]

Change a few things....

PSU -> Seasonic S12+ 600W (Powerful, efficient, quiet)

Cooling -> Scythe Infinity

Mobo -> P5K-Deluxe

Fans -> Remove

Fan Controller -> Remove

RAM -> OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500 2x1GB (Great heatsink, Micron D9)

Graphics -> 8800GTX (You will have enough cash for the stuff I dropped)

Hard drives -> Just get a single 320GB Seagate PMR drive would do. Or get a second one for RAID0. Thats all you ever need.

Optical drive 2 -> Just get the Pioneer as you have in drive 1...

:)

@ 1066MHz you really shouldn't be overclocking higher than that- at that point, you can have 533FSB already which is more than enough headroom for overclocking the processor. Therefore you should go for the cheaper OCZ Platinum sets instead of the Reaper sets which don't really offer you that much more in terms of performance.

[chconline Veteran]

It depends. Because even if you are running the memory at a higher frequency that the processor, there's still performance gain (Including 1:2).

[FiB3R]

The E6600 is 2.4GHz at stock and the X6800 is 2.93GHz at stock. Are they advertising some overclocked speed or something?

Oops! my bad. Yes that was copy and pasted from an overclocked system.

Change a few things....

PSU -> Seasonic S12+ 600W (Powerful, efficient, quiet)

Cooling -> Scythe Infinity

Mobo -> P5K-Deluxe

Fans -> Remove

Fan Controller -> Remove

RAM -> OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500 2x1GB (Great heatsink, Micron D9)

Graphics -> 8800GTX (You will have enough cash for the stuff I dropped)

Hard drives -> Just get a single 320GB Seagate PMR drive would do. Or get a second one for RAID0. Thats all you ever need.

Optical drive 2 -> Just get the Pioneer as you have in drive 1...

:)

OK, after a little more reading I've chosen to go with the Seasonic M12-600 as I really want modular cables, as well as power, efficiency and silence.

Think I'll stick with my choice of heatsink because of this round-up LINK

And the fan, is to replace the one the heatsink comes with to reduce noise, or maybe the rear case fan. Will do some testing to see if it makes a difference.

If I remove the fan controler, how am I going to controle the speed of the fans? Thats also 4 molex connectors being taken up from the PSU

For now, I'm sticking with the EVGA 680i Motherboard as the P5K-Deluxe has some serious issues regarding the placement of it's SATA connectors when using larger GFX cards.

"An 8800 Ultra with its full-length cooler would render four of these headers unusable"

actually thinking of going with 4GB of RAM because....

"Windows Vista recommends a bare minimum of 1GB for install, but do not expect the OS to run along at full-speed with this amount of RAM. To get anywhere you need 2GB or 4GB for the smoothest results, but here, as we said earlier, a 32-bit OS cannot fully access 4GB, only 3.5GB is supported.

I intend to have a quad boot system. XP 32bit / 64bit and Vista 32bit / 64bit (just to test and in the hope that one day 32bit will die)

Why do you recomend the Reaper's over the Platinum's?

The GTX is around twice the price!!!

Definitely going RAID0 bit think I'll change the drives for something a bit quieter like the Samsung Spinpoint T

What sort of speed boost do you really get by using RAID0? and how much faster would it be using Raptor's?

Is it not still true that DVD ROM drives are better for creating backups of DVD's and games? I've been trying to find some info on this but not had much luck.

@ 1066MHz you really shouldn't be overclocking higher than that- at that point, you can have 533FSB already which is more than enough headroom for overclocking the processor. Therefore you should go for the cheaper OCZ Platinum sets instead of the Reaper sets which don't really offer you that much more in terms of performance.

Haven't really gotten my head around this overclocking malarkey yet, but I'm sure I'll have a much better understanding by the time I've finished this build.

Thanks for your input so far ;)

[chconline Veteran]

Oops, well yeah you should get 4 gigs of RAM. The Reaper HPCs are nice because it's cheap, great cooling, allows 2.35V and performs nicely. I am still testing out my P5K-Deluxe, there's several layout faults. That includes the SATA as youve mentioned, but also the PATA at the bottom (It works, but just kinda weird. I wired it nicely so it works without cabling issues). The RAM's really close to the graphics card as well.

But other than that I am currently testing my E6300 at 480MHz FSB at DEFAULT multiplier. 3.36GHz and stable, and I used a bunch of mobos before -- P5N-E, P5NT-WS, P5W64-WS Pro, abit AB9-Pro and the highest I was able to achieve was 420*7 = 2.94GHz on my E6300. At first I thought it was because my chip was a POS but apparently the P5K-Deluxe is out there to break some records.

[12Iceman]

But other than that I am currently testing my E6300 at 480MHz FSB at DEFAULT multiplier. 3.36GHz and stable, and I used a bunch of mobos before -- P5N-E, P5NT-WS, P5W64-WS Pro, abit AB9-Pro and the highest I was able to achieve was 420*7 = 2.94GHz on my E6300. At first I thought it was because my chip was a POS but apparently the P5K-Deluxe is out there to break some records.

What voltages are you running for that?

[chconline Veteran]

1.3750V E6300 (Vdroop at rougly 1.3000V) on Scythe Infinity/120mm stock fan with resistor cable+Asus Q-Fan control on Silent mode (900-1000RPM).

[FiB3R]

OMG!!!

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

looks good :) can u order me one too :D

[FiB3R]

OK, here is a revised list. What do you think?

- Case -------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?61.51 inc. VAT

- Power Supply ---- Seasonic M12-600 - Lamda-tek.com - ?100.85 inc. VAT

?171.17 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Motherboard ----- EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1) - Dabs.com - ?158.71 inc. VAT

- Processor -------- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - Dabs.com - ?140.63 inc. VAT

- Fan controler ---- AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Pro - Dabs.com - ?25.93 inc VAT

- Hard Drives ------ 2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise - Dabs.com - ?274.92 inc. VAT

?607.19 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Fan --------------- 120mm Sharkoon 2000 - scan.co.uk - ?7.04 inc. VAT

- Optical Drive ---- Asus DRW-1814BLT - scan.co.uk - ?22.15 - inc. VAT

- Floppy Drive ---- Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Reader - scan.co.uk - ?14.68 inc. VAT

?49.73 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Graphics --------- nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB DDR PCI-Express with ACS3 Cooler - microdirect.co.uk - ?202.10 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Heatsink --------- Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.com - ?33.19

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Memory ---------- 4Gb (4x1GB) OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kit - memory-configurator.co.uk - ?251.33 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Audio ------------ On board 8-Channel High Definition Audio - N/A

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(I already have Screens, Speakers, a Mouse and Keyboard, andTOTAL: ?1314.71 inc. VAT + ShippingT + ShiEDIT: ******* @ dabs just put the price up on the E6600 from ?138.86 to ?140.63 6 to ?140.63

Suppose I'd better get on with it and commit.

Cost of similar system pre built from www.gladiatorcomputers.com - ?1155.40 inc. VAT + Shipping

LINK

Cost of similar system pre built from www.overclockers.co.uk - ?1,479.27 inc. VAT + Shipping

LINK

Edited June 18, 2007 by The Cub

[Andre S. Veteran]

Raptors can improve gaming performance, but before I spend any money on those I'd get the best possible GPU. A 7200.1 system with a 8800GTX will smack any raptor system with a slower video card.

Or, just get a small raptor for Windows and a big 7200.1 for the rest of the system, and save some money.

[FiB3R]

Raptors can improve gaming performance, but before I spend any money on those I'd get the best possible GPU. A 7200.1 system with a 8800GTX will smack any raptor system with a slower video card.

Or, just get a small raptor for Windows and a big 7200.1 for the rest of the system, and save some money.

I've been thinking about that actually. I wish I could find some figures to show the difference. Plus the price is starting to get higher than I hoped.

Edited June 18, 2007 by The Cub

[FiB3R]

OK, a further revision, bumping up the graphics power.

Is the PSU still up to the job? Because the system from overclockers.co.uk comes with a 1000W PSU

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Case -------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?61.51 inc. VAT

-Power Supply ---- Seasonic M12-600 - Lamda-tek.com - ?100.85 inc. VAT

?171.17 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Motherboard ----- EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1) - Dabs.com - ?158.71 inc. VAT

-Processor -------- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - Dabs.com - ?140.63 inc. VAT

-Fan controler ---- AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Pro - Dabs.com - ?25.93 inc VAT

-Hard Drive ------ 2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise - Dabs.com - ?274.92 inc. VAT

-Graphics --------- EVGA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E with ACS3 Cooler - dabs.com - ?387.75 inc. VAT

?994.94 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Fan --------------- 120mm Sharkoon 2000 - scan.co.uk - ?7.04 inc. VAT

-Optical Drive ---- Asus DRW-1814BLT - scan.co.uk - ?22.15 - inc. VAT

-Floppy Drive ---- Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Reader - scan.co.uk - ?14.68 inc. VAT

?49.73 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Heatsink --------- Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.com - ?33.19

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Memory ---------- 4Gb (4x1GB) OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kit - memory-configurator.co.uk - ?251.33 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Audio ------------ On board 8-Channel High Definition Audio - N/A

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(I already have Screens, Speakers, a Mouse and Keyboard, TOTAL: ?1500.36 inc. VAT + ShippingT + Shipping

Cost of similar system pre built from www.gladiatorcomputers.com - ?1155.40 inc. VAT + Shipping

LINK

Cost of similar system pre built from www.overclockers.co.uk - ?1,479.27 inc. VAT + Shipping

LINK

Edited June 18, 2007 by The Cub

[FiB3R]

Ordered

-Case -------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?61.51> ?65.80 inc. VAT (price went up while I was choosing parts):angry:y:

-Power Supply ---- Seasonic M12-600 - Lamda-tek.com - ?100.85 inc. VAT

?178.64 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Motherboard ----- EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1) - Dabs.com - ?158.71 inc. VAT

-Processor -------- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - Dabs.com - ?140.63 inc. VAT

-Fan controler ---- AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Pro - Dabs.com - ?25.93 inc VAT

-Hard Drive ------ 2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise - Dabs.com - ?274.92 inc. VAT

-Graphics --------- EVGA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E with ACS3 Cooler - dabs.com - ?387.75 inc. VAT

?994.94 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Fan --------------- 120mm Sharkoon 2000 - scan.co.uk - ?7.04 inc. VAT

-Optical Drive ---- Asus DRW-1814BLT - scan.co.uk - ?22.15 - inc. VAT

-Floppy Drive ---- Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Reader - scan.co.uk - ?14.68 inc. VAT

?49.73 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Heatsink --------- Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.com - ?28.14 inc VAT

-Thermal Paste - Arctic Silver 5 Heat Compound - 12g - thecoolingshop.com - ?11.15 inc VAT

?44.46 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Memory ---------- 4Gb (4x1GB) OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kit - memory-configurator.co.uk - ?251.33 inc. VAT + Shipping

Edited June 18, 2007 by The Cub

[FiB3R]

Ordered

-Case -------------- Antec Nine Hundred - Lamda-tek.com - ?61.51> ?65.80 inc. VAT (price went up while I was choosing parts):angry:y:

-Power Supply ---- Seasonic M12-600 - Lamda-tek.com - ?100.85 inc. VAT

?178.64 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Motherboard ----- EVGA nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard (122-CK-NF68-A1) - Dabs.com - ?158.71 inc. VAT

-Processor -------- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - Dabs.com - ?140.63 inc. VAT

-Fan controler ---- AKASA AK-FC-03 Fan Contorl Pro - Dabs.com - ?25.93 inc VAT

-Hard Drive ------ 2x 150Gb WD1500ADFD Raptor Enterprise - Dabs.com - ?274.92 inc. VAT

-Graphics --------- EVGA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E with ACS3 Cooler - dabs.com - ?387.75 inc. VAT

?994.94 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Fan --------------- 120mm Sharkoon 2000 - scan.co.uk - ?7.04 inc. VAT

-Optical Drive ---- Asus DRW-1814BLT - scan.co.uk - ?22.15 - inc. VAT

-Floppy Drive ---- Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD + Int USB 2.0 7 in 1 Card Reader - scan.co.uk - ?14.68 inc. VAT

?49.73 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Heatsink --------- Big Typhoon VX 120 - thecoolingshop.com - ?28.14 inc VAT

-Thermal Paste - Arctic Silver 5 Heat Compound - 12g - thecoolingshop.com - ?11.15 inc VAT

?44.46 inc. VAT + Shipping

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Memory ---------- 4Gb (4x1GB) OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 CL5 EPP Platinum SLI-Ready Edition kit - memory-configurator.co.uk - ?251.33 inc. VAT + Shipping

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TOTAL: ?1519.32 inc. VAT + Shipping VAT + Shipping

Oh God:x33; I feel sick :x

[jelli]

Dear god man! Thats a beast of a system and a price tag, then again if you have it you may as well spend it. Some amazing parts there, just overclock the processor and you have a rig that won't be beaten for quite some time, even if you don't overclock it will still be blisteringly fast.

You may be feeling sick looking at the total but if its any consolation i am feeling pretty envious ;)

[FiB3R]

Oh boy! This build just took a whole new twist :wacko: LINK

Thanks for the words of support jelli :rofl:

It's not quite as extravagant as the likes of the Vadim Cepheus @ ?5,999 :wacko::

I will without doubt, be over-clocking just about anything I can on this system.

Lots of reading to be done about that though, as it will be a first for me.:unsure::

[12Iceman]

Oh boy! This build just took a whole new twist :wacko: LINK

To be honest, I don't know why people are complaining so much about cable management on the Antec 900. There is plenty of room between the drive bays to hold your excess cables (i have most of mine hiding right under the bottom drive bay, and the remaining ones hiding in one of the upper CD-ROM bays).

[FiB3R]

To be honest, I don't know why people are complaining so much about cable management on the Antec 900. There is plenty of room between the drive bays to hold your excess cables (i have most of mine hiding right under the bottom drive bay, and the remaining ones hiding in one of the upper CD-ROM bays).

Yeah, I reckon I could do a much better job than some of disasters I have seen, without taking any power tools to the case. But you have to admit, with a few choice cuts here and there, it looks ****ing sweet.

From this...

To this...

Or this...

Edited June 19, 2007 by The Cub