I feel bad....

Pash

Ok so I went and did the dirty yesterday and ordered the parts for my new PC:

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) x 2

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) -

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller (XP/Vista Compatible) (52A-00002)

Anything I am forgetting before I whack it all together this weekend? Btw I oppted not to wait for DDR3 for the moment, its too expensive atm for me anyway. I need to decide which OS to put on there (OEM), please gimme opinions!

Cheers,

silentc1015

Why do you feel bad? That sounds like an awesome system!

Turgon

Hi Pash,

Like like you will be busy. Which of those parts covers the sound system? What network ports will you have? Are you just having the one disk?

Pash

Hi Turgon,

The motherboard has built in 7.1 surround sound audio (probably wont be great quality but I will see before shelling out more cash) and the motherboard also has x2 gigabit LAN ports.

Im obviously gonna use the rig for games + running VMware for my practice labs (probably get a second disk for this) and further studies. Id like to know if anyone has got vista ultimate running in 64bit and which apps work in 64bit and which don't. All this next gens tuff has my head turning and I hope ive made the right choices

Ricka182

The Sys Admin at the company I work for has a similar system. Completely maxed out, except he still has a dual versus quad core. He runs Vista 64 bit, and he loves it. It can handle the full 4 gb of memory, as opposed to 32 bit OS's which can't. His mobo also has an internal USB slot on the board itself, so he took a 4gb flash drive apart and stuck it in. Now with Ready Flash for Vista, he effectivly has 8gb of memory with his 64 bit CPU. He doesn't care about 32 bit apps, because he runs a full version of 32 bit XP in a virtual machine, no lag at all. The virtual machine runs faster than my desktop machine, which isn't that old itself.....

Lee H

Hi

You are missing an extra graphics card so you can have SLI

Dont know if your mobohas 2 X PCI Express

Seeing as your spending a lot of money why not do it properly and have SLI

Something your not telling us Pash, lottery win maybe, or extra curricular activities with strangers


Lee H

Plantwiz

Pash wrote:

Anything I am forgetting before I whack it all together this weekend? Btw I oppted not to wait for DDR3 for the moment, its too expensive atm for me anyway. I need to decide which OS to put on there (OEM), please gimme opinions!

Cheers,

Chassis Fans? Maybe your box has some native in there...usually my chassis only have 1 or 0 so I have to add.

Otherwise, SLI may be something to consider as mentioned.

Looks like fun!

Pash

Lee H: Haha i wish id win the lottery, euro millions rollover this friday (you gotta be in it to win it as my old man says)

For the SLI guys, I am not gonna go for SLI atm, when more games and higher resolution graphics programs start requiring SLI setups, then I would go for it. FOr now its not in my budget and not really something I need.

Cheers for the feedback on Vista 64bit Rick. I know I could still run most programs in backwards compatability mode (32 bit that is). I might stick with XP Pro OEM for now and look at Vista in a few months time.

royal

If you do plan on going SLI, make sure the PSU supports it and that the mobo has dual rails. Dual rails is basically a 24-pin power connector. The mobo will use 20 pins for regular power, 2 pins for 1 video card, and the other 2 pins for the other video card. Also, mobos have a 4-pin 12v connector. My buddy just bought a new system to build and said there was an 8-pin connector now instead of the traditional 4-pin. Just something to be aware of.

sprkymrk

Save some money for a nice monitor! I don't have any specific recommendations, all my stuff is walmart cheap or old. BTW, can I have your old computer? It's probably better than my current one.

snadam

Pash wrote:

Lee H: Haha i wish id win the lottery, euro millions rollover this friday (you gotta be in it to win it as my old man says)

For the SLI guys, I am not gonna go for SLI atm, when more games and higher resolution graphics programs start requiring SLI setups, then I would go for it. FOr now its not in my budget and not really something I need.

Cheers for the feedback on Vista 64bit Rick. I know I could still run most programs in backwards compatability mode (32 bit that is). I might stick with XP Pro OEM for now and look at Vista in a few months time.

I got an SLI setup just so I can play minesweeper....

I built 2 PC's lately and yea I dont actually have an SLI setup. I dont see a total need for it yet (other than for minesweeper...).

I vouch for Crucial ballistix. Awesome stuff!

dynamik

sprkymrk wrote:

Save some money for a nice monitor! I don't have any specific recommendations, all my stuff is walmart cheap or old. BTW, can I have your old computer? It's probably better than my current one.

Dell has an awesome 24" on sale for $375:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=6761&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

The 20" is nice as well:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=5792&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

I agree with his SLI strategy. Get a board that supports it, but put all the money you can into one card instead of filling it up right off the bat. Later, when you need a performance boost, you can add a second card in for significantly less.

Ahriakin

The problem with uber monitors for gaming is you can increase your field of view way past what you can actively monitor (primarily speaking about fast action FPS here, strategy games and the like would benefit), also the native resolutions are quite high so you need more Video card horsepower to keep your FPS decent. I have a 24" at work and it's great for mounting multiple consoles etc. but there's no way I'd swap it for the 19" I have at home, that's about as big as I'd go for a gaming rig. Sensitivity is king for a gaming monitor.

jbaello

Pash wrote:

Ok so I went and did the dirty yesterday and ordered the parts for my new PC:

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)

Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)

Pioneer DVR-212DBK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) x 2

BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) -

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

Akasa SATA-2 45cm Silver Data Cable

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller (XP/Vista Compatible) (52A-00002)

Anything I am forgetting before I whack it all together this weekend? Btw I oppted not to wait for DDR3 for the moment, its too expensive atm for me anyway. I need to decide which OS to put on there (OEM), please gimme opinions!

Cheers,

This is my dream system... I can run win 08 and use their virtualization technology...

Although I think you should have waited for a Blue Ray compatible drive.

paintb4707

Not a fan of SLI myself. By the time you save up the money for another card, the next best card is already released which almost always beats an SLI setup of your current cards. You would have to be playing at insane resolutions to need an SLI setup of 8800GTXs. I'm quite satisfied with my 22" monitor at 1680x1050... only need a single 8800GTS to max anything out on that.

Lee H

Hi

If i have the kind of money Pash has then i would go with Quad graphics all of them 8800GTX, with 8 X 22" TFT positioned 2 up 4 across,




Lee H

Mrock4

You'll love the system, I'm sure. My system is reasonably close to yours. I am running an intel 2.4ghz dual core, 2GB RAM, the 8800 GTS (640mb), with 2 monitors. It's a damn strong system, no issues yet..and this is "only" the 640mb model of card. I have yet to find much that this thing won't play..

paintb- I have two sceptre 22" monitors..same goes here. I can play anything on the GTS!

4 8800GTX's??! It's a pain in the ass to fit TWO in case..hell, it's a pain in the ass fitting my one!

The case would probably melt, and ignite the house on flames, but those 5 minutes of gameplay would be hardcore!!

Pash

Well it means my total cost of system is at £1,200 (including the 22" widescreen samsung monitor i got) but no OS yet. It's Just within my budget and im gonna eb working lot's of overtime next few months, for sure.

Lee H

Have a Kodak moment when its built and let us all get our peeps on it Pash

Pash

Lee H wrote:

Have a Kodak moment when its built and let us all get our peeps on it Pash

When I am completely confident that my 290 is in the bag for next monday im gonna build the PC, so maybe this weekend!

Pash

All built up today! Kinda not impressed with the cable management options in the case, the pwr switch connecter, reset switch and HD LED light connectors just about get to their destination. Gonna cable tie it all later (many many cables need tidying) and put my TV card in. At least it passes POST and wants a boot disk All in all, very good.

paintb4707

Pash wrote:

All built up today! Kinda not impressed with the cable management options in the case, the pwr switch connecter, reset switch and HD LED light connectors just about get to their destination. Gonna cable tie it all later (many many cables need tidying) and put my TV card in. At least it passes POST and wants a boot disk All in all, very good.

Insert :this post is useless without pics:

Lee H

I bet hes been kiddin us an he really built this

Celeron D 1.8GHz
256 Generic ram
Mobo with onbnoard VGA
everything else from his old PC

lol

Lee H

Pash

Lee H wrote:

I bet hes been kiddin us an he really built this

Celeron D 1.8GHz
256 Generic ram
Mobo with onbnoard VGA
everything else from his old PC

lol

Lee H

haha, no Just havent got the charger for my camera at home. Got XP on it now, gonna install everything through out the week. Keeps very cool with all fans on low, but there again it's not overclocked or doing anything amazing yet.

Was confusing seeing 3.25 GB RAM on the system properties, but I think I understand why

dynamik

Pash wrote:

Was confusing seeing 3.25 GB RAM on the system properties, but I think I understand why

32-bit OS. It has maximum of 4GB, and other things, such as your graphics card, will draw from that.

Pash

dynamik wrote:

Pash wrote:

Was confusing seeing 3.25 GB RAM on the system properties, but I think I understand why

32-bit OS. It has maximum of 4GB, and other things, such as your graphics card, will draw from that.

Yeh this is exactly the reason.