building new system need advice

im building a buddy of min a gaming machine and just wanted to get some input on products and if there was any problems with the setup that need to be changed. Thanks in advance, heres the parts list, if there anything im missing let me know. Thanks

LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850 - Retail

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail


SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner included extra White bezel, with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model LH-20A1P-186 - Retail

LITE-ON Black IDE CD-ROM Drive Model LH-52N1P-185 - OEM

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM

What size monitor does he have or plan on getting? Because SLI is only needed for high resolution 3D rendering. So, if you have or plan on getting a 1920x1080 LCD or higher, and want to game on it, then keep SLI as an option. Otherwise, theres no need for it. A single GTX is still fine for a 1920x1080 (or 1920x1200) LCD screen, and more cost effective than an 8800GTS SLI setup. SLI as an upgrade path isn't worth it unless, again, a large LCD is in the future plans. There should always be a better single card solution, and you could sell your old card to help offset the cost.

If he needs SLI, the 680i SLI LT (NF67-T1) would be a better choice, or the 680i SLI NF68-A1.

If he doesn't need SLI, go for a P35 board instead - they run cooler and can OC better -- they're also more stable. If he doesnt need anything fancy, the Abit IP35-E or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L are good options. If he needs RAID, check out the P35-DS3R. If he needs Firewire, look into the Asus P5K/P5KC. If he needs both RAID and Firewire, the Abit IP35 vanilla is good. The higher end boards worth looking at are the Asus P5K-E, Gigabyte DS4, and the crowd favorite Abit IP35 Pro. You could also look into the MSI P35 boards.

I'd suggest the Corsair HX520W, but don't get it from newegg. Its made by Seasonic and its modular. You can usually find it for $90 after a $10MIR from zzf, buy.com, or clubit.com. If he plans on going SLI any time soon, he should get the Silverstone Olympia 750W instead.

Ditch the E6850. If he wants to spend that much on a CPU, get the Q6600 instead. If he wants to save $100, go for the E6750 instead. Both the E6750 and E6850 can reach 4Ghz OC, but even if he doesnt plan on OC'ing high, just do a moderate OC for him to 3.2Ghz... its easy and won't compromise stability.

Keep the Ballistix. They're the best deal around for 2GB, especially if he goes with the E6750 (see "new rig" in my sig).

What does he need a floppy drive for?

Ditch the IDE optical drives. Go with SATA drives. Ditch the ROM or bump it up to a 2nd DVDRW drive instead. A ROM just isn't worth the money since burners are a few dollars more.

You're missing a good HSF for OC'ing. And trust me, he should learn to OC these bad boys. They're packed with potential and can sustain 1GHz and more overclocks without sacrificing stability/reliability, as long as heat is managed well. Keep the CPU voltage at or below 1.55v and the temps under 60°C during load for dual cores, 70°C load for quads (22°C ambient).

I'd suggest a 3.5g tube of Arctic Cooling MX-2 and a Thermalright Ultima90 + Panaflo fan:

$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)

Some questions...
What's his budget and what's included in that budget?
What size monitor does he have?
What else will he be doing with this system besides gaming/surfing?

Hold on the 8800GTX as the 8800GT is coming out in a couple of weeks.

well he is looking at sli but not till for another 6 months or so

hehe i give him crap everyday for having a floppy, he would prefer to have it, i don't blame him either, ive been in situations where i would have loved to bebale to boot off a floppy

as far as a monitor goes he will be upgrading to dual monitors in the near future

ill take a look at the mb, he has no interest what so ever in overclocking, we were chking out benchmarks on tom's hardware and we found that one to be the one we were looking for

also again on the optical drives he has no need for two burners, im the same way, i heard the performance difference between ide and sata isn't worth it but i could be wrong


i was looking at zalman thermal compound, since oc isn't really what we are looking at, how does the stock hsf work? possible just to replace the fan to something cooler?



so with the power supply and sli best option is the 750, ill take a look at that too

good to hear the memory is good

any sugg on gpu? possibly something cheaper but good quality, i saw gigabytes 8800 gtx was about 50 bucks cheaper on clubit
speaking of clubit, is it a good site? everything you see in the first post is pulled directly off the wish list i have set up for him

as far as price im nt really seeing a limit, we went with a c2d because of his budget otherwise we would have used amd, he'll use for games mostly, light surfing and listening to music, mostly internet radio like pandora

and thanks for all your help, your suggestions come in handy!

mattchapman said:

Hold on the 8800GTX as the 8800GT is coming out in a couple of weeks.

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whats the difference? i don't know if i can make him wait, he been waiting nine months till he had a steady job

Just a newer card which will be comparable but cheaper.

8800GTX will still be good technology for a while - but just a bit too $$$$.

really so bench marks will be around the same i take? how much cheaper are we looking at? if i could get this sucker under a grand ill do the irsh jig

Unless he gets 2x 24" monitors, SLI is still not a good, cost effective solution. SLI will mostly be going to waste if he gets 1680x1050 resolution monitors (or similar). You don't start seeing the benefits of SLI until you get into the 1920x1200 resolution. And even then, a single GTX or Ultra could handle that for now. BTW, when in SLI mode, only one monitor will be in use.

There's no excuse to not OC a Core2 CPU, unless you're just lazy. Even a modest OC boosts performance; its also very simple and won't compromise stability/reliability.

Despite no performance improvement with SATA optical drives, you'll get better airflow and easier wire management. Since they're priced the same as SATA optical drives, there are very few reasons to still buy an IDE optical drive.

The 8800GT is supposedly releasing within a week and is rumored to be priced at $250.

ClubIT.com is a good site.

renovoCS said:

really so bench marks will be around the same i take? how much cheaper are we looking at? if i could get this sucker under a grand ill do the irsh jig

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Trust me, a simple way to save $100 is to ditch the E6850. Would you pay $100 for a 333Mhz CPU? Cuz thats basically all you're getting with that extra $100. The higher multiplier doesnt matter if you're not OC'ing. Its just not cost effective. But hey, its his hard earned money... not mine.

BTW, I OC'd my E6750 past the E6850's stock speed in less then a minute, and its rock solid - no stability/reliability issues.

thanks for the info, ill let him know about that, so right now sli is not a benefit unless your using like a 24 inch monitor? so in a typical setup with a single monitor 19 inch or 20 inch theres no difference? no boost? or increases fps? he wants to make sure he pumping out the most he can get, plus he wants it to run the top games for at least the next few years,
sli is something he was going to look at to boost up performance, but if you don't benefit from it unless you have a 22" + monitor then ill probably look at it boards without the sli

The performance gain is minimal at lower resolutions. Read some reviews to get an idea. Your basically paying double the price, but you DO NOT get double the performance -- and its even less effective at lower resolutions. SLI is only good for the highest resolution monitors. Don't take my word for it, go read some reviews.