Critique my new box...

D

Dr.Khron

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2002
Messages
259
Goal: powerful PC for 50% gaming, 50% Media Encoding ( x264, NDAAC, LAME, DVD editing/burning)

This is a tough balance, becuase a 100% gaming rig usually means more OC and less stabilty, where as 100% media encoding requires higher stability and lower temperatures.
I'd also like to keep the sound down to reasonble levels, since it will be on 24x7.
For stability purposes, I don't plan on OCing this PC.

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775
Scythe SCKC-1000 100mm Sleeve "KAMA CROSS" 3Heat Pipes CPU Cooler

MOBO:
ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM

Video Card:
ASUS GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

Sound Card:
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series

Case:
LIAN LI PC-60APLUSII Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower

Power Supply:
Thermaltake W0131RU ATX12V / EPS12V 850W Power Supply

RAID Card:
LSI LOGIC SAS MegaRAID 8308ELP

System Drive:
Fujitsu 36.7GB 15,000 RPM Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

RAID 5 Array:
3x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s


Newegg Subtotal: $2,876.87

A few of the parts can be had somewhat cheaper elsewhere, but at this point I'm thinking of just buying it all from Newegg.

Well, what do you think?
 
Actually, with Core2's, you can get 100% stability even when OC'ing.

What size monitor do you have?

What OS do you plan on running?

The Corsairs are overpriced. Go with the G.Skill PQ kit instead. If you don't like G.Skill, check out the Partiot ELK kit, Mushkin, or OCZ instead. Anything thats cheaper than those corsairs, lol. No point in paying that much for that RAM.

If you don't need SLI, ditch that Asus board for a P35 Express board instead. Look at the Abit IP35 Pro, IP35, or IP35-E; Asus P5K or P5K-E; Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, DS3R, or DS4.

If you do need SLI, get the eVGA 680i SLI board instead (or LT):
$225 - eVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ($20 MIR)
$170 - eVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI

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 at native resolution, 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.

I'd switch that case for the PC-7 instead, since it doesnt use any 80mm fans (loud).
 
Thanks for the input.

I have a 21" trinitron that does 1900x1280 at 85 hz. Its gorgeous, and I'm gonna keep using it for a few more years. However, I like 1600x1200 at 100hz, and I run pretty much everything at that.

Running XP Pro, and will for a while longer... Was glad to see Newegg still selling it, what with all this crap we've heard from MS lately. ;)

No point in paying that much for that RAM.
Click to expand...

LOL, LOL LOL...
Its been so long since I've bought RAM that the prices for the Corsiars looked really cheap to me!


As for the mobo, I am partial to Asus as I am long time customer, but I will definitely look into the boards you've mentioned. I picked ASUS by default for the video card, so I'm defintely open to suggestions for other brands.

I wanted to keep SLI open as an option, but I doubt that I'll do it with this board... I'll probably wait for a good price drop on the second stepping of the Penryn chips and then replace the CPU/mobo/RAM... and probably the video card too, cause the next generation will be out by then.
 
Yah, you don't need SLI with a 21" CRT. So, stick with a P35 board. If you like Asus, the P5K-E is a good deal.

With XP 32-bit, you won't be able to use all 4GB of that RAM. If you go with a GTX, you'll only be able to use around 3.2GB of your RAM. Vista 64bit isn't as bad as it once was. All the new updates have many users I know giving it much praise (and these are tech savvy people!. Its fine if you don't have any old peripherals, but if you need a driver for something old, good luck! XP 64 bit isn't even worth considering.

For vidcard brands, I suggest eVGA. They have lifetime warranty and will still warrant the card if you replace the stock cooler AND/OR OVERCLOCK! Also, they have great customer service compared to Asus.
 
Vista 64bit isn't as bad as it once was. All the new updates have many users I know giving it much praise (and these are tech savvy people!.
Click to expand...

I know, I know, I was warming to Vista until last week... A salesman came in to show us some new enterprise-level software at work, and becuase his laptop was Vista, it tooks 40 freakin minutes to get it properly hooked up to the projection equipment in the presentation room. I felt like a techie failure becuase I wasn't familiar enough with Vista to solve the problem, so we had to call in the local techies.
And our local guys were also clueless becuase they had never even seen Vista.

The whole thing was so frustrating that I've decided to put off Vista for AT LEAST another six months.

Plus, several of my favorite media apps from Doom9 don't play well with Vista. (open source is WAY behind the curve on Vista adoption, becuase most open source programmers HATE MS)
 
I'm behind, too... lol. I better get my ass in gear soon.
 
I agree with all of Enginurd's points. Ditch the 680i in favor of a P-35 board as you don't need SLI, and consider whether or not you're OK with buying more RAM than your computer will actually see and utilize under XP-32.

Mark.
 
I was wondering if you went with a P35 MB and what kind of performance you're getting out of the LSI 8308ELP. I looked up the spec of the P35 chipset and it gets the second PCI-e x4 from the ICH not the MCH. Are you getting the performance you expected?
 
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