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Decent Gaming Rig?

A

alaracon

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
86
I tried posting this in Computers & Gadgets but haven't gotten any comments on it yet. I will be building the following PC in the next month or so. I was wondering what people thought of this build and what modifications may have to be made. I want to keep the price between $1700 and $1800 before shipping. The video card is one of the few things I am still looking at for now:

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
Motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card: 2 X EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6700
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Hard Drive: RAID0 - 2 X Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
DVD: ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T
Floppy: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 English NA DVD - (using x64)

Let me know if this looks pretty good or if I will have some problems.
 
Thats a pretty decent gaming rig ... but considering you are building this rig the next month or so im gona go and suggest you wait for GT200/R7xx GPU since they should be available in that period
You ll be able to make a much better decistion and quite possibly a better rig

Im gettin my new pc next week, but i ll be sticking with and old x850xt till the new gen comes... so i either buy a 9800gx2 or w/e is new and better
 
The only problem is that I have been reading all sorts of reviews for the last few months for video cards and at this point, my budget for a video card is $350. I also tend to go with NVIDIA products over ATI so that also limits me. I could possibly get a good 8000 series card or I can get a couple of 9000 series in SLI. I am still debating that.
 
alaracon said:
The only problem is that I have been reading all sorts of reviews for the last few months for video cards and at this point, my budget for a video card is $350. I also tend to go with NVIDIA products over ATI so that also limits me. I could possibly get a good 8000 series card or I can get a couple of 9000 series in SLI. I am still debating that.
Click to expand...

The 9600 GT SLI setup is definitely the best bang for your buck, in terms of multi-GPU setups. It's often on the heals of a full blown 9800 GX2, while costing much less, so I think you're covered there.
I prefer a single GPU card myself, to avoid SLI or Crossfire woes. If that's a concern for you aswell, you want to look at a 9800 GTX / 8800 GTS 512 or a 8800 GTX, which have good prices nowadays. Or you can wait for GT200 based cards to come out, which new rumors point to a release in June.
 
alaracon said:
Case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
Motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card: 2 X EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6700
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Hard Drive: RAID0 - 2 X Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
DVD: ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T
Floppy: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 English NA DVD - (using x64)
Click to expand...

I'd loose the two 9600GT's in favor of a single card solution like the 9800GTX and get a P35 based MB instead, also if you go with the Q6700 you don't need PC2 8000 ram, just get some PC2 6400 and save a bit of cash instead, it'll serve all your OC needs if any on that CPU. Furthermore I'd loose the PSU in favor of the Corsair HX620 (if you need/want modularity) or the TX750 (overkill) and why do you want a floppy drive? :) . Finally I'd exchange the Zalman Heatsink for a Thermalright Ultra-120 as it's better cooling and potentially less noisy.
 
I will work on an updated template and post the new one with those suggestions. Currently the PC2 8000 RAM is almost the exact same price as the PC2 6400 RAM on Newegg from G.Skill. I will look at the Thermalright again. The case is certainly big enough. As for a floppy drive, call me sentimental. Even though I have a 4GB flash drive and a 500GB external drive...you can still find a use for a Floppy drive :)
 
If you want RAID0 and you're spending a fair bit of money it might be also worth getting Raptor drives by Wetern Digital, they're 10,000 rpm SATA drives. That's a very fast setup for a primary drive, although I wouldn't store anything critical on it like your mp3's and media, just use it for application installs (just due to the natuer of RAID0) Grab a 3nd hard drive which will just be independent, a nice large cheap slow one to dump files onto for long term storage.#

As for a floppy drive, call me sentimental. Even though I have a 4GB flash drive and a 500GB external drive...you can still find a use for a Floppy drive
Click to expand...

I thought the move to Vista had solved the need for floppy drives, as XP could only load drivers pre-installation from a floppy drive, where as Vista can read from practically anything.

Having said that certain motherboards still require you to boot off a floppy to do BIOS flashes, a lot have auto updaters that work from windows which is neat but almost all I've seen don't allow you to flash backwards in revision unless you do it low level.
 
New Template with 1 X Raptor Drive and a 9800GTX instead of 2 X 9600 GT. Also, I changed the CPU cooler but kept the motherboard the same. Does anyone know if the Thermalright Cooler uses a 120 or 80 mm fan?

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
Motherboard: EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6700
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
Hard Drive: 1 X Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
DVD: ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 English NA DVD
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink w/ APEVIA CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan

This one happens to cost $70 more than the original template. Also, my budget can only afford one of the Raptor drives. Does having one Raptor over a RAID0 improve performance enough to be noticeable considering I will be losing around 300 GB of space.

Also, I have two computers currently. This new machine does not have to have an extra hard drive for data. I don't plan on putting any music on this system. I have my data computer for that.
 
Drop the Raptor. It's not a good buy since this drive performs on par with the Raptor yet offers more storage:
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $115

Drop the Ultra 120 as well. It does use a 120mm fan BTW. Anyway, go with this HSF since it performs as well as the Ultra 120 but is cheaper:
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50

The Q6700 and Q6600 OC about the same. So if you want to cut down costs, go with the Q6600.

And you can get the 750TX for cheap here:
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $105

Also, what size monitor do you have? If it's under 24" or 1920x1200, forget SLI since it won't be worth it below those sizes and resolutions. Go for a P35 motherboard instead:
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $110
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $110
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $130
Asus P5K-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $150
Asus P5K-E/Wifi-AP Intel P35 Motherboard - $150
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4 Intel X38 Motherboard - $207

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports and only need semi-decent overclocking, check out the DS3L. If you need 5 SATA ports, 2 eSATA ports, slightly better overclocking, and a second PCI-E x16 port, then get the Neo2-Fr. If you want heavy overclocking options and six SATA ports, check out the Blood Iron. If you like the BloodIron but want significantly better overclock stability and options, go for the LanParty. If you want 8 SATA ports, RAID, legacy ports and high overclocks and optional eSATA, than the DS3R is a good choice. If you want the DS3R but need Firewire and a second PCI-E x16 port, then go for the DS3P. If you like the DS3P but need 3 PCI slots instead of the DS3P's 2 PCI slots and like having non-optional eSATA, go for the Asus P5K-E. If you like the P5K-E but need wifi, then go for the P5K-E/Wifi-AP. If you want something that can overclock pretty damn high along with RAID, eSATA ports and firewire connections, than the IP35 Pro. If you like the DS3P but want better cooling for overclocking, then go for the DS4. Do note that the Asus website can be slow sometimes.
 
I think I am going to stick with the 2 X 250GB RAID0 SATA 3GBs setup I had before. It is cheaper than the Raptor and I have absolutely no need for more space than that. I may go with the Q6700 for now because I have not tried overclocking before and I would rather have the faster processor for now and worry about overclocking later. .2 GHz isn't much but it is enough better if I don't overclock. The Zerotherm does look good and it did perform decently well in the [H] reviews.

The hard part about this is that down the road I will be getting a wide screen monitor that will be 24" or higher. For now I don't but I will at some point. Also, I am very finicky about motherboards. I have two ASUS AMD motherboards that have performed well for me but the options this time around aren't as good with ASUS for me. I like the reviews I have seen for the nForce 700 series and the one I listed above appears to perform well in most tests. As for video card, if I had the money, it would be a 9800 GX2 all the way. But I don't have that, so I am going for bank for my buck which is 2 X 9600 GTs in SLI (which will be great once I have a larger monitor).

So really I think memory, CPU, hard drives are constant now. But the tough choice is still motherboard and video card with video card leaning more towards the 2 X 9600 GTs.
 
alaracon said:
...with video card leaning more towards the 2 X 9600 GTs.
Click to expand...

I must ask why? Pricewise you play pretty much the same as you will for a 9800GTX and probably also get about the same performance but you get a much more complicated setup...
 
Alright, assuming I switch to the 9800 GTX, is there anything truly wrong with the motherboard I have chosen? I may eventually buy a second card if and when I do upgrade the monitor. Would it be better to buy an 8800 GTX or a 9800 GTX at this time?
 
alaracon said:
Alright, assuming I switch to the 9800 GTX, is there anything truly wrong with the motherboard I have chosen? I may eventually buy a second card if and when I do upgrade the monitor. Would it be better to buy an 8800 GTX or a 9800 GTX at this time?
Click to expand...

Good quote on SLI:

Markyip1 said:
Just some info on SLI / Crossfire: It's absolutely not worth considering if a) you're gaming at a resolution under 1920x1200 (as you'll see no performance benefit over a single card,) and b) if you plan to buy one card now and another later. SLI / Crossfire as an upgrade path is usually a very poor idea, as by the time you're ready to get that second card, a new single card solution will likely be available that will outperform two of your older cards in tandem. Furthermore, there really is no cost benefit to the SLI Upgrade Route, as any additional cost in getting the new card can be easily mitigated in most situations by selling the original. By avoiding an SLI / Crossfire solution when it will not be of benefit, you gain a cooler running, simpler to maintain system and more importantly, access to a much better (and broader) selection of motherboards.
Click to expand...

The motherboard itself isn't too bad BUT it's generally recommended around here to go with an Intel chipset whenever you can.
 
alaracon said:
Alright, assuming I switch to the 9800 GTX, is there anything truly wrong with the motherboard I have chosen? I may eventually buy a second card if and when I do upgrade the monitor. Would it be better to buy an 8800 GTX or a 9800 GTX at this time?
Click to expand...

Of the SLI enabled chipsets the 780 is probably the best choice. Although as already stated SLI as an upgrade is kind of silly, in that case the Intel boards are better in general.
 
Alright, makes sense. Going with 9800 GTX after re-reading a few reviews on here and on tomshardware.com for the 9800 GTX vs the 9600 GTs.

I now need to figure out motherboard...again. I am a big fan of ASUS but have heard of great things from many other companies to date. Should I look at X48 or the P35 series Intel motherboards. I want something that has a lot of options and is higher end. I expect to spend between $220 and $260 on a motherboard usually.
 
I'm extremely happy with the DFI P35 Dark T2RS. Great board for about $150 I think.

I'll also second the ZeroTherm. Great sink for the price and cools my OC'd E6750 very well.

Case wise, might I suggest the Coolermaster RC690? I picked mine up for about $70 after instant rebate and it's a great case.
 
Personally, im gettin a Maximus Formula from Asus... which i hear is a terrific mobo
In that price range i think u can get Rampage formula (x48 chipset)
 
Most of my parts or decently conservative but the case has to be humongous. :) It is the only thing I insist upon and I have built machines with the Armor Case before. I won't have to worry about things not fitting in that case.

Once I look at motherboards, I will post again with some of my choices.
 
The only thing I have against the X38 and X48 in this case is that he's not looking to go Crossfire. The P35 woul be just as fast in the real world for about $50-75 less.

Those are good boards though. Always wished Intel and NVidia would stop bickering and release SLI on those boards. Now that would rock!!
 
alaracon said:
Most of my parts or decently conservative but the case has to be humongous. :) It is the only thing I insist upon and I have built machines with the Armor Case before. I won't have to worry about things not fitting in that case.

Once I look at motherboards, I will post again with some of my choices.
Click to expand...

Well, the RC690 is pretty darn big and roomy. For perspective, more than enough room for SLI'd 8800GTX's and the honking big Zerotherm. :)

Great airflow as well.
 
Updated Template (going to buy from Newegg):

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail
Motherboard: ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6700 - Retail
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
Hard Drive: 2 X (RAID0) - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
DVD: ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail
CPU Cooler: ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler - Retail
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (going 64-bit)
Floppy Drive: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM (You never know...)

I am staying with the Thermaltake case with the 25CM Fan. I chose the ASUS Rampage Formula because [H] gave it a great review and it is an ASUS product. I am going with the 9800 GTX video card. I also went with the ZEROtherm cpu cooler. Other than that, everything is the same as it was before.
 
One more thing to note. Buying all of this in mass from Newegg brings the price to around $1740 before shipping. Not too bad for a decent system.
 
alaracon said:
Updated Template (going to buy from Newegg):

I chose the ASUS Rampage Formula because [H] gave it a great review and it is an ASUS product. ... I also went with the ZEROtherm cpu cooler.
Click to expand...

Does the ZEROtherm fit well on the Rampage?
 
I have now built two systems that have the ASUS Rampage Formula and the Zerotherm. They fit quite well and it isn't too much of a pain to get the heatsink on. Just make sure you have an extremely long screwdriver otherwise you will have to use an L-shaped screwdriver to tighten down the heatsink. The systems stay extremely cool with the Zerotherm.
 
gibsonm111 said:
Does the ZEROtherm fit well on the Rampage?
Click to expand...

pshted, you rezed this thread, thats the OP's job. Make your own lol.

But yes, I have no reason to believe it wouldn't fit.

As to the OP, well, the first couple posts were "wait for the new cards" and the new cards are here so ill play my bit:

Go with an HD4850, not because it will outperform the 9600GTs or even because its cheaper, do it because going with a single card means you can keep off yuckie Nvidia chipsets. 750i seems to be the only decent one out there, where as I have no beefs with any of Intel's chipsets aside from the minor thorn of ICH9's hdd incompatabillities and all the suck the IGP of the G3X lineup contains. I suggest P45. Crossfire or not is your choice.

Also, as its been said before, ditch the OCZ psu. The Corsair 750W is recomendable at its price, but after seeing the stellar numbers put out by the BFG LS series, I gotta put in a good word for the BFG 680W. That said, why do you want that much power anyways? With a single card (or even dual HD4850's) setup your not going to need more than a 500W PSU. For that reason I recomend the BFG 550W, lol, the ripple is flat. What more can be said?
 
He rezed it, but I did reply back to it.

I ended up with the Corsair 750W power supply and actually now have the 9800GX2 which I might step up to the newer generation of cards.

I am going overkill on the Corsair because a power outage blew out a power supply on my last machine. I would rather have a high electricity bill than have a machine that might possibly get overloaded (which happened to the last one so when it got hard shut down after power in my apartment went out...it just never came back up) and put me another $100 to $150 in the hole.

Regardless, I love my new system and it is working great.
 
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