Gaming Rig Help

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GrimWD

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Dec 29, 2007
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Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums.

I need help with a new gaming rig I am planning to put together. I am going to be a first time builder, or considering AVADirect if I get cold feet.

I multitask ALOT, play a lot of games, and in general tend to push my system pretty hard. My problem is that I don't upgrade often - I am currently still using a 4 year old P4 with a 128mb GeForxe 5X. While I don't upgrade often, I do like to splash big to get a rig that will last me a while. I'm looking to build/buy this system around mid January, and I had some questions regarding the specs.

Because I want something really high end that will last at least 2-3 years, I've been leaning towards the qx9650 - and pushing it to 4ghz, but with all the talk about the Nehalem processors being such a huge leap from what we have/are getting soon - would it be best to wait and purchase one of those high ends instead to last for a while, or would the qx9650 do the trick? I was considering getting a q9450 providing its out by mid-January as a stop gap to play around with, and to get me off this old machine, and then jump in for a new mobo/cpu at the end of the year when Nehalem comes out.

What would be the best way to do this? I would need DDR3 RAM, but would it be better to purchase that when nehalem comes out, or get it now and not end up having to purchase RAM twice? If so, what are some good DDR2 mobos that support the q9450 and will be really good at overclocking?

With a stop gap mobo+cpu, I still want to get high end components for the rest of the computer. Are raptors in RAID 0 really a noticeable difference opposed to a single raptor paired with a large storage drive?

Regarding the GPU, I have heard whispers about the Geforce 9 series - would that be something I should be looking at with my time frame(mid to late Jan), or should I just settle for an 8800 GTX?

While I can accept having a stop-gap cpu/mobo if it is worth it, I don't want to be building a system that is going to be almost completely replaced by the end of the year. I'm looking to get as many of the components of a "beast" now, and only have the mobo/cpu upgrade for later in the year. I'm not planning on sticking with this new system for 4 years like I did with my current one, but I am planning for it to last a while, and would like some feedback/recommendation as I haven't really followed the tech scene too closely recently.
 
If you want me to help you, first I would suggest you to forget the QX CPU because it is not worth it at all. I would suggest you to go through this thread first.
 
Right now is a great time to upgrade. You can either get 45nm brand new tech or alot cheaper 65nm tech. If you are waiting for intels Nehalem I would go with the 65nm cheapies (and oh, so good).

I used to run Raid 0 Raptor hds and... it is not worth it. Just get a single raptor for games and a 1Tb for storage... or whatever suites your needs. I use Western digital exclusively.

If you can avoid SLI I would! Do not go that route unless you need to push 2560x1600 resolution. I use single 8800gtx on a 24 " at 1920x1200 just fine.

Video cards are the tough thing right now. I would go middle of the road (8800gt) if you don't want to spend top dollar only to have the 9 series pop out.

If you avoid SLI the best bet is a P35 Intel MB (DDR2 version) from what I understand.

DDR2 is so cheap right now go with that until the Nehalem come out and need DDR3 or ... whatever.

If you can build it yourself, and you should be able to I would. It will save you lots of money plus it is a good experience. The hardest part is knowing where to connect all the wires, and tiny motherboard wires if you have fat fingers (like me). Manuals should show you where all wires connect.

I would get a modular power supply to make installation easier/ cleaner. Corsair HX520 is great, so is the HX620.

Good luck.

Ps. New Egg or Clubit are very reputable.
 
JOESKURTU said:
Right now is a great time to upgrade. You can either get 45nm brand new tech or alot cheaper 65nm tech. If you are waiting for intels Nehalem I would go with the 65nm cheapies (and oh, so good).

I used to run Raid 0 Raptor hds and... it is not worth it. Just get a single raptor for games and a 1Tb for storage... or whatever suites your needs. I use Western digital exclusively.

If you can avoid SLI I would! Do not go that route unless you need to push 2560x1600 resolution. I use single 8800gtx on a 24 " at 1920x1200 just fine.

Video cards are the tough thing right now. I would go middle of the road (8800gt) if you don't want to spend top dollar only to have the 9 series pop out.

If you avoid SLI the best bet is a P35 Intel MB (DDR2 version) from what I understand.

DDR2 is so cheap right now go with that until the Nehalem come out and need DDR3 or ... whatever.

If you can build it yourself, and you should be able to I would. It will save you lots of money plus it is a good experience. The hardest part is knowing where to connect all the wires, and tiny motherboard wires if you have fat fingers (like me). Manuals should show you where all wires connect.

I would get a modular power supply to make installation easier/ cleaner. Corsair HX520 is great, so is the HX620.

Good luck.

Ps. New Egg or Clubit are very reputable.
Click to expand...

QFT...

Here's what I would do, if I were you:

-Q6600, G0 stepping preferrable
-512mb 8800gts or 8800gt, depending upon your resolution - upgrade as needed
-4x2gb DDR2 (check the hotdeals section)
-a P35 mobo (I'd go with some flavor of P5K or DS3)
-A quality 500+ Watt PSU (again, check the hotdeals section)
-A cheap X-Fi (hardware-based) sound card (X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, for instance)
-A decent set of headphones or speakers (my recommendations - Senn HD555 or such for headphones, Logitech z5300 for speakers)
24+ inch (or bigger!) widescreen LCD (the $300 Soyo model sold at OfficeMax is nice)

Overclock, overclock, overclock! Nuff said...

Note - Ditch the raptor idea and go with a WD7500AAKS, 500gb+ 7200.11, or a 1TB drive - much better bang/buck, with similar performance. Make sure to make a seperate OS partition (~30-50gb). RAID 0 can improve long, sequential operations (think video editing, etc), but for most people it's not worth it.

Happy hunting!
 
The main problem with the coming Intel chips is that they have a really low multiplier, which is simply something that we will have to live with as the FSB speed rises. You might have heat and stability issues if you run such a high speed FSB. So, you could try some higher end active cooling, water in particular, if you wanted, but that would be a lot of hassle and money. Instead, just stick with a slightly slower processor speed, you will not lose out on that much at all.

As for the graphics card, I have personally recommended people to stay away from the new GTS, as I don't believe that it is enough of an improvement over the much cheaper and only slightly slower GT. So go for the latter.

As SEALTeamSix said, look for a good quality power supply, Corsair HX520 in particular, and a quality motherboard. I would recommend my board, the P5K-E Wifi, but several other boards are just as good.
 
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