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General Intel Gaming Build

X

Xephis

n00b
Joined
Apr 6, 2008
Messages
5
Pretty common build going around, just wanting advice on specifics, possible hiccups and anything I'm not seeing.

Primarily a gaming box along with everyday life and a little photoshop on the side. Gaming: FPS/RTS/Sim, wow/Crysis/FEAR/Fantasy wars and such space/fantasy sim. Also wanting to get ready for Starcraft2, Spore, and the stuff around the bend. Currently running a 20'' dell wide screen on 1680x1050, but there's a good chance I'll bring in a 24'' alongside it soon and push up to 1900xwhatever. I'd probably use both monitors in that case.

Money isn't a huge deal, but upcoming bills are telling me to shop smart.

Current outline

CPU: Either E8400 or Q6600. I seem to change my mind on a daily basis. Both coming out at about $200, and Fry's is a 15 minute drive, but the 8400's seem to outperform in most of the stuff I tend to be doing.
Graphics:MSI GeForce 8800GTS(512) - $199/MIB. Price/performance can't seem to be beaten.
Mobo: DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $140 Stability/OC potential/outputs.
Ram: A-Data 4GB kit for $70 - $20MIR. Good price and haven't heard complaints so far.
PSU: Corsair 550VX. $84/$70MIB
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 $70 I can't stand working with small boxes.
Cooling: Either current Newegg deal on the XigmaTek 120 Rifle or the seemingly popular Zerotherm Nirvana NV120.
Also, do these come with thermal paste or do I need to buy extra, and I've heard some talk about using clamps to secure the fan? Are better clamps something I should worry about? Once it's in it wont be moved, but there's the occasional lanparty or time I need to take my comp to another house.
Quick estimate comes out about 800, I could go up to 1k and be okay with it if I needed to, but saving for future extras is also prime.

Hard Drives are covered and I find onboard sound fine. Appreciate your time/help/suggestions.
 
It looks good. You might want to get a q6600 because "4ghz" is more for bragging, but 4 cores would be very nice for vid editing and CS3.

I'd go for better quality ram. If you get e8400, get 1066 memory, otherwise ddr2=800 is fine for q6600.

i like gigabyte ds3r. Asus is good too. I don't know much about the DFI board.

what is your cpu cooling going to be? Quads will be hot. C2D ? U're fine with arctic 7 pro.
 
Solid man solid. Since your PC is primarily gaming and prices are about the same for the two cpus, I would just get that E8400 cpu. However, since you have a local microcenter nearby, I might just opt for a Q6600 cpu purchase locally. The E8400 will be faster but, nothing really dramatic to where you will notice a big difference. That 8800GTS card will be more than adequate for 1680 x 1050 gaming on that 20".
 
I am building a system with a similar budget and went through some of there same decisions...

CPU: Either E8400 or Q6600. I seem to change my mind on a daily basis. Both coming out at about $200, and Fry's is a 15 minute drive, but the 8400's seem to outperform in most of the stuff I tend to be doing.
Click to expand...

Well they are both great values. However at 1680x1050 you are going to be GPU limited in basically everything gaming related. Sure E8400 will benchmark a few thing better at 1024x768, however I can bet you are never going to be playing games in that low of a resolution. Given that, the Q6600 might be a better choice with more thing supporting extra cores all the time, and overall system performance when multitasking is better. I care more about system performance when I have a bunch of crap running than I care about playing games in low resolution. Having said that, if this is a pure gaming PC, you really do not have to worry about multitasking too much.

Cooling: Either current Newegg deal on the XigmaTek 120 Rifle or the seemingly popular Zerotherm Nirvana NV120.
Also, do these come with thermal paste or do I need to buy extra, and I've heard some talk about using clamps to secure the fan? Are better clamps something I should worry about? Once it's in it wont be moved, but there's the occasional lanparty or time I need to take my comp to another house.
Click to expand...

I mashed my head on a heatsink decision for a while recently, then I ordered a Freezer 7 Pro, immediately regretted it (before it showed up). Then I went with the Xigmatek. Its cheaper some people would argue that it cools better than a ZeroTherm anyway. The Xigmatek comes with a small thing of thermal compound.
 
Will that Ram hold up on a Q6600 cpu? Should I be going for higher end speed, or just a more solid brand? Price range would be good too.

Maybe CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit? $134/$94 w/MIB

Or should I be thinking about going up to 1066? Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel $114/$99

I've had my rig for about 4 years, so this will be a huge upgrade for me. Pinching myself to wait out and ensure everything is good, and not go slam some buy buttons.
 
With a Q6600, you don't need RAM faster than DDR2 800. And you'll see no performance difference between CL4 and CL5 RAM. Stick with a cheap 4GB kit of CL5 DDR2 800 memory; NewEgg has several brands/models available for under $80 per kit (A-DATA, Geil, G.Skill, and Mushkin are the more popular choices).
 
dump the adata ram, grab the gskill, stay away from the xms. stick with the ddr2 800 as tiraides has said. 2x2gb.

if you want to burn a hole in your wallet and have minor regrets, just copy and paste my sig in newegg and buy buy buy.

also, if you can stand it, you mentioned you like larger cases and i see you're already headed for a coolermaster. why not just bite the bullet and spend 250 on the monstrous Evolution 830. did i mention it has wheels on its base? it also has wheels below its chassis. if you push it accross a wood floor, it'll roll if you install the wheel base. wheels are awesome. i havent installed mine because the case doesnt even fit under my desk. hits the keyboard tray. need another half inch or it wont fit. (lol)
 
ddr2-800 is fine because you're not likely to go past 400x9 anyway. OCZ Plats are very good. GSkill and corsair is good too.
 
A-DATA RAM is fine... otherwise we wouldn't be recommending it.

However, I have yet to hear a legitimate complaint over G.Skill RAM, so it's a good alternative.

With today's prices, it's ludicrous to spend over $100 on 4GB of DDR2 RAM... unless they magically bump the prices up overnight (which I doubt...).
 
Apathy said:
if you want to burn a hole in your wallet and have minor regrets, just copy and paste my sig in newegg and buy buy buy.
Click to expand...
Lol, our Intel systems are almost identical.

OP: I'd say grab the Q6600 with G.Skill or AData RAM (whichever is cheaper) and along with your Q6600, pick up the NV120 HSF.
 
I agree with tiraides, A-Data RAM is fine. I have no clue how their customer service is, though, lol. But the dozen or so kits I've used from them work great (especially back in the day when those p965 boards couldn't boot without 1.8v sticks). The 4GB kit can OC nicely, too, if needed.
 
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