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Alexdagre8

n00b
Joined
Jul 15, 2007
Messages
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Hi fellow forum members,

I am building a Q6600 based rig. I know Its like the millionth one in the forums, but guys please help. Money is bit short as the budget is around £1550 with shipping. I am not scavenging any parts from the old build except a HDD. I have not decided on the GPU as there are rumours about new cards from Nvidia and I don't like to get a expensive card if it get outdated the next week (It happend to me earlier with a 7950GX2). I am also planning to OC the Processor to 3-3.2Ghz hopefully and also GPU will probably get OCed.The speakers should be good but doesn't need to be loud as I live in a small flat. A good headset would even suffice(are there any good 5.1 headsets?).

Components

CASE - Antec P182 (£82.24)

MOBO - Gigabyte GA_X38_DQ6 (£170.36)

CPU - Intel Core 2 Q6600 G0 (£176.24)

COOLER - Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme + S-FLEX 1600RPM 120mm + AS5 = (£45.81)+(£12.91)+(£7.04)

GPU - ATI HD 2900PRO/XT / Nvidia 8800GTX Or ?

RAM - Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 PC2-8500C5 (£82.24)

HDD - Scavenged Seagate 7200.10 500GB

SC - Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty (£90.46)

DVD - Samsung 20X DVD±RW DL SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (£22.31)

PSU - Thermaltake ToughPower 750W (£82.24)

MONITOR - Samsung SM-215TW (£234.99)

SPK/HP -Not Decided

KB - Logitech G15 (£55.21)

MOUSE - Logitech G9 (£58.74)

OS - MS Windows Vista HP 32-Bit OEM (£70.49)

PCI WIFI -No Idea what to get. Linux drivers required

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers to all,

Alex
 
If you don't need crossfire, don't bother with a crossfire chipset. Current graphics cards can barely saturate the current bandwidth of the PCI-E 16x slot, so you'll be good for a few years, at least, even without PCI-E 2.0. So, go for a P35 board instead. Check out the Abit IP35-E, IP35, IP35 Pro, Asus P5K, P5K-E, and the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, P35-DS3R, and P35-DS4 instead. Go with whichever one has the features you need.

Since you don't plan on going too high of an OC, get the Tuniq Tower if its cheaper, or the Ultima90 + Panaflo Hydrowave 92mm fan instead.

You don't need Ballistix for a good OC on a Q6600, nor do you need DDR2-1066 RAM. Drop down to some cheaper DDR2-800 kit instead.

Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
(CPU Multiplier) x [Base FSB speed] = CPU Clock speed
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = Effective FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

Q6600: 9 × 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 × 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756 << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping

As you can see, all you need is some DDR2-800. Also, you won't notice the difference between CL4 and CL5, so don't pay a huge price premium for lower latency. The only time you'll see a difference is in benchmarks, and even then, the difference is negligible. See if you can get some G.Skill NQ sticks, 2GB DDR2-800. They should be significantly cheaper than the Ballistix/1066.
 
Which graphics card should I get? AMD HD2900PRO/XT OR NV 8800GTX Or is wiser to wait and see if Nvidia or AMD is releasing any new cards
 
I think you should hold on to your 7950GX2 for now, until the successor to the 8800 series comes out.

What are the specs of your old system?
Why are you upgrading?
What size monitor do you have?
What games do you play?
 
MOBO - Asus P5W DH
CPU - Intel Core 2 X6800
GPU - 7950GX2
RAM - 2 X Corsair 6400C4 2GB Kit
HDD - Seagate 7200.10 500GB
2 X WD Raptor 150GB
SC - Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty /w IO panel
DVD - LG 16X DVD-RW
PSU - Asus 550W
Monitor - Asus PW191
KB Mouse - G15 + G7

I am getting a new pc because I moved and getting the old rig shipped from Sri Lanka will be a pain

EDIT: I am buying the pc mostly for my regular work ,but it should be capable to play

Bioshock
Crysis
UT3
HL2 EP2
TF 2
STALKER
COH
 
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