New rig specs, any suggestions?

[mpegripper]

Hey guys - let me know what you think

asus a8n sli premium
x2 3800+
seasonic s12 600 watt
thermalright xp-120 with 120mm silenx fan
evga 7800gt with zalman vf700-Cu

Grand Total= $1,185

i already have the following:
lian-li case
1gb twinx
hard drives
dvd burner
monitor
audigy 4


plus, anyone know when the 7800 ultra will be coming out? hoping for a possible price drop on the 7800 gt

TIA

 

[name]

7800 Ultra Q. Looks like "never" is the answer, but who knows for sure?:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=949877

Just OC that GT and be happy.

Also, take a look at the Zalmaan CNPS9500 LED cooler. Apparently its a great performer:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/zalman-cnps9500.html

Also, I dont know what kind of $$ you are looking to spend, but if you want to future proof this rig, go ahead and spring for 2gb of RAM. In my experience, even some current games (F.E.A.R., BF2) benefit greatly from it, and later games/apps surely will.

Hope this helps; good luck!

 

[mpegripper]

the cnps-9500 isn't out yet right?

when is it due out?

 

[cooter]

Wow, That Zalman cooler looks great.

 

[name]

I looked around on the internet and, turns out, the cnps9500 was released in July, but not internationally. The following sites have it for sale. So, you would have to wait - if it performs as well as the reviews say, though, it is probably worth it. You could always just stick with the stock hsf until then, let the x2 burn in before you OC....

http://sharkacomputers.com/zacn95ledcpu.html
http://www.quietpcusa.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=8&Product_ID=266&CATID=3

 

[mpegripper]

thanks for the heads up name

i really want that thing now that i know its coming out soon

i was also thinking about the msi sli platinum neo 4 board...anyone think one or the other is better, my only concern with the msi is fitting the vf700 on the video card and still having room for the second video card later

 

[name]

After reading Hardocp's review of the MSI K8N, it would seem that it was the dominant board - it easily beat the Asus, and every other tested board, in almost every bench/game. Other sites echoed this praise (although they all mentioned the potential clearance problem for large cards in SLI). However, at the end of this particular review there is a disclaimer stating that:

"We at HardOCP are sorry to report that this MSI K8N Neo4 motherboard has experienced errors in the field with overclockers. There seem to be some bugs that MSI cannot fix that are specific to this board that we never experienced in our testing. That said, we are pulling our award given, and advise you to look elsewhere should you be in the market for an enthusiast motherboard."

It doesn't say exactly what the problems are, but I am sure you can dig them up if you scrounge around the net a bit. If you want to read for yourself, here is the link to the review:

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0LDE=

After reading that disclaimer, and taking into account potential space issues (cards aren't getting smaller), it seems as though you should just stick with the Asus A8N-SLI; Hardocp usually knows whats up.

 

[mpegripper]

anyone have any comments about the seasonic s12 600watt

i want sli certified and silentpcreview should a good review as well as a good noise to cfm ratio

TIA

 

[mpegripper]

So I bought the following today:

Asus A8N Premium SLI
x2 3800+
eVGA 7800GT
Zalman VF700-Cu
Seasonic S12 600Watt
Total=$1130

And I also got Half-Life 2(already own one anyway) and Battlefield 2 for free

 

[dlion]

I know it's a bit after the fact, but I think you made some wise choices

 

[mpegripper]

thanks