New Rig[Wolfdale] Suggestions?

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Batmaninthehood

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Mar 12, 2008
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Should I wait for Nehalem?

Budget $1000-$1500(Willing to go over) - Gamer - Will upgrade to 4gb o' ram in the future - Want to go SLI in future - Price breakdown in spreadsheet(Don't know how to post?)

I want to shoot for 4.3-4.8ghz, Zalman recommendations? Water?

How are the DDR2/3 combo boards? Worth it?

All undecided, any advice is good advice.

Intel® Boxed Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 199.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Processor - 1333MHz FSB - 6MB L2 - 775-pin LGA Socket T - EU80570PJ0876M 289.99 --Worth the extra $100?(I think so)
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail 129.95
EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail 299.99
Kingston HyperX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2K2/4G - Retail 114.99
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 174.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve Black USB Wired Ergonomics Keyboard 2000 - OEM 12.99
Logitech G9 Laser Mouse 45.99
SAMSUNG 245BW Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustment 400 cd/m2 1000:1 (DC 3000:1) - Retail 469.99
Samsung SyncMaster 225BW - 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 700:1, 5ms, 1680 x 1050 299.99
ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 139.99
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 119.99 --- Nforce or not to Nforce?

Thanks!
 
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you really dont need to sli at that resolution. but if you must sli, either sli now or never. if your going air cooling youll prob want the thermalright 120 extreme with scythe s-flex fan or a zerotherm nirvana nv120 cpu cool which has allowed the e8400 to oc to 4.0ghz but dont know for e8500 yet. are you sure you want to pay $100 more for the e8500 when the e8400 can go to 4.0ghz already? if your not interested in the step up program how about get the xfx w/ free company of heroes $220 ($190 after rebate) and oc that? imho raptors are a waste of money. spend $100 on a 500gb harddrive instead. the new 7200rpm harddrives arent shabby and the speed difference in raptors are no longer worth it for that price. just stick with a ddr2 motherboard and ram because ddr3 is too expensive right now. theyll be cheaper when nehalem comes out. go with the g. skill ram instead. because your budget isnt low, you dont want to get cases with power supplies. you want to make sure that the power supply is reliable so its best to buy those two separately. a corsair 550vx should do and case is up to your personal likings. if your going 4gb or more of ram then get a 64bit os to support them.
 
Should I wait for Nehalem?

Mainly play COD4.

Will one of these boards support Nahalem?

I'm going to go XP64
I can ditch the raptor(No need for future RAID?), I have a few SATA 3gb/s drives.
SLI (Don't really need, would option be worth it?)

Is there a 24" lcd that doesn't ghost? Price gap?

Power supply recommendations?
 
Yah man, sounds or looks impressive to have 2 cards in your PC. But, the performance is not double that of a single card. If your gonna get SLI, you should play at high res like 1920 x 1200 with games that benefit from the SLI. I would shave the cost off your rig by ditching the Raptors, CPU, get 2 x2 gb RAM with Vista 64 O/S and get at least a good 24" lcd. I dunno how ppl can can get or build a high end PC but, get a small cheap LCD.
 
Batmaninthehood said:
Should I wait for Nehalem?
Click to expand...

Wait until you can no longer wait.

However, it won't be till this time next year that mainstream Nehalem CPUs and mobos. Even then, there might be some teething problems. In addition, the performance increase over current C2D CPUs haven't been confirmed yet. It could be a flop. It could be what the C2D was to the old Pentium D CPUs: dominating masters.

And no, not a single socket 775 motherboard will support Nehalem as Nehalem comes out in two different sockets, LGA 1160 for the mainstream and LGA 1366 for those hardcore performance/server enthusiasts.

As for PSU recommendations, don't bother looking for a new PSU if you're gonna keep the Antec Sonata III case. That case comes with a very good Earthwatts 500W PSU built by Seasonic. It has 34A on the +12V rail, which is plenty of power for your rig.

Also, Microcenter has no E8400 in stock for their online store. If you go to their B&M however, apparently they're still selling E8400s there for $180. Then again, they're also selling $200 Q6600 CPUs...
 
Danny Bui said:
As for PSU recommendations, don't bother looking for a new PSU if you're gonna keep the Antec Sonata III case. That case comes with a very good Earthwatts 500W PSU built by Seasonic. It has 34A on the +12V rail, which is plenty of power for your rig.
Click to expand...

yeah i take it back. i failed to notice that the psu was antec earthwatts which is a good brand.
 
Do this

Case - Antec Sonata with 500 watt PS
Cpu - E8400 or Q6600 good
Mobo - P35 board based on Intel P35 chipset for $80 - $140
Memory - 2 x 2gig DDR2 800 for Vista 64bit
Video - 1 x Geforce 8800GTS 512MB $215 for an MSI 8800GTS after rebate
HDD - 500gig Sata 300 for $100 (If you got a Sata drive use that and save $)
O/S Vista 64 bit Home Premium - $110

Rest of the $ get a good 24". Skip a 22" with only 1680 x 1050. I play COD4 on an 8800GT with a Q6600 stock at 1680 x 1050 with 4X AA enabled and some settings on high on my 28" lcd. 1920 x 1200 is a little too much on my 8800GT but, if you get an 8800GTS 512, I think you can run it at 1920 x 1200 just turn town AA to 2X and make the settings on medium. Or.. go with 1680 x 1050 res with 4X enabled and high setting. It will still look good on a 24"
 
Abu Som3a said:
Look around for similar builds.
Mouse:http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-910-000173-G9-Laser-Mouse/dp/B000UHE8Y2
KB saitek: http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemai...mc=EMC-IGNEFL030308-_-email-_-E0D-_-Moredeals

G2G
Click to expand...

Thnx for G9 link! reeped.

Amazon overcharged at 55.99 last night, I had a deposit from them for $10 this morning.:eek:
Hello from Amazon.com.

We're writing to confirm that we have processed your refund for USD
10.00 for the above-referenced order.
Click to expand...
 
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I agree that there is no need to consider SLI for your resolution. You will be much better served by a P35 based motherboard.

If you need a new computer now, build now. If you can wait a year, then wait. Nehelem is poised to offer a substantial performance jump over Core 2 (on the level of Core 2 over P4,) but of course we won't know for sure until we know. The fact of the matter is that technology always moves forward, so playing the waiting game when you're due for a new rig is seldom worthwhile.
 
/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

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):

E8400: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << STOCK
E8400: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Nice OC
E8400: 9 × 445 = 4.0Ghz, DDR2-890 << Good OC
E8400: 9 × 500 = 4.5Ghz, DDR2-1000 << Great OC

E8500: 9.5 × 333 = 3.1Ghz, DDR2-667 << STOCK
E8400: 9.5 × 400 = 3.8Ghz, DDR2-800 << Nice OC
E8400: 9.5 × 433 = 4.1Ghz, DDR2-866 << Good OC
E8400: 9.5 × 500 = 4.7Ghz, DDR2-1000 << Great OC
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/

As you can see above, no, the E8500 is NOT worth the price premium over the E8400 (E8500 just has a 0.5 higher CPU multiplier); and no, the E8400 is not worth more than $200. The Q6600 is $200 at microcenter, and only $255 online now, so its a better value than the E8400 if the prices are still inflated on the E8400s.

I agree with everyone else, you don't need SLI for a 22" monitor unless all you really want to play is Crysis at high settings -- even then, I don't think its worth the price premium, lol. Since you don't need SLI, go for a P35 board instead. If you don't need anything fancy, the Abit IP35-E and Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (if you need legacy ports) are your good-but-cheap options (they can OC great w/ better chipset cooling). If you need more (6) SATA ports, the DFI Blood Iron and MSI P35 Neo2-FR are good. If you need RAID, the GA-P35-DS3R is good and has 8 SATA ports. If you need Firewire, the Asus P5K fits the bill. If you want/need both RAID and Firewire, check out the Abit IP35 non-pro, if you can find it in stock (typically $120 - $25MIR). The higher end boards are the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P, DS4, Asus P5K-E, and the crowd favorite, Abit IP35 Pro. If you want to tweak a billion BIOS settings, go for a DFI P35 board.

Ditch the raptor... its old and no longer has a huge edge over current HDD offerings. If you really want one, wait for the new ones that should be out by summer. In the meantime, pickup a WD3200AAKS-00B3A0 instead, if you can find one -- if you can't verify the B3 in that model #, then its luck of the draw (you may get a 2-platter drive that isn't as fast as the single platter drive).

Avg Transfer Rate, Access Time: HDD info, Price I paid (except for raptor - twas a gift)
**note, these figures come from HDTune, a synthetic benchmark for HDDs.

112MB/s, 13.2ms: RAID0 'cuda's, 600GB total, $120 (ICH9R on P35-DS3R)
90MB/s, 16.5ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS-00B3A0, $95 (NEW single 320GB/platter)
78MB/s, 08.2ms: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB, $160
76MB/s, 13.7ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB, $150
72MB/s, 15.4ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB, $65
68MB/s, 13.3ms: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $60
62MB/s, 15.3ms: Samsung HD501LJ 500GB, $105
52MB/s, 14.0ms: WD Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB, $70

Nehalem is Intel's new architecture, scheduled for release in Q4'08. Mainstream parts should come in the following quarter (Q1'09). Nehalem will include an integrated memory controller (ICM; a current feature of the AMD K8 CPUs) and a new tech called Quick Path Interconnect (QPI; similar to AMD's HyperTransport). You will need a new motherboard (socket B; LGA1366) and most likely DDR3 for this platform. The performance improvement is expected to be big, but as Danny said, we don't know how much of an improvement over Penryn/Conroe. So, if you can wait a year, do so. Otherwise, now is always a good time to buy if you need something.
 
Batmaninthehood said:
What about PCIE 2.0?

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail 189.99
Click to expand...

The DS4 (nor other P35 boards) doesn't have PCI-E 2.0. If you really really want PCI-E 2.0, then wait a month or so for the Eaglelake chipset (P45/G45/X48). You don't really need PCI-E 2.0 right now, but if you can wait for it, go ahead. Right now, the price premium for an X38 or nF 780i isn't worth it if all you really want is PCI-E 2.0.
 
This is what TomsH said:

For now, the move from PCI Express 1.0a to 2.0 does not result in a performance increase with the current crop of graphics cards. Despite the fact that it doesn't feature the PCIe 2.0 interface, ATI's Radeon HD2900 XT gains two percent more performance, as do the HD3850 and HD3870, as well as Nvidia's Geforce 8800 GT. Such a small improvement could have many causes completely unrelated to the new interface, such as the newer chipset, slightly higher system memory frequency, or simply margin of error.

Whether or not upgrading to a P35 or X38 based motherboard is a worthwhile investment for a single-card system is a matter of personal preference. If you're building a new system from the ground up, we would recommend choosing an X38 board with dual x16 connections for a Crossfire setup. Upgrading a Crossfire system from an Intel 975X or P35 chipset to an X38 will only pay off if you play at resolutions of 1920x1200 or higher.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to stick with P35.
 
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