Please review my build list

K

krike

n00b
Joined
Jan 12, 2007
Messages
23
I've been convinced by these forums to build my own "high" end rig rather than pay overdrive or maingear to do it. Can the resident geniuses please take a look at my build list and let me know of any changes i should make for: 1. better performance or quality (without a big price spike), 2. incompatibilities, 3. lower performance or quality (with a big price drop....like using an overclocked e6700 instead of an extreme chip). Thanks in advance!

1. Silverstone TJ09 - $300
2. Asus P5N-E SLI - $150
3. (2) BFG 8800GTX - $1200 (should i get the model with the cooling block or only if i want to overclock the GPUs?)
4. Enermax Galaxy 1000W - $350
5. E6700 - $510
6. 2 x 1GB Corsair Dominator PC2 6400 - $480
7. 2 x 74GB 10K Raptors (Raid 0) = $320
8. LG 17x Super Multi - $30.
9. Corsair nautilus 500 cooler - $150.
 
krike said:
I've been convinced by these forums to build my own "high" end rig rather than pay overdrive or maingear to do it. Can the resident geniuses please take a look at my build list and let me know of any changes i should make for: 1. better performance or quality (without a big price spike), 2. incompatibilities, 3. lower performance or quality (with a big price drop....like using an overclocked e6700 instead of an extreme chip). Thanks in advance!

1. Silverstone TJ09 - $300
2. Asus P5N-E SLI - $150
3. (2) BFG 8800GTX - $1200 (should i get the model with the cooling block or only if i want to overclock the GPUs?)
4. Enermax Galaxy 1000W - $350
5. E6700 - $510
6. 2 x 1GB Corsair Dominator PC2 6400 - $480
7. 2 x 74GB 10K Raptors (Raid 0) = $320
8. LG 17x Super Multi - $30.
Click to expand...

Somethings are WAY too high priced and you can get the same quality in less priced parts:

1. It's a nice case would change it to a Lian Li case that it $170 cheaper
2.Either get a IntelXBX2 975X/Asus P5W or a EVGA 680i if you really want SLI all of them will OC much better
3. 2 BFG 8800GTX's! OVERKILL! You just need one now b/c your CPU will bottleneck the GPU in most areas but if you want 2 go ahead
4.I recommend this PSU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256009
5. You dont need a E6700 get a E6600 instead, its cheaper and you get the same results
6. There is cheaper RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034
7. Recommend one WD Raptor 36.7GB for OS and 2 320GB Seagates in Raid 0 + 1 for better reliability
8. No disagreements there.

It a good system but you can get cheaper parts for the same quality, wish you luck! ;) :p :D :eek:
 
1. I would instead get a E6600 and overclock it with a Thermaltake Big Typhoon or something of the like. You'll get better performance than an E6700 with the stock fan and the price will be a good deal cheaper overall.

2. Don't get a second 8800GTX yet. You'll find that the 8800GTX can handle most games, at high (if not highest) settings, on just about any resolution. If you really need another one, get it later when you find out you need it (the price will have dropped as well).

3. You're going to find that, while 2 74GB raptors in raid 0 are going to be freakishly fast, it won't justify the $320 spent, especially with only 74GB of usable space. I'd just get a 320GB Seagate Barracuda for like $90.

Edit: CptFalcon beat me to the punch on a lot of things. :)
 
1. I'd try a better board than the P5N-E with 2 8800GTX's. Like the eVGA 680i board..
2. Don't get the Galaxy. Try, for the same price, the Silverstone Olympia 1kw. Single railed of doom.
 
okay, you guys have dropped me about 1400 bucks...rock on.

How much performance drop will I see with the single barracuda instead of twin 74s? Does it affect gameplay, say in SOE's new Vanguard MMO?

I won't be using the rig for anything but games, no storage, no publishing, no 20 speakers in my room, etc.

if i wait on the 2nd 8800, does it have to be the same manufacturer, or can you SLI 2 cards made by different folks?

I forgot to add the corsair nautilus 500 in my original post for cooling the CPU.

thanks again for the great advice.
 
A single seagate won't effect your performance. Your load times will be a little better than average with the single seagate instead of insanely fast with the raptors, that's all. You could also RAID two seagates like CptFalcon said if you want.

If you get a 2nd 8800GTX later, it can be from a different manufacturer as long as they are the same card.

Good luck, you're making a pretty badass system that puts mine to shame. :)
 
I'd recommend to get a EVGA 8800GTX b/c of their lifetime warranty and their step-up program.
 
What's with the EVGA superclocked gtx on newegg? Does that just mean they overclock it before they send it to you? If so, i guess the benefit is you get an overclocked GPU with the warranty still in place for an extra 20 dollars?
 
Yep, pretty much. I too recommend eVGA, because my friend has been dealing with BFG for a month trying to RMA his 7800GTX and they still won't send him one. With my eVGA 7900GT, I submitted the RMA request online, and they had a new one on the truck the very next day, along with prepaid stickers to send back the broken one.
 
I decided to go with this drive....i just don't need much space...right now my machine with my games and all my wife's pictures and crap only uses 30 gig.

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

I switched to this Lian Li case for $219. LIAN LI PC-V1200Bplus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case.

I can't believe i can build this rig for 2K. I bought a dell about 4 years ago (before i became educated) with a p4 3.0g and that crappy rambus stuff for like 2600.
 
Guess I'll also go with Dell's 24" widescreen and logitechs g15 and g5.

My wife's Tetris is gonna rock on this rig :)
 
krike said:
I decided to go with this drive....i just don't need much space...right now my machine with my games and all my wife's pictures and crap only uses 30 gig.

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

I switched to this Lian Li case for $219. LIAN LI PC-V1200Bplus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case.

I can't believe i can build this rig for 2K. I bought a dell about 4 years ago (before i became educated) with a p4 3.0g and that crappy rambus stuff for like 2600.
Click to expand...

I still recommend that you buy a WD Raptor 36.7GB just for the OS and critical apps
(I.E. firewall, drivers and etc.) and another drive for storage like I have. It's cheaper in the long run and has good performance as well.
 
CptFalcon said:
I still recommend that you buy a WD Raptor 36.7GB just for the OS and critical apps
(I.E. firewall, drivers and etc.) and drive for storage like I have. It's cheaper in the long run and has good performance as well.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm gonna ask two noob questions:

1. How do you point the puter to use one drive for the OS?
2. Where the best how-to-build FAQ on the net, cuz this will be my first?
 
krike said:
Okay, I'm gonna ask two noob questions:

1. How do you point the puter to use one drive for the OS?
2. Where the best how-to-build FAQ on the net, cuz this will be my first?
Click to expand...

1. When you install the OS (Operating System) it will ask which drive do you want to install it to.

2. I have no idea, I just learned as I went.
 
krike said:
Okay, I'm gonna ask two noob questions:

1. How do you point the puter to use one drive for the OS?
2. Where the best how-to-build FAQ on the net, cuz this will be my first?
Click to expand...

Well, for #1, there are two things at play here:

- If you install two hard drives on one channel (IE., use one connector for both), you'd have to set the HDD with the OS as master and the other as slave. This isn't a factor for you, however, as you're using SATA and there will be more than enough connectors for 2 HDDs anyway.

- For two hard drives on two channels (which is what you'd be doing), all you have to do is load in the Windows XP CD (or whatever OS you plan on using), tell it to install onto the hard drive you want it to install on, and presto... if there's any problem with it booting, all you'd probably have to do is go into the boot settings under the BIOS and switch out the boot order so your hard drive with the OS is on top.

For #2, I don't really know of any FAQs off the top of my head... but most manuals nowadays are pretty straight-forward and installation isn't so bad that you couldn't ask people here on [H] a few questions now and then should they arise.
 
Ok, I still can't choose a case. There are like 40 Lian Li cases, of which i cant tell the difference...thermaltake also has lots of nice cases....can any1 just give a great one to get for the cash? and i don't care about looks or lights.
 
i have build envy. ;) :D

the thermaltake cases are nice (i own one) but the Lian Li cases are well designed, and very high quality.

just pick something that you like the looks of, and has the features you want. it takes some researching, but you'll get there.

both of your drives should be SATA, so you won't be daisy chaining them on an IDE cable (and you won't need to bother about setting a master and slave - as mentioned by PWMK2). when you're setting up windows after the build, you'll be able to choose which one will be the system disk.

i don't know of any FAQs online for a build (mostly because they're all pretty unique.) just make sure that everything is properly plugged in and secured before you power up. spend some time in the bios getting acclamated, and makign sure everything is set up properly.

also, best tip ever: have another PC tuned up to [H]ard Forums nearby should you have any questions. :D

zv
 
Bbq said:
1. I'd try a better board than the P5N-E with 2 8800GTX's. Like the eVGA 680i board..
2. Don't get the Galaxy. Try, for the same price, the Silverstone Olympia 1kw. Single railed of doom.
Click to expand...

the Galaxy actually has two 12v rails, really.. each 12v rail with it's own transformer and has a theoretical top end of 80A according to the parts used.. 2x 80A = wow. granted, they would probably not put out that much, but it's still a force to be reconded with. plus it derives it's 3.3v and 5v seperately.. and many more smart build mechanics go into this power supply.. this is a great read on it..

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/365

I don't doubt the olympia is also very powerful and good, but the galaxy should not be overlooked because of the supposed 5 rail architecture.. it's not so.. plus it's got some modular plugs which is very nice for keeping things tidy in the case. :)
 
after all the advice, i've decided to go back with the silverstone tj09 and enermax galazy 1000W and and a 37 10k raptor OS drive with a 250 caviar se16 data drive. final cost at 2400ish with the logitech inputs.
 
Well, I finally finished my first build. Ended up using:

TJ09 Case
1000W Enermax (had a weird problem with this...talk about it down below)
E6600
evga8800 GTX
evga 680i mb
dominator 8500 2x1mb
36g raptor and 250g caviar16
nautilus 500 water cooler

Can't believe I did it without breaking anything but the machine runs perfectly. Not too loud either. The little nvidia northbridge fan actually makes the most noise. Do I really need this? I have 3 120mm case fans. The processor runs at about 27 to 30 degrees. Next task is to overclock.

The Enermax I ordered showed up miss-wired. Instead of the 8pin CPU power plug, it had two red 8pin plugs that were labeled GPU only. Weird, anyway, I sent it back and picked up another one at a local store and it worked fine.

I downloaded the new driver for the 8800 to run with vista. Do I need to download any other drivers if everything is running smoothly?

Below are my 3dmark scores.

3DMark Score 9664 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score 4551 Marks

SM 3.0 Score 4688 Marks

CPU Score 2008 Marks

Thanks for everyone's help on this build.
 
Get an EVGA 8800 GTX

higher clock, better support, good company, excelent products and easily overclocked
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top