Q6600 tips

[occlueless]

Hello Friends,

Well i want to build a new system based on a Q600 CPU - (I will use autocad 2008 in this system - xp pro).
I like Asus - i'm considering to use another Asus board.
Memory: 2 - 4 gig good reliavable ?
harddrive: ?
graphicss: ? 8800 GTS ?
CD / DVD burner

i will keep my 21" gateway monitor
i dont want to max my credit card - but i also want my next upgrade to be in 3 or 4 years from now.


HELP PLEASE ................

 

[engiNURD]

Hello Friends,

Well i want to build a new system based on a Q600 CPU - (I will use autocad 2008 in this system - xp pro).
I like Asus - i'm considering to use another Asus board.
Memory: 2 - 4 gig good reliavable ?
harddrive: ?
graphicss: ? 8800 GTS ?
CD / DVD burner

i will keep my 21" gateway monitor
i dont want to max my credit card - but i also want my next upgrade to be in 3 or 4 years from now.

HELP PLEASE ................

Please answer the following questions with as much detail/specifics as possible, as it will help us help you:

1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country -- if you have no set budget, we need a ballpark)?

2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: video editing, photochopping, media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?
I will use autocad 2008 in this system - xp pro

3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?
i will keep my 21" gateway monitor -- LCD or CRT?

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using, if any?

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)

7) How long do you plan on keeping this system and/or how often do you upgrade?
i also want my next upgrade to be in 3 or 4 years from now.

8) Do you plan on OC'ing?

9) If you haven't already, please look through the other build lists in GenHard and come up with a rough draft list of parts that we can nitpick.
Q6600
4gb ram
8800 GTS

To get you started, check out the P35 Asus boards, like the P5K and the P5K-E. Are you open to other brands besides asus?

To fully utilize all 4GB of RAM, you'll need a 64-bit OS, but XP 64-bit isn't well supported. RAM is cheap anyhow, so just know that you'll only be able to use around 3 - 3.5gb.

Have you looked into softmodding an ATI Radeon into a FireGL card?

I'll suggest more specific parts after those questions have been answered.

 

[Mithent]

Autocad 2008 has a 64-bit version (in certain countries only, for some reason), and you have a 64-bit processor and probably 4GB RAM (can't hurt, especially for CAD), so it's worth considering a 64-bit OS. Note that VBA and ObjectARX need "minor code changes" for 64-bit, though I have no idea what they're for or if you use them. CAD is the kind of thing I could imagine 64-bit potentially being useful for, though.

It's also worth considering Vista; some people are dead set against it and that's obviously their choice, but I've found it to be quite fine and perfectly stable, and wouldn't buy XP on a new machine now - though I wouldn't pay to upgrade. XP is already a 7-year-old OS and will be 10-11 years old if you keep it for 3-4 years (the release date of Windows 7 is rather hazy; I'm going with the 2011 speculation more than the 2009). Your choice of course, just saying not to count it out because "everyone knows Vista is awful".

 

[occlueless]

[/COLOR]

Please answer the following questions with as much detail/specifics as possible, as it will help us help you:

1) What's your budget and what is included in that budget (tax/shipping, keyboard, monitor, OS, etc; if you're not in the US, please specify country -- if you have no set budget, we need a ballpark)?


2) What will you be doing with this system besides gaming (eg: video editing, photochopping, media ripping/encoding, watching hd videos, CAD, etc)?

3) If you are gaming, what games will you be playing and at what resolution/settings (eg: cs:s @ 1680x1050 w/ no AA/AF)?

4) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to get?
i will keep my 21" gateway monitor -- LCD or CRT?

5) What old parts do you plan on re-using, if any?

6) What features do you need/want in a motherboard and briefly, why do you need/want them? (3 pci slots, raid, firewire, µATX, etc)

7) How long do you plan on keeping this system and/or how often do you upgrade?

8) Do you plan on OC'ing?

9) If you haven't already, please look through the other build lists in GenHard and come up with a rough draft list of parts that we can nitpick.
Q6600
4gb ram
8800 GTS

To get you started, check out the P35 Asus boards, like the P5K and the P5K-E. Are you open to other brands besides asus?

To fully utilize all 4GB of RAM, you'll need a 64-bit OS, but XP 64-bit isn't well supported. RAM is cheap anyhow, so just know that you'll only be able to use around 3 - 3.5gb.

Have you looked into softmodding an ATI Radeon into a FireGL card?

I'll suggest more specific parts after those questions have been answered.

[COLOR=" darkorange"]1. Budget of 1000 - 1200[/COLOR]
2. I will use autocad 2008 in this system - xp pro
3. Not really a gamer - but considering once i build a reliable system
4. Gateway 21" is an LCD monitor - DVI
5. i dont plant to reuse any old parts in the new system - i probably will use it as a storage or a wanna be server
6. here is where i need help. ATX form, i dunno about pci (very confusing with pci expres, pci 16 or other pci's. regular harddrive configuration. Main C: drive for windows & programs. D: drive for files, music and picture storage.
7. i also want my next upgrade to be in 3 or 4 years from now.
8. this is a hardone - but it will be nice to learn (is burning a risk?)

 

[Dangman]

Tweak as neccessary:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping CPU - $278
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $127
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $95
BFG BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $310
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $102
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $102
Corsair 620HX 620W PSU - $145
Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja HSF - $36
---
Total: $1,195 Plus tax and shipping

Note that you will need a 64bit OS in order to take full advantage of all 4GB of RAM. Vista Home Premium 64bit is pretty well supported.

Oh and yes killing the CPU is a risk through overclocking. However, if you do it very carefully and slowly, an OC'd Q6600 should last you for a while.

 

[Tyhr]

If you're going with a 64-bit OS and your primary use is AutoCAD 2008, you may want to looking into getting 8GB instead of 4GB considering the extremely cheap price of RAM right now. (useless for a 32bit OS)

I'm not familiar with AutoCAD, but I'm guessing you are. Applications like that may take advantage of all the memory it can get and still crave more. The vast majority of time/users, 4GB is more than enough. I'm not recommending 8GB, I'm just saying you might want to look into it if you're doing some serious and big AutoCAD stuff.

(I do vfx with 4GB and with these new prices, have started looking into upgrading to 8GB. HD content can eat up RAM like crazy)

 

[silent-circuit]

OCZ 4GB DDR2-800 CAS5 kit - $90 shipped, $20 MIR, $70 final

Slightly slightly looser timings than the G.Skill, but $25 less AR, and you can probably run them at 5-5-5-15. I run a kit of OCZ 1GB sticks rated at 5-5-5-15 at 4-4-4-12, 2.1vdimm and they do fine, no errors.