Will this System Work?

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RED588

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Jul 17, 2007
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A few months ago I decided to build a new gaming system. I was planning on getting help from an experienced friend, but I haven't been able to get ahold of him. I think I know enough to get most of the components selected, but I do have a few questions.
First, will the following system work? (I will be running Windows Vista Home Premium and plan on upgrading to more RAM, and an extra video card later)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4 GHz 2x4MB L2 Cache LGA 775
Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 nForce 680i SLI ATX
RAM: (2x) All components 1 GB 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB cache SATA 3.0 GB
DVD Drive: Lite-on 16x DVD Internal IDE Drive
PSU: Ultra X-Finity 800-Watt SATA-SLI Ready Power Supply
GPU: PNY GeForce XLR8 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express SLI Video Card

My next question: if this systm will run well, what should I look for in CPU cooling and a sound card? These are two of the areas I have very little knowledge of.

Finally: Are there any changes I should make? This computer, with parts from Newegg, Tigerdirect, and Amazon, along with a tower case and accessories will cost less than $1400, my limit. I know that the PSU may be a bit much now, but I want this to last awhile, and it came with the motherboard as a combo deal...
Thanks for any advice you have to offer!
 
What do you have now? 'cause unless it's like unusable, then I'd wait for Geforce 9 and possibly Intel 45nm. Those Q6600s run rather hot, as do the power hungry 8800s.
 
Right now I'm using my family's Pentium 4. I guess I could wait a bit longer, I'm just so tired of all my games lagging and having to share so much space of our 70Gb harddrive with everyone else's programs and files. The graphics card and power supply were a combo deal, that's why I went with those. I've been hearing alot about Directx10 lately especially with games such as Crysis, so I want to take advantage of that.Any other suggestions?
 
Yeh, your PSU doesn't need cooling. :p

Also onboard sound has come a long way recently.
 
Woops!:eek:
So, no need for a soundcard for awhile.
I think the new series of GeForce Cards comes out around the Holidays right? Maybe I should hold out just a while longer... It'll be worth it I guess, I just hope the costs aren't too high.
I've searched Newegg and found PSU cooling units divided into either fans or heatsinks. Any suggested brands or types?
 
Couple of suggestions:

If you're set on the quad and a SLI motherboard, you'll absolutely want to get the EVGA NF68-A1 instead of the 63-TR. The 63-TR models are repackaged early revision 680i boards that won't overclock a quad core processor with any success.

Yet still, in my opinion, going SLI with GTS 640 cards (and with the plan to add the second GTS 640 later on) is a bad upgrade path. You'll be better served by buying a single 640 card now, or a GTS 320 card if you're gaming at 1280x1024 or below, and then replacing that card with a next generation single card solution that will be simpler, faster, and perhaps cheaper than adding a second GTS 640 card later on. If you ditch the SLI idea, you can move to a newer P35 based motherboard that can support a higher max FSB.

SLI is best utilized when you can use it to gain performance beyond what than the best single card on the market currently provides (hence it's worth it when you can drop the cash on two GTXs.) Also, in order to benefit from SLI in this scenario, you'll need to game at a resolution of at least 1920x1200. SLI used to bump performance up to or just slightly passed a higher end card is silly, since just buying the higher end card is usually cheaper, and will provide for a simpler (and cooler running) rig. Still, if you can get a great deal on that second card so that SLI provides a financial advantage, then do it.

If you're planning to bump up RAM to 4 gigs in the future, be sure to run a 64 bit version of Windows in order to utilize it all.

Vista / Vista 64 has matured greatly over the last 9 months. However, be warned that X-Fi drivers are still awful, and Creative is striking out in trying to improve the situation. I had recently thought that the X-Fi situation was getting better, until I upgraded to the latest drivers and found that my decently working sound setup was reduced to hisses and static.

If you don't require any of the specific advance features an X-Fi offers, stick with on board sound. Its perfectly fine for everyday use and works perfectly well with Vista.

Enjoy and good luck,

Mark.
 
Thank you very much, this info will definitely help. I'll go look those up now... I couldn't find the motherboard on Tigerdirect, but amazon has it for around $220.00. If there's a better site for purchasing new parts other than tigerdirect, and newegg someone please let me know.
 
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