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Looking for some advice please

Post Date: 2008-03-03

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robertw315 View Drop Down
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  Quote robertw315 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Looking for some advice please
    Posted: 03 Mar 2008 at 6:22pm

I am looking to purchase a new computer to play mainly MMO, RPG and some FPS games. I was hoping to keep the budget between $1500 - $2000.  Here is what I have come up with so far:

Case: Digital Storm 850Si (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB) (8MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 680i LT Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 680i SLI)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Corsair at 800MHz Dominator (Dual Channel) (High-Performance)
Floppy / Card: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 1: 500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks
Raid Option: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (Recommended)
Physics Card: - No Thanks
Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink Upgrade (Copper Heatpipes)
Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Round Cables: - No Thanks
User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)
Overclock Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)
Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty
Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support
 
Thank you,
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Alex View Drop Down
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  Quote Alex Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Mar 2008 at 10:11pm
Looks perfect. Any questions about anything?
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SunfighterLC View Drop Down
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  Quote SunfighterLC Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Mar 2008 at 10:58pm
You could save a few bucks by going to a 620W power supply, though you dont really need that much either if you arnt gonna SLI, at least in my opinion.
 
Case is really up to you really. You could probably get away with a 750i and save an extra 190ish bucks. Granted the air flow will probably be less. I still think the 750 with the case mod for 35 bucks is the best bang for the buck...but the 850 is superior in all reguards, but is its pros enough to warrent the extra 190ish odd dollars? Thats up to you. That money could be dumped into better hardware IMHO.
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 03 Mar 2008 at 11:54pm
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robertw315 View Drop Down
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  Quote robertw315 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Mar 2008 at 10:39am

Thank you for the replies.  I have a few questions:

1) Is the 850 case overkill?  Would the 750 do the job (sufficient airflow)?
 
2) Can I get away with a 550W power supply?
 
3) 32-bit or 64-bit Vista
 
4) Overclocking memory/video card...worth it?
 
5) Tweaking Windows...worth it?
 
6) Stage 2 cooling vs. stage 3 cooling.
 
7) Q6600 Quad vs Q8400 Duo.
 
Thanks again!!
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Thanhphan View Drop Down
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  Quote Thanhphan Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Mar 2008 at 11:25am

 

1) Is the 850 case overkill?  Would the 750 do the job (sufficient airflow)?
 
depend on your configuration, 850 has more airflow and much better with stage 3 cooling (windtunel)
 
2) Can I get away with a 550W power supply?
 
i would recommend go with 620W COSAIR
 
3) 32-bit or 64-bit Vista
 
if you not plan to go with 4gb memory or above, stay with 32 bit.
 
4) Overclocking memory/video card...worth it?
 
if you plan to play game the most and wanna save some money. I don't think it's good choice.
 
5) Tweaking Windows...worth it?
 
I have no idea, if your computer too slow and can not handle all window services, otherwise.............
 
6) Stage 2 cooling vs. stage 3 cooling.
 
stage 2 using AC7 CPU FAns
 
Stage 3 Windtunel using AC7 CPU Fans plus add more Scythe fans
 
EX: on 850i case, We add 4 fans for side doors, 1 on top, replace the orginal fan to zalman fan or scythe fan.
 
  on 750i case, we replace 2 orginal fans with zalman fans or scythe fans S-Flex ( your choice)
 
7) Q6600 Quad vs Q8400 Duo.
 
 
 I think you mean Q6600  VS E8400
           
 
I'd say go with the q6600 ,

with the Q6600 overclocked, it will perform just as well and even better than the E8400 when using 4 thread apps. Bottomline, Q6600 will offer you more flexibility.

Thanks again!!
 
 
"Life is What You Make of it"
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 04 Mar 2008 at 11:44am
I own a 750i case, and the stock cooling is rather sub par. With some modifications, I expect to be able to get the cooling to a sufficient level (I have effectively added stage 3 cooling on my own already and am still looking to improve), but there is a reason I selected the 850i in the configuration I posted. It's easier to just have good cooling out of the box than to have to go back and fix it after the fact. Your CPU is not the only thing that will benefit from additional air flow. That 8800GT will operate with a higher degree of stability as well.

Power supplies are not simply about how many watts they are rated for. Get a power supply that produces good, clean, stable power, and you will not regret the $30 extra spent. If you are going to use only one OS, I would stay with 32 bit. While you may not run into many compatibility issues, you have no way around the ones you do find. The 64 bit OS is better in many ways, unfortunately we still live in a 32 bit world.

If you are running only one video card, you will not have to worry about bottlenecking on any core2 processor running at 3GHz or beyond. Stage 3 cooling should get you in the neighborhood of 3 to 3.2 GHz with a GO stepping Q6600. It's extremely hard to beat the value that processor represents. Also, don't forget that when running games, the average home user tends to have more running in the background than a professional reviewer running a test bench setup. Keep this in mind when looking over benchmarks of the various CPU selections available. Having more cores does have advantages.

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