New Gaming Rig

[wgknestrick]

INTEL QUAD CORE Q6600 2.4GHZ

2G DDR2 PC6400
EVGA NFORCE 680I SLI Motherboard
XION 800WATT SUPERNOVA QUAD SLI PS

(2) 160GB SATA-II 7200RPM HD (Raid 0)

(2) EVGA GEFORCE 8800GT 512MB PCI-E in SLI


Just finished building this rig to play Crysis, CAD and for video editing. I'm pretty exited to get it and see how she runs. Should be very fast.

[agoodall]

what did it cost to build it?
parts wise?

[wgknestrick]

$1500 ish shipped from www.Cyberpowerpc.com

sans monitor. They are tough to beat and they use all non-custom components. I was lucky that they let me update my order from the 8800 GTS to the 8800 GT once the reviews came out. The GTs are cheaper and much faster.

[Honest_Bob]

The Western Digital Raptor drives (10k rpms) would make a nice addition to your setup. Its worth the money in my opinion. I would never go back. :cool:

[wgknestrick]

But they are big time $$. It's hard to justify

[naDintheHat]

What type of cooling are u running?

[wgknestrick]

What type of cooling are u running?

CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (was only +$19).
http://www.pc-idea.net/images/cooler/cm/RR-PCH-S9U2-GP.jpg



Nothing real special like TECs or water cooling. I have a hard time justifying spending so much on cooling when you can spend just as much to get a better CPU. With all of the heat pipe break throughs, the active air coolers have improved so much in the last couple years. I can't wait for Crysis, and am glad I held out until the last minute to upgrade my machine. I just couldn't hold out anymore though and wait for the new Penryns, plus they are going to be huge money until the middle of next year.

This should be a pretty big jump from my ATI 9800 Pro / AMD64 that I am running now. It will make a great file server / garage computer to play MP3s with now though. I have tons of PC games on my list that I have missed out on because I was lacking a decent machine.

(The list)
Call of Duty 4
World in Conflict
Crysis
Orange Box
Starcraft 2
Civ 4 (have it now but it always crashes mid to late games)

[naDintheHat]

Nice, sounds like a great setup. Any fancy case?

As for the old pc being a garage computer, would should definitely do a 4.1 setup with speakers mounted in the corners of the garage.

I have been thinking about upgrading my current setup for more performance but its about 3 years old and i am thinking it is time for it to serve as a nice file server or use it strictly for streaming movies and music to the 360.

[Spocknasty]

Don't bother with the Raptors. Not much faster for the money, and mine is crapping out after 4 months!

[Ender81]

I need to upgrade my graphics cards, I am running a single 8600 but I am thinking dual 8800 is where I want to be before Starcraft2 comes out. I went with the Q6600 too and it was completely worth it.

[Bizee]

raptor drives are absolutely worth the money over regular drives for os drives..

the 2 8800gt cards are cutting it close for cysis with everything on full btw might still be a little choppy.. that game is BADASS!! Major, MAJOR differences between low, med, high, max etx.

shoulda ran with the ultra or atleast the gtx cards... we ran it on 1 gtx card and now the second gtx to run sli is in the mail cause of that game!

why evga over bfg for video and asus for board? what kind or memory did you get corsair?

[wgknestrick]

raptor drives are absolutely worth the money over regular drives for os drives..

the 2 8800gt cards are cutting it close for cysis with everything on full btw might still be a little choppy.. that game is BADASS!! Major, MAJOR differences between low, med, high, max etx.

shoulda ran with the ultra or atleast the gtx cards... we ran it on 1 gtx card and now the second gtx to run sli is in the mail cause of that game!

why evga over bfg for video and asus for board? what kind or memory did you get corsair?

According to reviews, the 8800 GTs are only about 5% slower than the current 88000 GTXs, but they are only half the cost. I picked them up for about $220 a piece. They seem to be a great card indeed and can run Crysis at 40fps in SLI mode at 1600 res on high.
EVGA has me hooked with their step up program. As stated above, I was planning on using 320mb GTS's in my rig and actually ordered one. With EVGA, I can return it for a "step up" card and pay the difference during a 90day period. I will surely be doing this with the GTS card in exchange for another GT which I will be selling soon. The GT just made all of the GTS's obsolete at their $270-300 price range.

http://media.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/benchj.png


For reference, I just scored a whopping 540 on 3D Mark 06 with my old pc. It was like watching a powerpoint show. I maxed out at 2 fps.

[Bizee]

was that chart from dx9 or dx10?and if dx10 was everything on the absolute max..(cant set max everything on dx9/xp) there are differences between what you can set crysis at with both of them. im sure the sli 8800gt cards will handle the game fine, looks like they add up well to the gtx & ultra if you are price shopping. (which we all our since this stuff will be outdated in a month anyway)

i was reading a good article/review/comparison of all the cards(gts gt gtx ultra) using crysis and other games, i read through it couple days ago and had some good material. maybe you will get something out of it or atleast excited since the setup is close to what your putting together. evga and all


http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQxMCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

[Z3R0]

eww 2G DDR2 PC6400
wtf not 4 gb? /dissappointed

[drew]

thumbsup for going with the GT > GTX

only changes I'd make would be 4 gb ( when building my PC, i think; what would kick ass 2 years from now? instead of what would kick ass now )

and a 10,000 rpm HDD for apps
keep the 7200 for data

[Bizee]

are you going to be running vista or xp.. im no vista fan but if its a gaming machine i suppose your gonna want the dx10.

[wgknestrick]

The 4GB was tempting, but I just don't see a big need for it now, and I can always add another 2 dimms later. I just have too much money in the machine already, and everything has a cost. OS is Vista 64 and hopefully I have a decent experience with it coming from XP.

Those raptor HD are about twice the cost of a modern 7200 drive, and don't seem to be the huge leap in performance they once were (remember that this is about a 2-3yr old drive). A Raid 0 array with modern 7200s is about the equiv of a raptor, but you get much more storage space. I am all about perf/cost because the technology changes so damn fast.

[Ender81]

Bill let me know what you think of Vista, I was talked out of getting it but i think I may upgrade in the spring.

[wgknestrick]

Will do. Would you be interested in getting a new 8800 video card? Like I said above, I will be returning my GTS 320mb for at least a 8800GT or better (the choice is mine or yours). This is an extra card that I was going to install as the 2nd vid, but I decided just to have the system builder supply both GT video cards because they had them in stock. I will let it go for $20 below my cost, and most places have them on back order.

[Bizee]

whats your cost?

[wgknestrick]

Not sure at this point. I need to pick up the card at Fedex on Saturday, register it, then see how much EVGA is going to charge me to upgrade it to a GT series. I have $270 in it now, but I'm not sure how the step up program is going to work stepping up to a "cheaper" card. They might force me into a newer G92 GTS or GTX card, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping I can work something to trade dead even for one of their SSC (overclocked) series GT cards. Whatever it ends up being, it will be a fair price for whatever card I get.

[Ender81]

I will let it go for $20 below my cost, and most places have them on back order.

Thanks but I won't be upgrading until after Christmas, too much crap to take care of before then.

[drew]

honestly man if you're going to run 64 bit os stick with XP for now.. vista 64 bit is **** right now, maybe this time next year..