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Help with First Time Gaming PC Build.

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by NAPALMA, Dec 17, 2007.

  1. NAPALMA

    NAPALMA Member

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    Im thinking about building a gaming pc for the first time. I am thinking about this,

    XFX 680i LT SLI Motherboard
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
    Thermaltake V1 Model CL-P0401 CPU Cooler
    OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Ram (2x1024MB)
    Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB Hard Drive
    CoolerMaster CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Lite-On Super-Multi LH20A1H

    All That comes out to about $850 U.S. shipped from Tiger Direct. I am looking to spend no more that about another 600 dollars for the PSU, Video Card, and OS. I Want to run 8800's in sli but there are so many of them I dont know what to pick. The PSU is giving me headaches also. Modulars will make it look nice, but do I need it? And does everything need to be "SLI Ready"? With this set up how many watts do I need? Keep in mind I would like to start out with 1 video card and eventually run another of it in sli and will be adding a 2nd hard drive and DVD rom later. I will also add more ram down the line. Phew... Long post. Sorry. One more thing. Vista. I didnt really want it but if I want to be able to play DX10 games I'll need it, right? So which one should I get? Home, Premium, or Ultimate? Thanks.
     
  2. SSDrifter

    SSDrifter Guest

    As far as DX10 goes, Microsoft is developing DX9.0d. Which they say is going to DX10 on XP :).(Check up on this stuff, i haven't looked into this rumor)
    -Yes everything has to SLI ready if you want to add another Graphics card later.
    -Watts im not sue of this stuff.
    Other than that good machine. Have you thought of the monitor?
     
  3. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    About DX9.0d, interesting. Do we know if it'll support Anti-Aliasing? Because if it doesn't, I'm definitely not installing i t.
    As for the PC build, 680i boards aren't the greatest for using Quad cores, go with something like a Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R instead.
    Also for the CPU cooler, don't buy anything Thermaltake, they don't make good heatsinks. Either go with a Zalman CNPS9700 or a Thermalright Ultra 120.
    Rest of components are good.
    As for SLI, I wouldn't bother. It's so much easier to run a single fast card like an 8800GTX or HD3870.
     
  4. NAPALMA

    NAPALMA Member

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    Like I said about SLI, I want to run two 8800s. I dont know which one to get though. There are so many of them and I cant distinguish between the different models(GT, GTS, GTX, etc). I mean two GTX's would be better than one, right? Why is a 680i mobo not to good with a quad core? Would running a Core 2 Duo be better? As for DX10 on XP... Ill have to look into that. It will save me a whole lot of time with the "research" ive been doing with Vista.
     
  5. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Sometimes, but far from always. You have to think seriously about whether it's worth dropping the extra money when in half your games they'll perform the same as if you only bought one of them.
     
  6. SSDrifter

    SSDrifter Guest

    The best 880 is the Ultra (768mb), but as sammoris said 2 may not always be better. Right now you could have very good gaming experience with just 1 8800 GTX. and the right motherboard and stuff. You would see a very high performance gap. The question is :
    Are you willing to spend the extra cash , for upgrading a monster computer?
    You'll understand it when you get your comp. I mean i had FX5200 and now im getting a X1700 (laptop) and you would understand that its not worth the money
     
  7. NAPALMA

    NAPALMA Member

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    A 8800 GTX would be great, the problem is that it would kill my budget. I would like to spend about 600 dollars for vista, the PSU, and a 8800 series video card. A single GTX would cost me more than what I am looking to spend for all three! What would be a good 8800 card in the 300 dollar range? That was the reason why I wanted to run it in SLI. I know that I would not have the best of the best so I figured that 2 decent 8800's would give me similar results as a single really good 8800. I would be getting one to start and WAY down the line add the second. It would be great to be able to buy the best one out there right now but I cant afford to spend about 1000 more than what I am already spending. What do you recommend for Vista? Is it worth getting Ultimate? Would I be better off getting Home Premium instead? And should it be 32 or 64 bit? What would my parts work with?
     
  8. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Ok lets break it down.

    Vista: Free
    8800GT: 280
    Corsair VX550:100

    There you just saved some money. A better route would be this.

    Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R 130$
    Video Card: HD 3870 240$(Image quality is better than the 8800 series and performs close to an 8800GTX)
    PSU: Corsair VX550 100$
    Vista would be the OS(or should I pay POS), which is for free. It called bittorent ;)
     
  9. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    If you're on a budget, getting SLi is ludicrous. The average performance gain is only about 30%, and considering you're spending at least another $300 on the extra card, it just isn't worth it on your budet.
    I personally would recommend what Abuzar has though, and go with a single Radeon HD3870 and a Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R board. Cheaper, just as fast and a far better picture than if you were to use any nvidia graphics card.
     
  10. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Yeah I do regret getting the HD 3850, but I didn't want to wait :)
     
  11. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    There's nothing to regret about buying the 3850. For now it can run pretty much anything maxed if you use a normal screen resolution. Except for maybe Crysis and Supreme commander:Forged alliance of course, but then they're stupid...
     
  12. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    I know but still, I wish I had a card with a dual slot cooler. I hate the fact that all the heat stays in my case. Hopefully I can sell this one and do it "right" the next time around.
     
  13. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    My X1900XT puts its heat in the case and it doesn't even have a fan. That card puts out far more heat than your 3850, and I don't have any cooling issues.
     
  14. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    I'm just saying it would put out less heat. It currently runs at 50C, that's a bit high for me. I would like it better if I could set the fan speed to 100% but it lacks that option in the current drivers.
     
  15. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    50C at load? That's absolutely nothing, graphics cards are expected to get to 90C full load and have no issues whatsoever.
     
  16. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    That's idle temps. I know they are fine but still I'm used to sub 40 temps I got with the 7900 GTX.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2007
  17. NAPALMA

    NAPALMA Member

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    Im on a budget to complete the build. Im sure that I'll be sinking more money into it months down the line. The 3870 is looking better than the 8800 at the moment. As for the PSU, is 550 Watts enough? I didnt want a "free" version of Vista. I have "free" XP at the moment and it has given me a whole lot of problems. I wanted to get lazy and be able to update my OS without having to find out a whole lot of different ways to do be able to do it. Lets just say that I do go with the "free" OS... Is there a better video card than what you recommended?
     
  18. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    The 3870 is the only graphics card I recommend currently if you want to keep the same card. There are faster cards out there (The G92 8800GTS and 8800GTX) but since they use older technology than the 3870, they will be obsolete before it is.
     
  19. abuzar1

    abuzar1 Senior member

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    Well the "free" versiosn of Vista I have updates automatically. Of course I don't use it anymore because vista sucks.
     

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