[stettybet0]

I am planning to build myself a gaming computer once Vista comes out. I already have the system I want in mind, and hopefully the prices will go down by then. Just checking that everything is compatible and that there won't be some super-awesome thing that will come out soon which I will want. I also am trying to decide on a PSU.

So here it is:

Mobo: eVGA Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor

Memory: G.SKILL 2GB (2x1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel SDRAM

Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Case: NZXT Nemesis Elite Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Drives: LITE-ON Black 52X IDE CD-ROM Drive
LITE-ON Black 18X DVD±R IDE Burner
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

The PSU problem: eVGA says the 8800GTS only needs a 400W PSU to work, but I've read that some people's 680W PSU's didn't work. Maybe it was just that theirs was faulty? What to do, what to do? I also want the PSU to have a blue led to match my case.

A few ones I am considering are:
RAIDMAX ATX12V/ EPS12V 630W Power Supply 115/230V
APEVIA (ASPIRE) ATX12V/ EPS12V 680W Power Supply 115/230V
APEVIA (ASPIRE) ICEBERG ATX12V/ EPS12V 680W Power Supply With 3-Color LED Lights 115/230V

Any suggestions or comments are much appreciated.

Edited by stettybet0, 25 November 2006 - 02:31 PM.

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Looks ok but i wouldnt get a raptor they just arent worth the money, and when it comes to games they dont do that well anyway to make them worth that much more cash, they are good as a working drive to you as a kind of buffer for working with large files like video and music but gaming not worth the investment and hassle. The money is better spent elsewhere maybe a better case some people like it i don't taste as much as the fact you can get better elsewhere i just think it looks tacky to much plastic and flashy lights i prefer coolermaster, antec or akasa cases because of the better quality, the new thermaltakes look nice too.

I might wait till ATI release the DX10 offers they will most likely be better(DDR4 just one plus) and they will drive down prices of the nvidia cards, should be out before Vista in January probably mid December in time for christmas but they are keeping very quiet so no firm date as yet.

Im also not partial to those PSU brands Raidmax especially are only marginally better than generic alot of the time and they use plain old generic crap in the ones they put in cases and to me thats a big downside when you look at Antec putting in PSUs with cases that are often worth more than the case on its own.

Also if you are planning on using more than two PCI slots you might want to think of another board, it has three PCI-e 16 ports two almost totally useless x1s and only two PCI slots.

[warriorscot]

Looks ok but i wouldnt get a raptor they just arent worth the money, and when it comes to games they dont do that well anyway to make them worth that much more cash, they are good as a working drive to you as a kind of buffer for working with large files like video and music but gaming not worth the investment and hassle. The money is better spent elsewhere maybe a better case some people like it i don't taste as much as the fact you can get better elsewhere i just think it looks tacky to much plastic and flashy lights i prefer coolermaster, antec or akasa cases because of the better quality, the new thermaltakes look nice too.

I might wait till ATI release the DX10 offers they will most likely be better(DDR4 just one plus) and they will drive down prices of the nvidia cards, should be out before Vista in January probably mid December in time for christmas but they are keeping very quiet so no firm date as yet.

Im also not partial to those PSU brands Raidmax especially are only marginally better than generic alot of the time and they use plain old generic crap in the ones they put in cases and to me thats a big downside when you look at Antec putting in PSUs with cases that are often worth more than the case on its own.

Also if you are planning on using more than two PCI slots you might want to think of another board, it has three PCI-e 16 ports two almost totally useless x1s and only two PCI slots.

[Opt]

I have dual raptors w/ raid setup. It smokes even now a year later I am usually taking the flag while everyone else is coming in. 3500+ Runs Very Stable. OC'd too, No issues. I am not sure about the 150. From the looks of your picks you game and have knowledge on what to get. The case says you don't mean business though. I would go with a Cooler Master, they are built tough. If you are into blue lights then go ahead. PSU look at thermaltake, they have a record of dependability. Don't get something cause it looks like it can warp a tunnel into the future. You want ease of maintence dependability go w/ cooler and thermal.
I just read Warriors post uh oh he doesn't like raptors though. GL with your build.

[warriorscot]

Well i don't recommend RAIDing either too much hassle and data integrity is a problem if you intend to use the system for things other than gaming(i know i store more data than anything else on mine) Raid isn't the best idea to much to go wrong, to hard to set up, to prone to error. And Raptors holds true game loads you can buy faster 7200rpms you picked the latest raptor generation which is fast but one of the new 7200s with large flash buffer will toast it, 7200s have their advantages, larger, cheaper, longer life, 10,000s nice on paper and they are only SATAII, but the money can be spent elsewhere to get more performance for the money, more RAM and faster would give you faster load times than a faster HDD. Yeah im not a raptor fan.

Antec case or akasa is where i would look first, i wouldn't call most coolermasters solid but they are pretty and full of nice features.

[stettybet0]

Well, I wasn't planning on using RAID anyways... and these hard drives you speak of with the large flash buffer... i've read about them, but i haven't seen any of them yet... are any available for purchase yet?

and as for the case... well, I really like it and i've only seen good reviews of it. and it's not all cheap and plastic... its aluminum, and the door I think might even be made of a stronger metal.

and the PSU: Just wondering how much wattage do you think I need?... especially if sometime down the road I use SLI...

and just a general question: I have a few games which recommend like a 3Ghz P4... what would be the equivalent of that for a Core 2 Duo?

[Kurenai]

One minor point: I don't know that I would really trust eVGA for a motherboard. I've got a standing rule not to purchase motherboards from video card manufacturers, nor video cards from motherboard manufacturers (as well as several other crossovers).
Personally, I'd go with an Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, MSI, etc (known good manufacturers) motherboard, and stick with the eVGA video card.

[warriorscot]

If you like it thats fine, im just not partial to it costs too much for what it is to me, i always advise to go for more neutral looking or stylish but simple cases as you tend to get fed up of them when they are more flashy.

Ive not heard anything bad abot evga mobos but they arent that popular, if you want to be sure Abit, Gigabyte or MSI is a good bet, not Asus though they are crap quality as many break as work.

500W is a good rough mark maybe 600W, SLI isnt something you usually do later on, its harder and performance wise its not so much for boosting performance with the addition of a card its for improving performance on very high resolution systems, but dx10 cards youre average joe could never afford a monitor with a high enough resolution to cause one bother, in fact i don't know anywhere to even buy one.

[Kurenai]

The 8800 is a DX10 card, but that has nothing at all with the monitor resolution.

The 8800 series are the only DX10 cards in existance right now, which means nothing at all until Vista drops, and applications start being written that take advantage of DX10.

As far as the 8800 itself goes: if you've got the cash, and you want high quality, there's no reason to go with anything else. It absolutely smokes everything currently on the market, and it's the only thing that even approaches running the real monster games (Flight Sim X comes to mind, as well as anything new and super high performance) at near to full settings.

When planning a power supply, it's a good idea to map out your power usage, and then increase that figure by 30%, using the final number as a bare minimum. For basic numbers:

25-30W for a hard disk or optical drive
10W per stick of RAM
around 110W or so for a current high end intel processor (a little shaky on that one, but I'm pretty sure)
budget around 50 for motherboard, mouse, keyboard, floppy drive
around 5W per PCI card
graphics cards vary widely, but the 8800 series, at max draw, can pull 225W or so, so plan around that number.

With what you have mapped out, go with nothing less than 550W, and you need a power supply that provides at least 26A on the 12V rail. That Raidmax is out, based on the fact that it's a Raidmax, and they're crap. Either Aspire would be ok based on specs, but it's important to choose a power supply based on quality and warranty program. Never skimp on the component that, if it fails, can take the rest of your system with it to Hardware Heaven.



Warrior - a minor point - Asus motherboards are very high quality, if you know what to buy. The first generation of any Asus series typically has a couple of massive design flaws. These tend to get fixed during the later revisions. For example: The Asus A8N SLI, one of the first SLI boards on the market, had a chipset fan. As Asus, and then everyone else, figured out, chipset fans on nforce 4 (and later, other socket 939 boards) had a disturbing tendency to die. Quickly. And take the chipset with them.
Asus models from then on had a massive heatpipe, and worked great.

The moral to that rambling story is, Asus motherboards tend to be very high quality, and work well, if you don't buy the absolute first generation of new technology. Their support is terrible, though.

[warriorscot]

We have seen alot of members and alot of staff members have had alot fo problems with asus boards of every generation, they work fine when they work however they have a very high ratio of faulty boards going out and their RMA service could be alot better, trust me this is experience im talking, mine and other staff members there arent many of use left if nay that would reccomend an Asus board unless its the only option.

[Opt]

Well i don't recommend RAIDing either too much hassle and data integrity is a problem if you intend to use the system for things other than gaming(i know i store more data than anything else on mine) Raid isn't the best idea to much to go wrong, to hard to set up, to prone to error. And Raptors holds true game loads you can buy faster 7200rpms you picked the latest raptor generation which is fast but one of the new 7200s with large flash buffer will toast it, 7200s have their advantages, larger, cheaper, longer life, 10,000s nice on paper and they are only SATAII, but the money can be spent elsewhere to get more performance for the money, more RAM and faster would give you faster load times than a faster HDD. Yeah im not a raptor fan.

Gee what problems with SATA / RAID have you ran into? Lol... So he says he wants a gaming computer and this is what you come up with for a reply to my lovely raptors. I suppose I am just a lucky few with NO problems ha. Yes they hold true to game and for the 74's which is plenty for gaming you will smoke all the above. SATA is SataII -all the same- no real difference. Big deal run dual hd's w/raid and forget about it, get some help if you need it. It is stable it is fast and makes a huge difference in loading FOR GAMING PURPOSES. IF not then go WD and get the 150 you wanted. That is a good drive for the $$$. I know some of my buddies who gotem and lovem. Still say go with a Thermal on the PSU around 550 to 580. COOLER MASTER CASES ARE NUMERO UNO

[warriorscot]

Ive got a gaming computer, i only use it for gaming maybe a tenth of the time its on, and its used more and more for data storage few can afford the extravagance of a PC just for games.

The 74s in most games get whupped by most 16Mb sataII NCQ drives in load times on real pcs benchmarks they dont come out on top real games most new 7200s are good enough to beat a raptor in a game, good example a samsun spin point latest generation can beat a raptor in far cry by over 10 seconds. Raptors also have signifcantly shorter life time.

[stettybet0]

Well, I wasn't planning on using RAID anyways... and these hard drives you speak of with the large flash buffer... i've read about them, but i haven't seen any of them yet... are any available for purchase yet?

and just a general question: I have a few games which recommend like a 3Ghz P4... what would be the equivalent of that for a Core 2 Duo?

it doesn't matter whether RAID with Raptors is good or bad, I really don't care since I don't have the $ to buy 2 Raptors anyway, so that's not a possibility...

I would appreciate it if someone could help me with the 2 above questions.

and also... you (warriorscot) say a 7200rpm 16mb cache SATAII drive with NCQ could beat the Raptor X... when the Raptor X is a 10,000rpm 16mb cache SATAII drive with NCQ... ??? I don't understand why the 7200 would be faster...

thanks,
stettybet0

[anoobrew]

Spend a little more on your ram and at least get OCZ or Corsair etc. IF u plan on running SLi u should get a better brand for PSU and one thats rated around 700Watts. If you are not going to overclock then dont worry about the RAM and the Aspire PSU should be fine. Hybrid hard drives are coming soon. Dont waste a penny on Raptors. I have a Maxtor SATA1 and i'm almost always the 1st one in (settings maxed) bf2. Raptors r for fanbois

[warriorscot]

I said the old raptor not the new one we were talking about the 74s, the Xs are faster but there conns outweigh the pros, its only going to improve load times a small factor especially if you have alot of ram your talking about 1 or 2 seconds difference from the raptop X in real life performance boost, and youve paid ALOT for that well over the odds and the drive wont last as long as a normal one normal drive with heavy use will easily last 5 years probably longer because the raptor spins faster it wears down faster so you would be lucky to get even 5 years. Raptors are for mugs, if they spent the money on more Ram or a better video card, a better mouse and keyboard they would notice a bigger improvement in there gameplay experience.

Any core 2 duo is better than any P4, i answered the wattage question you are looking for about 500W range.

[Kurenai]

500W bare minimum, with that spec out, and at least 12v@30A.