new gaming pc advise please

[ant9985]

hi all, sorry to trouble you with this but im building new computer as my current one has issues which i wont go into. the game i will be playing mostly this year will be supreme commander, but would like this pc to be able to play some of the latest games for 2 years or so. Ill be linking my current 17\" monitor with the new 22\" one below for duel monitors. And using a 250gb harddrive from my old pc for storage.

here are the specs iv chosen with links:

Harddrive: WD 150Gb Raptor SATA 10k/150/16Mb
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=23817

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Retail
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=23828

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25541


Ram: Corsair TwinX 2GB XMS2 Dominator
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25516

Screen: 22'' Xerox XM3-9WB Widescreen TFT
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Pc+%2...roductId=25737

Graphics card: Asus Extreme 8800GTS 640MB
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=26147


the things im missing are a motherboard to match all this which will need enough fan connectors for that case :? and support SLi and quad cores
and also a power supply (im guessing ill need 600W+ for this). if somone could help me choose, that would be very nice.

i would appreciate any comments on the hardware iv chosen like if i should drop the raptor for cheaper HD and then buy GTX card instead of GTS or w/e. (is there a big difference between GTS and GTX?) any constructive critisism would be great. i need to know if theres gonna be any bottlenecks.

any extra cables i will need to buy, i dont want to buy the whole lot then realise im missing a cable somewhere..

and lastly, id like to know what extra cooling i should buy, ie. fans to replace the retail versions if they wont be able to last.

i also might have some questions later if thats ok?

thnx all

[Barley]

What budget are you looking at for the motherboard and PSU?

[Anonymous]

[Removed at the request of the author]

[ant9985]

thnx for replys

@barley: i know nothing about motherboards and good power supplys,
so im not really sure on the budget side of things, what do u actually get when u pay more for motherboards? i allways thought u just buy a motherboard to fit the spec of your other hardware, but it gives me a headache when i look at them, theres so many different things on each one that i have no idea about.

@privatepyle@work: thnx for that, is the cpu powerfull enough? iv read that the E6600 and E6700 are relativly similar in speed, and ofcourse if ur buying anything faster it goes into quad core/£600 cpus.. but i didnt look at the amd chips, they are 64 bit duel cores arent they? and intel only 32?

[Barley]

Well for PSU's, make sure you buy something quality, a good named brand, example:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=21014

I'm not too clued up on C2D motherboards...

[Aaron]

Core2Duos are 64bit

[mac124]

Psu i'd recommend Seasonic 600watt and why do you want to SLi 8800's? It's a total waste of time on any res under 2048x whatever at the mo as the cpu will be a major bottle neck. That in mind i would thouroughly recommend the Asus P5B delux, good enough to get my 6600 to 3.6ghz as a 24/7 speed.

[Barley]

Aria don't sell Seasonics, so didn't think I should recommend parts from other companies, but yeah Seasonic rock

[mac124]

Well its about time they did

[Barley]

[quote:b3d1adefc1=\"mac124\"] Well its about time they did [/quote:b3d1adefc1]

And Xclios, and half the other quality PSU's

[ant9985]

naa hehe, im not gonna sli 8800s atm. thats for in a couple of years, when ill be upgrading to quadcore anyway, so there probably wont be a bottleneck.

but will there be a bottleneck with 1x8800?

hmm that 580W looks nice but wont i need more power for this?
is that the best make psu?

i keep hearing people say: \"you can never have enough RAM\" but im going to ask the question, do i have sufficient ram? those 2G DIMMs i have in the list were pretty expensive, are they good/worth the money? i know nothing about ram these days, the only reason i selected them was cause i saw somone else with them in his pc build.
last time i built a pc was around 2-3 years ago.

just out of interest, is there a motherboard that can support a future 8 core processor?

[Xiathorn]

There isn't a mobo to support an 8core, afaik, but there is one that'll do both Core2Duo and QuadCores. Abit AB9 QuadGT Socket 775, about £100, I'm using it atm.

Watch out for the 8pin on the CPU power slot, it'll take a 4pin if you're using a Core2Duo, so you don't need to run around your local town looking for an adaptor like I did. Yes, I'm stupid.

Incidentally, I have an 6600, 2GB OCZ RAM, and the Gainward 8800GTS 640MB. Whilst I cannot comment on the advantages/disadvantages of a GTX, I can tell you now that the GTS will do pretty much everything you want straight off the bat. I get 60FPS in Oblivion, everything on max settings, HDR etc, and walking around the Great Forest. This is without any mods installed, clean installation.

In the power front, it's less about the watts and more about the ampage. Check that your PSU can give out the consistent amps that you'll need for the stuff. I might (MIGHT) have made a mistake with my PSU, and I've been having a few troubles since I purchased this rig a few weeks ago. Oh well, nothing I can't fix eventually.

In terms of performance, btw :
60FPS Oblivion, although it will drop sometimes, but never below 30.
FEAR FPS is Min 60, Max 325, Average 110 in the stress test, max everything.
Company of Heroes, max everything, is 90FPS average.
X3 runs beautifully, although exact FPS unknown.

Basically, the rig you're building will be perfect without a GTX...but that said, if you have got the extra £100 and you don't fancy mailing it to me, then you might as well spend it on a GTX.

Hard disks are always going to be the bottleneck when it comes to overall system performance, but in games they don't really affect much if you've got enough RAM. Don't bother with the raptor

And in response to the 8800GTS being a bottleneck : are you out of your ****ing mind? The 8800 is so powerful compared to current tech that everything else is a bottleneck. That applies to the GTS model as well as the GTX. Even if you got a Core2Duo Extreme and overclocked it to buggery, with some custom made RAM ****, you'd only be about matching the 8800...and everything on that rig would run so insanely fast that you'd just not care.

If you get that rig, you won't need to worry about 'bottlenecks' for a while at all, and when you do it won't be from the GPU.

In terms of cables, with the Abit AB9 QuadGT I got everything I needed in there, but I warn you : Do not assemble computer whilst drunk. I nearly broke the IDE slot on the board by trying to plug it in the wrong way around.

Ohh, yes that's a point. I'm using an IDE DVD Drive, with a SATA2 disk. I get some horrific weirdness going on that MIGHT - MIGHT - be caused by this. Ideally pick up a cheap SATA DVD-RW.

[ant9985]

thnx for reply xiathorn
you assembled your computer whilst drunk? ^^ lol

i had to get help from the techies at college to build mine, i couldnt work out where everything went and there was some stuff that i never connected :S
but that was few years ago.
what kind of wierdness do u experience? i get unmountable boot volume blue screen error every month or less, and have to go into recovery console and do chkdsk and fixboot. i cant find any dvd drives that are SATA2 :-
btw

what does this mean in the pc case specification:

''Motherboard:
Fits micro and standard ATX.
7 Expansion Slots.''

im gonna need 6 fan connectors on the motherboard for the case fans and most of the motherboards iv looked at only have maybe 4 :-\\ .

i currently have a 250gb storage drive, what drive would u suggest i buy, to put my opperating system and games on?

Could i get some help from in here if i build it myself?

[mac124]

A single 8800 will be slightly bottlenecked by a 6600 at stock speeds, from my experience anyway it is, whilst benching mine my gfx score increased with cpu speed this is what i can only put down to a slight bottle neck on the cpu.

Also loads of Conroe motherboards are compatible with quad core and if they aren't now i suspect a bios update will be all thats needed to sort it out.

[ant9985]

ok thnx
cant find one with 8 fan connectors though, only that £234 striker.