Need some advice on hardware put in my rig

[HighDarkTemplar]

I'm going to build my own computer soon and I've been looking around for stuff to put in it. This is my plan so far:

CPU

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 3GHz 1333Mhz Socket LGA775, 8MB, BOXED w/fan

RAM

Corsair Dominator TWIN3X 1800MHz DDR3, 2GB, DHX, XMP(Intel Extreme)

Motherboard

Asus P5E3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP X38 DDR3 775

GPU (Graphics)

XFX Nvidia Geforce 8800 ultra (Want SLI but I don't know if I'll get the space for it)

Soundcard

Creative SB X-Fi Elite Pro PCI,64MB,116dB SNR, I/O, 3DMIDI, EAX

PPU

Asus Ageia Physx

HDD

Seagate Barracuda 1 TB

PSU

Mist 1000 Watt

I've not decided yet on the budget. So far it's approx 4700$ if you convert it to the local currency. I also haven't decided on the case yet (nor cooling, as it'll have to wait and see what I can get in the case). I'll be going for WinXP (32 bit) and I'll be using it for gaming (planning to pick up crysis in february/march or something like that), video editing. I'm also planning to add another 2 blocks of memory afterwards, but I'd rather wait a little with the last ones as I'd rather complete my rig than wait another month due to buying memory early.

Also, could someone go over the ports/power supply cables and see if it is enough for my little rig? I'm such a mess when it comes to stuff life that

Wishlist:

Be able to put in another 8800, if I have to make it at the cost of another expansion card, what would you suggest? Is SLI possible with this setup? (that's what it's called when you translate it from my language directly to english, hope it's correct :-) )

Need a CD/DVD burner, anyone to reccommend?

Recommendation on a case with good space, must have a fairly big "window" on the side.

Water cooling for the CPU? I've heard that it gets quite warm

Thanks alot for your time! :-)

Best Regards

-Nerevar

Edited December 11, 2007 by Nerevar

[puntoMX]

Hi Nerevar,

Lot’s of expensive stuff but t will not give you the best performance.

I can see you didn’t researched a lot so I can help you with that. First I want to say that:

Intel and SLI is NO-GO.

Better to have 2 8800GT cards in SLI then one GTX and Ageia Physx.

CPU could be the new Q9650.

1kW is way to much for your system.

Onboard sound will do fine unless you need AEX4 and MIDI I/O.

2 500GB drives in RAID0 would do better.

And there are more points .

Read this link first I would say...

[nmX.Memnoch]

Slight correction...Intel and SLI is possible, if you use an NVIDIA chipset based motherboard with an Intel CPU.

I wouldn't worry about SLI anyway. Either get yourself an 8800GT or if the money really is burning a hole in your pocket get the new 512MB 8800GTS. The 8800GTS 512MB will run on par with the 8800 Ultra anyway, and costs less.

Onboard sound? Nah, I'd still rather throw in a cheap SB Live! or Audigy 2 rather than use onboard sound. I certainly wouldn't trade my Audigy 2 ZS for onboard sound.

I do agree on the 2x500GB RAID0 vs. a single 1TB drive though. It'll give much better performance. But, on the same token since he's already looking to spend sooooo much money on the system why not just go with a couple SAS drives and throw a SAS RAID controller in one of those unused PCIe X16 slots? Yeah, it's overkill, but it looks like that's what he's shooting for anyway...plus it'll perform like a beast! ;D

[puntoMX]

Slight correction...Intel and SLI is possible, if you use an NVIDIA chipset based motherboard with an Intel CPU.

You still want that some one burns his fingers on this and starts to hack the hardware and drivers? (And later MSFN.org will be blamed)

[N1K]

SLI isn't payable IMO, since you can get only 30-40% of your other graphic card.

I know I was reading somewhere about this before and I've decided to use "only one" 8800GT card and I'd like to know, do I really need more than that?

[nmX.Memnoch]

Slight correction...Intel and SLI is possible, if you use an NVIDIA chipset based motherboard with an Intel CPU.

You still want that some one burns his fingers on this and starts to hack the hardware and drivers? (And later MSFN.org will be blamed)

No...not at all. Where you said "Intel and SLI is NO-GO", that would imply that you can't use SLI if you want to use an Intel CPU. The full story is that you can't do SLI on an Intel chipset, but if you use an nForce 680i based motherboard you can do SLI with an Intel CPU without hacking any drivers. That's what I meant by "slight correction".

[HighDarkTemplar]

So far this is what I've picked up:

8800 with an intel Chipset is a no-no (or CPU except when you get a NVidia 680i chipset on your motherboard)

You're suggesting a X64 cpu, I'm still falling towards a x86 because I'm playing a bunch of old games and using some older programs that don't work on x64 (tested on 3 machines, both vista and xp)

2x500gb raid0 disks instead of a 1 tb

I checked up for about 5 mins on raid types to get the general idea, and raid1 sounds better.

Some other things I know. You get the weirdest errors from a weak power supply. I forgot to mention but i'm planning to add some additional disks in the near future (I'm just too good at using space, especcially because I usually save my in-between work files (which have a tendancy to become quite large)). I'm sorry for that and I really appreciate you guys spending (wasting?) your time on me :-) Also, I suck at backups (Not that it is hard to do, I'm just way to lazy)

I'll be checking back in approx. 20 hours :-) Looking foreward to it

Best Regards

-Nerevar

Edited December 11, 2007 by Nerevar

[Zxian]

Yes, you can get strange behaviour from an underpowered system, but there is NO way that the parts you've described would need 1000W. I've got a comparable system at home, and it pulls 250W from the wall when running at full tilt. I'd suggest getting a better quality PSU, such as the Corsair HX series. 520W or 620W would be plenty for your system.

The Q9650 is the latest and greatest... but it's also bloody expensive. Forget about getting the Extreme processor (6850 or 9650) - it's more money than it's worth, and you can easily hit those speeds on other CPUs with a little bit of overclocking.

SLI isn't worth it either, unless you're wanting to play games maxed out at resolutions above 1920x1200. The 8800GT or the new G92-based 8800GTS would be just fine for your needs.

[nmX.Memnoch]

8800 with an intel Chipset is a no-no (or CPU except when you get a NVidia 680i chipset on your motherboard)

No, two 8800's in SLI with an Intel chipset is a no-no. A single 8800 will run just fine on an Intel chipset. If you want to run SLI and want an Intel CPU then you'll have to look at a motherboard with an NVIDIA chipset (their current chipset is the 680i but I don't think it supports the CPU you're looking at...however, the 780i should be released soon).

You're suggesting a X64 cpu, I'm still falling towards a x86 because I'm playing a bunch of old games and using some older programs that don't work on x64 (tested on 3 machines, both vista and xp)

All new x86 CPUs (save the current Celeron's) are x64 capable. That doesn't mean you have to run a 64-bit OS, it just means that you can. You'll be able to run 32-bit Windows, Linux or any other 32-bit x86 OS just fine on those CPUs.

I checked up for about 5 mins on raid types to get the general idea, and raid1 sounds better.

This depends on whether you want speed or redundancy. RAID0 is faster, RAID1 offers more data protection. If you want the best of both worlds get 4x500GB drives and setup RAID10.

Some other things I know. You get the weirdest errors from a weak power supply. I forgot to mention but i'm planning to add some additional disks in the near future (I'm just too good at using space, especcially because I usually save my in-between work files (which have a tendancy to become quite large)).

Weak power supplies can indeed cause some issues, but 1K W is overkill. I have a Dual Xeon 3.06GHz setup (the very power hungry Xeon's) with 6GB RAM (6x1GB DIMMs), two PCI-X RAID controllers, a 6800XT AGP video card, onboard GigE NIC, six hard drives (used to be eight), a SCSI CD-ROM drive and a SCSI tape backup...all running off of a 680W PSU. Edited December 11, 2007 by nmX.Memnoch

[fivestars]

Hey Nerevar, you can have a look at the

Antec 900 case :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...Tpk=Antec%2b900

SAMSUNG SH-S203B/BEBN 20X SATA DVD Burner :

http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdeals.php?deal_id=65883

And I think you should get a Q9650, it is good indeed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115035

[HighDarkTemplar]

8800 with an intel Chipset is a no-no (or CPU except when you get a NVidia 680i chipset on your motherboard)

No, two 8800's in SLI with an Intel chipset is a no-no. A single 8800 will run just fine on an Intel chipset. If you want to run SLI and want an Intel CPU then you'll have to look at a motherboard with an NVIDIA chipset (their current chipset is the 680i but I don't think it supports the CPU you're looking at...however, the 780i should be released soon).

Sorry, I see now that I didn't write what I mean't to write. Thanks for your clarification :-) Missed the SLI part :-(

You're suggesting a X64 cpu, I'm still falling towards a x86 because I'm playing a bunch of old games and using some older programs that don't work on x64 (tested on 3 machines, both vista and xp)

All new x86 CPUs (save the current Celeron's) are x64 capable. That doesn't mean you have to run a 64-bit OS, it just means that you can. You'll be able to run 32-bit Windows, Linux or any other 32-bit x86 OS just fine on those CPUs.

I didn't say I wanted advice on OS :-) Why should I pick a 9650 instead of a 6850?

@ Fivestar: I read about it on the page you refered to, but still I didn't catch a difference between the 9650 and 6850

I checked up for about 5 mins on raid types to get the general idea, and raid1 sounds better.

This depends on whether you want speed or redundancy. RAID0 is faster, RAID1 offers more data protection. If you want the best of both worlds get 4x500GB drives and setup RAID10.

Sounds like a good idea, I'll keep it in mind.

Some other things I know. You get the weirdest errors from a weak power supply. I forgot to mention but i'm planning to add some additional disks in the near future (I'm just too good at using space, especcially because I usually save my in-between work files (which have a tendancy to become quite large)).

Weak power supplies can indeed cause some issues, but 1K W is overkill. I have a Dual Xeon 3.06GHz setup (the very power hungry Xeon's) with 6GB RAM (6x1GB DIMMs), two PCI-X RAID controllers, a 6800XT AGP video card, onboard GigE NIC, six hard drives (used to be eight), a SCSI CD-ROM drive and a SCSI tape backup...all running off of a 680W PSU.

I've tried this power supply calculator and I arrived at ~850, adding the power useage of the ageia card afterwards. I also added a few fans (4) to get it to something that sounds resonable.

@ fivestar: I'm currently looking into that case, seems interesting. However, I'm having problems with finding a dealer/post order in the country at the moment. I appreciate your effort though.

Edited December 12, 2007 by Nerevar

[puntoMX]

About that PSU, if you use the calculator right then the sum of all these components:

• Intel Core Extreme XQ6800
  
• 4 sticks of DDR2 RAM
  
• 2 8800GT video cards
  
• 8 SATA drives
  
• 1 DVD-RW
  
• 1 Blue-Ray DVD-RW
  
• 1 SoundBlaster PCI
  
• 1 RAID SATA PCI
  
• 1 TV-tuner card PCI
  
• 1 Other PCI-E
  
• 3 USB dev.
  
• 2 Fire wire dev.
  
• 5 12cm fans
  

And the total comes on some 663Watts.

For real, I don’t see why any one would need more then a 620Watt PSU for home use in a not extreme OCed or mod system...

[Zxian]

Those PSU calculators are notorious for overestimating your actual power usage. When I put my entire system in there (I've probably missed a couple of things), I get over 300W from the calculator, while my Kill-a-Watt meter has never measured this system use more than 250W.

For what you're doing, the Corsair HX620 is plenty of power.