Custom Quad Core PC Build Help

that's the computer i built with a few shiny extras, so i have a feeling you'll love it. I love mine. You might want to consider getting an evga card because the nine series might come out soon, and evga's step-up program lets you pay the difference between what you paid and the price of the product you want within 90 days to upgrade. Plus, they have a sweet warranty.

Hey thanks a lot I'll go check out the evga card right now.

Update EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: 512-P3-N801-AR
Item #: N82E16814130318


Well thanks to xtehtenth's suggestion about the video cards and evga's step up program, I'll be making the change to this one here. Thanks much xthetenth!

Trust me, 64 bit Vista is not worth the trouble. Do yourself a favor and go with 32 bit.

I know the retail copy of "ultimate" includes both 32 and 64 bit discs, but not sure if OEM will.

That may be the case, however it is the only OS that has DirectX 10. There lies my problem. I want DirectX 10 Compatibility. If XP had Dx10 i wouldnt even bother with Vista.

I highly recommend that you get Windows XP. Vista is a disaster for the most part and not very game friendly. Wait for Vista patches to come out before you get it.

Well I do have a legit copy of XP Pro I can use while I wait for updates.

go with that while you wait. trust me, you want to wait for vista updates. glad to help, by the way .

Yea, waiting would be very good. Just remember you wont see all 4Gb of ram in 32Bit XP but that is more than enough for anything you could possible do.

I have also heard good things about the Zalman 9700. Should be able to overclock the Q6600 and still get good temps. Hopefully you get a G0 stepping. They are cooler than the earlier B3 models so they overclock better if you are into that sort of thing.

Shouldn't he wait for penryn quads? They should be out pretty soon.

Dump the motherboard, you don't need SLI and there are better single-card ones.
Dump the quad-core, unless you do video editing. Get a E8400.
Get a Creative X-Fi instead of that sound card.
Dump 2GB of the RAM.
Over $300 for a 22" monitor is silly. I got both my 19" for that price.

Yeah, I'd save some on the monitor. The difference btwn 2ms and 5 ms isn't really worth the extra $.

Kudos on the psu. PC Power & Cooling are the best.

4gb of ram is fine, though I'd get something with better latency. (Like this)

X-fi all the way.

Well, there is always something to wait for in the computer world. A q6600 should work just fine. If need be, they can be overclocked to get more life out of them. Not to mention the new stuff is always very expensive compared to the slightly older technology.

And you dont need to dump the quad core. They work just as well as dual cores. Only real difference is speed, but that isnt too noticable for the most part depending on what you are doing. They are great for stuff like 3d and multitasking like crazy.

Hahah what? Yeah, they work as well as dual cores, 65nm dual cores. You can overclock a 8400 on air to 4.0ghz without breaking stock voltage. You are essentially getting a E6600 with two extra useless cores if you buy that processor.

Depends on what you use it for. Really they are just as good as dual core processors. The might not be able to be overclocked to 4Ghz on air, but they are still fast in there own right.

uh...no, you aren't. Please don't give advice on something you don't have experience with. And it is never a good idea to start telling anyone to "overclock" anything. You may do it, but it isn't something you need to be spouting to others.

Q6600 is the cpu of choice for mid-high pc's at the moment. 2GB + XP is really the best way to go still. Don't fret about DX10 as there isn't any reason yet to worry about it (ie no real true native DX10 games that won't run in DX9, and every DX10 game out looks the same in DX9 and actually runs better in DX9).

I just ordered a 20" widescreen 5ms LCD from Newegg for a customer for I think $189. Does 1680x1050, looks bright, sharp, and already had a good chunk of newegg reviews up in the 4-5 egg range (however always take newegg ratings/rantings with a grain of salt).

SLI is nice for the future, but for right now, the card(s) you are looking at will easily do 1600x1200/1680x1050 without need of a second card. Good power supplies are the backbone of a high-end gaming rig.

I tend to lean more towards the Corsair, Antec Trio, and OCZ psu's but now PCP&C is owned by OCZ and they have improved their designs (ie made them a lot quieter than before, but still not really all that quiet).

I agree with other poster about getting an X-Fi sound card. If you are a gamer, Creative cards are what you want. They aren't as good for movies and music (though they aren't bad at all, I own more than a few Live, Audigy, and X-Fi's), but hardly noticeable unless you are an audio snob. But in gaming, they generally are the best.

Zalman makes great heatsinks. Popular ones right now that are probably a little better (but not by much, it's 6 of one, half-dozen of the other really...which means taster's choice) are the Thermalright Ultra 120 stuff (few different models) and the Tuniq Tower. I've experience with all of them and my personal preference is always Thermalright, but that Tuniq is pretty awesome.

I always prefer Intel chipset motherboards, but of course you can't have SLI with them...choices choices, always tough choices. Really though, with 4x cores @ 2.4Ghz each, there's simply no need to overclock, and with 1680x1050 widescreen monitor, there's really no need for more than what you have (nor again, a need for any overclocking).

Evga does have a great step-up program.

http://www.diy-street.com/forum = if you want to talk to others who are "gurus" (or if you just want to learn how to do something, like install watercooling, overclock, modify, discuss pro's/cons of cases, gpu's, RAM, blah blah blah).

Heaven forbid somebody raises their FSB, which we know KILLS COMPUTERS WITH DIVINE FIRE. I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to hardware..



Before Wolfdale, sure. Seriously, did you miss out on the last two months or something? How is a mid-range quad core going to help a gamer when there's a dual core at the same price that's cooler, more efficient, and has a much higher clock speed as well as cache out the wazoo?

Christ, the rest of your post make sense but I have absolutely no idea why anyone would suggest the overhyped POS like the Q6600. 45nm or bust.

Don't listen to the Vista haters, its a wonderful OS. Although you can save yourself $70 if you get Home Premium. Ultimate is pretty much Business+Home Premium+Couple Extras. Unless you need the business and networking applications, go with Home Premium 64-bit.

There isn't a difference between 32 and 64 retail-wise, it asks you which you want to install. At least it was that way with Ultimate.

There's no need to waste $200 on the retail version when OEM does the exact same thing. The only stuff you get in retail thats not in OEM is a pretty box and a useless manual.

And there is a difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Using a 64-bit OS, for one thing, will allow you to use more than 3.5GB of RAM. Another is when used with a 64-bit CPU and application, you'll see huge improvements in performance.

...that's not even close to what I meant, please read my post again. You cannot buy a "64 bit" version of an OS when both versions come on the same disk and you are asked which one to install.

Just because a processor is clocked faster, does not mean that it is faster than any other cpu.

I hardly see how a Q6600 is a POS. Its an affordable chip that has 4 cores, can overclock moderately well if the person wants to overclock, and it runs games just as well as some of the dual cores. Not everyone has to overclock a processor to get the most out of it.

What you meant and typed were two very different types of things, in case you didn't realize its impossible to read people's minds. Its not impossible to purchase 64-bit software, see this LINK. This only contains 64 bit, not both.

It's affordable. It's midrange. It's also more expensive and clocked lower at stock than a 8400, is much hotter, and eats a lot more power. It's also useless for gaming. Following puts it best:

I honestly dont see how you could think that it is useless for gaming. If a game supports dual core, it will run on two cores on a Q6600. If it supports quad core, the Q6600 would run that as well. Granted on one core it would be slower that an 8400. So the only real downside I see to it is when you run programs with a single core on a Q6600. That and its 40 dollars more that an 8400.

It might not be the latest and greatest, but it can still hold its own. If a program is built to run on more than one core, it will be faster regardless on whether its a dual or quad core.