New Build

[sskp1]

Hello all,

I have started working from my house and my laptop is starting to hold me up sometimes. I'm wondering if anyone has pretty good recipe for a build that will go together without a lot of problems or if they can point me to another forum that has some to pick from? I know opinions are varied with this like which is the best blaster. I would like to include a extreme 2.66 cpu, but haven't the faintest idea on a mobo to go with it. I would also like to have one where i can run two video cards later with just getting one now and would also like the option of running two 19 inch monitors with it as funds allow. What i would like to do i guess is build a gaming system that i can upgrade later as funds allow and as i can convince the spouse that i really need this stuff you know.

cpu: 2.66 extreme ibm

mobo?

video card: 256 something, is one better than the other?

programs used:I use the internet finding loads for a trucking company so using mainly office 2007 and internet search databases

Also one more question the laptop i'm using is a dell 8500 2.0 p4m chip with 128 video card and 512k of ram. I can bump my ram up to 2gigs would that help it work better with swapping pages back and forth and accessing the webpages.

Thanks in advance, Kevin

Edited November 23, 2007 by sskp1

[SLM]

More RAM in the laptop should help especially if you are running XP or Vista.

[Paul B]

Just completed a Mid Tower build. Went with a relatively inexpensive case but put in a 680i SLI motherboard from EVGA, with a quad core intel chip, and 4 gig of ram. Got an 8800GTS video card also from EVGA and 2 500 gig seagate hard drives along with an optical and a 9 in 1 FDD. If you go this way be sure that you get a case that will let you have enough fan capacity and a really good CPU cooler (I went with Zalman). Put torether the whole thing for a little less than $1,600 with parts from New Egg, and Tiger Direct.

Takes a little bit of knowledge, but Tiger Direct actually has tutorials. Mine went together easy with the toughest part routing and organizing the wires.

This is a blazing fast machine and I have not been able to open enough programs to use all four cores and that includes an HDTV card in one of the slots. Figure I bought myself about 12 months on the technological progression. Also suggest you stay with XP when you build - I have heard of too many problems with Vista in these situations - with a good rig you can change later

If this is the way you want to go e-mail me and I will tell you more. One thing that made it easier is to get the Mobo and video card from the same company.

[Putty]

Just completed a Mid Tower build. Went with a relatively inexpensive case but put in a 680i SLI motherboard from EVGA, with a quad core intel chip, and 4 gig of ram. Got an 8800GTS video card also from EVGA and 2 500 gig seagate hard drives along with an optical and a 9 in 1 FDD. If you go this way be sure that you get a case that will let you have enough fan capacity and a really good CPU cooler (I went with Zalman). Put torether the whole thing for a little less than $1,600 with parts from New Egg, and Tiger Direct.

Takes a little bit of knowledge, but Tiger Direct actually has tutorials. Mine went together easy with the toughest part routing and organizing the wires.

This is a blazing fast machine and I have not been able to open enough programs to use all four cores and that includes an HDTV card in one of the slots. Figure I bought myself about 12 months on the technological progression. Also suggest you stay with XP when you build - I have heard of too many problems with Vista in these situations - with a good rig you can change later

If this is the way you want to go e-mail me and I will tell you more. One thing that made it easier is to get the Mobo and video card from the same company.

Yah, diggin' that nividia chipset. I like the substrate of the Asus. Got that 1333 hz , but yikes, here comes DDR3 ready to grind me.....

[stingerjg]

Im working on one of my own right now. It will be a few more months till i have the funds to complete it. I currently have a single core laptop, its ok, but its getting slow.

Here is what im planning on using:

-680i SLI mobo from Nvidia

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz

-CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800MHz

-(2) Western Digital 500GB 7200 RPM

-Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10,000 RPM

-(2) EVGA GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2

-Windows XP Pro

- Thermaltake 700W PSU

-Antec Nine Hundred Case

Im gonna get a 22" display and there are a few things i didnt incuded. Im looking at spending about $2k for the system. Im not really a gamer currently, so it will mostly be used for video editing and music. But the performance is there if i want to play some newer games

Edited November 24, 2007 by stingerjg

[Paul B]

One thing I forgot to add. If you are building a desk top seriously consider a dual monitor setup. They are easy to set up and save me uncounted hours switching back and forth. I have a good 22 as my main and a cheap 19 off to the side. Great to look at 2 programs at a time. Great for phot or movie editing as you can have the picture on one monitor and the tools on another.

Oh my God, I'm a geek!

[Paul B]

Stinger, your setup is almost the same as mine with the exception of the 2 video cards. I initially was going to do this but everyone I know (I know a lot of computer guys - my son is the CIO at a large company) advised that it was a needless expense and a major cooling problem - GPU's run hot. They told me to go with one good card with 256 or more DDR3 and so far so good. YMMV

The GPU is so fast that it caused me to call the manufacturer and complain about what looked to me like a flicker when I was photoshopping some pictures. The guy on the help line almost laughed at me and said "you are using that card for photo-editing? It is for hard core gaming and the flicker is what you used to see as a slower transition (as the edits changed the photo) when you were using a slower card." I finally figured out what he meant when I did the same photo on my single core machine and there was a visibly slower change in the photo as the edit was processed.

[sskp1]

Thanks guys it is definitely giving me some ideas. I'm planning on doing this in January, should i look at ddr3 video or will the ddr2 be ok, Last one i had put together was a gamer system, it seems like it keeps you ahead of the technology curve for a little bit longer but who knows anymore. Is the extreme cores all about the same? didgn't know which one is the best bang for the buck you know.

If you are going with two vga cards is it mandatory they be the same card or chipset? I didn't know if i bought one now how hard it would be finding one later say in 6 months or so.

Thanks again, Kevin

Edited November 24, 2007 by sskp1

[sskp1]

Paul, am planning on running dual monitors, maybe one now and then a second one a little later, like you want to have two sources of info at the same time will save me a little time with work plus work on one screen and a game on the other during slow times.

Kevin

[EZ Bagger]

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 overclocked

Watercooling

Dual NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX's in SLI except where dual monitors are in place

Dual Raptors in RAID 1

Dual 750G SATA's for data storage

24" Dell Monitors

Watercooling

And one heck of an electrical load

Computer Power User has great articles on different motherboards and even on builds....

[Paul B]

Thanks guys it is definitely giving me some ideas. I'm planning on doing this in January, should i look at ddr3 video or will the ddr2 be ok, Last one i had put together was a gamer system, it seems like it keeps you ahead of the technology curve for a little bit longer but who knows anymore. Is the extreme cores all about the same? didgn't know which one is the best bang for the buck you know.

If you are going with two vga cards is it mandatory they be the same card or chipset? I didn't know if i bought one now how hard it would be finding one later say in 6 months or so.

I would definitely look at the DDR3. I'm no expert but I'm told the DDR3 at 256 is faster and better than the DDR2 at 512 depending on the card. I doubt any of us will have the time to tell the difference between the extreme cores - you would probably have to game a lot and not shoot much. Yes, by the way for SLI to work both cards have to be the same - per my motherboard manual.

[Flatland Shooter]

If you are going with two vga cards is it mandatory they be the same card or chipset? I didn't know if i bought one now how hard it would be finding one later say in 6 months or so.

I didn't realize you could run two VGA cards at once. What it the benefit over a single card with two VGA ports? And if you can run two VGA cards at once, can I run two VGA cards with two ports and support 4 monitors? (At the moment I use two computers each with dual monitors. I would like to upgrade to a single computer but keep the same amount of screen real estate.)

Thanks.

Bill

p.s. Why is it I don't understand half of what you folks are talking about but it still makes me drool? Could there be a monster machine in my future?

edited to add: Running Windows XP, but would go to another OS if necessary.

Edited November 24, 2007 by Flatland Shooter

[cking]

Unless you like building it yourself. Buy something from HP, dells are dying on us fast. Vista is a pain in butt unless everything is new. Drivers for printers, scanners etc don't exist.

Vista loves ram 2Gbyte or more . Almost all of the new DVI video cards will drive two DVI or VGA monitors. They have this dongle head that brings out two DVI or two VGA. MAke sure you get the cable you need. Some cheap places leave them out. I'm running two 22inch widescreen dell monitors, downloaded MS virtual PC and run XP on virtual machine over Vista. Bought one of those Espon printer/Scanners for like $75.00 with a coupon/sale. I work for a data center at major University and see all kinds of crap.

All version of windows can use CCLeaner.exe. google it, download it use. Makes all machines faster. Plus deletes stuff you wouldn't want people to find on your machine. Defrag after running CC and you notices a significant improvement.

If you play with CCleaner. It will remember your favorite web sites and not clean them out.

[Paul B]

I didn't realize you could run two VGA cards at once. What it the benefit over a single card with two VGA ports? And if you can run two VGA cards at once, can I run two VGA cards with two ports and support 4 monitors? (At the moment I use two computers each with dual monitors. I would like to upgrade to a single computer but keep the same amount of screen real estate.)

What we were talking about was SLI capability which, if I understand it correctly links 2 video cards together to enhance their speed and definition to 1 or 2 monitors. I don't think you can run 4 monitors this way by itself. I know you can run more than 2 monitors but I think it takes special software in addition to XP. Maybe someone more knowlegeable in this area can respond.

SLI requires a mobo and video cards that are capable and won't work if they are not.

The real drawback of 2 video cards are the heat - they operate at over 60C normally and with 2 together you better have good fans or liquid cooling or your going to have a toasty room and short component life. Additionally, they take up a lot of space on the mobo so you won't have much room for any additional PCI cards.

By the way most newer video cards use DVI connectors so you have to have a DVI capable monitor and cable or buy one of the vga/DVI converters ($10-12). I actually use the DVI monitors (most new LCD have DVI plugs as well as vga) and the picture quality seems better - but what do I know, most of what I've learned is from building 2 on my own.

[sskp1]

Are a couple of those 8800GTS cards going to hold up in the technology battle for a year or so? or am i just wishful thinking i don't have to have the latest and greatest just want something that if i spend the money on it it will run games for a couple of years maybe not the fps of some of the newer one's but will get the job done you know

Kevin

[EZ Bagger]

Are a couple of those 8800GTS cards going to hold up in the technology battle for a year or so? or am i just wishful thinking i don't have to have the latest and greatest just want something that if i spend the money on it it will run games for a couple of years maybe not the fps of some of the newer one's but will get the job done you know

Kevin

The GTS's are plenty good...they even overclock well.

[sskp1]

Ok confustion is starting to kick in now. looking at the xfx cards i guess for someone that isn't a professional gamer or has a life offline. Would i notice a real difference between the geforce 8600 gts in the 512mb ddr3 or one of the 8800 gts 640mb ddr3? Would two of the 8600gts beat one of the 8800's since the money is about the same and like i said in my first post i don't have the opportunity to keep up with the technology wars.

Kevin

[Paul B]

I don't know too many people who can decipher all the cards. Stick with the 8800 series is what I've been told. They are just more powerful. I think (and I mean think) that some cards use memory but do not have it on board. One 8800 will do everything you want to do - it has for me - at least so far (4 months and counting).

[OpnBlstr]

Have a look at the 8800GT built in the 9x core. (not GTS or GTX on 8x core).

They are only slightly less performance than the GTS but less than half the price!

SLI two of these and you'd severely wax a GTS for less money.

These cards are the best bang for the buck right now.

[SLM]

And if you are planning on waiting a few months the nVidia 780i chipset boards should be out. They are supposed to be faster than 680i's and fix a few known issues with them.

[Flatland Shooter]

[ - but what do I know, most of what I've learned is from building 2 on my own.

You know more than enough to answer my questions

Thanks for the response Paul.

Bill

[L9X25]

Have a look at the 8800GT built in the 9x core. (not GTS or GTX on 8x core).

They are only slightly less performance than the GTS but less than half the price!

SLI two of these and you'd severely wax a GTS for less money.

These cards are the best bang for the buck right now.

Forget about an 8600 anything if performance is what you want.

The best performance is with the 8800 GTX or Ultra. If you want to save money with good performance go with the 8800 GT or GTS. The GTS is older technology and is based directly on the 8800 GTX with fewer stream processors. The 8800 GT is a newer (economy) version of the 8800 series but it outperforms the GTS right out of the box, and the GTS is (or was) considerably more expensive. The 8800 GT is the current "bang for the buck" leader.