From Scartch (First and only thread...I promise)...

I do apologize for posting in so many forums; I just thought that I had to since each post was concerning a different component of the PC I want to build. Once again I do apologize; this time, this will be the one and only post on my first-time-PC-building questions.

Okay, here’s what I got already:
- 630w PSU
- 2 GB RAM (with copper coolers)
- 250 GB HDD
- 500 GB External HDD
- CD/DVD ROM drive and a CD/DVD RW Drive
- TV Tuner

Here is what I am interested in for the PC I want to build (keeping in mind that I want your opinion on what you think is of top quality and efficiency with money being a moderate factor – I’ll be selling my Xbox 360 and a Sony VAIO Pentium D 830 for helping me pay for my new PC):

Case: needs to be fit for cooling (water cooling) and air flow ventilation, cool looking, and big (nothing medium or small – it would leave no room for possible future modifications).

Motherboard: needs to be powerful and nVidia SLi-ready – also needs to be able to fit 4 512MB RAM modules. And also needs to be Windows Vista and Dual-Core compatible. I’m looking for top of the line here.

CPU Processor: needs to be of the new Dual Core/Quad Core family; higher end rather than low.

Cooling: I prefer water cooling or the thermal electric unit’s; whatever cools my CPU the best in other words – something efficient and gives you the biggest bang for your buck(s); also something with a unique design.

VGA: nVidia SLi-ready (whatever you think is best/safest for overclocking and horsepower).

I do appreciate this very much, and thank you all for your advice.

motherboard -p5B deluxe, or DS3
cpu - e6400 or to save money, e6300
case - xclio windtunnel - low cost, GREAT airflow (in fact, best I've ever seen)
VGA - look into sapphire X1950XT at newegg. Its not nvidia, but it's a great price to performance ratio.
Cooling - with the xclio case, cooling shouldn't be an issue at all, but if your looking for great cooling for the cpu look at the tuniq tower 120.

good luck mang

chron said:

motherboard -p5B deluxe, or DS3
cpu - e6400 or to save money, e6300
case - xclio windtunnel - low cost, GREAT airflow (in fact, best I've ever seen)
VGA - look into sapphire X1950XT at newegg. Its not nvidia, but it's a great price to performance ratio.
Cooling - with the xclio case, cooling shouldn't be an issue at all, but if your looking for great cooling for the cpu look at the tuniq tower 120.

good luck mang

Click to expand...

He wanted the mobo to be SLI.

For the case I would buy the Stacker 810 or the original one.

GPU definetely get at least a Geforce 8800GTS.

For cooling head over to the cooling section for more help. If you decide to go with a kit despite what other people here will say about that decision, I recommend the Swiftech H20 kit with the Apogee block. I am no water cooling expert though, more of a novice, so I suggest you go to the water cooling section of the forums for more help.

What speed RAM you running btw?

RAM is running at 533MHz DDR2

8800gts is a tad too high end for what he's looking for.

Sorry, i forgot about SLI. The P5B is crossfire, which is ati, and not as good.

goto newegg and search for evga 680i. Thats a great SLI board aparently and the cpu recommendation could still stand.

the X1950XT plays things pretty well. Rite now my 8800GTS comes in handy for fear, rainbow six vegas, and a few other games. If your just into like css /bf2 level of eyecandy the X1950XT will do great. Otherwise, go with the 8800gts

I don't know, he seems like a gamer because I am assuming he is selling his Xbox 360 to game on his computer. If this isn't the case than yeah the 8800 would probably be a waste.

SLI options are limited but yeah go with the 680i. The Bad Axe 2 is good too.

Also concerning the CPU, it will be hard for you to overclock the processor when you have a 6300 or 6400 paired up with that RAM assuming you want to run 1:1. Why not fork a little money over and get the 6600.

For quad you can go for the one you can afford. The Q6600 is the cheapest right now at a little over $500, I say worth the buy if you have the money.

I don't understand why you would want to run 4 512MB DDR2 ram modules. It's harder to OC and there might be compatibility issues. Even if it's from the same manufacturer and model they might be of different revisions and use different ICs. But definately go for atleast a 8800GTS. Are you already planning to go straight into SLI'ing or just buying one card first and waiting?

As for the watercooling setup, the best CPU block is the Apogee out there. I think theres a few variations like the Apogee GT and theres another one. I recommend to go for the normal Apogee without any GT's or such, firstly it's cheaper and the 1-2% increase in performance also decreases your flowrates, this too is not worth it.
What exaclty are you planning to watercool? Your GPU, CPU and NB?

Hey all, you rock, thanks for all the input thus far.

As far as the questions you have for me:

- I am a gamer and am selling my 360 to utilize more game-time with my new rig.
- Water Cooling: Definitely, first and foremost, the CPU. RAM has copper coolers over them already, and as far as the VGA and GPU, why not, heh.
- SLi VGA's - I plan on starting out with just the one, and then, sometime eventually, get another one.

Again, thanks a lot for help'n me out through this massive project

JDawggS316 said:

Hey all, you rock, thanks for all the input thus far.

As far as the questions you have for me:

- I am a gamer and am selling my 360 to utilize more game-time with my new rig.
- Water Cooling: Definitely, first and foremost, the CPU. RAM has copper coolers over them already, and as far as the VGA and GPU, why not, heh.

Click to expand...

You are referring to the same thing you are trying to watercool. GPU=grpahic processing unit. VGA=video graphics array (I think). Are you going for water because of noise reduction or because of performance? This question should help you answer what radiator you might want. And you should also start thinking about placement of WC setup.
I don't think you can buy a waterblock that can first be used for one GPU then later on alter it to fit SLI. As far as I know if you want a waterblock that cools your ram you can lok at koolance on the dangerden site. Also provides the SLI version.

Are you going to overclock this system? If you are what ram are you currently using? Generic? I would highly recommend going 2GB X 2 sticks kit. Could be expensive though. You wouldn't want 512MB X 4 sticks. I might espeically want 4GB in your system as I recall you wanted to use Vista and Vista is a resource hogger.

If you are set on keeping your 4X512 DDR2-533 RAM, then I would get either the E6600 or E6700. If you are going for a high O/C with that RAM, then get the 10X multiplier of the E6700. I would also suggest E4400 to save money, but you did say high end processor (only real difference is the amount of cache though, although the E6700 will probably O/C better). The only SLI chipset worth buying is the 680i, so the eVGA version is a good recommendation. A lot of watercooled folks use the Antec P180 case. With SLI and a C2D, you'll need a PSU with a lot of muscle.

Rickster said:

VGA=video graphics array (I think).

Click to expand...

Adapter, but close.

dogbert_2001 said:

Adapter, but close.

Click to expand...

Darn


Well, you'll probably be looking for a good 600W or over PSU. I would say minimum 600W if you are definately going for SLI in the future and plan to OC, and especially if you get ram that can reach high voltages (if you board permits aswell) and if you plan to voltmod your GPU (i wish i had the skills to, but i don't). Good recommendations are of course Corsair HX620, the Silverstone Zeus lines, Silverstone OP650/DA650 (i can't remember if they had a 650 although i know theres a 750), Seasonic M12 series, Seasonic S12 energy plus series, PCP&C Silencer series. Those are the ones you should look at.

Batboy, I heard the P180 was abit tight in areas. If you want all the space you can get, get a stacker or MM cases which are already built for WC setups.

Are there motherboards out there that support 4 GBs+ of RAM already? I'm looking at the EVGA 680i or the ASUS Striker Extreme.

And, if I'm not going to run Vista right now and stick with XP, does one really need 4 GB's of RAM?

XP does not recognise more than 4Gb of RAM, and I think someone did some tests and concluded that under XP, RAM utilisation is nto more than 3.something Gb. So 4Gb is actually a waste. But its good to have 4Gb.

how can you have too much ram?!?!?! IMHO

i would go with the 8800gtx and go for

a d5 pump

and a 120.3 radiator with a shroud and if you dont care about sound... try to get tornadoes on that!

if you read around you'll know why. the problem is not having too much ram. the problem is that will you even use that amount of ram. you can have 100Gb of ram, but only use 1Gb. also, XP doesn't recognise more than 4Gb of ram. say now if you have a mobo that supports 8Gb of ram and decide you stick 8Gb it will only suport 4Gb; a wastage of resources.

if you can afford the swiftechMCP355 with the petra mod top I would go with that over the D5/MCP650.

see... i know xp doesnt recognize more that 4 gb of ram but... i only have a gig on VISTA...

anybody feel like sending me some ddr3200? at least a 1gb stick

right now i am only at 1gb 2x512 one stick is 2700 and the other is 3200...

ok i don't have vista, but from your experience are you experiencing lagginess and sluggish performance by using 1Gb on vista? because as far as i know, vista is a system resource hogger.