Critique/HELP!!!: Issues with my new gaming/multimedia rig

Hey guys,

A few weeks ago I started looking at parts to build the ultimate (within my budget, of course) gaming rig. Now, before you start commenting about how I worship Fatal1ty, I'd like to point out that a) I looked at a ton of different products and b) I love the color scheme. This, at about $2878, is the end result:

Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1 case w/ Zalman ZM600-HP 600w PSU
Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLi nForce 650i Motherboard
Intel Q6600 Quad Core Processor (2.4GHz)
Zalman FS-C77 CPU fan
Corsair Dominator 2x1 GB DDR2 800
2 x 640 MB PNY GeForce 8800GTS (SLi)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-treme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro Series
2 x 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA II
2 x Sony DVD-RW Drives
Microsoft/Razer Reclusa Keyboard
Microsoft/Razer Habu Mouse
Samsung SyncMaster 226BW 22" Widescreen LCD
Windows Vista Ultimate, 64 bit

PICTUUURRRREEESSSSSS:

http://www2.bc.edu/~hallaba/wickedfast/1.jpg
http://www2.bc.edu/~hallaba/wickedfast/2.jpg
http://www2.bc.edu/~hallaba/wickedfast/3.jpg
http://www2.bc.edu/~hallaba/wickedfast/4.jpg

This system completely destroys F.E.A.R., Quake 4, and Hitman Blood Money at full settings (1680x1050). Of course, these are old games.. HOWEVER I've been having some problems running Lost Planet in DX10 mode (it runs like a champ at full settings in DX9). Also, my sound card has been giving me some problems. My driver seems to turn on and off, and I keep losing sound and getting it back. My channels seem to cycle randomly, meaning that front left and center switch, then the right channel turns off, then comes back on, then only the subwoofer, etc... It's very weird. Finally, whenever i have my USB wireless network adapter attached, it makes my whole computer lag and my music skip every minute or so, which is frustrating. It's a Belkin N1 USB adapter. I've heard other people complain about the same issue with both Belkin and D-Link network adapters. I'm running the latest Creative X-Fi series drivers, and the NVidia Forceware, 162.22 i believe. Belkin drivers are for 32 bit windows, and are beta.

Also, I want to set up some sort of RAID.. I know nothing about RAID... I want to combine both my hard drives into one where windows sees only 1 500GB HDD and writes to both at the same time (making it faster). I've heard you can do this but don't know how. My motherboard has built in RAID support..

The machine runs really cool and is fairly quiet actually... The case, being entirely aluminum, helps to dissipate heat very well and actually gets really cold when I turn my AC on in the apartment.

Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated! I'll post 3D Mark 2006 scores when it finishes downloading! Thanks.

3D Mark 2006 Results:

11860 3DMark Score
4696 SM 2.0 Score
5523 SM 3.0 Score
3375 CPU Score

I'm running all hardware at stock settings, except for my RAM, which I'm running at a Corsair programmed lower latency (4-4-4-4 something....)
My CPU idles at around 38-39...

Cheers

to the forums.

I'm curious if you posted a "Rate my Rig Post" before you went out and bought all those parts?

That being said, I question alot of things you bought and why you did it that way over another.

• First off, Fatal1ty products are nothing more then advertisement. You pay an extreme premium for those products, almost $3000.00 is even A LOT of money today to throw into a gaming rig.
  
• Case is personal preference for the most part, not sure on the quality of Zalaman PSU's. I would have went with the FSP, Sparkle, PC&C, Corsair route. Esp. w/ 2 GTS in SLI no a 600W Zalaman.
  
• Curious why you didn't go with a new P35 motherboard?
  
• Corsair Dominator is definitly overkill if your not OC'ing to max clocks, I would have used G.SKILL's HZ Chip 2GB's for $130.00. I think they would give you the same/better preformance and give you OCing room if you wanted.
  
• I'd have taken 1 8800GTX over GTS in SLI, you probably would have seen better preformance likewise.

The rest I have no problem with. How is that monitor treating you for games? I was considering picking up one or two myself.

Hey. I know the RAM is overkill, but I actually got it for a fair price.. and I was hoping someone would help me with the overclocking.. the Fatal1ty motherboard other than being super cheap is also getting good reviews from overclockers... I was curious exactly how much I can overclock my CPU, RAM, and GPUs without having to invest a lot into new cooling. Apparently the new Intels overclock well.

As for the case, it's expensive, but definitely worth every penny. This thing is built like a tank and looks like a piece of art in my apartment, not like a riced out Scion.

About the monitor... I absolutely love it. I've had no issues with it. The 2ms response time is good for games because I see no noticeable lag. It's also really bright, so bright that I can hardly use my laptop anymore which is too dim in comparison. Widescreen really adds to games.. you feel like you're IN the game... i could never go back to a 4:3

I would read this guide many times, it really helped me when I first got started. http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=263753

Just got a Zalman 9700NT to replace my Fatal1ty cooler and it's working great. I seem to be stuck at 2.75Ghz though, Mobo won't let me POST at anything above that. Temps are good though, and runs stable. 3D Mark 2006 is up to 13072..