Second Opinion on Custom Gaming Rig (Take II)

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Cunjo

Daemon Poster
Messages
575
All Prices and Components from NewEgg.com. Wishlist showing all Component Specifics Here: $2100 Expandable Intel nVIDIA Gaming System

As title implies, the system is intended to last for a long time and provide expandability in the future for continued High-End gaming under $2100.

My Priorities with this machine are Gaming Performance, Reliability, Overclockability and Value, in that order. Core components (Chassis, Mobo, PSU) should last at least 4-5 years, and everything else should be good for around 2 years and easily upgradeable beyond that. I plan to overclock it at some point, perhaps extensively (up to and perhaps beyond 3.4GHz from the E6600). The GPU I may just upgrade in a couple months with EVGA's step-up program.

I will be using it for gaming, multimedia, photo and video editing, desktop publishing and web development. I plan to dual-boot it with Windows XP Professional and Ubuntu Linux.

The Rundown:

Cooler Master CM Stacker Black Steel ATX Full Tower Chassis fitted with 4x 120mm Apevia Red LED Fans @ 63.85CFM(x4), 1x 80mm Apevia Red LED Fan @ 25.64CFM, Red Cathode kit, Red EL Wire and a Side Window Mod (if I can find it)

ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Mobo

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 12V 620W SLI-Certified ATX Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 CPU

ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler with Arctic Cooling MX-1 Thermal Compound

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCIEx16 HDCP Video Card

G.Skill 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel SDRAM

4x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s HDDs (RAID10 Configuration for 500GB of Fast-Access Space and Full Data Redundancy)

Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Sound Card

D-Link 54Mbps PCI Wireless Adapter

SAMSUNG Black DVD+-R/RW & CD-R/RW 2MB Cache IDE LightScribe DVD Burner

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard

Logitech MX518 8-Button +Wheel Wired Optical Gaming Mouse

ViewSonic Optiquest 20" 1680x1050 5ms 1000:1 CR DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor (already ordered this)

Creative Inspire P7800 90-Watt 7.1-Channel Surround Speaker System

So what do you think? is it worth the money and time invested? Are all of the components good/reliable or should I be looking at other ones? Other comments welcome!
 
The system itself could be lowered in price without skimping in performance. Such as with G.skill ram, a 650i board, and a different power supply.
 
Sora said:
The system itself could be lowered in price without skimping in performance. Such as with G.skill ram, a 650i board, and a different power supply.
Click to expand...

Is G.Skill still going to measure up to the OCZ in terms of overclocking and warrenty?

As for the Mobo, I want something that will support SLI with current and next generation nVIDIA cards while delivering high overclockability. I don't really know how the nVIDIA 650i and 680i north bridge chipsets compare, but if you can suggest a better-valued alternative for the motherboard, I'm all ears. It has to have space for everything I'm putting on it, of course, as well as some extra for SLI and a physics card if possible.

Same for the PSU... has to have more than enough power for OC and SLI, yet still be completely dependable. I went with recommendations and picked a high-end Thermaltake Toughpower. If you know a better value, let me know. Reliability is my main concern there... I can't afford to wind up with damaged components from a PSU failure.
 
Cunjo said:
Is G.Skill still going to measure up to the OCZ in terms of overclocking and warrenty?

As for the Mobo, I want something that will support SLI with current and next generation nVIDIA cards while delivering high overclockability. I don't really know how the nVIDIA 650i and 680i north bridge chipsets compare, but if you can suggest a better-valued alternative for the motherboard, I'm all ears. It has to have space for everything I'm putting on it, of course, as well as some extra for SLI and a physics card if possible.

Same for the PSU... has to have more than enough power for OC and SLI, yet still be completely dependable. I went with recommendations and picked a high-end Thermaltake Toughpower. If you know a better value, let me know. Reliability is my main concern there... I can't afford to wind up with damaged components from a PSU failure.
Click to expand...

G.skill's slogan is "The Ultimate OC" the HZ's can hit DDR2-1200....

The 650i can handle SLI 8800GTX's...plus SLI kind of blows anyway I think.

You do NOT need a physics card since the 8 series have their own built in.

The PSU I guess is ok since it's not that bad a price. I'm just not a huge fan of Thermaltake PSU's.
 
psp_crazy1 said:
get a ds4 or p5n-e
corsair 620w
Gskill 2gb ddr800 hz


yes gskill is as good as ocz
Click to expand...

I thought it was a P5N-E I was getting... *confused*

This One? Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail
Price is about the same (about $5 more after rebates)... is it better than the Thermaltake then?

Local shop said I wanted at least DDR2 1066 for OC. Is this true or no?
 
No you were getting the upgrade version. The P5N-E is the 650i.

The Corsair is much more stable than the Thermaltake and it has been tested to handle SLI 880GTX's as well.

That is true what your shop said except the G.skill DDR2-800 m EASILY get to those speeds....most HZ's hit DDR2-1200 after overclock.
 
 
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Smart_Guy
So I added a second GTX 680 4GB in SLI. Here's how it works with modern games.
Replies
2
Views
1K
Smart_Guy
Smart_Guy
P
Opinions on my planned computer build
2 3
Replies
28
Views
4K
AMD_man
AMD_man
MadmanRB
My proposed 2017 super budget build
2
Replies
19
Views
3K
MadmanRB
MadmanRB
A
New build for gaming.
2
Replies
12
Views
3K
Andyf
A
I
(My first build) Is this rig any good?
Replies
7
Views
1K
cb600fshornet
cb600fshornet
Back
Top Bottom