New Gaming PC Build, a few questions.

[PRVRT]

OK, building a new gaming system, and plan on OC'ing it. Here is what I have, started assy last night.

2 C250-2138 Serial ATA Cable Kit (1 Power Adapter/1 Data Cable)
1 O261-8004 OCZ Silver Thermal Paste
1 CP1-DUO-Q6600 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz 4x2mb 1066FSB CPU G0 Step
1 L12-1132 OEM Lite-ON 20X DVDRW SATA LH-20A1S-12 Int No SW OEM
1 TSD-250AS7 BM Seagate 250GB Serial ATA w/NCQ 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
1 L23-7310 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - 2007 Version
1 A455-2364 Asus Maximus Formula SE X38 Socket 775 Motherboard
1 ULT40064 Ultra X3 1000w PSU
2 C13-2022 Corsair TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz E.P.P.
4 Thermaltake A2018 120mm Blue LED Case Fan
1 T925-2241 Thermaltake Mozart TX Cube F-Tower Case Blk w/Wind 5 fans
1 AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display
1 E145-8008 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 640MB PCIe
1 ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler
1 Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
1 Dell 2407WFP-HC Ultrasharp 24 Inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor w/PIP

Question 1. How does it look for a gaming system? I do plan on adding water cooling in a few weeks.
Question 2. I am assuming that the video card needs no audio cable?
Question 3. There are 3 USB connections on the MB, are they all the same?
Question 4. Does the supplied sound card need a power connection? or is it powered from the sound card connection?
Question 5. Does the sound card need an audio cable to connect to the MB? Only cable I have plugged into it is the tower input/output jacks on the front. There is no other supplied cable.

I also know that 32 bit Vista does not support the full 4 MB, may change to 64 bit later on. I multitask alot so I wanted more than 2 MB mem. As you can probably tell, its been a few years since I have build a PC. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[peterhuang913]

OK, building a new gaming system, and plan on OC'ing it. Here is what I have, started assy last night.

2 C250-2138 Serial ATA Cable Kit (1 Power Adapter/1 Data Cable)

Unneeded, motherboard comes with required cables.

1 O261-8004 OCZ Silver Thermal Paste

Get Arctic Silver instead.

1 CP1-DUO-Q6600 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz 4x2mb 1066FSB CPU G0 Step

G0 stepping = very nice

1 L12-1132 OEM Lite-ON 20X DVDRW SATA LH-20A1S-12 Int No SW OEM
1 TSD-250AS7 BM Seagate 250GB Serial ATA w/NCQ 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
1 L23-7310 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - 2007 Version
1 A455-2364 Asus Maximus Formula SE X38 Socket 775 Motherboard

Pretty good, more expensive parts. Consider Gigabyte p35-ds3r or abit ip35

1 ULT40064 Ultra X3 1000w PSU

Pretty unnessesary, Try PC Power & Cooling 610

2 C13-2022 Corsair TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz E.P.P.

Get 2 of 2xCrucial DDR800 (2 X 1GB)

4 Thermaltake A2018 120mm Blue LED Case Fan
1 T925-2241 Thermaltake Mozart TX Cube F-Tower Case Blk w/Wind 5 fans
1 AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display
1 E145-8008 EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 640MB PCIe
1 ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler

Try a better cooler? Arctic Cooling or Tuniq Tower?

1 Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

You need 64-bit Vista to run 4GB of ram.

1 Dell 2407WFP-HC Ultrasharp 24 Inch Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor w/PIP

Dell monitors are quite nice.

Question 1. How does it look for a gaming system? I do plan on adding water cooling in a few weeks.

Looks overabit but its fine.

Question 2. I am assuming that the video card needs no audio cable?

Why would it?

Question 3. There are 3 USB connections on the MB, are they all the same?

There are four external and some internal. They are all the same.

Question 4. Does the supplied sound card need a power connection? or is it powered from the sound card connection?

Sound card gets power from its slot. No extra connection required.

Question 5. Does the sound card need an audio cable to connect to the MB? Only cable I have plugged into it is the tower input/output jacks on the front. There is no other supplied cable.

Sound card gets audio data from the port. No extra connection required. All you need is the green cable for speakers to the card.

I also know that 32 bit Vista does not support the full 4 MB, may change to 64 bit later on.

4gb not 4mb, probaly you're mistake.

I multitask alot so I wanted more than 2 MB mem. As you can probably tell, its been a few years since I have build a PC. Any help would be appreciated.

This system can handle any amount of multitasking. Once again, GB not MB. You have building experience, which is great. Not much has changed in building computers so you should be fine.

 

[ShaolinDreams]

very good recommendations about the parts the guy above me says. I would listen to him.

but generally..

1. looking pretty good gaming system and if your overclocking it with water all the more better
2. nothing needed.
3. should be all usb 2.0
4. i believe most soundcard if not all take power thru the pci.. nothing extra needed.
5. same as answer 4. thru the pci slot
6. as the previous dude mentioned 1000watt psu is overkill for you.. 1 GTX and 1 Q6600 stepping you aint gonna need a 1000 .. 600-750.. is enough.

go for it man .. get Vista Ultimate x64 and 4gb (you meant to say) 4x corsairs or 4x ballistix .. youll be fully loaded.

1 thing to consider also.. as your getting a X38 motherboard.. its unfornately doesnt do SLi.. so your gonna be limited with one nvidia card always.. i would try to get a GTX instead of a GTS.. or maybe even wait a month or so and get the NEW NEW GTS then watercool that and your flying.

i tell you one thing thou man... when you get that baby working your gonna Loooooove it

 

[peterhuang913]

very good recommendations about the parts the guy above me says. I would listen to him.

but generally..

1. looking pretty good gaming system and if your overclocking it with water all the more better
2. that depends if your plugging it into a hifi or something for the sounds. PC speakers should have that supplied with it. if a cable is need to hifi theyre easy to pick up cheap and an electronics shop.
3. should be all usb 2.0
4. i believe most soundcard if not all take power thru the pci.. nothing extra needed.
5. same as answer 4. thru the pci slot
6. as the previous dude mentioned 1000watt psu is overkill for you.. 1 GTX and 1 Q6600 stepping you aint gonna need a 1000 .. 600-750.. is enough.

go for it man .. get Vista Ultimate x64 and 4gb (you meant to say) 4x corsairs or 4x ballistix .. youll be fully loaded.

1 thing to consider also.. as your getting a X38 motherboard.. its unfornately doesnt do SLi.. so your gonna be limit with one nvidia card.. i would try to get a GTX instead of a GTS.. or maybe even wait a month or so and get the NEW NEW GTS the watercool that and your maxed up for a few years.

i tell you one thing thou man... when you get that baby working your gonna Loooooove it

This mobo like some other mobos have a special sound slot, like a modified PCI-e x1 slot.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

 

[PRVRT]

Thanks for the feedback and answers. I have all parts ordered, most are here already. Just waiting on the cooler and OS. Stayed with 32 bit for the fact of supported applications atm. I went with the 1000 psu just for later usage. I plan on keeping this tower and psu and upgrading other items in a few years. With the jump is power usage in just the past few years, figured it was a safe bet for later on when I go SLI with new MB or what ever they come up with. Also, this way when I install the second MB in this Mozart tower (it can support 2 MB's), I only need a small psu for the 2nd MB, the rest of the hardware I will run off the 1000 watt. I appreciate the feedback, and all ?'s are answered.

 

[PRVRT]

I knew there was something I forgot. Where can you buy the Thermal Sensor's for this MB?

 

[Prophet]

Go with the standard maximus formula, not the SE, unless you plan on watercooling the Nb your better off with the standard one. The standard maximus has heatsinks over the NB, better cooling if your going with air. The board comes with a sound card, supreme FX, i have yet to try it in games as i have no vid card :S but music wise it sounds good.

No idea about the thermal sensor, i have not seen one made specifically for this board, so i would assume its just a generic sensor you can pick up somewhere? btw why do you need one? there are 6USB 2.0 on the maximus, plus w/e usb's come with your case.

Are you planning on buying that new 8800GTS that came out a few weeks ago? At this point your better off waiting 2 weeks for the new 8800GTS v2. Its speculated it could outperform the 8800ultra for a lot less

 

[peterhuang913]

I knew there was something I forgot. Where can you buy the Thermal Sensor's for this MB?

Intergrated.

 

[ShaolinDreams]

This mobo like some other mobos have a special sound slot, like a modified PCI-e x1 slot.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

so i take it your informing me it does take a power lead to get power?

Thanks learn something new everyday lol

 

[PRVRT]

I all ready have the Maximus SE and it is installed. I do plan on water cooling in a few weeks/months. The 8800GTS I bought is the EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked. It is installed, just waiting on the OS to boot her up. I am looking for the thermal sensors, need 3 for this board. Want to use them in order to control a few opt fans from the BIOS to keep her cool, but not sound like a jet engine since there will be 10 fans in this case. The CPU/MB/NB/SB sensor is integrated. The 3 Opt fans are not intergrated, seperate sensors